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
distress he afforded not him Martyres si non eripuit tum non deseruit His case then was more grievous than any before Nunquam dolor sicut Ver. 3 and of this he puts God in mind in the three following verses and presseth him in effect to remember his Promise and Covenant Call on me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee For of this they that went before had experience and he was the same God still and why then should not he be heard and eased why only deserted and cast aside 1. God heard his other servants in extremity Thou continuest Holy i. e. propitious and benevolous O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel dwellest among the Israelites help'st them and thence givest them an occasion to praise thee 2. Christ deserted Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them 3. Ver. 6 They cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded But it seems my case is worse than any mans Vermis ego non homo And then he expresseth the extremity of his miseries by parcels 1. Scoffed The scoffs and scorns put upon him I am become the reproach of men and the despised among the people 2. They express their scorns by words and gesture All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip and shake their head saying 3. They labour to take my God from me insulting over me with this Sarcasm Insulted over The second part Yet trusts in God He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him since he delighted in him Now here he breaketh off the Narration of his sufferings and converts his speech to God Refutes their Irony shews his confidence in God and prayes assistance by three Arguments drawn from Gods goodness to him 1. His generation and birth Thou art he that tookest me out of my mothers womb 2. His sustenance and nourishment ever since That didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breasts I was cast upon thee from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly My Saviour Protectour Preserver 3. Trouble it near and there is none to help Therefore Be not far from me And now he returns to the Narration or Story of the passion again The second part of the first part In which he sets forth the despite cruelty and rage of the Jews toward him whom he compares to Bulls Vers. 12 Lions Doggs vers 16. 1. The Jews rage toward him They apprehended him to that end as many Bulls they compassed him strong Bulls of Basan beset him round 2. They long'd to condemn and devour him They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring Lion 3. The Rulers Vers. 16 This was the cruelty and rage of the Bulls and Lions the chief Rulers towards him And people and now follows the Ravin of the Doggs the multitude the people they were caetus malignantium the assembly of the wicked and being stirr'd up by the chief Priests and Rulers they compassed him they enclosed him 4. They Crucifie him They Crucifie him And this his passion is expressed by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foretelling what Christ was to sustain in his body his soul 1. I am poured out like water No part of my body hath any consistency The passion described no more than water that being poured on the ground runs every way Or else my blood is poured out freely and no more accompt made of the effusion than of water 2. All my bones being rack'd on the Cross are luxated and out of joint 3. My heart at the sense of Gods wrath is dissolv'd and melted like wax at the fire It is melted in the midst of my bowels He was in an Agony 4. My strength my radical humour is dried up like a baked pot 5. My tongue for thirst cleaves to my jaws Sirio 6. Thou hast brought me to death 2. To the dust of death Dead Buried 7. And Crucified also For he was to dye upon the Cross They pierced my hands and my feet 8. My bones are so disjointed that they may be all told I may tell all my bones 9. And yet for all this they shew no pity no compassion at all For 1. They look and stare upon me With pleasure they behold my misery which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an affection fit for the Devil 2. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture He prayes as Christ did on the Cross And he falls to Prayer again Which in effect is the same with that ejaculation with which Christ gave up the Ghost Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit The second part of the second part But be not thou far from me O Lord O my strength hast thee to help me Deliver my soul from the Sword my darling that is Vers. 19 my soul from the power of the dog Save me from the Lions mouth for thou hast heard me from the horns of the Vnicorn The third part of the Psalm is the profession of thanks for the delivery The third part The thanksgiving for deliverance and it contains a clear Prophecy of the Resurrection of Christ that having conquerâ—d Death and the Devil he was to reign and gather a Church out of all Nations which was to continue for ever This is amplified 1. By a Publick Profession of this benefit receiv'd from God Vers. 22 I will declare thy Name to my brethren In the midst of the Congregation I will praise thee And again Shew'd in the promulgation of the Gospel My praise shall be of thee in the great Congregation and I will pay my vows before them that fear him In which we have 1. The Propagation Proclamation or Preaching of the Gospel Which is amplified 1. Narrabo nomen by the notation of the Object to whom preached honour'd here by the name of Brethren Vos vocavit fratres Those that fear the Lord the seed of Jacob the seed of Israel The afflicted the Meek Vers. 22 The fat of the earth they that go down to the dust Vers. 25 2. By the place In the midst of the Congregation In the Church and Gods worship there observ'd in the great Congregation that is in the Church grown great by the Accession of all Nations 3. By the Worship they were to exhibit Praise paying of vows Fear I will praise thee My praise shall be of thee I will pay my vows c. 2. An Exhortation to his brethren c. to do this duty Vers. 23 and that they be fit to do it 2 To which he exhorts Gods people For every one is not fit to take Gods name into his mouth It is Ye that fear the Lord the seed of Jacob the seed of Israel do ye praise him glorifie him fear him Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce before him with reverence Exhibit
external internal worship 3. And to perswade to this he gives two reasons 1. Drawn from Gods goodness his acceptance of the Worship 1 Because God will accepts is and hearing our prayers and affording help when we call Vers. 24 For the Lord hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from him but when he cryed to him he heard him 2. This is the first Reason A second there is at the 26. verse 2 By the promises made to them which is the great good that should happen to those that believe and accept of the Gospel preach'd to them Vers. 26 Whom he calls here The Meek i. e. the humble the broken-hearted the penitent the heavy-laden those who are oppressed with the burden of their sins and astonished at the sense of Gods wrath Three promises of comfort are made unto them 1. 1 They shall be satisfied with the Gospel They shall eat and be satisfied i. e. They shall be fed by the Word of the Gospel and the Sacrament and they shall be satisfied with the glad tidings thereof 2. 2 Celebrate the Eucharist They shall praise the Lord for this mercy seeking his favour in his Ordinances especially the Eucharist The Sacrifices of the New Testament are Sacrifices of praise 3. 3 Their conscience quieted Their heart shall live for ever Their conscience being quieted and pacified and freed from the sense of Gods wrath And now the Prophet goes on These promises made to the Gentiles as wel as the Jews and sets forth unto us the extension and amplitude of these benefits that they belong'd not only to the Jews but even to the Gentiles by whose Conversion the Kingdom of Christ was to be enlarged All the ends of the World Vers. 27 1. Being warn'd by the preaching of the Gospel and allured by these promises shall remember themselves Who were to be converted consider of their lamentable condition in which they are and deplore their former estate impiety idolatry c. and the mercy of God now manifested to them being laid to heart 2. They casting away their gods and forsaking their lewd courses shall turn unto the Lord from whom they have been alienated 3. And embrace a new form of Religion And being converted they shall embrace a new form of Religion under the Gospel All the Kingdoms of the Nations shall worship before thee Of which the reason is Vers. 28 Because Christ is advanc'd to the Throne All power is given to him For Christ is exalted to be King For the Kingdom i. e. of the Church is the Lords and he is the governour among the people And then he instanceth in two sorts of men that should become subjects of this Kingdom In effect all Rich and poor 1. Vers. 29 The fat upon the earth that is the wealthy the mighty Kings Princes 1 To whom the rich should be Subjects Great Men are not excluded from the society of this Kingdom and participation of Grace All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship 2. 2 And the poor penitents Ezek. 27.30 They also that go down to the dust that is who are poor neglected draw out their life in misery and sit as it were in the dust Those that are perpetual Mourners and have perpetual dust and ashes on their heads These shall bow before him And No man hath quickned his own soul Or None can keep alive his own soul This clause is diversly read Moller Et qui animam suam non vivificat Vulgar Et anima mea illi vivet Jun. Qui animam suam in vita non conservaverit Musculus Quorum nemo animam suam vivificabit Chald. Et anima impii non vivet And therefore admits of several interpretations which read in the Authours 3. 2 And to be a perpetual King Lastly He doth amplifie the greatness of this benefit by the perpetuity of Christs Kingdom It was not a Feast of one hour but it was to continue 1. Vers. 30 A seed shall serve him It shall be counted to the Lord for a generation a holy Nation Whom his seed shall serve a royal Priesthood 2. And when one generation was past another should come up to perform this Duty Vers. 31 being instructed by their fathers They shall come and declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born For ever Manebit semper Ecclesia 3. Lastly He concludes with the cause of all why we call'd why justified why sanctified why saved Quia ipse fecit Ipse God the Authour of all This is Gods doing or if we read That he hath done it Then it is to be a part of the Declaration A Prayer collected out of the 22. Psalm to be used by a disconsolate soul in a spiritual Desertion O Heavenly Father and most Merciful God thou séest that at this time I am a man of sorrows and beset with heaviness thy comforts I now most néed and yet thou séemest to turn thy face from me My God Vers. 1 whom I have alwayes served my God whom I have alwayes trusted why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so farre from my help why is it that thou doest not hear the words of my complaint O my God Vers. 2 I cry day and night to thée to take away this bitter cup from me but thou who art wont to hear those who call upon thee yet doest not regard the voice of my roaring As water that is poured out upon the ground and hath no consistence Vers. 14 as wax that melts at the heat of the fire and loseth its continuity so is the heart in the midst of my body it flows every way and is melted by the furnace of thy fierce wrath I have not whereon to stay I have not whereon to consist I pine with grief I dissolve with pain I pine and languish and faint and dye My bones are fill'd with torture Vers. 15 all the strength of my limbs is wasted my vital spirits fail my moysture is dryed up my tongue cleaveth to my gums and I am brought even to the very dust of death I looked about to sée if any would pity me Vers. 17 but I found them all miserable comforters they shew no pity no compassion at all Vers. 6 For as if I were a worm and no man they stare and look upon me delighting themselves in my misery They scoff and scorn me so that I am become the reproach of men and the despised of the people Their words are bitter their gestures worse Vers. 12 They laugh me to scorn they shoot out their lips they shake their heads They thus insult over me nay blaspheme thée He trusted in God that he would deliver him let him deliver him now if he hath any delight in him They compass me as wild Bulls they enclose me as mad doggs they gape upon me as roaring Lyons They pierce my soul
deny me and afford me no comfort And all this is done unto me without any fault or offence of mine Ver. 7 it is for thy sake I have born this reproach For thy sake shame hath covered my face for the zeal of thy House hath eaten me up I have béen very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts they have thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the edge of the Sword very studious I have béen and fervent to maintain thy Religion in its purity which others have cast down and in it so much as lies in them have reproached thée but the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me Because thy Name was dishonoured I wept I chastned even my soul with fasting and whereas I ought for this to have béen more dear unto them I became a scorn even my humiliation and acts of repentance were turned to my reproach I testified also my sadness by my Sackloth and for this I became a Proverb of reproach The Iudges the chief of the City they which sit in the Gates speak against me condemning me and detracting from me and as for the common ordinary sort of people the Drunkards they made songs of me In a word They gave me Gall to eat and Vinegar to drink so inhumane they were that whereas in my greatest sufferings and extremities they ought to have refreshed and relieved me they increased my sorrows and under a colour of refreshment added affliction to the afflicted Now in the midst of these grievances that which most grieves my heart is the scandal of the Cross afraid I am lest that any of thy people looking upon those things which I suffer should estéem me stricken smitten of God and afflicted and thereby take an occasion to renounce the Truth of Religion and fall from thée I beséech thée therefore O Lord God of Hosts Let not them that wait on thee be ashamed for my sake let not them that seek thee be confounded for my sake O Lord God of Israel O Lord to remove this scandal there is no readier way than to bring them down to humble them and to poure the vials of thy wrath upon them Let then their Table be made a snare unto them and what should have been a welfare let it become a trap Gall and bitterness they have offered to me let their dainties be bitterness in their mouths and gall to their palates A snare they have laid for my féet and let that in which they hope to be prosperous and happy be an occasion of falling the very eating of the Paschal Lamb their ruine and thy Word the food of their souls an occasion of errour In hearing let them hear and not understand and in séeing let them sée and not perceive make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they sée with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Inféeble them O Lord and make their loins to tremble and shake bow down their backs with slavery and hard bondage and press them continually with such burdens of miseries that they may groan and sigh under the heavy hand of their Oppressors Plentifully and speedily poure forth thy indignation upon them and let thy fiercest anger and vengeance continually pursue them let their houses be desolate not a stone left upon a stone and their land without an inhabitant let them procéed from one wickedness to another and add sin to sin till their iniquity come to the full neither ever let them repent them of their wicked wayes that thou might'st pardon and forgive their heinous transgressions or justifie them at thy great Tribunal with mercy thou wilt indulge to all true penitents And although hitherto they have béen reckoned among thy people of whom they are born and with whom thou hast established thy Covenant yet O Lord let them be blotted out of the Book of the living and not be written among the righteous And it is but just that all this happen unto them because when common humanity and thy Word also requires That we weep with him that weeps and lament with him that laments they have helped on the affliction for they persecute Him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded O Lord I am wounded I suffer justly under thy hand but to them I have done no harm at this time I am poor and sorrowful destitute of all humane help and affected with extream heaviness Arise then for me and let thy salvation set me up on High Deliver me O Lord from these troubles and so shall I praise thy Name with a Song Ver. 30 Save me from my enemies and I shall magnifie thee with Thanksgiving which sacrifice Ver. 31 I know will better please thee than the fat of fed Beasts or the incense of Rams Besides all those that are of a dejected spirit humbled and brought low at the sight of my afflictions will consider this sée they will That God heareth the poor and despiseth not those who are in captivity and imprisoned for his sake and they will be glad and rejoyce at it and the heart of all those that seek thâ—â— which was even dead before will then revive and live O Lord save Sion and build the Cities of Judah let men dwell there and have it in possession let the seed of thy servants inherit it and all those that love thy Name dwell therein so shall the Heaven and Earth praise thee and every thing that moveth therein Amen Amen PSAL. LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalme is the same with the five last verses of the fortieth Psalm The Contents of this Psalm are 1. The Prayer of David for himself that he may be freed from his enemies ver 1. which he repeats ver 5. 2. For the speedy destruction of the wicked ver 2 3. 3. For the prosperity of the godly ver 4. 4. The Arguments he urgeth to move God to grant his prayer 1. His miserable condition I am poor and needy 2. Gods office Thou art my Helper and Redeemer therefore make no long tarrying O my God The Psalm needs no farther Analysis because it is fully Analysed before in the end of the fortieth Psalm The Prayer out of the seventieth Psalm O Lord we therefore daily implore thy mercy because we are daily beset with danger Enemies we have without within us from whose malice and cruelty we can find no safety Ver. 5 except in thy favour and mercy Thou alone art our Help and Deliverer make then no long tarrying O my God rather make haste to deliver us Ver. 1 make haste to help us Many there are that seek after my soul let them be ashamed and confounded Ver. 2 many there are that desire my hurt let them be turned backward and put to confusion suddenly let them be turned back and put to flight Ver. 3 that rejoyce at
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
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
satisfied from thy open hand without which the Husbandmans industry and the fatness of the ground is to little purpose Farther Life and Death is in thy Power 1. 1 Death Death and the Fore-runner of it Trouble 1. Thou hidest thy Face seemest to be displeased and withdrawes thy help and assistance and they are troubled 2. Thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their Dust 2. 2 And life Life also 1. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit a vital Spirit by restoring new Individuals to every species for so they are created that is formed 2. And by this Thou renewedst the face of the Earth which if it were not done The third part He votes all praise to God the whole World would fail in one Age. Now after this long Catalogue of the Creatures and Gods Power Wisdom and Goodness made most manifest in the Creation Governance and Sustentation of them he descends to what he began with and votes all praise to God for so most read ver 32. 1. Let the Glory of the Lord his Glory for his Wisdom Goodness Power endure for ever And moves man to an honest use of the Creature hallowed be his Name 2. The Lord shall rejoyce in his Works Let man be so careful to use them well that by the abuse he put not God to grief and cause him to repent that he made them 3. Which if it happen it would be remembred that he is a God and power able to punish the ungrateful person how great soever For if he looketh on the Earth with a threatning brow it trembleth that Earth whose foundation he said should not be removed ver 5. He toucheth the Hills and they do smoke it was so as Sinai Exod. 19. 2. This praise he would give Then he makes an open profession of his own practice 1. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will praise my God while I have any being 2. And this he would do with delight which is indeed the fat of the Sacrifice My Meditation of him shall be sweet unto me I will be glad in the Lord. 3. The fourth part He imprecates against sinners And he concludes with an Imprecation against unthankful and negligent persons who regard not the Works of God and will not see his Glory Power Wisdom Goodness in his Creating Governing and Sustaining this Fabrique of this Universe and therefore very little praise him against these he prayes Ver. 35 That they may be confounded or converted Let the sinners be consumed out of the Earth and let the wicked be no more i. e. Let them so fail from the Earth that either they be converted and cease to be sinners or else if they will continue obstinate and perverse let them perish out of the Earth But O my Soul be not thou like to them Bless the Lord Hallelujah The Prayer and Meditation out of the one hundred and fourth Psalm O Most Omnipotent Wise Glorious and most merciful God Ver. 1 how should I that am but dust and ashes dare to appear in thy presence Ver. 2 Thou art cloathed with Honour and Majesty and I am a vile worm Thou art vested with light as with a Robe and I am darkness Thou hast stretched out the Heavens over thee like a Curtain the Clouds are thy Chariot the swift winds at thy Command and thy Angels thy Ministers ready to take revenge in a flame of fire upon disobedient sinners if thou give the word How can I that am conscious to my self of so repeated and continuâ—â—â— sobedience presume to be a Petitioner unto thée or offer up any reque◠〈◊〉 There is not a Creature that I cast my eye on but upbraids me for negligence and inconsideration since thy Power thy Glory thy Wisdom thy Goodness is illustrious in all these and yet I have passed these by as if they were not worthy of my saddest thoughts Their Natures I have inquired into but have not looked up to thée the Lord of Nature O my Soul then rouze up this deadness and dulness of spirit ascend from the Contemplation of the Creature to the Meditation of the Creator and remember what the whole Vniverse preacheth unto thée That he must be a God of Power that hath so made a God of Wisdom that hath so disposed a God of Mercy and Goodness that to this day governs and sustains every Creature to thy use and service Canst thou tread upon the Earth and not admire Ver. 5 It would sink under thée had he not laid the foundations of it so strangely and strongly that it should not be removed Canst thou look down upon the Vallies through which there glide many silver streams and less than wonder that they should descend from Rocks of stone and Hills of flint Ever since That at the rebuke of God the waters fled and hasted away and left the Earth uncover'd Had it not béen for this great Providence of the Almighty Thou and thy Cattle had dyed for thirst and perished for want of water But his goodness stayed not here for for a necessary supply he hath placed his Bottles in the Clouds and thence descends in silver showers and watereth the highest Hills and barren'st Mountains That the whole Earth might be satisfied with the fruit of his Works O ungrateful man ascribe not too much to thy wit industry and labour know that he is the Father of the rain and did not he from above water what thou plantest and give an increase to what thou sowest thy early rising would be but lost labour and all thy foresight bread only of carefulness Thoâ— waterest and manurest thy Fields and Meadows but it is the Lord above that causeth the grass to grow for thy Cattle Thou delvest diggest wéedest thy Gardens but it is the Lord of Heaven that gives life to thy Plants and Herbs which he commands to shoot for thy service whether for meat or medicine Man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God he brings food out of the Earth an Herb a Plant a Root a Fruit it may be by that power and virtue which thou hast established by the perpetual Law of Nature but food it will not be without thy blessing Continue to us then Ver. 15 merciful God these outward things but yet so that thou give thy blessing with them It is thy Wine that must make glad the heaâ—t of man Ver. 16 and thy Oyle that makes his face to shine and thy Bread that strengthens mans heart the sap in our Fruit-trées is from thée and the strength of the Cedars from thy Plantation Ver. 27 upon thée then will we wait upon thy Providence will we depend Give us O Lord our meat and all other necessaries Ver. 28 in due season and when thou shalt give it us we will gather it for we are assured when thou openest thy hand we shall be filled with good No Creature will be good
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
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 hatred to sin and incorrigible sinners for this is caused for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Good God so let us lay to heart this judgment That our Houses be not desolate great and fair without an Inhabitant that ten Acres of Vineyard yield not a Bath and the seed of an Homer yield not an Ephah And in this vicissitude thy Mercy is as conspicuous as thy Iustice for on the contrary Thou turnest the Wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into Water-springs Put into the hearts of thy hungry to dwell there thither lead their Colonies in them let them prepare their Cities for habitation give life to the séed of the Fields which they sowe and water the Vineyards that they plant That they may yield them fruits of increase Bless them also O Lord so that they be multiplied greatly in the fruit of their bodies and suffer not their Cattle to decrease But yet if these sin against thée and kick after they are waxed fat visit their offences with the rod and their sin with scourges as thou didst multiply them so again diminish them as thou didst exalt them so again bring them low let some oppressing enemy or sharp and afflictive disease put them to grief and sorrow My bowels my bowels I am pained at the very heart my eyes do fail with tears and my liver is poured out upon the Earth for the Lord hath despised in the indignation of his anger the King and the Priest How long shall I sée thy Standard and hear the sound of thy Trumpet How long wilt thou poure contempt upon Princes and cause them to wander in a strange land where yet they can find no way no way of relief no way of help In mercy return good God and visit the séed of the righteous cast not his Crown to the ground for ever but set the poor man on high from affliction build him a sure house gather him and his family into one flock and fold become his Shepherd féed and govern him by thy singular Providence and Manuduction and let thy work in it be so manifest that all who sée it may fear and say This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes The righteous shall see and consider it and rejoyce and then all iniquity shall stop her mouth Make us wise O Lord to observe and in observing to consider and by considering to lay to heart these things That thou sitting in thy Throne above yet orderest the things below that honour and contempt are from thée that sickness and health are thy gife that relief in a Famine that restitution to the Banish'd that liberty to the Captive that deliverance from any furious storm and tempest is from thy hand that the barrenness of the ground is from thy curse and the fertility of the earth followes upon thy blessing for so shall we understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and fo◠his wonderful works to the children of men O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Let the redeemed of the Lord say so those whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gather'd them out of all lands and brought them into his Church that they bow their knees at the Name of Jesus by whom all mercies pass to us and to whom be all praise honour laud and dominion this day and for evermore PSAL. CVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm is wholly composed and drawn into one out of two Psalms The first part of it untill the 6th verse is verbatim taken out of the 57th Psalm beginning at the 7th verse the latter part from ver 6. to the end is taken out of the 60th Psalm beginning as it doth here at the 6th verse and is continued as here unto the end I shall not need therefore to Analyse and explain or insert a Meditation upon it since it is done already and therefore I pass on to the next PSAL. CIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE later Expositors expound this Psalm of Doeg Achitophel and other Persecutors of David and so it may be understood in the Type But the Ancient Fathers apply it to Judas the Traytor and the Jewes that put Christ to death which opinion because it is more probable being occasioned by those words of Peter Acts 1.20 which by him are applied to Judas out of this Psalm I shall expound it of Christ whom David doth personate and of Judas and the malicious Jewes very fitly understood in the persons of his wicked and slanderous enemies There be four parts of this Psalm 1. A short Ejaculation ver 1. and the Reasons of it express'd in a Complaint of the fraud and malice of his enemies ver 6. 2. A bitter Imprecation against them from ver 6. to 21. 3. A Supplication presented to God for himself from ver 21. and the Reasons to ver 30. 4. A profession of thanks ver 30 31. 1. The first part He begins with an ejaculation He begins with an Ejaculation Hold not thy peace O God of my praise ver 1. Observe 1. Ver. 1 The Epithite or Title he useth O God of my praise In the reading Translators vary O God for thus they read Deus laudis meae Deus laus mea Deus laudabilis mihi and they expound it 1. Either actively that is O God whom I praise even in my greatest pressures or calamities 2. Or passively Who art my praise the Witness and Advocate of my innocency and integrity when I am condemned by malicious tongues which sense seems fittest for this place and to this the Vulgar gives more light that thus reads it Domine laudem meam ne tacueres And Bellarmine puts the words into Christs mouth in which he desites that God would not conceal his Charity Innocence and other Virtues being very like that prayer John 17.5 Father glorifie thy Son 2. Hold not thy peace Hold not thy peace Tacere in Scripture when referr'd to God is to connive and rest and seems as it were not to regard and the contrary loqui to speak to do somewhat for revenge or deliverance This then is that which David here asks That when the malice of his enemies arrived at that height that it could be no longer endured that God would connive at them suffer them and hold his peace no longer but would declare his displeasure against them 2. The reason the malice of his enemies Whom he describes to be And after by way of Complaint he describes unto us their malicious nature and unsufferable conditions which he aggravates by an elegant Gradation For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue They were 1. Impious 2. Deceitful 3. Lyars Impiety deceit lying were then the ingredients of their sin Ver. 2 1. 1 Turpious For the
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
speaks in these following words To the wicked God saith 1. Vers. 16 What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth 2. They contemners of Gods Law The reason is because in words thou professest thou lovest me but in deeds thou denyest him Thou hatest instruction in thy heart hatest that Law Vers. 17 that with thy mouth thou commendest and hast cast my words behind thee Written I have to thee the wonderful things of my Law and thou hast counted them a strange thing This I shall now prove and illustrate by a distribution This proved 1. Vers. 18 Thou hast no regard of the eighth Commandment When thou sawest a thief then thou consentest with him In the consent is the more malice it shews that it was not rashly done but on purpose deliberation counsel 2. Vers. 19 Nor of the seventh Thou hast been partaker with the Adulterers 3. Vers. 20 Nor of the ninth Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother thou slanderest thine own mothers son Against thy brother not a stranger and that not casually neither or in anger but studiously thou satest and speakest 4. No nor of the first For thou hast had a profane thought even of me Vers. 21 and of my mercy forbearance and long-suffering These things hast thou done and I kept silence arose not presently to take vengeance on thee And thou thought'st that I was altogether such a one as thy self A Patron an approver of wickedness as thou thy self art But from any such imputation God no Abetter of wickedness here I purge my self before the Heaven and Earth and the whole World For I will not suffer this thy wickedness to go unreveng'd The day shall come when I will reprove thee Vers. 21 and punish this thy wickedness with severe punishments and set in order before thine eyes the villany that thou hast committed and labour'd to hide Confess at that day thou shalt that the sentence pronounc'd against thee is most just Yet He gives warning to the wicked threatens that he may spare And yet in judgement God remembers mercy It becomes a Judge even when he is pronouncing sentence to take unto him the bowels of compassion And these God who is to be our Judge here puts on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he gives a fair warning to the wicked that they repent and perish not 1. Now while you have time consider this Vers. 22 that God is not pleased with outward Rites Formalities and Ceremonies only that he is not to be pacified with long prayers and preaching of his Law if the life be wicked For this is upon the point to forget that he is a God of pur eyes and cannot behold iniquity Consider this then I say lest like as an angry lyon Promiseth help to the sincere he break out upon you on a sudden and there be none to deliver This is a fair warning to the wicked Vers. 23 2. Now to those who worship God in sincerity he makes a quite contrary promise of defence help salvation Who offereth with an honest heart praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright goes the right way that Gods Word directs I will shew the salvation of God He shall be saved and know that he worships not God in vain The Prayer out of the fiftieth Psalm O Most Mighty and just God who hast appointed a day in which thou wilt judge the world when all flesh shall appear before thee to render an accompt of their wayes whether good or evil never let that strict accompt that we must make slip out of our memory but let the sound of that Arch-angels Trumpet sound in our eares Arise ye dead and come to judgement God to whom the secrets of all hearts are open is then to be the Iudge Vers. 6 the Mighty God even the Lord is to sit upon the Tribunal himself Vers. 1 Our God that hath been patient and long-suffering shall then manifest himself Vers. 3 Silence he will not keep but by his judiciary power he will vindicate and revenge all the deeds and sayings of perverse sinners And he will come in a terrible manner for before him shall go a fire that shall consume and purge the whole world A day it will be of darkness and gloominess a mighty tempest will go before him and the whole frame of the universe will be in a Commotion How shall then our hearts fail us for fear Vers. 1 when the heaven and earth shall be call'd to as Witnesses against us the heaven whose light and influences we have enjoyed but been unthankful the earth whose various fruits and beneficence we might have used but have abused All his creatures at that day will declare his righteousness and proclaim that we are a rebellious people Out of that celestial habitation and that Zion which is above Vers. 2 shall our God appear in perfect beauty His Saints Vers. 2 and those who have made a Covenant with him shall be gather'd round about him When all the workers of iniquity shall call to the Hills to cover them and the Mountains to hide them from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Majesty O most Merciful and Gracious God Vers. 22 give us an understanding heart to consider this Never suffer us to forget thee that that day-come not upon us unawares snatch us not away to condemnation from which if we dye in our sins no man is able to deliver us Keep us O Lord with thy mighty hand that when in words we profess to know thée in déeds we deny not let us never consent to the Thief nor partake with the Adulterer far be it from us to give our mouths to evil and our tongues to frame deceit let us not join with the malicious and factious and sit and speak against our brother or detract and slander our mothers son never let such obdurate obstinacy seize upon our hearts that we hate instruction or cast thy words behind us These are sins inconsistent with grace and evident Arguments of a reprobate soul those that abuse thy patience and long-suffering commit them and that have profane thoughts of the Divine Majesty defile themselves with them Against all sinners but these especially thou hast testified these thou hast reproved keep me therefore O Lord from these presumptuous sins Thou art God even my God when thou speakest give me an ear to hear and what thou commandest give me a will to do O let me glorifie thee and order my Conversation aright that I may obtain salvation I have grievously sinned and wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before my God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of oyle All the Beasts of the Forrest are
his and so are the Cattle upon a thousand Hills will he eat Bulls flesh or drink the blood of Goats To what purpose are the multitude of sacrifices and the fat of fed Beasts these thou delightest not in incense is an abomination unto thee the calling of Assemblies the new Moons the Sabbaths all external worship is hateful and a trouble unto thée so long as the persons of those who observe them are not accepted so long as the men are Formalists Hypocrites and have their hands full of blood 't is the penitent soul to which thou wilt look the sincere heart which thou wilt regard Cleanse me therefore O Lord and wash my heart give me power to put away the evil of my doings let me cease to do evil and learn to do well that so my person being pleasing in thy sight thou may'st hear my prayers and accept my thanks It is now a day of trouble and as thou hast commanded I call unto thee for help Ver. 15 Lord hear my prayers and deliver me as thou hast promised so shall I glorifie thy Name be obliged to offer thee Thanksgiving and pay my vows to the most High Remit Lord and pardon the sins of thy people put our present sufferings and extream afflictions before thy eyes and return to us who return to thée with fasting wéeping and mourning so shall we have just occasion to offer thée praise and glorifie thée for this great mercy and deliverance for ever and ever thy statutes shall be our song in the house of our pilgrimage and we will run the way of thy Commandments all the dayes of our life PSAL. LI. One and a chief of the Penitentials THE occasion of this Psalm was the message that David received from God by Nathan the Prophet for the murder of Vriah and his Adultery in defiling Bathsheba this put him into the state of a Penitent and to petition to God for mercy for pardon for grace for peace of conscience for renovation of his heart It in general contains Davids prayer 1. For himself ver 1. to 13. 2. And three vows or promises ver 13. to 18. 3. For the Church from ver 18. to the end David being in a perplexed estate conceived he could have no comfort The first part but in Gods mercy and therefore he first in general prayes for that Have mercy on me Ver. 1 O Lord not on David the King thine Anointed but on me The general Petition for mercy that am not worthy to be called thy servant thy son and the motive he useth to gain that is not any plea or merit of his own but 1. The kindness of God Have mercy on me according to thy loving-kindness 2. The compassion of God According to the multitude of thy compassions The general Petition for mercy being offered next he tenders three particular Petitions 1. His first particular Petition is for forgiveness of his sins the fact was past The first Petition for forgiveness but the guilt remained he therefore earnestly petitions Put away mine iniquities and upon this he insists and in other terms comes over it for a soul that is truly sensible of sin is never at rest and satisfied with one deprecation for sin is a spot a deep stain Therefore wash me throughly wash me from mine iniquities Ver. 2 and cleanse me from my sin Amplius lava as if one washing were too little for a double sin for two such sins To this Petition for mercy he subjoins a confession of his sin knowing well To this he subjoins a confession that this was the readiest way to obtain it for he that confesseth and forsakes his sin shall find mercy in which we may learn many excellent conditions requisite in a true Confessionist 1. He enters into a serious consideration of the nature of sin he feels the weight the burden of it feels the anguish and abhors it I excuse it not 1. I know my iniquity I know it now to abhor to reform it Ver. 3 2. It is ever before me not to please me but to trouble and grieve me 3. He aggravates it with divers names iniquity sin transgression it is Pasteanos rebellion it is Greavah crooked dealing Chatta errour and wandring 2. And so he falls upon an open and plain confession Peccavi I have sinned Ver. 4 and this he first aggravates by two circumstances He aggravates his sins 1. From the person 1. Of the person It is against thee against thee I say a good gracious God that from a Shepherd hast made me a King a great and terrible God that art able and hast threatned to punish there was neither grace nor fear in me that I durst sin against thee against thee the Epizeuxis is emphatical yea against thee only have I sinned In maxima fortuna minima licentia So highly thou hast advanced me that I need to fear none but thee but this hath not kept me from this sin in this was unthankfulness Vriah was my Souldier I need not fear him the People my Subjects they cannot judge me it is to thee I am to answer for breach of thy Law I esteem therefore my sin to be against thee only for I had not known this sin to be a sin hadst not thou forbidden it nor need not fear any wouldst not thou punish it 2. Of the manner it was an impudent sin done in thy sight 2 The manner before thy eyes thou being by and looking on and so done without any reverence of thy Majesty as it were in contempt I have done this evil in thy sight So that I confess that in reproving and threatning me by Nathan thou art a just God and to be justified in thy sayings and clear in the judgment of any who with an impartial eye shall examine my offence and thy proceeding for I have deserved whatsoever thou hast threatned and given thee just cause to speak and judge as thou hast done Vt is not here causal but consequential for it is not his meaning that he sinned for that end that God should be justified but that this would follow upon it whensoever he was brought to confess his sin then God would be justified in his proceeding against him Ver. 5 3. He proceeds in the Amplification and Exaggeration of his sin He yet aggravates his sin 1. That it proceeded from original sin in him and declares from what root this his actual sin sprang even from his original Behold I was born in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceived me This very sin that I have committed gives me occasion to enquire into my state and I find and confess upon a diligent inquisition that I am universally corrupted even from my mothers womb and that I carry about me the seeds of all sin 4. Ver. 6 Another aggravation of his sin is that in himself he found not that which God loves 2 From an insincere heart Thou requirest truth in the inward parts