soever ye live see that ye trust in the Lord and that for the same reason For he will be their help and their shield also In every Nation those that fear him and do righteousness are accepted of him He will be a Lord Protector even to these as to Job Naaman c. 3. And that his Exhortation to trust in God might take the deeper root The third part The blessing upon it he tells all three that they should be no losers by it for it was it that had and would bring a blessing upon them For God doth not use to forget those that trust in him but he hath been mindful of us Ver. 12 And by a singular and especial Providence and care of us he hath shew'd it and he will shew it to every one of you 1. To you of the Nation He will bless the house of Israel 1 To the Nation 2. To you of the Priesthood He will bless the house of Aaron 3. To all you that fear him He will bless them that fear the Lord 2 To the Priesthood both small and great And the Prophet taking his example from God 3 To all that fear him This the Prophet seconds with his prayer poures forth his blessing upon them also he thought it not enough to exhort them only to trust in God and acquaint them that God would bless them except he seconded it with his prayer and therefore to Gods blessing he adds his own and desires the blessing may rest upon the heads of them and their children 1. The Lord shall increase you more and more you and your children 2. Let the World curse you and speak evil of you yet I say Ye are the blessed of the Lord come ye blessed Deutr. 28. 3. That Lord which made heaven and earth which words are added that they be assured that their blessing is a real blessing coming from him in whose hand is the dew of heaven and fatness of the earth in which form Isaac blessed Jacob Gen. 27.28 4. It comes from one that is able to bless 1. For the heaven even the heavens are the Lords In them he especially shewes his Presence Majesty Glory from thence descend the dewes of grace and the drops of rain that water the earth 2. As for the earth he hath made a Deed of Gift for that He hath given it to the children of men that by his blessing upon their labour they may be sustained with food and rayment so that while they live in it and enjoy the Goods thereof they praise him 4. The fourth part For that is the true end of their being here the chief nay the sole end they live upon it And that for their blessing they again bless God the end that God gave it to them an end which they that are dead cannot attain unto This he illustrates by an Antithesis betwixt the dead and the living 1. Ver. 17 For the dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into the silence Among them there is great silence of the dewes of heaven and the fatness of the earth they need neither and therefore they praise not God for them The blessing of the City and blessings of the Field are nothing unto them they have no mouths to fill and therefore no mouths in a corporal manner to open in the praise of God Him they praise but it is after their manner not ours him they praise but it is for other blessings than ours 2. Ver. 18 But we as yet are upon the earth we enjoy his protection we enjoy besides spiritual these temporal blessings also this his gift we must make use of And therefore we will do that the dead cannot We will bloss the Lord from this time forth for evermore By our selves while we live and desire it may be done by our posterity when we are going down into silence 3. However ye that are alive this day Praise ye the Lord. The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and fifteenth Psalm O Omnipotent and Gracious God in all Ages thou hast béen merciful to thy people and even in their greatest afflictions raised up the spirits of some one or other of thy servants by whose hands thou hast delivered them At this time we are in great misery at this time we are in affliction send us help from thy Sanctuary raise us up some Moses to go before us some Joshua to sight for us Ver. 2 some Sampson to deliver us wherefore should the uncircumcised triumph over us and say Where is now their God The reproach O Lord redounds to thée this insultation is to thy dishonour arise then O Lord and give the glory unto thy Name shew thy merciful countenance and that thou art a God of Truth Ver. 1 and for thy Mercy and Truths sake come down at last and deliver us Merit there is none on our part why thou shouldst do it for us and therefore it must be mercy Merit there is too much on our part why thou shouldst not do it and therefore if it be done it must be thy Truth thy Word pass'd to thy servants that moves thée to it We destre not that any part of this work be attributed to us but that the honour of it be wholly thine Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name which is now blashemed and vilified Ver. 3 give the Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Make them know that have so long trusted in lying vanities and worshipped the imaginations of their own hearts That our God is in Heaven that he hath done whatsoever pleased him that as it hath béen his pleasure to humble us so it is his pleasure to exalt us he hath brought us very low but he can set us again on high when how and by whom he pleaseth O Lord heal our back-slidings and love us freely turn away thine anger from us be as a dew to thy Israel make his branches â—oread Ver. 9 and his beauty as the Olive-trée let him revive as the Corn and grow as the Vine what have we to do any more with Idols vain men That have hands and cannot help and ears and will not hear Thée O Lord will we hear Thée will we alone observe For thou art our help and our shield Thou wilt be the Lord Protector to thy Israel Thou wilt be a shield to the house of Aaron Thou wilt be a helper to all those that fear thée therefore renouncing the arm of flesh we will trust to thée alone O Lord be mindful of us and bless us bless the house of Israel that people which thou hast chosen to thy self and gathered from among the Nations Bless the house of Aaron that Tribe that thou hast chosen to thy self and set apart to come near unto thée among this people O Lord bless them all that sear thy Name in what part of the World soever they remain of what condition soever they he
the Amoritish Kings and the thirty one Kings of Canaan He smote great Nations and slew mighty Kings as for example Ver. 10 Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan Ver. 11 And gave away their land for an heritage Ver. 12 an heritage unto Israel his people All which is evident out of the books of Numb Deut. Joshua 5. The fifth part For this he extols God To the commemoration of the revenge that God took upon the enemies of his people and the benefits he bestowed on them he adds a conclusion formed into an Epiphonima in which he first extols Gods name and then shews his mercy to his people 1. Thy Name O Lord endures for ever i. e. for these thy wonderful works 2. And thy memorial throughout all generations Thy memory thy fame the remembrance of thy Acts shall flourish and remain to all posterity 2. And the reason is drawn from his mercy which excites us also to praise him 1. And shews his mercy to his people For the Lord will judge his people The world judgeth them forsaken but he is their keeper and defender and will judge their cause and at last take revenge on their persecutors and deliver them 2. And he will repent himself concerning his servants Though he punisheth his dearest children yet he will be at last entreated be propitious and kind and remove his heavy hand Psal 136.23 6. The sixth part 2. God above all gods The Prophet hath proved that God is absolutely great in himself which he proposed vers 5. And now he proves the second part of his proposition that our Lord is above all gods For being compared to the Idols of the Heathen he far exceeds them They were Divels not gods they the work of mens hands made of earthy materials they could not infuse life sense reason into their images as God did into his image man they nor saw nor heard nor moved For he shews their vanity divers ways And shews the vanity of Idols 1. From their matter wherof they were made The Idols of the beathen are silver and gold Ver. 15 2. From the efficient cause their makers men The work of mens bands 3. From their impotence from performing any act of life They have mouths but they speak not eyes they have but they see not They have ears but they hear not neither is there any breath in their mouths 4. From the sortishness and misery of those that worship them They that make them are like unto them Ver. 18 so is every one that trusteth in them The makers are blind mute deaf understand nothing at all who suppose that they can make gods And they that trust in them more sotrish that think a stone can help them 7. The seventh part In the last part he invites all the true worshippers of God to praise him because they are lively images of the living God they see they hear they speak they understand That therefore all praise God and therefore they praise that God from whom they the faculty of living hearing speaking seeing and understanding To this he invites 1. All Israel Bless the Lord O house of Israel 2. Ver. 19 Then the Priests Bless the Lord O house of Aaron 3. The Levites Bless the Lord O house of Levi. 4. Lastly of all the Laity Ye that fear the Lord bless the Lord. To which he adds his own vote concluding with this Epiphonima 1. Blessed be the Lord out of Zion where he shews his presence by the Ark. 2. Which dwelleth at Jerusalem who though he be every where by his Essence and presence yet peculiarly dwells in his Church by his inhabiting Spirit Let the Citizens of Zion and Jerusalem never cease to bless him The Hymn and Prayer collected from the One hundred and thirty fifth Psalm O Omnipotent God all we thy servants now gathered together in thy Spirit to blesse thy name and here met in the Courts of the house of our God to praise thee Ver. 1 do acknowledge that we have instnite reasons to pay this debt to thy divine Majesty For we know O Lord that thou art good good absolutely in thy self and gracious unto us and that all our goodnesse is as nothing in comparison of thee We know again that to sing praises unto thee is a pleasant thing and therefore our heart shall be glad when we send forth prayses unto thee with joyful lips Wee know also that thou art great and far above all Gods Thy benefits are innumerable not only which thou hast conferd upon thy chosen people thy Israel who is thy pecultar treasure but even which with a full hand thou hast poured forth upon all mankind For in heaven the earth the seas and in all deep places thou hast done whatsoever thou pleasedst Thou so orderest the clouds the vapours the lightning winds and rain that they may be obedient to thee and serviceable for the use and sustenance of man And when thou hast in thy power the hearts of all Kings and Princes thou so bendest them as may make most for the good and saidation of thy people upon them thou revengest their wrongs and deliverest in due time thy chosen people from their power and oppression Egypt the Amorites and Canaanites felt thy power whom thou smotest in thy anger plaguest and slew in thy wrath and gavest away their Land for an heritage even for an heritage to Israel thy people Thy Name O Lord endureth for ever Ver. 13 and thy memorial through all generations and therefore our hope which is grounded upon thy promises is thereby confirmed and increased that though thou art risen up in judgment against thy people yet at last it will repent thée concerning thy servants O merciful God arise we beséech thée and behold the miseries and calamities of thy poor servants and deal not with us according to the merit of our iniquities Pardon our offences and let it repent thée of the evil thou hast brought upon us We have liv'd unworthy of thy Name unworthy of our Vocation yet at last break the force of the Devil and his instruments and repress their pride and boldness that we be not compelled to fall down and worship the imaginations of their own brains which are little better than the Idols of the Heathens that nor saw nor spake nor heard nor understood Which mercy if thou will grant us then all that fear the Lord both Priest and people the whole house of Aaron of Levi and all Israel shall have just occasion to bless the Lord and say Blessed be the Lord out of Zion which dwelleth at Jerusalem Allelujah PSAL. CXXXVI THIS Psalm is of the same Argument that the former For in it all men are call'd upon to praise God for his greatness and goodness his providence and mercy in creating governing and ordering the world but especially his love shew'd to his people the Church All which works because they proceeded from his Mercy therefore
in misery He repented according to the multitude of his mercies And the effect which all these Causes had was beneficial to them even in the time of their bondage and captivity for even their very enemies hearts were often turn'd to do them good as is evident in Jeremiah David Daniel Ezra Zerubbabel Mordecai and indeed the whole Nation under the Babylonian Philistian Aegyptian Persian Kings which the Prophet hath set down ver 46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them Captives So this is that of the wise man When a mans wayes please God And caused their Oppressors to pity them he will make his very enemies at peace with him Prov. 16.7 But it seems this verse may be read otherwise and it is by the Vulgar Moller Musculus Dedit eos in misericordias or miserationes in conspectu omnium quo caeperant eos so that the sense is not as if all of them had from all that carried them away captive received mercy but that God in their afflictions put them into the bosom of his mercy even they seeing and wondring at it whose Bond-slaves they were for beyond all hope he freed his people from Aegypt the Ammonites Philistines c. so that they under whose Captivity they were must needs confess that God in mercy did defend and fight for them And this sense Bellarmine receives as more probable nor yet utterly rejecting the other 4. And this sense makes the way plainer to what followes the Petition The fourth part This consideration moves them and the Doxology for if God shew'd himself merciful in the time of his anger and made it apparent even to the very view of their enemies encouragement they might have 1. First To pray Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the Heathen to give thanks in thy holy Name 1 To pray and to triumph in thy Praise 2. Then to give thanks 1. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel 2 To give thanks from Generation to Generation 2. And for it let the people do their Duty viz. the solemn and necessary Formes Let all the people say Amen Allelujah The Prayer out of the One hundred and sixth Psalm O Lord God which art great and fearful Ver. 45 Who keepest Covenant and Mercy toward them that love thee and keep thy Commandments we have sinned with our Fathers we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly The children of Israel were not more rebellious at the red Sea in the Wilderness after thou hadst brought them into the Land than we have béen unto thée We have forgotten thy wonders and provoked thée when beset with a Sea of troubles for we have soon forgot thy works and not waited for thy counsels We have envied nay murdered Moses in the Camp and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. A Calf indéed we have not made in Horeb nor worshipped the molten Image But we worshipped the Calf of our own brains and fall'n down to our own imaginations in Maozim we have put our trust and to this Idol of power we have cryed Thou art our god and thou shalt save us Thou hast promised to bring us to the celestial Canaan but we have despised that pleasant land and as if we did not believe thy Word we have murmured and in our hearts turned back again into Aegypt and set our affections on the Léeks and Onions and Garlick thereof though we vowed and professed to honour thée yet we have made it apparent that Mammon is our God and his Command is hearkned unto and not thy voyce We have provoked thée to anger with our inventions we have learned the works of the Heathen Ver. 38 and out-done them We have shed innocent blood even the blood of thy sons and daughters whom we sacrificed to our ambition and cruelty so that the Land is polluted with blood O Lord we confess that we have done wickedly and fouly and unthankfully have revolted from thée our Lord and God as was the mother so is the daughter we are our mothers daughter that hath loathed her husband and committed fornication in the sight of our God yet we will not despair when we consider thy great mercy which thou shewedst to a stiffe-necked people whom though enriched by thée with many Benefits and yet unmindful and ungrateful as they were set thée by and worshipped stocks and stones and the inventions of their own brains Thou yet didst not destroy them but after a fatherly correction didst restore to thy favour and didst condescend to be reconciled to them Then thou wert pacified with the intercession of Moses and the atonement of Aaron and when Phineas arose and executed judgment thy plague was stayed There be yet lest among thy people those who are zealous for thy Name who day and night intercede for pardon and mercy O Lord hear their prayers and let their cryes come unto thee and spare thy people whom thou hast redéemed with thy precious blood Though they have provoked thée with their Counsels and are brought low for their iniquity Nevertheless regard their affliction and hear their cryes that they send up unto thee Remember for them thy Covenant and repent according to the multitude of thy mercies And so soften and mollifie the hearts of those who have led us into Captivity that for cruelty even from them we may find pity and for the heavy burdens they have laid upon us some ease and relaxation O merciful Lord let not thy wrath for ever be kindled against thy people neither let it procéed so far That thou abhor thine inheritance We confess That it hath gone ill with Moses for our sakes insomuch that he is denied an entrance into the land of Canaan the lot of his inheritance But remember him O Lord and his Exiles with the favour thou bearest unto thy people O visit him with thy salvation that he may see the good of thy chosen that he may rejoyce in the gladness of thy Nation that he may glory in thee and glorifie thee with thine inheritance Our Fathers have sinn'd even from the first time of their Vocation to the clearer and purer knowledge of the Gospel and thou didst oftentimes sharply rebuke them and yet in the sharpest of those Visitations Thou remembring mercy Ver. 10 and thy promise didst mitigate their punishments and sentest them deliverance Thou savedst them from the hand of them that hated them and redeemedst them from the hand of the enemy Therefore now also although we know and confess that we have grievously offended thée with our sins and provoked thée to bring these heavy judgments upon us for our rebellions yet make us examples of thy mercy as thou hast done our forefathers Save us O Lord our God and gather us from all lands whether we are dispersed which we earnestly beg at thy merciful hands not that we are brought from a troublesom to a quiet from a miserable to an easie from a poor and
thy praise Smite Lord our flinty hearts as hard as the nether milstone with the hammer of thy Word and mollifie them also with the brops of thy mercies and dew of thy Spirit make them humble fleshy flexible circumcised soft obedient new clean broken for we know That a broken and contrite heart thou wilt not despise O Lord our God give us grace from the very bottom of our heart to desire thée in desiring to seek thée in séeking to find thée in finding to love thée in loving thée utterly to loath our former wickedness never let us return in our hearts back again into Aegypt never let us long after the Léeks and Onions and Garlick thereof But being by thy mercy delivered and brought from thence and from the slavery of sin and Satan let it be our whole endeavour to walk humbly and obediently before our God that living in thy fear and dying in thy favour when we have passed through the Wilderness of this World we may possess that heavenly Canaan and happy land of promise prepared for all such as love thy coming even for every Christian soul and who is thy Dominion and Sanctuary Grant this O gracious God in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ who lives and reigns with thée and the Holy Spirit one God World without end Amen PSAL. CXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Prophet being zealous of Gods Honour which the Heathens went about to take from him and attribute to their Idols is earnest with God that it might be manifest that Honour did belong to him alone and might not be given to another There be four parts of this Psalm 1. His Vote and Petition for Gods Honour ver 1. that did not belong to any Idols because of their vanity from ver 3. to 9. 2. An Exhortation to praise God and hope in him from ver 10. to 12. 3. The Benefit that will accrue from it a blessing from ver 12. to 16. 4. A Profession that for the blessing they will bless God ver 17 18. 1. The first part His zeal for Gods honour Some joyn this Psalm to the former conceiving that the Prophet having expressed the goodness of God in the deliverance of his people from Aegypt would not have any part of the Glory attributed to Moses Aaron or any merits in them but wholly ascribed unto God himself And therefore he thus begins 1. Ver. 1 Not unto us not unto us nor any Leader amongst us 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to thy Name give the praise Which he desires to assume for three Reasons But unto thy Name give glory We seek it not take it wholly to thy self And this he desires he would alwayes shew in the protection of his people for three Reasons 1. For manifestation of his mercy Give glory to thy Name for thy mercy 2. Ver. 2 For declaration of his faithfulness in keeping his promise Do it for thy Truths sake Of which the last is that the Heathen do not blaspheme 3. That there might not be given an occasion to the Heathen to blaspheme as if they his people should be forsaken and destitute of help Wherefore should the Heathen say Where is now their God Well say it so fall out that the Heathen impiously ask the question Vbieorum Deus We have in a readiness what to answer them To the glory of our God but to the dishonour of their Idols Be it they do yet the answer is our God is in Heaven which he proves by an elegant Antithesis 1. As for our God he is in the Heavens and his miracles wrought for his people testifie as much Ver. 3 for he hath done whatsoever pleaseth him He hath and can deliver his people when he pleaseth Their gods are all Idols as appears and if it be his pleasure they must suffer also 2. But now I may better ask Where are their gods gods did I call them nay nay they are but Idols they deserve not the name of gods as is evident by the matter 1 By their matter whereof they are 2. the Makers of them 3. Their vanity and inutility 1. Their Idols are silver and gold at the best of no more precious stuffe Ver. 4 and yet though such from the Earth they fetch their Original 2. 2 Their makers The work of mens hands Works they are and not Masters of the work they made not themselves but were made and therefore baser than the basest Smith that made them 3. Of no use of no power at all 3 Their uselessness of no power for they can make no use at all of those parts which they seem to have for having the shape of men they can do nothing as men Ver. 5 For they have mouths but they speak not eyes they have Ver. 6 but they see not They have ears but they hear not noses they have but they smell not They have hands but they handle not feet they have but they walk not neither speak they through their throat They cannot do that which Beasts can send out of their mouths an inarticulate voyce or found so far they are from speaking 4. And thus the Prophet having derided their Idols he goes on 4 He derides the Idol-makers and derides 1. The Idol-makers They that make them are like to them a sensless people that think to make a god out of gold silver wood and stone 2. The Idol-worshippers So is every one that puts their trust in them And Idolaters trust and relies on that which cannot help In this life they are like to them for they seem neither to see and hear than hear and see indeed when they will not hear and see what belongs to their good and the Truth whence Christ saith out of the Prophet of such Having eyes they see not and ears but they hear not Mark 8. 2. And so the Prophet having passed this Sarcasme upon the Idols The second part and Idolaters he leaves them and turns his speech to the Israelites whom he exhorts to trust in God He exhorts Israel to trust in God 1. In general the whole Nation O Israel trust thou in the Lord Let the Heathen trust in their Idols but you are Gods servants trust you then in that Lord you serve And to encourage them he adds his Reason 1 In general all Israel He is their help and their shield the Lord Protector of the whole Nation 2. In particular the Tribe of Levi O house of Aaron trust in the Lord 2 In particular the Levites You are the Leaders and Guides in Religion and God is your portion and therefore you ought to trust especially in him He is their help 3 All that fear the Lord. and their shield a shield you need and he will be the Lord Protector of your Tribe 3. In a word Ye that fear the Lord Jewes or Proselytes in what Nation
that they may glorifie my Father which is in Heaven Thy praise I will sound forth thy Name I will magniffe confess I will that thou hast been to me a gracious God and merciful Father even in the Courts of the Lords house even in the midst of thee O jerusalem in which I know thou wilt alone accept of thanks and hear and grant the pelitions of thy servants that are offered unto thée through the merits and in the Name of thy Son Iesus Christ our Lord and Saviour PSAL. CXVII A Hymn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm is short and sweet it contains a Doxology to God for his mercy and truth and it is also Prophetical in reference to the calling of the Gentiles as it appears Rom. 15.11 Two parts there are of it 1. An Exhortation to all Nations to praise God The first part 1. A Doxology both Gentiles and Jewes 1. He speaks to the Gentiles Praise the Lord all ye Nations he means after they were converted and made sons of the Church For how shall they call on him in whom they have not believeâ—â— Rom. 10. 2. He speaks to the converted Jewes whom he notes under the name of people as they are call'd Psal 2.1 Acts 4.25 Praise the Lord all ye people Both now make but one Church and therefore both now ought to joyn together in the praise of God 2. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Reason give for it The second part 1. Because his merciful kindness is great nay confirmed toward us 2 The reason in sending his Son to be a Saviour both of Jewes and Gentiles His Church is built on a foundation against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail 2. Neither is his mercy only by this confirmed but the truth also of his promises fulfilled as he promised to send a Messias so he hath performed it and this his truth endures for ever for it shall never be challenged there is no other Messiah to be expected now for this Praise ye the Lord. The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and seventeenth Psalm O Omnipotent and gracious God when all Mankind walked according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the power of the Aire the spirit that works in the children of disobedience When they walked according to the lusts of the flesh and fulfilled the desires of the flesh and were by nature the children of wrath Thou who art rich in mercy for thy great love wherewith thou hast loved us wast pleased to send thy only begotten Son Jesus Christ and to deliver him to death for the salvation of the World This thy great mercy it pleased thée to make known to us by thy Apostles and to call us who were Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenant of Promise to be partakers of thy merciful kindness In Christ Jesus we who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ so great hath thy mercy béen even toward us therefore from us immortal thanks are due unto thée who find our selves saved not for our merits but by thy sole goodness We therefore beséech thée that thou wouldst so confirm our hearts by the Spirit of faith that without any doubt adhering to thy truth which endures for ever we may apprehend those good things which thou hast promised and offerest fréely to us O Lord have mercy upon all Iewes Turks Iufidels and Hereticks and take from them all ignorance hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord to thy flock that they may be saved among the remnant of thy true Israelites let us all méet in one Fold and have but one Shepherd that all Nations may praise the Lord and all people sing Hallelujah to thy holy Name through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. CXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DAVID being freed from many dangers and confirmed in his Kingdom according to Gods promise in this Psalm gives thanks The parts of this Psalm are 1. An Exhortation to praise God for his mercy from ver 1. to 5. 2. A perswasion to trust in God and that from his own example who call'd upon God in trouble and was deliver'd from ver 5. to 15. 3. The Exultation of the Church for it from ver 15. to 19. 4. A solemn Thanksgiving kept for it and in what manner it was celebrated from ver 19. to 28. 5. David invites to praise God The first part A short Doxology ver 28 29. 1. David invites all to praise God O give thanks unto the Lord and adds his Reasons 1. For he is good than which nothing could be said more briefly nothing more powerfully he is properly and absolutely good and therefore ought to be praised because there is nothing rightly worthy of praise but that which is good Ver. 1 Solum honestum laudabile 2. His reasons are 1. Good Good to us a mercifull God But secondly He is good and ever good to us a merciful God which flowes from his goodness and is then most conspicuous when it is imparted to those in misery Praise him because his mercy endureth for ever His mercy created us his mercy redeemed us his mercy protects us his mercy will crown us there is then no end of his mercy This his mercy extends especially to his people To his people and therefore he puts into the mouth of all his people this song of his mercy whom he distributes into three parts 1. Ver. 2 Let Israel now say the whole Nation that his mercy endureth for ever 2. Ver. 3 Let the house of Aaron that whole Tribe consecrated now to him say that his mercy endures for ever 3. Ver. 4 Let them now that fear the Lord Proselytes c. now say that his mercy endures for ever that is the burden of the Hymn so he begins so he ends ver 29. 2. The second part And so in general having given a Commendation of his mercy he desoends to that particular in which his mercy did consist The particulars of his mercy viz. A great deliverance of him when he was in a great strait which he could impute to no other cause than his mercy 1. Ver. 5 I was in distress And that 's the case of Gods people as well as Davids 2. I called upon the Lord I boasted not of my merits I complained not that I suffered unjustly but I fled to his mercy and invoked so did the Church in Peters case Of which he is an example Acts. 12.5 3. The issue was The Lord answered and set me in a large place and so it fell out to Peter Upon which experience David exults Shewing how God had been mercifull to him upon which he makes three Conclusions as the Church in the like case may so that all be still attributed to God and his mercy 1. The Lord is my helper And the first inference upon it
delivered over our souls to death this encourageth us yet to rely upon thée Ver. 8 and to trust to thée and we know It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes Ver. 14 For some would but cannot some can but will not help but thou art a God of power and if thou wilt Thou canst become our salvation and we believe thou wilt because thou hast spared us hitherto and hast not given us over to death Save now we beseech thee O Lord O Lord we beseech thee send us now prosperity Be our strength that we may resist and be our salvation that in thy Name we may destroy them that compass us about Let the voyce of rejoycing and salvation be once more in the Tabernacles of the righteous and let this be their song The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly The right hand of the Lord is exalted The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly We have béen froward and stubborn children and for this the doors of thy house have béen shut against us in mercy O Lord open unto us once more the gates of righteousness Ver. 19 that we may go into them and praise the Lord That hath befallen to us Ver. 22 which befel our Head thy dear Son our Lord and Saviour He was the Head-stone of the corner and yet the chief builders refused him and cast him aside but thou didst not forsake him in this contempt and low condition Thou call'ost for him again and gavest him a Name above every name This was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Look down now O Lord from thy Mercy-seat behold how the living stones in thy building are refused and cast aside call for them again and set them in their places and do it in such a way that the whole World may say This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise In the day of thy power thy people shall offer thée free-will offerings they shall appear in the beauty of holiness and sing This is the day that the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it God is the Lord that hath shewed us light The Priests then shall bless thy people as they ought out of thy house Ver. 1 and every one of thy people shall sing with a loud voyce and with his whole â—eart Thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God and I will exalt thee How joyful will be the melody of the whole Assembly as the Seraphims crying one to another O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth for ever Let them all now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever It is his mercy that we were not consumed and his méer mercy that hath brought us together again into his house to offer unto him this Sacrifice of Thanksgiving in the Name of Iesus Christ our Lord Amen PSAL. CXIX Est mixti generis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AS this Psalm is the longest of all the rest so it is of most use because it teacheth us in what true happiness doth consist and by what means it may be obtained to wit in the keeping of Gods Commandments 1. To these David shewes a singular affection because there is not any one verse except the 122. in which he makes not mention of Gods Word under some of these names Law Statutes Precepts Testimonies Commandments Promises Wayes Word Judgments Name Righteousness Trâ—th 2. What he writes of them he desires no doubt to be committed to memory and to help us in that he hath divided the whole into twenty two Sections and comprized every Section in eight verses and every verse in the Hebrew of each Section begins with that letter with whith the Section is intituled as if it begins with Aleph then Aleph begins every verse if with Beth with Beth and so in all the rest for which this Psalm may be called the A. B. C. of godliness 3. Any other method of this Psalm cannot well be laid only we may say that every verse in it either contains 1. A Commendation of Gods Word from some excellent quality in it 2. Promises to those that keep it 3. Threatnings against them that keep it not 4. A prayer of David for grace to confirm him in the observation of it 5. Protestations of his unfeigned affection toward it The meaning of those Synonyma'es used in this Psalm under which the Commandments of God are signified which are ten 1. The Law because it is the Rule of our actions Torah Gods Doctrine 2. Statutes because in them is set down what God would have us do 3. Precepts because God as the great Law-giver prescribes the Rule for us 4. Commandments because God layes his Commands upon us for their observation 5. Testimonies because they witness his Will to us and his Good-will if observed by us 6. Judgments because they pronounce Gods judgment of our words works thoughts 7. His Word because they proceeded from his mouth 8. The wayes of God because they shew the way that God would have us walk 9. His Righteousness because they contain an exact righteousness and justice in them 10. Promises because they have the promises of life if kept PSAL. CXIX ALEPH. IN this first Octonary The Contents the Prophet commends to us the Law of God and perswades to the practice of it by two Arguments The first is happiness ver 1 2. The second is the excellency of the Law-giver ver 4. 2. He shewes his affection to this Law desiring grace to keep it ver 5. upon which he knew there would follow a double effect 1. Peace in Conscience He should not be ashamed and confounded ver 6. David perswades to obedience 2. Thankfulness to God for his teaching ver 7. 3. He acquaints us with his Resolution if God should assist him ver 8. Blessed are they who are undefiled in the way Ver. 1 who walk in the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies Ver. 2 and seek him with their whole heart They also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes 1. The first argument Blessedness The first Argument the Prophet useth to perswade men to obedience is Blessedness which is so true that godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come eternal and temporal felicity depend upon it He then that would be happy must be obedient and his obedience if true may be thus discerned 1. Ver. 1 He must be undefiled in the way Via is vita and he must keep himself as much as may be from the dirt and filth of sin To
not the wicked of which he complains nor Gods forbearance would not better Saul He grew worse and worse Behold he travelleth with mischief as a woman with child and hath conceived iniquity and brought forth falshood and ungodliness he hath made and digg'd a pit and is fallen into the ditch which he hath made Ver. 14 that lurking there he may take me His strength his counsels Ver. 15 his crafts the Militia the conceptions of his heart his pit and snares are all laid for my destruction and therefore David prayes that the just God would revenge his cause and retaliate the injury and he is fully perswaded it would so fall out His mischief shall-return upon his own head Ver. 16 and his wickedness and violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate And in faith prophesies his ruine The third part A Doxology 3. The close of the Psalm is a Doxology thanks that a true just and merciful God would judge for the righteous save those who are true of heart establish the just and take revenge upon the wicked for this saith David Ver. 17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord the most High The Prayer collected out of the seventh Psalm O Lord God by whose power all things do subsist and before whose Majesty all creatures tremble I at this time beset with cruel enemies do flie so thée for succour and deliverance O Lord thou art my God and Saviour Ver. 1 in thee alone I put my trust be not then absent from me in this néedful time of trouble Ver. 2 but save me that hopes in thée alone from all those that persecute me and deliver me My enemy is of a brutish cruel nature ready to rend my soul as a Lyon that is gréedy of his prey bent to tear me in pieces if there he none to redéem and deliver me out of his paw so great is his rage and fierceness against me an innocent Against thée only have I sinned Ver. 3 and done this evil in thy sight and for that I beséech thée enter not into judgment with thy servant but against them I have done no harm Ver. 9 Thou O God triest the hearts and reins Thou art a righteous Judge Judge me therefore O Lord Ver. 8 according to my righteousness and according to the integrity Ver. 3 that is in me O Lord God if I have done this iniquity that they lay to my charge Ver. 4 or if there be any wickedness in my hands if I have rewarded them evil that dealt friendly with me nay if I have not saved his life that now pursues me to take away mine and done him good that now without any cause is mine enemy Ver. 5 Can any such thing be produced against me then I am content to suffer Then let my enemy persecute me take me whom he persecutes and being taken tread down my life ignominiously upon the earth and lay my honour and the honest memory of my name my Crown and glory in the dust But thou O Lord beholdest their craft and fury against me a poor innocent Thou séest how they Ver. 14 as a woman travelleth with iniquity how they conceive in their hearts false and mischievous wayes to destroy me and that the mischief that they have conceived they bring forth and bring to effect so much as lies in their power Ver. 15 Thou seest how they lay snares and dig pits that I an innocent person may fall into them and be taken by them and perish in them Be not therefore O Lord Ver. 6 like one that sléeps defer not thy justice nor withhold thy power but being conscious of my innocency arise in thy anger lift up thy self above mine enemies by the declaration of thy justice and power make them know that thou art higher than they Awake for me in that judgment that thou hast commanded commanded thou didst Samuel to make choice of me and to anoint me King of Israel his judgment was thy judgment that judgment which thou hast decréed and given Ver. 15 thou knowest the fittest time to perform if that time be now come then awake for me and let my enemies fall into the ditch that they have made Ver. 16 then let their mischief fall on their own head and their violent dealing come upon their own pate O Lord let not the impiety of wicked men longer continue Vers. 11 Make it appear that thou art a just God angry with the wicked every day Vers. 12 and though thou art a God of much patience and longanimity Vers. 13 yet if the wicked man will not turn from his wicked way make them know that thou hast whet thy sword and art ready to strike them that thou hast bent thy bow and art prepar'd to shoot them hast set thy arrow to the string and art aiming to pieres them In a word that thou hast prepared the instruments of death weapons inflamed with wrath hatred and fury against the persecutours of thy Church and people O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just Vers. 9 Restore thy Church to its prestine condition Vers. 7 so shall the Congregation of thy people compass thee about Religion which is now almost extinct shall again flourish and thy worship which is now dishonour'd with scandals and prophaneness shall again recover its ancient lustre by the méeting of thy people in thy house and joyful praises sent up to thée in the great Congregation For thy own Name-sake therefore and for thy honour exaâ—t thy power and shew thy strength and come amongst us Our sole defence is in thée O God Vers. 10 which savest and deliverest the upright in heart I will therefore praise the Lord according to his righteousness Vers. 17 and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high He hath kept defended protected me in so great dangers He will take a just reveâ—ge upon my enemies To his name therefore I give all honour glory laud and praise through Iesue Christ my only Lord and Saviour Amen PSAL. VIII This Hymn is a Meditation of Gods excellent goodness and glory shining in his Creatures especially in man IT begins and ends with a general proposition David admires Gads greatness goodness c. figur'd by an exclamation which contains an Admiration for he doth admire what he cannot perfectly comprehend O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world Vers. 1 who hast set thy glory above the heavens Such is the glory of thy Divinity power Vers. 1 goodness that it fills not only the earth but transcends the very heavens in which Angels and blessed Spirits though they know much more than we on earth yet cannot perfectly comprehend thy Majesty which fills all exceeds all Of which he gives divers instances This general being premised Of which he gives divers instances the Prophet descends to some particular
corrupted by the fair perswasions of hypocrites Secondly Or that he might not be partaker of their punishments Draw me not away with the wicked and workers of iniquity upon whom he sets this mark Ver. 3 Who speak peace with their Neighbours but mischief in their hearts Against whom he imprecates 3. Against whom he useth this imprecation which is the second part of his prayer Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavours Ver. 4 give them after the work of their hands render unto them their desert He doth not simply pray that punishment may overtake them but that it may be proportionable to their desert and he prayes earnestly for it as appears by the often repetition of words importing the same thing which that it seem not strange in the next verse he gives the Reason that they were enemies to Piety and contemners of God far from repentance and any hope of amendment Do this unto them Because they were enemies to piety Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands And then intimates that this their punishment was just and that it should come from above Ver. 5 Therefore he shall destroy them and not build them up Then there follows an excellent form of giving Thanks The second part His thankfulness into which he falls by an admirable Acclamation Blessed be the Lord of which blessing he assigns the Reasons which excellently expresseth the chief parts of Thanksgiving 1. Ver. 6 That God heard him He hath heard the voyce of my supplications 2. The Reasons of it That he would be his Protector The Lord is my strength and my shield 3. Ver. 7 For his grace of confidence My heart trusted in him 4. That from him he had relief I am helped 5. The testification and annuntiation of his Gratitude Therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth and in my song will I praise him He remembers the Indenture I will deliver thee and thou shalt praise me and therefore with heart and tougue he gives thanks 6. And that God should be sure to have all the Honour he repeats what he said before Ver. 8 The Lord is not my strength but their strength i. e. of all those that are with me and he is my strength also the strength of salvation for there were a plurality of them of his Anointed He concludes the Psalm with a Prayer The third part He commends the Church to Gods care and tuition in which he commends the whole Church to Gods Care and Tuition 1. Save thy People in the midst of these Tumults and Distractions 2. Bless thine-Inheritance that they may increase in knowledge piety wealth 3. Feed them and give them a better Shepheard than Saul 4. Lift them up for ever Make their name famous among the Gentiles give them dominion over them that it may be known they are thy peculiar people The Prayer collected out of the twenty eighth Psalm VNLD thée O Lord with all intention of heart and fervour of spirit I cry forsake me not and withdraw not thy help from me be not deaf and still silent to answer my prayers Ver. 1 lest I become as heartless and hopeless as they that descend into the grave Ver. 2 Hear the voyce of my supplications when I call unto thee when with affectionate desire and heat I lift up my hands to thy Mercy-seat Suffer me not to be corrupted with the fair perswasions of hypocrites Ver. 3 nor to be drawn away and deceived by the flattering lips of the workers of iniquity lest I be partaker of their sin and punishment who give good words and speak peace to their Neighbours when yet they imagine mischief in their hearts I know Ver. 4 O Lord that thy justice will overtake their sin and therefore as thou hast decréed Reward them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavours Ver. 5 give them after the work of their hands pay them what they have deserved I know they are malicious sinners that break thy Commands not upon ignorance and infirmity but presumptuoufly and with a high hand Shew thy great works in the Earth they regard it not let thy power of thy hand work wonders they pass it by without the least observance therefore O Lord destroy them with an irreparable ruine and never permit them to be raised and built again Blessed and thrice blessed be the Lord Ver. 6 to whose ears this my supplication is come and who I am certain will grant what I have asked of him The Lord is my strength to confirm me my shield to defend me in him my heart trusted and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth my mouth I will open to his honour my song shall be of him all the day long and with a chearful mind and a grateful tongue I will praise him Lor save thy people and bless thine inheritance save them with thy hand bless them that they may increase in knowledge piety and wealth feed them with thy Word and lift up their heads above those that hate them that it may be known they are thy chosen Israel the people of thy love Be unto them a Tower of strength against the face of their enemy and send them salvation by the hand of thy Anointed and at last bring them to eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Another out of the same Psalm O Heavenly Father we humbly beséech thy goodness when we cry unto thée to hear our supplications for if thou turn away thine ear and neglect to give us Audience in these our pressures and afflictions the men of thy hand will prevail against us and bring down our life unto the pit We do acknowledge before thée that our wayes have béen perverse our works wicked and the imagination of our hearts only vain and evil continually yet O Lord we desire to be holy render therefore not unto us not according to our deserts but according to thy great mercies Of thy insinite goodness reckon us not with the workers of iniquity suffer us not to be seduced by and punished with wicked men as we have deserved return unto them O Lord seven-fold into their bosome but to us thy people be propitious Be unto us O Lord strength and a buckler save us in our dangers féed us in our necessities favour us in our enterprises and give us success in our actions O Lord we are thine inheritance the people that thou hast adopted to be thy children and heirs heap upon us here thy mercies and hereafter bring us to an everlasting inheritance in Heaven by the precious merits of Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. XXIX An Exhortation to praise God THERE be two parts of this Psalm 1. The Exhortation it self ver 1 2. 2. The Reasons to perswade drawn 1. From his Power from ver 3. to 11. 2. From the Protection of his people ver 11. The Exhortation which is
as some great King in his Throne providing for all the parts of his Empire examining all Causes and doing justice to every one 1. Vers. 13 The Lord looks from heaven and beholds all the sons of men 2. That he sees all From the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth Vers. 14 3. And he is not â—â—iosus spectator neither Vers. 15 He sees and considers their hearts their works Considers in what men put their trust And he sees in what they put their confidence in their Armies in theiâ— strength in their Horse not in him But all in vain Vers. 16 For there is no King that can be saved by the multitude of an Hoast Evacuates their designs A mighty man is not delivered by much strength An horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any man by his great strength Multitude strength c. without God are useless 2. Hitherto he hath given a proof of Gods providence toward all men 2 But defends his Church but now he descends to a particular proof of it by his care over his Church which he wonderfully guides defends protects in all dangers and assaults And that notice be taken of it he begins with an Ecce Behold the eye of the Lord his tender'st care is over them that fear him Vers. 18 upon them that hope in his mercy To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine Upon this Gods people The third part The three last verses contain the Acclamation of Gods people who believe and place all their hope and trust in God For being excited as it were by the former Arguments They do three things Vers. 20 1. They express and profess their faith and dependance on God 1 Wait on him Our soul waiteth on God he is our help and our shield Vers. 21 2. They publish upon what hope they are held up and how comforted 2 Publish his name and rejoice in it For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his Holy Name Vers. 22 3. Upon this hope they commend themselves by prayer to God 3 Commend themselves to Gods mercy Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee The Prayer collected out of the thirty third Psalm O God thy goodness is so great thy faithfulness so constant thy power so wonderful thy providence so universal but thy care so Fatherly toward thy people that we were unworthy of the least of thy mercies should we not acknowledge them and return thee due honour and thanks For there is nothing in the whole world which doth not witness thée to be a bountiful God Vers. 4 and a most Merciful Father Thy Word O Lord thy Decrée for the Creation and Government of the World is right and equal and all thy works are done in true wisdom righteousness and judgement Vers. 5 For there is nothing that thou hast commanded which is not just Nothing that thou hast promised which thou wilt not make good and bring to pass Out of that love thou bearest to righteousness and judgement the earth is full of thy goodness there being in it nothing so minute and vile which one way or other doth not partake of thy bounty Vers. 6 and commend thy goodness and mercy to us By thy Word alone and sole Command were those incorruptible Orbs of the Heavens made and confirm'd and all the hoast of them that multitude of starres so orderly and beautifully disposed by the breath the word the Fiat of thy mouth Thou hast gather'd together those unruly waters of the Sea into one place and shut them up with bounds and limits that they return not again to cover the earth And thou hast hidden and laid up great streams of waters in the bowels of the earth as in a Treasure-house which at thy pleasure thou bring'st forth to water a thirsty Land He spake and all this was done he commanded and it stood fast For so great is thy power that without any labour without any delay without any help all this was done and that by thy Will and Word only and by thy Word and Will it is that it doth so now continue and remain without dissolution Therefore O ye righteous rejoice in the Lord Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner Vers. 2 praise therefore a righteous God with an upright heart Neither with your mouth only express his praise but set it forth with musical instruments Praise the Lord with the Harp sing unto him with the Psaltery and an instrument of ten strings And you who have so often sung of his honour now since he hath renew'd his mercies set forth your joy with a New Song play skilfully with a loud voice So set forth his praise his power his wisdom his mercy that all the earth may fear the Lord and the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him For what he hath ordained by his eternal counsel shall be fulfill'd and stand fast for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations Since then thou O Jehovah art most just most merciful most Mighty blessed is that Nation who have chosen and worshipped thee O Lord for their God and happy is the people whom thou hast chosen for thine inheritance O make us Lord alwayes of this people that we may be happy under thy protection Dwell in the midst of us and bless us But O Lord bring the counsels of wicked men against this thy people to nought and make the devices of the people of none effect Look down from heaven and behold all the sons of men from the place of thy habitation look upon the inhabitants of the earth Thou searchest the very hearts and reins and knowest all their plots and secret counsels they take against thy people thou séest their preparations and provisions O Lord make them know and so fashion their hearts that they may perceive that all hope and confidence is in vain which is not in thée Because there is no other can save besides thy self For there is no King that can be saved by the multitude of an hoast neither is a mighty man deliver'd by much strength An Horse whether in battle or flight is a vain-deceitful thing to save a man neither shall he deliver his rider by his great strength It is not in these vain helps we put our considence our hope is in thée alone on thée we relie to thée we trust from thée we look for help Let thy eye therefore O Lord be upon us that fear thee who relie not upon any merits and creatures but on thy méer mercy let thy everlasting mercy then follow us and deliver our souls from temporal and eternal death and suffain us with a sufficient livelihood in the time of famine Upon thee O Lord our soul doth wait be our shield to protect us our help to deliver us So shall our heart
rejoice in thee and we shall have just occasion to triumph that we have trusted in thy Holy Name O Lord let thy infinite Mercy be upon us according as we hope in thee For thy Sons sake we hope for mercy and for his sake let it descend upon us Amen PSAL. XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm is composed with great art which must be observ'd by him who will rightly Analyse it The Scope of it is to praise God and instruct in his fear The parts in General are 1. He praiseth God himself and calls upon others by his example to do so from vers 1. to 8. 2. He sets himself in the place of a Master instructs and teacheth in the fear of God from vers 8. to the last 1. David praiseth God The first part He praiseth God himself which he professeth thus 1. I will bless the Lord. 2. His praise shall be 3. He would boast in it 2. Vers. 1 He would not cease in it it should be done all his dayes Continually 3. Expressed it should be by his mouth Vers. 2 but by a tongue affected by the heart My â—oul shall make her boast in the Lord. 4. And so long he would continue in it till others were moved to do the like The humble shall hear thereof and will be glad 2. Upon which he provokes others to join with him to praise God also And incites others to it O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together Vers. 3 And that he may the easilier encourage them unto it In that God heard his prayer and will hear others also he proposeth his own example of Gods dealing to him I sought the Lord and he heard me and deliver'd me from all my fears Yea but perhaps it may be said This was a singular mercy exhibited to David To which he replies in effect No a Mercy it is Vers. 4 that belongs to all that seek God Vers. 5 They looked unto him and were lightned and their faces were not ashamed Vers. 6 But it seems this did not satisfie neither For they rejoin And by his Angel deliver them This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him that is David but he was in favour and saved him out of all his troubles Vers. 7 To which he replies by this general and undeniable Maxime The second part The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Be they who they will He gives them counsel And for this cause he perswades them to join with him in the praise of God 2. And thence he falls to his instructions Now the Lessons are two Vers. 8 1. That they make a trial of Gods goodness 1 To relie on God O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him Vers. 9 2. That they become his Servants O fear the Lord ye his Saints 2 To fear him for they shall not wanr for there is no want to those that fear him Which he illustrates by a comparison The lyons lack c. But they that seek the Lord shall not These promises and this blessing belongs to none but such as fear God Vers. 10 That then no man deceive himself conceiving that he shall have a share in the blessing when it belongs not to him he enters upon and discourses of the common place The Fear of God and calls his Auditours to be attentive 3 This fear he teacheth Come you Children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. That fear of the Lord which if a man be desirous of life and to see many dayes Vers. 11 shall satisfie him And if he be ambitious to see good Vers. 12 the peace of a quiet soul and good conscience shall lodge it with him 4 And shews the qualities of the man in whom this fear is 1. Let him be sure to have a Lock upon his tongue Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips that they speak no guile 2. Let him bear no affection to injustice Vers. 13 Decline and depart from evil 3. Let him be charitable ready to do good works Do good Vers. 14 4. Let him be a Peace-maker Seek peace and ensue it Else he fears not God These be the Characters of those that seek the Lord and fear him and these shall want no manner of thing that good is Nothing that God sees good for them Object Yea but are not the righteous exposed to obloquies scorn injuries c. and do not the wicked flourish in wealth power and authority c. To these God is propitious Resp. Yes indeed but they the godly are neither unhappy for this nor the ungodly happy For though the world deride them and tread them underfoot yet they are dear to God 1. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous Vers. 15 and his ears are open to their cry 2. But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil Vers. 16 to cut off the remembrance of them from off the earth And upon this point David makes his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which largely he declares and comes over it in the rest of the Psalm 1. The righteous cry and the Lord heareth him Vers. 17 and delivereth him out of all his troubles he hears him ad voluntatem or ad salutem and delivers him either by taking them from him or him from them 2. Vers. 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Consolatur confirmat roborat 3. I confess that many are the afflictions of the righteous But deserted they are not But the Lord delivers him out of them all because he makes him patient constant able cheerful in all Superiour to all 4. He keeps all his bones so that not one of them is broken Perhaps it refers to Christ whose bones were not broken or to the bones of the Saints in their graves which shall come again together Capilli capitis numerantur But as for the ungodly But the wicked shall perish for their malice it is not so with them Occidet impios malicia The very root of their perdition is their malice The first shew'd to God the second to good men 1. Vers. 21 Evil shall slay the wicked 2. And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate And then David concludes this Psalm with this excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though God suffers his Servants to come into trouble yet he delivers them from thence For that is the nature of Redemption The godly delivered to free one from misery for Redeem'd one cannot be who is not under some hardship This shall be done saith David The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants Vers. 22 and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate The Prayer collected out of the thirty fourth Psalm MAny Vers. 1 O Lord are the
the merits of thy only Son my Lord and only Saviour Iesus Christ Amen PSAL. XL. VVhich is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THERE be two main parts of this Psalm 1. A Thanksgiving from ver 1. to 11. 2. A Prayer from ver 11. to the end Thankfulness consists in the exercise of two vertues Truth and Justice 1. Truth causeth us to acknowledge the benefit and from it we have received it 2. Justice ties us to be grateful and to perform some duties as evidences of our thankful mind and both these we meet with in the first part David begins with the profession of his thankfulness The first part David waits on God and he premits to it his confidence I waited patiently for the Lord then shews the success or what God did for him 1. The success of his waiting He inclined his ear and heard my cry 2. He brought me also out of the horrible pit out of the mire and clay 3. He set my feet upon a Rock being drawn from danger he set me in a safe place 4. He established my goings he confirmed my steps that I slip and slide no more 5. And he hath moved me to be thankful He hath put a new song into my mouth He is thankful even a thanksgiving unto our God The deliverance was not common and therefore the praise should not be common but expressed by a new and exquisite song Of which he conceived the consequent would be And conceives others by his example would wait and be thankful also In his thanksgiving he shews the blessed man that his example would be a common document many shall see it my deliverance my thanks and shall fear God and acknowledge his providence and protection and shall put their trust in the Lord. And so he falls upon his form of thanksgiving and First Pronounceth the man blessed that relies on God affirmatively 1. Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust reposeth his hope in him 1 He it is that relies on God 2. Negatively trusts on no man respects not the proud men proud of their wealth 2 Not on man wit or power nor such as turn aside to lies trust on lying vanities 3 Admires Gods works which will deceive Secondly Then by an exclamation admires Gods mercies and goodness to his people 1. For their multitude and greatness Many O Lord my God are thy Works 2. For the strangeness they are not vulgar but miraculous Thy wonderful Works 3. For the incomparable wisdom by which they are done and ordered Many O Lord my God are thy wondrous Works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare them and speak of them they are more than can be numbred 2. And so having in words acknowledged his thankfulness 4 His real thanks by obedience he descends to speak of the other part of his gratitude his real thanks to which in equity he thought himself bound viz. To be obedient to Gods voice which is the best sacrifice and indeed far beyond all legal sacrifices as is apparent in Christ to whom these words and the obedience contained in them is principally attributed and by way of accommodation belongs to every one of his Members who means to be thankful for his Redemption 1. And first he acquaints us that the outward worship is to little worship Which was 1. Sincere inward if sincerity and true piety inwardly be wanting Sacrifice and offerings thou didst not desire burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required Not these absolutely but as subservient to true piety and the internal obedience of the heart without which they are of little value I will have mercy and not sacrifice 2. To this end Aures perforasti mihi Thou hast opened boared 2 Outward and made a window in my ear made me docible and thy servant 3. And I will be obsequious a willing and voluntary servant Then said I lo I come this thy whole Law requires 3 Voluntary such in Christ in the Volume of thy Book it is written 4. He describes his singular obedience 1. That he performed it chearfully and with complacency 1 Chearful I delight to do thy Will O my God 2. That he did it heartily Thy Law is within my heart 2 Hearty The obedience of eyes hands and feet may be hypocritical and feigned that which is done with the heart cannot that the heart thou requirest and that thou shalt have to that purpose I have placed thy Law there 3. That he did it charitably to the benefit of others 3 Charitable for our good he published the Gospel 1. I have preached righteousness in the great Congregation 2. I have not refrained my lips and that thou knowest Feci sine fuco In the publication of the Gospel 3. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart 4. I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation 5. I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and truth from the great Congregation The commendation of the Gospel In which verse we have the commendation of the Gospel that it is righteousness for it justifies it sanctifies that it is Gods truth and faithfulness for in it his promises are performed that it is our salvation freeing us from sin death To which we must be obedient Gods wrath hell which must be published and preached in the great Congregation and to it obedience must be yielded to which there be four things necessary set down in this place 1. The help of Gods Spirit Thou hast opened my ears 2. A ready and willing mind Then said I lo I come 3. A ready performance in the work I delight to do thy Will 4. That a respect be had to Gods Law Thy Will is within my heart And thus having premised his thanks for some deliverance already receive The second part He petitions for favour he thought he might be the bolder to petition for continuance of this mercy and favour for the future upon which he now enters in these words Withhold not thou thy mercy from me O Lord let thy loving-kindness and truth continually preserve me His reasons for it Of which Petition he adds a necessary Reason drawn from the greatness of his evils and sins 1. For innumerable evils have compassed me his miseries were many His sad condition 2. My iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more in number than the heirs of my head 3. Therefore my heart faileth me my agony is great my vital spirits fail And therefore prayes again Be pleased O Lord to deliver me And for the confusion of his enemies make haste to help me 2. The second part of his prayer is for the confusion of his wicked enemies Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it let them
the Ark or else by the setling of it in the Temple by Solomon to foretel the Ascension of Christ into heaven who was the true Ark of the Covenant and the Propitiatory Then there was a Jubilee and so there must be at the remembrance of this It contains a Prophesie of Christs Kingdom and it hath two especial parts First Christs ascension typified An invitation to sing praises to Christ Secondly The reasons that perswade to it 1. Vers. 5 The Ascension of Christ is under the Arks ascension typified Verse 5. God is gone up with a shout His invitation to praise God for it the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet 2. Upon which he invites that we do that at this feast which was then done Vers. 1 viz. That we clap hands and sing praises That this be done 1. Cheerfully O clap your hands for clapping of hands is an outward sign of inward joy Nahum 3.19 2. Universally O clap hands all ye people 3. Vers. 6 Vocally Shout unto God with the voice of melody 4. Frequently Sing praises sing praises sing praises sing praises vers 6. And again sing praises vers 7. It cannot be done too often 5. Knowingly and discreetly Sing ye praises with understanding know the reason why you are to praise him 3. Now these reasons are drawn from his Greatness and his Goodness 2 The reasons to perswade to it 1. He is Great He is the Lord the most high 2. Terrible 3. A great King over all the earth All power at his Ascension 1 God great given to him in heaven and earth Vers. 2 2. He is a Good God Vers. 7 1. In collecting his Church by subduing the Nations 2 Good and that in four respects not by a Sword but by his Word and Spirit by which he would subdue their iniquities the iniquity of the Jew first Vers. 3 and then of the Gentile For the Law was to come out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem To the discipline of that Religion and Service which we profess both were to submit and therefore both might well be said to be subdued to us and be brought under our feet Vers. 4 2. In honoring and rewarding his Church He shall chuse out an heritage for us even the worship of Jacob whom he loved 1. His Church was his choice A chosen generation a select people 2. His heritage for he will dwell among them and provide an inheritance for them blessings on earth and an inheritance in heaven 3. This is the worship and glory of Jacob of Jacob after the Spirit the Kingdom Priest-hood and all the promises made unto Jacob and the Fathers being theirs 4. The cause His love only He chose Vers. 7 c. because he loved 3. In increasing and amplifying his Church God is the King now of all the earth not of the Jews only For he reigneth over the heathen also He sits upon a Throne of Holiness rules by his Holy Word and Spirit making them Holy who were unholy 2. Yea and a willing people also For the Princes of the people are gathered together even the people of the God of Abraham 4. In protecting his Church whether by himself Vers 9 or by the Princes he raiseth up for her defence For the shields of the earth belong unto God Princes and Prelates are shields of the Church but God is the chief He is greatly exalted The Eucharistical Prayer collected out of the forty seventh Psalm O Lord God who hast exalted thy Son Iesus Christ with great Triumph into the Kingdom of heaven we beséech thée leave us not comfortless but send to us thy Holy Spirit to comfort us and exalt us to the same place whither our Saviour is gone before And thou O blessed Saviour Vers. 5 who when thou hadst finished our Redemption on earth didst ascend to the beaven in great glory and Majesty Vers. 2 and satest down on the right-hand of thy Father and art become the Lord the most high terrible and a great King over all the earth receive the petitions of thy humble Servants present them at the Throne of Grace and make intercession for us Subdue the people by the power of thy Spirit Vers. 3 and bring the Nations under thy féet by the sharp edge of thy Word Cause those who are yet strangers and aliens from thy worship to fall low before thée and perswade all those who are yet afar off to come néer and to embrace thy Gospel and the truth and equity of thy Law The time was Vers. 4 when in Judah only God was known and thy Name was great in Israel it was the excellency of Jacob which thou didst love but now thou hast merited Vers. 7 and art ordained to be the King of all the earth since therefore thou hast chosen these also for thine inheritance Vers. 4 reign thou even over the Heathen Vers. 8 and subduing their iniquities sit upon thy Throne of Holiness among them O happy day Vers. 9 when not the meanest and lowest but the greatest and the noblest when the Princes of the people shall be gathered together and be united to the people of the God of Abraham being all worshippers of the same God professors of one and the same Faith and partakers of one and the same mercy For then should the name of our God who is truly the shield and defence of his people be greatly exalted in the earth The praises of our God should then be in our mouths Vers. 7 and with-wisdom and understanding should we sing our Psalms heart and hand affections and work being every way agréeable to our Psalmodie O Lord infinite and wonderful are thy wayes and works toward the children of men but the work of Redemption by the blood of thy dear Son farre excéeds them all For this love for this mercy O work upon our hearts to sing praises to thy honour our tongues to sing praises to thy glory our lips to shout with the voice of melody O all ye Saints of his Vers. 1 Clap your hands for joy shout for triumph sing praises to God Vers. 5 sing praises sing praises to our King sing praises Let hands and tongue and works and words be ready prest to sing praises to the God of Jacob. Amen PSAL. XLVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 UNder the Type Jerusalem is set down the happiness of the Church which is alwayes protected by Gods favour Three parts there are of this Psalm 1. The excellencies and priviledges of the City of God from vers 1. to 4. 2. A Narration of a miraculous deliverance she obtain'd and upon it the Terrour that fell on her enemies from vers 4. to 8. 3. An Exhortation to consider it and praise God from vers 8. to 15. 1. The first part He begins with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised Great in himself Vers. 1 and greatly to be praised for all things in all
was good reason for God had been very good to him which in the next verses he declares and calls to others to come and hear that too 1. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my soul To those that fear God he calls to come for they were most likely to regard it Vers. 16 And he calls them not to confider what Sacrifices how many how bountiful he offered Not what he had done to God but what God had done to him 2. And this was that God had done for him I cryed unto him with my mouth and extoll'd him with my tongue and God heard me and attended to the voice of my prayer vers 17 19. 3. Yea but then he would have notice taken what kind of person he was when he cryed and prayed No impious person no impenitent sinner conscious enough of infirmities but no way indulgent to his sin For if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me God hears not sinners 5. The fifth part A Doxology Lastly He closeth the Psalm with a Doxology blessing God that out of mercy not of any merit he would hear and grant his requests Blessed be God which hath not turn'd away my prayer nor his mercy from me The Thanksgiving and Prayer out of the sixty sixth Psalm O All ye that dwell in the earth Vers. 1 make a joyful noise unto God set a Psalm to the honour of his name obscure not his glory darken not his honour but in a glorious and magnificent fashion make it known that praise and honour are his due Say even before God O Lord how wonderful and admirable are thy wayes and thy works past finding out how terrible are thy doings even among thy very enemies so that not only they which love and serve thée with an honest heart shall submit unto thée but even those whom thou hast conquered by thy power and subdued by thy mighty arm Those willingly these against their wills shall adore and worship and sing praise to thy name which is great wonderful and holy But O the stupidity of men O the dullness of our wits God does terrible things but they are not regarded his works are wonderful but they are not considered Come then and sée the works of God and confessed it must be that he is terrible in his doings toward the children of men Who was it that turn'd the red Sea into dry land was it not thée O Lord Who made Jordan to stand on a heap till thy people went through the flood on foot was it not thy power Even we we that were not then born will rejoyce for it being assured that thou which didst these wonders for them wilt do even mighty things for us also in them we were delivered we were saved In him I say did they rejoice and in him will we rejoice since it is the same God that rules by his power for ever the same God whose eyes of providence beholds all Nations conserving Crowns disposing Scepters and upholding Cities and civil Societies in a word the same God that brings down the rebellious though they exalt themselves and set their nests above the clouds O God of our salvation thou hast of late shew'd thy people heavy things Vers. 10 proved us thou hast by many tribulations tryed us by a fiery affliction even as silver is melted and tryed in the fire till it be purified and refined from the dross but not consumed Thou hast permitted us to be brought into captivity and slavery Our enemies have enclosed us as with a Net out of which we had no hope to escape upon our loyns they have laid heavy loads as if we were no better than beasts of burden They have set their feet upon our necks and insulted and rode over our heads So many have been our calamities so many our pressures that we seem'd as men burning in a fiery furnace or compassed round with a vast deluge of waters And yet O Lord we were not consumed thou even thou hast upheld our soul in life and not suffered us for any affliction to fall from thee pressed we were but not oppressed sing'd but not burnt tempted but not overcome in mercy thou hast not suffered our feet to slip And to endear and crown this thy mercy the more unto us after all this trial and trouble thou hast brought us into a moist fertile and wealthy place where for sorrow we shall have joy for discomfort refreshment for barrenness fertility for want plenty in a word for our troubles rest and felicity Now for this wonderful and unexpected vicissitude O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard This thy goodness O Lord shall never be written in sand nor laid up in an ungrateful heart for this I will go into thy house and fall low before thy foot-stool and offer unto thee a Sacrifice of praise which is better than all burnt-offerings I will pay thee there those vowed thanksgivings which my lips have clearly uttered and my mouth hath distinctly spoken when I was in trouble Cheerfully and willingly I will offer unto thee as a Holocaust upon the Altar of a penitent heart the whole man body and soul to be a living holy and acceptable Sacrifice unto thee And indeed I should be very ungrateful should I offer less for Come you hither all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my soul In my great distress and sorrow of heart I cryed aloud to him for help with my mouth and as I cryed my tongue exalted and extolled him as him alone that was able and I expected to deliver me and because I call'd unto him with a clean and sincere heart he graciously heaâ—â— me and gave attention to my prayer For of this I am assured that had I served him with a double heart and called upon him with hypocritical lips that the Lord had not heard me For obstinate malicious impenitent sinners he will not hear nor such as regard iniguity with their heart Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which hath not turn'd away my prayer not that I am worthy to be heard not that I can bring any thing of worth that may encline his ear It is his sole mercy his love his goodness that I can plead and out of his mercy he hath heard and I am assured that he will hear those petitions which I offer unto him in the name of Jesus Christ his Son my only Lord and Saviour Amen PSAL. LXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm contains a Prayer of Israel first for the flourishing estate of their own Church and people and then that the Mercy and Blessing of God might be so extended to them that the Kingdom of Christ might be enlarg'd and all Nations come in and bless and praise God with them with joyful hearts and exultation of spirit The parts are 1. A general Prayer
before the Jewes but now all universally Sing unto God ye Kingdoms of the Earth O sing praises to the Lord. Selah And that all Nations do it His Reasons 2. His Reasons to perswade it 1. The Majesty of God testified 1. 1 The Majesty of God By his works To him that rides upon the Heaven of Heavens which were of old 2. 2 His protection His power in his Thunder in his Word He doth send forth his voyce and that a mighty voyce 2. His wise protection and providence to his people Ascribe ye the power to God his excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the Cloud 3. 3 His goodness to his Church His communication of himself to his Church in particular 1. O Lord thou art terrible out of thy holy places 2. The God of Israel is he that gives strength and power to his people 3. Blessed be God with that Epiphonema he concludes The Prayer collected out of the sixty eight Psalm O God in Majesty terrible in thy protection of thy people most merciful since thy power is so great thy presence so powerful that at the blasting of the breath of thy Nostrils thy enemies vanish as a vapour when it is raised to the highest and those that hate thée haste from thy presence Why art thou absent from us why sléepest thou in this néedful time of trouble O Lord awake and arise for us and scatter our nay thy enemies they hate not us Ver. 1 but thée and thy Law and Ordinances make them to flie from thy face drive them away as smoke as wax consumes and melts before the fire Ver. 2 so let the wicked perish at thy presence O God so shall the righteous have just occasion to rejoyce Ver. 3 they shall rejoyce before thee their God they shall be exceedingly joyful O God Thou art infinite in thy Essence wonderful in thy works most merciful in thy wayes to the sons of men Thou ridest above upon the Heavens when we crawle upon this Dunghill of Earth Thou art Jehovah and hast a being in thy self a time there was when we were not and the time will come when we shall not be and what we are at present we have from thée O let us live then and we will praise thée Turn away thy wrath from us and we will rejoyce before thee and sing praises to thy Name As Orphans we are in this World be thou our Father as Widows be thou our Husband Ver. 5 destitute we are without any humane help left alone and solitary O gather us into Families and Societies for our rebellions against thée bound we are with Chains and brought into a dry Land hear the groans and sighs we send up unto thée and out of thy holy habitation make it appear that thou art present with us look upon the humble consider thy dispersed and distracted people have pity on the Widows and Orphans and let us dwell once more together in peace unity and plenty O God Ver. 7 when thou wentest before thy people Israel when thou didst lead them through the Wilderness then thou didst march before them in a cool Cloud by day and in a Pillar of fire by night the dull and heavy earth was moved at thy presence the Heavens drop't Manna the Clouds shot forth lightnings even Sinai it self trembled when thou gavest thy Law unto thy people and after thou brought'st them into a wealthy Land O Lord thy power is yet the same and thy goodness immutable go out before us a sinful Nation and yet thy people as thou didst rain down Manna for them so also we beg of thée to send us necessaries from above and let this our Land that hath béen long afflicted with many evils enjoy a quiet peace and her inhabitants the fruits of peace confirm us Lord in that inheritance which thou hast given us let thy Congregation dwell therein and of thy goodness not for our merits prepare and provide meat and rayment for thy people that hath béen long oppressed by Tyrants We have heard with our ears O God and our Fathers have told us what thou hast done in their time of old great is the company that have published in our hearing that by thy mighty power Kings with their Armies did flie and haste away and that thou hast given the spoil to be divided among thy Houshold-servants This puts us in hope that we even we that have béen for a long time cast aside as the off-scouring of all things and black and inglorious by many pressures shall yet be called for again and set in our inheritances our Dove-like and innocent faces shine as silver and glister as gold the Snow upon the top of Salmon shall not be so white as shall our innocence when thou by these afflictions hast purged away out dross and melted away our tin Such a mercy we cannot expect for our own sakes for we are a sinful people but Lord remember Zion and be gracious to Jerusalem This is the Hill of God in this thou desirest to dwell this thou hast chosen to dwell in for ever Shall then the other Hills insult over it shall the Kings of the Nations and pride of Tyrants trample it to the dust Thy Chariots O God are twenty thousands even thousands of Angels and thou Lord art among them as in Sinai Now Lord shew thy self in glory ascend on High get the victory and triumph over the enemies of thy-Church lead them Captives that have captiv'd us and make them bring and offer thee gifts that have robbed thy Temples and so change the hearts of the rebellious That thou Lord may'st dwell among them and be acknowledged and worshipped by them Bring thy people O Lord out of their troubles as thou of old didst deliver thy chosen from the fury of Og the King of Bashan or thy people Israel from the hands of Pharoah that pursued them to the depths of the red Sea Wound the head of thy enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his wickedness let thy Beloved wash their feet in the blood of their enemies and let the very Dogs lick their blood wisely they wrought against us conceiving they had inclosed us but thou art our God the God of our Salvation to thée belongs and thou hast shewed that there be in thy power many issues from death for where the help of man hath failed Thou hast reached forth thy hand and delivered us from the jaw of the Lyon and the paw of the Boar Blessed then be the Lord which daily loads us with benefits even the God of our salvation Make thy Word perfect O our God rebuke the multitude of the Spear-men restrain the fury of those whose rage and anger against us is no less than that of enraged Bulls still the tumults of the people scatter all those that delight in War for thy Temples sake at Jerusalem be propitious unto us and strengthen that O God which
willingly others against their wills obey him They that dwell in the Wilderness shall bow before him 2. His enemies shall lick the dust Croutch at his feet low to the earth 3. Homage shall be done to him by Asian Europaan and Arabian Princes 1. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents The Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts 2. Nay all Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him 5. He sets down divers excellent qualities of this King 1. He should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready to good 3 The qualities of the King a gracious Lord to the meanest Subject For he shall deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper Vers. 12 2. He should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 far from loading his Subjects with exactions Vers. 13 burdens penalties He shall spare the poor and shall save the soul of the needy 3. Vers. 14 Far from all tyranny For he shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence 4. Far from shedding innocent blood And precious shall their blood be in his sight 6. 4 The gratitude of his Subjects And as he shall be kind and loving to his Subjects so shall his Subjects shew great love and affection to him 1. Vers. 15 They shall pray for his life He shall live 2. They shall offer him presents And to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia 3. They shall pray for him Prayer also shall be made for him continually 4. The motive to their gratitude They shall speak well of him Dayly shall he be praised 7. And that which in all likelyhood might move them to it was that besides the equity and justice love and kindness he shew'd to all they found that under him they were in a happy condition they enjoyed a very great plenty and abundance of all things The plenty they enjoyed under him 1. For the earth brought forth corn in abundance not so much as the Mountains Vers. 16 but afforded them an ample Harvest There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top the highest part of the Mountains The fruit even there shall shake stand so thick that the ears brush one against another as the trees in Lebanon 2. And the Kingdom shall abound in people They of the City shall flourish as grass upon the earth Which is thick set and green In a word Which moved them to love his Memory this King shall be so dear unto his people that they shall love his name living and honour his memory when he is dead and continue it to all posterities 1. Vers. 17 His name shall endure for ever His name shall be continued as long as the Sun 2. Men shall be blessed in him God bless thee as he did Solomon 3. All Nations shall call him blessed acknowledge his happiness and wish a blessing to themselves after Solomons example 3. The third part The Doxology In the close of the Psalm according to his manner he gives thanks For taking into his consideration the happiness that was to accrue unto his people under such a King even when he was laid up in his grave He breaks forth 1. Vers. 18 Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel which only doth wondrous things for indeed such a King is a wonder and 't is the grace and Spirit of God that must make him so 2. And again Blessed be his glorious Name for ever 3. Vers. 19 And that not in Judea alone but all the world over And let the whole earth be fill'd with his glory Amen Amen The Prayers of David the Son of Jesse Vers. 20 are ended Of which 1. Some and most judge that this was the last Prayer David made 2. Jumus that it was so the last that it is absolutely the last and those that follow were composed by some other And adds Haec est mea sententia But Bellarmine runs as wide another way affirming that all the Psalms were composed by David The Prayer collected out of the seventy second Psalm O Merciful God Vers. 1 the fountain and giver of all good things give unto our Solomon whom thou hast set to be King over thy people an understanding heart grant that the equity of thy Law may alwayes be before his face commit unto this son of our King thy power of judicature and let him alwayes bear in his mind that he is in thy place and judgeth for thée whose sentence is righteous and execution just For so long as he shall be guided by thy righteousness he will rule thy elect people with equity and thy poor Vers. 2 that are left to thy care and depend on thée with a righteous decrée Grant that all those who are Magistrates under him be they Mountains Vers. 3 or lower Hills in a higher or a lower order may receive from above and from his example peace and justice and administer both so unto thy people that all unjustice boing removed thy people may lead a peaceable and quiet life under this King in all godliness and honesty Then shall prosperity and plenty again dwell in our Land Vers. 5 then shall righteousness and peace once more kiss each other Vers. 6 then shall thy fear and service which is now neglected and derided return unto us Vers 7 Let him come to us as rain upon the mow'd grass and as the showers that water the thirsty earth Vers. 15 that the Righteous may flourish and the Oppressor be broken to pieces Vers. 16 For him we make our prayer that he may live and they of the City under him flourish like grass upon the earth But this King and Kingdom is nothing in comparison of that of thy dear Son our Lord and Saviour for the advance then and prosperity of that we offer up our prayers unto thée O let thy Kingdom come Vers. 4 He we are assured shall judge the poor of thy people he shall save the children of the needy from the violence of their oppressor and shall break in pieces the slanderer and accuser of thy people that impious and accursed Tyrant the Devil When he was pleased to descend to this great work Vers. 6 his coming was new and wonderful He came as the rain into Gideons fléece of wooll without noyse without any alteration in the fléece so thy Son the man from heaven by a new and unheard of manner descended into the Virgins womb neither corrupting her Virginity by his ingress nor violating her modesty by his egress This was the first step it pleased him to take to his Crown and in this insensibly he descends still that he may reign in the hearts of his people O let then those swéet dews and drops of grace flow into our dry earthy hearts that they may mollifie and make them fruitful that whereas before we brought forth the fruits of the flesh we may now abound in the fruits of the Spirit Before
found their hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pind. 4. The cause of this consternation At thy rebuke O God of Jacob both the Chariot and Horse are cast into a dead sleep Thus God became Glorious and Excellent among good men 2 Terrible 2. Vers. 7 But he became Terrible also to wicked men So Terrible that 1. Thou even thou art to be feared for who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry None be he never so proud 2. Vers. 8 Of which this is an evident Argument Thou didst cause judgement to be heard from heaven It was so in the destruction of Senacherib The earth feared and was still Men saw it were amaz'd at it and put to silence And this work of God in overthrowing his enemies The effects of it and saving his Church he farther amplifies When God arose to judgement to save all the meek of the earth Vers. 9 The consequent was this 1. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee 1 Praise from the wicked The fierceness and rage of man against thy Church shall at last turn to thy praise confess they shall being conquered by thy hand that thou art mightier than they so did Pharaoh This is the finger of God so Julian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain 2 And victory Though they body and rally again yet thou shalt overcome and conquer their fury 3. In the Close he exhorts all Gods people to vow him honour The third part For which and to perform their vow 1. Vow and pay unto the Lord your Gâ—d let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared All to vow praises 2. And he adds his Reason in an Epiphonema 1. He shall cut off the spirits of Princes Take away from Tyrants their courage and prudence 2. He is terrible to the Kings of the earth They shall know he is God A Psalm of Thanksgiving after some great Victory collected out of the seventy sixth Hsalm O Omnipotent God and most merciful Father it hath pleased thy unspeakable goodness beyond any merit or desert of our's Ver. 1 to make thy self known to us in thy Gospel and thy Name great and famous in our Israel Declared thou hast to all Nations that Salem the City of peace is that place where thou wilt set up thy Tabernacle and Mount Sion thy Church Ver. 2 that habitation which thou wilt defend from the violent attempts of her malicious enemies Our ingratitude no question was very great and our provocations many our lives not answering to the light of thy Word which thou madest shine unto us and because we rebelled against thée therefore this great Army of rebellious men is justly risen up against us who threatned to unroot thy people and utterly to lay waste thy Zion But thou O Lord passing by our transgressions hast put a hook into the nose of our enemies and a bridle into their lips defended miraculously thou hast thy City Jerusalem for thy own sake and for thy servant Davids sake our blessed Saviour There hast thou broken the strength of the Bowe Ver. 3 and not suffered him to shoot an arrow there in our land thou hast made void their Shield dull'd the edge of the Sword scattered their Army and by thy power dissolved and brought to nothing all their warlike preparation and ammunition When we are compassed as it were with a darksom cloud of fear and even despaired of any help and succour then thou didst appear in glory thy excellence then arose to save us our aid was from Heaven our deliverance from above thy Kingdom established in righteousness and holiness far excéeds that power that is gotten by violence murder and robbery therefore they that came to spoil us are spoiled they are consumed and have slept their sleep out of which when they awaked they have béen amazed that in their hands of so much wealth and plunder which they dreamed of they found nothing which hapned unto them not by the course and ordinary changes and chances of things in this World no nor yet by our force and power but at thy rebuke O God of Jacob by thy command by the severity of thy judgment both the Chariot and those who trusted in it both the Horse and his Rider are fallen O Lord Thou even thou art terrible Thou even thou alone art to be feared Who is there though never so potent though defenced with the strongest Army that is able to resist thée that may stand in thy sight when thou art angry At this time thou hast fought from Heaven for us Thou didst make all people to hear thy judgments from thence and the Tyrants of the earth when they felt the power of thy hand trembled and shaked at it their heart melted and their knées smote together quiet they were and silent not daring to mutter against thée or against thy people O Lord the fierceness the rage the pride of man shall turn to thy praise even thy enemies the profanest men being humbled by thy judgments shall confess thy power and acknowledge thy hand say they shall This is the finger of God that thou Lord goest before thy people that thou hast done it and their posterity shall by their example be restrained from doing any such wickedness and by their fathers punishment taught to fear God And now O all ye which are Israelites indéed and perptually stand in his presence Vow unto your God for this his great mercy and pay the sacrifice of praise bring presents unto him whom alone you ought to fear and reverence To him I say vow and perform your vows who for your sake hath cut off the animosities and taken down the courage of Princes and made it appear That he will be a terrible God to all the Kings of the earth to whom be praise to whom be glory now and for ever Amen PSAL. LXXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this Psalm the Prophet shews the bitter agony which a troubled spirit undergoes upon the sense of Gods desertion and the comfort again it receives upon the consideration of Gods great and gracious works Two parts of this Psalm 1. He sets forth the strife betwixt the flesh and the Spirit and how the flesh tempts to despair and calls into question the goodness and favour of God from ver 1. to 10. 2. Next he shews the victory of the spirit over the flesh being raised encouraged and confirmed by the Nature Promises and Works of God from the 10th verse to the end of the Psalm an excellent Psalm this is and of great use in all spiritual desertions 1. The first part I cryed unto God with my voyce even unto God with my voyce and he gave ear unto me Ver. 1 in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord ver 1 2. Here David shews the course he took to find ease in his extream trouble of soul he accused not
brings them into the case that David here was 2. To which he adds a Doxology Who is so great a God as our God which he confirms in the following verse Thou art the God that dost wonders Thou hast declared thy strength among the people thy power thy wisdom thy protection of thy Church even to all people the Heathens themselves and strangers to Israel may see it and acknowledge it if not blind 2. 2 To Israel in particular But in particular Thou hast declared thy strength in defence of Israel Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the sons of Jacob and Joseph And he amplifies this story of their deliverance from Aegypt by several instances of Gods power in it 1. In the red Sea The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee not only the Aegyptians but the sensless Element felt thy power they were afraid the depths also were troubled Exod. 14. 2. In the Heaven The clouds poured out water the skies sent out a sound thine arrows also went abroad the voyce of thy Thunder was in the Heavens thy lightnings lightned the World Exod. 14.24 25. 3. In the earth The earth trembled and shook and all this was done that Israel might have a passage through it Thy way is in the Sea and thy passage in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known And the final cause of this miracle was The final cause of it that he might shew his severity toward his enemies and his goodness toward his people for whose deliverance he sent Moses and Aaron ordained a King and a Priest by them Thou leddest thy people like sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron The Prayer collected out of the seventy seventh Psalm VVITH all ardency of spirit earnestness of soul and contention of voyce Ver. 1 have I cryed unto thée O Lord constantly and fervently have I cryed unto thée O hear the voyce of my prayer and let my cry come unto thée when I was in trouble I expected I called for no humane help but I fled to thée to thée I called for aid and comfort with stretched-out hands and eyes bent to Heaven I stood before my God O let me not be disappointed of my hope In the night-season Ver. 2 when others devoid of care take their rest and sléep my sore ran and ceased not I found no rest in my bones by reason of my sin yea so great was the grief of my soul That I refused comfort I remembred my God whom I had so often and so foully offended and I was troubled at it my sin my grievous sin lies heavy upon my soul it makes me to complain and the conscience of it so far depresseth my spirit That I am even overwhelmed with fear and sorrow By the dread I have of thy anger my eyes are held waking and I pass the long night in which others are refreshed with sléep without any rest and I am so troubled in my self that I have no mind to speak I revolved in my mind the times that were past and the years of former Generations in which thou hadst dealt mercifully with afflicted souls And in the night-season a season most fit for meditation I called to remembrance my song my song in which with a joyful heart I was wont to praise thée and yet so I received not comfort I communed with my own heart I searched out as with a Lanthorn my soul I called to mind thy clemency to thy children thy Truth in thy Word thy Iustice in thy Promises the causes of all calamities and these my sorrows and yet so I could not be comforted Ah merciful Lord and loving Father Wilt thou cast me off for ever and wilt thou no more be favourable to me Thou art patient and long-suffering Thou art the Father of mercies thy property is to have pity thy promise to forgive and spare thy people and is thy mercy now gone for ever and doth thy promise fail for evermore What hâ—st thou forgotten to be gracious and wilt thou in anger shut up thy tender bowels of mercies that I shall never more have any sense or féeling of them Of a truth Lord for my wicked life I have deserved the fiercest of thy wrath and all the judgments which thou hast threatned against rebellious sinners but O Lord Thou art able of a Saul to make a Paul of a Publican a Disciple of Zachaeus a Penitent of Mary Magdalen a Convert these changes are in the hand of the most High Turn then me O Lord and so I shall be turned and turn unto me and so I shall be refreshed pardon my sin and change my heart and so I shall be assured that thy mercy is not clean gone For after this long debate betwixt me and my own soul upon the serious thoughts of thy mercy I came to this resolve that my diffidence proceeded from my own pusillanimity for I said all this trouble is from my own infirmity I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High I will remember how gracious he hath béen to other sinners how strangely he hath converted them how mercifully he hath forgiven them and this change hath put me in good hope of an old man to become a new man of a vessel of wrath a vessel of mercy and that though in anger for a time he hath séemed to desert me yet out of méer compassion he will return and be gracious to me I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old time I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings I will call to mind That thou dost not call thy people to partake of the pleasures of this World but to desperate conflicts with sin death Satan and Hell that there is not any of thy servants of old but have born this burden and heat of the day and shall I then look to escape shall I hope to be exempted Thy way O God is in the Sanctuary A secret there is why thou dealest thus with thy servants and known it cannot be till we go into thy Sanctuary there we may learn That thou chastnest every child that thou receivest there we shall find That the reason of all thy procéedings are full of equity and holiness and that there is nothing we can justly reprehend or complain of Which of the gods of the Nations is in power to be compared unto thée which in mercy is like thée Thou art the God that dost wonders Thou hast declared thy strength in our weakness thy power in our infirmity O shew therefore thy self to be the self-same God and in this my weakness and infirmity support me It is not for nothing that thy favour to thy people Israel is left upon Record the Redemption of the sons of Jacob and Joseph are expressions of thy power and mercy Then O Lord the waters of the red Sea law thee then the waters felt thy presence and as if
And they also are happy who though they cannot be present yet desire it This is the happiness those enjoy that dwell in Gods house and they are happy also who in their hearts are there and have a desire and are in their journey yea though in their way they encounter many difficulties So saith our Prophet 1. Blessed are they in whose heart are the wayes of them that is who not in hypocrisie dwell there or that trust in their external performances but in whose heart are fix'd those duties which they that dwell in the Temple perform sincerely 2. Who passing through the Vale of Baca make it a Well the rain also fill the Pools And still ascending on going thither 1. They pass The Israelites in great numbers did ascend dayly to Gods house 2. They might or often did pass through the Vale of Baca or Bochim the Vale of Mulberries a dry Land and then they wanted water or through Bochim the Valley of sorrow and then they had tears to drink and the rain fill'd the Pools of their eyes For many are the afflictions of the righteous and yet for all this go on 3. They pass from strength to strength from Castle to Castle from Town to Town from one degree of vertue to another Till every one of them in Zion appeareth before God Nor length of the journey nor weariness nor roughness of the way nor difficulties nor dangers in it can discourage them on they go till they come to Gods house in Zion And are therefore Blessed 3. The third part He begs protection To his desire to be present in this Assembly he adds a Prayer O Lord God of hosts hear my prayer give ear O God of Jacob. Behold O God our shield and look upon the face of thy anointed i. e. of me whom thou hast anointed to be King And that he may come again to Gods house He desires that the God of Armies would protect defend give Victory be a Buckler to him and his Army and reduce them again that they may do him service in his house And he gives his reason For one day in thy house is better than a thousand viz. out of it I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness For it is far more pleasant more profitable better it is Which he illustrates by an opposition of time place persons 1. One day in Gods house 1 Reckoning of that day better than a thousand to a thousand out of it Abroad luxury pleasure vanity ostentation death In Gods house the contrary therefore out-doors here is beter I had rather be a door-keeper here than c. 2. Gods house to the tents of wicked doers 2 To be a door-keeper there than a dweller elsewhere Abroad luxury pleasure vanity ostentation death In Gods house the contrary therefore out-doors here is beter I had rather be a door-keeper here than c. 3. A door-keeper a Corite to the Noblest dwellers Abroad luxury pleasure vanity ostentation death In Gods house the contrary therefore out-doors here is beter I had rather be a door-keeper here than c. And in the next verse he gives us a more solid reason for this his choice or rather indeed three reasons His reasons for it 1. The first taken from the properties of God For the Lord is a Sun 1 God the Lord Protector and a Shield 1. A Sun he dispels darkness illuminates comforts heats gives life increase 2. A Shield he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord Protector of his people 2. The second from his Bounty he gives the best gifts Grace 2 A bountiful God and Glory 1. Grace for freely he adopts us for his Sons and makes us heirs of eternal life 2. Glory in this life for he raiseth to dignities here and glory in heaven 3. From his Al-sufficiency or rather Efficiency 3 Al-sufficient For no good thing will he with-hold But that every man do not serve himself of these reasons as supposing that all these things belong to him that God will be a Sun a Shield to him give grace and glory or with-hold no good thing from him The Prophet very cautelously limits his words But efficient only to the sincere No good thing he will with-hold from them that walk uprightly Hypocrites then and back-sliders may challenge none of these blessings 1. They must walk Go on constantly and continue in their way 2. They must walk uprightly in sincerity of heart and not dissemble with God if they mean to have a portion of the good things he gives 4. The close of the Psalm is an Acclamation O Lord God The last part blessed is the man that trusts in thee In which he tacitely answers an Objection Vers. 12 If such are blessed that dwell in the house of the Lord then those are not blessed An Acclamation that the man is blessed who trusts in God which are exiled from thence Yes saith David blessed they may be and are though they want that happiness For all are blessed who with a firm faith relie and trust in God though being detain'd by prisons tyrants exile and Schismatiques they enjoy not the outward communion of the Church because by a true and solid confession of the Truth they are still join'd to the true society of Saints The Prayer collected out of the eighty fourth Psalm O Almighty God whose Throne is in the highest heavens Vers. 1 and yet hast past thy word to be in the midst of thy people even when two or three are gathered together in thy name gather us together that at this time are scatter'd and vanish'd from thy house and let us meet again in thy Temple and with one heart and one voice offer up our praises to thy name and pour forth our supplications before thee O how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord God of hoasts my heart cannot conceive my tongue cannot express the content I have formerly taken to be present in these Assemblies And therefore now being exiled from thence Vers. 2 my soul longeth yea even fainteth for the great desire I have to meet with thy people again in thy Courts For for thee alone and to enjoy thy presence my heart is iuflamed and my flesh follows the dictates of my heart and beth together cry out to appear before the face of the living God My present condition presents to my memory my own unhappiness which is in this respect below the Sparrow and Swallow they can make their approaches to the walls of thy Temple they there can build their nests they there can hatch and lay their young but I am not so happy Thou art the Lord of hosts who now doest protect me in battail thou art my King I a King over thy people and thou a King over me Thou art my God whom I have alwayes served and yet at this time I am not admitted to
the Rites Ceremonies New Moons Sabbaths Sacrifice Circumcision Pasch c. 4. Vers. 31 And keep not my Commandments i. e. The Decalogue and Moral Law In a word if they become vitious in their Morals and profane and Rebels in my Worship and Religion This then shall happen unto them Resp They shall smart for it escape they shall not but shall soundly smart for it they shall feel 1. Virgam 2. And Verbera The Rod the Whip Then 1. I will visit i. e. punish their transgression with the Rod. 2. And their iniquity with stripes Which was often done By the Babylon Antiochus c. And yet in judgement I will remember mercy But in judgement God will remember mercy I will remember my Covenant my Promise my Word my Oath and will make that good totally I will not cast off Davids seed which I mean not after the flesh for that is long since cast off but after the Spirit Christ which was of the seed of David and those which are his seed viz. the Church shall enjoy the benefit of my Covenant and Oath for ever Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing gone out of my lips And that there be no doubt of this For the Covenant is immutable he brings in God repeating his Oath and Covenant 1. His Oath Once have I sworn by my holiness that is by my self who am Holy 2. His Covenant That I will not lye unto David For His seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before me It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful witness in heaven As the Sun and Moon are not obnoxious to mutations no more is this Covenant they must endure to the end of the world and so must this Covenant They are faithful Witnesses in heaven and so we are to seek for the performance of this Covenant in heaven not in earth the Covenant being about a heavenly Kingdom not an earthly It being evident that the Kingdom of David on earth hath failed many ages since But that of Christ shall never fail 7. The seventh part And that God did punish Davids seed for their rebellion is evident So that he was tempted to charge God for breach of promise Now that Davids Kingdom did fail or at least was brought to a low ebb is the complaint in the following words which flesh and blood considering gave a wrong judgement upon it as if God did nothing less than perform his Oath and Covenant This is it which the Prophet layes to Gods charge But thou hast cast off and abhorred thou hast been wroth with thy anointed Both King and people are cast aside Than which nothing seems more contrary to thy Covenant Thou hast made void the Covenant of thy servant thou hast profaned his Crown Of which there be many lamentable consequences 1. His Crown is cast to the ground The glory of his Kingdom trampled upon 2. The instances in which they suffered His hedges broken down his strong holds brought to ruine 3. All that pass by the way spoile him Exposed he is to all Rapine and Plunder 4. He is a reproach to his neighbours Exposed to all contumely and disgrace 5. Thou hast set up the right-hand of his enemies and made all his adversaries to rejoice Thou seemest to take part with the enemy against him and makest him exult and rejoice in oppressing him 6. Thou hast also turn'd the edge of his sword blunted his sword that was wont to slay and hast not made him to stand in the battle but to fly and turn his back Vers. 44 7. Thou hast made his glory The glory dignity authority of his Kingdom to cease and cast his Crown to the ground 8. The dayes of his youth thou hast shortned cut him off in the prime and strength of his years Thou hast covered him with shame made his opulent glorious Kingdom ignominious which was true in divers of Davids posterity especially Jehoiakim These were the sad complaints which the Prophet poures out as despairing so far as sense and reason could direct him of the performance of what God had promised But he recovers and prayes The eighth part But he quickly recovers and recalls his thoughts and that he may move God to help he falls to prayer which is very pathetical 8. He considers the nature of God as kind loving merciful slow to anger and asks 1. Usque quo How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever Hide thy favour 2. Shall thy wrath burn like fire An element that hath no mercy Pathetically moves God to pity Then he useth other Arguments pathetically expressed to move God to pity 1. Drawn from the brevity of mans life Remember how short my time is Upon divers Arguments 2. From the end that man was created not in vain but to be an object of Gods goodness and favour which if he enjoins not he shall seem to be born to no purpose therefore he asks Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain 3. From the weakness and disability of man His life is short and can he lengthen it What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Yea though he live long yet he is a mortal creature Shall he deliver his soul from the grave 4. From the Covenant of which he puts God in mind Lord where are thy former loving-kindnesses which thou swarest to David in thy Truth 5. From the ignominy scorns sarcasms by enemies cast upon them which he desires God to look upon 1. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servant 2. And how I do bear in my bosome not spoken afar off but in my hearing and to my face as if poured and emptyed into my bosome the rebukes not of this or that man but many people 6. And lastly That these reproaches in effect fall upon God For they who reproach Gods Servants are his enemies Remember the reproaches 1. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached O Lord. 2. Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed i. e. Either whatsoever he sayes or does Quocunque se vertat 2. Or else by footsteps is to be understood the latter end of Davids Kingdom which was indeed subject to reproach 3. But the Chaldee Paraphrast by footsteps understands the coming of the Messiah in the flesh which because it was long promised and men saw not performed they derided mocked at and reproached as vain 9. The close of this long Psalm is a Benedictus by which the Prophet The last part The Doxology after his Combate with Flesh and Blood about the performance of the Covenant doth compose his troubled soul and acquiesce in God blessing him for whatsoever falls out no otherwise than Job did breaking forth into this Epiphonema 1. Vers. 52 Blessed be the Lord for evermore Blessed be his Name who doth and orders all
things for the best to his people although in the midst of calamities and troubles he seems to desert them 2. And that we may know that he did this from his heart he seals it with a double Amen Amen Amen So I wish so be it The Prayer collected out of the eighty ninth Psalm O God the Habitation of whose Throne is justice and equity and before whose face Mercy and Truth are perpetual attendants we unworthy wretches yet thy Servants do beseech thee that the effects of these thy attributes may be evidently séen in the gathering féeding amplifying protecting Vers. 1 and preserving thy Catholique Church So shall we sing of thy mercies for ever and with our mouths will we make known thy faithfulness to all generations Out of mercy thou hast béen moved to make a Covenant with thy elect that thou set thy Son upon the Throne of his father David and thou hast established with an Oath his seed and built up his Kingdom to all generations He is that mighty one on whom thou hast laid help He is that thy chosen whom thou hast exalted Thou art his Father and he is thy first-born Let then thy hand establish him with thy arm strengthen him Exalt the Throne of him whom thou hast anointed with thy Holy Oyle and make him higher than the Kings of the earth Make his seed to endure for ever and his Throne as the dayes of Heaven Suffer not the enemy to exact upon him not the son of wickedness to afflict him Of this his séed this Kingdom in which we live is a principal part and our King a principal member Vers. 38 But now thou hast cast off and abhorred thou hast been wroth with thine Anointed Thou hast seemed to make void the Covenant which thou hast made with thy Servant Thou hast prostituted his Diadem as if it were a profane thing and cast his Crown and Royal dignity to the ground and suffered it to be trampled upon by the feet of scorners Thou hast broken down his Forts and brought to ruine his strong holds Those fortifications which under thy protection were wont to be a safe-guard from the enemy are surprized demolished and razed So that every one that passeth by hath an opportunity to break into thy Vineyard and riot among the Vines every one liberty to fill his hand with spoile and rapine His adversaries are many and thou hast set up the power of their right-hand against him His enemies are mighty and thou hast given them occasion from their victories over him to rejoice Rejoice and triumph they do that thou hast blunted the edge of his sword and hast not given him victory in the battail It is their glory that thou-hast made his glory to cease and cast his Throne down to the ground These Tyrants boast these sons of Belial exult that thou hast shortned the dayes of his youth and covered him with dishonour How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self shall thy wrath burn like fire for ever We doubt not of thy power in thy mercy we hope Merciful God then raise up thy power and come amongst us O Lord God of hosts who is a strong Lord like unto thee or who among the sons of the mighty can be compared with thee Thou stillest the raging of the Sea when the waves thereof arise Thou hast overthrown that proud King of Egypt Pharaoh and destroyed many other thine enemies with a strong arm Strong is thy hand and high is thy right-hand Shew then thy strength in our weakness arise like a gyant refreshed with Wine and smite thine enemies in the hinder parts that their violence prevail no longer against us that they execute not their whole fury and hatred upon us To thée we who are men but of a short time call to for life To thée Vers. 47 we who now live but must shortly sée death earnestly cry to deliver our souls from the grave Hast thou made us for naught hast thou made all men in vain shall we draw out our short dayes in perpetual miseries Thou art our Father we are elected to be thy Sons let then thy faithfulness and thy mercy be with us Remember Lord the reproach of thy servants and how we do bear in our bosomes the rebukes of a profane people Remember that this reproach is cast upon thy name and the footsteps and long-suffering of thine Anointed is thereby slandered Remember Lord thy former loving-kindness which thou swarest to the seed of David in thy Truth Confess we do to our own shame that we have forsaken thy Law and have not walkt in thy Iudgements that we have broken thy Statutes and not kept thy Commandments and therefore we are content murmur not that thou visit our transgressions with the Rod and our iniquities with stripes but this is it we beg of thée that thou wouldst not utterly take from us thy loving-kindness nor suffer thy Truth to fail Break not thy Covenant nor alter the thing that is gone out of thy lips If the irreversible decrée be not past which we hope is not against this our Church yet let it stand for ever as the Sun and Moon those faithful Witnesses in heaven with the Catholique and never let the gates of hell prevail against it We know and believe that thou art a merciful God long-suffering and of great goodness and therefore in all things we suffer ready we are to say with thy servant Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken Blessed be Jehovah Amen Amen The end of the third book of the Psalms according to the Hebrews The fourth book of the Psalms follow PSAL. XC 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE inscription makes Moses to be the Author of this Psalm and because here is mention made in it of the Mortality of man the fragility of his nature and the brevity and misery of his life which proceeded from the wrath of God moved to cut off his life and punish him while he lives for his iniquity conceiv'd it is that Moses composed it upon some notable disobedience and rebellion of Israel while they were in the Wilderness for which God brought upon them an exemplary vengeance whether that of Corah Dathan or Abiram or the plague that consumed them for making the golden Calf or as the common opinion is for their murmuring upon the return and report of the Spies Numb 14. For which God sent a plague among them or else when God smote the people with a very great plague at Kibroth Hattaavah Numb 11. Which of these it was is uncertain One of these is supposed to be the occasion of the composition and that which moved God to indignation which Moses deprecates in the end and prayes to God to return and shew favour to his people There be four parts of this Psalm 1. An ingenious acknowledgment of Gods protection of them ver 1 2. 2. A lively Narration of the mortality of man his fragility and brevity of his life together with
feet to dance at it he calls to them to join with him in the mirth Let the Sea roar Vers. 7 and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein Let the floods clap their hands Vers. 8 let the hills rejoice together It is a Prosopopeia frequently used in Scripture as afore Psal 96.11 12. 5. And let it be heartily and sincerely done For it is before the Lord in his eye For he cometh to judge in his sight in his presence who can judge with what affection any thing is done And for this he gives a reason Vers. 9 with which he concludes For he cometh to judge the earth which may be referred to his first or second coming 1. 1 Either in humility as at his first If to the first then the sense is Let all creatures rejoice because he comes to judge that is to govern and order with just and excellent Laws the whole Orb of the world not only by the invisible Majesty of his Divinity but being made into the similitude of man and in form now found a true man 2. If to the last his second coming then let all creatures rejoice 2 Or in Glory as at his second coming because he shall root out sinners from the earth and make new heavens and a new earth The whole creature shall be delivered from corruption under which it greans and travails in pain together until now and shall be restored into the glorious liberty of the children of God Rom. 8.21 22. 3. Now both these shall be done with that rectitude of judgement that there be nothing crooked nothing oblique nothing savouring of iniquity in it With righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with his Truth A Thanksgiving and Meditation upon the Redemption of Man-kind taken out of the ninty eighth Psalm I Will sing unto thee O gracious God and merciful Lord a new Song Vers. 1 as it becomes me for a new savour an ordinary hymn might be in my mouth for ordinary blessings but this was extraordinary and therefore requires thanks more than ordinary That thou didst create me after thy image was a great mercy that thou hast governed me by thy Word preserved me by thy Power provided for me by thy Fatherly goodness ever since I was born are all acts of mercy but that thou hast set thy love upon me from all eternity and in the fulness of time didst send thy beloved Son to be born to live to dye for me and redéem my poor soul from thy just wrath and the consequents of it is a favour more than I could expect more than I could deserve and therefore I sing with the blessed Virgin My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people This is a favour so beyond all favours and so neerly concerns all the world that I wish all men had hearts and all creatures tongues to sound it forth O come and make a joyful noyse unto the Lord all the earth make a loud noyse and rejoice and sing praise Your voices are not swéet enough take then the Harp and join to the Harp the voice of a Psalm Your voices are not loud enough call then for Trumpets to sound it out and blow it abroad with the wind of a Cornet Let the praise vs illustrious and the noyse joyful for it is before the Lord the King And O that the inanimate creatures who shall be by this one day freed from the bondage of corruption had tongues also to join with you However in their kind let them do what they can let the Sea roare forth the praises of God and the fulness thereof resound the fulness of his mercy and let the world and they that dwell therein as in a clap of thunder say Amen Amen to it Let the floods join with the Sea and clap their hands let the hills be joyful together and eccho forth the praise of the Lord our Redeemer For he hath done marvellous things Things which we may admire Vers. 1 but shall never be able to comprehend shall and must search into but shall never fully fathom For without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit séen of Angels preach'd unto the Gentiles believ'd on in the world receiv'd up into glory Marvellous O swéet Saviour was thy conception marvellous thy incarnation marvellous thy life marvellous thy death We cannot choose but wonder that the Lord of life should dye that the Lord of heaven and earth should be buried in the earth And that which increaseth the wonder is that he should rise from thence to justifie us that he should ascend in our nature to heaven to prepare a place for us that he should sit on the right-hand of God to be our Advocate to plead for us to be our Intercessor to step between and make our peace when our God is offended with us And that we yet marvel the more all this was done for us when we were without strength and could not help our selves without grace and could not deserve his when we were ungodly and thought not of him sinners that did provoke him enemies that did cebell against him In this then God commended his love that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us O sweet Jesus thy love to us was wonderful passing the love of women This was a work that passed the power of men and Angels Angels were too weak and man too sinful to undertake in it Yet so great was thy love to lost man that rather than he should perish for ever thou who wert without sin Vers. 1 wouldst be made sin for him thou who wert the arm and power of God wouldst appear clothed with our infirmities Yet so powerful thou wert in this weakness so mighty in our infirm flesh that by thy right-hand and thy holy arm thou hast gotten to thy self the victory conquer and triumph thou didst over Sin Death and Hell and over all the power of the Prince of darkness It was thine own right-hand without any other power that did it thine own arm without any assistant that led Captivity Captive and received gifts for men yea even for thine enemies that the Lord God might dwell among them We the heathens Vers. 2 were the greatest part of these enemies yet to us thou sentest thy Apostles to preach these glad-tidings and ever since by thy Ministers hast made known thy salvation Thy righteousness which is now our righteousness blessed be thy name for it by which our pardon is sealed and we are justified is not as a Candle hid under a bushel but is openly shew'd in the sight of the heathen It is not in Judaea only that God is known but all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God all Nations now sée and know that thou wert a merciful
chief Ruler as 2 Sam. 8.18 1 Chron. 18.17 and so it may have reference to Moses a chief Prince but in the proper sense to Aaron for he was the chief Priest Samuel 2. And Samuel no Priest but a Levite yet chief Judge among those call'd on his name 3. They called upon the Lord for themselves and the people and he answered them Of Moses the story is extant Exod. 32.31 Of Aaron Numb 16. 46 47 48. Of Samuel 1 Sam. 7.5 9 10. 4. Vers. 7 He spake unto them that is to Moses Exod. 33.8 9 11. and unto Aaron Numb 12. from 5. to 8. But unto Samuel we read not that he spake in the cloudy Pillar And now he aptly adds the reason why God so readily heard these three Why he heard them it was because they were his servants and obey'd the commands of their King For as Christ saith He that loves me will keep my Commandments He then that will be heard in his prayers Because they were obedient servants ought to hear God in his Commands So did they 1. They kept his Testimonies those Precepts that were common to all others 2. And the Ordinances he gave them as Publick persons who were to rule in Church and State And that this was a great mercy and favour to them and the people the Prophet acknowledgeth by his Apostrophe to God in the next verse 1. 1 He answered them Thou answeredst them O Lord our God Which the Story confirms Vers. 8 2. 2 He forgave them Thou wast a God that forgavest them that is the people for whom Moses and Aaron and Samuel pray'd For as Moller observes in Hebrew the Relative is often put without an Antecedent 3. 3 Even when he punished the people Though thou takest vengeance on their inventions The Calf was broken Exod. 32. and the false gods put away 1 Sam. 7. Though their sin was remitted yet a temporal and corporal punishment follow'd them Numb 14.23 30. Numb 20.12 2. The second part The Prophet concludes the Psalm Carmine Ambaebaeo with the repetition of the fifth verse The Conclusion of all That we only what he calls there Gods footstool he here calls Mount Zion And in the verse is contained the full scope and intent of the whole which is That we exalt our King and adore him 1. Exalt the Lord our God not that we can do it Vers. 9 or make him higher but we must contribute what we can to his exaltation 1 Exalt God which is then done when we gratefully acknowledge his Power in defence of his Church and his Clemency in hearing our prayers and the Intercessions of his servants for us 2. Worship at his Holy Hill 2 Adore which literally is to be understood of Zion the place which he had chosen for his worship where now the Tabernacle was and after the Temple was built But concerns us also that live in the Catholique Church to serve him in unity meeting together in such holy places which are set apart for his worship 3. For the Lord our God is holy which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reason For he is Holy why Zion was Holy and many other persons and things in relation to him A consideration very necessary as Musoulus well observes for this profane age The Prayer collected out of the ninty ninth Psalm O Omnipotent Lord who reignest sitting above she Cherubims and governest the whole world by thy wisdom Vers. 1 though the enemies of thy Church be many yet will we not fear though the whole earth be moved yet will we not be afraid For the Lord is great in Zion and high above all people Vers. 2 Yet because the united force of our enemies is great and their iniquity twisted together for the ruine of thy Church Vers. 3 that they be not alwayes prided with their success and thy people over-much disheartned arise O Lord and make them know that thy name is great terrible and holy so great that thou canst and so holy that thou wilt and so terrible that thou wilt in fury take vengeance upon pride and iniquity We are assured O Lord Vers. 4 that thy authority and Kingly power loves equity that thou doest establish equal Laws and doest execute judgement and righteousness in thy Church by punishing the wicked and rewarding the just Arise up for us therefore in the judgement that thou hast commanded and reward the just according to the integrity of their hearts stir up thy strength and come amongst us and help us for thy Name-sake O God our King and Saviour And if at any time our wickedness go over our heads to provoke thy wrath against us then turn thy face from us upon thy dear Son our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ whose intercession is far more powerfully with thée than that of Moses or Aaron and Samuel could be for thy people He is our High Priest be mindful of his invocation his Sacrifice his Blood his tears his cryes which he offered upon the Altar of the Cross for us His blood speaks better things than that of Abel That of Abel shed by us cryes aloud for vengeance against us and what we suffer are the effects of that cry the revenge of that blood O blessed Saviour still the cry of that blood with thy blood wash the stains of it away with those streams which issued from thy bloody side and for the merit of that blood hear the prayers of Moses Aaron and Samuel who had no hand in that blood but kept and do yet keep thy Testimonies and the Ordinance thou gavest them that offer unto thee for themselves and for thy people They dayly call upon thée hear them O Lord our God and answer them though the sin of this people be great yet forgive them though thou takest vengeance according to their inventions So shall we praise thy great and terrible Name for it is Holy So shall we exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is Holy We will exalt the Lord that reigneth over us our God that delivers us and hears our prayers and worship at thy Holy hill and chant with a loud voice that the Lord our God is holy for evermore PSAL. C. A Psalm of Praise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Title shews the Scope that it was composed for a form to praise God yea and in the publique Congregation and therefore is well chosen to be a part of our Liturgy There be two parts of this Psalm 1. An Exhortation to praise God vers 1 2 4. And the manner how to be done 2. The reasons that perswade to it vers 3 5. 1. He exhorts to praise God In his Exhortation to praise God required it is 1. The first part That the praise be Universal none exempted from it All ye lands or all the earth Vers. 1 2. That it be hearty full and performed with a cheerful soul Make a
faith their hope their love But they not understanding the end of Gods Counsel murmur'd as if God had cast them off and had no care of them and could not relieve them 4. And what they did at this time they did also at others Lusted For they lusted exceedingly in the Wilderness and tempted God in the Desart as is evident Exod. 16. 17. and Numb 11. 20. Now God yielded to these desires of the people he gave them bread flesh But he gave them bread flesh water and water 1. And he gave them their request Exod. 16.12 2. But he sent leanness into their souls which certainly hath reference to the Quails in Numb 11.20 33. where the people eat and dyed of the plague so that the place from the multitude there buried was call'd Kibrothhattaava 3. Another rebellion yet there was which the Prophet now toucheth 3 They rebelled a third time rose against Moses Aaron when they rose up against the King and the Priest the story of which is extant Numb 16. 1. They envied also Moses in the Camp objecting unto him that he had usurped a power over them and taken it upon him of his own head which arose out of envy for they envied 2. And Aaron the Saint of the Lord Him whom God had chosen and sanctified to the Priests Office The punishment followes which at large may be read Numb 16. 1. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan For this punished and covered the Congregation of Abiram 2. And a fire was kindled in their company the flame burnt up the wicked i. e. the 250. men that presumed to offer Incense and presently after the 14700. that murmured and objected to Moses and Aaron that they had killed the people of the Lord. 4. 4 Made the golden Calf Still the Prophet goes on in his story of Israel's stubbornness and rebellion and now he comes to their grand sin their Idolatry in erecting the golden Calf which he detests and withall praiseth the mercy of God that would be pacified by Moses prayer the story is extant Exod. 32. 1. They made a Calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image quite contrary to the second command 2. Thus they chang'd their Glory That is the true God who indeed was their glory into the similitude of an Oxe a brute Beast that eats grass a base creature which much aggravates their sin A sin so great that the Jewes conceive that it is not expiated to this day for they have usually these words in their mouths Non accidit tibi O Israel ullaultio in quâ non sit uncia de iniquitate anrei vituli 3. But the Prophet aggravates their stupidness and folly They forgat God their Saviour which had done great things in Aegypt wonderful works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the red Sea In the following verse is expressed Gods just anger and mercy 1. Against this God shews his anger His anger against their sins Therefore he said pronounced his will to destroy them 2. His mercy in that yet he spared them at Moses intercession for destroyed them certainly he had But spares them at Moses prayer 1. Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach That breach and division which this sin had made betwixt God and his people like some breach made in the Wall of a besieged Town in which some valiant Captain stands and opposeth himself against the assault of the enemy so did Moses 2. For his end was the same it was To turn away his wrath lest he should destroy And the effect was answerable for by his intercession the wrath of God was turned away so powerful are the intercessions and prayers of Gods Saints servants friends with him 5. 5 A new rebellion viz. their murmuring at the Spies report Farther yet he calls to mind a new rebellion which fell out upon the report of the Spies sent to search the Land Numb 13.26 c. and Numb 14. For when the Spies told them that it was a land that eat up the Inhabitants that the sons of Anak were there in comparison of whom they were but as Grashoppers 1. They despised the pleasant Land and had a mind to return into Aegypt Numb 14. from ver 1. to 5. 2. They believed not his Word for they said Hath the Lord brought us unto this Land to fall by the Sword c. 3. But murmured in their Tents and hearkned not to the voyce of the Lord Numb 14.10 As their sin Which God punisheth on them so their punishment is also extant Numb 14.29 at which the Prophet here points 1. Therefore he lift up his hand against them to overthrow them in the Wilderness Your carkasses shall fall in the Wilderness doubtless ye shall not come into the Land 2. This punishment fell upon the Murmurers themselves but if their children should be guilty of the like rebellion And their seed they should not escape neither for God then would lift up his hand against them too and overthrow their seed among the Nations and scatter them in the Lands which we have lived to see fully brought to pass 6. 6 Their re bellion at Baal-Peor The Prophet joyns to that of the golden Calf another piece of Idolatry in the Wilderness to which there was joyned Fornication also by the Connsel of Balaam and the policy of Balaac this caused them to eat and sacrifice to their God Numb 25. which the Prophet insists upon next 1. They joyned themselves to Baal-Peor because the Idol was set up upon that Mountain 2. And eat the offerings of the dead They left the Sacrifices of the living God and eat of those meats which were offered to their dead Idols That have eyes but see not and hands but handle not Upon which there followed Gods wrath and their punishment 1. God was angry For they provoked him to wrath with their inventions Gods wrath and vengeance inventing a new god 2. And the plague brake in upon them It rush'd in upon them as some mighty waters or as an Army into a City at a breach for there dyed of the plague 24000 Numb 25.9 In the former Idolatry Gods anger was averted by Moses intercession in this by Phinehaz execution of judgment for 1. Then stood up Phinehaz Phinehaz averts it moved no question with the zeal of Gods honour Ver. 30 2. And he executed judgment upon Zimri and Cozbi for which let men conceive as they please I see nothing to the contrary His zeal rewarded but he had his Commission from Moses or God rather Numb 25.4 5. 3. The event was and so the plague was stayed execution of Justice on Offendors pacifies God Which zeal of his was well rewarded This was accounted to him for righteousness unto all Generations for evermore God that knowes the heart knew his good intention and so accounted it not murder but a just punishment that
néedy to an opulent and a voluptuous life which the many aim at in their prayers but the end of this our Request is That thanks may be given to thy holy Name and that we may triumph in thy praise that the purity of that Religion which thou hast delivered and committed unto us may be conserved and propagated and thy worship now intermitted may be restored and thy praises which by the sadness of these times have béen silenced may again with triumph be heard in the Congregation Then with joyful lips we shall give thanks unto the Lord and by experience make it known That thou art good and that thy mercy endureth for ever Ver. 1 Not indéed as we ought not as thou deservest for who can utter the mighty Acts of the Lord or who can shew forth all his praise But we will do what we can exalt with our voyces and honour thée with our lives We will keep thy judgments and do righteousness at all times that thy praises may be comely in our mouths and our lives become thy Gospel Grant us this mercy O Lord and then the Priests shall sound forth at thine Altar Blessed be the Lord God of Israel and all the people shall say with a chearful heart Amen Hallelujah The end of the fourth Book of the Psalmes according to the Hebrewes PSAL. CVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Title of this Psalm is Allelujah because in it are set forth the praises of God for delivering such as are oppressed from four common miseries after every of which is expressed those intercalary verses Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness c. Then they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble As also for the effects of his Providence who only by his power orders and governs the change and vicissitudes we see in the World There be four especial Points handled in this Psalm 1. A Preface in which he exhorts all to praise God especially the Redeemed ver 1 2. 2. A Declaration of his goodness in particular 1. To the banished and strangers famish'd from ver 3. to 9. 2. To the prisoners and captives from ver 10. to 16. 3. To the sick from ver 16. to 23. 4. To the Mariners from ver 23. to 32. 3. A praise of Gods Power and Providence which is evidently seen in the changes and varieties of the World of which he gives several instances by which it is proved That he is the sole Disposer and Governour of the Universe from ver 33. to 42. 4. The Conclusion which sets forth the use we are to make of it ver 42 43. 1. The first part He incites all to praise God This Psalm begins as did the former and the intention in it is the same viz. That we celebrate and set forth Gods praise yea and for the same Reasons O give thanks unto the Lord Ver. 1 1. For he is good 2. And merciful For his mercy endureth for ever 2. And those who he invites to perform this Duty are indeed all who are sensible that they have received any mercy or goodness from him any way Especially the redeemed in Soul or Body whom he calls the Redeemed of the Lord that men may know when they are freed from any evil that it is only by chance or by their wisdom c. Gods hand is in it he is the first and chief cause of it the rest inferiour instruments to bring to pass his Providence 1. Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so i. e. that he is good that he is merciful 2. Ver. 2 They say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy If the Holy Ghost by the enemy means the Devil then he speaks of our Redemption by Christ if by the enemy some Tyrant Tribulation c. then a corporal and temporal Redemption but the last is generally understood and especially is referr'd to the first afflicting misery Banishment and the next verse intimates so much 3. And gather'd them out of the Lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South which is yet as true of our spiritual Redemption and Christs collection of his Church from all parts of the World Mat. 8.11 John 10.16 11.52 2. Most Expositors therefore begin the second part at the second verse But some at the fourth The second part but the matter is not much material In those two there was mention made of Gods goodness in their deliverance in their collection from all lands But in the following is an evident Declaration of what they suffered during their absence from their Countrey which is the first misery described here by the Prophet to which a mans life is subject And it is the heavier Cross when a man is forc'd to it by Banishment as is apparent by the complaints that have been made of it by those that have suffer'd they are sine foco sine lare Curat nemo vagos laedere nemo veretur Exul non curae creditur esse Deos. Omnes exhausti jam casibus omnium egeni And this is the misery which the Prophet first instanceth in this place which first he describes then shewes the course the Banished took and lastly acquaints us with the manner of their deliverance which is the method in the rest 1. The first kind of misery Banishment Their misery was 1. That they wander'd no small discomfort to an ingenuous nature to be a Vagrant to walk from place to place and not have a certain House to put his head in In which they 1. Wandered 2. In solitary places Gods people were for a time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pilgrims and strangers and all that time few and evil were their dayes 2. The place adds to the misery Banished men are not confined to solitary places alwayes though that they have not the company they desire yet company they may have but the case of these Banished was That they wander'd in the Wilderness in a solitary place they fovnd no City to dwell in Literally it was fulfilled in the Israelites while they travelled through the Wilderness 3. Hungry and thirsty omnium egeni Men may wander and be in solitary places 3 Suffer'd hunger and thirst but yet have a supply of necessary food To this pass sometimes Gods people come that they have nor meat nor drink as Eliah the Israelites David c. 4. 4 Even to fainting And the Famine may be so great that their souls that is their life is ready to faint in them This is the Incrementum that the Prophet useth to aggravate the misery of Banished men and are the several steps by which it riseth 2. The course they took Next the Prophet shewes us the Course that these banished and hungry souls took for ease and help and that it failed them not no nor the rest following that took the same Course and therefore he four times repeats it versu intercalari The way was
praise thée not with the lips only in an hypocritical manner but with the whole heart Ver. 1 sincerely and truly yea and to set forth thine honour not privately only but openly in the Assembly of the upright and in the Congregation of the faithful for thy wonderful works express'd toward the children of men I never look upon the Creature but I admire thy Power How great a work was it Ver. 2 to create all things of nothing in such variety in such beauty How great a work to preserve the same being created in so decent and constant an order I take pleasure in the search of it and the more I search the more I admire and the more I admire the readier I am to magnifie praise and adore the Author of it Ver. 3 To me the work is honourable but much more the Author of it In my eyes the work is glorious but much more the Lord of Glory For their sins O Lord Thou oftentimes layest thy Rod heavy upon thy best servants and for their sins Thou exaltest the wicked and sufferest impious Atheists to have dominion over them at which the hearts of thy best servants have béen troubled and their treadings had well nigh slip't But when we cast our eyes upon our deserts Ver. 3 we must néeds confess that thy judgments are just though thy procéedings are hid from us yet we know they are most equal in themselves because thy righteousness endures for ever We never call to mind thy great works which thou hast done for thy people Ver. 4 but our hearts are raised in the greatest extremities The memorials of them which thou wouldst have kept upon Record shew That thou art a gracious Lord and full of compassion no fathers bowels can yearn more over the fruit of his own loins than thy heart hath béen pitiful to thine own children Ver. 5 though they have béen rebellious and froward sons yet thou hast béen ever mindful of thy Covenant and shew'd thy self a merciful and compassionate Father O Lord notwithstanding our ingratitude forsake us not in the depth of our sufferings remember the Oath that thou swaredst to our fore-fathers and established for a thousand Generations and quench not the light of thy Gospel that once shin'd amongst us This O merciful God is that this is that chiefly which we beg at thy hands Then send Redemption unto thy people as thou didst to thy afflicted in Aegypt supply us that fear thy Name with necessary food as thou didst give them meat shew thy people the power of thy work restore to and kéep us in our inheritances of which men worse than the Heathen have dispossest us And though we now suffer grievous things under thy hand yet we complain not of thy justice for we are assured That all the works of thy hands are Verity and Judgment Thy Truth hath béen verified upon us in bringing a judgment upon a sinful Nation and we acknowledge thy judgments to be just because we have broken all thy Commandments They are sure and the punishments which were threatned in them is come upon us by our abominations we had defiled the land and therefore the land is ready to spue us out But O compassionate Father turn once more the light of thy countenance toward us teach us to know That thy Commandments must stand fast for ever that they are immutable and indispensable and that they are established in truth and uprightness containing in them an everlasting truth and the most absolute equity that can be conceived Quicken our hearts then with such a measure of grace that we may never dispense with them nor go about to change them or bend them to our corrupt affections making our depraved hearts the rule of our actions and not thy eternal Law Establish thy Covenant with us which thou hast commanded for ever put thy Lawes in our minds and write them in our hearts be to us a God and make us to be thy people make us to know thee from the least to the greatest and when being compassed by infirmities we fall from thée then send us Redemption and a Redéemer thy Son our Lord Iesus Christ and for his merits be merciful to our unrighteousness and remember no more our sins and our iniquities as thou hast promised Thy Name O Lord is holy make us a holy people Thy Name O Lord is terrible make us with reverence approach thy Hajesty And because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom make us so wise that we may alwayes begin in thy fear and continue in thy fear and practise and end all our actions in thy fear Teach us to know thy Will and thy Word and to believe in thée and love thée and to trust in thée and to give thanks unto thée according to that good understanding which thou shalt infuse into us So let us live and so let us dye that whereas the name of the wicked shall rot in oblivion or ignominy our memorial for the present may be blessed and in the World to come Thou with thine own mouth may'st call to us and say It is well done thou good and faithful servant enter into thy Masters joy Which we beséech thée grant unto us for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Amen PSAL. CXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DAVID having put it down for an infallible Maxim in the close of the former Psalm That the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom in this sets down the felicity of that man in many particulars Two parts there are of the Psalm 1. A Proposition in general that he is blessed ver 1. 2. An Enumeration of particulars in which that blessedness doth consist from ver 2. to the end 1. To the first part he prefixeth an Allelujah Praise the Lord Allelujah The first part which is the intent and scope of the Psalm That God be praised for those rewards of piety which God bestowes upon such as fear him and so he enters upon the matter 2. And delivers this one general Postulatum or Proposition which by divers instances he proves through the whole Psalm that he may perswade men to piety Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord Ver. 1 that delights greatly in his Commandments He that fears God is blessed with an 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that believes in him honours him serves him 2. But because a man should not be mistaken supposing that he fears him when he does not he adds these three Restrictions to his Proposition 1. 1 Obediential fear That it must be an obediential fear For he must keep his Commandments 2. 2 A filial fear That it must be a filial no servile fear out of delight not compulsion He delights in them is pleased with the equity of them and loves them 3. 3 An affectionate fear That it must be a chearful ready fear performed with all alacrity earnestness care and study He delights
he hath done endureth for ever and shall in its time receive an ample reward Prov. 28.27 22.9 2. Nay by it increased his honour and perhaps his wealth also 2 And his Honour His Horn that is his power dignity glory shall be exalted with honour 10. Ver. 10 His last felicity is that he shall exceed and overcome all envy for it is most true 10 He shall overcome all Envy 1. That the wicked shall see it consider the prosperity and liberality of him that fears God and be grieved with his felicity and pine with envy 1 For the wicked shall envy him 2. That as a mad Dog he shall gnash his teeth at it and for very grief melt away 2 But not hurt him and seek his ruine 3. But yet he shall not be able to harm him all his endeavours shall be frustrate and his labours ineffectual The desire of the wicked shall perish He then that fears God is a happy man he that fears him not most unhappy The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and twelfth Psalm O On impotent God it is thy fear alone that can make men truly happy for where thy fear is truly rooted Ver. 1 there piety and justice there thy true worship and all fruits of charity and justice will flourish so therefore affect our bearts with a filial fear that we may make it our delight to run the wayes of thy Commandments Make our will conformable to thy Will and our affection◠correspondent to what thou dost affect so shall we find no labour or difficulty in thy precepts but be greatly pleased to be thy obedient servants It is time of the greatest of our desires Ver. 2 That our seed should be mighty upon earth which cannot be expected without thy blessing create in us then an upright he art that so the Generation which succéed us may be blessed We desire that wealth Ver. 3 and riches and honour should be in our house let us aim to attain to these in thy fear Ver. 3 in a just and a righteous way that they may endure to our posterity make us content with what thou bestowest and know That Piety is great gain when the mind is satisfied with what thou givest We now live O Lord in a difficult time we know not what to do but our eyes are to thée Ver. 4 Thou art a gracious God and full of compassion and righteous let therefore thy light arise to us in this darkness let thy counsel direct us and thy comforts shine unto us Ver. 5 that we may prudently carry our selves in these distrculties Provocations we have had to anger and revenge but touch our hearts with so much compassion that we may shew favour toward our enemies forgive them as thou for Christs sake hast forgiden us And since we are compassed about with temptations Ver. 6 enrich our hearts with prudence That we may guide our Affairs with discretion Ver. 7 discréetly putting a difference betwixt Truth and Falshood just and unjust acts and though we be violently assaulted make us constant in thy fear and patient in our sufferings O let us not be moved or seduced from the right way for ever Fix our hearts and make us trust in thée establish our hearts and never let any evil tydings make us afraid but let us rely upon thy promises till we sée our desire upon our enemies Let it not be our aim to heap up wealth but give us grace to use it well to disperse as well as to gather and to be content to give as well as to receine that so the loins of the néedy may bless us and the bellies of the poor pray for us With this unrighteous Mammon let us make our selves friends that when they fall we may be receiv'd into everlasting habitations this is a righteousness that will endure for ever this is a means not only to encrease our reward in the life to come Ver. 6 but also in this to exalt our Hor◠our power and dignity with honour For a good man alwayes lives in the memory of good men his name is precious his memorial is honourable whereas the memory of the wicked shall be buried in oblivion or remembred with reproach the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Write our names O Lord in the Book of life Ver. 10 and conserve them in the memorials of thy Saints let the wicked sée it and be grieved at it and let the adversaries of thy fear and the blessed estate of thy servants gnash their téeth for envy and melt away to find that their desires come to naught O Lord whosoever he be that shall desire the ruine of those that fear thée let him never be able to fulfil it but together with him let his desire perish So shall thy people and sheep of thy pasture that fear thee the Lord Ver. 1 and delight greatly in thy Commandments bless thy Name for blessing them and call to all that love thee and thy Church to praise the Lord. Amen Amen PSAL. CXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Scope of this Psalm is the same with those that went before viz. to excite men to praise God Three parts of this Psalm 1. An Exhortation to praise him directed to his servants ver 1. 2. A Form set down for it expressing how when and where to praise him ver 2 3. 3. The Reasons that perswade us to it first his infinite Power ver 4 5. secondly his Providence most conspicuous in Heaven and in Earth ver 6. in Earth both in Common-wealths ver 7 8. and in private Families ver 9. 1. The Prophet exhorts men to praise the Lord And 1. First He doubles and trebles his Exhortation Praise the Lord praise The first part He exhorts to praise God praise the Name of the Lord that it be not coldly and dully but zealously done or else to shew that he alone is worthy of all praise Ver. 1 The Kingdom is his and therefore the Glory Especially his servants 2. He shewes us by whom he would have it done by his servants Praise the Lord O ye servants He is your Lord you his servants praise him then and do it with a pure heart For praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner 2. The Form in which it is to be done is this Say The second part A Form of thanksgiving 1. Blessed be the Name of the Lord Job 1. 2. And say it at all times Begin it ab ipso nunc From this time forth and continue in it from this time forth for evermore In prosperity adversity in this life in the future 1 For all times 3. And let it be said in all places even all the World over From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same 2 All places the Lords Name is to be praised 3. And now follow the Reasons The third part The reasons for it by which he perswades men
to praise him 1. The first is his Majesty his infinite Power Glory this extends not to men alone but to the Heavens and all above the Heavens Ver. 4 The Lord is high above all Nations and his Glory above the Heavens above Princes 1 Gods Majesty Heavens Angels therefore praise him 2. The second is his admirable Providence Benignity and Bounty 2 His. Providence and Condescension which being joyned with so great Majesty appears the more admirable Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high None in Heaven and Earth to be compared to him and yet which sets forth his goodness Ver. 5 the care he hath of all things He as it were humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in earth He is present with the greatest Angels and ready to help the meanest creature Two instances of it Now of his Providence in humbling himself to behold the things on earth he gives two instances the first is in States and Kingdoms the second in private Families 1. In States He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the Dunghil 1 In Kingdoms in which he exalts men of low degree The examples of it may be Joseph Moses David Daniel Job Mordecai let then no man say Non vacant exiguis rebus adesse Jovi And the end is That he may set him with the Princes even with the Princes of his people He vindicates their name not only from contempt but exalts them to the highest places of honour 2. 2 In private Familes opening the womb In private Families As the infelicity of men is a low and despised condition so the infelicity of women is barrenness as therefore he looks upon humble men and raiseth them to a Crown so he looks upon humble women and makes them fruitful in which the happiness of a Family consists and therefore the Prophet adds this other instance of his Providence He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children A joyful mother for that women rejoyce in nothing more than in bearing of children the examples may be Sarah Rebeccah Rachel Annah Elizabeth Jo. 16.21 But by most Expositors This appliable to the Church of the Gentiles this last verse hath a higher meaning and relates unto the Church of the Gentiles which was the barren woman before Christs coming but hath now more children than she that hath a Husband i. e. the Jewish Synagogue Isa 54.1 Rejoyce O barren that didst not bear break forth into joy and rejoyce thou that didst not travel with child for the desolate hath more children than the married wife and is to this purpose applied by St. Paul Gal. 4.27 The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and thirteenth Psalm O Omnipotent Lord Ver. 1 whosoever are addicted in faith and fincerepâ—ety to thy worship and service are bound at all times in all places to return unto thy Name immortal praises Ver. 2 we then who acknowledge thée to be our Lord and our selves thy dassals and servants with our whole hearts both secretly and in the Congregation of Saints do sound forth with full voyce Blessed be the Name of the Lord our God Ver. 3 from this time forth for â—vermore from the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same our Lord's Name be praised O Lord thy Majesty is great thy Glory illustrious thy Goodness Clemency and Providence wonderful Ver. 4 thy Power is high above all Nations and the greatest in those Nations thy Glory above the Heavens and the most glorious in those Heavens Ver. 5 Who O Lord our God is like unto thée or among men or Angels may be compared with thée And yet though thou dwellest on high such is thy care thy provision thy clemency toward us men below Ver. 6 that thou dost as it were humble thy self and descend from thy Throne of Majesty to behold the things that are in Heaven to take a care for the things that are done in and on the Earth there is no action no event either in Heaven or Earth which thou rulest not which thou guidest not and orders not If the proud Angels in Heaven aspire to thy Throne Thou beholdest it and they shall féel thy power If insolent men on earth shall exalt themselves against thée they shall drink of the cup of thy wrath when thy servants sin against thée and yet shall humble themselves before thée Thou wilt behold their contrition and accept their tears and forgive their ungracious behaviour Look down O Lord at this time from thy dwelling place and behold the afflicted slate and condition of this thy Church Ver. 7 we have for many years béen trod under foot and lain in the dust we have béen and are yet oppressed and cast aside as it were to the Dunghil Thy judgments O Lord are just and thy wayes equal for unsavoury salt we were and deserved no better But thou who raisest the poor out of the dust and liftest the needy out of the Dunghil vouchsafe to stretch out thy arm of power and right hand of help to our Princes and Armies set our King whom thou hast hitherto dejected once again with Princes even the Princes of his people O Lord who makest the barren woman to keep house Ver. 8 and be a joyful mother of children take pity on the afflicted woman thy Church and let her not mourn and longer for her barrenness grant that by thy Word and Spirit Ver. 9 she may be a mother of many children with whom she may rejoyce in thy house and celebrate thy Name with perpetual praises through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. CXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DAVID in this Psalm chants forth the wonderful works and miracles that God wrought when he brought forth the people of Israel out of Aegypt Two parts there are of this Psalm 1. A Narration of Israels deliverance amplified by the state they were in ver 1. The state to which they were brought ver 2. The miracles then done first at the red Sea and Jordan ver 3. and at Sinai when the Law was given wer 4. 2. A Prosopopeia set down by way of Dialogue first For the Prophet asks the Sea and Jordan Why they fled turned back ver 5 6. secondly To which the answer is made by the brutish Earth which is enough to strike a terrour a veneration and fear into all men That it trembled at the presence of the Lord ver 7 8. 1. In the Narration Israâ—ls condition is set down by way of comparison The first part Israels condition in Aegype set down that so their deliverance might make the deeper impression First we are to know that Israel and the house of Jacob and Judah in this place signifie the same thing viz. The whole Nation of the Israelites that descended out of Jacobs loins but of the house of Jacob there is peculiar mention because with him
the head of the corner that was rejected that it was Gods doing alone and a marvellous work that the day in which this was done was a Festival and the people to rejoyce in it that then they pray'd to God to save them by his hand and blessed their King adorned their Temple and offer'd Sacrifices with many thanks to God for his mercies Thus no question these verses may literally be understood of David But it must be confessed that in all this David was but a Type of Christ and that these words properly belong unto him we have a clear testimony first from his own mouth attested by three Evangelists Matth. 21.42 Mark 12.10 Luke 20.17 and by his Apostles St. Peter Acts 4.11 and St. Paul Rom. 9.33 These words to be applied to Christ out of Isa 28.16 Of Christ then I shall rather interpret them than of David without doubt the Prophet being wonderfully illuminated by the Holy Ghost wrote concerning Christ as followeth 1. The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner Ver. 22 1. The Church is oftentimes in Scripture likened to a building of which the Saints are living stones of which Christ is the chief stone the head and corner stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that joins and keeps together the two walls Jewes and Gentiles 2. But the Jewes the Priests especially to whom did pertain the office of building the Church refused this stone and cast him aside We will not have this man to reign over us we have no King but Caesar They crucified him and in his Grave call'd him a Deceiver St. Peter layes it to their charge Acts 4.11 3. But God call'd for him again and he is become the head of the corner Ephes 2.20 That is he is made head of the whole Church and such a head that whosoever is not built upon him cannot be saved 2. This saith the Prophet was the Lords doing both his rejection and raising again was from him it was done by his Election and Divine Power not from any counsel or hand of man Acts 2.23 24. 3. And it is marvellous in our eyes For who can do less than wonder that a crucified man dead and butied should by his own power rise again after three dayes be immortal and have all power given to him and be made Head and Prince of all men and Angels For this mercy a day set apart and that by him there should be a way made to mortal men to the Kingdom of Heaven to the society of Angels and an immortal life For so great a work fit it is that a day be set apart and such there is saith David 1. This is the day that the Lord hath made which questionless was the day of his Resurrection and God is said to have made this day more than other as honouring it above other making it memorable to posterity in which the Son of righteousness arose from the Grave and making it an high and holy day from which every other Sunday had his Original This is the Lords day 2. And the end why this day was made for joy and gladness The duty of the day The day wherein Adam fell was a doleful day but this day wherein Christ rose from the dead is a joyful day The Redemption by Christ is a year of Jubilee the Resurrection of Christ is the chief day in the year We will therefore rejoyce for it and be glad in it 3. Yea and in the midst of our rejoycing we will pray and sound forth Osanuah to the son of David which is being interpreted Save now we beseech thee O Lord O Lord we beseech thee send now prosperity Blessed be he that comes in the Name of the Lord Which was the gratulatoâ—â— and precatory words that the people used to our Saviour when he rode in Triumph into Jerusalem Mat. 21. That we may be assured that the Form of Acclamation belongs nor so much to David as to Christ and it was the opinion of the Jewes That when their Messiah came these words should be sung before him that being the cause that the people used them then The whole Prophesie of Christs coming riding into Jerusalem in Triumph The Priests duty then to bless Rejection Passion Resurrection Benediction being thus explained the Prophet turns his speech to the people putting into the mouth of the Priests these words in which they were to do their Duty Numb 6. and to bless 1. We have blessed you as we ought to do all happiness be to you under this King 2. And all happiness be to you out of the house of the Lord from the Church and to the Church alone the blessing belongs Ye are the blessed of the Lord. 3. God is the Lord which hath shewed us light Revealed unto his Son the light of the World and removed from us the darkness of errour sin hell c. 4. Therefore be thankful unto him bind the Sacrifice with cords even to the horns of the Altar make a solemn day for it and meet in the Church to praise him 5. The fifth part Being a Doxology The Prophet concludes with a Doxology fit to be used by the people met and assembled in which he sets forth his faith and gratitude 1. Thou art my God 2. And I will praise thee which he ingeminates Thou art my God and I will exalt thee which ingemination shewes his ardent desire to be thankful 3. And so concludes with the same Exhortation that he began the Psalm and in the same words O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and eighteenth Psalm O Blessed and Holy Iesus King of the World and Head of the Church who hast bought us by thy blood and espoused us in mercy and loving-kindness Ver. 13 it is not unknown unto thée how the enemies of thy Truth dally oppose us and with what storms and tempests of persecutions we are daily assaulted The Devil daily thrusts sore at us that we might fall and Antichrist with his complices compass us about they compass us about they compass us about in anger and rage they swarm about us as thick as Bées to sting us even to death might they have their will upon us In these our dangers we have none to fly to but thée we have none to call upon in our distress but on thée Who art the Lord our God answer us O Lord and set our feet in a large place Be on our side and then we will not fear what man can do unto us take our part with them that help us and so shall we see our desire upon them that hate us We confess O Lord we confess before men and Angels that our sins with which we have provoked thy justice Ver. 18 have deserved far greater punishments and that for these Thou hast sorely chastned and corrected us yet in mercy Thou hast not
up against us Men carnal corrupt men that look after nothing but to satisfie their own Ambition Lust Avarice Those arose seditiously tumultuously rebelliously of such the Proverb is true Home homini lupus 2. Which the Prophet verifies in the next verse expressing the danger that the Church was in from these men or Beasts rather by these two similitudes of Beasts of prey of waters 1. Ver. 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick that had been the consequent of their rising The danger the Church was in before delivered like Wolves and Bears they had rush'd upon us and devoured us as poor sheep eaten us even alive Though Bellarmine refers this Clause to waters also because Beasts tear before they devour and so eat not their prey alive But the Metaphor may be proper enough the other way for he shewes what they would do if they could and that in their fury they spare not a living soul By cruel enemies 2. The cause their wrath Which fury of theirs the Prophet conceals not but illustrates it by a Metaphor This they had done to us when their wrath was kindled against us Ver. 4 3. His other similitude is from waters Then the proud waters had gone over our soul And in the verse before Then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over our soul He compares the Enemies Army to a swelling Torrent that carries all before it 3. Ver. 6 Next acknowledgeth the deliverance and gives thanks to the Authour to be God alone He gives thanks for it Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over as a prey into their teeth The deliverance was beyond expectation which he illustrates by another similitude of a Bird taken in but escaping out of a snare unexpectedly 1. Ver. 7 Our soul is escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler taken to be killed 2. The snare is broken and we are delivered the Fowler is deceived of his prey 4. Ver. 8 He concludes the Psalm with a gratulatory Epiphonema 1. And relies on God Our help is in the Name of the Lord. The Church relies in all dangers upon God whether they be assaulted openly as by Bears and Wolves or secretly as the Fowler layes wait for the Bird yet her help is in Gods protection and tutelage 2. Who made Heaven and Earth i. e. The Creatour who hath all things in his hand and power and therefore is able to deliver us The Prayer EXcept thou Ver. 1 O Omnipotent and Merciful God shalt by thy power and favour assist and help us our enemies Swords drawn out against us must néeds dispatch and consume us for their wrath is so kindled against us that as Wolves and Bears devour the poor flock so have they rush'd into amongst us and desired to swallow us quick when they seditiously and rebelliously rose up against us yea the déep waters of the proud hath overwhelmed and gone over our soul Sought they have to swéep us away as a mighty Torreut and over-run us at once as an unexpected inundation doth the lower vallies And what they could not do by violence that they have attempted by close and secret practices for they have set snares for our souls as the crafty Fowler doth for the innocent Bird. O Lord avert thy anger from us and take not vengeance upon us according to our deserts be not wanting to thy own Ordinances to thy Name thy Truth which with us is like to suffer Bring to pass that we may at last say Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth let their nets be broken Ver. 6 their plots vissolved weaken their strength and bring to naught their counsels and make a way for our souls to escape as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler from thée alone which hast made Heaven and Earth we look for help therefore we humbly beséech thée that for thy infinite goodness and mercy Ver. 8 thou wouldst be propitious to our prayers and deliver us from these fierce bloody and subtile enemies for the merits of Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSALM CXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IT is the purpose of the Prophet to comfort the Church of God 1. The Sume By an assurance of her perpetuity both from Gods presence and protection ver 1 2. 2. That though God suffer them to be chastised by the wicked yet he will not leave them under the rod ver 3. 3. He prayes for the good 4. Sets down the portion of the wicked ver 4 5. 1. The first part In the beginning of the Psalm the Prophet sets down a general promise of the perpetuity of the Church because of Gods continual presence with her Ver. 1 And shews to whom it belongs 1. They that trust in the Lord. That trust in him The Church shall continue not with a vain confidence and presumption but that rely upon him by faith not fained out of a pure heart and a good conscience and aftervent love 2. These shall be as mount Zion which cannot be moved secure and immovable as is Zion not only immovable because a mountain but because a holy mountain consecrated and dear to God 3. Which the Prophet farther explains and assigns a perpetual duration to it but abides for ever which is a comfort to the Church Because God protects it of which Zion was the Type No tempest no storm no persecution no enemy shall destroy it Of which the Prophet gives a reason in the next verse by a Similitude for Zion which was in Jerusalem hath the mountains round about it for a wall of defence 't is not easie for an enemy to approach Jerusalem nor to take It was a Virgin-City never taken but twice and then when God took away his protection from it and delivered it to the hand and will of the Babylonians and Romans Which protection he will never take from his Church and therefore the Church is unexpugnable 1. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem 2. So the Lord is round about his people A wall of fire round about Ver. 2 Zach. 2. 3. From henceforth even for ever They that trust in the Lord shall be alwayes safe and secure for though they be temporally afflicted yet all shall work for their good He may take from them their wealth health c. yet he gives something better patience comfort with hope of eternal glory 2. Which the Prophet confirms preventing an objection The second part What shall those that trust in the Lord be safe and secure How comes it to passe then that they are oppressed to which the Prophet by way of prevention answers The power of the wicked shal never destroy it He grants it may be so but the oppression is not to continue The power of the wicked shall be over the just for their probation for their trial and correction but it shall not rest upon them it
Name attributing the success to thy mercy only Never suffer us to be distracted with anxiety for the things of this life or be over-sollicitous for to morrow but having used those means which thou hast ordained honest labour and a competent thrist let us rely upon thy Providence and compose our minds to rest and sléep in it for this is the acquiescence thou givest to those thou lovest We know O Lord that children are the props of our Families Ver. 3 and that these are thy blessings also For children are an heritage of the Lord and the fâ—â—it of the womb are thy Reward Thou O God hast the Keyes of Heaven and Hell of Rain and Providence of the Grave and of the womb let not then thy servants féel the curse of dry breasts and a barren womb but make us joyful parents of children that may increase the number of thy redéemed Give us thy grace and favour that we may instruct them with diligence and méekness govern them with prudence and holiness and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord provide for them such useful imployments That they may be as Arrowes in the hand of a mighty man Ver. 4 defences and succours to our old age If it he thy blessed Will let them live to a full age and make us happy that we have our quivers full of them from whose powerful arm may be shot quick and sharp arrowes into the very hearts of those Ver. 5 who are enemies to all Piety thy Gospel and thy Truth fill O Lord thy Church with such children of youth who while they oppose the Adversary and maintain the sincerity of Religion in word and déed may never be ashamed nor yield when they speak with the enemies in the gate Grant us these things O gracious Father for thy Son our Lord Iesus Christs sake PSAL. CXXVIII IN this Psalm the Prophet perswades to fear God upon the several Rewards that attend upon Piety The Contents are these 1. He describes the pious man and pronounceth him blessed ver 1. 2. He proposeth the particulars of his blessing ver 2 3 5 6. 3. He gives his Acclamation to it ver 4. 1. The first part That man that fears God He describes the man who is to expect the blessing two qualities be must have 1. He must fear the Lord Fear to offend him not decline from him Ver. 1 2. Is Blessed He must walk in his wayes For this is the true character of his fear 3. This man shall be blessed yea every such man high or low rich or poor there is no exception Blessed is every one In a happy condition 2. The second part And the blessedness and happiness consists in these particulars 1. He shall enjoy those Goods which he hath honestly gotten with the labour of his hands Ver. 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands His happiness is not in having much 1 In his goods but enjoying it Eccles 6.1 2. 2. Happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee So well that he shall have enough for himself and be able to relieve others and leave somewhat to his children 3. 2 In his wife Happy he shall be in his marriage too often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But he that fears the Lord and marries in the Lord shall be happy in his match 1. Ver. 3 His wife shall be as a fruitful Vine Fatifera non steriliâ— 2. Upon the walls of thy house Domi porta modest and shamefac't staying at home and caring for the things of the house while her Husband is taking care abroad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. 3 In his children Happy in his children 1. Thy childreâ— like the Olive-branches Fresh green spredding fruitful and pledges of peace not like sharp Thorns and a pricking Hedge 2. Round about thy Table It will be a comfort to see them sit with them eat with them and hear their pretty Discourse Now these temporal happinesses the Prophet concludes with an Acclamation Lo 〈…〉 the man be blest that fears the Lord. Thus in his goods Ver. 4 wiâ—â— â—â—ildren The third part 3. But there is a blessing attends him far beyond all this The Acclamation the summe of which is Ver. 5 1. Gods blessing The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion God shall-shall-bless him by a federal blessing a Church-blessing 2. Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem 1 With a Church-blessing the peace and prosperity of the Church all thy dayes 3. Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children Ver. 6 Et natos natorum qui nascuntur ab illis 2 With grand-children 4. And peace upon Israel 3 With a peaceable life And a flourishing Commonwealth and Kingdom for by peace is understood all prosperity The Prayer out of the One hundred and twenty eighth Psalm O Holy and just God if no blessing or happiness can befall any Ver. 1 but those which fear thée and walk in thy wayes we must needes acknowledge the cause to be just why we are brought into these straits and woful afflictions For when thou hadst opened unto us a full Sea of mercies and beyond our deserts confer'd upon us infinite and unspeakable benesits we have neglected thy fear and gone a whoring after our own inventions and thy Commandments being cast aside we have walked after our own wayes O Lord pardon our iniquities and be merciful to our sins Ver. 2 put thy fear into our hearts and obedience to thy Lawes Ver. 3 so shall we yet hope to eat the labour of our hands that we may yet be happy that our wives may be as the fruitful Vines upon the walls of our houses and our children as the Olive-branches round about our Tables Good God however thou please to deal with us yet remember thy afflicted Church and bless her out of thy high and holy place of Zion Ver. 5 she is thy Spouse let her then flourish as a fruitful Vine Ver. 6 and bring forth children unto thée let her sée her childrens children and enjoy a perpetual and a setled peace After our great troubles and afflictions it would be the rejoycing of our hearts might we but sée the good of Jerusalem all the dayes of our life and behold thy people Israel that are now divided by Factions and Schisms united in a Christian peace O thou who art the God of peace grant us this for his sake who made our peace thy only Son our Saviour Iesus Christ PSAL. CXXIX THE intent of the Prophet in this Psalm is to comfort the Church in affliction and to stir her up to glorifie God for his Providence over her alwayes over her for her good and bringing her enemies to confusion and a sudden ruine The Contents are 1. The indefatigable malice of the enemies of the Church ver 1 2 3. 2. That their malice is in vain for they pâ—â—â—ail not from ver 2. to 4. God saves them