should not me if my life did not lie at stake but though their way to the Tabernacle lie through the dry and desart valley of Mulberry trees yet they can comfortably go it and undergo with holy resolution the hardship of it yea pass it with pleasure and esteem it a happiness they have the liberty to purchase such a benefit as the worship and spirituall enjoyment of God in his ordinances which yields them such refreshing of mind all the way they travell as that their very bodies fare the better and are refreshed therewith as it were with springs of water and showers of rain 7 Yea the nearer they draw to the end of their journey like the faithfull towards heaven instead of being more they are less faint and tired gathering strength every step they take by their near approaches to and the comfortable expectation of what all the way they hoped and travelled for even the glorious priviledge of appearing in the presence of God as the saints and angels do in heaven resident upon his holy hill mount Sion where the Ark the faithfull pledge of his presence is there to enjoy soul-ravishing communions gracious audience sweet and sensible supplies of spirit and consolation a very heaven upon earth for so it signifies 8 O God that hast an almighty power and that I am sure art the great commander in chief of heaven and earth and therefore canst restore me to this happiness and satisfie my longing which is infinitely enkeened by these considerations so that I beseech thee gratifie thy poor petitioner with a gracious answer that I may be no longer debarred and hear me a poor branch of the root of Jacob though sore against my will removed from the soil where thou hast appointed him to grow Lord re-plant me 9 Behold me O God an exile and afflicted man the emblem of thy militant Church whereof I am a member as well as a type whose defence and protection nevertheless thou art even of all the faithfull whereof I am one consider me also in an other capacity as the type of Christ anointed by thy special appointment to be King over thy people as he shall be over thy Church Let these considerations move thee to own pitie and restore me to my spiritual priviledges and comfortable exercise of thine ordinances in thy sanctuary 10 For for my part if I might have my choice I speak it unfainedly I had rather have one days comfortable enjoyment of thee in thy sanctuary and prize it higher than to live a thousand years in the very best condition this life can afford and be as I am debarred from thy worship so that I might but have the happiness to wait upon thee there I should think the meanest office in thy service even a porters place to be an honour and preferment far beyond the condition I am in whilest I am forced thus to inhabit among the prophane and Idolatrous heathen though in never so good esteem 11 And truly Lord I will not despair one day to have all that thou hast promised me and more than I desire though rather than none at all I should be glad of a little either time or place in thy sanctuary for I know thou art a God that wilt shine forth to the comfort and reviving of thine afflicted people who in the interim thou wilt protect I shall see better days and doubt not yet to be made happy by thy grace and favour and to be advanced to that glorious condition of being the Kingly type of Christ for had not I a special promise yet thy general promise would engage thee and encourage me to believe for certain it is that thou wilt be gracious and faithfull to give all needfull and requisit blessings and such Lord I desire to those that are thine as I am and walk thereafter in faithfull dependance and sincere obedience which I do 12 What ever my condition be though I am far from present possession of what thou hast promised or enjoyment of what I desire banished both out of the Church and kingdom of Israel yet I dare pronounce it of all faithfull ones that patiently wait and believingly depend upon thee that it shall go well with them one day and so it shall with me because of thine Almighty power which shall make good thy faithfulness The lxxxv PSALM Either at the end of the Babilonish captivitie or under Antiochus tyrannie was this Psalm composed minding God of his former pardoning and restoring-grace to his people to intreat the same again The Psalmist in the name of the Church promising himself a glorious deliverance proportionable in some degree and representative of that happie enfranchisment the Church shall have by the Messiah at his coming To the president of the Quire is this Psalm committed for his ordering of it to be sung by the Korathites 1 LOrd thou hast offered very great and gracious deliverances unto this nation thy people by re-estating it heretofore in a good condition after sad desolations and un-captivating Jacobs posteritie by an Almighty hand 2 Mercifully commiserating their sufferings and pardoning their iniquities because they were thy chosen Israel a people peculiarly belonging to thee though ill deserving from thee yet though their sins were then very great and provoking thou wast pleased after a while to put them out of thy sight and receive thy people again into thy favour we have not forgot it 3 As thou wast pleased grievously to afflict thy people so thou didst as graciously relieve and release them for what thy provoked anger took from them thy free-grace restored it again unto them and wouldest neither quite consume nor everlastingly embondage them but became as much theirs and for them as ever thou wast against them 4 Lord thine anger is again miserably broken out against us by reason of our sins we are fallen under heavy pressures we are now as void of all humane helps as then Thou onely heretofore wroughtest deliverance and so thou must still Turn us therefore we pray thee by unfained repentance and deliver us out of this miserable condition thou that hast been and we hope still wilt be a Saviour to us yea both turn us to thee and do thou also turn towards us the face and not the back-parts let the clouds of thine indignation be dispelled and the sun-shine of thy saving grace break forth upon us 5 Wilt thou do by us as thou never diddest with any before us wilt thou be unexorable and are our sins unpardonable more than theirs shall thine anger never cease and those heavy judgements thou hast laid upon us shall they never be taken off us but must they be an everlasting inderitance to us and our posterity after us God forbid 6 Thou hast raised thy people by thine Almighty power when they were as it were dead and buried and shall the name of Israel now die in us
their hope and desire having heard his prayer and pittied his case and assures them it shall not be long before they see it to their shame and grief To him that is most skilful upon the stringed instrument Neginoth to be sung with a high voice to the eighth tune or instrument of eight strings called Sheminith whereto this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it 1 O Lord thou hast many ways afflicted me for besides my many enemies thou hast now brought upon me a very soar and painful sickness which make me fear thine anger is kindled against me which I humbly knowledge my sins have deserved But good Lord remember mercie and chastize me for them not in thy heavie displeasure but according to thy Fatherly compassion 2 For though sin doth provoke thee to anger yet miserie is wont to move thee to shew mercie and truly O Lord my case is very woful for I am exceeding low brought by my disease therefore have pittie upon me for certainly thou mayest do a great cure and get thee a great deal of honour in recovering me now I am grown to that extremitie that my very bones are tortured with pain and are not of strength to support me 3 Nor am I onely sick in bodie but that which most makes me fear thy displeasure towards me is this That my soul is also soar troubled and as my bodie can find no ease so nor my soul find comfort which indeed is a grievous sadning to me But thou O Lord who I am sure art a God of mercie and compassion as well as of just displeasure how long canst thou behold me in this case and forbear to help me specially with soul-comfort 4 Good Lord change thy mind and now after so great and long affliction become my God again by setting my soul at least at libertie from its comfortless state Look no longer at my sins to punish them but consider and cast an eye upon thine own merciful nature now a while and for its sake restore me to health and inward peace 5 And so shall I live to praise thee whereas if thou pursue me to death what good wilt thou get by that here if thou letst me live I shall remember from time to time this mercie of my recoverie with many other good turns done me to thy glorie and praise but in the grave I shall forget all for both the knowledge of thee and the remembrance of all the mercies thou hast shewed me which I was wont to celebrate with thankfulness in this life must needs vanish when life it self departs and be buried in the grave with me in oblivion and silence 6 Truly Lord I have had a very sad time of it and a heavie burthen have I born a long while which hath cost me much sorrow and grief in so much as my groans have been incessant and without any ease or intermission so that I am now quite spent and wearie ready to give over for want of breath and spirit to express my moanings night nor day have I had any quiet nor taken any rest but instead of sleep I have spent the night in continual weeping and in stead of repose upon my couch in the day time I have done nothing but shed tears 7 In so much as my sight is decaied and mine eyes wasted with incessant sorrowing and sunck into my head as it were with old age because of thy heavie hand and chiefly for the insultations of my many enemies over me because of mine affliction 8 But blessed be thy name me thinks of a sudden upon this my prayer I find my heart much cleared and my spirit well assured of thy favour and future mercie to me so that now I hope mine enemies shall have small cause to rejoyce over me for that I know thou wilt speedily disappoint that malicious and wicked desire they had of my destruction and wilt restore me for though my grief hath cost me many tears yet the Lord I perceive hath taken notice of them and pitied me for them 9 Yea he hath listned to the supplications I made in mine extremitie and will not reject them but according to my prayer will shew me mercie receive me to favour and restore me to health and comfort 10 So that now I am confident it shall be mine enemies turn to hang their heads for shame and vexation and mine to triumph over them when they see such an unexpected and sudden alteration and God to appear so much for me in it who they thought had been quite out of favour and should have now perished in his displeasure Seventh PSALM David being falsely accused to Saul by Cush to have abused his favour and made use of his reconciliation to strengthen himself against him and supplant him in the Kingdom and Saul by this slanderous report being inraged against David prosecutes him with greater hatred than before whereupon David flies to God by prayer for deliverance from Sauls inraged cruelty pleading his innocencie in the thing whereof he was accused whereupon he stirs up God to stand for him against his cruel adversaries for the promise sake which he had made him of the Kingdom and the service he would procure him in Israel thereby and withall prayes him that he will judge him according to his innocencie and the wicked according to their wickedness for that he knew who was in fault he or his enemies And in confidence thereof prophesies his enemies ruin and disappointment and that he shall live to see the day when he shall have cause to praise God for it and when that day comes he promises not to fail to do it A Psalm which David made and set to the tune of Shiggaion whereby he sought the Lord when as he was endangered by false accusation of him to Saul by that pick-thank flatterer Cush the Benjamite 1 MOst Almighty Lord and my most gracious God unto thy power and goodness do I flie for safe-guard relying onely on thee and therefore pray thee undertake my defence against my many adversaries Saul and his partizans who do most wrongfully persecute me from whose hands therefore good Lord deliver me 2 Lest if I fall into his hands he take away my life and put me to death by torments now that he is so inraged by false flatterers and I have none left about him that will or dare stand my friend and speak a good word for me 3 My most righteous Lord and God if this thing be true that Saul is informed off against me and for which he thus persecutes me if I have had any treacherous design upon him or broken Covenant with him as is suggested 4 If under the colour of peace and agreement I have sought to bring to pass any treacherous or treasonable thing or since our capitulation have falsified my word nay I am so far from thinking evil
righteous and afflicted and also sits a judge in heaven above strictly noticing thence the ways of men beholding who does right and wrong 5 The Lord takes special notice of the righteous man and his cause to approve both him and it but as for the unrighteous and cruel persecutor he hates him at his heart and so he shall find 6 For however the wicked may go on in their evil ways for a time yet God shall overtake them with an unexpected storm of judgements wherein their sins shall ensnare them even as he did Sodom and Gomorrha God will fearfully execute his wrath upon them This shall certainly be their reward and herewith shall their cup be filled to the brim and they made to drink it to the bottom 7 For God who is just hates injustice and onely loves and liketh righteous ways and causes so as to bless and prosper them as also amongst men the upright and innocent are onely they he beholds with favour and affection to reward and defend them The xii PSALM David cries to God to succour him against the treacherous dealing of feigned friends And upon his prayer promiseth himself by Gods just judgement the ruin both of his undermining and insulting enemies and also his own deliverance from their oppression and pride Magnifying the promises of God for their faithfulnes he encourageth all Gods people to trust in God and in conclusion shews the reason why his enemies were so many and so treacherous because they that could work him most mischief had most favour To him that is most skilful in the eighth tune or upon the instrument with eight strings called Sheminith whereto this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it 1 O Lord in thy faithfulnes succour me for I am left alone to serve thee all men forsaking God and me deceitfully studying by all manner of treacherous dealing to work wickednes against me 2 I know not any one I can trust be he never so neer me I find all men so full of feigned friendship such lying dissemblers practising nothing but flattery and falshood 3 But my confidence is that though I cannot know them to avoid them yet the righteous God will be meet with them and by their own ruin disappoint them of their ends against me both the dissembler and the proud boaster that either seeks to deceive me or sets light by me and my righteous cause will he preserve me from and right me upon 4 Who have arrogantly boasted themselves to be too cunning for me and confidently given it out they will deceive and entrap me presuming themselves lawless in all they say or do though never so false and not accountable to any no not to God himself whom they disesteem for my sake 5 But this shall be the issue That when they have done their worst and their hopes be at the fairest Then will God beholding mine oppression and wrong and hearing my prayer arise for me as he hath promised and deliver me from the disdainful pride and malice of my scornful and wicked enemies 6 The promises which the Lord hath given to me and to his people have no deceit in them but are most true and faithful ones I have had often trial of them in my manifold afflictions and I ever found them so 7 And I dare affirm it of thee O righteous Lord thou wilt ever be to all them that trust in thee a faithful keeper and preserver in all ages hereafter as thou hast been to me whom thou hast made an example of thy truth and goodness to all Generations 8 But no wonder there are so many wicked wretches that set themselves on every side and use all means to procure my ruin seeing they that can work most wickednes against me be they never so base and vile are most set by and best rewarded The xiii PSALM Davidâ—xpostulates â—xpostulates with God touching his long delay in fulfilling his promisâ—s and his undergoing such miseries whilest his enemies prosper Whereupon he prayes him to lay his case to heart and that timely too least death surprize him before he enjoy the promise and so his enemie take occasion to blasphemâ— and insult at his downfal After which prayer his heart is refreshed with a fresh gail of saith wherein he confidently promises himself deliverance and God the praises of it To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 MAny gracious promises hast thou made me but how long Lord shall I waite for their accomplishment will they never be fulfild how long wilt thou exercise me under adversitie 2 How long shall my soul be off and on tossed between hope and dispair not knowing what to think of my self and thee by reason of mine incessant miseries notwithstanding all thy promises How long wilt thou suffer mine enemie to have the better and I the worse 3 Consider my case and hear my prayer O Almightie and most merciful Lord God and give me betimes to see thy faithfulnes by my deliverance least by extremitie of grief and trouble death cut me short of thy promise 4 Yea least my wicked enemie insult and say for all the promises which thou hast made and my confidence in them the day is his and those that have long sought my ruin rejoyce to see it 5 But yet for all my present perplexities and mine enemies insolencies as I have so I do still firmly trust that thou wilt shew me mercie and am confident that my heart shall one day have as much joy as now it has sorrow in a gracious and glorious deliverance 6 I know the time shall come when I shall and will endite a Psalm of praise to thee the Lord for fulfilling those great things thou hast promised which I am as confident of as if they were now done The xiiii PSALM David speaking in the wisdom of the holy Ghost befools the wisdom of all flesh which in all men naturally out of an enmitie and misunderstanding of God leads onely unto sin and professedly hates those few in the world whom God hath renewed in stead of seeking to become such themselves But he shews that they both have and shall certainly smart for that sin of contâ—mpt and hatred of Gods people that serve and trust him and praies that God would presently by him give tranquillitie to his people as Christ shall to his Church To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 MAn by his fall hath lost and naturally is void of the right understanding of God believing nothing so of him as he is and so makes him as if he were not And out of this depraved ignorance
happines and preservation we promise our selves under thee as the Church shall have under the Messiah and with much assurance and boldnes in our God and thine will we triumphantly and in confidence of victorie march against thine and our enemies And to that purpose the Lord hear and effectually answer all thy petitions 6 We have had good experience and sufficient proof of Gods great good will towards thee and that ever since thy first anointing by Samuel the Lord hath so preserved and kept thee and spite of all thine enemies placed thee in the throne as that we doubt not but that still God will be the same in grace and good will to thee hearing thy further requests which thou shalt put up against thine and our enemies and answering thee from heaven with preservation and victorie 7 Our enemies according to their national accommodations and militarie provisions so is their confidence some in one thing some in another But we will strengthen our selves in the Lord and repose our trust in him alone by virtue of his many gracious promises made to us and his former mightie works wrought for us 8 And cause we have to do so if we consider How helpless they have found them whose trust was in other things and how notwithstanding their pride and power it hath brought them to ruin Whilest we by trusting in the Lord are through his power and goodness attained to great felicitie and superioritie above them from a low and despicable condition 9 Good Lord be still our preserver and our Kings and so strengthen him with power and endow him with clemency and justice That he may be both able to keep us in peace from our enemies that seek to annoy us and in righteousness preserve us from civil oppression amongst our selves As Christ can and will his Church and people when they crie to him The xxi PSALM David in the name of Israel foretels much happiness to him and to themselves in him their King answerable to the Churches happiness in her head Christ the onely Saviour of his people and they ground it upon experience of Gods former extraordinarie favours to him which makes them in him confidently boast themselves on the Lord for that he still trusts in God who therefore will preserve him and with fierce wrath destroy his enemies as rebels and traitors against God himself for so are all the enemies of Christ whom David typifies Having thus declared their faith they end with prayer and promise praise To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 DAvid whom thou hast made head and King over us thy people as Christ is over his Church shall we are confident find thee a never failing God unto him and that thou wilt give him continual cause of rejoycing in that gracious assistance thou wilt ever afford him against his enemies Yea it s not to be expressed how great things thou hast done for him and what further favours thou wilt shew him in the preservation of him and his people to his and their unspeakable joy 2 Thou hast brought all things to pass after a mervellous manner which long since thou promisedst him and which accordingly he hath long expected nor hast thou disappointed his faithful waiting and fervent praying but hast fulfilled them to the uttermost as thou shalt the Messiahs To thy praise be it spoken 3 Thou hast done more for him and shown more bounteous goodnes to him than ever he could have asked for himself for of thine own good pleasure unthought of and undesired hast thou advanced him from a mean estate and brought him out of a turbulent condition to be the King of thy people Israel in much glorie and rest 4 He did but beg deliverance of thee out of his troubles that he might not be destroyed in them and so frustrate thy promise of the Kingdom to him and thou gavest him his desire and more for thou hast entailed the crown upon him and his heirs for ever nay and moreover hast advanced him to be a type and progenitor of Christ whose Kingdom shall last for ever and ever 5 His faith and ours emboldens both him and us in him to glorie and boast our selves on thee in assurance of preservation and deliverance which we ground upon that that thou hast done already for him in fulfilling the promise of the Kingdom to him 6 For thou hast wonderfully blessed him both realy in his own person and promissorily in his seed which shall also inherit the Kingdom after him And that which yields him and us most content in all his worldly felicitie is that it is the gift of thy grace and a token of thy love and favour to him which is more worth than all besides 7 And as thou hast done so he and we make sure account thou wilt do for though thou hast advanced him to great authority and furnished him with strength and power Yet as heretofore so still now he is King his trust is never the less in thee and in nothing else and therefore he and we are confident that as thou hast raised him to this condition so of thy good grace thou wilt establish him in it and us under him in happiness 8 We verily believe that as thou hast already done by thine and his enemies so still thou wilt continue to hunt them down and by thy power to root them out that in him make opposition to thee and thy Christ. 9 Thou wilt bitterly enrage thy self against them and execute fierce destruction upon them even as thou wilt upon the enemies of Christ at the day of judgement whom everlasting burnings shall devour 10 Root and branch of them shalt thou cut off that refuse to come under thy scepter and seek to destroy thy Kingdom as not worthie to live upon the earth 11 For they are rebels and traitors not so much against him as thee whose annointed he is to typifie Christ notwithstanding they have attempted to unthrone him and to take Israel out of his hands and so out of thine which though they have strongly endeavored yet all in vain for they cannot bring it to pass no more than the world shall Christs people out of his 12 Therefore though thou mayest suffer much and be loth to do execution upon them yet when they put thee to it that thou must shew thy self on thy King and peoples behalf thou wilt make them know to their conviction whom they fight against by the woful destruction thou wilt bring upon them 13 Lord do thou answer our faith and confidence in thee for our King and us by putting forth thy glorious strength in his and our behalves against our enemies that we may exalt thee To whose power and goodness we promise with all self-denying
infinite power for thereto hath he given a surface above the waters which he hath notwithstanding they were once uppermost and would be so again confined to their concave or the pit he digged for them for all their fluid and spreading nature there he keeps them safe from breaking out and overwhelming the earth again 8 And as the faithfully righteous have cause to praise the Lord for his word and works as being happy in him for their God that is of such power and truth so also from that light and power which is imparted to them out of the creation should all the world one and other submit to his authority and know it to be their duty to honour and obey him reverencing his commandments and fearing his powerfull judgements 9 For all things that they see how great and wonderfull soever above and beneath them were made meerly by his fâ—at or word of command yea the great and weighty globe of the earth was established for ever by its sole and onely center without any other prop or pillar through the Almighty command of God for it so to be 10 And the Lord is as wise as powerfull defeating in his peoples behalf all the machinations that their enemies device against them frustrating and making ineffectual all the plots of the Gentils round about against his chosen 11 For the gracious purposes of the Almighty towards his shall stand good spite of all opposing power and policy yea they shall never be frustrated but ever be effectual and succesfull in the behalf of those that trust in him to the worlds end 12 O therefore blessed are we above all the world who have the knowledge and worship of the true God and so have him in a special manner gracious to us and Lord over us Yea happy are the people whom he hath picked out from amongst all people unto the adoption of sons and servants as we are 13 This God who is our God is in heaven and from thence he beholds and governs all men and all their actions 14 Yea from heaven the place of his most glorious and special residence doth he all-knowingly see and dispose of all men and all things here below 15 The Lord knows all men within and without for he made all and therefore knows all no man made himself but he alike made all as any and therefore knows all as well as any even the subtilest and wisest devices of the deepest politicians he is privy to and considers the events ordering them after his mind and not after theirs 16 So that be mans confidence never so great though he be a King and have never such authority and power or if for bodily strength he be equal to a Giant yet can it neither conquer nor keep himself from being conquered if God be not purposed to favour him 17 If God help not nothing can an Horse which men trust much in be he never so swift or strong will deceive and can neither safeguard his rider nor harm his opposer if God forbid it 18 The gracious favour and good providence of God is worth all which they are sure of that in fear obey him and by faith trust in his goodness and mercy over whom he keeps a carefull and watchful eye 19 To deliver them from the deadly plots of their enemies and other dangerous perils and to sustain and provide for them in times of scarcity and want when he lets other men starve 20 We therefore that are the Lords people ought and I hope we do with one heart and mind faithfully and affectionately seek to him and trust in him as our onely preserver and defendor as do and ever will the faithful 21 And this we may be sure of that we shall find him faithfull he will not fail us but we shall have cause of joy and thanksgiving in the manifestation of his grace and favour to us if so be that we fail not to put our trust stedfastly in his power and goodness which for his holiness sake can never deceive them that trust therein as do the faithful 22 Let Lord accordingly thy merciful loving-kindness and gratious providence be for ever vouchsafed unto thy people who make thee their stay and strength alone xxxiv PSALM For his deliverance mentioned in the title David in the ravishing apprehension thereof excites himself and others to praise the Lord greatly and to believe in him so too promising as he sped so should they in so doing be their danger never so great and their help humanely never so small He would have them that doubt it but try him by trusting and assureth them they shall experimentally find all true that he sayes touching Gods goodness And out of his duty to God and love to the godly he instructs them as a prophet and from his own experience how to out-live temptations and afflictions and be happy and blessed to wit by eschewing evil and doing good for to such and such onely the Lord is good and gracious for the wicked shall certainly smart for their wickedness it shall cost them their undoing A Psalm made by David when as being forced to flie from Saul and not knowing where to be safe in Israel he betook himself to Gath of the Philistins where being known by reason of his late conquest of Goliah and hated for the destruction that befel their Host thereby he was therefore in great danger and put to his shifts to feign himself mad for which being contemned of the King he was dismissed his presence and so escaped again to Judea 1 SO great hath been the goodness and power of God in my behalf as that I will never forget to magnifie him for it but will ever bear it in remembrance and continually be speaking of his praise-worthy mercies to me in my deliverance 2 Yea from my very soul and inmost affections will I praise him and confidently tell both what he hath done and what thereupon I believe he will do for me whereby I shall I am sure incourage all self-denying believers to the worlds end to hope in him in trouble and adversity and for present shall have such as fear God and wish me well partakers of my joy 3 And such I call upon to help me in exalting the Lord and with heart and voice to joyn with me in magnifying his loving-kindness and power the better to amplifie his praises 4 For I in mine extremity put up my prayers faithfully and fervently to the Lord and was presently answered and freed from my dangers by his good providence 5 And as it was with me so shall it be for certain with other his people that from mine example humbly rely upon him and in extremity not knowing which way to turn them with fervency of spirit by faithful prayer and ejaculation cast their eyes towards heaven they shall find favour and have a
thoughtful desire towards the place of thy worship where thou art more especially present 7 Thou hast brought an inundation of misery upon me troubles come so thick successively one in the neck of another like waters falling from the clouds which rise higher and higher and implunge me lower and lower as a ship in a storm in extremity of weather ready to sink so am I wave upon wave endlesly assailing me to the continual hazard of my life Yea the waters both above and below the firmament the windows of heaven are as it were opened and give the watch-word to the fountains of the deep to be broken up as at the deluge and both of them seem to threaten to overwhelm and devour me at once as then they did the world by thine appointment 8 Yet I am not left without inward support in the midst of mine outward troubles I am confident I shall see the sunne of righteousness shine through the clouds with healing in his wings and by the power and grace of God I doubt not but a happy day will succeed this uncomfortable night to the chearing of mine heart nor in the interim shall I be destitute of mercy and goodness but shall ever and anon by particular providences before I arrive at my full establishment have cause of thanksgiving and praise and incouragement to offer up my prayers in faith of him for my preserver at present and deliverer at last 9 I will humbly and faithfully mind him of my condition and his obligation to me and praying say thou that by thy promise and my faith art my great and sole support how is it then that thou hast thus left me why go I mourning and find no relief from under the heavy oppressions and wrongs of mine enemies 10 Whose reproachful and scornful blasphemies against thy word and my faith in it taunting me as one deluded by trusting in thee and rejected by thee wound me to the very heart and torment me exceedingly 11 Yet such is my faith in thee notwithstanding the opposition it receives and all the heavy burdens that lie upon me as that I cannot but rebuke my soul for being dejected at these things and rouse it up to trust and hope still in thee that one day I shall have my mourning turned into rejoycing and my prayers into praises for the good success and gracious favour thou wilt shew me in delivering me as thou hast promised and as I believe The xliii PSALM David under Sauls persecution appeals to God to judge his cause and prâ—yâ—s to be delivered according to his gracious promise that so he may worship him in Sion which he promises to do joyfully and thankfully and quickens up his drooping spirit by the hopes thereof 1 JUdge for me and in my behalf O righteous God and maintain my just and honest cause against an unjust and wicked people that set themselves against me and in me oppose the Lord himself O deliver me thou that art righteous and onely all-sufficient from them and their cheiftane that dealeth deceitfully and injuriously with me 2 For thou and thy promise is all the strength I have and that I trust in why doest thou seem then to neglect me and doest thus expose me to my malignant adversaries Why go I continually mourning because of the intollerable oppressions and injuries of mine enemies 3 O Lord shew forth thy favour and grace and fulfill thy word of promise to me Let them spite of mine enemies bring me into that estate thou hast promised me wherein I may enjoy thy publick worship and frequent thine Ark and Tabernacle in Sion for there shall that be the place thereof 4 Then will I go with a merry heart and carry my peace-offerings and thankfully sacrifice them to God upon his altar even to God who shall at that time by reason of his favour and grace be unspeakable joy and consolation to me I am ravished with the very thoughts of that day when I shall have such exceeding cause of joy and praise which I will abundantly offer up unto him and in the skilfullest and chearfullest manner I can devise upon the Harp which of all instruments I can best finger will I praise thee O Almighty and my most gracious God 5 And seeing these sorrows shall have an end and such an end accompanied with so much happiness be not dejected at thy present sufferings O my soul but chear up thy self in faith and hope for thou shalt praise the Lord in stead of praying to him for thy great and his gracious deliverance xliv PSALM The people of Israel being in grievous captivity The Author of this Psalm accosts God with his Covenant-mercies shewn of old to their forefathers whose seed they are and whose God he also is and so they are confident will in his good time approve himself But in the mean time their extremities are very great and his favour quite eclipsed And yet they are faithful to him chosing rather to die than forsake him and therefore prayes him to pity their case and hear their prayers joined with fasting and deep humiliation for help and succour A Psalm made for the instruction of the Church in afflictions shewing the use of them and carriage in them and committed to Heman the chief musician of the familie of the Korathites for him and them to sing 1 WE have heard it both by word and writing from thy servants and our forefathers O gratious God the grace and goodness thou shewdst to thy people Israel then in their times long ago at their first coming into a Canan 2 How then thou wroughtest for them and shewdst forth thy mighty power against the many heathenish nations and their great strength which notwithstanding thou didst subdue and vanquish in thy peoples behalf driving out them to make way for these whom thou according to promise didst plant in their steads by a marvellous out-stretched arm wherewith thou didst oppress the Cananites destroying some and expelling others from out that land 3 For it was not their own power and might that possessed them of the promised land nor was it their own strength that either preserved them from their enemies or subdued them but it was thy power and strength and thy gracious goodness and presence with them that did it for them because they were the people whom thou hadst chosen and to whom thou hadst promised thy grace and assistance 4 Thou Lord art still the God and King of thy people whom they serve and in whom they trust remember therefore the Covenant of protection and mercy thou madest with Jacob and his seed and as thou fulfillest it to him in his own person so now make it good also to him in his posterity by setting them free from their enemies as thou didst him from his 5 That so by thy powerfull assistance we may now do by our enemies as our forefathers did
and reproves not onely for a sinfull but an ungratefull and a despising people that having those excellent priviledges of his worship and presence amongst them so shamefully play the hypocrits with him pretending holiness in outward ceremoniall worship and performances but never heed how faith and grace acts in their services nay many of them are not onely formall but even prophane hypocrites that dare to live in sin even gross sins and yet be frequent in duties thus mocking God to his face and yet think he likes well enough of that they do because they smart not for it but God tells them they shall tast the bitter fruit of their wayes if they repent not And for them that spiritually and uprightly worship him amongst them as they honour him so he will reward them to their hearts content A Psalm made by Asaph THe onely true and Almighty God the Lord of all the earth having noted thē Idolatrous miscarriages and false worships that are every where practised summons all men in all the world to take notice 2 That though the whole world be in sinfull darkness and ignorance of the true God and the right way of serving him Yet there is a corner of the earth that God hath vouchsafed to shine out of as the sun when it arises in the East and spreads its light by degrees over the face of the whole heavens a place and people that he hath chosen to reveal himself in and amongst it is his people Israel in the land of Canaan principally in the Citie Jerusalem but most especially upon mout Sion there shall you find and see in a breife map of lively types and representations God manifested not onely in his majesty but in his true and saving way of worship grace and truth shining there and from thence shall take its rise to overspread the whole world 3 This God that is so peculiarly ours and at present seems comparatively to be professour of no part of the earth but this that his people dwell in nor to have no dominion over any else for none serve him but they This God of ours shall one day make it appear that he is Lord of all the world when he shall come to judge it which he will do though now he forbear and suffer it to lie in ignorance and Idolatry but he will appear in terrour and great glory to the astonishing and confounding of all men all the world over that believe not in him nor worship him aright 4 None shall escape his judgement the heavens and the earth which he made he shall command to render up all mankind alive or dead and dissolved into their elements or first principles as subject to him to be judged by him from the four corners of the world 5 Then shall it appear that but some of all the world are Gods peculiar sanctified ones a people sprinkled with the bloud of the covenant keeping faith and a good conscience which the Angels by speciall appointment shall gather together from out the rest of the world and set them on Gods right hand in heaven as now his Israel his onely covenanting and sacrificing people severed from all the world besides are by a powerfull hand settled in Canaan 6 His righteous justice shall be made manifest over all the earth in condemning the wicked be they never so many and saving those that are godly from amongst them be they never so few for the righteous and omnipotent God that is Lord over all and hath all power both in heaven and earth who is of wisdom to judge aright of all men and of power to execute his judgement shall himself pass sentance infallibly from heaven upon them Even so be it 7 What have been said of my peculiar favour to you above all the world besides is true how that I have chosen you out of the whole earth placed you in the promised land vouchsafed you my speciall presence in my speciall place of worship entered covenant with you to be your God and you likewise with me to be my people mine Israel to tread in the steps of your faithfull forefathers and therefore though I have a quarrell with all the world for their sinfull evil ways for which I will one day judge them as I have said yet you that are my people even because you are so I would have you know and therefore do I passionately press it upon you that your sins in your ignorance of me and abuse of my name and worship in an outward pretence of holiness without faith and affection are my greatest trouble and which I cannot but with griefe complain of as a great unkindness against me the God of all the world but more especially your God above and beyond all the world besides and therefore exspect to be served in sincerity and not in hypocriticall shews and formalities by you 8 It is not your sacrifices that I so much care for nor do I complain the want of them I have had enough and too many of such ceremonies from you that I even surfet again of them 9 Those are things which thou valuest thy Bullocks and thy Goats they are thy livelihood and sustenance which makes thee set by such kind of service but they are not of that value to me nor of that use it is not they that give me content I had rather be without them than have them after that carnall and formall manner you offer them you think you do me a pleasure by being at such charges and that you feast me as you do your selves with the sacrifices you offer me whereas did I need such things I would not be beholden to your stalls or folds for them 10 I would go where there is better choice and more variety and take either what I wanted or what I pleased all the world over for they are all mine the whole store that the whole earth is furnished with and where you can plead no propriety 11 Yea I can command also the fowls that flie in the air or that breed in the mountains out of your reach and those beasts that naturally are wild and untameable and never will be at your command they are all mine 12 So that if I were an hungry and had an appetite to eat and feed upon the creature as thou dost as by your manner of service you seem to fancy me to be I need not take the meat out of thy mouth by appointing you sacrifices to any such end who am the God of all the world and can serve my self as I please upon the creature which I have replenished the whole earth withall 13 Can you have such low and base thoughts of me as to think me to have appointed the sacrifices I command you for any such carnall and sensuall respects that am a spirit and look to be worshipped in spirit or are you so void of reason and understanding as
us or presence with us are now remaining all such signs have quite left us neither know we whither to go nor how to do to enquire of thee as formerly our predecessours were wont to do in straits never age nor miserie was like to this since thy people were a people for we have not so much as one prophet that were wont to have whole schools of them nor prophetess in all the whole land who can either instruct us what to do to reconcile our selves to thee nor how long it will be before thou beest reconciled and thy favour renewed to us as it was ever heretofore wont to be after some short space 10 O God find out a way to let us know the end of our miseries and the rather for the disgrace thou sufferest the whilest for thine honour lies in the dust as well as we through our sides thou art wounded and divided as if thou also wert conquered and that thou canst not deliver nor restore us now as heretofore though thou hast been too hard for our enemies yet now they are too hard for thee thus thine omnipotencie is impeached and thou scorned as a God that art not able to succour and befriend thy people Let the consideration hereof move thee 11 Lord why doest thou suffer thy self thus to be dishonoured and thy people thus to be destroyed heretofore thou wast alwayes wont to appear for them upon less occasions and powerfully to preserve them and to be jealous for thy worship and Lord why art thou not so now why doest thou not put forth thy power and magnifie thy grace now as then Good Lord be intreated to do so who canst if thou wilt 12 For Lord thou knowest how thou hast ever been related to us and we to thee above all the World as King and people and what remarkable protection and great deliverances both before and since we were planted in Canaan thou hast vouchsafed us answerable to such relations in the sight and to the admiration of all both far and near upholding us thus long a people to thee in the navel of the earth in despight of all the enmitie and combinations that have been against us round about We have not forgotten and we pray thee also to remember it what thou didst for us when thou broughtest us thitherward out of Egypt how thou miraculously made the sea drie-land for us to pass through and by thine Almightie power madest the water to stand like walls on our right hand and on our left till we were safely landed on the other side and till the whole Host of the Egyptians in pursuit of us was ingaged and ensnared in the deep and then thou causedst the waters to come together again and so destroyedst that bloud-thirstie and mightie armie in their own element even the Egyptians by inundation of water that are a nation above all the World blessed and preserved by it and as it were bred and born in it like the Crocodile in Nilus 14 Even Pharaoh himself and all his armie utterly perished there whose countrey of Egypt by the mightie over-flowings of that famous river is as it were a Sea and he the whale and master-fish therein even he with all his host was drowned in the red-sea where whale-like he purposed to have devoured the whole Host of Israel and cast up on that side towards the wilderness where thy people were safe on shore to be a prey to them and provision for them of many necessaries in that their journey towards Canaan through the wilderness chiefly for their faith to feed upon in all their after-straits and necessities and their carcasses to be devoured by wild beasts and ravenous birds 15 Thou then wast pleased to work wonders every way for us as well for our preservation against extremities of nature hunger and cold as from our enemies Insomuch as when thy people Israel extreamly provoked thee yet wast thou gracious to them and in their distress didst cleave the rock in Horeb and after that too and madest thence to flow sweet and plentiful streams for their refreshing and supply of them and their cattel and when they were to possess the promised land thou didst make way through Jordan even then when it overflowed all its banks for their entering into Canaan as thou didst before at the red-sea for their comming out of Aegypt that is madest it drie land for them to pass 16 17 Thou canst do but what thou wilt there are no bounds to thy power but thy will Thou that rulest all times and in all places ordeining and ordering day and night sun and moon and stars in the heavens above and hath scituated the earth and the several climates thereof so as they are accommodating it and the inhabitants thereof with meet and fruitful seasons of summer and winter 18 Thou art the God whom we worship above all the World thou that art thus Almightie whilst our enemies worship stocks and stones and yet they triumphing in their success reproch us with thee even with thee O Lord and this heathenish Idolatrous nation magnifie their Gods above thee because they are now above us saying thou didst not because thou couldest not deliver us and so blaspheme thine omnipotencie and nullifie thy very essence and being Now O Lord as thou art severe to punish us so forget not we pray thee to vindicate thine honour and to plague them answerably to the greatness of their provocations 19 Resume thy goodness toward us Thou hast but one spouse one nation and people in all the World that by contract are married to thee do not thou O Lord so far obdurate thy self against this wife of thy bosom thine helpless and harmless Israel to expose her to a barbarous prophane nation to be preyed upon and devoured as a Turtle by a Hawk or a Lamb by a Wolf but work their deliverance and restauration and forget not thy poor distressed and captived people to leave them in that estate for ever 20 But remember and fulfill the obligations of grace thou boundest thy self in to our forefathers thy friends and servants how thou wouldest be their God and the God of their seed after them to bless them which we are even we that are now led captive out of the land of the living God into the dark corners of the world amongst a people that know not the Lord and that have as little true humanity as divinity for for thy sake because we belong to thee and worship thee whom they neither know nor serve are we used with all manner of barbarism and cruelty by them 21 O let not no more now then heretofore in Egypt the pressures of thy people go unpunished but magnifie thy power in our wonderfull deliverances and our enemies confusion that for thy sake have reproached us Let us find thou art a God that hearest prayer and fulfillest the desire of thy poor necessitated people
twelve even it is destroied Judea the place where it grew is miserably wasted with fire and the people with the sword in thy wrathfull displeasure hast thou blasted this tender branch which is the more dejected at thy frowns because thy former favours were so resplendent upon it 17 Let thy power and grace appear in protecting and delivering this single Tribe of Judah's posterity the sole remainder of Jacobs sons who hath ever hitherto been mightily favoured and prospered by thee even for Davids sake that man after thine own heart who sprung out thence and whom thou madest a mighty King ruling Jews and Gentiles and endowing him with singular gifts and graces fit for that place and imploiment thou conferest upon him out of whose loins must also come the Messiah whom he tipified for as he is thy Son so shall he be Davids and Judah's whom thou hast set apart for that high office and glorious work of mediation placed him at thy right hand in power and furnished him with graces fit for this imploiment to rule sanctifie and save thy people his Church even the man that is thy fellow God and man the Almighty Mediatour and Sovereign King for his sake therefore put forth thy power in poor Judah's behalf for to restore her 18 Lord if thou wilt do thus for us thou wilt bind us to thee everlastingly we will then renew our covenant and keep it which by our back-sliding we have broken the cause of all our misery Let us but live again and we will not live to our selves but to thee thou shalt have the praise of our restauration and the obedience of our lives and conversation 19 Lord how ever our condition is very forlorne and miserably yet art thou that commandest the whole creation able to change it to what it was and to carry us into our own land and give us the use and enjoyment of thy worship again if thou wilt but turn thy frowns into favours and thy face upon us instead of thy back parts pardoning our sins and receiving us again into grace we shall be a happy people and see good dayes for all this The lxxxi PSALM The Psalmist quickens up the people of Israel to pour out praises to God as God himself also hath commanded them to do for all his mercies to them specially that great deliverance out of Egypt and by way of caution hints notwithstanding Israels ingratitude and unmindfulness of Gods providence and goodness at the bitter waters in the wilderness where they murmured and believed not as also after in Canaan which cost them full dear who else had been always a prosperous people and their land a plentifull land To him that is most skilfull upon Gittith the instrument used by Obed-edom the Gittite and his family do I Asaph that made this Psalm commit it for his ordering it in the Quire 1 AS we have received mercies and favours of great extraordinary natures from God so let our praises be sutable with heart and voice let all Israel in their solemn conventions magnifie the Lord acknowledge all those great things thankfully which by a mighty hand he hath done and wrought for them Let them with infinite exultation and confidence in God as theirs be loud and large in their praises 2 All we can do will be too little and come short of what the Lord demerits but let not us be wanting to the utmost of our power but with voice and instrument yea all manner of musicall instruments one and other specially the sweetest and choicest of them let us sound forth his praises that heaven and earth may ring of us 3 Be sure when you celebrate those solemn festivities appointed in the law as the new moon c. That you perform it in a faithfull chearfull manner and express it heartily by sound of trumpet and all other wayes as may most testifie your inward joy and best enliven it 4 This you ought to do not onely of gratuity but also of duty for God doth not onely deserve it but hath expresly enjoyned it as a statute and everlasting law for Israel to yield obedience to even these solemn meetings for solemn thanksgivings appointed of old by the God of our forefather Jacob. 5 Even then did he institute it when Josephs posterity had the precedency among all the Tribes not Judah as now it is ever since the time that God destroied the first born in Egypt and thereupon ordained the Passeover when miraculously he brought us out thence from being imbondaged under a people whom we understood not saving by blows as beasts do men they not speaking our language nor we theirs a people strange to God and as strangely using his Church that uncomfortably sojourned amongst them without civil converse 6 From the wofull slavery and cruell bondage of those Egyptian Tyrants and Task-masters did God by a strong hand wonderfully deliver us and made us free-men to serve him of bondmen serving them in hard labour of bearing burdens and doing base offices of brick-clamping and pot-making in kills furnaces 7 Thou criedst unto me sayes God in thy bondage in Egypt after also in thy danger at the red sea and I thou knowst heard thee and by a mighty hand and apparent signs of favour delivered thee from the one the other from on high plaguing and troubling thine enemies the Egyptians with thunder and lightning and delivering thee which I thought thou wouldst have remembred and for which I could not but believe thou wouldst have been thankfull and believing in my grace and providence in after-times but did I find it so when I tried thy faith meekness and patience a little after at the waters of strife no thou knowst I did not 8 9 10 Where yet for all thine ungratefull murmurings thou remembrest I did not reject thee nor so much as punish thee but took occasion thence to enter and renew my covenant with thee and to take thee into my service and make further proof of thee whereupon I made a statute and an ordinance that if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and walk as my people before me in obedience of those laws which I shall give thee worshipping none but me and keeping your distance to all other Gods worshipped by those that are not my people chusing me onely for yours by the same token I powerfully and with such sign of favour brought you out of the land of Egypt the Type indeed of a nearer spirituall relation whereby we are or ought to be united that then if thou wouldest but do thus if ever thou wantedst what thou wouldst have and was usefull for thee it should not be because I would not give it for then would I withhold no needfull blessings from thee but because thou didst not ask it the fault should be thine and not mine if in the faith of my gracious covenant-engagements
never to live again Lord think other thoughts towards us bring us again into a comfortable condition and raise us up in joy as much as thou hast cast us down in sorrow by the return of thy reconciled favour to us which will infinitely rejoyce us 7 Let us be so happy as to see and feel the sweet effects of thy pardoning grace O good God by granting us a powerfull deliverance from under this misery and bondage 8 As pray so I will also expect an answer my faith shall listen diligently to the promise of God what it sayes as also to his providence what it will speak effectually by way of performance for his promises are then words he will do as he sayes and therefore I am confident how ever Gods time is now of punishing us so it will be of pardoning us his people shall have rest from these their troubles for his Saints the invisible Church sake that are amongst them but let them take heed of abusing such goodness by provoking the Lord again to wrath with back-sliding ingratitude lest he never take their words more 9 Surely deliverance from the Lord will make haste for the enfranchizing of all those that faithfully wait for it and will heartily imbrace it when it comes to the promoting and re-establishing his worship and service again in that land of his and ours though we are wrongfully disseiz'd of it and restoring it to its former glorie and splendour 10 Our return as it shall doubtless be so it shall be exceeding happie the very embleme of the salvation that comes by the Messiah to the Church and the glorious effects thereof for in our restauration there shall be an admirable commixtion of the mercie and truth of God thereby graciously fulfilling his promise touching the well-fare of his Church and freedom from her enemies together with a righteous obediential walking of his people with him in peace and tranquillitie Like as in Christ and in the restauration that he shall make of poor distressed sinners to a spiritual Libertie from their ghostly enemies sin and Satan there shall be a glorious reconciliation of those cross pleading attributes and properties in Gods divine nature and in the soul of every justified regenerate member of the Church for according to truth and righteousness Man that sinned hath died Christ being made a sacrifice and according to mercie and peace Man that hath sinned is saved and God he are reconciled and at one in the propitiation of his son so that in him the Laws threatnings and Gospels promises are agreed the rigour of Gods justice is fully satisfied all things in God peaceably accorded and God and man sweetly reconciled and man in his own conscience by the faith of all these comfortably quieted 11 We shall serve and obey God in truth and uprightness such sweet fruit shall Judea yield upon our restitution and God shall take pleasure in us and from heaven pour forth his righteous blessings upon us in grace and favour to us as it shall be with the Church when the Messiah that Truth of God shall be born in our nature of earthly parents with what satisfactorie content shall God then behold him and those justified sanctified members of his here below aswell as those glorified ones in heaven above and how shall he bless them 12 Yea the Lord shall be so reconciled to us that our evils shall be turned into their contrarie blessings he shall be our friend and make every thing else befriend us for good the creature shall be reconciled aswell as the creator and the land that our sins have made barren and fruitless shall by the blessing of God upon it be restored to that fertilitie it had heretofore when God was better served and it was better blessed and made to resemble the plenteous spiritual blessings that Christs enfranchized Church shall abound with here 13 God himself shall plentifully vouchsafe his graces and make us walk to his well-pleasing in holiness and righteousness as Christ shall his Church and set us in the right way which we have so miserably strayed from and enable us to walk it even the path of his precepts The lxxxvi PSALM David in this Psalm made probably either during Sauls persecution of him or after in mindfulness of that his estate personating himself as then it was with him praies for audience and deliverance because of his incessant intercessions and Gods innate goodness and promises himself what he praies for he extols God and prophesies all the World shall do so too prayeth for direction and establishment under his pressures promiseth praise for what God hath done for him and relates what manner of enemies his are as bad as bad can be but comforts himself in Gods opposit grace and goodness which he praies for a sensible sight and taste of by some remarkable act of providence and power for him against them to their shame and confusion and to his corroboration and consolation A praier that David made in the time of his grievous affliction recorded as a pattern and for the use of every faithful afflicted member of the Church 1 THou Lord that hast an ear for men in my case and heart too Let me I pray thee prevail for a gracious audience and though thou beest of so immense greatness and inhabitest heavens in unaccessable glorie yet Lord have regard to a poor worm on earth in this my deplorable helpless condition 2 That my life Lord is in danger thou knowest it and that my heart is upright towards thee and innocent towards man even to my very enemies thou Lord art not ignorant of it Therefore in righteousness deliver me out of their hands and save my life which they would destroy O Lord that art my God both in near relation and dear affection save me that thou knowest am entirely thine in loving obedience and faithful dependance and reliance 3 Let thy goodness and my miserie move thee to have mercie on me O Almightie Lord and to vouchsafe me deliverance for as I have cause my pressures being exceeding great and incessant so are my cries unto thee vehement and quotidian because my faith and hope is in thee 4 Set me free from my troubles and these despondencies of spirit that accompany them that I may with a joyful and thankful heart apprehend thy grace and mercie to me for Lord thou knowest my trust and confidence is in none besides thee as thou mayest perceive by my faithful and fervent addresses 5 For I know both from thine own word which I believe and mine own experience that thou art of a gracious compassionate nature to poor distressed suppliants and though just to punish sinners yet as ready to pardon penitents and to shew mercie of every kind both of forgiveness to humbled sinners and of deliverance to distressed innocents that in the faith thereof pray earnestly unto thee 6 And
to know we are mortall Lord therefore pitie our stupidity teacheth us even what we know already for common truths that are of greatest use though they be most known yet they are oft-times least understood for we live as if we should never die though we know nothing is more sure nor more uncertain than death such fools are we and void of true wisdom till thou inspire us with it make us then so to know the momentanies of our loves as thereby to be instigated to make it our first and chiefest care to seek and secure to our selves a blessed eternity after them especially we that are under thy heavy displeasure and consumed by it day by day let the loss of this earthly incite us to look after a heavenly Canaan 13 O Lord call to mind that ancient love wherewith thou lovedst our fore-fathers and those many acts of grace which we their children have participated from thee formerly to perswade with thee to reassume that temper towards us and to be again gracious to us We Lord think it long till we be received into favour again do thou think so too we humbly pray thee and put an end to this thy displeasure that hath so long lain heavy upon us Yea let what thou hast already done seem too much at least Lord do no more so but cease to destroy us and take us into grace again whom thou hast honoured above all the world with the title of thy people and servants 14 O satisfie our longing desires after mercy and do it betime whilest some of us are yet left alive before the sun be set upon us all Lord spare that remnant that are not yet consumed and let us see some token for good that may again revive us and perswade us of thy reconciled favour towards us which would make us quite forget all our sorrow passed for the joy we should conceive thereat and be happy men for time to come 15 Lord let thy mercies hold some proportion with thy judgements especially towards us thy people against whom though thou hast denounced some threats yet hast thou made us many more promises therefore call to mind the number nature and long continuance of our afflictions both in Egypt and since we came thence especially this long peregrination of ours ever since thou swarest we should not enter into thy rest now at last to have some commiseration and another while to let us tast of mercy as we have done of misery and to have a surviving joy to succeed our long-lived sorrow 16 Lord thou hast ingaged thy self in a great undertaking even to give this thy people the land of Canaan in full possession and dominion some progress its true thou hast made towards it by our deliverance out of Egypt and conduct through the wilderness to the skirts thereof but the complement of it we would fain see which we had seen ere this but for our own default which we pray thee at last obliterate and make good thy promise of possession in our sight and time and of that glorious state and condition which shall be to thy Church and Kingdom in succeeding ages let after-generations see it in its full splendour 17 And let the blessing and favour of the Almighty and our good God be with his people for ever to make them beautifull and glorious in the eyes of all nations who in the absence thereof are the abject despondent people living And make succesfull all their great undertakings in enterprising Canaan driving out and destroying those many Kings and great people the enlarging their borders and dominion into remote countries and building of the Temple whatsoever Lord thou hast promised to do for them give them hearts faithfully to believe it and in the faith thereof couragiously to undertake it and indefatigably to persist in it and succesfully to prosper in all things unto an establishment in a full fruition absolute dominion and glorious condition of Church and Kingdome The xci PSALM The Psalmist prophetically declares Gods great care for the welfare of the faithfull commends it by his own testimony and example and therefore exhorts them to walk with a holy carelesness in midst of dangers upon assurance of his deâ—ence Brings in God himself promising to the faithfull deliverance temporall and salvation eternall 1 HE that by faith is firmly fixed upon God making him his never-failing refuge and wholly confiding in his sure though invisible protection at all essayes shall be as secure and safely preserved as the Almighty power of God can tell how to protect him which he need neither fear nor doubt of 2 I believe and therefore I will and dare with boldness affirm as much of the Lord by mine own experience of him as I recommend unto others to make triall of how that he is the onely refuge and fortress even this my God that I have ever in all straits and concussions fled unto and never found him falsifie his word or fail my trust therefore I both have and will trust in him and relie upon him and him onely fall back fall edge 3 Let me and mine example perswade with thee to do so too surely thou shalt not repent thee but find the happy fruits of it in his gracious and powerfull preservation of thee neither men nor divels by power or policy shall be able to do thee any hurt they may endanger thee but thine extremity shall be his oportunity no nothing though in its own nature never so destructive and inavoidable the plague it self that uncomfortable all-devouring disease shall not annoy thee 4 He shall take care of thee and by his Almighty power secure thee from danger as a Hen doth her Chickins wherein the more thou trusts the more thou may such experience shalt thou have of him and of his faithfulness cast but thy care on him and trust firmly in him and thou shalt find him true of his word and true to thy trust and thy self better safeguarded by thy faith in his faithfulness than by any humane helps or warlike accommodations whatsoever 5 Thou shalt therein apprehend such safety and thy mind find such recumbency as that nothing shall disquiet thy peace no time place person nor thing shall be cause of fear to thee for day and night shalt thou have sweet repose in his protection both against naturall evils and supernaturall extraordinary judgements which as they come immediately from him so are they ordered by him how mortall and sudden soever they seem to be 6 Thou shalt be antidoted and fearless of the plague of pestilence that infecteth secretly and spreadeth here and there uncertainly and insensibly and where it rageth leaves sad spectacles of natures frailty sinners mortality and Gods heavy displeasure to be seen and lamented by all in all places in streets and houses frequently and openly dying night and day 7 And though by Gods just judgement and secret
it and will for as he raiseth sea-tempests and therefore can lay them so he by his providence and appointment sends land-storms therefore can order quit them in like sort 5 And as thou art powerfull so art thou faithfull we need no more doubt of the one than of the other what thou hast promised as thou hast power so likewise hast thou will to perform it Thy grace of protection is as certain and infallible as thy power is omnipotent The obediential faith of thy holy performance of all that thou hast promised becomes thy Church the house of the living God which O Lord ought to be fixed and established by it and in it for ever what ever befall her The xciv PSALM In some very heavie pressure that lay upon the people of God in generall by by the heathens or else upon the faithfull under the wicked Kings and Iudges of Israel this Psalm seems to be made wherein God is earnestly called upon to take off the yoke which lay so heavily upon them by the tyrannie and persecution of bloudie and 〈◊〉 hemous wretches whom be counsells to do better and from their abuse of Gods own clemencie to their own perdition shews the blessed estate of Gods own people because of Gods fatherly chastisements He acknowledgeth God for his sole support which is his comfort when he is at a loss and is confident God will not always suffer tyrants to sit in his seat and rule over his Church but that he will find a time to judge them and deliver her out of their hands 1 2 O Almightie and righteous Lord God who hast power and to whom of right it belongs to revenge the injuries oppressions of thy Church appear in her behalf so that both she and her oppressours may see thou doest so Let her proud insulting enemies feellingly find that thou that art judge of all the earth favourest her cause and doest her right upon them 3 4 Lord it is not without cause that we crie to thee for as our pressures have been very great so they have been very long The wicked have had a long reign and lorded it with a witness over the good and by reason of thy delay they glory in their doings as if either thou couldst not or wouldst not punish them And what they think they stick not to speak even blasphemies against thee and cruelties against us and the more wickedness they commit the more they give themselves content boasting one to another and vying one with another who can do most mischief thy impunitie being their immunitie 5 6 They make pot-sheards of thy people O Lord loading them with such merciless oppressions and afflictions even thine own chosen and peculiar heritage and that because they are so as they break their very hearts and leave them not the name or face of a people scarce upon earth destroying all before them mercilesly breaking all laws humane and divine respecting neither age nor sex pitying none in any kind or condition though never such objects of compassion 7 And so hardened are they in their wicked courses and so presumptious by thy forbearance that they are confident thou regardest not what they do to thy people nor never will call them to account for it making a very aw-word of the God of Jacob. 8 Be men of more understanding than to harbour such vain thoughts of so great a God ye that though ye be heads and chief among the vulgar yet are as void of understanding and true judgement as the common people themselves be not still so foolish to persist in wickedness provoking the Lord but consider that the end must needs be bad and that you will repent when it is too late 9 For weigh with your selves whether it be reasonable to think that you can either act such things or speak such words and God not see nor hear them that gives ears and eyes to all men living shall the authour of those senses be senseless 10 He that is Judge of all the earth and punisheth the very heathens for their exorbitancies and unjust oppressions among themselves shall not he much more be righteous to revenge the wrongs done to his own people and have you such mean thoughts of God as to judge him any thing less than omniscient think you to escape or deceive him that gives you your selves the knowledge you have and all men else 11 The Lord very well knows what vain and wicked thoughts men naturally have of him how they abuse his clemencie as if he neither saw heard regarded nor will judge them for their wickedness because he delays to do it 12 Therefore what ever the world think of the godly under afflictions yet blessed is the man that is so much favoured of God as to be chastised for his faults and admonished of his dutie to Gods commandments whilst he suffers others to run riot without check or control 13 That he may make him meet for the inheritance of the saints prepare him for heaven which shall be the end of his course which is accompanied with sorrows as hell shall be of the wicked when they are prepared for it by a consummation of the number and measure of their sins by their libertie of sinning 14 For whatever we through shortness of spirit and impatience under afflictions may think of God as if he had disregarded his people yet it s nothing so God may cast them into afflictions but not because he rejects them but because he loves them he will find a time to make it appear so that for all that nay that therefore he is their God and they his dearly beloved because he doth afflict them when as he saves them by it suffering others to go to hell for want of it 15 But how ever things seem to be topsi-turvie the wicked a top of the wheel and the good under it yet there is a time when the world shall be set right again each man shall be paid his wages God shall take the government into his hands whereas now the reins seem to be let loose and in righteousness judge the good and the bad which is the time that all upright-hearted sincere Godly-ones long for and in hope of it shall notwithstanding all obstructions follow it in the way of pietie 16 Who is there beside thee O Lord willing or able to deliver me from under this tyrannicall oppression of wicked workers surely none in all the world If thou doest not save me I perish 17 Yea hadst not thou when time was been a present help so near was I to destruction I had certainly died and been silent in the grave instead of being now speaking to thee and praising of thee 18 When I concluded with my self there was no way but death then of a sudden beyond expectation in so eminent a danger did thy mercie appear to
joyfull praises of his coming from heaven to earth to redeem his Church Yea all that is within you praise his holy name for so great salvation wrought not onely by the power as all the rest were but also by the person of God himself whom you ought therefore with studied thankfulness and elaborate expressions of joy and honour entertain and usher into the world worthy his greatness and best expressing your high esteem of such unvaluable grace 7 8 9 These three last verses being the same in sence and almost in letter with the 11 12 13 being also the three last verses of the 96 Psalm see the Paraphrase upon them for the explanation of these Saving that those words in the eighth verse of this Psalm let the hills be joyfull together signifie that as all people are admitted into the same priviledge with the Jews by Christ so all places have the same fellowship in propriety and title to God and his worship as hath the hill of Sion once his peculiar Iohn 4.21 The xcix PSALM The Psalmist probably upon some deliverance magnifies the Lord in relation to his people the Iews and their happy condition above all people exciting them to praise God answerably to his mercies and righteousness even that God which hath ever been their God and done great things for them by his servants of old 1 THe Amighty God whose throne is in the heavens is pleased in behalf of his Church and chosen people to make it appear that he also hath dominion upon earth by their powerfull preservation and their enemies destruction therefore let the heathen people our neighbour nations that so malign us take it into serious consideration and tremble to think of provoking him by injuring his Church Let them rather and all the rest of the Gentiles with a reverentiall fear submit themselves to his regiment and be gathered into the number of his people worshipping him not after their own imaginations but in the manner and place that he hath appointed the Temple where onely he hath fixed his presence upon the mercy-seat between the Cherubims which condescention of the great God of heaven full of incomprehensible majesty and holiness to reside on earth ought to make even the whole creation sensible of it by way of Allegiance and subjection to him and honour of the place where and the people amongst whom he is pleased to erect his throne 2 Wonderfull great hath the power of God appeared in the preservation of his people and the defence of his holy Temple in the behalf whereof he hath mightily approved his wisdom and power infinitely to exceed all humane policy and strength of the great Sages and confederate forces of the world which sundry times he hath dissipated and strangely defeated 3 O therefore let thy people who have been so extraordinarily blessed by thee return answerable thanks unto thee and praise thee for those righteous and terrible judgements executed upon their enemies wherein thou hast manifested such Almighty power and gracious providence and hast thereby approved thy self a holy God faithfull of thy word and promise 4 And as well righteous as holy not exercising a Tyrannicall absolute Arbitrary power over the creature yea though thou canst yet thou wilt not but affectest to subject thy proceedings to the rules of righteousnese ordering thy power by thy justice and putting it forth by way of judgement which thou both justly and severely executest upon sinners and enemies to thee and thy people unto whom both by thy works and word president and precept thou holdest forth and recommendedst equity and righteousness for them to walk thereafter yea thou art not partiall to thine owne people the seed of Jacob no more than to the heathen but if they sin they smart for it in righteousness thou punishest them as well as others 5 Magnifie and praise O ye his people this your God the onely Lord come frequent his Temple the onely place on earth where he that sits in heaven is pleased to be present there bow down with adoration and reverence before him as at the foot-stool of the great and glorious Majesty of heaven worshipping him in spirit with holiness of heart abasing your selves and exalting the Lord who onely is holy and his worship holy all other Gods throughout the world being vain Idols and their worship sin and superstition 6 That God that hath made himself known to you as by eminent Miracles so by eminent Messengers such as the memory of them is famous and honourable amongst you how much more ought God to be so Moses and Aaron those chosen worthies that in the beginning were prime Rulers and Peers of his Church and Samuel an honourable Prophet in the after-ages of it what gracious answers did he vouchsafe to their prayers These holy men powerfull intercessours Types of the Messiah the great Mediatour of his Church how ever and anon were they heard when they prayed for the people and what salvation was vouchsafed still at their request 7 These Saints and servants of God had familiar communication with him as Moses and Aaron all the way in the wilderness they had God present with them ordering and advising their course in that great charge that lay upon them whose command and covenant they faithfully delivered over to the people and observed themselves 8 These holy men were beloved and honoured by the holy Lord God who for us his peoples sake put them into office made them intercessours yea effectuall prevailing-ones such as Christ shall be many a time passing by the sins of Israel for their sakes whom thou didst not nor wouldest not have punished but forgiven and forgotten too had not iterated provocations and back-slidings from thee and thy commandments to Idolatry and wil-worship forced thee to take vengeance and minded thee of the abuse of former long-suffering which then thou also reckonedst with them for when once thine anger did break forth 9 See the fifth verse of this Psalm onely the word holy-hill here instead of foot-stool there means the same thing viz. The Temple built upon his holy hill mount Sion The c. PSALM The Psalmist excites the Church and people of God among the Gentiles as well as Iews to praise the Lord and imbrace his salvation so freely bestowed upon them who are so dear to him whom therefore he would have turn proselites apace and lose no time but glorifie him both now and hereafter for his grace to his Church in all ages A Psalm penned to stir up the people to praise the Lord. O give thanks sing forth the praises of the Lord and of his great gracious salvation in Christ all ye people of the earth not Jews onely but Gentiles also every where where the glad tidings of it come to entertain it joyfully and praise him for it thankfully 2 Cast off all old superstitious and vain worship of
in pieces lifts it on high with the greater violence to dash it against the ground 11 Thy poor Church O Lord whom I personate to thee it is even at sun-setting it is but a shadow of a Church and people no substance or Being left and that shadow too is extinguishing it is expiring like the shadows that towards sun-setting now are and anon are not so soon as the sun is gone down Like the grass that is mown withered with the sun and sapless such are thy people miserably parched with grief and sorrow and utterly comfortless 12 Thus it is with thy Church she is at last gasp she hath as it were received the sentence of death in her self But thou that art her God her support and strength canst never die nor she as considered in thee interessed in thy faithfulness though in outward appearance she be perishing yet thy truth past in promise to her which is thy self cannot fail thou wilt certainly remember to make it good to the uttermost period even to the Worlds end shall it endure and therefore so shall thy Church as low as it is brought at present 13 Therefore Lord though we seem to be dying our faith begins to sprout we are in hope that these our greatest extremities are thine immediate opportunities and that as thou hast lifted us up and cast us down so now thou casts us down to lift us up Yea we are very confident our sorrows are shorter-lived than we that we shall out-live them for all this yea we shall see a speedy end of them and that thou art even now about to shew thy self for us and to restore thy Church and in mercie pardon her sins which thou hast punished all this while and suddenly ease her of her miseries which she hath so long undergone and make Sion that was the glorie of the whole earth flourish again for as thou art mindfull of thy promise so are we that is that livens our faith and clears our heart even the thought of the expiration of the seventy years which is now drawing on the time appointed prophesied and promised by thee to end our captivitie and restore us to mercy which time is now accomplished revives our hopes 14 For such is the love thy servants bear to thee thy worship and the place appointed for it where thou hast promised thy presence that it is not the devastations which before hand they know they shall find there that does any whit discourage them no they are joyed to think that ever they shall set footing there and see that sacred rubbish that remains of that glorious fabrick what travel or pains so ever they undergo which they purpose to re-edifie 15 When thou hast thus wonderfully brought about our restauration after so long captivitie and the re-edification of that thy ruinated Temple what an amazement shall it put the heathen into how shall they admire thine omnipotencie that thus raised the dead and saved us as a brand out of the fire Yea the Princes and potentates of the whole earth hearing shall be strucken with astonishment at so glorious and Almightie a work 16 When the time comes which is now at hand that both thy spiritual and local Sion O Lord shall be restored and repaired by thee thy worship and worshippers in statu quo O how glorious wilt thou then appear in the eyes of Jews and Gentiles 17 And this be confident of that as God at this time hath extraordinarily stirred up his people to hope and pray to be delivered out of his destitute condition and made them more than ordinarily sensible of the loss of their countrey and happie priviledges they there enjoyed and ardently desire to return thither again so will he effect it and not let them lose their labour and pray in vain 18 This deliverance like that out of Egypt shall be upon everlasting record and renown for all posteritie and after-ages to admire and be strengthned thereby in the faith of Gods all-sufficiencie truth and grace And those of us that shall be gathered together again into the land of Judah in a formed bodie and an orderly way of worshipping the Lord from out this confusion and Chaos where we are neither a people nor a Church but a scattered mixture of vagrant folk O how shall we jointly praise the Lord and his power that hath thus raised us from the grave and as it were created us again out of the very dust nay the nothing whereinto we are resolved as Christ shall his Church 19 For from heaven which his sanctuarie was wont to represent hath the Lord heard and seen our moans and miseries though he be there in unaccessable glorie and majesty yet from that height hath he vouchsafed to pitie us here below that are no better then the earth we tread on 20 And to hear the groans we sent up to him in that sorrowful condition and save the lives and restore the liberties of his people a poor remainder of them who were destined to death and destruction aswel as the rest that they killed in hot bloud having sworn to root us all out every mothers son and not leave us a name upon earth 21 This shall the Lord do to the end his people so heard and so saved may magnifie the glorious power and rich grace of God in Sion as aforetime and praise him in Jerusalem his royal Citie and place of special residence 22 Which they shall do when they are embodied there again and reduced from that dissipation and confusion they now lie under which shall be a lively adumbration of the calling of the Gentiles and the gathering of Church and Kingdom from out the Kingdoms of the earth every where to believe in and and worship him many whereof shall be won and induced to give in their names unto him by that great deliverance like as when that great Jubile and goal-delivery by Christ himself shall be which is not far behind 23 Long have we looked for his coming and much hath his people suffered in the profession of his truth and for it in the interim the whilest they have lived in expectation of that happiness even to the loss of many yea almost of all his whole Church here in Babylon as must be the lot of the Church inhabitant in this world to suffer even death it self in way to the end the salvation of their souls 24 But I put my self before the Lord in the name of his faithful people and poor Church still remaining The ciii PSALM 2 O thou soul of mine that art of such transcendent excellencie to all sublunarie created beings and so adapted for to praise the Lord above them all do not thou burie thy talent in a napkin nor steward it unseeming thy trust to whom he hath committed such praise-worthie endowments and on whom he hath bestowed such thank-worthie benefits natural and divine which
his sins expose him to if God did not guard him as a field-flower that lieth open to men and beasts wind and weather 16 Subject to be despoiled of its beauty and laid along by every blast that blows and as gay as it is now appears straightway it disappears and is not and such is man 17 But for all this that man is of himself thus subjected by sin to return to dust and nothingness every moment yet is the mercie of God long-lived his Church and faithful people who shall never fail upon the face of the earth shall find that it shall never fail them but they and theirs throughout all generations that believe in him and filially fear him shall have the benefit of it grace and protection 18 Even all in all ages that enter Covenant with God and are careful and conscionable in the keeping of it by stedfast believing in him and exact walking with him in universal obedience to all his commandments seasonably and respectively calling to mind his will and their dutie as occasion requires to do accordingly in all occurrences 19 The glorie of the Lord is most perspicuous in heaven where his throne of dominion and rule is principally placed and he in his excellencies far more conspicuous there than the creature here doth or can represent or demonstrate him being seen of us thereby as but through a glass darkly from whence yet he extends his Sovereigntie hither ordering and governing aswell all things here as there especially his Church and that for ever 20 As the Lord appears most glorious in heaven so you his glorified angels that excel all other creatures in all manner of excellencies whose strength though derivative and created yet exceeds all humane power yea all humane imagination who are as fellow-creatures so fellow-servants with us yielding obedience to his commandments aswel as we and do his will revealed and commanded from his mouth as we from his word do you I say with us and for us bless the Lord and praise him both in his greatness and goodness 21 You that are so many millions waiting upon him and ministring at his pleasure what he commands do you even that whole heavenly army of glorious and mightie angels again and again bless and praise him that is as much above you in power and place as you are above us 22 And as his dominion is aswell over the earth and all things there and in the firmament above the earth as in heaven so ought his praises to be extended Even every creature that he hath made for so far extends his governance in all places throughout all ages ow him all the honour that in their kinds and after their created abilities they can do unto him But chiefly O thou my soul that art not onely beholden to God for a created being but for redemption and salvation which of free grace he hath vouchsafed thee a mercie far exceeding all meer created bounty do thou therefore above all in heaven and earth praise the Lord and bless his holy name answerable to thine ingagements so far beyond theirs The civ PSALM This Psalm as it is subsequent to the last so it is coherent with it made doubtless by the same Author the beginning and end of both being alike and the argument not unlike The one treating of God as a gracious redeemer of his Church and people and the benefits that redownd thereby the other as a powerful Creatour of all things heavens earth seas and all things in them together with their orderly conservation and provident preservation All which things strikes the Psalmist into admiration and puts him upon ingagement to constant meditation and praise wishing none might live that live not to the Lord in like sort 1 O Thou my soul my best and principal part praise thou the Lord the Lord Almighty which is the onely true God whom I worship and serve Thou Lord art wonderfully great in power and dominion the whole frame and order of nature in the great work of creation shew thee to be such specially the heavens whose scituation is above as thou art which as in a mirrour shew forth thine incomparable honour and Majesty in those glorious lights which is the visiblest representation of thee to our capacities thy throne being there 2 Thou hast spread the light over our heads throughout the aery element so that it is filled therewith and the Heavens where thou art seem to be covered thereby from our sight who can onely see on this side those supernal luminaries And as the light so that vast expanse of heaven thy Princely pavilion is drawn between thine unaccessible Majesty and us like the curtains of a royal Tent. 3 Who as he hath laid the foundation of the earth which is his foot-stool in the depths of the sea so hath he laid the floor of his upper loft the heavens where principally he resides as great men do above stairs amongst the clouds that spread like a sea far and wide over our heads on which he seems to ride as great men do in Chariots directing the uncertain motions thereof hither and thither and so also disposeth of the winds in their swift transition and sudden mutation to go and do as pleaseth him 4 Who therefore hath made the glorious angels those heavenly messengers of his not of such natures as we sublunaries are but spirits agil and active to come and go of his errands and do his pleasure here below instantly and effectually as far distant as it seems making those celestial ministers of his to execute his fiery indignation either visibly appearing as flames of fire as sometimes they have done so the Israelites were consumed in the wilderness or invisibly destroying his enemies but suddenly and terribly like as fire devoures combustible matter 5 Who also hath by his transcendent supernatural wisdom so established the earth upon its center as a house upon a firm foundation so that though it be pendent as a ball in the air and therefore seems nothing more moveable yet indeed there is nothing more immoveable all the winds and storms that overthrow other things that have foundations cannot stir this that hath none but from the first creation to the uttermost dissolution of all things it shall continue firm 6 In the first creation thou didst overflow all the earth and encompassed it with those waters that are now the sea they then spread themselves over the earth as a garment over a mans body so that no drie land appeared the mountains as well as the valleys were then under water 7 Until thou wast pleased to command the contrarie and then when thou preparedst that great Abyss to receive them that now contains them and biddest them contrarie to their nature that would still be overflowing all and drowning the whole earth to retire into it as into their mansion and place of abode they in reverence
they were in Egypt insomuch that the Egyptians grew to be afraid of their numerousness least they should be able in time to over-master them in their own land which fear turned into enmity against them 25 Insomuch that as well as at first they were received amongst the Egyptians and for all the good offices Joseph had done to that nation yet the Lord so ordered it according to his predictions that Egypt soon after grew ungratefull and unmindfull of all that was past and so hated Israel as they laid plots to suppress them and keep them so at an under that they should not multiply after that sort and to imbase and enervate their spirits that so by base drudgeries imposed upon them they should never have the courage to attempt their liberty and departure thence but should serve the Egyptians everlastingly for slaves and labourers 26 Which they were a long time till the appointed period came and that they cried to the Lord by reason of their insupportable pressures And then did the Lord miraculously preserve Moses and sent him as his great Embassabour to Pharaoh he and Aaron these two onely he chose to carry on and perfect that great work of Israels deliverance out of Egypt the one of them his extraordinary Prophet and servant and the other afterwards his High-Priest 27 Which deliverance was marvellously compassed by strange and miraculous wonders wrought by these men through the power of the Almighty to let those Egyptians the posterity of Cham that cursed progenitour see what a God of power the God of Israel was 28 The Lord therefore at Moses his stretching forth his hand towards heaven when Pharaoh would not let Israel go sent strange and extraordinary darkness both for its nature and continuance upon the whole land of Egypt Yea what ever the Lord commanded those two faithfull servants of his to do or say in the whole transaction of this great business betwixt Pharaoh and him for the deliverance of his people they failed not either in their messages or commands but though with never so much perill to themselves did whatsoever they were appointed of God continually and all creatures obeyed as readily 29 By their Ministery when Pharaoh would not yet let Israel go God also turned the waters into bloud throughout all the land of Egypt every where both in their rivers pooles and houshold-cisternes so that neither they could drink it nor the fish live in it but were killed 30 Also by Aarons stretching out his hand over the waters of Egypt upon Pharaohs further hardening God brought infinite of frogs upon the land like grass that grows upon the ground which dispersed themselves into all places so that Pharaoh and his Princes even their very bed-chambers were full of those crawling creatures no place free 31 Furthermore Aaron stretched out his rod upon the dust of Egypt and the dust became lice all the land over which crept upon man and beast also God commanded and there was likewise grievous swarms of severall sorts of uncouth flies in all the land thus with base vermin did the Lord plague the proud Egyptians for lording it over his people 32 There where useth to be no hail nor rain the Lord at Pharaohs refusall to let his people go sent by the hand of Moses stretched forth to heaven a grievous storm of hail mixt with fire and accompanied with terrible thunder-claps which fell as thick as rain from the clouds the hail and fire killing and consuming all without doores that was in the field 33 Yea so forcible was the storm and so extraordinary the hail that it spoiled their vines fig-trees and brake all other sorts of trees also throughout the coasts and quarters of Egypt 34 35 After this the Lord commanded an East-wind to blow which brought strange kinds of locusts and cater-pillars in such an infinite number that they darkened the land which every where throughout all Egypt devoured every thing that was green hearb or tree which the hail had not consumed 36 When nothing else would do he smote all the first-born in Egypt both of men and beast King and people so that in one night the flour of all Egypt perished because of Pharaohs hardened heart that would not let Israel go 37 38 Whereupon according as God had foretold Pharaoh let Israel go and glad he and his people were to be rid of them for whose sake God had so destroied his countrey and by the conduct of Moses the Lord led them thence when first he had given them favour in the sight of the Egyptians to depart to them their Jewels of silver and gold and raiment all which they carried away with them to the spoil of the Egyptians and their own exceeding enriching and though they were so many hundred thousands yet of all that number in none of all the twelve Tribes was there any one that for all the plagues that had befallen the Egyptians amongst whom they lived was a hair the worse nor that either by their cruell usage hard burdens old age or sickness was creepled or enfeebled unfit for travel but every man woman and child was lusty and strong to undertake their journey 39 Nor did God leave them when he had thus delivered them but provided for them in and along their journey through the wilderness ordained supernaturally a cool refreshing cloud in the day-time to wait upon them and travell along with them which like a Canopie covered them from the scorchings of the Sun in that hot desart as also in the night-time for light to travell by he gave them a pillar of fire in both which he himself conducted them 40 41 And as he provided for them light and shade for their well-being and better travelling so did he above the course of nature which could not then and there supply them give them livelihood and things necessary for their strength and being as meat and drink and both by extraordinary and miraculous means Manna that memorable bread and dew-fall of heaven they had it in abundance enough to serve that huge Host during all the time of their travell in the wilderness besides which when they asked though not in that manner they ought he gave them further provision and by a wind which he caused to blow brought Quails that fell round about the Camp enow to serve that numerous people also when they were thirstie he caused the rock of Horeb upon Moses his smiting it to open and the waters to flow forth of it which ran in that desart wilderness along as they travelled as it had been a river that there had its naturall course for the sustenance of them and their cattell 42 For though our fathers in that their journey did often sin grievously against God and tempted him to have destroied them rather than thus miraculously to provide for them yet was he still mindfull of
that never rests in a place but by every blast of wind is driven to and fro 24 My sorrows are so great perils so many and mind so restless that through voluntarie abstinence and involuntarie faintness and decay of nature I am become stomackless and strengthless my joints enfeebled and my flesh macerated 25 And this my misery was so far from moving mercie or pitie in my persecutours that they rejoyced to see it and mocked at me yea and at thee too for it reviling me with taunting tearms saying in derision Is this the man that must be King of Israel and in disdainfull diffidence of any such matter wagging their heads at me by that reproachfull gesture scornfully concluding the contrarie like as they shall demean themselves to Christ hanging upon the Cross pass by him look upon him and in that dolorous posture afford him no other pitie then scornfull nods and bitter mocks 26 I am in a condition so desperate hopeless and friendless that none but thy self can or will stand me in any stead But though it be so with me yea if it were worse if worse could be I would not doubt either thy power or mercie nor shall the badness of my condition overthrow my faith of relation but I still believe thee to be as my God in Christ so as able and gracious to deliver me as powerfull and faithfull to raise him which I pray thee to do for thy mercies sake in him 27 That my wicked and ungodly enemies may by experience of thy just judgements upon themselves and evident signes of favour unto me know thou hast done it for me because none but an Almighty power and goodness could have effected it as shall appear to be in Christ his resurrection and Jews dispersion 28 Their cursed wishes false slanders and wicked devices Lord frustrate them nay let them bring forth quite contrary effects the more ill they intend me let the greater good befall me and let the evil befall themselves let them do nothing that they may have cause to brag of in the issue when they are most confident let them be least successfull in what they unjustly attempt but let me have cause to make my boasts of thee and rejoice when as they hang their heads for sorrow and shame 29 Let mine adversaries have no cause of insulting over me but be ashamed of all they have done when they see that it is not against me but thee they did it by the event let them see what a fair thread they have spun that ends in nothing but shame and confusion that that is the web they have taken so much pains to weave for themselves all this while 30 When thou shalt have so done whereof I am most sure and certain then will I publish thy praises and magnifie thy mercies in the sight and hearing of all thy people by Sacrifices and Psalms 31 For all my sad condition and the grievous plight I am in yet it shall appear God is not so far from me as they think for but that he is at hand to help when his mine and their time is come spight of what they can do to hinder and notwithstanding their confidence because of their power and my povertie yet he can and will save me from those that in their own thoughts have adjudged and concluded me to death The cx PSALM David that Kingly Prophet and sweet singer in this Psalm shews the glorious exaltation of Christ in our nature at Gods right hand there to rule as sole sovereign whence it shall come to pass that by his divine spiritual omnipotencie his Gospel shall be effectual to the creating this King a Kingdom of loving loyal subjects maugre all his and their enemies and opposers speciallie upon his first inthronization and royal nuptials his Church shall get ground spight of the divel and all those earthly Potentates he sâ—ts on work to hinder it Such power hath he by virtue of his Kingly office to protect his people against men and divels and of such â—fficacie is his Priesthood with God able to save his Church to the uttermost ever living to make propitiatorie intercession for them in the heavens And he concludes with rendering the reason of all this his high esteem and powerfull prevailancie with God and power over angels and men even because for the effecting of this his Mediatourship and mans redemption he shall drink of a full cup the bitter waters of affliction shall be poured out upon him and wrung out to him with an Almightie hand A Psalm which David made in the spirit of Prophecie 1 GOd the Father in his eternal councel and covenant said to his son who is God and man my Lord and Saviour whose resurrection ascention and sitting at Gods right hand in dominion and power I shadow out in mine advancement from my low and troublelous state to the throne and scepter of Israel for that thou who art my fellow in the God-head hast undertaken to do my whole will in the Redemption of man and condescended to take his nature the better to effect it and therein hath effectually wrought it by dying for sin but being without sin hath conquered death which could not hold thee and art risen and ascended into heaven I give thee therefore there all power and authority in that very nature to rule and exercise sovereign and supream Jurisdiction over the Church which thou hast purchased by thy bloud together with the empire and absolute dominion of all things else for the Churches sake whose King and sole Mediatour thou art and this thy government I give thee to execute in a throne of majestie equal with my self in the highest heavens thence in thy humane nature with divine power to dispense and transact all things belonging to this thy Kingdom whilest there is any Church or that I have any people on earth to be governed officiated for by thee even until I who am as solicitous of thine honour as thou art of mine by my power dispenced by thy self shall have subdued unto that thy humane nature once so contemptible all thine enemies whether divels men or things Jews or Gentiles that shall oppose or not submit to thy regiment yea death it self or whatsoever shall impede the compleating of that glorious Kingdom of thy Mediatourship in for and over the Church bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh until thou hast fulfilled her number and safely brought the last man and member of that thy mystical bodie to heaven there in body and soul to be glorified with thee till then I say shall this royal office of thine continue whereof having then given me a just account according to thy undertaking and my covenant thou shalt deliver up the regal state and Kingdom of that thy Mediatour-ship in the humane nature into my hands as God alone for ever after of my self in the divine nature onely to govern that glorified
very gracious and tenderly affected towards such and just to fulfill his goodness promised them in one kind or other but especially in spirit 5 The worldly minded man thinks he is happy and rich in laying up but the good and godly differ from him for they think themselves happy and enriched by laying out knowing that as God favours them with blessings of this life so they ought to shew favour unto others that want them as stewards not owners of that they have And therefore he that out of the love he bears to God loves his brother also will not stick upon occasion to shew his love by his lending yea his care shall be so to walk as to credit his profession more than to benefit himself to get and spend neither sinfully nor profusely but with a good conscience and in an orderly sort so that thereby what he hath may be blessed and he made able to lend and not to borrow and to his power to supply others that by providence are enforced to borrow and cannot lend like himself 6 Surely how ever the world think their liberality and charity is the next way to beggary because Mammon is their God yet it shall be otherwise with him that in the faith of God with godly wisdom expends what he hath in pious uses he shall never be ashamed for so doing though the world count it folly he shall find it both wisdom and providence so to do he and his estate shall be upheld when many of those miserly diffidents shall fall and come to lack for God will never forget to reward and be favourable to those that in conscience and love to him have laid out their store upon his that wanted 7 Such an one shall have such provision laid up in God and be so secure in him as that he shall not fear the changes of times nor hazards and losses approaching as they shall that have much wealth and are little conversant in faith and charity who are ready to make away themselves upon the very report of such things having an evil conscience 8 Though because he is good therefore he may have many enemies as commonly it falls out yet shall he not care nor fear the worst they can do unto him having God and a good conscience to take his part and side with him he shall be as well satisfied and firmly perswaded of mercy to him and judgements upon them as if he saw them already executed 9 He hath not hoarded up his pelf but hath scattered it here and there by lending and giving it amongst the poore as he saw them to want like as seed is cast into the ground of which he shall reap the blessing The righteous man shall gather the fruit of his charity and beneficence it shall follow him into heaven to be rewarded there yea and here also God shall manifest his good acceptance of his pious liberality by blessing and prospering him both in his estate and estimation 10 So that the wicked covetous wretch shall to his grief behold himself out-stript his wisdom befooled by that which he counted foolishness and the high-way to beggery he shall be ready to eat his own flesh for envy at the prosperity and increase of the righteous the whilest his substance melts away and wasts insensibly like snow before the sunne notwithstanding his pains and care to get and keep his hopes and desires shall fail him he shall attain neither riches nor honour The cxiii PSALM The Psalmist invites to the praises of God specially his servants and that in all ages and places both for his transcendent greatness and for his no less goodness which his dispensations make to appear very remarkably for which again he excites them unto praises 1 LEt not the manifestations of God his power and goodness in his works of creation and salvation be buried in ignorance and silence but take faithfull notice of them and give him gratefull praises for them it may be the blind world neither will nor can but you his sanctified and redeemed ones that profess to serve him and not to be of the world though in it specially ye Levites chosen by himself to that office do you make it your imployment Let him in his greatness and goodness be magnified by all that serve him either by office or calling whether Levites in letter or spirit praise ye the Lord. 2 3 As largely as the power wisdom and goodness of God is declared for time and place so let the praisefull acknowledgements of him and them be extended in like sort let none in no ages nor regions of the world that have eyes in their heads and tongues in their mouths be silent but bless and praise him alwayes in all places as he well deserves 4 The Empire of the whole world is the Lords he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords his dominion is over all the earth but his throne in the glorious splendour of it is more especially in the heaven of heavens where in brightness he exceeds the sunne which as it is under him though above us so t is short of him who from the highest top of Majesty and Honour commands and orders all things the heavens and the earth which are as far beneath him in glory as in scituation 5 6 Who is like unto the Lord for greatness that hath his throne higher than not onely we can see but conceive heaven that is so far above us is under him and the great men of the earth who in comparison of the vulgar are called Gods are as far below him as above them Yet this God of greatness out of no less goodness daineth himself to be ours and his Churches God though but a parcel of people compared to the world whom yet he owns for his subjects and favourites even he to whom it is an abasing considering the superlativeness of glory that he the Creatour hath above all creatures whatsoever to condescend by way of rule and governance to take notice of the things that are and are done on earth nay and in heaven also so far are all below him that are made by him so absolute and perfect is he in and of himself from whom all things are and to whom nothing adds neither Angels nor men 7 8 Yet doth he agitate affairs here below and dispose of his creatures as best pleaseth him and is most for his glory many times raising men from an abject low estate and great poverty to honour and opulency yea from the very lowest stair to the highest step of fortune as David from the sheepfolds to be King over his people Israel instead of Saul 9 And in like sort by his Almighty power and good will he opens the womb that was shut and causeth her that was in despair of having children by being long without to conceive turns the grief of her barrenness into a
sure to do it and no doubt had done it long ere this but that God would not let them but still preserved and wonderfully delivered us from being swept away with a total destruction as was intended and easie else to have been effected by them 6 O let us lay it seriously to heart and heartily bless and praise the Lord our God for so long preserving and so many sundry times delivering us by no less than miraculous power from the crueltie and outrage of such barbarous bloudie enemies and that hath not been provoked by our sinful ingratitude himself to give us for a prey to their destructive malice as in justice he might 7 But hath brought us notwithstanding all their power malice and treacherie wherewith we have been long insnared and indangered on all hands into a state of libertie and freedom not onely given us our lives for a prey but a libertie from them yea a superioritie above them insomuch as now we are asmuch too strong for them as they were wont to be too strong for us and have them asmuch at an under as they had us their strength is become weakness and by his goodness our weakness is become strength too strong for them 8 Let the power and goodness of God have the praise and glorie of what is done and wrought for us both as to our preservation and exaltation and as in time past we have found him so for time to come let us believe in him as ought the Church and people of God to do in all ages of the world Let us and they magnifie his power and goodness in all estates and times not despairing in adversitie nor presuming in prosperitie but in the one hopefully and in the other humbly believe in him as our all-sufficient and onely deliverer and preserver not fearing nor Idolizing an arm of flesh or second causes but rely on and seek to the onely true God that made all things and disposeth all things and is able to help above all power to hurt if we believe and to hurt above all power to help if we presume The cxxv PSALM For the encouragement of the faithful and sincere hearted the Psalmist tells them as what they must meet with so what they may trust in firm protection in their sorest affliction And addeth praier to promise But bids the hypocrites hands off tells them their doom that are in but not of the Church to whom onely blessedness belongs See the title of the 120 Psalm 1 BElieve firmly in the Lord and you shall be established every such an one is as dear to God as mount Sion it self where is his Temple Ark and all his sanctuarie-worship every faithful servant of God being spiritually all these a living Temple Priest and sacrifice a very heaven on earth in whom God is really more than typically present and to whom belongs all the promises made to the Church in general so that though he may be externally assaulted and seemingly indangered with ghostly enemies and manifold temptations and trials as Jerusalem by the Gentile nations round about yet shall the same invincible guard and protection be upon him and them that so believe as upon it so that the gates of hell shall never prevail against them to un-establish or disinterest them as to the rock whereon they and the whole Church of God are built unmoveably by faith Christ Jesus 2 See you the hills that compass this Citie Jerusalem hence let your faith helped by setting your imagination on work raise a suitable Idea of Gods encompassing his faithful Church and people yea every such one by his Almighty power and guard of Angels for their sure defence and preservation against all assaults of the world and divel who also surround them and this is as everlasting as those mountains an infallible truth for all and every faithful servant of the Lord in all ages and places of the world now and ever to trust unto 3 Not that the godly are in this world exempt from oppression and temptation no for they are the great eye-sore of Satan the Prince of the world and all his malignant instruments and natural Subjects the men of the world which with their utmost malice and power shall labour to afflict the faithful as the Gentile nations do Israel and partly for their sins partly for their trial and exercise of their graces which God sets much by they may be permitted to sit sore upon their skirts and put them to it but this be sure of that the siedge shall be raised before the Town be taken no afflictions nor afflictors by what ever wicked practises shall any longer be permitted to oppress the righteous than they have grace to sustain them under it God allwayes gages one by the other afflictions to the faithful are often less never more tempted they may be and sint hey may by their frailtie and strength of temptation but fall away by sinning they never shall for God is faithfull who will not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape that they may be able to bear it 4 This is thy promise which as in faithfulness it is made so as faithfully shall it be performed to those that are faithful and holy but thou wilt be sought unto by them and for them for thy promise and its performance is of grace not of debt even to the righteous themselves O Lord therefore be intreated in the name and for the sake of all thy people to be ever mindful of it to do according to it in time of need Let mercie and protection be extended seasonably and effectually to those that themselves are good and suffer in a cause that is good by those that are evil Yea bless with all manner of blessings those that in sinceritie of heart believe in thee and are careful to please thee with integritie of soul and universalitie of obedience active and passive 5 But as for those linsy-woolfy professours Israelites after the flesh that have a room in the Church but no firm rooting in religion that serve the Lord in shew and not in substance neither know him perfectly believe in him firmly nor serve him sincerely either with a right heart or by a right rule but are divided in their faith and affections trusting and obeying by halves deviating into by-wayes and carnal confidences of their own to their own self-pleasing such hypocrites counterfeits in pietie how ever commixed with the Godly partakers of their outward priviledges and formal worshippers of the same God in the self-same ordinances yet the all-seeing and heart-searching eye of God knows them notes them and esteems them as bad as the very Gentiles who worship Idols these making an Idol of the true God when they worship him and their reward and portion shall be alike judgement shall be pronounced against them both and they cast out
comparison for brotherly love is a celestial benefit how the spiritual dew is dispensed from God in heaven on those holy consecrated mountains Sion and Moriah where he vouchsafes his presence unto his people who resort thither to worship him and where they meet with soul-enriching graces and consolations othergets blessings than the dew of Hermon which makes them abound in faith and godliness to their own eternal as well as temporal felicitie such like is peace and love among the Israel and people of God it self is a special blessing from heaven and brings with it all manner of blessings from thence both temporal and spiritual if ever we mean to be rich and happie this is the way to live and love as sons of one father and mother God and the Church members of one body under one head the Messiah as all Israel shall be through love and obedience to David and his successours ruling in Sion as types of Christ. The cxxxiv. PSALM David being a man of fervour and affection in the service of God gives a watch-word to the watch-men of the Temple the Priests and Levites and in them to gospel-Ministers not regardlesly to passe over their duties but to be imployed for the whilst as Christ himself is for ever in praying for the people and Church of God and blessing both God and them and that in a proportionable zeal here to Christ and his saints in heaven in their respective imployments there See the title of the 120 Psalm 1 YOu that are by the special appointment and ordination of God chosen as Christ himself from among all your brethren and preferred to the honour of sanctuarie-administration continually in his presence consider the place you hold whom and what you personate even Jesus Christ in his Priestly office at the right hand of God who ever liveth to make intercession and offer thanks-givings for his Church to his father have that allwayes in your eie and be active suitably stand not idle in your offices nor keep not sleepie centry in the sanctuarie but as your turns come to watch do service there as well night as day rouse up your spirits call to mind the moral meaning of your imployments which is to improve your nearer interest in God by virtue of your offices for the good of his Church and people as Christ does in heaven continually through Christ presenting to God in the Churches behalf the spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanks-giving for his mercies vouchsafed together with prayers and supplications for the continuation and constant gracious dispensation of them still as there is need 2 I say again busie and lay out your selves in those sacred and religious imployments of praise and prayer neither idle nor nifle out your time and Turn in the sanctuarie nor yet with formalitie or hypocrisie do you do your service to him as bare pretenders but as holy and real performers clap your wings in your night-watches let your hearts be in heaven and your hands in token of the fervour of your spirits lifted up thitherwards and so bless the Lord not betwixt sleeping and waking but with the whole soul and bodie too considering he whom you worship is a spirit and his proper place of residence is above in the heavens whose service there for condiscention sake you personate in the sanctuarie here in types shadows wherein you must not stick but by them mount up higher even to him where he is in spirit and faith externally manifested by suitable comportment of bodily action and expression such as are significant and adorative commensurable to Gods glorie and greatness your own hearts puritie faith and fervour and the Divine condition of the Church-Triumphant in heaven 3 Your office is double faced upward and downward you are in Christs stead like Jacobs ladder on which and by which blessings are to ascend and descend for as you are the mouth of the Church and people of God to offer him their thanks and praises blessing him continually in their behalfs as Christ does the father for the elect so likewise are you to be the mouth of God down to his people to bless them from him which doubtless is as an honourable so a full imployment if you set your selves to do it as it ought to be done with that zeal and reverence the Church oweth to her head and with that delight and love the head hath in and to his bodie and fellow-members Pray therefore for and as presenting the person of Jesus Christ that effectual mediatour in his name also faithfully bless ye the Israel of God that do worship him in Sion his place of residence with the blessings of his special protection and salvation who is the onely true God and Allmighty master of heaven and earth The cxxxv PSALM The Psalmist quickens up the people of Israel in general the Priests and Levites more particularly but most especially the faithful of both sorts to magnifie and praise the Lord and this he doth by way of argument taken from the congruitie delectabilitie and dutie of it from such a people to such a God who as he is greatly to be preferred for his self-sake and the excellent power that is in him so for the effects of it towards them the grateful memorie whereof should ever be upheld for his glorie and his peoples faith sake All other Gods being but puppits he onely is God and onely to be blessed as such especially of them that are his onely people and Priests his Church preferred by him of all the world to that honour who therefore ought to honour him how and where he will be worshipped 1 O That all sorts of people would consider their dutie of praising God conscionably to discharge it in spirit and power to magnifie him for his greatness as Lord of and over all yea for his excellent attributes and properties not onely absolute but relative of grace and goodness and for his alonenes for as there is no God like him so there is no God but him O ye servants of the Lord chosen by him and set apart for that purpose what ever others do forget not you your duties not onely of your persons but of your places to praise the Lord worthily with hearts enlarged with the apprehensions of him and his manifold excellencies 2 I mean ye Priests and Levites principally be you especially conversant in this service of praising the Lord in his holy Temple where you are priviledged to administer like to the glorified saints in heaven that stand in his presence for ever more praising the Lord. Yea and all others also that are admitted to the participation of grace and that worship him in his ordinances though at greater distance whether Levites or people whose persons and praises faithfully tendered in spirit are yet really accepted and graciously regarded by the God of Israel whose presence is as well in the courts which also are sanctified as in
long together upon a people of so great provocations did he destroy potent Princes and Kings that were famous warriours by them a wayfaring people as Sihon King of the Amorites Og the Giant King of Bashan who opposed them and so utterly subdued them as that in stead of leave to pass he gave livery and seisin of all they had to his people Israel whose sword and service he made use of against them and well rewarded their labour and travel making them conquerours and heirs of the conquered both beyond and on this side Jordan in Canaan whose lands they have to this day and where they are to serve and worship him mercie gave it and mercie hath continued it our sins could neither hinder the getting nor the keeping it because though sin breaks on our part yet grace keeps covenant on Gods part thank and admire the God of so rich infinite and everlasting mercie in all and every passage from first to last of his dispensations and Israels provocations 23 Indeed we cannot say that ever his mercie failed us he remembred us many and many a time when we forgot our selves towards him giving us the inheritance of that mercie he long since passed over by Indenture and covenant to our fore-fathers insomuch as our extremitie was but his opportunitie alwayes when our miseries and dangers were greatest mercie and deliverance was nearest 24 Yea he hath redeemed us from our enemies with the bloud and slaughter of them when but for mercie we had been slaughtered by them or been perpetual bond-men to them and that many a time with successive deliverances by never-failing mercies 25 Nor do his people onely thus fare the better for his mercie but for their sakes all creatures living do so too his covenant of grace made everlastingly with his Church in special hath influence upon the creation in general the world subsists by it and for it and all flesh living is plentifully provided for with suitable and seasonable food by reason of it temporal benefits are bestowed on the Churches enemies for the Churches sake and on those out of covenant because of the covenant and them it pertains to according as he promised to Abraham saying In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed 26 You therefore that have such priviledges to be the Lords adopted heirs of the covenant covenant-mercies do not you degenerate own this God for your God that hath thus owned us by his special mercies for his peculiar people even the onely true God whose throne is in the heavens no vain earthly Idol give as is due praise and thanks to him for his mercie and especially for that it is made over to you and all the faithfull Israel by a covenant of grace as unchangeable and everlasting as God himself The cxxxvii PSALM The Psalmist in the name of the whole Church led captive into the empire of Babylon and Iudah and Ierusalem miserably destroyed shews their behaviour there how uncomfortable their condition was that could joy in nothing derided in captivitie with the very worship of God their glorie which notwithstanding they resolve to glorie in and in nothing comparably He praies and prophecies against Edom and Babylon that they may be rewarded as they have done and deserve 1 WHen the Lord brought that great judgement upon Judah the ruin of all at once by the Babylonian who destroyed many and carried the rest captive when in that condition we were far advanced into that Kingdom and from our own countrey the solitarie consideration of it seized sadly upon us no earthly nor pleasurable improvements here could give allay to our sorrows but with restless repose we sate down as the rest did by those pleasant rivers where notwithstanding we were capable of no content or refreshing except it were by venting of our grief in tears which whilest they rejoyced we shed abundantly at our rememberance of so unvaluable a loss as is Sion to be driven from the enjoyment of God and his worship there and to leave it in that desolate estate which no earthly felicities could recompence 2 Whereupon though the Priests and Levites in the midst of that general plunder and devastation in their zeal to the memorie of Gods worship in the Temple preserved their instruments and carried them as fellow-mourners into captivitie with themselves thinking to mitigate and mixe their sorrows with some musical refreshings yet when at leasurable times and delectable places by clear streams under cool shades they were invited to it their hearts misgave their fingers failed them sorrow so overwhelmed their spirits that it put all out of tune them and their instruments which in the condition and place they were in they as useless hung by untuned and unstrung upon the willows their grief encreasing by their sight in stead of lessening by their use when they apprehended them and themselves joyntly and totally captived in the midst of their mortal enemies far from Jerusalem which too was left as desolate as themselves were disconsolate 3 And the rather for that the Babylonians insultingly called to us to sing and be merrie laughing at the miserie they had brought us into being now their prisoners far from home in their own countrey having laid ours quite wast and with deriding insolence commanded us to prophane the worship of God which we were wont solemnly to celebrate in his Temple upon Sion by making them merrie with one of those sacred songs 4 But we took courage and disdained to do it at their command though in that condition resolving to expose our selves rather than Gods sacred service to heathenish derâ—sion and therefore made answer Though we are your prisoners yet we are servants to the Lord our God and must obey him before you who hath commanded those songs you require to be sung in a sacred manner to him onely and in the place appointed by him his Temple in Jerusalem and not to be prophaned to any other use in any other place nor were it lawful are we in a condition to sing that are as you see such sad spectacles of miserie and misfortune in a strange place and captives to a strange people that understand not our language much less our musical ditties 5 If any worldly contentment whatsoever burie in me who personate in that I speak Gods faithful servants Priests and Levites uttering their thoughts the sad rememberance of the Churches desolations that my grief for thee O Jerusalem that was wont to afford such sacred solace in Gods worship now under scorn and derision be not ever in my thoughts above pleasing my self or others let me forfeit the priviledge of that gift and honour God hath given me of celebrating his divine praise and worship let mine hand fail to do its duty when I fail of mine to thee and all my skill forsake me If I abuse or use it to any other purpose than God
fore-fathers specially they that are in Covenant the faithfull seed of faithful Abraham Isaack and Israel a people that through grace are precious and nearly related to him not for any inherent natural excellencie or meritoriousness in them above the rest of the created world which far out-strips them in motives of that nature but because freely chosen especially if effectually called grace being the onely motive that made him difference them from and indear them above all the world for sons and servants redeemed out of the hands of all their enemies and exalted to participation of fellowship and glorie with Christ the head of his Church whom respectively Israel and I resemble Therefore as he hath thus exalted you above all so do you him with praise proportionable to his goodness so superlative and peculiar The cxlix PSALM David in these five last Psalms is treating upon several Theams to enlarge the praises of God in the hearts and mouths of men principally of his people and therefore he intermingles common and created with special and peculiar excellencies and benefits of which latter sort this Psalm consists viz. of Gods singular good will to his people and saints whom he stiles here and else where in divers Psalms by the name of Israel because Israel was or ought to be such not onely in outward election but inward vocation for such at least they figured and therefore are the terms promiscuously used And these he would first have lay a foundation of joy in believing and knowing their superlative happiness in their near relation to and interest in God and Gods in them and favour to them and then to make the result of that their joy excess of praise yea he would have them discern their condition as well glorious and honourable as beneficial and joy thereafter in absolute certaintie and tranquillitie of mind praise-fully and proportionably enlarged And concludes with a prophetical prayer of Israels happiness now under him as the saints shall have certain and triumphant felicitie by Christ in their enemies vanquishments both many and great to the utmost of what is promised and threatened respectively for which honour he would have them as to be sensible of it so to be praise-full for it 1 O Ye the people and chosen of the Lord out of all the earth be you conscionable and carefull to give God his praises which he deserves specially at your hands above all the world besides let not your praises that are heirs of grace and partakers of such preheminences be like the sons of nature the children of this world who inherit but the good things thereof raise up your hearts to a higher pin celebrate you his name after another sort as he is singular in goodness to you so be you in gratefulness to him yea let every special mercie which in special grace at any time he vouchsafesh unto you be solemnized afresh from time to time by thanks-giving with praiseful affections and united harmonie in Temple-musick at the solemn meetings of his people there to worship and honour him especially his saints 2 Well may Israel afford to sing special praise and new songs to the Lord whom he hath pecualiarly chosen out of all the world and so made them as it were a new people begotten again out of the lost-lump of mankind not onely by the power of creation as at first which in effect the fall dissolved but by the grace of adoption and covenant smitten freely with their fore-father and in him with them Let this prerogative royall exceedingly affect the whole Church and people of God thankfully and praisefully toward him and comfortably in themselves by the faithfull apprehension of so rich mercie vouchsafed them as to be not subjects at large as the whole earth is but even sons and servants chosen by him to be his to serve and worship him in Sion where and how he hath appointed out of all the world besides that follow their own inventions and condiscending himself to be theirs in grace protection and government so as to none else 3 Let them be so ravished with this peculiarity of the grace mercie and love of God unto them as to lay out themselves again upon God with the utmost of their strength skill and affection in his praises by all wayes and means as may best express them to his glorie and increase of their own grace and consolation 4 For though all mankind be degenerated by the fall so that he that made them hath no pleasure in them Yet hath it pleased him to elect a few out of many an Israel whom he hath made and as it were re-created to be his and to serve him and in these he takes contentment to do them good and to receive the returns thereof in praise and thanks-giving from them and to that very end will he shew himself powerful for them and gracious to them that meekly wait and faithfully depend upon him in delivering and exalting them after a wonderful sort to the admiration of all the earth that shall have them in singular esteem for a non-such for such a people serving such a God of salvation as is not in the world besides like as he shall crown his sanctified ones his faithfull spiritual Israel and their graces with the eternal salvation in heaven triumphant over all and out of all this worlds miseries to his unspeakable praise and the worlds wonder that here despise them as the Gentils did us till God wrought a change 5 Let the Lords people his holy ones which all Israel should be consider the glorious state and condition they are advanced into by being so even the sons of the most high heirs of heaven a glorie beyond all earthly preheminence or created excellencie whatsoever and in this let them comfort themselves both above all comforts and discomforts the world can afford or inflict and with joyful praises magnifie the Lord that hath done so great things for them and with sweet peace and tranquillitie of mind possess their souls to the un-utterable consolation thereof A type of which is that blessed condition God is investing his Church and people Israel into at present by and under me making them triumphantly glorious over all their enemies abroad with abundance of securitie and peace at home wherein they ought exceedingly to rejoyce and joyfully to praise the God of heaven that hath thus advanced them and altered their condition even as those glorified saints in heaven do and shall that there enjoy an absolute and everlasting rest 6 7 Let Israel observe the singular mercies to them surpassing all to all people and the mightie victories which God bestowes upon them over their enemies types of the saints adoption and the conquests they shall have over their corruptions and the Church her adversaries which by the power of his might shall be subdued thereby to fill their mouthes with proportionable praises to a God so great and graciously
springing thereof 11 Thou crownest the earth with thy goodness and thy paths drop â—atness 12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness and the little hills rejoyce on every side 13 The pastures are clothed with flocks the valleys also are covered over with corn they shout for joy they also sung Psalm lxvi To the chief musician A song or Psalm 1 MAke a joyful noise unto God all ye lands 2 Sing forth the honour or his name make his praise glorious 3 Say unto God How tâ—rrible art thou in thy works through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee 4 All the earth shall worship thee shall sing unto thee they shall sing to thy name Selah 5 Come and see the works of God he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men 6 He turned the sea into drie land they went through the floud on foot there did we rejoyce in him 7 He ruleth by his power for ever his eyes behold the nations let not the rebellious exalt themselves Selah 8 O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard 9 Which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved 10 For thou O God hast reproved us thou hast tried us as silver is tried 11 Thou broughtest us into the net thou laidst affliction upon our loins 12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through â—fire and through waterâ— but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place 13 I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings I will pay thee my vous 14 Which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble 15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings 〈…〉 incâ—nse of rams I will offer bullocks witâ— goats Selah 16 Come and hear all ye that fear God I will deâ—lare what he hath done for my soul. 17 I cried unto him with my mouth and he was extolled with my tongue 18 If I regard iniquitie in my heart the Lord will not hear me 19 But verily God hath heard me he hath attended to the voice of my prayer 20 Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercie from me Psalm lxvii To the chief musician on Neginoth A psalm or song 1 GOd be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah 2 That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations 3 Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth Selah 5 Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee 6 Then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our own God shall bless us 7 God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him Psalm lxviii To the chief musician A psalm or song of David 1 LEt God arise let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him slie before him 2 As smoke is driven away so drive them away as wax melteth before the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of God 3 But let the righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce 4 Sing unto God sing praises to his name extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Iab and rejoyce before him 5 A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation 6 God setteth the solitarie in families he bringeth out those that are bound with chains but the rebellious dwell in a drie land 7 O God when thou wentest forth before thy people when thou didst march through the wilderness Selah 8 The earth shook the heavens also dropped at the presence of God even Sinai it self was moved at the presence of God the God of Israel 9 Thou O God didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was wearie 10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein thou O God hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor 11 The Lord gave the word great was the company of those that published it 12 Kings of armies did flie apace and she that tarried at home divided the spoil 13 Though ye have lien among the pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold 14 When the Almightie scattered Kings in it it was white as snow in Salmon 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan an high hill as the hill of Bashan 16 Why leap ye ye high hills this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in yea the Lord will dwell in it for ever 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place 18 Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivitie captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them 19 Blessed be the Lord who dayly loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation Selah 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses 22 The Lord said I will bring again from Bashan I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the bloud of thine enemies and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 24 They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my God my King in the sanctuary 25 The singers went before the players on instruments followed after amongst them were the damsels playing with timbrels 26 Bless ye God in the congregations even the Lord from the fountain of Israel 27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler the princes of Judah and their councel the princes of Zebulon and the princes of Naphtali 28 Thy God hath coÌ„manded thy strength strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us 29 Because of thy Temple at Jerusalem shall Kings bring presents unto thee 30 Rebuke the company of spear-men the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the people till every one submit himself with pieces of silver scatter thou the people that delight in war 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God 32 Sing unto God ye Kingdoms of the earth O sing praises unto the Lord. Selah 33 To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens which were of old lo he doth send out his voice and that a mightie voice 34 Ascrib ye strength unto God his excellencie is over Israel and his
thy praise That hereby O Lord thou hast more rejoyced my heart than all the joyes under heaven could have done the joy of harvest be it never so plentiful is nothing comparable to the shining of Gods favorable countenance through Christ upon the soul and the assurance of his grace towards us in him 8 Yea I am so comforted with his favour and confident of his faithfulness in protecting me that all my troubles and dangers shall not disquiet me but I can peaceably injoy my self and take my rest through faith in God For whilest I have thee O Lord on my side and that thou doest but thus fortifie my spirit with the assurance of thy faithfulness and favour and keepest fresh in memorie thy former mercies in my manifold deliverances be my case never so desperate thou alone art securitie enough unto me Fifth PSALM David prayeth to God for audience and answer touching his preservation because of his firm confidence vehement importunitie and his enemies wickedness which God hating in his holiness will therefore punish in his justice But because David was and ever would be a servant and worshipper of God he therefore hopes and prayes that God will shew him how to escape his enemies which without his direction he can never do they are so full of deceit and crueltie For which he prayes God to punish them yea to take them in their traps But for the godly that trust in the Lord and do love and fear him he prayes they may ever prosper and have cause of continual rejoycing in outward preservation and inward manifestation of grace and favour which likewise he promiseth to such To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Nehiloth to which the Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for his care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 GOod Lord let me have thine ear to the prayer wherewith I humbly bespeak thee which is not a bare lip-labour but springs from within me out of the most intense thoughts of my mind and heart caused by the sense of my many miseries and confidence of thy gracious goodness which I pray thee consider to move thee to hear and grant my requests 2 My grief makes me importunate and earnest with thee for audience to whose free gift and Sovereign bountie I pay the Homage of all I hold and in whom I onely trust for protection knowing and believing thee to be my all-sufficient and good God Therefore thou must not fail to hear and answer me for I will never cease calling upon thee nor will I seek to any other but thee 3 My greatest confidence is in thee and therefore my first and chiefest addresses shall be to thee It is thee O Lord that I relie upon and prefer before wicked shifts and humane policie and therefore with me thou shalt have precedencie of all things both for time and place Early when others are otherways busied contriving how to bring to pass their wicked designs by evil means then will I be supplicating thy throne of grace O Lord there will I be busied and thither will I direct my prayer 4 And in this I have great odds of mine enemies for I know the righteous God loves righteousness and takes no pleasure in the wickednes of the wicked How pleasing soever their ways be to themselves they are hateful to God nor shall ever sin and iniquitie find favour from him be acceptable to him or be blessed by him 5 And as sin so the obstinate sinners shall have no favour from the Lord for thou art too righteous to love wicked workers nay in thy holiness thou hatest and abhorrest them 6 They that think to prevail by lying and dissembling thou wilt in thy righteousness turn it to their ruin thou Lord wilt not endure that the cruel minded and fals-hearted should prosper 7 Let them think to thrive in those ways for my part I am resolved of another course I 'le keep close to thee and trust firmly in thine abundant goodness and mercie to me which shall make me frequent thee with prayer and praise and in obedience to thy holy will I will make mine humble supplications and offer up thanks-givings to thee through the mediation of Christ who shall be figured by the holy Temple 8 O Lord be thou faithful to me and careful over me that I fall not into the snares of mine enemies who are so watchful to catch me shew me the way thou wouldst have me to walk and which thou wilt bless unto me for my preservation 9 For if thou doest not furnish me with wisdom and instruct me how to escape they will be too hard for me seeing they make no conscience to lie and dissemble they have no truth nor honestie in them but are wholly composed of malice mischief and deceit it s their studie and delight they care not what they say nor how false they pretend so that thereby they may devour me and them that side with me and to compass their cruel designs can speak fair and mean false 10 Thou that art a righteous God and hatest such dealing plague them for it that they may know thou knowst it and abhorrest them for it entrap them by their own dissemblings and take them in their own deceitful snares Let their sins which are so many and great stir up thy just wrath against them to confound them and free thine Israel of them for it is not me onely but thee that they set at nought and rebel against 11 And as thou shewest thy self an enemy to thine enemies so let the world see thou art a friend to thy friends Let all those that faithfully trust in thee and humbly depend upon thee prosper in so doing when thine enemies weep let them rejoyce and that with infinite joy and gladness because of thy wonderful and apparent preservation of them Yea let those who believing in thee do withal fear and love thee not onely joy in thine outward preservation of them but also inwardly in thy grace and salvation 12 For indeed thou Lord art and wilt ever be not onely a God of outward blessings to him that loves thee and trusts in thee but wilt also inwardly so manifest thy special and saving grace and favour to him as it shall make him dreadless of any outward danger by being assured through thy mercie of salvation it self Sixth PSALM God having brought upon David a fore sickness or some grievous affliction he intreats to be chastized with fatherly gentleness and that he would compassionate the great miserie he sustained both in bodie and soul and restore him to health and comfort and not prosecute him to death but let him live to give him thanks professing how many tears and prayers his sin and sickness had cost him and the rather because of the malicious insolencie of his enemies whom he concludes God will certainly defeat of
to procure it when it is utterly of it self helpless and at anothers finding this doth most convincingly testifie to thy praise thy power and providence in despight of all wicked and ungodly Atheists that list not to acknowledg thee and stops the mouth of the most perverse and devillish-minded caviller against thee whilst they must needs see thy great power and as great goodness whereof themselves have shared in putting that instinct into little children to provide for themselves and that power in nature to accommodate their need with food suting their weak estates and that love and pity in parents to understand their meaning by instinct 3 When for my part I take view and seriously consider that wonderfull workmanship of thine the Heavens with their infinite height and vast extent and the world of great and weighty Clouds that pass and repass therein and those foresaid Lights of Moon and Starres which thou hast appointed to move in their courses and appear in their Seasons and to give Light and influence down below 4 It maks me thankfully acknowledg and wonder at that great goodness thou hast shewed to man above all how unsensible soever others are of it whom thou madest out of dust and clay that thou shouldest set so much by him as to create and ordain such things for his use and shouldest further have such continuall regard to him that is of such ill desert by sin and so little worth by nature frail and mortall subject to generation and corruption as to exercise such a daily care and providence over him from first to last and to redeem him out of his lost estate by taking his nature 5 For notwithstanding all these superexcellent and permanent creatures yet hast thou given him and renewed unto him the principal place in the order of creation next the Angels honouring him with a greater dominion and likeness to thy self in heavenly and angelical qualities than any thing but they and made him capable of that celestial and everlasting glory and happiness which they enjoy with thee by the redemption which thou hast afforded him in Christ who himself became lower than the Angels by suffering in our nature that he might invest him with a title to heaven and the glory and happiness that is there which in virtue of his resurrection he is already possessed of for him 6 And restore him again to his dominion over the creature having as at first put the rule of all terrestriall things into his hands though they were made by thee and not by him and hast subordinated every creature to his use and regiment 7 The multitude of sheep and neat that are every where in the world yea both tame and wild beasts are subjugated to his dominion and ordained for his service 8 The fowl that flee above him yet are subjected under him and the fish that inhabit the great vast and deep seas and live and move there invisibly to man are yet ordained for him and subordinated to him 9 O Lord whom we must needs acknowledge to be Lord over us though thou hast made us Lords over all its admirable to consider how many wayes and in how many and sundry things thy wisdom power providence greatness and goodness excels towards mankind by what thou hast provided for him and doest bestow upon him furnishing every place both above and below throughout the whole world with infinite store and variety of all good creatures for his sake Ninth PSALM David breaks out into a joyful and faithful praising of God for his many wonderful deliverances his enemies overthrows and his executing judgement according to the justness of his cause and his enemies wickedness shewing his adversaries by the success the difference between their trust and his and the different judgement that righteousness and unrighteousness shall ever have from God encouraging all Gods people to take notice of what he hath done for him thereby to strengthen their faith for themselves He praiseth the Lord and excites others to it who when the time cometh will punish the oppressor and right the oppressed And after praises given for former victories having further need of his help because of more enemies he praies him still to be his deliverer that still he may have farther matter of praise and rejoycing in him Stirring up all men to take notice of the admirable defeats God hath given to his wicked enemies and that so all the Churches enemies shall be served Concluding with prayer to God not to suffer himself to be wounded in his honour through his sides by his proud enemies To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Muth-labben so called some conceive from the victory he had in the duel fought with Goliah to which this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for the care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 O Lord I have often praied to thee and alwaies sped so well as that now I will praise thee with as good a heart and will as ever I praied unto thee for my preservation in my greatest danger and will let the world know what wonderfull things thou hast done for me from time to time by dedicating a Psalm of praise to thee for them 2 I will wonderfully chear up my heart in the apprehensions of thy favour to me so amply manifested and will with publick praises glorifie thy power and goodness which have appeared in thy marvellous works O God of infinite might and Majesty 3 Mine enemies though they vex me sore and persecute me long yet when the time comes that thou wilt foil them then they shall be able to make no resistance but in thy just displeasure shall certeinly come to nought 4 As hath been already made apparent for maugre their power and malice thou hast still hitherto maintained and manifested my title to the Kingdom to be just my cause to be honest by thy righteous judgements whereby thou hast made it appear more than once that thou art and wilt prove thy self a righteous judge 5 Thou hast punished all that were against me whether they were my heathen and forraign enemies that knew less what they did yet they have smarted for it or my wicked countreymen and domestick foes who should have had more understanding them therefore hast thou quite destroied and divested of all their power and authority and cut of all title to the throne of Israel from them and their posterity for ever 6 O thou mine implacable enemy that wouldest never be reconciled till thou wast ruined which now thou art and all thy destructive plots and practises with thee never to trouble me more Both themselves and the great Cities and Fortresses they builded for to establish their dominion and eternize their name hast thou Lord destroied and caused them and their memorials to perish for ever 7 But the Lord who is my city of refuge abides for
ever for me to trust in He shews now that he hath not been idle all the while he seemed so but hath been fitting himself to execute judgement when the time shall come as now it is 8 And the wicked of the world shall ever find it so that though they think him remiss and careless how things go yet they shall find that he is not so but with most perfect wisdom righteousness and integrity will judge and punish the wicked all the world over sooner or later 9 And so also on the other side shall the poor and innocent when they are unjustly oppressed however they may likewise think him regardless yet shall they not find him so but if they flee to him trust in him he will be a refuge to them yea then when because of extremity they most need it and can least think or exspect it 10 And truly they that know thy power and goodness and have had triall of it will venture all upon thee For for my part I am able to say it that as I have sought to thee and none but thee so thou hast never failed mine exspectation nor been unfaithful to my trust but according to my praier and dependance have I ever found thee helpful to me and so shall others 11 O ye Ministers of his worship to whom I have recommended this Psalm of praise Lift up your voices in praises to the Lord that hath chosen Sion for the place of his special residence and solemn worship where accordingly you celebrate it let the people that resort thither hear you sing aloud his marveilous doings that they may also learn to praise him and trust in him 12 When the time cometh that mens sins are ripe and that he will call them to accompt and reckon with them for the bloud of the innocent which they have unjustly shed or coveted he will then make it appear that he remembers to right the wrongs of them that trust in him and seek to him and forgets not the cry of the afflicted that in singleness of heart and poverty of spirit makes his humble addresses to him as to his onely refuge 13 Though I have had many deliverances and thou hast given me great cause to praise thee for ridding me of a world of enemies yet I am not without but still have those that hate me and of meer malice vex and trouble me so that I suffer much by them good Lord still continue to be merciful to me and to deliver me thou that many and many a time hast delivered me when mine enemies had brought me to that pass that I knew not which way to turn me but death and destruction waited for me on every side 14 That I may muster up all thy mercies and praisefully proclaim them in the publick assemblies of Sion the place which of all Israel and Jerusalem thou hast chosen for thy publick and solemn worship Yea there I will most joyfully make known thy saving grace and favour to me 15 Thou hast vanquished the heathen and disappointed their plots and designs against me having ensnared them in the ruine they meant to me 16 All men that have eyes may see that thou favorest me and may be convinced that it is onely thy doing that mine enemies are foiled by the manner of thy effecting it and thine executing such wonderful and admirable judgments upon them making their own wicked enterprises against me the means to bring to pass their own destruction I cannot but extraordinarily put men on seriously to mind and muse on this thy remarkable providence Yea again and again I wish they would well consider this thing 17 And mark how my foes perish even so shall all the wicked of the world that rebel against Christ and resist his government and oppress his innocent and righteous people perish eternally in hell even all the nations of the world that know not God to serve him and believe in him like as the heathen people hereabout that take up arms against me come to ruine 18 For though God may defer his judgeing the wicked and his delivering the poor and needy that trust in him very long for so he did me yet will he not ever do so either first or last there will come a time when the poor afflicted ones shall be sure of what they have long praied and looked for 19 Thou O Lord hast long forborn the heathen but truely they are grown now to that greatness and insolency that if thou doest not shew thy self in my behalf they will have the better of me and so of thee whose quarrel I maintain Therefore look thou to it that they which are but men get not the better of thee by vanquishing me but by thy judgements upon them let them plainly see its thou that condemnest them and justifies me 20 O Lord by thy judgements upon them make them afraid to hold on their course of enmity and opposition against me by seeing thee to take part with me and so cause them to know by their ill success that for all their great power and multitudes of people they are too weak by humane strength which yet they trust in as if it were more to resist thee whose cause I maintain and fight for Yea Lord make them know it to purpose Tenth PSALM David represents to God his own and his peoples condition generally in this world under the insolent confidence of the wicked heaping unmeasurable pressures upon the godly by reason of his long-suffering towards them which makes them worse and not better as he finds by experience in his persecutors Saul and his complices And therefore praies the Lord to appear for his people against them that do but abuse his patience and doubts not but he will even destroy the Churches enemies as he did the Cananites for Israels sake being the same God in pittie and power now as ever 1 2 MOst merciful and righteous Lord why art thou contrarie to thy nature and promise a stranger to the trouble of thy people me and others and takest no knowledge of it to help us in it but seemeth to let the wicked afflict the godly without regard who by thy forbearance is heightned exceedingly in wickednes and takes a pride to vex and trample down the poor thinking to make themselves great by oppression but Lord do thou blast and utterly disappoint their wicked designs against them that are good and do thou turn all the evil they unjustly imagine against the innocent upon the nocent 3 And truly its time for thee to shew thy self for men grow shameless in wickednes and are confident by those courses to carrie all before them thinking meanly of all good men and the ways they walk that are not as wicked and worldly minded as themselves esteeming those onely wise and happie that heap up riches and grow great by hook or crook whom
yet the Lord abhors and counts the greatest fools 4 The wicked have had such a time of it against the godly and therewith are grown so high-minded and self-confident that he never cares whether God be with him or against him he thinks least of him or sets least by him of any thing 5 Leading a life as if there were no God for his whole trade and course is composed of nothing else but disobedience to God and injurie to men and because he feels not thy judgements he is therefore fearless and thinks they will never befal him but that he is safe enough not caring a jot but setting at nought both God and all that take Gods part with me against him 6 And hath fully concluded in the pride of his heart and confidence of his present condition that he shall never be worse than he is but shall ever prosper and never taste of misfortune 7 He stands in no aw of God nor scruples no sin but gives libertie of speech to himself to curse swear and forswear lie and dissemble in so much as that he is altogether conversant in mischievous speeches and self confident boastings not any truth or good comes from him 8 He every where fore-laids me lying in wait near high ways and neighbour Towns to catch me and seeks in holes and corners where he thinks I hide my self or may pass by to find me out and murder me without any cause given watching diligently all opportunities and means to take me at unawares who am poor and friendless 9 He is as greedily affected and as cruelly disposed towards me as a Lion to his prey seeking all advantages against me never regarding mine innocencie and the unjust sufferings he exposeth me to studying by all means possible to seduce and to entrap me in my simplicitie that he may circumvent me to destroy me 10 And as proud as he is yet in subtilty he can abase himself and with glavering speeches and fawning behaviour indirectly endeavour the overthrow of the innocent and distressed that by fair pretences he may deceive and bring them under his power and execute his rage upon them by the hands of his privado's desperate Assassinats 11 And in all this is confident of impunitie taking for granted because at present he perceives not God to mind him that therefore he never will but as he thinks what 's past is forgotten so he shall speed no worse for the time to come 12 But Lord let him find it otherways by some manifestation of thy self in judgement good God have a care of thine honour and mine innocence and other thy people who are concerned in me yea of thy whole Church which is resembled by me by executing some remarkable judgement and let not the world have cause to think thee careless of the afflicted that humbly depend upon thee 13 Why shouldest thou by thy forbearance give the wicked such occasion to insult over thee and slight thy judgements confidently promising himself that thou wilt never call him to an account for what he does 14 But its sure enough that thou takest notice of the mischievous and spiteful carriage of the wicked both against God and those that are godly for what ever they think yet I know thou precisely markest them to pay them home with condigne punishment in the faith whereof it is that the poor afflicted man I and others that in this world must look to fare as I do puts himself and his cause over into thine hands to be righted for that thou art the helper of the helpless and distressed against oppressors 15 Weaken thou the power of the wicked wherein he so much trusteth and which he imploys to evil purposes trase him quite through the course and trade of his iniquities even to the uttermost end of them and punish him accordingly 16 The Lord that governs his Church and people hath approved himself and ever wil to be the supream commander and disposer of all and over all for their sakes as appears by his wonderful works for how hath he destroyed the heathen in this land which he promised to bestow upon Israel and made it holy of prophane in so much as they are wasted to just nothing who were potent and numerous and his worship and worshippers planted in it maugre their resistance after that sort shall he do by the enemies of his Church and people destroy them as these 17 For it hath been alwayes Gods manner to trie his peoples faith and patience till they see a need of him and make their humble addresses to him and then to help them Yea when he has a purpose and sees it time to work their deliverance and destroy their enemies then doth he inspire them with a more than ordinarie spirit of prayer and faith to seek and hope for those very things 18 Which shall certainly come to pass for therefore hath God deferred it and always doth until most remarkably for his peoples greater good and his greater glorie he may vindicate their oppressions and enfranchise them from under the tyrannie of their oppressors who when they are at the highest in carnal confidence and the godly at the lowest in worldly diffidence that 's Gods time to rescue these and ruin those The xi PSALM David by protesting his trust in God silences his companions and rejects the advice they gave him to save himself by flight and give over expecting the Kingdom disswades them from disheartning him and shews how he no whit doubteth but by the justice of God his wicked enemies for all their malicious designs upon him should perish in their wickednes and that he should be sustained in his uprightnes To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 IN the Lord whom I know to be a sufficient safeguard do I trust to fulfil his promise How then is it that you my companions dispair and to the grief of my soul counsel me distrustfully to give all for lost abandon the cause and never more to look after it but how to save my self 2 For though its true the power and malice of mine enemies is great yet consider this They are wicked and manage an unrighteous cause maliciously seeking my destruction whom they in their own consciences know to be upright and innocent and therefore I am confident it shall turn to theirs 3 Do not ye tempt me by despair to relinquish a righteous cause and to distrust a righteous God For faith and an upright heart are the onely foundations that a righteous man hath to support himself withall and if you undermine them you quite undoe him 4 Be confident of this therefore that God is neither absent nor idle but is present in his tabernacle here below to hear the prayer of the
me and my small company from place to place and have now overtaken and begirt us round using all diligence to find us out wheresoever we hide our selves that they may destroy us 12 Greedily lion-like gaping after us to prey upon us and either by strength or policy utterly to ruine us 13 Consider my strait O Lord and step into my rescue defeat his purpose and disable his power save my life now endangered by my wicked enemies and destroy them that would destroy me by thy might and in thy justice 14 Save me from men which though they are too hard for me are not able to stand under thy hand O Lord God of power yea from such men as care never to see thy face in heaven nor shall they on whom thou liberally bestowest temporal favours for that 's all they are to have from thee as the fat and sweet of the earth and store of children to whom they leave store of wealth and that 's all they care for 15 But Lord this is not my care nor herein consists not my happiness but in this that I can appeal to thee in the faith of thy grace and the sense of mine own innocency This is my care and comfort at present and I am sure for future I shall be happy when they are miserable at the day of the resurrection of all flesh when I shall appear acceptable to thee clothed in thine Image of holiness and righteousness which they shall not and so be received into life and immortality when they shall be rejected The xviii PSALM David having upon the consideration and view of his great and many benefits first kindled the love of God in his heart then falls to praising him for them which he performs with much divine Art and elegancy in musical Identities poetical strains and Hyperbolical allusions similitudes and comparisons of his deliverances for substance with the most wonderful ones that ever God wrought for his Church or servants by any his notoriousest miracles Then he shâ—ws the ground hereof to wit the innocency of his cause the uprightness of his wayes and the grace and righteousness of his good God And thence raises conclusions of future mercies both to himself and others in like case that walk with and depend on the Lord as he had done to whom he thankfully ascribes all his preservation deliverance victories advancement and promises himself victory for time to come and enlargement of his dominions as a type of Christs Kingdom over as well Heathens as Israelites And resuming his acknowledgements above all he records his deliverance from Saul as most remarkable and thank-worthy By all which he gives to understand the ratification of the Kingdom to him by God and his appointment to signifie for the comfort of the faithful Christs conquests by the power of his father in the Churchâ—s behalf in and over which he shall râ—ign foâ— ever To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire is recommended for the care and ordering of it to be sung by David whose greatest honour in this his high advancement is that he is the designed and dedicated servant of the Lord this Psalm which he composed at the end of his troubles when the Lord had delivered him from the power and violence of all his home-bred enemies but principally from Saul who was his greatest persecutor and potent adversary and made him King in his stead And upon this occasion he gave thanks and praised God as followeth 1 AS I have cause so I ever will bear in mind thy mercies and love thee for them O Lord in whom I repose all my trust and stay and so have ever done 2 I have bottomed my self on the Lord onely and made him my defendor and trusted in him for deliverance which he hath sent me I own him and no other God but him for my God I will never think my self weak while I have him for my strength whom I will choose to trust in as mine all in all my defendor and mine enemies strong offendor in my behalf my safeguard from them and advancer above them 3 I have often called on the Lord in prayer in mine adversity and now I will change my note and sing a Psalm of praise to him who is right worthy to be praised by me for what he hath done for me and so I shall still be sure of him for my God and Saviour as well against those that shall be mine enemies as those that have been 4 I have been many times brought into inextricable dangers of death so that I have even given my self for lost and have thought it impossible to escape the hands of such a wicked multitude as sought my bloud 5 Yea I have made full account of my grave so near have I been to mine end in mine own apprehension I judged it utterly impossible ever to escape the deadly dangers I have been in 6 But ever in my distress I made my repair to God I called to him who I knew was of power to help me and made my earnest supplication to him that I believed loved me and would be good unto me and accordingly I found it so for he failed me not but heard my prayer and answered it from Heaven the place of his presence as shall be the Temple and was moved by my pitiful case and earnest supplication which he took special notice of and ever lent me relief according to it 7 For thereupon he miraculously delivered me and wrought wonderfully for me and against mine enemies in effect as much and as marvellously as he did of old either in the punishment or for the terrour of his own people when they rebelled against him and his servant Moses or at any time for the deliverance of Israel whether in Egypt the red sea wilderness or since yea as conspicuously did he appear for me in the acts of providence and power as if he had really and in letter created all those revolutions and transmutations in the aire and elements hereafter mentioned as to instance when at any time in his wrath he did or as if he had sent terrible earth-quakes that as it were shook the whole earth and the most unmoveable mountains from top to bottom 8 And like as when supernaturally he sent forth fire and smoak which consumed the ungodly and rebellious with all they had to ashes and strangely kindled and set on fire combustible materials as natural fire naturally uses to do coals and such like 9 Or manifested his presence in thick and darksome clouds descending as it were down to the earth 10 Or when at any time he used the powerful ministration of Angels and winds wherewith himself also was present 11 Or terribly appeared by overcasting the aire with an unwonted darkness occasioned by an extraordinarie concourse of dark watery clouds all over the skie benighting the day and obscuring the
and power of God to all parts and people thereof In them may all men see how wonderfully God hath ordained the sun to reside and shine 5 Which at its first arising and mornings beautiful appearance is most welcome to all mens sight bringing light and as it were life with it from under the dark curtain of the sable night and with a free and natural motion fit for such an undertaking without difficulty sets upon the course it is to run and finish in the appointed time from one end of the heaven to the other 6 His setting forth is from the East and in a day he makes his progress to the West diffusing also his light and influence North and South whose penetrating heat in this his motion reacheth the very lowermost parts of the earth concocting minerals and quickening vegetables 7 Glorious is God in his works which declare his power and wisdom to all men but much more glorious is he in his word and doctrine delivered peculiarly to his people which holds forth to them his covenant of saving grace Those things by a natural propensity convey to men many common and bodily benefits But the word of God is far beyond them all restoring both our title to them lost by our fall and which is infinitely more supernaturally revealing to us the perfect and infallible way of life turning again to God and powerfully bringing it to pass upon us The truth delivered in it by the Lord touching our salvation is unquestionable and may be trusted to which understood and imbraced enriches us who foolishly lost our first estate of holines and happines with understanding how to get it again 8 The saving principles and ordinances which God gives us in his word to walk by are holy and righteous and such as being observed and obeyed in faith and conscience to the Law-giver brings joy and hearts ease in the comfortable sense of our sinceritie and assurance of Gods favour to us and acceptance of us The whole will of God revealed is it self pure void of errour or corruption and makes them so that walk according to it enlightning them with understanding to tread in the way of truth and life when others wander in by-paths of death and errour 9 The holy law of God which he hath ordained his people to fear and serve him by is free from corruption and makes them like it that observe it holy and pure and is everlastingly the same like God the giver of it not to be varied by us at no time nor occasion bringing with it the reward of everlasting happines The ordinances and commandments of the Lord by which he expects to be obeyed and purposes to judge the world are compleatly perfect free from all errour and injustice and onely makes men so 10 They are of more worth and yield a man more profit than all the riches of the world better are they to be prized and more to be desired than the most refined gold And more true pleasure and content do they bring to the soul and conscience by faithful observance than the sweetest honey does to the taste 11 After a special manner they are and ever have been useful to me and to all that fear thee shewing us how to stear a right course in every condition by chusing the good and refusing the evil And well worthie are they to be obeyed for they bring a blessed reward with them even peace of conscience and everlasting life 12 So holy are all thy foresaid laws and commandments and so binding both to the inward and outward man as who lives that can know how oft he offends against them Lord pardon me therefore my unknown sins and sanctifie my heart and spirit conformably to thy law which is spiritual 13 Protect me also who am thy servant and desire to yield thee universal obedience from outward and grosser iniquities committed against knowledge let not such prevail over me by strength of temptation And so being thus pardoned and sanctified notwithstanding my many frailties and daily infirmities I shall be uprightly righteous in thy sight and shall be though not innocent and free from all sin yet from known and presumptuous ones any of which lived in may justly stagger my sinceritie and covenant-peace which without thy special preventing grace I shall notwithstanding fall into 14 Yea cleanse me throughout Let my very words and thoughts as well as deeds be such as sute with thy law and will Thus Lord grant me grace and pardon who onely art my sanctifier and redeemer The xx PSALM David as a prophet instructs his people in a pattern and form of prayer to pray for him their King and to seek their own welfare in him as the Churches in Christ whereof he and they were respective types And to look at God for all the good they expected by his means and withal to be confident of it by saith grounded upon pregnant experiences of his grace and favour to him And how ever God might make them strong in outward things yet not to change their trust but to keep it firm in God by example both of their enemies miscarriages through their misgrounded confidence and of their own experienced success by trusting in the Lord. Closing up the prayer with a brief of all Praying God to preserve both them and their King and to make him able to govern and defend them in equitie and tranquillitie as Christ his Church To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 WE the people of God and thee whom God hath set over us pray for thee That the Lord would hear thy prayers against thine enemies in time of need the grace and providence of God which he shewed to our father Jacob and promised to us his seed who are his peculiar people evermore accompany and preserve thee our King 2 Yea the good Lord answer thee succesfully from that place which he hath specially appointed to hear and for us to offer prayers in even his holy Tabernacle And grant thee his Almighty aid according to the daily prayers of his priests and people which they put up unto him in his holy mountain in thy behalf 3 The Lord keep in mind thy pious offerings of praise and thanksgivings for mercies past to give thee further cause to do the like and the Lord accept the propitiation for thy sins to pardon them and shew forth the gratious fruits and effects of his reconciled favour to thee All this we humbly and heartily pray for 4 God grant thee answers and issues according to thine own desire and bless all thy advice and undertakings for God and his people with sutable success 5 We are confident that God is and ever will be with thee and therefore rejoyce before hand in that
and full of danger for I am ready to be devoured by my Lion-like enemies but Lord thou that canst deliver do deliver me in token of the resurrection of Christ even from death it self and the rather for that heretofore I have found favour and had audience in as desperate a condition and as imminent peril of death by mighty enemies 22 I will in Psalms of praise magnifie thy power and goodnes amongst thy people who are my brethren flesh of my flesh as the regenerate are one with Christ in spirit In the midst of all Israel met together at thy sanctuary to worship thee shall thy praises be openly sung in Psalms of praise which I will dedicate to thee 23 Stirring up thereby thy faithful and obedient people to praise thee with me and for me the Type as thy Church and chosen ones will for Christ the Antitype All ye who are Jacobs posteritie and resemble Gods peculiar and elect people exalt the Lord for the great benefits he hath afforded me and to you by me Serve him with reverence and Godly fear all you that are Israel and sprung of Israel as shall do the children of the promise or the spiritual Israel of God under the Government of the Messiah 24 For he hath ever been mindful both of you and me in all our afflictions then when the world hath contemned and disdained you as it will his Church and me as it will Christ yet hath he highly set by us and done for us nor hath he ever withdrawn his grace and favour from me in my worst estate no more than he will from the Messiah in his but when at such times I cried unto him he hath most of all expressed it ever vouchsafing me a gracious answer and relief as he will to him and his in like condition 25 Therefore will I pay my homage of praise and thanks unto thee of whom I have received all my welfare and happines even before all Israel will I do it to provoke them to do the like who have like cause with me I will at those times of most solemn and publick worship sing thy praise and offer my sacrifice of thanks-giving unto thee that all may joyn with me and take example by me 26 They that meekly undergo their sufferings and do wait upon the Lord for deliverance and the fulfilling of his gracious promises shall be sure at last to have their hearts desire and shall be feasted with their own peace-offerings as Christ shall be in heaven after he hath endured the cross They shall have cause of praise that faithfully seek to him by prayer in their distresses Such men shall not need to be discouraged at no time nor in no condition but shall always have cause comfortably to enjoy themselves by faith in God 27 The time shall come when Christ is come and after his sufferings is exalted into glorie as contemptible as he seemeth to be that all the world shall take notice of their lost estate But for him whom God hath exalted to the office of a Saviour and Mediator and shall thereupon willingly and with all their hearts renounce their errours and idols to serve the onely true God in Christ and the manifold nations of the Gentiles who now are a separate bodie from the Church shall then be incorporated into it acknowledging the Lord Christ and worshipping him who when he is lifted up shall draw all men after him 28 For God hath put all power into his hands and he will shew that his Kingdom is not confined to Israel alone but that he is King over the Gentiles whom he will also bring under his dominion and allegiance 29 All sorts of people from all parts of the earth shall submit to Christs scepter and salvation They that outwardly abound in wealth and honour or inwardly with carnal confidence or self-righteousness shall yet be glad to casheer such destructive principles and deceivable and account it their greater safetie and felicitie to take their souls repast in Christ whom they shall feed upon by faith as their peace-offering for whom and by whom they shall thankfully adore and worship God all also that are abject and poor or that in self-despair apprehend themselves under the bondage and fear of death by sin shall likewise humbly and thankfully take hold of him for their Saviour and honour him as their onely Redeemer And thus it shall be made appear by the conviction of all mens consciences that were it not for him all the world were undone for no man can be saved without him by his own righteousnes nor purchase heaven either by worldly affluence or voluntarie penurie and pennance of soul or bodie but onely by being Christs and having Christ for his 30 Not that all the whole world shall either serve him or be saved by him But a holy seed like Jacobs chosen and called every where out of the world shall believe in him and yield obedience to him and they shall be counted to the Lord for children and he to them for a Father because of their faith in him and obedience to him and his reciprocal love to them and care over them 31 They by the Fathers drawing shall come to Christ and partake of his justifying righteousnes and grace when he is raised and exalted out of his abased condition of humiliation to be the King and Saviour of his Church Which in zeal to Christ himself and in Christian charitie and dutie they shall promulgate and declare also to succeeding Generations and teach it to their children and childrens children that they in like manner may partake of his grace and be begotten to God by believing in him Even those great things shall they declare which he hath done for Christ and for his Church in and through Christ like as he hath done for me and for the people of Israel by me The xxiii PSALM David from what God had done for him in bringing him to the Kingdom argues what he will do and sets his seal of faith and assurance to it so as that by reason of his past and present condition no future dangers shall dismay him But is confident he shall spend and end his life in happines and promises constant praises for perpetuated mercies A Psalm made by David 1 THe Lord hath shewn himself as careful and tender over me as a shepheard over his sheep which makes me confident of his gratious benignity to me for the time to come that of his bounteous goodnes he will so see to me that I shall lack nothing that is expedient for me 2 For present he hath made large provision for me and carved with a bountiful hand unto me of every good thing he gives me peace and plentie and hath brought me into a safe and happie condition void of danger and full of inward and outward tranquillitie 3 He hath as it were given me a resurrection
his afflictions the crueltie of his enemies the uprightnes of his cause and his peoples necessities A Psalm made by David 1 TO thee above O lord doth my soul faithfully address it self and its desires continually and to no other 2 O thou that by many gracious and sweet promises I know assuredly to be my God in thee onely do I put my trust let not me therefore miscarry and be defeated of my hopes and so both I and my faith be rendred a scorn to my wicked enemies 3 Yea Lord remember what a tie of truth and goodness lies upon thee towards them that in faith and holiness depend on thee and walk with thee as I do not to suffer such to miscarry and fail of their confidence or reward no let mine enemies do so who trust in other things and spitefully without any cause on my part break all Laws of Justice and Charity towards me so shalt thou magnifie thy faithfulness to the faithful and thy Justice upon the wicked 4 How ever other men walk towards me yet my desire is to keep touch with thee and therefore O Lord I pray thee in all my trials shew me thy promises and commandments appertaining to my present case and condition and teach me to understand what safety and reward there is in them that I may never depart from them 5 Powerfully enable me to stick close to thy word of truth by faith and obedience refusing every false way and refuge Thus instruct me both to do and know thy will in the midst of my temptations for thou art the God in whom I trust for all manner of preservation in wel-doing and wel-being on thee do I constantly depend every hour for every thing both for direction and protection in all my trials 6 O Lord forget not what fatherly pitty and love thou hast evermore born to thine and what expressions and manifestations thou hast made thereof upon all occasions as they have needed for they never yet failed thy people nor let them do so now to me that plead that priviledge to be one of thine to whom mercy successively belongs in my generation as to them in theirs 7 Call not to mind my sins long since committed before I knew thee nor the errors I was guilty of in that estate now to inflict their punishment upon me but contrarily according to that mercy thou hast in store for me and hast promised to me do thou pardon them and shew thy self gracious to me in mine afflictions and that of thy meer and free goodness O Lord not for any motive or merit of mine 8 Gracious and faithful is the Lord therefore will he and for no other reason both pardon self-judgeing and enable self-outed sinners to turn to him with all their hearts and to walk before him in all wel-pleasing 9 The humble and lowly-hearted that sensibly needs and sincerely craves supply of grace and wisdom from God he will give them a good understanding how to walk acceptably before him so as to have his favour and protection such shall not want supply of enlightning and enabling grace to know and do his will 10 However even the faithfull may think some of Gods wayes he takes towards them by the strangeness of them to be unagreeable to that mercy and truth is in him and his promises Yet be they never so contrary to flesh and bloud they are all of them consonant to his grace and faithfulness which he hath contracted with those that are in covenant with him and walk accordingly in faith and obedience 11 For thy truth and mercy sake O Lord and for no cause else do away my sin out of thy sight which is great and manifold and lies heavy on me and which else will certainly bring upon me soar afflictions as I have already felt they have done 12 Few there are that reverence and fear the Lord so as to seek to him to be pardoned their sins and made his servants but in this I may comfort my self and so may any else that in so doing I nor they shall not fail of our desires but that God in his love and goodness to such an one will so direct and guide him as that he shall not be given over to his own corrupt lusts but shall be instructed and enabled to walk in such a way as he shall best accept 13 And he that doth so though he may have troubles without yet he may be sure of peace within nor shall he be devoid of temporal blessings neither but sooner or later in Gods good time according to his covenant he will reward his service upon him and his posterity especially if they walk in his steps even with outward mercies of peace and plenty as we see it fulfilled to us according to promise made to our holy forefathers and so I doubt not shall it be to me and mine as God hath promised 14 However the godly are in the world neglected yet with God they are in special favour for in a gracious familiarity and good will he sweetly imparts the sacred mistery of his good pleasure and purpose of their salvation in a spiritual way to the spiritual man that fears to offend and desires to please him which as a secret is hid from the knowledg of the world who onely partake his common and outward benefits Yea such he will teach with an intimate instruction and impression of his spirit upon their hearts what are the covenant-graces priviledges and benefits belonging to and on his part to be bestowed upon them he will shew them the honour and happiness to be in covenant with him as also what are the covenant-duties and gratuitous returns reciprocally to be performed on their parts to him with enablement to do them in love and thankfulness by writing his law in their hearts 15 I will make nothing my trust but God nor will I ever cease to wait upon the Lord and pray unto him for deliverance but be my case never so desperate and my misery never so tedious yet will I confidently and with a fixed mind exspect it for according to his promise I know the time will come when I shall be set at liberty and disintangled from my troublesome dangers 16 As mine eyes are towards thee so Lord set thy face favourably to me-ward whom thou hast seemed long to have neglected Now therefore bethink thee and let me at last find grace in thy sight and give me a merciful deliverance for I am without any help but thine and greatly afflicted by many outward enemies and inward trials 17 My miseries strike deep into my soul which is very sore oppressed with grief O consider it in thy tender mercies and deliver me out of my great afflictions 18 Lord take me into thy consideration do but cast an eye upon the greatness of mine affliction and dolour and let it move thee
to compassion and pardon of all those my sins that may have caused thy displeasure that so I may find favour and receive some ease 19 My state is very forlorn and perillous if thou consider as I pray thee do and send help accordingly mine enemies for their number which is great and for their hatred of me which is to the death and their pursuit is accordingly with extream violence 20 They do all they can to take away my life O therefore do thou undertake to protect it from their rage and deliver me out of their hands Let me not miscarry by their power or policy and so I and my faith be rendred scornful and scandalous to them for I put my trust in thee thy truth and goodness therefore fail me not 21 Let the innocency of my cause and my just behaviour in it move thee to preserve me from the injustice of mine adversaries for on thee in respect of thy righteous promises do I trust and wait to be righted against their wrongs 22 O God that in thy faithfulness didest deliver Israel our Father out of all his troubles do the like by his seed and bring them into a state of peace and rest by and under me as shall the Church and faithful have one day by Christ. The xxvi PSALM David being slaundered by his enemies appeals to God to judge if he have done or thought as they say of him and whether to God and man his behaviour hath not been such as it should be which he is sure it hath the love of God constraining him Yea he hath declined all temptations to the contrary and is fully resolved to keep faith and a good conscience to the end And then praies That since he is and hath been studious of piety and innocency he may not be exposed to wicked mens cruelty nor his end be like theirs promising when God shall advance him to be as incorrupt and innocent in prosperity as in adversity And concludes with confidence of supportation and good success in Gods way which is the way he is in A Psalm made by David 1 MIne enemies condemn and censure me but Lord I appeal to thee who judgest with righteous judgement of whom I am sure I shall be acquit of all their slaunderous accusations for thou knowest that all I have done hath been with an honest heart in obedience to thee and without wrong-doing to any man nor have I so much as stepped out of the way by indirect and unlawful means to compass the fulfilling of thy promises but have both waited and believed in the Lord to do it in his own way and time Therefore I am confident that God in his grace and righteousness will uphold and prosper me and mine innocency against mine enemies 2 Having a clear conscience I freely expose and put my self into thine hands where I am sure of justice and truth to be examined and tried of those things whereof mine enemies unjustly accuse me both within and without as well touching the uprightness of mine heart in respect of pride or malice as the honesty and warrantableness of mine actions 3 For indeed I have such a tie upon me by reason of thy love and goodness to me which I alwayes with such thankful admiration and faithful dependance bear in mind as that it awes me from offending thee in any kind and makes me in return of love to thee to be most precise in my walking strictly observing to answer my duty to thy word and will in all things 4 Besides I have ever shunned occasions of evil not so much as taking counsel of men void of grace and conscience to do as they would have me nor will I ever consent to use or practise any crafty or hipocritical dealing like men that live and move more by policy than faith and honesty 5 I have ever detested both the company and counsels of wicked men nor will I be infected with them or adviced by them to go out of the way of faith and uprightness 6 My purpose is alwayes to tread an innocent path and to keep my self from doing unjust or unlawful things for such I know O Lord by those many legal cleansings thou hast instituted thou wilt onely accept of to worship thee and therefore will I be careful principally to maintain a pure conscience and conversation and then will I in comfort and confidence of thine acceptance of me and mine offering frequent thy tabernacle and there perform my ceremonial services of sacrifices and peace-offerings to thee 7 That so I may let all men know that do resort thither and declare to them both by those tokens of my thankfulness appointed in thy law for that purpose and by Psalms of praise the wonderful things thou shalt have wrought for me according to my trust in thee and thy promises which are my onely stay and thereby move them also to faithful thanksgiving 8 O Lord thou knowest my wayes have not been wayes of wickedness but of piety and holiness I have dearly loved and devoutly frequented thy holy ordinances in thy holy tabernacle and have been a diligent worshipper and honourer of thee there which thou hast ordained for that purpose and where thou art specially present 9 In thy goodness and mercy therefore remember me as such an one that desires and endeavours to serve thee in holiness and righteousness and expose me not to the wicked and bloudy hands of mine enemies nor bring that wrathful destruction upon me thou intendest unto them as the punishment of their iniquity and cruelty 10 Who plot and practise nothing but mischievous things and regard neither truth nor honesty but abuse their authority and pervert justice through corruption of bribes 11 But as for me if thou pleasest to set me in place of justice and authority then as I have carried my self in mine affliction so thou shalt find I will still keep a good conscience and walk in incorrupt and sincere wayes therefore O Lord think on me to deliver me out of my great affliction and misery and in mercy make good thy gracious promises to me 12 The unjust and unequitable wayes that mine enemies walk I am sure will bring them to ruine but as for me as I have troden the path of piety and equity so I am sure to find the reward of grace and mercy and to be upheld and made to stand when they shall stumble and fall This I know shall be my portion and for this before hand I vow praises and thanksgivings to God even in the publick congregations of Israel The xxvii PSALM David rowseth up his faith to overtop his fear by many arguments taken from former preservations and confidence that as God hath stirred up an earnest desire in him to worship him in his Tabernacle so he shall be preserved thereunto He further backs his faith with prayer pressing upon God the
and difference made between him and his wicked enemies whom he accurses as the wilful withstanders of the will of God touching him a type of Christ And therefore promises and prophesies their destruction and his own assured establishment over Israel whom he prayes for that they may be blessed under him as the Church shall be under the Messiah A Psalm made by David 1 UNto thee will I as I have ever done make my moan in my misery and cry for help for on thee O Lord depends all my trust and hope of safety therefore deny not to hear and help me who have no other helper for if thou doest I am utterly helpless and must unavoidably perish 2 Stop not thine ears nor with-hold not thy favour from me for it is as bitter as death to have my prayers unheard when in anguish of my spirit I pour them forth before thee and when according to thine ordinance I lift up mine eyes and hands in supplication towards the sanctuary which thou hast appointed as a type of heaven to vouchsafe thy presence and to hear and answer prayer in 3 Let me not perish as an evil doer by evil doers nor be untimely taken away in thy wrath as a male-factour and wicked worker amongst those that are so who with hipocritical dissembling make shew of peace and friendship to them that really mean no ill but intend nothing but mischievous deceit against them 4 Such as are so and do so which are mine enemies let them feel and find thy just displeasure according to their demerits and answerable to their sinful practises against the innocent let them have the wages they have wrought for and in thy justice pay them their just deserved punishment 5 And because they regard so little and slight so much the Lord in his remarkable judgements upon themselves and his no less remarkable grace and favour unto me so clearly manifested by extraordinary testimonies and singular providences confirming mine election to the Kingdom as a type of Christ he will and shall therefore at last I am sure do himself and me right upon them and make them understand it by their utter extirpation and overthrow and my establishment in their steads as he shall do by Christ and his enemies 6 Now blessed be the Lord who enables me in full assurance of faith and by an infallible spirit of of prophecy to foresee the issue of my prayers to be according to my desires and his gracious promise and decree touching me 7 So that I can say in the assurance of the event that the Lord is and shall be to the end my all-sufficient preserver and defendor against mine enemies Yea in full perswasion of faith I can say as if I had already taken a farewel of all my troubles That I am for so I shall be be fully delivered and gratiously established in a good estate according to the trust I have put in him therefore my heart at present rejoyceth as if all were done and past and with a Psalm of thanksgiving do I now promise publickly to praise the Lord when it shall be so 8 The Lord is a faithful and powerful deliverer and rescuer of his people from out their oppressions and from under their enemies and for their sakes he is and will be the undoubted Saviour and preserver of me whom he hath annointed and decreed to set over them for their good and welfare as a type of Christ over his Church 9 Therefore remember thy people to bring them out of the tyrannie of their enemies and the present distempers they lie under and bless them whom thou hast peculiarly chosen out of all the world to be thine by setting me over them as a type of Christ and feed them under me as Christ the shepheard shall feed his flock with plenty of grace and peace and bring them to a lasting and settled condition of tranquillity giving them the victory and dominion over all their enemies by and under me as the Church shall have by and under him The xxix PSALM David to awe all men to be respective of Gods Church people specially Kings from whom they then did ever should receive most opposition hardship He first seeks to awe them by a due respect of God himself and of his ordinances exhorting them to give him honour worship And therefore sets before their considerations the terriblest of his words to convince them of his glorious greatness to wit the thunder shewing the marvellous effects it hath upon things both sensible and unsensible the better to move with man and specially with great men to reverence the greatness of Almighty God And besides that he also preaches to them his glorious goodness manifested in his word and ordinances to excite them to partake therein together with his people But in case they refuse and obstinately oppose themselves against him and them He incourageth the Israelites and in them the faithful assuring them that God will subdue their enemies and make them prosperous under him as Christ shall his Church spite of all the world A Psalm made by David 1 O ye mighty potentates of the world suffer a word of exhortation be not high in your own conceits to which you are most subject be warned not to swell with the pride of your honour and power but set the Lord above you and pay the homage of both to God least he lay your honour in the dust and bring your strength to weakness 2 Do by God as you exspect others should do by you that are your subjects and inferiours Give him the honour that is due to his greatness and leave off your superstition and come and worship him and bring your gifts in token of service and subjection to his beautiful sanctuary for no where else will he receive them it being the sole appointed place of his glorious and solemn worship and special presence 3 Your power is here below but Gods is up above which loudly declares it self to us on earth from out those watery clouds that are in the firmament over us whence God who is the Lord of supream glory dreadfully thunders and shews his greatness by that terrible noise multiplied out of sundry clouds by sundry thunder-claps at once and by the infinite inundation of rain that immediately follows thereupon by sundry thunderclaps at once and by the infinit inundation of rain that immedaitly follows thereupon 4 This voice of the Lords thunder is in it self very dreadful and declares him to be of mighty power and of exceeding great Majestie and glorie far above all earthly potentates 5 When the Lord thunders it is so mightie and forcible that it overthrows the strongest trees even the great and tall Cedars of Lebanon are broken and turned up by the roots by the violence of thunder-storms 6 Yea of such affrightment is that terrible voice of his and
with such power doth it operate even upon unsensible creatures That not onely the trees but also the mightie and unmoveable mountains whereon they grow are shaken by it and seem to jump up out of their places and from their center by the earth-quake which is begotten by that noise Even the mountains Lebanon and Hermon as great and weightie as they are are moved and in a moment rise and fall with the force of thunder 7 The thunder sends forth fearful and fiery-flashes of lightning from out the clouds and in an instant with a violent and sudden motion disperses and darts them hither and thither 8 The thunder by its mighty and frightful noise uttered as it were by the omnipotent mouth of God himself makes even the vast and savage wilderness yea that great and terrible one which the Israelites wandred in 40 years between Egypt and Canaan together with the wild beasts and formidable creatures therein which are so frightful to others themselves to quake and tremble 9 This noise of thunder so terrifies the most wild and untamedst creatures and which are of difficult production as are the Hinds that it makes them prevent natures season and for fear untimely cast their young and of such force it is that it layes the forrest in many parts of it plain by turning up trees by the rootes making a clear prospect through woods and groves This is one way whereby God gets himself glorie shewing this his greatness to the amazement of all men and all things and exspects of all men to be honoured thereafter But another and better way whereby he is honoured is now in his tabernacle and hereafter in his temple for saving-mercies with a sanctified worship where all the faithful do and must resort to give him the glorie and praises not onely of his greatness manifested in his works but chiefly of his goodness and mercie manifested in his word 10 O that the Kings and great men of the earth would therefore be awed by his works and won by his word to honour him and subject themselves to him and his holy ordinances and cease to rebel and rise up against him by opposing his Church and peoples quiet but if not The Lord that commands the raging seas and subdues their force can and will subdue theirs also for he shall bring all his enemies be they never so great under his feet and will reign for ever in and for his Church spite of all earthly power to the contrarie 11 The Lord will give his people the better of their adversaries be they never so potent and will establish them in peace and tranquillitie by and under me as Christ shall his Church in inward spiritual peace and consolation spite of all her enemies the world flesh or devil The xxx PSALM David upon his return to Ierusalem after Absaloms expulsion of him dedicates his house anew and thereat gratulates the mercies of God with this Psalm of praise for his deliverance and his enemies overthrow exhorting the Israel of God to rejoyce with him whom God had made such a monument of mercie to his people whom though for sin he may afflict as he did him yet will he remember mercie and hear their prayers as he did his to the end they may ever have cause to praise him as for his part he had and for ever would A Psalm of praise and thanks-giving made by David at his peaceable and victorious return to Jerusalem after Absaloms rebellion and appointed to be song with voice and instruments at the solemnity of dedicating his house by purging it from those incestuous filthinesses committed in it by him with his fathers concubines Whom therefore he put apart never to have any further knowledge of them 1 AS I have great cause so O Lord I will greatly magnifie the grace and mercie towards me for thou hast again exalted me and set me in my Kingdom and given me the better of mine enemies that traiterously rebelled against me and would have deposed me to have inthronized themselves in it 2 Lord God of infinit power and goodness such thou hast approved thy self to me when I was in distress I made thee mine onely refuge to thee alone did I in prayer and supplication make my moan and of thee sought I relief and thou hast accordingly quit me of all my troubles and restored me to my Kingdom in peace and safety as from death to life 3 O Lord to thy power and goodness do I wholly and solely ascribe my subsistence and recovery so miraculous and wonderful hath been my deliverance from such dangers that by no humane power could have been prevented from destroying me hadst not thou preserved me alive beyond all humane hope or help 4 O all ye my fellow-saints and servants the adopted and called of the Lord joyn with me to bless and praise him with joyful hearts in this my solemn memorial and thankful gratulation of his grace and faithfulness 5 For this my strange and speedy deliverance and restorement whereby he hath made me a monument of his goodness and mercie to his people everlastingly in all ages to encourage them to believe in him and pray to him be their sin and his displeasure seemingly never so great for that in faithfulness he will remember mercie even in judgement to such his anger is short-lived and makes the return of his favour much more sweet and precious like life from death If his people by sin grieve him he may justly withdraw the light of his countenance grieve them but grace and mercie sought to in faith and humilitie will soon remove the eclipse it shall be but as an evening to a morning the light of grace like that of nature will certainly return and with advantage for short sorrow makes welcome joy 6 And I for my part can give a full testimonie of this his dealing in my behalf for when as I was setled peaceably in my Kingdom and had brought under mine enemies my heart began to contract securitie and carnal confidence not living by faith and prayer as at other times but thought my self unchangeably happie never dreaming of such a strange revolt and rebellion 7 Acknowledging but with a mixture of too much carnal confidence in my present condition the grace of God in bestowing it on me and establishing it unto me not considering that he could as easily take it from me for sin as bestow it on me in mercie therefore God seeing cause withdrew his favour and support from me let me first fall into sin and then into danger to let me see what had preserved me from both to wit neither my goodness nor my good condition but his grace and favour and that onely can do it For notwithstanding all the obligations on his part and vows and promises on mine yet so soon as he ceased to dispense his auxiliarie favour and grace I fell into monstrous folly
which wrought me this trouble and miserie 8 And hereupon I betook me to my never failing refuge of fervent and faithful prayer which I put up to the Lord again and again 9 Reasoning the matter thus in an humble boldness what satisfaction can my bloud make thee for my sin or how can my death glorifie thee comparably to my life and restorement what an opportunitie of praise wilt thou lose if thou takest away my life though I confess in justice I have forfeited it but consider if according to thy mercie and faithfulness thou so far beyond my merits shalt pardon and spare me what praise it will bring thee and how I and others for my sake shall be set on work to admire and magnifie the omnipotencie of thy grace and infallibilitie of thy promise 10 Therefore make not my life a prey to mine enemies but hear my prayer and in mercie pardon my sin and grant me deliverance be thou Lord my helper and saviour from my sin and danger 11 And upon my prayer the Lord hath helped me yea to thine everlasting praise be it spoken thou Lord hast been merciful to me and hast done away both my sin and thine anger quit me of mine enemies and restored me out of my sorrowful estate to a joyful condition and out of my humiliation and abasement into an established tranquillitie and happiness 12 And this thou hast done for me To the end I may by this merciful occasion have my tongue oiled from a heart enlarged to exalt thee in thy never to be forgotten praises by Psalms of thanks-giving and accordingly O Lord that art the God of all my happiness I will never forget this thy mercie but with everlasting thankfulness according to my dutie and thy desert will I celebrate the praise thereof unto thee The xxxi PSALM David by many circumstances in this Psalm does doubtless intend his sufferings and the great straits he was brought into under Absaloms rebellion against which he prayes and comforts himself by and from Gods former mercies shewn in his deliverance under Sauls persecution and in prayer urgeth hard upon God his great extremities under the burden of his sin and sufferings together with his injurious usage solitarie friendlesness and extream hazard of his life In all which afflictions he yet animates himself by his saith in God and earnestly persists in prayer to him even until he be fully heard and answered in his own preservation and his enemies overthrow And then blames his faith for sailing him upon the suddenness and greatness of his temptation but magnifies the goodness of God that yet was merciful and faithful to him And exhorts all the Godly never in no case to disbelieve the power and grace of God assuring the faithful that they shall ever find God so To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 THee O Lord do I make mine onely refuge in all mine adversities trusting in nothing but thy help and grace therefore at no time no more now then heretofore let me miscarrie nor my faith nor self be rendred a scorn to mine adversaries but do thou keep promise with me and deliver me 2 Lend an hearing ear to the prayer I put up unto thee and delay not to deliver me in mine extremitie which is urgent and requires speedy relief as my faith makes thee so let it find thee an all-sufficient support and safetie to me in all adverse fortune 3 For truly thou art all in all to me I have not any thing to trust unto nor do I trust in any thing but thee for defence and preservation therefore for the honour of thy faithfulness whereupon I solely depend take me into thy tuition and trase out my way for me by thy gracious and wise providence that I be not ensnared by mine enemies 4 Prevent their craftie counsels and subtile practises against me not suffering me to be entrap'd but so directing me in all my ways as to shun their deceits or if I by thine appointment and permitting providence fall into their snares deliver me out of them for there are none too wise or too strong for thee who art of wisdom and power sufficient either to prevent or to rescue me 5 I betrust my life and safetie to nothing but thy custodie there I deposit it now and for ever and good cause have I for thou hast given good testimonie of thy tender care and love to it and me thou hast rescued my life from temporal danger and my soul from spiritual and eternal O Lord thou hast hitherto made good thy word of grace and so I trust wilt still 6 I have been tempted and perswaded in my necessities to leave off depending on thee and to take other courses like other men but I have ever expressed my dislike of such counsels and reproved such counsellours that would have drawn me to seek mine advantages against mine enemies as they do against me by sinful and unjustifiable proceedings and have always both in word and deed declared my self to relie on the Lord for deliverance in his own way and time 7 And whilest I take this course I know I shall rejoyce in the issue yea I promise and assure my self before-hand that I shall ever have cause of gladness and joy in thy goodness and mercie for thou wilt still have as thou hast ever had a tender regard of me in my troubles testifying thy mindfulness of me by my manifold extraordinarie preservations and deliverances 8 Which thou hast given me from mine arch-enemie Saul who thought me his and that I could not escape him many a time when yet I did Yea thou hast set me free out of all those troubles with advantage of honour and happines 9 And now O Lord do as thou hast done shew me mercie in delivering me out of my present distress for my trouble is very great so that my sight is become dim with continual weeping and my spirits and vitals are wasted and decayd within me by my pensivenes 10 For my very life draws nigh to death with extream grieving and my time is cut off and shortened by the exhausting of my spirits with incessant sighings and lamentations Yea my natural strenght decays and wasteth by reason of my sin and thy displeasure so that my very bones are sensibly enfeebled with it 11 Mine old inveterate enemies and Sauls friends were all glad in heart to see mine affliction insulting thereupon but especially was I most injuriously and reprochfully used by my neer allies and friends Absalom and Ancitophel being forced to flie and shift for my self in a poor condition in so much as that those that wished me well and were mine entire friends and acquaintance durst not owne me or take part with me almost all that
saw me so changed glad to forsake Jerusalem and flie for my life did in like manner flie from me and save themselves 12 Upon mine alteration I am become of no request but given for lost and undone without all hope of recoverie counted as a cast-away and contemptible man in an irreparable condition 13 Yea manifold slaunders and disgraceful injuries have come to mine ears which by mine enemies are heaped upon me to bring me into hatred and procure my destruction so that every way I am beset with fears and dangers by false rumors and secret plots and conspiracies devising to deprive me of my life and Kingdom 14 But in my deepest distress my faith failed me not but that still I trusted firmly in thee believing and encouraging my self still with this That by proof and promise I can say thou art my God in near relation and dear affection what ever befall me 15 And besides I know my self and fortune are wholly in thine hands and that nothing can befall me but by thy providence notwithstanding the malicious hatred of mine enemies thou canst preserve me from them that go about to destroy me be they never so potent or politick they cannot have their wills upon me to hurt me except thou permit it which I pray thee do not but deliver me 16 I have long and grievously undergone thy displeasure both inwardly and outwardly I have felt thine ire and the smart of my sin which hath brought me near to ruin now therefore Lord at last in tender mercie pittie me and shew me some sign of favour to refresh my spirit withal and give me some hopes of escape and recoverie who though a sinner yet am thy servant that thereby all men may see thy loving-kindness towards me by thy delivering me out of this danger also and restoring me to my former happie condition which how ever my sin deserves the contrarie yet for thy mercie sake vouchsafe it 17 Let not O Lord the misfortune which mine enemies hope to bring upon me ever befal me to the disappointing of my hope for I have trusted in thee and prayed unto thee which my wicked enemies have not done therefore let them miscarrie and let their hopes be frustrate yea let their vexatious courses receive an end by themselves doing so cut them off in thy displeasure for nothing but their deaths will secure my life in peace and quietnes and my name from opprobrie so restless are they in mischievous devices against me both by word and deed 18 Let the slaunderous mouths of my wicked adversaries be stopt after that sort they that through pride and malice lay mine honour in the dust through lies and contumelies in thy justice Lord lay them there for thou knowest me guiltless of their false aspersions and innocent of that they accuse me 19 O Lord for all mine afflictions yet mine heart is much comforted in the faithful confidence of thy great goodness and mercie which thou hast in store for such as are thine and walk holily as thine being careful to please and fearful to offend thee as I am and also because of the great manifestation thou hast ever made of it in admirable preservations and deliverances both of me and others that have relied upon thee in spite and sight of all our enemies 20 Such shalt thou by special and extraordinary providence keep as safe as if they were in heaven from the power of man be he never so potent and proud withall Yea all that they enmiously give out against them in brags and threats and slanderous suggestions shall have no issue but shall be as wind so safe shalt thou keep them from all harm 21 What I say I know by experience to be true Blessed and magnified be the Lord for it for as poor and destitute as I was left so much the more marvellous hath his loving kindness appeared that by his goodness and providence hath preserved me safe from the power and malice of mine enemie so that no fortress though never so fortified could have better secured me 22 For so great was my trouble and desolate my condition that upon the surprize before I well bethought me of thy goodness and power I apprehended my self as given up by thee into mine enemies hands inevitably to be destroyed Yet I had so much faith left as to pray for preservation though I could scarce hope it and though my faith was weak in regard of deliverance Yet in fervencie and supplication it was strong and thou wast pleased in mercie to pass by mine infirmitie and was intreated of me in my miserie and effectually didst hear me when in the anguish of my spirit I powred out my soul before thee 23 Be you provoked by mine exhortation and example O all ye Godly faithful ones to take heed of hastie discontent and unbelief let your condition be what it will be still bear up in faith have good thoughts of God who however he seems otherways yet is firm in his affections towards you and be you confident that he both can and will preserve you if you dare relie upon him and will wait for him the power and pride of your enemies he will bring down and in his own good time will make them plentifully taste the fruit of their evil ways by powring upon them his heavie and just displeasure 24 Be but stedfast and stout in faith when trials are upon you do but then hold out in undaunted believing and he shall give you inwardly by his spirit and outwardly by his providence great stay and comfort of heart even thus shall he do to all that chuse him and onely him to hope and trust in for protection Take it upon my word that speak it both by prophesie and experience The xxxii PSALM David sheweth what makes a man blessed to wit the justifying pardoning and sanctifying grace of God which he affirms feelingly in the sense of his own miserie the whilest it was suspended from him and the happiness he had when God renewed it in him whence he takes occasion to animate himself and all that are Godly in the faith of Gods goodness and from his own experience perswades from stubbornness in sin to yieldableness in piety for that produceth nothing but miserie but faith and holiness brings true joy and happiness A Psalm made by David upon the experimental miserie of the guilt of sin instructing all men wherein true happiness onely consists 1 ALl men would be happie and blessed but all men are not so whatever they think by themselves no no one are abound they never so in worldly felicitie saving he and he onely who by a lively faith laying hold of mercie in the vertue of a promise is sensible of the free pardon of all his transgressions and of his being clothed upon with the imputed righteousness of his redeemer 2 Blessed yea I say again onely blessed and
2 I have no help but thine therefore quit thee answerably to the affiance I put in thee for my defence for thou art mine all in all therefore stand to me and appear for me fail me not but by thine Almighty power defend and keep me safe from my violent adversaries 3 Nor onely defend me but also offend them that would offend me secure me from my persecutors and prevent their cruel designs upon me Let thine actions outwardly speak thy loving kindness towards me and inwardly perswade mine heart to firm affiance in thee amidst mine afflictions 4 O Lord thou knowest in what place thou hast set me not as a private man therefore for revenge but as a Prophet and publick person representing thy Christ and Church do I accurse mine enemies and pray that they may not prosper in their designs but that confusion and destruction may be the portion of them that persecute my life let them be discomfited and brought to ruine that plot mine 5 Let thy violent and sudden judgements sweep them away past all help Yea with a divine and unresistable power from heaven do thou utterly defeat all their humane power wherein they put such confidence 6 And let them totally miscarry in their discomfiture so that they may not know how to escape to save themselves but void of power and policy let them stumble and fall and be followed at the heels by thine immediate judgements until they be overtaken and quite destroyed 7 Yea Lord let them be catched in thy trap as they have endeavoured to catch me in theirs using all manner of deceit and craft to compass my destruction and to take away my life unjustly without any desert or cause given by me 8 Measure to mine enemy as he would measure to me Let sudden destruction befall him when he least fears himself and makes most sure of me Yea let him be caught in his own very craft and the self-same ruin he intends to me let it fall on him 9 So wilt thou give me cause of rejoycing in thee and thy favour towards me yea and accordingly I will exceedingly rejoyce in thy saving mercy and will praise thee for it ascribing all my safety to it 10 Yea both soul and body each part and faculty with all their might in a joynt and joyful acclamation shall feelingly break out into unexpressible praises and thankful acknowledgements of thy transcendent power and goodness in my behalf So that I will make faithful publication of thee to be a non-such for poor afflicted persons to trust in and seek to when they are distressed and over-powered by unjust violence yea for the most impotent and despicable person living to flie to to be righted and relieved on him that wrongfully violates and oppresseth him be he never so much too hard for him 11 Thou O Lord knowst how falsly I as Christ shall be am accused by mine injurious adversaries to Saul who by might suppresses right and I can get no hearing but am partially and unduly proceeded against as guilty of such things as never so much as came in my thoughts nor am not suffered to clear my self 12 Yea they have dealt most inhumanely with me requiting all the good service that I have done them by preserving their lives with the apparent hazard of mine own against their enemies with the going about enviously to deprive me of mine as they shall Christ of his 13 Their carriage towards me is not as mine to them for when they ailed any thing were sick or in trouble so far was I from wishing them ill as is falsely suggested that I fasted and prayed for thy mercy to them and deliverance of them as for my self though I now perceive God having rejected them for their wickedness I lost my labour but not my reward for I have the comfort of a self-excusing conscience by it 14 Thou Lord knowest what manner of duty and love I bare to Saul how that had he been my brother a thousand times I could not have borne and shewed more tender affections to him than I did Yea my sorrow was as natural and passionate for him as a childs for his mother 15 But alas how differently have they walked towards me driving me into adversity and rejoycing at it all that envied and maligned me combining together against me to bring me to ruin and hatred yea base unworthy wretches men of flattering and lying tongues laid their heads together to accuse and calumniate me which being innocent I suspected not incessantly back-biting me and slandering mine innocency 16 They have scornfully derided me at their feasts and in their cups even such as I thought had been my friends but they prove false ones and have uttered their spitefull aspersions of me and threats against me 17 O Lord be moved to compassionate me and be not always a spectator of my miseries and a tolerator of mine enemies cruelties but take me and my cause into thy merciful consideration and let not my life be a prey to their hatred but preserve and deliver my pretious soul that principal part from the malicious rage of them that would unjustly deprive me of it by cruel death 18 Which when thou shalt have done and made me partaker of thy publick ordinances from which mine enemies have driven me I will promise to magnifie and praise thee with sacrifices of thanksgiving in the face of all Israel gathered together at thy Sanctuary 19 Seeing I stand for the right let not mine enemies that maintain a wrong cause against me ever have their wills upon me and rejoyce at mine unjust overthrow never let â—hem have cause mockingly to insult and contemptuously to jear in their sleeves at my destruction that they causelesly hunt after and hope for 20 For mine enemies are so implacably and violently bent against me that no parley or hope of peace can be had at their hands but they practise all manner of wayes by false accusations and treacherous machinations to molest and harm me yea utterly to ruin me that would fain live peaceably by them in the land of Israel without doing or thinking any harm unto them and not be driven thence 21 They have made me their table-talk belching out their hatred against me in impudent false assertions and joyful expressions at my misery 22 This their carriage towards me O Lord thou art privy to and hast seen their malice forbear no longer to rebuke them for it O Lord whom I serve and trust be not deaf to my cries nor a stranger to my wrongs but take my part and send me speedy help 23 Be provoked by mine enemies outrage and my wronged innocency to execute judgement on mine and my causes behalf upon the wrong-doers O my most gracious and Almighty Lord God 24 Such is my reighteousness and innocency in this matter as I put it into thine
the righteous whose confidence is in God and can find in his heart in obedience to him to be charitable with that he hath is blessed of God with enough for his own comfortable subsistence and the relief of the needie 22 For he hath temporal blessings in store for them on whom he hath bestowed his favour and grace and they shall have a comfortable subsistence when as others far greater and of more account in the world living in sin and being in hatred with God shall unexspectedly be undone and destroyed 23 God prospers him that is good and gives a good issue to his undertakings because he takes pleasure in and receives honour from his conscionable and serviceable walking 24 He may be low brought and hard set but he shall never be quite forsaken of God nor rendred to the will of his enemies to his utter undoing For the Lord hath an eye to him and an hand on him to keep him from drowning though he let him sink they may be cast down but not destroyed 25 All my life long which is no short one I have ever taken notice of Gods dealing with his people and have always observed his faithfulness to the faithful how that they that have trusted in him and walked with him have never been quite forsaken of him though they have oft and many a time been put soar to it yet hath he never falsified his word of promise and providence but whereas I have seen the wicked turned naked out of all and glad to be beholden to to the righteous as Esau was to Jacob for a mess of pottage the Lord on the contrarie hath always provided so competently and contentedly for them that they have never needed to crave relief from the ungodly 26 The righteous mans propertie is still to be doing good trusting in the Lord more than in riches and therefore whereas others hoard up all they can get he lends gives as there is cause to them that want and hopes to be never the poorer for it counting it his riches to lay out not to lay up nor is he for God rewards his good deeds upon his posteritie after him and blesseth them for his sake 27 Wouldst thou then have a blessing upon thy self and derive it to thy posteritie take the course the godly do forsake sin and serve God and thou shalt find that that 's the onely way for thee and thine to be happie from generation to generation 28 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and will bless them that love and practise it they that are holy and practise holiness hee l stick as close to them as they do to him and will never fail them of his promises that he hath made to them and theirs but the wicked shall find he as much hates them as he loves the godly either they or their posteritie shall smart for their wickedness and be rooted out by it 29 The righteous liver shall by the blessing of God subsist and derive a subsistence from himself to his children of peace and happiness and the favour of God generation after generation 30 The righteous man as he himself is good so he loves to be doing good and to instruct others as oportunitie serves specially his own like as God hath instructed him with the knowledge of his wayes of holiness and righteousness wherein he is conversant both in walking and talking 31 The Law of God whom he loves and who he knows loves him is written in his heart and naturalized therein which shall keep him from sin and for which God will prosper and preserve him from evil maugre Satan and the World 32 Yea though the wicked watch him never so narrowly by power or policie to ruine him 33 For the Lord will not forget his promise nor withdraw his providence so as to expose him without support or supply nor will God judge him as they do nor condemn him upon their accusations but will defend him acquit his innocencie and revenge his wrong 34 Trust stedfastly in the Lord patiently waiting upon him in his own time to fulfil his own promise and shew forth his mercie to thee in thy trouble and keep a good conscience by walking unweariedly and with a constant course in and after his commandments and he will at last do great things for thee thou shalt certainly be a top of the wheel and shall see the wicked under thee how ever they at present over-top thee 35 I speak what I have seen and what others shall see if they wait and observe to wit The wicked most formidably powerful and priding themselves in great prosperitie flourishing like a bay-tree in earthly felicitie 36 Yet have I lived to see him quite blasted and withered so as if he never had been such a man and all this in my time 37 So likewise have I marked the righteous man and so I would have others to do to prevent rash judgement and that they may see what I say to be true to wit That though he that is faithful and sincere towards God may have a time of sadness and suffering yet it s most certain his end shall be most comfortable for either he shall out-live his miseries here as oft they do or leave them behind him with a peaceable and joyful departure out of this life from them to the Lord his God who will receive him into everlasting happiness 38 Whereas on the contrarie well may the wicked fare for a while but in the end judgement shall devour them and as they have been brethren in evil so shall they be fellows in punishment none shall escape The end of the wicked shall not be death but destruction wrath shall slay them happines forsake them and confusion receive them 39 So it is with them but so shall it not be with the righteous whose salvation is not placed in false refuges as is wicked mens but in the power and faithfulness of the Lord he is their strength and trust in time of trouble 40 Who will not deceive them but will certainly relieve and release them he both must and will do it for he is bound by his grace and truth to save them that trust in him and destroy the wicked enemies of his Church and that bond hee 'l never break The xxxviii PSALM David lying soar oppressed at once both under some bodily distemper and many enemies humbly repairs to God in prayer Wherein first he bewaileth his sin and Gods displeasure and then his sufferings both in bodie which were very grievous and also in mind But yet comforts himself in this that the groans and prayers which those miseries forced from him were heard and regarded of God though he had not present relief but continued worse and worse And still holds out praying and ripping up his whole estate to God how it fared with him on the one side and with
1 BEing grievously tempted to impatiencie by extream afflictions mine enemies provocations I was fain to watch my self narrowly to take up a vow and resolution not to give the reins to my tongue but to bridle it from taking libertie to exceed in intemperate speeches specially whilest I had to do with wicked men who lay at advantage to take scandal at me and my profession by any miscarriage they could espie 2 Wherefere I abstained utterly from speaking even that which was truth in mine own defence and their reproof least therewith impatiencie should get vent though thereby I was much troubled and had much ado to do it 3 In so much as my heart was full and so heated with smothering my grief that I burst out in prayerful expostulation betwixt God and me and said 4 Lord mine afflictions are so many and great as that they make me wearie of my life comfort me so far as to inform me how near I am to mine end and how few my miserable dayes shall be Let me know this of thee that so I may hope of deliverance at least by mortalitie 5 Sure I am my life is not long and at longest it is but short compared with thine eternal being its as nothing and what is mans life considered in it self Even when it is at best its very vanitie void of true satisfaction Would men would consider it 6 Surely every man hath here but an imaginarie happiness certainly they cark and care to be that which this life can never make them labouring in vain to be happie in it What a deal of pains does a man take to be rich yea richer and richer and can never live to use all he hath nor knows not how soon he shall depart with it nor how it will be spent nor into whose hands it will come when he is gone witness the state I had and was in erewhile whereof how soon and unexpectedly am I deprived 7 And now Lord seeing every thing is thus emptie and unprofitable why should I trust in or desire to be happie by any thing short of thee no I do not Thy favour and grace is that I prize and hope in most of all I wait for and desire it above all earthly felicitie the restorement of it is more to me than my Kingdom and happier shall I be in it 8 Grant me for my happiness the pardon of my sins that have brought me into this miserie and let not my wicked enemies prevail against me to destroy me and insult over me and God in me 9 Though I endured very much yet I bare it patiently without fretfulness because I know in justice I had deserved it and thou inflictedst it 10 Good Lord be intreated to pitie me and to ease me of my grief for I am almost utterly perished by thine afflicting hand and heavie judgement for my sin 11 When thou punisheth and correcteth man for iniquitie thou changest him quite from what he was both in condition and constitution his honour thou layest in the dust and himself thou makest little less every way defacest him and makest him comparatively to what he was as a beautifull garment when its moth-eaten and consumed thus am I yea surely every man even the whole kind of him in thine hands is as nothing To thy glory and mans abasing and humbling be it spoken 12 O Lord hear the prayer I put up unto thee and the cries I pour forth in mine extremity let my tears be effectual and prevalent in mine own behalf and against mine enemies for my help is wholly in thee and must be from thee in the faith of whose truth and goodness I subsist in my travel through this world as did my godly forefathers who were heirs of promise and lived by faith being though in the world yet not of it but belonged to thee and so do I who therefore suffer therein as they did 13 O take me not away in thy displeasure but in mercy revive and restore me to a comfortable feeling of thy favour again in the sensible pardon of my sin remission of my punishment and re-establishment in mine estate that so I may end this my short and transitory life when I do end it which is not long to in thy grace both to mine own sense and the worlds sight when I bid it adeiu The xl PSALM David being in trouble probably under Absaloms rebellion reckons up his former experiences of Gods goodness and his great deliverances first from Saul and then from after evils pronouncing a blessing upon himself and others that trust firmely in the Lord extolling his wonderfull mercies to such And shews what manner of praise he hath wont to offer to God for them not ceremoniall but reall and thus winds in upon God by recounting his favours to him and his service back again to God both in praising and publishing his goodness and truth And then after a self-judging preamble comes upon him with new requests for instant deliverance both from sin and punishment and for confusion of his enemies and lastly chears up himself and all his faithfull well-willers and partakers with a hopefull prayer notwithstanding his present condition To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 I have endured much and long but having a promise I staid my self upon it and have patiently undergone all his providence in a faithfull expectation of the Lord in truth and goodness to fulfil it at last which he hath done and hath most graciously vouchsafed me audience and deliverance 2 I was low sunk in fear and danger even of utter ruine whence he hath marvellously delivered me out of a very miserable condition hath he brought me that no power but his could ever have freed me from but he hath done it and not onely delivered me from an ill estate but estated me in a good and safe one and confirmed it to me spite of all those mine enemies and opposers and all they could do to the contrary 3 And hath given me further occasion of thanksgiving and praises by new and fresh mercies even to the full accomplishment of his promise and my happiness his wonderful power and goodness to me-ward shall amaze many that never thought to see it and affect them both with fear of and faith in the Lord that bringeth great things to pass 4 That man is a blessed man and shall be a successfull man that stedfastly relies upon the Lord alone and regards not the threatnings of the proud presumptuous boaster nor the brags of such as put their confidence in sinfull practises and self-refuges to dissettle his faith or follow their example 5 Manifold O most powerfull and gracious Lord God are the wonderfull providences protections and deliverances which thou hast done and
wrought for thy children and servants from time to time and the thoughts of mercy and goodness which thou hast had towards us and shewed upon us that have believed in thee they are so many that we cannot count them nor orderly declare them should I go about particularly to praise thee for them or to tell the world of them my memory would yea could not but deceive me they are so numberless 6 Sacrifices and offerings though they be by the appointment of thy Law yet as they are commonly used or rather abused by formal and outward devotion thou carest not for them it is the kernel and not the shell comparatively that thou regardest to wit a bored pliable ear and yielding heart to do thy will in faith and obedience which blessed be thy name thou hast bestowed upon me whom herein thou hast made a type of thy sonne and servant Christ the onely acceptable sacrifice and substance of all shadows and which I know thou valuest in me above never so many burnt and sinne-offerings wherein others for most part put their religion 7 For by thy bestowing on me this spiritual ear and regenerate heart I am made apt and ready to offer and consecrate my self in all filial alacrity a sacrifice to thy service as it is written and prophesied of me in resemblance of Christ of whose son-like love and perfect obedience the whole Scripture foretells 8 I do as he much more shall delight to please and obey thee in all things O my God and his thy holy and righteous law is not to me as it is to the world untoothsome and harsh but pleasing and connatural as it shall be to Christ. 9 And what I have learned and known to be thy righteous will as a Prophet and faithfull servant of the Lord I have as Christ shall taken occasion to declare and teach it to thy people in the most solemn feasts and greatest concourse as might make most for thy glory and their edifying I have not ceased to do my duty to thee and them but have informed and instructed them O Lord I know thou knowst this and takest notice of my poor weak but sincere service herein 10 I have kept back nothing which I knew and whereof I ought to have informed them touching thee and thy good grace but both by mine example in praising thee and also by doctrine have I declared to them the faithfulness that is in thee and that thou hast and ever wilt shew to them that believe in thy promises for grace and salvation I have not smothered mine own experimented knowledg of thy mercifull loving kindness to such and thy truth in fulfilling what thou hast promised them but have taken the best opportunity to make it known most to thy praise and thy peoples edification 11 And as I have done so I will do still as thou givest me occasion therefore be as gracious and merciful as thou hast been let me find thy love and faithfulness ever at hand to preserve me 12 For I am now in as great need as ever I was being surrounded with manifold miseries and great dangers deserved punishments for mine iniquities which have arrested me and keep me prisoner under the burden of thy heavy displeasure which makes me of a dejected heart and countenance ashamed and afeard to make mine addresses to a God so displeased with a sinner so exceeding sinful as I am doubting my success and thy favour 13 Nor yet can I be silent my dangers on the other hand press so soar upon me therefore of thine own good grace O Lord deliver me from the burden of my sin and misery O Lord consider my great straits and delay not to relieve me for thou art gracious and pitiful 14 Let the shame and confusion which mine enemies would bring upon me fall upon themselves let them as they sin together so perish together that seek my life let them be defeated of their expectation and desire and come to a shameful end themselves that seek mine undoing 15 Let them be utterly ruinated and made desolate for a just reward and punishment of their shameful and sinful behaviour towards me that rejoyce unjustly and undeservedly at my misery 16 But contrariwise let all those that love me for Christs sake whose type I am and that trust in thee and religiously pray unto thee in their own and my behalf let both me and they have cause of joy and gladness in thy mercy towards us let such as love thy saving grace to trust in it and be happy by it ever have cause to speak and sing the praises of thee and it 17 But as yet it s otherwayes with me I am poor and desolate distressed both without and within yet I know I am not forgotten nor forsaken of God but that he is mindful of me at the worst and purposeth to do me good at the last My faith makes him all in all to me mine onely helper and deliverer and my condition presseth hard upon him to be so out of hand which is very desperate and therefore I beseech thee that art the God of all my faith and hope delay not to deliver me speedily least I perish utterly The xli PSALM Though this Psalm by the proprietie of its language is applicable in time of sickness yet the Scripture no where in the historical part of it mentioning any such bodily distemperature as the Psalmist here insists on it is conceived by interpretors and yet Psalms the sixth and thirtie eight import otherwayes rather to be spoken allegoricallie by David than reallie in allusion to his condition under Absaloms rebellion whereby being brought low and in a desperate state he was sorelie censured by his enemies and shamefully deserted by reason of his affliction which he here reproves commending the contrarie virtue of charitie and pittie which he knows is in God though it fail in men and accordinglie makes his prayer to find it from him his enemies and false friends so deceiving and traducinglie judgeing him which he prayes he may live to punish and hopes he shall upon probable signs of favour from God for which he blesseth him and for the assured confidence he hath that God will be as good as his word to his Israel and to him in Israels behalf To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 HOw rash are most mens judgements of men in affliction and thereupon how apt are they to abandon them But blessed is and shall be the man that judgeth with righteous judgement and not according to appearance knowing that God is both gracious and faithful and though he do cast down yet he can and will raise up again the afflicted that repent towards him and trust in him 2 Yea for all his dangers the Lord will and
by theirs overthrow and destroy them and through thy good grace faithfull promise we hope to speed no worse than they but that we shall be able to vanquish and subdue them that do oppose and subjugate us 6 For it is neither bow nor sword skill nor strength that we thy people trust in as do the heathens 7 But in thee who hast all this while hitherto from Abraham till now wrought and fought for us against our enemies and given us still the better and them the worse that opposed themselves against us and sought to destroy us 8 In thee the Lord for that thou hast done and promised to do do we boast our selves and glory in the faith thereof continually and in no strength nor power but thine the praise of all our prosperity as from aforetime till now so from hence even for ever shall it be ascribed by us to thee onely From our hearts we intend it 9 Thou hast been we must and do confess a praise-worthy God to us in former times but alas now thou seemest to have rejected us for thou makest us go by the worse and givest the enemy the better of us to our great reproach and thine not prospering our armies nor giving victory on our side as thou wast wont to do 10 Thou turnest our faith and courage wherewith we were wont manfully to withstand our enemies into fearfull and faint-hearted flight and whereas we used to vanquish and spoil them that fought against us now they on the contrary vanquish us and prey upon our substance enriching themselves upon our ruines 11 Thou hast wonderfully altered thy course of grace and providence towards us for we that once commanded and bare rule are now sold over to our enemies to be spoiled and devoured at their pleasure and thou hast driven us out of our countrey where once thou plantedst us and from the exercise of our religion there and made us bond-men to the heathen who formerly were so to us 12 Of lates dayes thou hast set light by thy people for whereas thou wast wont to prize them highly and to give nations for them now thou givest them away and exposest them to all that will spoil them they not being so much as sold for bond-slaves like unto others but are made so for nought in so much as thy people are less worth to thee than common bond-men are to their masters who use not to part with them but for their profit but so dost not thou by us 13 Thou hast brought us from such an height of happiness to such a low estate of miserie and subjection that now our neighbour-nations who once admired us and shewed all respectful behaviour to us in our prosperitie do now generally reproch us as an abject nation 14 Thou makest us that are thine own people chosen out of all the world to serve and worship thee and to relate peculiarly to thee to be the laughing-stock and scornful by-word of the heathen and because of our calamities to be esteemed an abject people by the abject Gentils 15 The woful condition we are brought into under our hateful enemie is sadly remembred and laid to heart alwayes by us and a dejected shamefastnes hath utterly possessed us 16 For because of the scorns and blasphemies that through us are cast out against thee by the revengefull enemie that hath longed for this hour wherein he might despight us and our God 17 All this woful miserie of bondage and reproch is fallen upon us yet in the midst thereof we forsake thee not but own thee still for our God trusting in thee and worshipping of thee nor have we broken covenant by deserting thee and chusing other Gods to worship them as do our enemies that revile us 18 We have not peevishly cast off our affection and dutie to thee neither have we sought our remedie by indirect ways but still trust in thee seek to thee and walk with thee 19 Though thou hast exercised and humbled us under sore and heavie trials and hast plunged us into a sea of miserie and brought us out of a happie condition into a most desolate state uncomfortably scattering us among fierce and cruel enemies so that nothing but present destruction seems to hang over our heads continually 20 If for all this we have forsaken the worshipping and trusting in thee or betaken our selves to other Gods than thee to pray to or trust in them for help 21 To God who we know to be jealous of his glorie and a searcher of hearts we appeal if this be so 22 Yea if on the contrarie for thy truths sake we suffer not continual martyrdom and persecution 23 We trust in thee and pray to thee but find no relief from thee O Lord bethink thy self of our miseries and thine ingagements forbear our enemies no longer but shew thy self against them and for us whom thou hast long exposed to their crueltie but now give an end to it in mercie 24 Why Lord dost thou so long turn thy back upon us in displeasure and shew us no favour but seemest utterly to have forgotten us as if we neither were nor never had been thy people and to have no regard at all to our miserable state and condition 25 For we fruitlesly afflict our souls and mourn in dust and ashes prostrating our selves upon the earth before thee in continual prayer and supplication but are not heard 26 Be moved at last O Lord to pitie our extremities and to hear our prayers after so long and great oppression and miserie shew us some mercie help and deliver us by thy great power out of our great straits and miserable captivitie xlv PSALM The Author of this Psalm commends Solomon and his Government and in him Christ and after puts the Church especially that of the Gentils in mind of her happiness in being married to such an husband under the type of Pharaohs daughter exhorting to carrie her self worthie such high preâ—erment and wooing her to it by many ensuing benefits A Psalm made and set to Shoshannim an instrument of six strings for instruction to the wife of Solomon and so to the Church especially of the Gentils to turn from false Gods and their worship to the imbracing of God in Christ. Being a love-song typically shewing the extraordinary love of Christ to and delight in his spouse the Church by the type of Solomons love and delight in his wife in case she became a proselyte And committed to the family of the Korathites for them to sing 1 MY heart is happily inspired and my spirit inkindled to speak of a remarkable piece of Gospel-misterie touching Christ and his spouse I borrow my speech and allusion from King Solomon and such praise-worthie things as are observable in him My heart is full of Divine inspiration to set forth the praises of Christ thereby and my
tongue is made apt to utter them with a ready dexteritie 2 As God hath advanced thee O Solomon with honour to be King over Israel as Christ shall be over his Church so hath he beautified thee above the ordinarie ranck of men and adorned thee with excellent Divine wisdom and utterance worthie thy place of regiment like as he will do Christ the blessed King and bridegroom of his Church with all the excellent inward ornaments of grace and spirit wherein he shall exceed all and of which his excellencies he shall participate to all his people by his powerful and saving word of grace which is an infallible argument of the never failing love and favour God hath to thee and will ever bear thee the type as to Christ the antitype and the blessings that shall accompany it 3 Whensoever thou preparest for war prepare for victorie O thou that art mightily blessed and aided by the Almighty God of heaven and made the King of most renown and majestie in all the world as Christ shall be the most powerful and victorious Saviour of his Church and mightiest potentate to whom all power shall be given both in heaven and earth 4 And in the majestick power that God hath given thee prosperously proceed to aw and conquer all thine enemies not by falshood pride and injustice as do other Kings that move upon earthly principles but in Gods way by the exercise of his graces of faithfulness meekness and justice as shall do Christ by his Kingly office in behalf of his Church prevailing and conquering by the saving truth of his word patient long-suffering and righteous performing of his promises ruling and walking in this manner thou shalt be able to work wonders and shalt strike terrour into thine enemies and reverence into thy people as shall Christ into his 5 Those that shall oppose thy Sovereign rule and government will have but bad success for thou art as Christ shall be of power to quell them whereby whole nations of the Gentils shall be subdued to thy subjection and obedience as they shall to his 6 Thy dominion and sovereigntie O Solomon the type of Christ the son of God is not like meer earthly Kings that perish but it shall in him who is God and our Divine mediator be extended over all and to all eternity Thou hast right to rule for God himself hath given thee dominion over Jews and Gentils as he hath done to Christ over all the world a just and righteous government shalt thou the type execute in him the antitype who is the just and holy God not subject to the corruptions of earthly Princes 7 For he whom thou resemblest perfectly loves and obeys the holy and righteous will of God and as perfectly hateth both sin and sinners for which cause that he may be Gods high officer and King over his Church chosen peculiarly to that place and honour before all mankind and Gods own people too as David was before all Israel and both he and thou before the rest of your brethren therefore is he inabled and enriched from God whose son even by nature he is and whose love most especially he hath with the spirit of consolation and all his Divine graces in his humane nature even without measure whereof the adopted sons of God and fellow-members of Christ that are partakers with him of the Divine nature as he is with them of the humane do share but in measure short of him receiving grace for grace from him 8 All thy royall robes O Solomon are richly and odoriferously perfumed with the most costly aromatick spices when as thou shewest thy self to thy people from out thy stately palaces who at the sight and smell of thee are rejoyced and refreshed and reciprocally return their joyfull and loyal acclamations to thee again to thy great contentment as well as theirs Like as Christ shall come from heaven furnished in his humane nature with all excellent graces and perfections befitting his high office to the infinit joy of his people who enjoy the sweet and benefit thereof which they return again unto him in love honour and service to his good content 9 Thou art honoured with many wives and concubines of high birth even Kings daughters are in the number of them but especially and of most account with thee is Pharaohs daughter who is Queen above all the rest and more gloriously attired than any Like as Christ shall have the attendance and company of many noble and famous congregations that will profess him and worship him externally in his ordinances But his onely and principal spouse is the holy Catholick Church consisting principally of the elect Gentils whom he shall cloth like himself in his own righteousness and adorn her with the Divine nature and the graces of his spirit and prefer her to special favour here and glorie with him hereafter in heaven 10 O daughter of Aegypt whom God hath made so happie as to bring thee thence and to marrie thee to King Solomon the type of Christ be thou also the resemblance of his spouse the Church specially of the Gentils by hearkening unto and embracing the true and saving knowledge of the onely true God and be converted by it as she shall be and turn from the errours wherein thou wast bred and born inheriting them by education and birth-right as do even the elect of God their sinful and corrupt nature till they be married to Christ by a new nature and forsake all for him 11 So shall King Solomon far more entirely love thee and delight in thee thy beautie being much increased thereby and thou made glorious within as well as without who is thy Lord and husband and therefore one whom thou oughtest to obey and desire to please Like as shall the Church be infinitly pleasing to Christ when she hath given herself to him and is endowed with his graces whose Lord and husband he is and whom she ought to serve and honour 12 Nor shalt thou lose thereby but God will greatly increase thine honour and esteem far more than being the daughter of Pharaoah comes to for so shalt thou in conjugal participation gain the homage and subjection of great and rich nations the most mightie and powerful people of all the world shall be brought under and made glad of thy favour through the favour and blessing of God upon thee Like as it shall be with the Church which worships Christ in puritie and sinceritie she shall be so blessed by him as that no enemy shall stand before her but by the assistance of the power and grace of Christ her Lord and husband she shall be Ladie and Mistresse of the whole world sought unto of all nations for the knowledge of her saving truth and participation of her graces with the renouncing of their false confidences to share with her in Christ. 13 Thou the daughter of King Pharaoh art not gloriously
attired onely at such times as thou appearest in the worlds eye as ordinarie women are but art ever so even within thy palace as well as without as is the Church not formally hypocritical and to the worlds view onely but really and sincerely gracious adorned by Christ with his own justifying righteousousness and sanctifying graces 14 That so thou maiest delight and please thy Lord and King when ever thou art presented to him in raiment worthy thy high linage and royal marriage and art accompanied to him with a gallant train of damosels fitting thy state and dignitie As shall the Catholick Church be by Christ his sanctifying spirit presented to himself in holiness and righteousness even all the blessed company of saints gathered from out the whole world to make up that blessed society and onely spouse of Christ. 15 Thou with thy troup of damosels shalt by Somons command and his servants ready attendance and obedience be ushered to his royal presence and pallace with infinit rejoycings and acclamations at that meeting and mutual imbracing As shall the Church and spouse of Christ made up of all the holy saints and sanctified ones be brought and presented by their holy calling in the ministry and by the ministers of the word unto Christ his grace and favour and by Angels into his everlasting glorie and presence in heaven to the infinit joy of Gods ministers and servants and with the acclamation of all those ministring spirits 16 By forsaking thy fathers house God himself will become a father to thee and will bless thee and make thee a happie mother of many hopefull children who shall command both Jews and Gentils As shall the Church of Christ by choosing him the second Adam for her Lord and husband and forsaking the first she shall thereby have God for her father and shall be blessed with a numerous off-spring all the world over all which spiritual progenie are a royal Generation children of the most high and put in Kingly office by him to command over all their earthly corruptions 17 And by so doing thou shalt lose no honour but through my blessing upon thee for it I will make the renown of this glorious act of thine to be famous and thou for it from age to age and thy memorie shall be precious and thy praises recorded in everlasting remembrance by the people of the Lord. As shall be the Church and spouse of Christ successively famous and honoured in all Generations for being his and her memorie happie and blessed from age to age after Generations of Gods people honorably memorizing them that went before with estimation and imitation to the worlds end The xlvi PSALM Ierusalem or the people of Israel being at present in some great strait or siedge by a powerful enemie and receiving deliverance The Author of this Psalm expresseth it in a high and hyperbolical strain thereby to incourage the faith of Gods people to a strong and extraordinarie belief in God for ever from their late eminent experience of his power and readiness to help them his favour towards them and presence with them which ought to establish and secure them for future A Psalm or song made and set to Alamoth an instrument or tune for the treble and committed to the family of the Korathites for them to sing 1 GOd is to us his people that depend upon him and trust in him both safetie from and power against our enemies he may be confided in to the uttermost peril for when we are nearest danger he is nearest to deliver 2 And therefore should there be never such revolutions in nature strange and terrible yet our faith in God shall keep us steadie yea though the center of the earth should shake and remove from its place and that by the violence of tempests the very mountains should be taken and hurled as a stone out of a sling from their place of residence far into the sea yet shall our faith establish our hearts in God his grace and protection how much more in the greatest tumults and commotions of civil affairs 3 Though storms both at land and sea should at once seem to overwhelm us and all the world and to dissolve the very course of nature it self the seas threatning an universal deluge by their tempestuous rising and fearful roaring and should even shake the very mountains with their violent and impetuous beating upon them yet in God shall our hearts hold up their heads 4 When the sea of troubles and combustions seem to overwhelm all the world besides and they be made to drink of most bitter and troubled waters even then shall the land of Jewry and especially the Citie of Jerusalem have peace and tranquillitie and drink their fill of the fresh and pleasant streams of Cedron for that it is Gods peculiar habitation and therefore hath it his peculiar protection and favour as shall have his holy and Catholick Church typified by his sanctuarie there the onely place of resort for all the Israel of God to worship him in 5 God in his worship and presence is there above all the world and therefore she shall be protected though the world be exposed she shall need to fear no danger for God shall both certainly and seasonably deliver her 6 The heathen people with great force and furie were inraged against us whole Kingdoms and conspiracies of the Gentil-nations were moved at us to seek our overthrow but the Lord Almighty took our parts and expressing his wrathful indignation by terrible thunder-claps from heaven against them dissipated and discomfited all their earthly power 7 Whatsoever armies are against us the powerful and great commander the Lord of hosts is with us the God of our father Jacob that mightily delivered him is on our side and in covenant with us to do the like for us Let us therefore be comforted in him 8 Consider well and thankfully remember the mighty mercies he hath shewn us in the powerful overthrows of our great and numerous enemies how for our sakes he hath wonderfully destroyed them more than once and nations more than one or two 9 He hath often times settled his people Israel in an universal peace spite of all the nations of the world their opposits whose forces he hath defeated and disabled their strength though great and as he hath done so his power and promises are still of force to do for his Church which he will preserve maugre her enemies and persecutors that infest her and will give her peace by their destruction and disablement as he hath done for us 10 Repose your hearts on God with inward content and securitie by a faithful expecting and apprehending of him for a God all-sufficient in your behalfs one that for your sakes will destroy the heathen and will honour his power and greatness upon the Gentils round about 11 Whatsoever armies are against us the powerful
that office whereof he shall give me possession as far remote as I seem to be from it now and that not onely to my joy but to the rejoycing of all his faithfull people who in sincerity of heart profess and serve him they shall joy and glory in me as the type of the Messiah his rule and governance over his Church who shall come as hardly by it and in the eyes of the world shall seem as unlike for it as I to be King of Israel And when it s their turn and mine to rejoyce on the contrary those that now make no conscience of any thing they do or say shall hang their heads and not have a word to speak in excuse or justification of themselves because of despondencie of spirit and their self-accusing consciencies as also shall Christs enemies at last The lxiv. PSALM David having some advertisement of great desigâ—s upon him by his â—â—â—mies prays God to preserve him from them who are so wickedly and mischievously bent against him and accordingly is confident of his deliverance and that Gods just and remarkable judgements shall beâ—al his adversaries to the aâ—â—esting of some with fear and others with joy To him that is the chief and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 O Lord my present calamitie puts me upon great and earnest importunity hear me I pray thee that am sore put to it and therefore both with heart and voice press hard upon thee for the rescue of my life out of mine enemies hands that endanger it greatly 2 Let thy protection equal mine enemies projects who turn every stone to compass mine undoing They have their private plottings conspirings to surprize or betray me but Lord do thou hide me that these hidden stratagems may never find me as also from their open violence for such is their malice and so cruelly are they bent that nothing shall be unattempted upon me 3 Incensing all they can against me with false and slanderous reports to the wounding of mine innocencie and set me up as a mark to discharge all their callumnies and falshoods upon 4 They know they believe me and yet though conscious to their own wickedness and mine innocencie they spare not to backbite me and privily to inform all manner of untruths against me to Saul they suggest and let flie any thing against me that they either hear or imagine never caring to wrong me nor fearing to offend God and provoke his justice 5 They animate one another with hopes to prevail against me at last and that I shall not scape them they consult to ensnare me at unawares by fraud and treaherie any way so it be done and think to carry the matter so privately and to cloak it so cunningly as that none shall suspect them nor nothing can prevent them of their hopes 6 They contrive exceeding subtilly and cast about in their thoughts and imaginations with a great deal of studie and diligence how and which way they may likeliest deceive and destroy me and many times make sure of it and indeed so close and dissembling they are that it is impossible for me to know or avoid them by any skill or power of mine 7 But though I miss the mark and shoot far short of finding out their devices and may be deceived by their dissemblings I am sure God he knows them they cannot scape him for all they lye at a close ward he knows how when and where to hit them even when they are most confident and least fear any ill to befall them shall his judgements overtake them 8 This shall be the want of all their lying reports and slanderous back-bitings instead of bringing evil upon me upon whom they design it they shall bring sin and that sin shall bring judgement upon themselves yea so remarkable shall the hand of God be upon them that men shall shun them as they did Korah and his complices 9 The justice and terrour of the Lord shall astonish men and make them both fear themselves and caveat others to beware of the judgements of God from this example for it shall awaken the minds of men and put them all that have any eyes in their heads to consider the justice power and terrour that accompanies this judgement in bringing their wickedness thus upon themselves and delivering me an innocent person 10 A wonderfull confirmation shall it be to all that are upright and cause of rejoycing to see the care that God hath over such to vindicate their integrities against evil doers and to deliver them out of their sufferings by executing apparent judgemens upon their enemies for their sakes how shall this make them trust God and trust in God what ever betide them Yea it shall make all that are sincerely Godly from this example of my deliverance and mine enemies overthrow with confidence to bear up themselves in God and despise the power and malice of all wicked men be they never so potent and politick The lxv PSALM David tells God with what saithfull expectations his people wait upon him for mercies to the end they might have new occasions to praise him and though for their sins they deserve no good from God yet shall be of Free-grace do them good which is a point of special comfort to the faithfull to whom God is a sure friend and ever will be and an enemie to their enemies and accordingly will keep and protect them all the world over for whose sake it is that mankind and all creatures enjoy such temporal blessings and needfull mercies as they do To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be both sung and plaid by voices and instruments 1 O God we desire to be mindfull of thy mercies and still as thou givest occasion of praise not to fail to return it we are ready O Lord if thou wilt administer fresh mercies to render thee the thanks of them and to worship thee for them as thou hast appointed not onely inwardly in spirit but also in thine Ordinances with Sacrifices and Free-will-offerings according to thy law will we do it 2 Thou Lord art the onely God of thy peoples prayers Let it more and more appear that thou hearest us and that our prayers are powerfull with thee for the good of this poor Church and thy servants and people under this administration that it may be upon Scripture-record for thy Church in after-ages to encourage their faith and to invite them all the world over to seek unto thee in hope and confidence of like audience grace and success from thee 3 Mine own and my peoples sins are they that stand in the way of our prayers and hinder good things from us so that I
in and upon thine enemies as well as upon thy friends that profess and worship thee to make them do the like and bring them also in favour with God 19 We who are the people of God do at present day by day blessed be thy name for it reap the happy fruits of Christs virtuall ascention in his power and goodness what mercies of all sorts spirituall temporall are heaped and showred down upon us And what salvation hath the Lord wrought for us time after time which ought to be ascribed to him Amen 20 We can speak by experience that the God we worship and believe in can save and deliver I think we have found it so and indeed he onely can deliver and save alive who onely hath vanquished and overcome death it self and hath the sole dominion and disposall of it and all the means and ways that lead to it to prevent them be they never so imminent as to his people 21 And to succeed them to his enemies and theirs they shall feel the weight of his hand if they persist to bruise the heel of his Church at last he will break their head let him be who he will be as sure as his head grows upon his shoulders or hair upon his head so sure will God meet with him sooner or later that doth so if he will not repent and be converted 22 The Lord hath purposed and promised to do as great things under me for his people as ever he did heretofore when he vanquished great and Giant-like Kings as Og the King of Bashan for their sakes and delivered his people out of his hands as also out of the hands of Pharaoh by deviding the red sea conducting them thorough we may be and have been driven into straits since then and so shall the Church in all times but the same power shall still appear for us to relieve us in our greatest extremities whereof those things were a pledge 23 Yea such fearfull vengeance shall God take of the implacable enemies of his Church as that he shall make way thorough their bloud for his peoples felicity which he shall inable them by his power and assistants to shed in abundance like water spilt upon the ground of no more regard shall it be 24 Thy people have often had occasions by thy mercies vouchsafed them heretofore to praise thee in thy sanctuary they have seen there upon great victories solemn thanksgivings but was ever seen the like to this happy day wherein the Ark of God is carried to the Tabernacle pitched in its place of residence the mount of God with what infinite solace and expression of joy all Israel joyned their forces unanimously to accompany it following me their King attending the Ark of thee my God and my King unto the place of its abode thy holy mount 25 It joyes me to think in what comely order and with what sweet harmony of affections and musick it was done How the voices they marched in the fore-ranck singing thy praises and exalting thy name the instruments came next ecchoing to them and resounding thy glory amongst which were orderly intermixt the Damsels playing upon Timbrels so universall was this joy and so glorious was the show that both men and women did their uttermost to express their zeal and forwardness in it 26 And now the Ark is set in Sion forget not to congregate your selves to it but come in flocks and troops to bless this God which is your God and Lord that rules over you and for you all that are the faithfull of-spring of our blessed fountain and forefather Jacob whose name of Israel purchased by his prevailing with God is ever since named upon us come repair to it to the Arke and presence of the Lord and be you also wrestlers and prevailers with him there 27 And I cannot doubt of your forwardness and faithfulness so to do that express so much of joy in its transportation from the least to the greatest both those that are near and those that are afar off will be mindfull of this mercy and of their duty to frequent his service and seek his presence and protection Benjamin that was so dear to Jacob his youngest darling child I am sure will follow his fathers steps and though he was the last of his sons yet will be the first and forwardest to worship the God of his father even the whole Tribe of them with their godly ruler an example to the rest Nor I hope shall Judah the royall Tribe with their Cheiftaines and Senatours be behind who ought indeed to give exsample of zeal that are preferred in Authority above the rest no nor will I am confident Zebulon and Nephtali plead excuse by reason of their remoteness but even they also together with their heads and elders quickening them thereunto will be forward to worship the Lord in his sanctuary at Jerusalem 28 Into what a glorious and powerfull condition hath our God brought us how hath he by his sovereign all-disposing power and Authority made thee O Israel to be thus potent and exalted in strength and dominion over thine enemies that ere-while wast so much at an under O therefore seek to God let it be your prayer slack not your hands grow not sinfull and secure but be you stirred up by his mercies to frequent him duly and pray to him earnestly to continue to be gracious and to establish us in this estate whereinto he hath brought us 29 Wait and pray for the building of the glorious Temple in Jerusalem the type and figure of Christ and his Gospel-Church instead of this Tabernacle which will be a flourishing time indeed then shall not onely God be worshipped within the boundaries of Canaan but the renown of the God of Israel shall so spread as even forrain potentates shall further both the work and the worship and acknowledge him the sole sovereign of the world 30 For this purpose Lord prepare the way to that Triumphant golden age of peace by me a man of war and thy Church militant under me chastising those opposite enemies of thine and ours that notwithstanding all the evidence thou hast given and clear demonstration of thy power and goodness to us thy people are in arms and hostility against us let them know to their cost that it is neither their number nor their rage that shall prevail let both they that lead and they that are misled know thus much let them see their labour in vain and be brought to own thee for their God and to do thee homage and such as will not but chuse rather to hold on their course of enmity and opposition Lord take a course with such to destroy them out of the way that they may not alwayes be thorns in thy peoples sides 31 O that the Lord would hasten the coming of the Messiah and his Kingdom which all these things portend like as the glorious and
happy reign of Solomon draws nigh whose favour and alliance Egypt and Ethiopia shall seek and obtain oh how then would the Gentils come in apace under his subjection yea the most unlikely Egypt that arch-enemy of the Church and Ethiopia the of-spring of Cham these or as bad as these will willingly offer themselves and glad they may be accepted into his service 32 That day is coming some dawnings of it appear even now in these our dayes if your eyes O ye Gentils were open to see it in these illustrious Types but you shall see the sun shine forth in full brightness amongst you that now are in darkness then shall you know what it is to be the servants of the Lord and with glad hearts shall all his people in all places of the world sing praise and give glory to him O that it were so now 33 To him that though you be not his servants yet is he your Lord and Master the great God sole Creatour of all things who made the heavens higher and lower ordained them of old with all those lights you see shine in them and hath ever since maintained ordered and ruled them and much more the world under them their manifold motions and influences in their severall orbs and operations by his Almighty power and wisdom from whence you hear the voice of Thunder how terrible and loud it is why God sends it purposely to mind you of him and to acquaint you with that power and terrour he is endowed with that you may learn to fear him 34 Give therefore glory to God magnifie his power and greatness and know that this who is thus excellent is he that is the God of Israel whose power is thus mightily manifested as you hear and see in the heavens 35 O Lord thou art a dreadfull God where thou art present there is power and strength with thee whether in heaven or in thy sanctuary for from both those places thou hast and wilt assist thy people after a marvellous sort hearing their prayers above which they shall pour out here below in thy sanctuary and the courts thereof and work deliverance for them and give victory to them wonderfully destroying their enemies and subduing them under them blessed be thy name for it Yea Glory be to thee alone The lxix PSALM David in great distress prayes for speedy relief bemoans himself and the wrongs he under-went for God in whom yet he comforts himself and falls again to earnest prayer for speedy relief appeals to God for justice and vindication of his wrongs being innocent and friendless In the spirit of prophesie he curseth the wicked Iews that crucified Christ in the persons of those that so cruelly and unjustly persecuted him his type wishing them such temporall and spirituall miseries as have since befallen them But prayes that God would remember to raise him up out of his distresses to be King of Israel as Christ shall be raised from death and the grave to be head over his Church promises then to praise him for it and promises himself the acceptance of his praises and assures his few friends Gods faithfull people that lived in expectancy of it that it shall certainly be both for their good and the good of Gods Church in after times And exhorts the world and all creatures in it to be in their kinds praisefull for this mercy of his Churches establishment and flourishing for whose sake they have theirs A Psalm made by David and set to Shoshannim an instrument of six strings and by him committed to him that is most skilfull thereupon for his care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 O Lord its high time for thee to appear for me I am brought to such a pinch as that I must sink if thou dost not save for the waters are as it were broken in at severall leeks round about the ship and into my very cabin so that I am about utterly to perish if thou help not suddainly for such are my miseries and so is my life instantly endangered without thy present remedy 2 I am implunged into manifold miseries and sink deeper and deeper into them as a man in mire I can find no footing upon earth all humane helps fail me so that I am as a lost man like one that 's past wading taken of my feet and can find no bottom the waters are as it were both above and below me for I am in such a condition as if I were swallowed up of the main sea amongst the billows so that I must be saved by miracle 3 Thou Lord knowest how many and what earnest prayers I have put up unto thee in the trouble of my soul in so much as by the exhausting my naturall moisture with continuall complaint my tongue is tired my throat sore and my voice hoarse and I have looked so long for thy promised deliverance and wept so soar before the Lord for it that both tears and sight begin to fail me 4 I am a lone man and innocent causelesly hated and unjustly persecuted to the death by the King and all the Kingdom judged a capitall offendor and mine estate confiscated by might not by right and given as forfeited to those I never wronged one farthing as if I were a fellon bound to make restitution of what I never stole nor took away 5 O God thou knowest me none better that I am a sinner I confess it it s well enough known to thee that I am so subject to and guilty of the same aptitude to transgress as other men yea my particular sins that have and do spring from mine innate pravity which are not a few are all of them obvious to thee But though I am not innocent as to thee yet do I and dare I make thee my judge as to others whether I be guilty of these treasonable practises they lay to my charge and condemn me for yea whether ever any such thing came into my thoughts 6 Let not those O Lord that hast power enough to do otherways who humbly and dependingly live in faithfull expectation of the fulfilling thy gracious promises to thy Church by my means and under my government be disappointed of their hopes by my miscarrying through the power and rage of mine enemies Let not them that are thy people and whose God thou art and by reason of thy promise do hope and heartily pray for better dayes to befall them when thou shalt set me over them be blasted in their hopes and disheartned in their prayers by mine undoing neither now O Lord let me be a stumbling-stone of thy peoples faith nor in ages hereafter to whom I shall appear upon record 7 O Lord thou knowest I never sought nor coveted the Kingdom from Saul but it was thou that didst cast it upon me unlooked for or desired annointing me to it when I was keeping my fathers sheep and thought nothing less but for this
fact of thine I am accused and condemned as a Traitour and a proud aspiring person which slanders though innocent yet shame me to think that I should be thus thought of when thou Lord knowest its nothing so 8 My nearest kinred mine own flesh and bloud that lay in a belly with me emulate and censure me as bad as others and think it is my pride and rashness that brings this trouble upon me and them for my sake whereupon they avoid me all they can 9 For truly Lord such hath been my zeal for thy Church and people the promoting the good and prosperity thereof according as thou hast promised and designed I should as that I am wholly taken up as shall the Messiah with the desire of it not mine own self-seeking or interest as I am falsely and slanderously reported by those that indeed are in heart thine enemies and wish and speak evil of me onely for thy sake as they shall of Christ who they strike at and wound through my sides as they shall thee through his 10 Let my behaviour be at never such a distance to the designs they fasten upon me let me walk never so unlike to such attempts more saint than either politician or souldier like mourning for the sins and lamenting the judgements of God upon the Kingdom instead of coveting it for my sake why it was all one this humbling my self and fasting before the Lord was judged to be done in hypocrisie and design 11 I could not so demean my self but whatsoever I did it was wrested to misprision if they saw me in sack-cloth they would point at me and say in derision Behold the King 12 It is not some but all of all sorts that are thus bent against me they that should be wiser graver and juster and of better example even the magistrats and men in office and judicature have their invectives and jears at me and much more the deboisheers and rabscalions in their cups and merry-meetings make sport with me and scornfully abuse me 13 After this sort do men demean themselves but as for me I study not to reveng my self or to return like for like no Lord thou knowest mine application and appeal is to thee and however I am so unacceptable to men yet not to God when all men put me from them then can I betake my self to God in prayer and be welcome he never refuses me accordingly O Lord let me find thee now for I am in the midest of a multitude of miseries therefore in my behalf oppose against them the multitude of thy mercies remember thy promises touching me my deliverance and preservation to fulfill them faithfully 14 For though to my sense and outward appearance according to the face of things in humane probability I cannot scape this danger yet my faith is not so extinct but I know all things are possible to God and therefore pray thee even for the greatness sake of my present affliction to deliver me out of it that I fall not into the hands of my cruel enemies nor by them but that thou wilt save me from drowning that am as it were already so near it that I have but this word to speak to thee before I sink quite over head and ears irrecoverably 15 Let not this torrent of afflictions overwhelm me O thou that commandest the raging seas much more land-storms let me not be swallowed up of them like a ship wracked in a Tempest thou knowest into what a depth of miseries I am implunged find a way out for me to escape and let them not bring me to an utter and untimely end 16 Let me not pour out my complaints in vain nor in effectually open my case unto thee but Lord consider what I say hear me to purpose grant me releif let thy loving-kindness which according to thy promise I know thou bearest me manifest it self in gracious beneficence for I am sure thy love is not a vain but a beneficent love thou art a benefactour to whom thou art a wel-willer accordingly good Lord let me find the sweet effects of the earnings of thy bowells and the tenderness of thy compassions towards me which I know to be very great in a happy and powerfull relief and release of me out of these miseries according to my prayers 17 And do not suffer me thus uncomfortably to remain under a cloud without sence of thy favour or experience of thy goodness who am related to thee as near as man can be to God for I am thy servant chosen by thee and devoted to thee and therefore under thy protection as also because of my trouble which as it is for thy sake so it is great and my danger imminent and so therefore must be and I pray thee so it may be thy help and succour 18 Thou seemest to be afar off though thou art not so in reallity for my dangers greaten upon me and the nearer they approach my life the farther seemingly at least art thou from it in compassion and providence but Lord change the scene come thou speedily to my rescue let thine own goodness and mine enemies ungratiousness move thee to work my deliverance 19 For thou Lord hast known mine innocency and their injuries how they have heaped up lies and disgraces upon me the wrong they have done me they are known to thee and so are the doers of them though they are so many I know them not all yet thou dost and both canst and wilt do me justice upon them 20 Who have so wronged and slandered me that knowing mine own innocency it cuts me to the very heart and is a great grief unto me and the more for that I have none to take my part for as some that know me to be innocent do against their own consciences traduce me so others that believe so of me their mouths for all that is stopt and they dare not or will not speak a good word for me but all men are against me or as good for none are for me to shew any compassion to my wronged innocency or to afford me any comfort and support in my misery 21 Nay instead of comforting me those that I had need of and applied my self unto added affliction to affliction in stead of affording me relief when I craved it they fell upon me with all manner of bitterness and soure usage wherein I am as a member mysticall of Christs body the Church militant so also a type of Christ personall that shall be thus befriended on the Cross comforted with no other cordials then gall and vineger in the agonie of his soul. 22 Let the present plenty and prosperity of mine enemies whereupon they bear themselves so high and which makes them so proud and merciless be the cause of thine humbling them low enough let abused mercies turn to curses as shall Christ himself be to his unjust and inhumane persecutours
though sent of God to better purpose amongst his people proud of their priviledges which they abuse to their own destruction that was intended for their salvation 23 Let them that persecute me the type and Christ the Antitype be ruined never to see good days but live in perpetuall infelicity anguish and fear let them neither know what tends to their good nor have power to make use of it but miserably and irrecoverably miscarry in horrour and darkness like hell it self 24 Blast them in every thing they put their hands unto and make them a noted people by the terrible executions of thy wrathfull displeasure against them and fearfull judgements upon them 25 Let the land spue out my persecutours and Christs let them become as vagabonds upon the face of the earth exposed to destruction that neither they nor their posterity may ever inherit thy favour or inhabit this inheritance of thine and theirs any more but be desolate 26 For as they do by me so will they do by Christ because thou that art the sovereign God of all the earth art pleased in righteousness to exercise and try thy servant with hardship and to humble me before thou exalt me these men instead of praying for and pitying of me they take advantage of thine hand upon me and double and trebble my misery yea persecute me to the death which thou never meantest and because thou art pleased to wound me and cast me down with a purpose to heal me and raise me up like as Christ shall die and be buried to rise and live again they to the grief both of his heart and mine shall and do blaspeme thee scoffing at me in my misery and him in his torments 27 Do thou give them over unto their lawless and sinfull lusts untill they heap up their iniquities that the measure of them be full and let them never partake of pardoning grace nor share in thy justifying or renewing righteousness 28 Let them by their fearful sinnings and thy fearful judgements appear and be known to be that which indeed they are hypocrites and reprobates none of thine elect nor never let them be such as are thus wicked enemies to thee and thy Christ and persecutors of thy faithful Church and innocent people let them be taken away from amongst them and neither have the name of Israel named upon them here nor be partakers of their divine and heavenly priviledges either here or hereafter 29 But Lord take notice into what a low and uncomfortable condition I am brought by my persecutors for thy sake which though it be their doing yet is it I am sure by thy permitting let them not have their wills quite to overthrow me but do thou that art faithful and able to deliver bring to pass thy promised salvation and that high dignitie of my being the Kingly type of the Messiah 30 Then Lord will I not forget to do my homage and pay my tribute to thee from whom I am sure I must have my Kingdom and of whom I will hold it and will declare in the ears of all the people to the praise of thy free grace thy choosing me for it and bringing me to it through such difficulties and by such deliverances all which I will repeat and register in Psalms and Songs enumerating them and thy power grace and mercie to me in them and with my uttermost zeal and skill will thankfully exalt thee for thy goodness illustrating the full demensions of it 31 And as I promise praise and thanks to God so I dare promise my self his acceptance of them spiritually and faithfully offered up in the merits and mediation Christ who is the kernell and scope of all legall sacrifices which be they never so great and good and exactly performed are but shadows and of no acceptance with God saving as they are offered in spirit and faith of him their Antitype 32 O the happiness and joy of that day not onely to me but to all the humble and faithfull expectants of it like that of Christs and doubt not but it will come to the reviving of you from out your fears and doubts and the animation of all such as you are in times to come to seek the Lord as you have done in hope of the like success and issue in greatest distress 33 For the Lord hath an ear to hear the prayers of his poor afflicted people in all places and all ages and how despicable so ever they may be in mens eyes subject to all manner of injury and abuse yet God is regardfull of them that suffer for his sake and that most when they are in the worst condition 34 Let the heavens the earth and sea and all the creatures that he hath given existence to in all these let them I say be sensible of and in their kind thankfull to him 35 For the good that God will do for his Church which if he should cast off it would be the dissolution of all things even the whole creation but he of his grace will preserve Sion the place of his worship and save his people Israel all the Church he now hath and not let them be ruinated but will now make them flourish and will so maintain and uphold them and will never suffer his Church to cease from off the earth but will preserve it and all created Beings for his Churches sake 36 There shall not be wanting a holy seed to inhabit this holy land and to be a Church unto him whom he will preserve and bless and all things for their sakes yea for his elects sake the whole world shall subsist The lxx PSALM A Psalm made by David and by him committed to the President of the Quire for his ordering of it the purport whereof is to put God in mind of his piteous state and his faith in him thereby to gain relief THis whole Psalm consisting of five verses is the same with the five last verses of the 40. Psalm viz. the 13 14 15 16 17. verses being a part of that Psalm here repeated upon the like occasion of distress some few words onely varying in the texts which being compared serve the better to explain and illustrate the sense The lxxi PSALM David being in great straits by Absoloms conspiracie flies to God for refuge which he prays for and presseth hard by many arguments taken from Gods purpose his enemies wickedness his own hope trust and long experience the strangeness of his condition his declining age and constitution his enemies insultation upon which last he re-inforceth his prayer for himself and against them declares the stedfastness of his hope notwithstanding strengthned by former experiences And praies that his latter end as well as his beginning may glorifie and demonstrate the power and faithfulness of God and particularly in this deliverance for which he promises to praise and magnifie
his word or suffer them to perish for want of sustenance he did supernaturally supply them and whereas he could have done it with materials of nature terrestrial corn or bread he chose rather to do it with the bread of heaven such food as nature never did produce extraordinary provision as well as in an extraordinary way descended from the heavenly mansion of the blessed angels to shew in what a degree of honour and amity God admits his chosen people that are on earth fellow-servants and of the same houshould with the angels whereof God is the Lord as really by faith feeding them with Christ the son of God that spiritual soul-sustaining bread of life Mediator of angels and men figured by Manna as the angels do feed their eyes and desires in continually beholding him in heaven and are there sustained by him in that their blessed and unchangeable state nay he gave them not onely bread but flesh too in abundance 26 27 28 For in regard they tempted him and mis-doubted his power to do it therefore to vindicate his omnipotencie not in favour and respect to them he by a South-west wind which he then raised and caused to blow full upon the place where they pitched from the sea-ward brought home to their doors infinite of Quails which fell as thick as rain and lay for a days journey like sea sand round about their camp at Kibroth-hattaavah two cubits high upon the face of the earth 29 30 So that they both saw and felt by experience that God could do what they thought he could not even furnish a table in the wilderness with dainties far fetched upon the wings of the wind such as they fed not on in Egypt whereof they had plenty and eat their fill for God stinted them not but gave them enough to glut themselves and so they did of that they so inordinately desired not to sustain or suffice nature but to palliate their lusts wherein God gave them the full length of teather abridged them not but withall this sweet meat had sowre sauce even whilest these unbelievers were greedily feeding upon these dainties without confessing their sin and giving the glory to God 31 The wrath of the Lord was kindled against them and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague which God so disposed as that it chiefly swept away the more insolent carnal-minded ringleaders in this mutiny they that having been used to dainties in in Egypt could not be without them in the wilderness but whether God would or not must have them or murmur and quarrel for want of them and set the rest to do so too these chief mutiners principal men in the camp of Israel did God chiefly slay by the plague to affright the rest 32 But nothing could reclaim this stubborn people nothing that God could do for them or against them no blessings though miraculous no punishments though never so formidable and capital could do good upon them to make them leave their murmuring and live by faith 33 Therefore whereas he promised them Canaan if they had believed in him and been obedient to him contrarily he adjudged them to wander out their days in that wilderness where they so murmured and misbelieved even all in effect that came out of Egypt wasted out their lives in a vain unprofitable pilgrimage there to their exceeding great trouble and in Gods disfavour for forty years space after they were arrived at the skirts of Canaan in which time they were all destroyed by their sins and Gods just judgements 34 They were a people that God could do no good on by mercies and benefits but the better he was the worse they were onely when for their rebelliousness God was forced to fall heavy upon them and to destroy them sometimes by one judgement sometimes by another then upon the same principles that before they murmured against him would they then seek unto him the one for self-pleasing the other for self-saving when the fire was burning and the plague consuming then down on their knees and up with their hands promising any thing to be spared Oh what a reformed and changed people they will be then they post as fast as they can to Moses to pray for them and save their carcasses and desiring but to know their sin Oh how would they then repent of it and their duty how they might but please God for the time to come and they would never fail to perform it 35 Then there was none but God with them they could then remember all the great deliverances he had wrought for them and recount them one by one how this time and the other time God saved them from being destroyed by their enemies and his own judgements then they could give him his titles and acknowledge his attributes of Sovereignty and Omnipotencie he that they never thought well of nor could afford a good word now is becom their onely saviour they cannot say too much of him nor give too much to him 36 But all this was but to deceive God to carry fair towards him to work their ends upon him pretending sorrow for sin and resolution of amendment when as all that was spoken by them was but from teeth outward so long as the blow smarted never meant as they spake nor made good any thing they said 37 For all was but pretences to serve their own turns there was no true inward remorse for all their shew of sorrow nor no sincere change for all their fair promises their hearts were as wicked as ever and as bad principled towards God breaking promises as fast as they made them yea the grand charter the covenant it self so solemnly contracted and so often renewed between God their fore-fathers and themselves that God would be their God and that they would be his people and walk thereafter this they made not good but notwithstanding all Gods promises to them and theirs to him they sinned against him deviated from him and falsified with him 38 But the Lord having chosen them for his people and remembring the ancient league of amity and friendship that was betwixt him and their fore-fathers could not find in his heart to do to them as their sins deserved but being a people that for his names sake he would be good unto and preserve himself a Church and holy seed amongst he from time to time with patience and pitie overcame their provocations and his own hot displeasure that justice called to destroy them but mercie staid his hands and moderated his furie so that his punishments were rather examplary than otherwise never destroying all that offended which yet justice called upon his wrath to do again and again 39 For the Lord knew if he should give way to his anger according to the instigation of his justice and their demerit they that were mortal and short lived by nature would quickly perish
is not to be expressed the outrages of the enemie and the miseries of thy poor people they torture them to death that adhere to thee and will not apostatize and desert thy Laws and ordinances to profess and practise their Idolatrie and superstition and after death will not afford them burial but expose them above ground as not worthie the common curtesie of nature to have so much as a burying place on earth whose souls are with thee in heaven but lie like common carrion and are suffered to rot and stink and be torn in pieces and devoured by ravenous beasts and birds 3 They have made havock of all thy faithful people that for pietie sake resorted to and inhabited in and about thy holy Citie Jerusalem shedding there the bloud of such holy Martyrs unmeasurably and by strict watch and barbarous edicts kept the bodies of such precious souls unburied nor would suffer without imminent peril of their lives nay certain ruine any of their brethren that were left alive to do that office of charitie and humanitie for them nor indeed could they if they would the dead were so many and the living so few 4 We O Lord that through thy grace and powerful assistance were wont to be the terrour of the heathen round about us and by thy presence and worship amongst us were heretofore the glorie of all the World now they that were our slaves and subjects are our Lords and masters and use us not onely cruelly but abuse us scornfully reproching and deriding us together with thee and thy worship because of our present condition and theirs none pitie us no not our next neighbour-nations but scornfully taunt us 5 O Lord take notice of it and be moved to vindicate thine own dishonour and have some compassion also upon thy distreâ—sed people for Lord we know well enough that this could not befal us if our sins and thine anger were not the causes But Lord remember thou hast been angrie heretofore but never after this sort thou wast wont to commix mercie with displeasure Lord be not less good to us than to our forefathers let there be an end of our miserie and thy furie and let not our whoredoms and thine enraged jealousie quite consume us as fire doth straw 6 Lord such furie would better become thee towards thine enemies than thy chosen people these indeed for their sins may deserve punishments but let utter destruction be the portion of them that neither know nor worship thee that have neither relation to thee nor commerce with thee nor thou knowest never will but in their pride and ignorance contemne thee and serve other Gods 7 And such are they that have thus cruelly butchered us thine onely Israel thy friends Jacobs posteritie and by slaughter captivitie and devastations have unpeopled and ruinated the whole land where we have dwelt so long and which thou promisedst to him and his posteritie after him which yet now are cast out of it by these prophane heathen 8 O for mercie sake muster not up the provocations of old those murmurings against thee mistrusts of thee apostatizings from thee that we have ever been guiltie of from the very first to make war upon us for them now but forgive and forget them for we shall never be able to stand under them And instead of remembring them call to mind thy tender mercies and bowels of compassion which thou hast ever professed to be in thee in thy peoples behalf when they have been in miserie and greater never befel them than these we now are in for we are at the very last gasp to so low and miserable an estate are we brought as thy people have scarce a beeing but certainly will have none at all shortly such sorrows and sufferings will make a final end of them if thou in mercie speedily prevent it not by some redress 9 Which good Lord vouchsafe us Help us out of this miserable destructive condition thou that onely canst do it and who we cannot chuse but hope wilt do it because thy glorie is so much concerned in it and thou as well as we sufferest so much by it Though we confess we can not scarce hope by reason of our sins which are greater than our sufferings but Lord as our benefit will be great so thy glorie will not be small if thou wilt do away sins and sufferings by thy pardon and power which therefore we beg of thee 10 For as things now stand thou hast no honour we are punished but the heathen are not converted Thy justice and terrour upon us hath no other operation upon them to drive them into contempt and insultation not onely over us but thee for they stick not to say where is the God of the Hebrews he that was wont he could deliver them This Lord they say in derision of thee and thou sufferest it to go unpunished though thou thus punishest us But Lord let us few that are left alive of the many thousands of Israel though in captivitie yet be remembered and pitied by thee let our enemies know and us see that thou art a God still and the same God too as able as heretofore by some remarkable and just vindication of that deluge of bloud of thine own people and precious servants that hath been shed and cries for vengeance against them 11 Yea Lord let both the innocent bloud already shed as also the unjust sufferings and miserable calamities of those of thy people that are yet alive the imprisonments and cruelties practised upon them and the heavie sighs and direful groans which in those pressures are forced from them come all before thee to move with thee as to revenge the one so to preserve the other which thou hast power enough to do though they and death are not far asunder 12 Put forth thy power accordingly in our behalfs but chiefly in thine own let them not escape thee for their cruelties but Lord pay them home for their blasphemies these wicked Idolatrous heathens and those pitieless neighbouring nations that notwithstanding all they have heard and seen of thee since thou broughtest us among them are no more knowing of thee nor bear no more reverence to thee than to scorn and reproch thee because of our miserie Good Lord let them smart for it 13 Who are none of thy people and we that are thine onely peculiar shall thereby have cause given us for ever to remember thy power and goodness when thou shalt thus revenge the dead preserve the living and right thy self and will never forget so great a mercie but will be for ever thankfull to thee and praise thee for it yea our children and childrens children through all generations will we instruct and engage to do the like The lxxx PSALM The Psalmist upon the captivitie of Judah and those of the rest of the tribes that adhered to her and were led captive with her indites this prayer
rotting upon the superficies of the earth in multitudes unburied 11 Let their Nobles and great men all the Princes and chieftains of this aggregate body that comes to invade us speed as did those Kings and Princes of the Midianites Oreb and Zeeb which were taken in their flight and beheaded Zeba and Zalmunna whose Host was smitten themselves slain by Gideons own hand 12 Let these proud enemies of ours and thine come to the same end that with such malice and carnall confidence invade thy land and people and stick not to promise themselves the possession of the one and the enslaving of the other and utterly to dispossess thee of both and to ruin both thy worship and all those places where it was used to be performed the Temple and Synagogues or to pervert and turn them to their own Idolatrous usages 13 O God in whom we thy poor Church do trust for preservation and defence against this confederation turn their projects upside down make giddy their counsellours and amuze their designs let them no sooner rise but fall have no success in what they project or attempt bring nothing to an issue let them and their undertakings be as vain uncertain and ineffectuall as light and loose straw before the wind that 's scattered and tossed hither and thither 14 As a fire caused by thunder and lightening and enkindled with the wind violently breaks forth and consumes whole woods and forrests the flames whereof reach the tallest tops of trees that grow upon the highest mountains formidably appearing to spectatours far and near and consumes them as easily as the lowest shrubs 15 Such Lord let be thine anger and so do thou break forth in thy fiery indignation upon this huge army of numerous associats that march like a wood against us by an Almighty power and with terrible judgements as tempests from heaven do thou confound and astonish them that thus affright and purpose to destroy thy whole Church and people at once to the amazement and terrour of all that see or hear it spare neither great nor small high nor low but in thine enraged jealousie destroy the destroyer as well Prince as people 16 So cross their designs disappoint their hopes and confound their confidences that this enterprise may be for their shame not for their honour and that by experience of thy power to deliver thy people and subdue thine enemies they may be wrought upon and forced to beg pardon and compassion at thine hands acknowledging thee for sole Lord and God of all the earth whom they now so much contemn and mean to despight if thou wilt suffer them 17 Do thou Lord so affright and astonish them as they may never dare to enterprise against thee any more and so shamefully defeat by some strange overthrow this their invincible confederation that these invadours may have neither heart nor power to meddle in this sort again 18 That so not onely thine own people but others even all these Idolatrous nations that know nothing of thee but what thou enforcest upon them by sense and experience may be made to confess that thou who indeed art and onely art the Almighty and everliving Lord art not onely to be acknowledged by us but that the whole earth as well as we ought to pay thee Homage as the sole Sovereign God of Gods and Lord of Lords The lxxxiv PSALM David after his restaurationâ— from banishment and settlement both of him in the Kingdom and the Ark on mount Sion yet personates that estate in this Psalm and the mind he then was in shewing what longings he then had after the sanctuary and ordinances of God how he envied the priviledge the very birds had and blessed the priviledge others of Gods people had and he wanted the least whereof he would have been glad of but still believed and hoped to find God gracious and true of his word To him that is most skilfull upon Gittith the instrument used by Obed-Edom the Gittite and his family is this Psalm committed for his ordering of it to be sung by the Korathites 1 TO a spirituall minded man who knows the worth and excellency of thy worship and service in each part and circumstance of it and how to improve it to edification and exercise of his graces O how delicious and affecting are thine ordinances acted in thy sanctuary O most mighty God of heaven and earth and Lord of all the innumerable creatures in both 2 My soul which was wont to be feasted with heavenly and divine delicacies in the courts of thy Sanctuary where I worshipped thee longeth incessantly to frequent them again yea so vehement is my desire that the long frustration of it makes me ready to swound away like a woman with child disappointed of her longing My whole man soul and body gaspeth after and earnestly importunes to be restored to my former communions with thee and lively soul-quickning participations of thee whereof to mine unspeakable grief I have been so long deprived 3 I envy the happiness of the very irrationall creature the poor birds for that they have a priviledge far beyond me they can dwell in thy land amongst thy people the sparrow and swallow have their freedom there harbour themselves and make their nests where they will in view of and near to thy very Altar whereas I a son of Abraham an heir of the promise one that have a right and title to all the emoluments of thy Church and people am notwithstanding forced into exile among the heathen as if I were not related to thee nor had no right to worship thee O Lord whom yet in mind and heart I will and do worship acknowledging no God besides thee and adoring thee for the sole sovereign Creatour and commander of heaven and earth and all in both whose subject and servant I am though Saul will not own me for his and in whom I yet trust in hope to find thee gracious to me for all this 4 O happy condition are they in whose function and office makes them not onely frequenters but indwellers in thy sanctuary the Preists and Levites they have their fill of what I want that is opportunities to magnifie and praise thee in the dayly sacrifices and solemn ordinances there administred 5 Blessed and onely blessed is he that in diffidence of his own self-sufficiency specially spirituall-self makes his diligent humble and faithfull resort to thee after thy prescript and rule and lives the life which he lives by faith in thee and continuall addresses to thee for spirit and grace in prayer and supplication In whose heart is throughly grounded this belief and accordingly frames his practise walking as all those do that faithfully believe thus 6 And therefore overcome all difficulties for those sweet injoyments it is neither length of way nor deficiency of accommodation in the journey that can hinder such sure I am it
judgement portending thy everlasting displeasure and disregard as well of their souls as bodies 6 Thou Lord hast brought me into such an estate as I can scare tell how to express it or find fit tearms to parallel the condition and dimensions of my miserie I am as it were shut up under ground excluded the societie of mankind in an Abiss void of the suns comfortable light a very dungeon of darkness in the bottom of the bottomless sea with all the waters a top of me so extream uncomfortable is this my condition so full of horrour and perturbation of spirit and so overwhelmed with grief and withall so remediless 7 For thou hast afflicted me with such a weight of wrath and so loaden me with judgements that I am even pressed to death all comforts are gone and life it self is going after thou as it were hast let in the sea upon my soul thy terrours and affrightments come so thick one in the neck of another that they bear down all before them no hope nor comfort can stand in their way My grief is very great 8 Thou hast made me so uncomfortable a companion that my old friends and acquaintance seperate from me they have abandoned all societie and converse with me for indeed I am like no man nor fit companie for any being miserably inclaved in this forlorn comfortless condition whence I cannot extricate my self nor none for me but am as without comfort so without hope and help 9 I have almost wept my self blind by reason of the long duration and heavie oppression of this mine affliction Lord thou knowest with what uncessant prayers and hands lifted up to heaven I have importuned thy favour and mitigation of this my terrour 10 Lord how long shall it be before thy mercie and truth relieve me if it be whilest I live it must not be much longer deferred if thou hast a purpose to do me good thou must either do it suddenly before the breath go out of my bodie which truly is expiring or else miraculously when I am quite departed but that is not likely it is not thy manner to shew mercie to men dead but living as yet I am I expect not to be raised out of my grave to live again after I am dead to praise thee on earth no therefore I hope to do it ere I die for all this 11 Thy love and faithfulness will certainly be better manifested and fulfill'd in preservation and deliverance than in death and destruction and thy people can better magnifie thee for them living than dead 12 Is it under-ground that thou wilt manifest thy power where none shall see it and fulfil thy promise in the gravem when we are in an incapacitie for it where nothing is taken notice of but thy power grace and faithfulness will die and be buried with us 13 But Lord as I have not deferred my prayers to the grave so I hope nor wilt thou thine answers and whilest I live that the evening of death do not close up mine eyes and shut my mouth I will not cease to importune thee and hope to prevent so sad a farewel by obtaining mercie before I die 14 Lord what is the cause of this grievous desertion and seeming rejection of my soul why am I thus benighted thy face over-clouded no beam of divine favour shining into me nor no spark of renewing grace glowing in me 15 Lord thou knowest I am sure I for my part remember well that ever since I could remember I have scarce had a good day my trials and troubles have been so grievous they have brought me I know not how often to deaths door so tedious and comfortless a life have I led being almost alwayes exercised either under the present sence or future expectation and fear of their return to my no small torment and distraction 16 Lord it is no small matter that I complain of thou knowest I have cause for my burden is greater than I can bear or any man alive that had the feeling of it as I have Thy fierce wrath who can stand under it and yet I am made to bear it and to undergo the surges and waves thereof which are raised like storms and tempests in my soul readie to overwhelm it my terrours and perplexities of mind are such that they have cut me off of all comfort in my self and almost of all hope in thee 17 They brake in upon me like a fierce torrent dayly they do so I have seldom any ease or quiet they fill every crannie of my soul and so begirt me round that I can come at no comfort by no means I can use with complicate evils on all sides am I besiedged so that comfort can enter in at no door 18 Mine intimates avoid me and mine old acquaintance will not now know me I am as a man dead and buried out of their sight having no companion but grief and sorrow not any to make my moan to besides thy self or that can or will comfort me The lxxxix PSALM Expositours differ upon the occasion of this Psalm some make it to be in reference to the salling of the ten tribes from Rehoboam others to Absalons rebellion others to the Babylonish captivitie to which I encline conceiving it prophetically to be composed by Ethan for them to use in that estate It contains matter of praise to God for his covenant for his power to make it good which he both hath done and will do But expostulates how that captivitie and the matter of that covenant can be reconciled and puts God in mind of dangerous inconvenience that must needs insue upon breach of covenant and abolition of Davids Kingdom as also of the enemies reprochful blasphemies And concludes with faithful praises notwithstanding all seeming discouragements An instruction for the people of God how to demean themselves in publick calamities and concussions of Church or Common-wealth by sad complaining humble expostulating and earnest prayer to God penned by Ethan one of the sons of Zerah of the posteritie of Judah famous for his wisdom 1 Kings 4.31 1 WHat ever befal I will be confident of the mercies God hath promised that they shall be fulfilled I will set them forth and sing their praises whilest I live and leave them upon record to thy Church for ever to do the like Thy faithfulness to thy people according to thy promises I will publish and assert it to this age and all that are to come 2 For upon a deliberate well-grounded faith I believe and therefore do and dare affirm and have ever done so in the midst of the greatest concussions that ever befel us that mercie shall be built up from one age of the Church to another like so many stories untill it come in the end like a building perfected to its full accomplishment the Churches perfection in her glorified condition to all eternitie
people have cause to remember and acknowledge and with joyfull hearts to praise thee for especially for that transcendent work of mercy in chosing us from out all the world to be thine which together with those concomitant powerfull dispensations and manifestations of thy self in our behalfes from time to time gives cause to me and them to triumph and glory in faith and hope 5 O Lord how unconceivable is thy power and wisdom in all thy decrees counsels and dispensations towards both thy Church and the enemies thereof in thy strange providences and marvellous judgements 6 Which yet are little taken notice of by most men so worldly minded and sensually disposed are people ordinarily that God is not in all their thoughts spending their time more like beasts than men of reason minding the creature more than the Creatour who is never so much as owned much less honoured by the earthly minded and wicked Athiesticall persons of the world in any thing he doth though never so remarkable 7 Neither the hazardous condition that they themselves are in in this their earthly felicity which they take to be a speciall note of Gods peculiar favour to them that they can sin and yet prosper when others that are holy and strict in their wayes are at an ebb-water in poverty and misery not considering that God gives wicked men their hearts desire here le ts them swim in plenty and pleasure for a while during a short life that they may compleat their sins to the sum totall and he his judgements even unto everlasting destruction in endless pains never to enter into his rest 8 They neither understand themselves nor thee O Lord God never imagining that thou rulest in the highest heavens and thence judgest of all men and their actions here below But whatever their vain thoughts are thou art the everlasting King of thy Church and people and the righteous judge of thine and their enemies and so they shall find thee to be to the worlds end 9 For as sure as Gods in heaven so sure shall the wicked of the earth however they prosper and whatever they may think of themselves compared with other men come to ruine and utter destruction for though they think God their friend yet doth he know and reckon them for his enemies and as such shall his proceedings be towards them for all evil doers though they be many and the godly few in all ages and places they shall be weeded out and consume away by the hand of God upon them they and their felicity shall part and be everlastingly seperated 10 But as despicable as the godly are in the eyes of worldlings they shall have their turn I and other thy faithfull servants shall see better dayes when they shall see worse principally in heaven that everlasting sabbatism when our turn comes to rise then they shall fall and there is no doubt but that day will come when we shall be made able by thee whose faithfulness is engaged for it to lift up our heads and enjoy those everlasting consolations hoped for and those divine honours of being Kings and Priests unto thee 11 The faithfull shall not fail of the grace promised them and the justice to be executed upon their enemies but they shall undoubtedly be both eye and ear-witnesses of the righteous judgements of God upon the wicked of the world that hate and persecute them 12 The righteous however they be decried and depressed by wicked worldlings yet shall God so bless them that they shall out-grow their miseries and over-top their enemies Gods Church and his people of whom it consists shall grow in grace untill they arrive in glory 13 Those that are Israelites indeed which by the spirit and faith are made members and have taken rooting in the family and Church of God shall thrive and come on prosperously in spirituall graces by use of holy means in frequenting his sanctuary and sanctifying his Sabbath to Gods glory their own assurance and unspeakable rejoycing They that are rooted here in grace shall grow up from grace to grace and be crowned at last with eternall life in the heavens 14 These trees and plants of Gods own planting by a divine supernaturall supply of spirituall sap and nourishment contrary to the course of nature the elder they grow the better they shall flourish and fructifie both on earth and to all eternity in heaven 15 Thus shall both the wicked perish and the godly flourish to shew that however by outward appearance of providences and weakness of faith the Lord seems oft-times to us to go against himself and break his word yet it s nothing so the Lord for all that is faithfull true of his promise a never failing refuge to every true believer and there is no such thing as our sinfull imagination and unbelief-fancy of him not the least uâ—righteousness in word or deed The xciii PSALM The Psalmist goes about to settle the faith of the Church in the Empire and omnipotency of the Lord her God together with his faithfull engagements the holy performances whereof she is bound to believe and relie upon for ever 1 THe Church and people of God ought to know and believe this for an infallible maxim in practicall as well as dogmaticall divinitie that The Lord reigneth He that is their God is God and King of all and over all the empire and regalitie of the whole world is his the resplendent majestie whereof appears in all created Beings in heaven and earth and in that power which he so effectually and dexterously manifests for his Churches preservation and their enemies confusion whereby the world also is centred so firm as upon a basis so that though it hang like a ball in the air yet it is as firm and immoveable as the fixed mountains 2 This dominion of thine O Lord glorious in its administrations of protection and government hath ever been never was there any vacation of it and as it hath been so it shall be from everlasting to everlasting as thou thy self art 3 As in nature thou Lord hast ordained in the waterie element thereof vâ—â—y formidable and dreadfull agitations as in the tempestuous ragings of the sea the over-flowing of great waters making a hideous noise such storms and concussions are raised on land too even all the earth over against thy Church tossed as a ship at sea and boistrously handled by wicked and unreasonable men that rage against her readie to be swallowed up and devoured by them 4 But as high as these waves and tempests of danger and destruction to thy Church do mount yet is the Lord in heaven both higher and mightier than they be they never so terrible for noise and number he can allay and quiet them at his pleasure yea though the Church be as a boat in a storm at sea in the midst of gusts and surges God can preserve
my wonderfull preservation and deliverance 19 When I was at the fullest of anxious cares and troublous thoughts were revolved in my breast by reason of my desperate condition what would become of me then when I but cast the eys of my mind upon thine all-sufficiencie and faithfulness I was presently quieted and never am so deep plunged in sorrow but these bladders bear me up again and make my joy and hope surmount them 20 Lord wilt thou that art the Judge of all the World not judge righteously shall the wicked scape thee as they do the corrupt Judges here on earth No thou wilt not suffer tyrants and persecutors of thy people always to rule over them in thy stead whose King thou properly art such as make laws flat against thine enact sin and legitimate their unjust and mischievous practises against thy people 21 They conspire and plot the destruction of the righteous yea sit in judgement upon the godly as upon malefactours and right or wrong condemn them to death though they can find no just accusation against them 22 But maugre the malice and injustice of mine enemies I doubt not of defence from them I have found God an al-sufficient refuge and safe hiding-place and my faith is in him as it was therefore I fear not but to find him the same God now as ever heretofore in my defence and preservation 23 Yea he shall compass my deliverance and the deliverance of his Church by her enemies confusion their fall shall be her rise what they purpose against Gods people shall redound upon themselves to their own mortal wounding this our good and Almightie Lord God is able to do and to the glorie of his faithfulness and praise of his power he shall effect it to all mens admiration The xcv PSALM David as appears by Heb. 4.7 was authour of this Psalm wherein he incites the people solemnly unanimously and affectionately to sing praise and thanks to God for his grace to them and his greatness in himself and over the world and not to be like their fore-fathers rebellious and unbelieving but to hear and obey lest imitating their sins they share in their plagues 1 2 O How meet a thing it is for all us Israelites the adopted people of the Lord frequently to meet together and with willing minds and thankfull hearts to set forth the praises of the Lord in solemn assemblies let us unanimously and cheerfully do so even sing aloud the praise-worthy preservations that he the Rock of our salvation hath in all ages vouchsafed unto us Let us joyfully repair to his sanctuary in the faith of his presence according to his promise with our hearts full-fraught with the memorie of his mercies and our lips gratuitously pouring out the praises of them before him there singing joyfully with all the melodious harmonie of voyces and instruments the Psalms made for that purpose 3 For who is there like him or who is besides him worthy of worship He onely is God great in might and majestie doing whatsoever pleaseth him the onely Potentate whose is the kingdom power and glory The maker of all things besides whom there is no God though falsly and abusively there are gods many and lords many as heathenish idols civil majestrates glorified Angels yea divels also bear that name but he is above every thing so called and commanded them as well as us 4 5 What is there that he hath not fashioned and framed in all the world and consequently which are not at his command and dispose from the bottom of the bottomless sea to the top of the mightiest mountains in the whole earth for both land and sea were made by him and possessed of those places they enjoy at first he commanded the al-over-flowing waters now the sea to the abyss prepared for them that the face of the earth might appear above them for the use of man and beast and so it did 6 O let me exhort you again and again chearfully and joyntly with unanimitie and gratuitie to frequent the tabernacle of this immense majestie there to worship him in all the ways and ordinances he hath appointed and adore his great and glorious name by humbling and prostrating our selves before him with lowly hearts and bended knees in token of giving our whole selves a living and reasonable sacrifice unto him as a homage due to so Almighty a God and our Creatour of whom we as well as all other things had our beeings and have still 7 8 9 Nor is that all but besides the common interest of Creation he is our God by special Election who governs us not onely by common providence as all mankind but by special gubernation as his Church and chosen people to whom and on whom he hath bestowed his saving truths and ordinances for us to feed upon and grow by unto everlasting life and happiness we are not of his flock which he turns out to the wide world as sheep-masters do some sheep to commons and fallows but we are his pasture-sheep yea his cades brought up at hand his very domesticks these priviledges we have if we know how to use them and walk worthy of them obedientially hearkening to the voice and submitting to the guidance of this shepherd of Israel and not after so much and so long experience as we have of him his goodness faithfulness and power at this time above what our fore-fathers had formerly and the light that now shines amongst us towards the perfect day more than it did then harden our hearts as they at Meribah and Massah the place where they chid with Moses and with ungratefull unbelief questioned the power and presence of the Almightie whether he were with them and would or could supply their want of water after the great things he had done for them all along from Egypt thither when as he expected far other from them considering what things he had even then done for them but much more for us since then and therefore expects much more from us for this was in the wilderness long ago during their peregrination there short of our times and what we have seen when yet God expected even then and there their faith and obedience to have been answerable to his care and providence and therefore there proved them purposely but instead of hearkening to the voice of Moses and of his miracles to trust in him faithfully and walk before him humbly in a meek and patient depending on him and seeking to him in their necessities they speak rebelliously mutined and murmured at God and his servant ungratefully and instead of submitting themselves to the will and dispensations of God to be proved by him that they might have opportunity to shew forth their faith and obedience in and to him that had done such great things for them they turned it to a contrarie use obstinately tempting and proving him by misbelieving and
questioning his power and goodness instead of meekly yielding to be proved by him and answering his expectations by suitable returns These were our progenitours of whom we come and of whose sins we therefore ought to beware 10 11 And this they did not onely once but often nor out of frailtie but obstinacie Nothing I could do or say saith God could reclaim them but they persisted the self same men from first to last from the Red-sea to the skirts of Canaan fourtie years together perpetually vexing me with their unbelief and rebellion even all the generation of them scarce a man that did other insomuch that at last after so long trial and experience of them I concluded that there was no good to be done they are a people whose hearts are not upright with me that erre not of infirmitie but obstinacie and for all that by my word and works I have taught and assured them thus long of my love care power and faithfulness yet have not they learned in all this time nor never will being wilfully blind and perversly inconsiderate how to walk and demean themselves towards me by honouring of me with their faithfull dependance humble submission and hopefull expectation of my goodness and power to appear for them and be extended to them and to return me praise and thanks love and obedience that so a perpetual intercourse of friendship and sweet correspondencie might have been traded betwixt us for ever as I intended But so hatefull and vexatious was their carriage and so infinite and endless their provocation that at last when I had tried them to the uttermost had brought them to the very borders of the promised land and saw they were still the same as unbelieving and murmuring as ever before it made me past patience so that in my rage I sware never to revoke it that so unworthy a people that I saw neither was nor never would be good do all that I could I say I sware they should upon no terms nor entreaty enter into and be possessed of the end of their travels the type of heaven that resting place the land of Canaan but should wast their days and end their lives in the wilderness where they had so sinned against me even the whole generation of them which I made good to the last man of that rebellious crew Let us fear and tremble hearken and obey praise and give thanks lest we the ofspring of such progenitours be guiltie of their sins and partake of their plagues be cast out as they were kept out of this good land The xcvi PSALM This Psalm was â—ndited at the remove of the Ark to its settled abode upon the hill of Sion in Jerusalem being in substance all one with that 1. Chron. 16.23 to 33. wherewith David ravished in spirit and prophetically disposed stirs up all the world Iews and Gentiles to praise the Lord for the Kingdom of Christ which was approching which that typified yea and all creatures the most irrational and unsensible â—or the general Iubilee that shall then be the happie restauration begun and not long to perfecting 1 2 O What a joyfull day is this to see the Ark brought after all its travels to its place of abode the holy mount in Jerusalem This new mercy deserves a new song yea extraordinarie praise and thanks not onely from us but from all the world the Gentiles as well as Israelites which from Sion shall have the glad tidings of salvation published to them news worthy of new songs and ineffable praises to be given to God whom we nor they can praise enough nor bless that infinite goodnese of his in vouchsafing the grace and knowledge of his salvation to us so eminently in this type of Christs peaceable and glorious Kingdom which they shall have really and indeed everlastingly amongst them worthy everlasting praises for them 3 Spread the glorious tidings of Christ and his approching Kingdoms far and near let it be told the Gentiles for they shall share in it and glorifie for it let all that he hath done for his Church and promised to do those wonderfull things of sending his Son calling the Gentiles and spreading his Church over the face of the earth be made known all the world over to prepare them for it with joy and thanks to receive it 4 For the Lord shall be better known though now they are ignorant of him and set light by him valuing stocks and stones before him yet the time will come when they shall know that this our God is the onely great and praise-worthy God and as well worthy to be worshipped and honoured of them instead of those false and fond gods they now serve as of us That there is none like him nor none but him 5 For all other gods which they ignorantly worship every where for all the world lies in darknesse are but dumb and deaf Idols made of wood and stone or at the best but creatures the Lord onely is the Creatour that made the whole world the glorious and beautifull heavens and reigns therein alone 6 In the midst of unaccessible Honour and Majesty which no man can see and live communicating thence some beams and rays of his heavenly and Divine properties of grace and power in that spiritual splendour that powerfully shines out of his holy sanctuarie into the souls and spirits of those that in faith and sincerity worshipping him there have their hearts thereby strengthened in believing and their graces enlivened by the fresh communicating of his ordinances and effectual answers to their prayers against their enemies 7 All ye people whether sons of Adam or of Abraham understand the Lord aright so as to honour him worthy of himself by glorifying him as the onely God of power yea the Lord Almightie 8 Worship not other gods instead of him nor yet together with him let him rule alone in your hearts that rules alone in the world pay your tribute and do your homage to him at his sanctuarie neither worship any God but him nor him in any other manner than as he hath appointed sacrifice to him upon his own altar in his own courts 9 Let all far and near come and welcome too do as we do worship the Lord in his holy sanctuarie O that the whole earth would turn to the Lord Gentiles as well as Jews as when Christ comes they shall have as free access to worship God as we and their worship as well accepted then as ours is now 10 Publish to the heathen what God hath made known to you his people How that the Lord onely is God and that the kingdom of the world as well as of Israel belongs to him and that his Church shall flourish every where as well as here which is not long to all things shall be brought into a better order one God in Christ shall be worshipped and stedfastly believed in instead of those
mutiplicitie of gods and extravagancies of worship that the world is distracted with He shall take upon him the kingdom of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews they shall take laws from him as well as we and be subjected to his righteous judgements as we are who now are a lawless people void both of the knowledge and fear of God 11 When that day comes that we shall be no more under the Law but under Grace it shall be like the restoring of all things a very first fruits of it Christ when he comes to enter upon his Gospel-kingdom shall give cause of joy to all things above and below heaven earth land water and to all creatures that live in and replenish all elements shall be glad to be from under his spreading confusion and chaos of ignorance and disorder now abounding under the time of nature and the curse and to be reduced under the headship and government of the reconciling and peace-making Mediatour authour of light and life as the fore-runner of their final and absolute deliverance at his second coming 12 13 All the earth and all the creatures in it shall have cause of rejoycing even the irrational and the unsensible like as also all the wide world of Gentilism for its deliverance from the bondage of corruption then certainly begun which is not far off being till then made subject to vanitie and its restorement into the glorious libertie of the children of God then assuredly hastening The whole creation in the mean time groaning and travelling in pain together waiting for the adoption and day of redemption to come from the presence of the Lord which is not far behind the coming of the Messiah nay he himself is that King and Judge that comes to that very end and purpose to put an end to confusion and unrighteousness and to create himself a righteous Church out of the unrighteous world that now is nothing else and a people that shall know Holiness and Truth from lies and vanitie whom he shall bless and the creature for their sakes and ease them of the curse that lies upon them by taking it upon himself dispensing grace and mercie to the good judgement wrath to the wicked by whose righteous government the whole creation shall be rendered much more acceptable in the eyes of the creatour and so the creature partake of the first fruits of its redemption and restauration and the assured hopes of the speedie compleatment and finishing thereof so much desired by it The xcvii PSALM This Psalm is a prophesie of the kingdom of Christ in the time of the Gospel when he is come in the flesh amplifying it in its certaintie and universality together with its dreadfull concomitants as to unbelievers and contemners of it The joy that it shall be of to all the Israel of God And concludes with an animadversion to sinceritie in contradistinction to formalitie and the happiness of such maugre all enemies and evils that shall befall them 1 THe glorious kingdom of Gods sole regencie by Jesus Christ is near at hand whereby errour and vanitie that hath hitherto prevailed over the face of the whole earth shall be extinguished and the light of the gospel of salvation shall shine like the sun into all the regions to the unexpressable joy of the whole earth yea it shall spread in its saving efficacie and virtue from out Judea where it hath long been confined to the remotest and unfrequentedst corners and countreys of the world by land and sea 2 You know how terribly the Lord appeared when he came down from heaven to earth to give the Law on Sinai his terrour and Majestie shall be every whit as great at his second coming to bring and publish the Gospel as dreadfull shall he be to the contemners and disobeyers thereof as of the Law for righteousness and judgement shall be administered in and are essential to his Gospel-kingdom and not to the Law onely as Gospel-sinners shall be sure to find 3 Whithersoever his Gospel-grace and mercy goes and wheresoever it is published there goes along with it wrath and judgement which shall certainly and heavily fall upon the enemies and refusers thereof for the defence of it and his Church every where 4 5. Recollect and enumerate all the terrible things that accompanied the mightie and dreadfull majestie of Almightie God when he gave the law on mount Sinai thunderings lightenings earth-quakes c. and the same dreadfulness accompanies the Gospel for its vindication and protection upon contemners and against opposers 6 The heavens declare him to be a faithfull Creatour one that in mightie long-suffering and patience towards the sons of men keeps his promise made to Noah after the floud causing the lights and influences of heaven to keep their natural courses and afford their benefits even to the heathenish idolotrous nations notwithstanding their sins who are eye-witnesses of his manifold glorious dispensations every where in all the parts and places of the world 7 Who see not their sin and folly in taking the benefit of Gods creatures such glorious ones as shine from heaven and yet fall down to the stock of a tree and worship it for God a strange stupiditie O that therefore the time were come which certainly shall come and is not long to of that gospel-light which shall shine like the sun upon the face of all the earth to the conversion or confusion of all idolatrous nations who now in this time of ignorance God bears with but when light is come into the world if then men love darkness more than light they shall be and so let them be destroyed all that are so wilfully blind and bruitish as still to worship and confide in idols and set them in opposition to the onely true God made manifest in Christ. All ye supposed gods cease to deceive men now let truth take place ye living oracles feigned deities disclaim the superstition and adoration wherewith the foolish people worship you tell them you are no Gods that God in Christ is onely to be worshipped do you exalt him and abase your selves that his Kingdom may come amongst the deluded heathen 8 What joy will it be to the faithfull Israel of God at that day when Christ shall come and shall shine out of Sion as the Sun out of the East his Kingdom taking rise from thence to the fall of Idols and Idolatry every where the happy predictions of the near approaches and the early dawnings of it being heard and seen shall be unspeakable joy to them because the truth of all those ancient long looked for promises and prophesies are then immediately to be fulfilled in the universall Sovereignty and Empire of Jesus Christ who comes to judge the world and rule his Church 9 For however the world is grosly mistaken by fancying other divinities besides thee as if the Government were not thine and thou
steadily in those wayes is he that I will be solicitous to enquire out and prefer both in domestick and republick offices 7 If I may know it there shall no crafty dissembler nor undermining oppressour harbour under my roof nor be imploid as any Minister of mine he that misinforms me thinking thereby to delude me advantage himself or disadvantage another such an one shall pack out of my doores he shall have no favour but all the discountenance I can give him 8 It shall be my first and chiefest work to weed out the notorious deboisheers generally in the Kingdom that have inured themselves so to sin in Sauls licentious reign as their is no hope of their amendment and as it shall be my first work so it shall be my constant course impartially to punish evil doers all the land over and specially in Jerusalem the place of Gods peculiar abode and worship that I may as near as I can bring all my people every where to be Gods people holy worshippers of him by working a thorough reformation among them most especially will I expunge them out of the sanctuary from officiating there where such men are a scandall and an eye-sore to God and all good men The cii PSALM The Authour of this Psalm in the name and person of the Church then in miserable captivity in Babylon but near the end of it prayes for speedy relief in their lamentable oppression and from under Gods own indignation and how desperate soever their condition seems yet he comforts himself and in himself the Church with Gods never failing-nature and truth which shall give existence to his Church and consequently restauration according to the prefixed time then at hand which will be joy to his people and honour to God both in present and after-ages amongst Iews and Gentiles for it shall be an occasion to convert some and a figure of the great restitution that shall be made by the coming of the Mâ—ssiah He magnifies Gods eternall being and assures the Church therefore an everlasting existence however frail in her self A Prayer made for the use and direction of the godly when he or they are so grievously afflicted as they seem to be overwhelmed therewith and his or their burden so unsupportable that it forceth him to pour out his soul in sad complaints before the Lord in the dolour and anguish of his heart 1 O Lord hear the prayer of thy servant and servants even of thy whole Church whom I personate complaining to thee in great misery and bondage to the enforcing of them to vehement importunities which Lord shut not thine ears against but give them audience and gracious admittance into both thine ears and heart 2 Though our sins have caused thy frowns and disfavour yet let our miseries move thy mercies and be intreated after so long an estrangement of so many years bondage at last to resume thy grace and to shine forth in favour upon us and to take our condition into consideration yea Lord now thou hast put it into our hearts to pray hopefully be intreated to answer us speedily by delivering and restoring us effectually let it not be long to 3 Our whole life in this condition we are in is spun out to an unprofitable length our time is unusefully spent wasted and consumed without honour to thee or good to our selves This long lingring oppression the sorrow we sustain under it because of the sense of thy heavy displeasure and thy Churches desolation hath dried up our radicall moisture and quite changed the constitution of our natures that our bones if visible are dried and discoloured as an hearth that hath long lain under a hot scortching fire as we have under the fire of affliction 4 Thou hast cut up all my earthly comforts as it were by the roots I can think of nothing of that nature comfortably my heart and they are parted by thy judgements as the grass is from the earth by the hand of the mower and as it withers for want of union and communication of sap and moisture so is my heart shrunk and exhausted within me by the utter absence of thy grace and favour finding no content the whilst in any thing though never so necessary insomuch as nature forgets to sustain it self feeds upon sorrow instead of bread having almost lost all appetite and digestion through anguish of heart 5 By reason of the expence of spirits through my continuall mourning day and night uttering my grief in groans and sighs for want of words my nature is totally impaired and my flesh so wasted that my skin and bones are met I am become a very skelliton 6 I am in a most solitary mournfull condition no representation in nature can sufficiently depaint it an exile a bondslave Chaldea and Assyria yield us as much comfort as if we were in a wilderness our cohabitation with the Babylonians is worse than the greatest solitariness upon earth the mournfull Pelican and hated Owl that therefore converse alone in desert places without pitie or societie so much as of one another do best resemble us for so are we a banished and a scattered people in a far countrey in an uncomfortable unsociable state 7 As my sorrow takes away my stomack so also my sleep and keeps me waking so that I scarce take any rest nor in this disconsolation have I any to comfort me but each of us are seperated from other as a sparrow from his mate lost to our countrey and lost to one another 8 All the mischief our enemies can heap upon us by word or deed we are sure of they shamefully reproch us and in us blaspheme thee they are implacable and outragious against us have sworn the destruction of us all even of thy whole Church sooner or later 9 And they use us accordingly more like dogs than men exposing us to all manner of hardship through the extremitie of our pressures and grief for them forcing us to take no content in any thing no not in our ordinarie repasts our provisions being so bad and unsavorie and our sorrows making it worse than it is feeding more upon sack-cloth and ashes weeping and mourning than either bread or drink 10 And this not so much for my sufferings though they be great but for thy wrath and indignation appearing in them and threatned by them which is the more apparent and the grievouser in this that thou wast once so gracious and beneficial the memorie whereof now aggravates our miserie exceedingly that thou shouldest be so changed and enraged against a people so nearly related and dearly beloved for whereas no nation flourished like us we are now no more a people but a scattered vassalaged company of men and women as if thou hadst raised us of purpose to make our fall the greater and made us therefore happie that we might become the more miserable like a man that to break a thing
Lord and hath vouchsafed us the honour to be his onely people of all the earth which for our sakes he hath every where judged and punished the nations thereof in several parts of the world where we and our forefathers have sojourned in case of violence and injurie done us which in most places we have met with 8 We have cause thankfully to bear in mind how graciously God hath always born us in mind in all places and conditions never forgetting us nor the promise of protection and mercie he of old made to us at no time but hath faithfully performed the covenant on his part which he commanded us to trust in and yield obedience to on our Thereby to maintain a blessed and mutual correspondencie of interest and relation of him for ours and we for his everlastingly 9 The covenant which of old laid the foundation of friendship and relation betwixt God and us in our fore-father Abraham promising to be his God and the God of his seed in case they would be his people walk before him and be perfect by a stedfast faith and upright obedience which covenant he reiterated to Isaac and reinforced with an oath to increase our confidence and ingage us deeper in reciprocal love and gratuituosness 10 Which he further ratified to Jaâ—ob by a legislative sanction more uchangeable than the laws of Medes and Persians and not onely whilest his name was Jacob but after he had the name of Israel which was to endure to him and his posteritie even all the faithful Israel of God and so was the Covenant entailed upon him 11 As is evident by that promise of the investiture of his off-spring into the land of Canaan which by lot was to be divided for a sure possession and inheritance which we see litterally fulfilled this day in ample sort and so shall spiritual Canaan heaven it self be given to Gods spiritual Israel by virtue of the same covennant 12 And this promise did he make to Israel not when they were a numerous bodie of many hundred thousands as after by his blessing they multiplied unto but then when he in the nature of a Pater-familias with some sons and a few servants guest-waies sojourned here and there in the land then wholely inhabited and possessed by many and great nations altogether strangers to him and he to them 13 When God by appointment and providence led them from place to place without any settlement wandering amongst nations first one and then another of strange language and different religions now in this Kingdom and anon in that Republike 14 And for all they traversed the earth in that sort and many Princes and people picked quarrels with them that to speak humanely had been able to have swallowed them up yet the Lord so protected them that they were still preserved they and their flocks wheresoever they went and those that did attempt to wrong them as Pharaoh King of Egypt and Abimelech King of Gerar by taking Sarah from Abraham were made to restore her and glad to crie Peccavi 15 For God had warned them of him what manner of man he was whom they offered to wrong how that he was a chosen vessel and an extraordinarie servant of his a Prophet and therefore at their uttermost peril if they persisted to wrong him or his or to harm them in the least And the same protection he afforded him he afforded to the rest of the Patriarks Abrahams successours in their itineraries so that Isaac and Jacob sojourned amongst them as he did safe enough from harm amongst strangers and those that bare them no good will by the meer over-awing power of God moving the hearts of the Kings and rulers of the countries where they came to think reverently of them and treat them well for his sake whose in special manner and in extraordinary relation and profession he made it known to them they were consecrated peculiarly above all men for the instructing and propagating a Church unto him that were to come out of their loins 16 And when the Lord was pleased to command that great famin to be which happened in the days of Joseph over the whole earth so that in no countreys was bread that chief support of mans life to be had 17 No more in Canaan where Jacob and his sons sojourned than any where else yet the Lord was so mindfull of and provident for them that he took a course before-hand to provide for them and therefore so disposed it by his providence that Joseph who proved so famous a man afterward he by the errour of his brethren that sold him but by the over-ruling hand of God was carried into Egypt and there sold of them for a servant to Potiphar who after commanded all Egypt and sustained his father and brethren there during that long famin 18 But first he under-went great hardship was sold as a slave falsly accused by his mistress wrongfully imprisoned by his master with cruel usage there for a time being laid long in irons which te into his own flesh and were extream painfull to him and that for no offence of his 19 This life he led during the time that God had ordained him so to do till the time came wherein God purposed and had promised in a dream long before that better should befall him till then what God had ordained and decreed concerning the humbling him and exercising of his faith and patience did thus happen to him for his triall 20 But when that time was come then though he was a prisoner an abject person and a stranger an Hebrew no Egyptian yet did God so bring things about as even he in this estate was made known to the King who by express command sent no meaner a man than his own Master Captain of the guard that had the chief custody of the Kings prisoners and himself had cast Joseph among them to loose him and bring him into his presence and took such contentment in him that he not onely commanded him to be set at liberty 21 But made him chief next under himself in honour and command over all that he had in his dominions at home and abroad domestick or republick 22 All Pharaohs great men and officers were at and under Josephs command what he directed was done yea the wisest of his counsellours were ordered by him and received orders from him 23 By whose means his father and brethren were all well provided for in that time of extream famine for by the leave of Pharaoh he sent for Israel even Jacob and all his sons and thâ—ir families to come into Egypt to him whither accordingly he and they came and sojourned there among the posterity of Cham of whom came the Egyptians being there sustained by the plenty that Joseph had stored up in that land 24 And the Lord did greatly multiply the seed of Israel his people whilest
his sacred and gracious engagement which he had promised and sworn concerning the people he had made choice of how he would be their God and possess them of the land of Canaan and therefore would he not for his own holiness sake break his word as also for his faithfull servant Abrahams sake to whom he made that promise and whose seed by promise they were 43 Thus from first to last was the Lord propitious to and protectour of his Church and people whom he brought out of Egypt with an Almighty hand after so long and cruell an embondagement delivering them and at the red-sea destroying all those their cruell taskmasters and mortall enemies the Egyptians in their sight and there setting them for ever free from them to the infinite joy of those his people and chosen ones when they thus saw themselves so dear to God and regarded by him and so freed from their adversaries and hardship 44 And so at last as well as at first was he faithfull to his promise and powerfull for his people bringing them to the land of Canaan which he wholly bestowed upon them and estated them in it where they possessed Houses and Cities that they built not and Vineyards that they planted not he destroying and driving out before them the heathenish inhabitants and nations that possessed it made them Lords of it which we hold and possess at this day and have done ever since by that tenure of the gift of God 45 All which benefits the Lord bestowed upon them to the end he might win their love gain their hearts and engage them in dutifull and obedient walking towards him according to those laws and commandments which he had given them especially to be observed in this very land for as they were his speciall people so he chose this for the place of his speciall worship before all the world and to that end gave it them Be you therefore for your parts now and hereafter O ye Israelites mindfull of these his mercies to praise him for them and of your duties to walk worthy of them The cvi PSALM In some great and generall affliction and dispersion of the Iewish nation probably that under Antiochus The Psalmist exhorts for all that the Israelites to believe in and praise the Lord for his goodness of old to that nation and which remains in him still to it if they walk holily He confesseth God just in punishing as well them as their forefathers for their sins and prayes that he will hold on in the vicissitude of his mercies and deliverances as well as of his punishments Confesseth that they have alwayes been shamefull sinners and great provokers of him from Egypt all along throughout the wilderness as also in Canaan it self nevertheless he let them perish though often made them smart as they well deserved his covenant and mercy were ever prevailing motives and so prayes they may be still to effect their present deliverance and restauration and promises thanks and praise for it exhorting all Gods people in what ever condition alwayes to give the Lord his due praise by remembring his past and believing his future and infallible grace and goodness to his Church 1 LEt not our sins and misdeservings though they have been great and our sufferings for them manifold any white detract from what is due to God of praise and thanks for those great and gracious mercies which he hath expressed to and bestowed on us his people in the dayes of old and that goodness that still remains with him in our behalves as bad as we are by virtue of his covenant which makes that neither his mercies shall determine nor we be destroyed but that we shall ever reap the benefit of his gracious ingagement till all be fulfilled that is promised concerning us and his Chruch to the end of the world 2 Who is able to tell what wonderfull things the Lord hath done and what Almighty power he hath shewed in his Churches behalf since he was first pleased to select and own a people for himself out of the rest of the world no tongue can reckon his praise-worthy mercies and miracles since then 3 And as God hath been so he will never fail to be they that be faithfull to him he will be so to them so that who ever they are that in conscience to God walk closely to the rules of Justice and Pietie prescribed by him to do thereafter and what man soever makes it his constant course to do righteously without being drawn or tempted into wayes of impiety and iniquity that man or nation of men shall be blessed of God 4 Lord order my wayes so as that I may share in that blessing bless me with the sight and sense of thy gracious favour towards me such as thou bearest unto those that are thy chosen people and faithfull obedient servants Let me O Lord have the comfortable inward feeling and assurance of thy saving grace and good will towards me freely bestowed let it often affect my heart as so many sweet visits and gracious Messages sent from God into it 5 That I may enjoy the happiness appropriated to thy chosen and rejoyce with those saving joyes thy faithfull and adopted ones are and shall be made partakers of whereof the often deliverances and manifold joyfull preservations of this nation of thine sometimes from fear of imminent destruction and sometimes from under reall imbondagements hath been lively figures that I may boast of thee and mine interest in thee such as all thy people have and we though unworthy have found it so 6 For notwithstanding all our priviledges and speciall favours which thou hast shewed us from time to to time both we and our forefathers have ill requited thee being rebellious ungratefull and very perverse 7 Our fathers made not application and benefit of those admirable Miracles thou for their sakes wrought in Egypt to the ends thou didst them for the strengthening of their faith in thee and the assuring of thy love to them they had but carnall considerations of them valued them as transient things without any result or improvement either of thee to them or of themselves to thee thereby supinely forgot them even all those many miraculous wonders thou shewedst upon the Egyptians in mercy to them whereby thou so powerfully compassed their deliverance for so soon as ever thou broughtest them out of Egypt the very next triall thou madest of them at the red sea that remarkable place where thou didst so wonderfully preserve them they instead of addressing themselves in humble and thankfull sort to seek deliverance from thee of whose power they had had such foregoing immediate experiments fell into misbelief hard and unworthy thoughts of thee and thy servant Moses even for their very deliverance out of Egypt as if thou hadst done all for them to no other end but to bring them thither to be destroyed 8 Notwithstanding
their unthankfull provocations yet would he not take vengeance on them nor let those enemies triumph in their destruction from under whose power he had newly delivered them but for the honour of his own name that was named upon them they being now noted more than ever for his peculiar people and for the further glorifying of his power and grace in their behalves he brought them safe out of that inextricable strait by an Almighty hand for ever to be had in thankfull remembrance 9 For rather than he would there let them perish and dishonour himself though they deserved it he wrought a Miracle beyond any the rest contrary to the course of nature commanded the very Sea to give place and divide it self to make them way and for all its propensity to return into its course God conjured it to abide as a Wall on their right hand and on their left which it did and could do no other untill they were quite passed through the bottom of it upon the dry land as if it had been part of that Wilderness which afterward they travelled 10 And thus with infinite long suffering and glorious power did he save them because they were his chosen people out of the hands of Pharaoh that perfect enemy of theirs that pursued them with a deadly design either to have reduced them into bondage or slain them all upon the place 11 And these waters that thus gave way to preserve our fathers so soon as they were all passed over and God had revoked his word of command they presently returned into their Chanell and closed again upon the whole Host of the Egyptians all which were drowned therewith so that not a man of them escaped 12 The gladsomness of that deliverance by such a Miracle made them for all their hard hearts at present whilest the sense and memory of it was warm which lasted but a while to credit what God spake by Moses touching his good will to them and his safe and certain bringing them into the land of promise and for a flash they were as full of faith as a bladder full of wind and sang the praise of his rich mercy goodness and power manifested in that their so late and great salvation with abundance of joy and delight in God 13 But alas neither this faith nor praise was out of any well grounded principle towards God but out of the present sense which self-love had of the present good-turn he did them for they had not travelled above three dayes from the red-sea to the waters of Pharaoh but there they were at old ward falling into unbelief and discontent against God and Moses and forgat all that was past as if it had never been even all those wonders within and without Egypt that God wrought for them to have gained their hearts to believe in him and relie on him but it would not be all was one they were in cold bloud the self-same men at one time as at another whensoever God tried them and would never in an humble gratuitous belief of him make their addresses to him and enquire of him in this or that strait but streight-way fell foul ready to flie in Moses his face and consequently in Gods so soon as ever they at any time suffered they had not patience nor piety in the faith of his former transactions which they had experimentally seen managed to the best of advantage and opportunity to wait upon such his wise and seasonable dispensations as might accordingly in the issue still most evince his glory and conduce to their spirituall benefit and edification as his precedent acts had done 14 But they were a carnall-minded people nothing spiritualized nor bettered towards God by all heâ— did for them but made their belly their God settting light by Angels food for they saw nothing Angelicall or Divine in it being mere sensualists inordinately lusting after belly-chear and variety of acates in the very Wilderness where they saw and knew that by course of nature nothing could be had they must either be supernaturally maintained or starve yet in that barren place where God notwithstanding had so long and often miraculously supplied them with all needfull things they were not therewith content but murmured for superfluities questioning the power and not submitting to the will of God as if what they wanted and had not as they desired was because he had not power to give it them 15 But the Lord to vindicate his power which they had impeached saying who shall give us flesh to eat or can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness and to let them see the unprofitableness of creature-contentment though in never so great abundance if not sanctified by the word of God and prayer sent them their desire even plenty of Quails-flesh to their bread but they had better have been without it than to have had it given them in anger accompanied with judgement as it was not onely bodily so many perishing at Kibroth Hataavah with meat in their mouthes and so destroying instead of nourishing them for being obtained but not in Gods way though it was his gift yet it wanted his grace was empty of blessing being no act of favour and therefore pleased the sense but edified not the soul the proper tendency of all he bestowes and the best effect even of temporall benefits which else are a shell without a kernell blessings accursed and so was this to them feeding on it a moneth together gluttonously without fear or spirituall descerning till at last it wrought their overthrow by surfetting instead of nourishing for God gave them up to wear it as they won it spend it as they got it to wit lustfully which excess and carnall mindedness he severely plagued both in body and soul. 16 They gave themselves up to studied provocations not onely murmuring upon emergentcases but by combination conspiring among themselves against Moses and Aaron those approved holy men and speciall servants of the Lord one whereof to wit Aaron was his declared High-Priest officiating in speciall before him for their good in expiating their sins and diverting Christ-like Gods judgements yet no relation of them to God nor of advantage to themselves could perswade but these men whom God had substituted in those places of conduct and Priest-hood and set so many seals upon must at their pleasure be removed suspected after so long experience to be Impostors and another government and Preist-hood agitated by other men must be erected and this which God had ordained demolished 17 And it is never to be forgotten what fearfull vengeance God executed upon the chief ringleaders of that conspiracy and with what a fearfull death he visited them causing the earth to open and swallow up Korah Dathan and Abiram those chieftains with all that belonged to them and to close upon them in the sight and to the amazement of all Israel so that with a fearfull cry they
his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 16 For in such cases when and where the afflicted have turned to the Lord by sorrow for their sin and strong cryes after mercie what infinite difficulties hath he broken through and removed and his power and providence is the same for ever to extricate and give relaxation to such afflicted ones all ages have made this manifest 17 Men void of the fear of the Lord which onely is true wisdom or that have it yet foolishly by temptation or negligence deviate from it and to gratifie their lusts by impiety or iniquitie displease the Lord these thereby bring evil upon themselves 18 God so severely chastizing their sins with inward or outward pains in bodie or mind that they are brought to that pass to abhor the very sight and tast of all manner of meat which should sustain nature and are brought in all mens seeming to deaths door 19 Then they use to make their addresses to God in such inextricable extreamities and he both hath done and of mercie will still in such cases when their troubles have wrought so good effect hear the cries of afflicted suppliants to ease and deliver them 20 For so soon as his rod drives them to him he cannot but as he was wont compassionate them and therefore as by his command the affliction whatever it be befel them so also at his word they are cured how deadly soever the disease be his command is enough to restore them to life and liberty 21 Oh that all men that every where participate the goodness of God would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 22 That men would note the works of God and be so sensible of his benefits especially his own select people as to be thankful for them both inwardly in heart and outwardly also celebrate them with sacrifices according to the rule in such cases and with joyful hearts joyn in the memorizing and magnifying of his works of power and grace at his sanctuarie 23 Sea-men and merchants that trade in forreign Countreys and commodities and so are necessitated to venture themselves in the deep and main Ocean and are exposed far from land among the storms and surges incident to great waters in unsteady ships 24 25 These have dayly and visibly experience of the power of God raising the winds and by them causing terrible storms and tempests that swell the seas with mountainous waves 26 That hoise the vessel they sail in in an instant as high as the clouds so that the face of the waters under them shew like a valley from an hill and on a sudden they descend again as low as before they were high viewing the waves pendent over their heads as if the whole Ocean would overwhelm the ship whereat their hearts so misgive that every moment they expect death which seems inevitable 27 Thus they continue tossed and tumbled hither and thither at the pleasure of the waves the ship not being able to keep any course reeling first on this side and then on that as the winds blow or the waves beat upon it like a man that is drunk nor know they how in the world to help or save themselves but give all for lost both the ship and all that is in her their fears so amazing them that they can exercise neither Art nor strength nor if they could would it avail in such concussions of winds and waves 28 29 Then in self-despair when all creature-hopes are at an end they usually apply themselves to God seldom before and then he lets them see his power in their weakness and that their extremity is his opportunity maketh the storm a calm and quickly reduceth their fears and the seas outrages to a peaceable period 30 Then they are as much overcome with joy as before with fear when their lives are as it were restored and their troubles removed thus the Lord is gracious to them and brings them that ere while valued not their lives and lading at any thing safely to land in the port they so often prayed to be in when they were ready every foot to sink 31 O that all men that every where participate of the goodness of God would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 32 Let such mercies be every where memorized and in all companies praise-fully related whether in congregations ecclesiastical those solemn meetings of his people in the sanctuarie or civil in juridical and magistratical conventions of Rulers and Governours that all may hear and fear and praise the Lord Almighty 33 We see what alterations and changes in nature are wrought in many places of the world how he dries up rivers and causeth drought where before was plenty of water 34 How for the sins of the inhabitants and abuse of his mercies he makes many a fruitful land and countrie barren and fruitless we have known it to be true in ours than which none was more fertil when God blessed it nor none more sterril when our sins cursed it 35 And on the contrarie when he bespeaks blessing to a place it shall be blessed The drie and desert places of the earth he can and does oft times make fruitful and habitable furnishes them with springs and water courses that were like the torrid zone 36 And there many times he bestowes the out-casts of other nations the poor and abject people yea his own persecuted ones causing them by providence there to set down their staff to plant colonies and begin a new Common-wealth in peace and quiet from their oppressours and contemners and to prosper by degrees from rude beginnings and scattered dwellings to cohabit in Towns and Cities 37 And to exercise husbandry plowing and planting fields and vine-yards and reduce them by Gods blessing thereupon to a yearly and orderly increase like other places long inhabited 38 The Lord also in time by his blessing multiplies them as we know he hath done us from a very few to a considerable and numerous people and with them proportionably increaseth their cattel the whilest they please him 39 But when they have forgot their low beginnings and Gods great blessings grow proud and sensual practise wickedness in stead of honesty and pietie God soon changeth the scene he that raiseth them up quickly casts them down and as before he blessed them with freedom and preserved them from evil so now he lets them loose to every
Apostleship shall be transferred upon Matthias and the Jewish priviledges translated to the Gentiles for crucifying Christ. 9 As the sin of my persecutour and Christs crucifiers is communicative and tendeth to the destruction not of me onely but of Christ his Church and Spouse also so let their punishment be derivative let their wives and children become widows and fatherless by their untimely ends pitied and relieved of none for that they oppress and are merciless to the innocent and afflicted 10 Let my persecutours prosperity be hatefull as shall the Jews amongst all nations let them that have made me an exile out of my own Countrey among the heathen Idolaters be themselves and their children after them no better but be like the wandering Jews that when they have crucifyed the Lord of glorie shall not be restored into Canaan as aforetime out of their captivities but be continual vagabonds a dispersed people in all countries glad to beg an abiding place any where being hatefull every where and driven so from place to place that very necessitie shall inforce them to take up and seek relief in the most abject desolate places of the world such as will scarce yield them to keep life and soul and glad they may 11 12 Let them become a prey to all manner of men let the griping usurious extortioner so entangle their estates in bonds and bils and use upon use that they may never be able to come out of debt till the creditor seize on all they have and turn them out of doors a begging let them find no manner of mercy but be esteemed as enemies of mankind every where where they are let them be made a prey counted for intruders and exposed to the spoil and rapine of the inhabitants and natives of all countries where they come as a people not fit to be entertained any where into scocietie and protection both they and their children though never so fatherless and destitute let them be relict and deserted of all according to the curse of guiltless bloud which they brought upon them and theirs so let it be with them and upon them 13 Let my persecutours by the sword of thy justice weilded in the hands of their enemies be quite cut off let them be destroyed root and branch so that after a while no succession or name of them may remain though in yet not over Israel but the rule thereof be utterly and for ever trans-ferred from them to another as shall befall the rebellious Jews Christs persecutours by the Romans no name nor place of any such nation once so famous shall remain but be quite blotted out a Lo-ammi or vagabond people they shall be at best and Christian written in the room of it in the next age of thy Church which shall be among the Gentiles to whom thou wilt trans-fer thy grace and favour for ever 14 Let the persisting in the same sin of abrenunciation and blaspheming Christ by their scattered progeny bring to remembrance the guilt of all their stiff-necked predecessours transgressions and rebellions ever since they were a Church espoused to thee their Lord and husband the punishment whereof was then sparingly inflicted by thee but now upon divorce and putting away let justice and judgement run down like a torrent upon them without any mixture and stop of mercie 15 As the bloud of Christ shall alwaies appear before God so let the sins of them do that murtherously shed it that as they would have destroyed the Messiah whom yet God raised again so his vengeance may root out them either to have no being or to be hatefull and odious where ever they are 16 Let such things befall mine enemies whose mercilesness to me doth in a figure pourtray out the usage of Christ himself for as they shew me no more mercie in miserie but are the more cruel and pitiless by how much I am the more miserable and the more they see me implunged into distress and insupportable grief of bodie and mind by so much the more eagerly lust they after my life to take it away thus shall it be with him and so as aforesaid let it be with them 17 Let the cursed calumnies and balsphemies of mine and his enemies wherein they are so conversant bring like evil upon their own heads as they intend to others let their curses light upon themselves that refuse salvation and blessing and put it far from them when God graciously visites them with it renouncing me for their King and Christ when he comes for their Saviour 18 Let such as take the curse and bring the guilt of mine and Christs guiltless bloud upon themselves have enough for it as they are ambitious to be known to be his crucifiers and my persecutours and voluntarily involve themselves into so great a sin and the deadly consequences that attend it by acting the one and labouring the other so let it be unto them let hardness of heart blindness of mind and seared consciences be the cursed product of such wicked bloud-suckers 19 Let the guilt and curse they so sinfully bring upn themselves never depart from them but stick by them and accompanie them in all places and throughout all ages 20 Let these foresaid maledictions be the judgement and reward of mine and my Lord Christs adversaries who can right himself and me though all men joyn together to wrong us and devise to take away both good name and life it self as mine enemies and his do endeavour and shall in great measure effect but wo be to them by whom such offences do come 21 But Lord as much as others are against me and mine Anti-type the Lord Christ so thou that art his God and father and in him mine be thou as much for me and him for thy covenant and righteousness sake wherein and whereby thy grace and faithfulness is engaged to approve thy self a mercifull good God protector of the innocent and deliverer of the oppressed be thou so to me let my preservation and deliverance from mine enemies by thine Almighty power adumbrate Christs powerfull resurrection out of the grave whence thou shalt raise him and the Churches final deliverance out of all her terrestial miseries by thy mercie both whom I personate 22 Let both thy mercie and my misery move thee who am low brought by reason of outward afflictions inward fears and terrours which affect me deeply and distress me sore as Christ himself shall be with complicate evils within and without in soul and body-sufferings 23 My life seemeth to me by reason of mine imminent dangers that threaten death every moment to be but as a shadow when the sun is setting ready to extinguish and whilest I do live I have no setlement but am harrowed hither and thither from place to place by the incessant persecutions and various contrivances of mine enemies to take away my life even as the grashopper
Church which by a mightie and out-stretched arm thou hast bought and brought thither there to remain in perfect happiness with thee and under me for ever 2 The Lord Almighty who is able to bring to pass great things by weak means shall raise up glorious lights in Jerusalem and Jurie where thou first manifests thy self as Aopstles Evangelist c. that shall give light to them that sit in darkness the glad tidings of the Gospel which is the mightie power of God to salvation that rod of Moses to save Israel shall by these his emissareis be held forth and preached to the Gentiles people of all nations and languages whereby they that now are forreigners shall be brought within the pale and shall take laws from thee and be subjected to thee O blessed Saviour that art advanced in the humane nature wherein thou sufferedst in such power and glorie at the right hand of the most high God there by his appointment to sway the Scepter of thy Mediatorian Kingdom by the power whereof the preaching of the Gospel through the eternal spirit accompanying it shall maugre all opposition of Gentilism who now are thy professed enemies and then shall strongly oppose thy Kingdom prevail to set up thy throne in the hearts of thy chosen all the world over who shall every where make glorious profession of thy name and own thee for their Lord and King spite of all earthly opposing powers and contemners of a crucified Saviour who shall be no more able to hinder thy Church from flourishing than thee from rising out of the grave 3 Those that are given to thee of God the Father and redeemed by thee out of the world when thou shalt have offered thy self a propitiatorie and taken possession of thy Kingdom at his right hand through thy mission of the spirit thence and his mighty working by the word upon the hearts of those thy people they shall thick and three-fold be converted neither the pravitie of their natures nor their long accustomed Idolatries shall obstruct their ready and chearfull compliance with the Gospel but shall willingly imbrace the tender of grace and come under thy governance in the Church which shall then so multiply as to assemble and conveen in all places for the exercise of Christian religion as thy people the Jews do at the beautifull and holy Temple that type of Christ in which Christian Synagogues especially in the first breaking forth of the light of the Gospel as the morning sun upon the face of the earth shall be born unto thee out of the then pregnant productive womb thereof begotten by the holy Ghost in those thy first loves and nuptial imbraces of the Church thy Spouse immediately upon thine ascention and investiture into glory an off-spring spread far and wide upon the whole earth as innumerable as the dew drops which insensibly fall from the heavens as the spirit shall then invisibly upon their hearts at the preaching of the word 4 For the great God of heaven by his everlasting decree and immutable oath revealed for the consolation of his people and corroboration of their faith hath never to revoke it conferred upon thee their Mediatour and Saviour the honour and office of that everlasting Priest-hood not temporary as the Levitical but without change or succession pourtraied in Melchisedeck Yea to be a King and Priest in one person as he was and none else to typifie that glorious priviledge to belong to thee and none other who therefore at thy Fathers right hand for thy Church and people transacts a royal Priesthood of righteousnes and peace according to the office person and name of Melchisedeck King of Salem 5 The Lord the God and Father who onely hath the preheminencie of thee as thou hast under him of of all things else shall imploy his power for the advancement of thine honour and revenge of thy dishonour wrathfully destroying Kings Kingdoms that shall oppose themselves and hinder the coming of thy Kingdom in thy Churches growth and felicity in the time when he thinks fit to judge them for it 6 Thou who art paramount the onely He or the promised Messiah for the Churhes comfort shalt rule the world the Gentiles shall be under his Judicature he will preserve his people that are converted to him and profess his name every where among the heathen taking vengeance on their enemies whom he shall remarkably destroy as he was wont to do the enemies of Israel The earthly Potentates of the world shall find him to be above them if they bruise his heel afflict his people as they will in all places he will bruise their heads their greatness shall not priviledge them at all 7 If you will know the reason of this high preferment of Christ in our nature at Gods right hand and of the power and head-ship he hath there it is because he shall drink deep of the wrath of the Almighty streamed down upon him in the way thereunto and for the obtaining thereof by suffering a cursed death upon the Cross with bodily torments and unutterable soul-agonies the unavoidable means of effecting his Mediatour-ship and mans redemption therefore shall he upon that full and faithfull discharge of his office here upon earth ascend unto and sit for ever at the right hand of his Father which is in heaven to act there the glorified part thereof in full powerâ— and absolute dominion over all there and here Angels and men Jews and Gentiles friends and foes The cxi PSALM The Psalmist first gives the word and then the example for praising the Lord which he tels us Gods works gives us cause enough to do if we consider them well especially to his Church supplying them in their need possessing them of the promised land fulfilling his promises of grace to them and for their sakes his judgements threatened upon their enemies for which he looks his commandements should be respected which are as binding to us as his covenant to him and through grace his covenant is as binding to him as they are to us Therefore he shews a man is never wise pretend what he will till he have gotten God upon this lock to be his by being Gods in faith and obedience And concludes as he begun with invitation to praise him 1 LEt all of us be diligent and cordial in praising the Lord. I will not be wanting on my part and in mine own example herein for he shall have the heartiest thanks that I can give him both in lesser meetings of entire Israelites that voluntarily and frequently assemble themselves to perform such holy exercises as also in those more solemn rare and mixed congregations that at times appointed assemble themselves at thy Sanctuarie 2 Greatly doth the Lord appear in his wonderous works of Creation Providence and Redemption his manifold attributes are made manifest therein yet not to all but onely to those that in love to God love to busie
their minds in the practical contemplation of him in them that they may affect their hearts toward him with suitable frame of thankfulness and praise for the greatness and goodness they are sensible of thereby 3 All that he hath done declares him to be for honour and power incomprehensible nor shall one word fail of all that he hath spoken concerning what he will do his Prophesies and promises yea and his threatenings too are as sure to be fulfilled as those which are already 4 The Lord hath done such memorable and admirable things for his Church in all ages as are never to be forgotten but with praise and thanksgiving to be had in everlasting remembrance his grace in choosing and compassion in relieving and pardoning his people is worthy our best observation and memory 5 He hath provided for his Church all along the Series of their successions and in all their peregrinations so that when in humble and faithfull addresses they that feared him at any time sought unto him they had supply of needfull mercies both for themselves and others that though they were of the visible Church yet did not so well deserve at his hands their sinnes and murmurings being enough to have made God unchurch them but that he was mindfull of his covenant made with our forefathers Patriarchs and Prophets Types of Christ not to do it of which as then he was so still he is and ever will be mindfull to be as good as his word in sparing and pardoning his people and blessing and preserving them when in fear of him and in the faith of his covenant they in humble-wise seek his favour towards them 6 He made manifest enough his exceeding great power in those miraculous victories he gave his people Israel over the Cananites when they entered the promised land which had been long possessed and inhabited by those heathenish Idolaters whom the Lord rooted out to establish them in it 7 The things he hath wrought have not onely been Acts of power but also of Truth and Justice his promises as well as his power have been written in legible Caracters in those his wonderfull dispensations to and for his Church as also his righteous judgements long before threatened to such wicked wretches and as his works have approved the faithfulness and infallibility of his promises and comminations so that other part of his word the Law of Commandments a safe rule to walk by is likewise as firm God looks they shall be obeyed by his people as certainly and undispensably as he gives them leave to expect his promises and threats to be fullfilled by him for them 8 Both the one and the other his word and works commands and providences as to his Churches preserving and governing are built upon a firm foundation the good pleasure and free grace of God according to his word and covenant and as inseperable companions go together God is good and doth good to those that are good and keep his commandments and ever will be so his truth and faithfulness binds him to be so and to do so to such as in truth and uprightness serve him 9 The Lord from time to time when his people were in jeopardy or the thraldom for their sinns if they cried unto him and humbled themselves before him he delivered them he hath established his covenant of free-grace as firm as any Law and hath bound himself by the one as firmly as us by the other so that his people shall ever find him to be the same unchangeable God for their good alwayes provided they walk worthy of him and becomingly towards him in reverence of his Majesty and obedience to his holiness 10 A man that hath never so much worldly wisdom and lives in sinne is for all that all that while but a fool till in the faithfull application of Gods saving goodness he be an altered man and fearing to offend him is carefull in all things to please him then and never till then he begins to be wise with that which is true wisdom for onely they have a right understanding both of the chiefest good and their chiefest end what 's best for themselves and why they were made that fulfill the will of God their Creatour living thereafter for therein is great reward As his mercy and faithfulness is and ever shall be firm to his faithfull and obedient people and Church in her preservation and her enemies confusion so ought to be his praises as long and large as his benefits which shall have no end The cxii PSALM The Psalmist stirrs up the people of the Lord in works to praise him the benefit whereof will be theirs their persons and posterities will be blessed by it in wo as well as in weal will God graciously visit such He sheweth a charitable minded man is much set by of God and by faith and a good conscience in the worst of times enjoys himself happily spite of those that malign him his liberall giving to the poor shall enrich him when as the covetous wretch for all his carking and caring shall suffer want and envy his abundance 1 LEt the Lord have his due praises for his great deservings and admirable excellencies that appear to be in him by what we see done by him and that not onely vocall but reall for he principally praiseth him and is certainly blessed of him that with a filiall fear dares not offend him and with a faith working by love is carefull in all things to please and obey him whose happiness is holiness and sinne his greatest affliction 2 Nor will God determine his blessings upon himself but extend them further even to his posterity walking in his wayes witness our forefather Abraham how did the Lord multiply his seed according as he promised and like blessings hath he in store for faithfull Abrahams faithfull off-spring who walking as he did with an upright heart before God in perfect obedience shall be as he was blessed in their own persons and posterities 3 God will both increase his family and provide well for it whereof our times and the times of our forefathers and Scripture-records have given good testimony He and his shall reap the benefit of his and their righteousness by a Series of blessings successively transferred by virtue of the covenant made to him and them for many generations 4 And though God doth not alwayes bless him that is of an upright heart and righteous conversation with externall affluence for his dispensations though agreeable to wisdom and justice are various yet this such an one may be sure of that he shall find God most trusty in his greatest trialls and no such cloud of tribulation shall ever over-shadow him but the sunne of righteousness shall shine through it upon his soul with healing consolations in his wings for God whatsoever he may seem to be by his outward dispensations is in his native disposition
their neck serves meerly to hold their heads on their shoulders but is of no Organicall use at all for speech c. 8 And they that make them are as void of true understanding as they of sence that can so against the light of reason think such things fit to be worshipped which they make and which made not them and that when they are made are but inanimate statues short of all living creatures even the meanest and what must they then be that put confidence of good or evil in such but irrational senceless people and as little able to do good or hurt as they saving thou the onely living God orders and appoints them 9 O ye sonns of Israel your fathers with whom and his seed God made an everlasting covenant whatever befall you let not an evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God to dumb and deaf Idols possess you as he hath peculiarly chosen and adopted you for his people from out all the world so do you him for your God from all other Gods trust in him relie upon him for your sole helper and defendour against these Idols and Idol worshippers which can do you just so much hurt as he for your sinns permits them and no more 10 O ye Preists and Levites that are the successours and assistants of faithfull Aaron in that high office of Preist-hood and more immediate worshippers of the high God within his holy Temple do you exemplarily declare your faith of and in the Lord alone that hath so highly honoured you above your brethren that he is of power al-sufficient and faithfull of his word and promise to protect and restore his people and you to their places and your imployments 11 But chiefly you that are nearer and dearer to God than any externall adoption or office can make men you that are Israelites indeed spirituall Priests and Levites the adopted and called of the Lord that have the spirit of reverence and godly fear in you do you as I hope you will not fail to do trust assuredly in God for he is your help and shield against worse enemies than these that can but destroy the body and that do but serve to typifie the power that our ghostly enemies have over us by sinne as these for sinne and Gods greater power to deliver us from them as from these which he will certainly do 12 No doubt is to be made of it but that as God hath done so he will do exercise mercy in deliverance as well as justice in afflicting us if we seek to him and that he see us mindfull of him he will be so of us as ever heretofore in like case to ours now he was wont to be Israel and the Priest-hood is still dear to him for old love to our forefathers and the covenant he made with them and for Aaron his servants sake that Preistly type of our powerfull Mediatour and therefore will he certainly bless us with joyfull deliverance and restauration 13 Yea for his covenant sake he will bless Israel and Aaron according to the letter but thank them for it that amongst you are so in the spirit with whom properly and principally that covenant is made these of what outward condition soever high or low are dear to God whom he will certainly bless and the rest for their sakes 14 You are the men that have the promise of this life and of a better as you are the blessed seed of blessed Abraham in whom his name is upheld because his faith is inherited by you so shall the Lord raise you up faithfull successours a more numerous off-spring than ever yet his Church produced from generation to generation shall the faithfull your heirs and successours flourish and multiply 15 As you are the promised seed so are you heirs of the blessed promise He that by his Almighty power made the heavens and the earth is your God and for your sakes made he them and with both heavenly and earthly blessings will he bless you 16 The Lord made both and governs both but so that heaven the heaven of heavens which is superlative to all the rest is the more immediate place of his glorious residence and inhabitancy and the earth of mans which he hath bountifully furnished with all needfull things for his sustentation and existence there 17 And why hath the Lord done so lent me life and livelihood here below but that they should imploy their time and improve those blessings to the praises of him in the highest for its true that God made the earth and all things in it for man but he made man for himself for his praise and glory who yet praise him not but serve other Gods all the world but we so that if we should perish that are his onely Church on earth the praises of the Lord would cease upon it which must not be whilest it is to have a being he is to have a people that shall glorifie him 18 Therefore O Israel O house of Aaron and especially ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord that he will be your help and shield for the Lord will not unchurch himself no nor us neither we are the people though unworthy that his name is and shall be named upon chosen out of all the earth so that how ever we are at the graves mouth yet deliverance will come and we shall be restored else nature must be dissolved which cannot be considering what promises are yet to be fulfilled Therefore be confident in hope and in the faith hereof ingage our selves for future when God shall so bless us that we will answerably bless and praise him yea in full assurance let us begin at present and be doing in that dutie now aswel as hereafter that the Lord may see the useful existence of a Church for ever on earth for that they alwayes and they onely praise him What ever your condition be then though it were worse than it is which at present is bad enough be sure to praise the Lord for which you live and have your Beings and in you all the world which else should cease The cxvi PSALM David being possessed of the Kingdom according to promise looks behind him to see the difficulties God carried him through to mind himself to his mercies and his own ingagements for them And in the first place offers the Lord his affections promiseth him his faith for future because of what is past and therefore excites his soul to comfortable confidence and peaceable acquiescence together with a gratuitous walking with God recalling his offs and on s he is in an extasie how to return to God that brought him out of them and resolves to celebrate his praises in the most publick and solemn manner according to the prescript of the Law Assuring all Gods people from his example that in their greatest danger God hath the greatest care Magnifies the Lord that
hath made him his servant and freeman for which he will publickly praise him 1 I Cannot express how much the Lord is endeared to me for the grace he hath vouchsafed me my heart is glued to him in affection such love hath he shewed to me and such care over me in all mine extremities whensoever I minded him of me and craved his help that I am bound to love him as long as I live and from my very heart I do so 2 The Lord hath got my custom I have had such faithful and good dealing from him as if my condition were never so bad I would seek no where else for allwayes when necessitie wrung me I cried and when ever I cried the Lord heard and helped and this course I am resolved still to take whensoever I have occasion and doubt not of the same success 3 I cannot but recount my by-gone difficulties how that many a time I gave my self unavoidably for a dead man so near have I been to mine end in mine own apprehension that I made full account of my grave the very pangs of death have seized on my soul and it was seldom other with me 4 Yet though my danger and fear was never so great so that in all humane probability and visibilitie of means I was as good as gone yet my faith would still have a saying to God pray I must and did and I no sooner gave the word but God took the Alarm if I but named my Soul it was enough and oft-times my surprises were so sudden and danger so emergent that I had scarce time to do that which though they made my prayer short yet sharp they helped to put an edge upon mine affections and when I prayed for my soul it was with my soul which in an ejaculation was quickly in heaven and had as quick dispatch there 5 For there had I the attributes of God presently to speak for me his grace justice and mercie and had an answer accordingly Let others be incouraged by mine example to trust in the Lord and seek to him for they shall find as I did that God is freely good and free of his goodness faithful of his promise yea though objections lie in the way thy sins and his judgements flash in thy face yet be not daunted if thou beest one of us belongest to God for he is merciful to pardon and pitie thee and in an instant will break through all to do the good 6 Those that suffer being innocent although they be shiftless and have not worldly wisdom to do withall like other men yet if with honest hearts they bequeath themselves to God and unfainedly trust in him he will find wayes to befool their enemies and make good their confidence I am sure none can be in greater danger nor have less hope of help but from him than I a poor innocent man and more than once or twice and he alone served my turn I never miscarried but was ever delivered though many times strangely yea miraculously from time to time till he brought me to this I am come to 7 Be thou therefore at peace within thy self and recumbent upon God O my soul that hath by his means gone through so many difficulties and through him thy benefactour art arrived at so great happiness out of all the storm that have blown over thee 8 For the Lord hath as it were raised me out of the grave so near death was I many a time when thou delivered me and hath now made me a livesman again in the full accomplishment of thy promise whereby I am comforted beyond all my fore-past sorrows which are as it were forgotten and set me free from all those deadly traps and gins that were laid for me by my mortal enemies 9 Now that God by his power and mercie hath raised me to this estate and brought me through those many perplexities to possess his promise I doubt not of his further favour and protection but in confidence thereof I will comfortably and conscionably labour to discharge my place high office as in the presence and to the well-pleasing of the Lord that hath set me over his people compared to whom all the world is in darkness and shadow of death 10 11 O the several frames of heart and tempers of soul that I have passed through in my trials sometimes chearing up my self with the faith of Gods promises that they should certainly be fulfilled and then could I hopefully address my self to God and comfortably bespeak and incourage my soul to wait upon the Lord at another time I have been as much dejected and cast down and upon a surprize when my fear hath been great because my danger was imminent I have not stuck in that perplexitie of mind to think and say within my self all that the Prophets had foretold concerning my succession to the Kingdom was a meer delusion and that I must needs perish before that day could come that they and their predictions would certainly deceive me and come to nought and that they speak not of God but of themselves 12 Now when I look back and consider what a world of dangers nay deaths I have past what dismal apprehensions and perplexities of mind I have waded through what admirable deliverances the Lord hath wrought and how oft and how strangely I have been preserved and now what an absolute complement he hath given to all those promises which I thought never to have seen fulfilled and conclusion to my miseries which many time I thought would have made an end of me before I should thus have seen an end of them I am at a stand and in an extasie how and what to return to this good God I am now in perplexitie by a plenitude of happiness for the Lord hath so loaden me with benefits that I know not what to say nor do to or for him in any proportion to them 13 14 I may fancie many wayes and things to my self to gratifie God with all and when I have done I am never the near for imaginarie retributions and will-worship he will not accept Therefore I will content my self to do what he hath bid me for when I have all done I must live and die his debtor I will therefore make a feast to all Israel which he did at the bringing up of the Ark and then and there offer my peace-offerings and in the sight and hearing of all the Lords people with the cup of blessing and gratulation in mine hand will joyfully and thankfully publish the praises of my God and make open acknowledgement of the manifold benefits and deliverances from first to last that I have been partaker of The mercies I gained by prayers and vows in mine extremitie I will wear them by praise and sacrifice now in my prosperitie all Israel shall be witness 15 I have found it by experience and speak it knowingly for
the comfortable support of other of Gods people in affliction that however they may unadvisedly misjudge themselves as exposed of God in a regardless manner to the malice and furie of their enemies when their lives are indangered yet it s far otherwayes The Lord makes more account of the lives of his holy ones which he will suffer no man nor men on earth to have the command and dispose of but onely himself they are too precious to be set so light by and therefore be confident such cannot miscarrie by any policie power or malice of men whatsoever but by special commission from God for special purposes and when they do miscarrie by his ordination they still remain dear to him aswel dead as alive 16 Blessed Lord I now well perceive those words true which sometime I thought to be false how that thou hast indeed ordained me to the honour to be thy servant and that in an eminent manner which truly is my highest title and preferment to be thy servant and the son of thy spouse and handmaid the Church visible and invisible and thus to be delivered by thee from a state of thraldom and miserie to a condition free to serve thee is infinite goodness 17 For which I will magnifie thee and with publick praises and peace-offerings will make my thankful acknowledgements of thy power and goodness to me-ward 18 And what I vowed in my miserie when I prayed for mercie I will accordingly perform it now that thou hast set me free to do it all Israel being witness 19 Openly in the publick convention of all thy people at thy sanctuarie in Jerusalem the place appointed for thy solemn sacrifice-worship there upon thine Altar will I offer my sacrifice of thanks-giving in the view of all Israel and in their hearing praise thee with me praise ye the Lord all his people The cxvii PSALM The Psalmist in Prophecie of the calling of the Gentiles and uniting all in one Church through the head Christ exhorts all to praise the Lord for so great goodness and rich mercie so freely extended 1 O All ye nations and people throughout the world Gentiles as wel as Jews praise the Lord praise him every where without exception 2 For his saving grace and mercie by the redemption of Christ is extended unto both in him we are made one Church that were a divided people and an undeserving the one as well as the other his grace alike free and his goodness great to both of us For for his promise sake once delivered and never to be reversed hath he done this for us and as well all other promises as this will he perform to the end for and concerning his Church his faithfulness cannot fail though our sins deserves it should Therefore in the faith of his faithfulness and love of his goodness that hath made all partake of Christ let all men praise the Lord. The cxviii PSALM David seated in the throne quickens up the people and Priests of the Lord unto thanks-giving for his endless mercies to his Church as himself in the behalf thereof which he personated had experimented whereby his faith was raised to an holy insultation over his enemies for the future Further shews the happiness that God hath brought to his Church by the change of him for Saul and the glorie he hath got to himself which for his part he ingageth himself to celebrate solemnly in his sanctuarie which upon this occasion both he and the rest of the righteous will now they may frequent There he will praise him for making him as in humiliation so in exalâ—ation the type of Christ. Prayes for the Churches happiness upon this wonderful change pronounceth certaintie of blessing to himself and Christ in the office and errand God sets them in and sends them about Concludes with the manifold hearby praises of God both from himself and the people whom he exhorts allwayes to be praise-ful as God is graâ—iously faithful 1 LEt us be mindful of the goodness of God to be thankful for it whose mercie to his Church and faithful people never failed nor never shall 2 Let his adopted people now in this their flourishing condition give him the glorie of those many mercies which ever since they were known by the name of Israel they have successively in all ages partaked of 3 Let the Priests and Levites their adjutants that occupie Aarons place and office in the sanctuarie now that they are reduced into such a form and model as never before of worshipping the Lord acknowledge his mercie and the succession of it to them according to promise from their first progenitors 4 Yea let those that are Gods Priests and people indeed that believe and obey him say now if God be not as good as his word in shewing mercie to his Church those I mean that fear his name 5 I have had my share of sufferings in which I personate the Church and yet I can say and do that his mercie endureth for ever and so shall she in all ages for when ever the Lord put me to it and that I was distressed I put him to it in humble wise I minded him of his promise and this way my constant custom and so it was his ever when I did so to deliver me all along till now that he hath set me quite at libertie from my troubles enlarged my happiness as you see 6 I have had such experience of the Lords being for me against mine enemies that however I look never to be without yet that shall not trouble me neither their power nor their plots for he that could deliver me then can and will much more protect and prosper me now that he hath brought me to this estate 7 I have ever found it and doubt not but I ever shall that God blesseth me and those that side with me many or few with good success which makes me confident that as I have had so I shall ever have the better of mine enemies what or how many soever they be and in stead of ruining me I shall ruine them 8 9 I have found it better and so shall who ever tries it to put confidence in God than men of what number or degree soever and mine enemies have found the contrarie for by that means I a despicable lone man am preserved and exalted and they for all their honour and power above me are destroyed by his Allmighty hand so much above them 10 11 12 I have been as the Church allwayes shall be the mark that all men have shot at I had all the world against me and none for me but God his power was is and ever shall be my sole trust and confidence O with what deadly hatred from time to time have I been hunted and how many times hath my life been endangered that I could see no way to escape and yet I have
escaped God hath alwayes preserved me and in stead of mine enemies destroying me he hath destroyed them I am confident I must and shall ever do so God inabling me as he hath done I have been as hard beset as a man that hath a swarm of bees about his ears not knowing 'i th world how to avoid them ready to fall upon me on every hand with deadly devouring hatred which though it was very terrible for the time yet the Lord put an end to it made their malice to me the destruction of themselves like thorns consumed in their own flame and so shall he ever inable me against all mine enemies I am confident and that they shall never have better success 13 Mine utter ruin as an obstruction to this preferment hath been strongly endeavoured by him that had no small power in his hands nor small malice towards me but God hath both preserved me and advanced me maugre all that Saul could do and all his complices 14 The Lord alone was my defence and the ruiner of mine enemies who else had ruined me a thousand times over the glorie and praise belongs to him and he shall have it who hath perfected his promise given me final deliverance from all those troubles and seated me above the reach of those mine enemies 15 What cause of rejoycing hath God given to the families in Israel that fear the Lord how glad are they to see this day and such a change of things I and they so preserved and delivered from the malice of those that hated and sought the ruin of goodness and good-men and now to see them conquered and quite subdued and that by so apparent providence and Almighty power must needs rejoyce them greatly 16 It is he that deserves and I hope shall accordingly have the honour of it who by his sole power and victorious providence hath mightily effected it 17 As near as I have been to destruction many and many a time and as hopeful as mine enemies were of it so that both they and I my self have given me for a gone man yet God hath purposed otherwayes die I must not and therefore die I did not but am alive at this day and in a good condition preserved purposely of God by example and acknowledgement to manifest and magnifie what he hath done for me and what he can and will do for his Church whose person I bare and represented in all my troubles and enfranchisements 18 The Lord gave mine enemies much power over me so that I under-went sore trials and sad chastisements to teach me to know my self and sin but though he gave them liberty to afflict me yet not to destroy me as they hoped to have done but maugre their malice hath preserved my life though often endangered 19 O ye that are the porters and door-keepers of the Lords holy sanctuarie a place of late years disfrequented and sequestred from good and righteous men that properly have onely right and title to it Now by Gods good providence the case is well altered I and other such as I am that with upright hearts desire to serve the Lord have liberty and opportunity to do it therefore set the doors of the courts of the Tabernacle wide open for us that I and they may comfortably come and worship the righteous Lord there specially present and give him the due praises of all his faithful performances of those his gracious promises touching me and his Church in my time 20 I mean I say the gate of the Lords own Tabernacle where he is so peculiarly resident and will therefore there be especially worshipped set that open for me and all my fellow-saints and servants of God who as of right they ought so now I have power they shall have free access unto it having been too long secluded 21 Lord my heart is full and there I am purposed to empty it upon thee in most affectionate thanks and praises for thine often audiences gracious and effectual answers and principally for this complement of all thy promises in saving me from mine enemies and advancing me to the Kingdom so far above their power to hurt me 22 Insomuch as now I who heretofore was by Saul and his Grandees those great Artificers of State hatefully persecuted and disdainfully rejected as unworthy and unfit for this preferment like a refuse stone that is broken and cast out of the way by master-workmen as altogether useless and unserviceable for building and as the Messiah whom I prefigure shall be by Cajaphas with his confederates the chief Priests and Scribes those ring-leaders of the Jews who shall despightfully use him and cruelly crucifie him I say I that was thus refused am advanced from this my despicable condition to fit in the throne and wield the Scepter of Israel upon whom under God the Government and wellfare of Church and Common-wealth principally depends even as it shall be with Christ whom both in weal and woe I typifie he shall rise again from the dead and be gloriously advanced even in his humane nature so much contemned and hardly used to be Saviour Mediatour and King of and over the Church consisting then of Jews and Gentiles united in him and supported by him maugre her enemies as the sides and weight of a building are by a principal binding corner stone against all blasts 23 This strange transversion of a persecuted abject to become a King and a contemned condemned crucified man to be the sole Saviour and Monarch of the world is by the holy and wise ordination and effectual operation of God brought to pass both which are worth our wonder and admiration to see persecution produce dignitie and death life and glorie 24 This day of mine inthronization resembling that of Christs resurrection and glorious exaltation at his fathers right hand is the time and means whereby God hath and will make good all his promises of grace and happiness to his Church who lives therefore that hath the faith and acknowledge of these things and joyes not that he hath lived to so happie an hour as to see them thus fulfilled 25 O Lord it s a day indeed that thy Church hath cause to be glad of and so she is and prayes thee to add to her joyes and that now from henceforth all those blessed promises of happiness to thy King and people may be effectual and they prosperous 26 As Christ himself who is the Messiah and sent of God for the good and salvation of his people is blessed and diffuseth blessings to his people whom they again that are his Priests and the living Temples of the living God do gratifie with the return of blessings in behalf of his Kingdom praying the increase and consummation of it and offering the sacrifice of praise to him that by Gods gracious emission came to offer himself in sacrifice for them So let David the anointed of the Lord
canst give me or do for me shall better please me and more oblige me to praise and thank thee with an honest gratuitous heart and conversation than thy teaching of me by thy word and spirit to know and do thy commandments the onely righteous rule of faith and manners 8 O Lord my purpose of heart is to keep thy commandments and to walk exactly in faith love and obedience as thou enjoynest but alas I know mine own imbecillity and the necessity of thy continuall inablement hereunto by thy spirit and grace which if withdrawn I am at a loss therefore Lord in pitie of my weakness and in prosecution of the good work begun in me that desire to fear thy name leave me not to my self nor lead me not into temptation to buckle with it in mine own strength let no sinne cause separation though correction but remember mercy and renew in me a right spirit when I do go wrong as who doth not Beth. The second letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the second part 9 Young men are aptest to go astray and therefore had need to be inquisitive and circumspect of themselves and their wayes how to avoid the pollutions of mind and manners whereunto their age prompts them with a more than ordinary aptitude and doubtless I speak it knowingly the onely remedy for such distemperature is for them to be conversant in thy word and thence to observe with a child-like disposition what pleaseth and displeaseth thee their heavenly father and in conscience thereunto carefully to regulate their inward and outward man accordingly by believing and obeying 10 O Lord thou knowest my heart to be perfect with thee for thou hast made it so how that I have neither been partiall nor unsincere in mine obedience but entirely endeavoured alwayes in all things to please thee as desirous above all things of thy grace and favour fearing to forfeit it which good Lord grant I may never do by going astray from thy precepts therefore I beseech thee watch over me that no temptation mislead me on the right or left hand out of the way of thy commandments in which I desire to walk from one end of my life to the other without deviating 11 I have Lord stored up thy word in mind and memory especially such and so much of it as I knew was of present and practicall concernment to me in my condition with full purpose of heart to keep close thereunto and not sinfully to suffer my self to be seduced there-from what ever happened 12 Thou Lord art onely blessed in and of thy self from whom as from a fountain flowes forth all derived blessedness unto thy creature which thou art wont to confer most upon them that please thee best as a gracious remuneration of their love and service Lord therefore teach me to know and enable me to do thy will revealed in thy word that I may partake thy blessedness be sharer in thy holiness and happiness here and hereafter 13 As I have found thy law usefull to me by my knowledge of it and framing my course of life according to it so have I endeavoured to make it to be to others and therefore have I according to my measure of light and the duty of my place and office taught it publickly and privately not concealing any truth I knew might make for thy glory and their edifying when I had oportunity of time and occasion 14 My delight and care I bless thee for giving me such an heart hath been more to hear understand and practise those things which in thy word are testified to be thy will and more sweet peace and consolation have I had when I have been so happy as to attain the knowing and doing of them than they that set their hearts to heap up riches when they have their desire of opulency and affluence 15 Therefore whereas worldlings cast in their minds and occupy their thoughts how to enhance their earthly store because their delight is there my meditations shall be otherwayes imploied my care and thoughts shall be how to know more and practise better thy will revealed for therein is my delight and thereto will I bend my mind studying how best to please thee 16 To know and do what pleaseth thee shall be a pleasure unto me yea nothing shall more delight me and therefore am I fully purposed to make thy word the subject of my meditation day and night and the rule of mine obedience in weal and wo. Gimel The third letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the third part 17 Lord thy promises to thy people are comprehensive of all good things as thou hast made them so fulfill them Let me thy servant reap the blessed fruits of thy grace and bounty according to them touching life temporall and spirituall grant me both and what conduces unto both as a faithfull creatour and gracious redeemer that by grace I may live both the life of grace and nature 18 Lord thou knowest what great impediments there are that hinder our knowledge and acquaintance with thee even in those things thou hast revealed of which yet we are ignorant and seeing we see not there being a two-fold vail that interposeth betwixt a right understanding and them the one over our hearts blindly mistaking the mind and meaning of the spirit and stumbling at the stumbling stone the letter The other over thy law and covenant it self exprest in dark and typicall umbrages and dispensations full of wonderous divine excellency in their signification and antitypicall meaning but impossible to be understood but by thy more than litterall revelation Therefore dispense thy spirit who onely knows the mind of God and can onely make it known unto thy servant draw aside thy curtaines of my blindness and thy laws darkness that in thy light I may see light and be made able to behold the mysticall and spirituall tenderness of thy whole law and covenant both in the morall typicall dispensation of it which unfolded to a spirituall eye are admirable and ravishing portraying as in a table the divine history and mistery of mans redemption and salvation with all that heavenly wisdome free-grace and Almighty power that shines therein 19 I am thine and properly belong to another world onely here I must for a time lead a transient life because it is thy will more than mine who though I am in the world yet not of the world but in mind and heart estranged from it therefore seeing it is thy pleasure that I must live mine appointed time to serve thee on earth take it into consideration what divine light and guidance is requisite so to do and vouchsafe me it proportionably least I wander out of thy way the world and flesh with which I here converse being strangers and estranged thereunto and apt to mislead me if thy word and spirit be not alwayes a light and guide unto me 20
enemies 80 Let me be enabled by thy gracious assistance to keep faith and a good conscience stedfast to the end that I lose not the prize by falling short of the goal fainting either in faith or dutie and so render my self and cause a laughing-stock to mine enemies which is it they would have Caph. The eleventh letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the eleventh part 81 Lord I have waded through many and grievous troubles and with much long-suffering have a long time eagerly longed and looked for thy promised deliverance almost to the exhausting of my soul and spirit in sighs and groans after it but yet it comes not nevertheless I am still sustained in faith and am resolved to live and die in expectation of thy promise no length of time nor trouble shall null my hopes nor I am confident the thing I hope for 82 I have waited long dreely looked for the accomplishment of thy promise even to the weakening of my sight impairing my senses every foot thinking within my self as my mind gave me and occasion was offered that sure this is the time and that the opportunitie that I shall be delivered but still I am prolonged and put off sighing out my hopes with If not now Lord when then will the time be and what the means that must fulfil thy word and my desire 83 The scorching sun of adversitie hath allmost quite exhausted my radical moisture my spirits which should animate my members and extrinsical parts are spent with continual grief by reason of afflictions and disappointments of my longing expectations which lingringly consume and wast me into leanness and deformitie like a bladder or a skin-bottel hung up in a chimney that in tract of time will parch and crack and shrink up into wrinckles not like it self and so am I become yet though nature thus decayes grace does not by thy goodness to me I am for all that upheld in care and conscience to do thy will and believe thy word 84 Lord how long too is the end of my miseries consider how much of my life is allready spent and wasted in them even of mine who am appointed and designed by thee for great and special services in thy Church therefore consider me who would fain be imployed to shorten these dayes when shall they that unjustly would cut me off be themselves justly so served and I set free to serve thee 85 Mine enemies that scorn thy commands and me thy servant have not onely persecuted me with open violence but with cunning craft and dissimulation sought my life for their will is their Law and not thy word to which they yield no manner of obedience nor bear no regard but practice what them list though never so wicked and unjust so it serves their turns 86 But Lord I have another estimate of thy commandments I set not so light by them for I am sure they come from a faithful God who may suffer the wicked for a time to sin against them but the punishment due to those that break them shall befal them and so shall the reward promised to them that keep them in the faith whereof I do and will innocently persevere and pray thee to make it good in my help and deliverance from and upon these treacherous and unjust persecutours 87 Mine enemies men of the world that take all wayes and advantages upon earth against me had what one way and other by their continual vexations and my griefs allmost brought me down to the grave and got the better of me hadst not thou been above them and heaven more my friend than earth where I had no help but when I was at lowest hopeless and helpless as to outward appearance I still kept faith and a good conscience hoping in thee 88 Lord give me to enjoy that happie condition which of thy free grace and loving beneficence thou hast promised me which will be as a resurrection to life from death after so many sorrows as I have undergone so shalt thou both ingage and enable me when I am set free from these hinderances to do thy whole will and walk in thy Law which bears the stamp of Divine and royal authoritie upon it and therefore is worthy of reverend and solemn observance and obedience which then I will be sure to pay to it but now I cannot Lamed The twelfth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the twelfth part 89 Thy word and decree O Lord is as firm as thy self no chances nor changes here below can make void what thou above hast determined shall be nor can time it self wear out what thou that art eternal before all time hast appointed 90 Our faith may bear it self boldly upon thy faithfulness which according to thy word of truth and promise is allwayes the same how ever matters frame or seem to be out of frame therefore it is that the world is not long since dissolved because thou hast decreed and promised the continuance of it therefore and for no natural cause doth the earth thus long subsist in nature and order 91 All created Beings according to their several natures stations and operations are as at the beginning thou in wisdom determinedst them which else of themselves would run into confusion and destruction what Laws thou gavest them they keep and thereby are themselves kept and preserved for all the elements and elemental creatures as they are made by thee so they are made for thee to be at thy ordering and dispose and so they are and not at their own and it is well for us and them they are so 92 And surely Lord I hold by the self-same tenure the creation does as it had been long since dissolved and annihilated but for the Law of orderly existence thou laidst upon it whereby ever since it retains a beautiful being notwithstanding the contradictions that are in those primarie principles the elements as also the strange concussions and alterations that time and sin hath brought forth So unless I also had thy righteous word to stay my heart upon and to chear up my soul with which I knew would not fail me in those various providences and strange agitations which I have undergone I could never have lasted thus long but had long ere this been in my grave by the outward pressures and inward griefs I underwent 93 I have cause all the dayes of my life thankfully to remember and bear in mind and I hope I shall thy faithfulness according to what thou hast ordeined in thy word for me to trust in and yield obedience to many a time in mine extremitie when my spirit was readie to sink and die within me thou hast therewith comfortably revived and cheered me and set me upon my feet 94 Let me to the end have experience of thee to be the self-same God in truth and goodness preserve me in and deliver me out
And surely Lord so ill do I like their manners that I love thy commandments the better for it because they are so contrarie to them the less they set by them and the more they value the wealth of the world the more I value them and the less I set by it for swine know not the worth of pearls no treasure under heaven is so precious and profitable in mine eye nor indeed in it self or to the possessour as thy Law and Commandments are to the sincere professour and practiser of them the holy dictates of a holy God making both holy and happie them that know and do them which I desire and good Lord grant me to do above all things as alone sufficient to make me both rich and happie to my hearts content 128 As black sets forth white and a crooked line a streight one so doth mine enemies wayes thy commandments in their puritie and rectitude their deformed and crooked courses of impietie and iniquitie makes the line of thy precepts much more streight and right in mine eyes yea those that carnal sence and corrupt reason can worst approve of to me through thy grace they are most precious and desireable as tending to nearest perfection and likeness with thy self and on the contrarie as I love thy Law which they hate and make void so do I hate what they love sinful deviations and prevarications Pe. The seventeenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the seventeenth part 129 Mans reason and understanding is both contrarie to and infinitly short of comprehending the holy and high mysteries of salvation and Godliness revealed in thy word which nature could never have known nor taught us had they not been supernaturally revealed being the hidden uncreated wisdom of God taught and wrought in the souls of thy servants by extraordinarie illumination and of special grace and favour therefore for their Divine nature and worths sake which in mercie thou hast opened mine eyes to see though others do not do I love and delight in them meditate and obey them even lay out my whole strength upon them 130 In whomsoever and at what time soever thy word by the efficatious working of thy spirit first takes saving and sanctifying impression there and then and never till then the sun of righteousness rises with light and healing to the expulsion and dispersion of that deadly darkness that naturally benighteth every soul man though otherwise never so worldly wise is but a very fool vain and ignorant both of truth and goodness till thou write thy Law in his heart that and onely that is true wisdom and they and onely they have true understanding though otherwise never so foolish 131 I for my part never longed more after meat and drink in my greatest extremitie of hunger and thirst nor any creature living than I did for the incomming of thy word with power into my soul when it was under the guilt and dominion of sin O the sighs and groans that I incessantly breathed forth after my transforming and thine inabling grace to believe and obey 132 Thou Lord knowest how I longed and still do to serve thee out of a sincere and hearty love to thee Let therefore thine eye of grace and compassion be upon me mercifully to keep me from falling into sin or by sin into thy displeasure as thou hast promised and in thy goodness art accustomed to do to such as thou knowest I am a lover of and hoper in thy grace truth and mercie 133 Let my whole conversation course of life by thy spirit according to thy word the rule of holiness and righteousness be powerfully over-ruled ordered in all things and let not my innate pravity by force or subtility of temptation in no case overmaster thy grace and make me sin against thee whom I desire to serve 134 My greatest temptation and fear is the unjust violence and cruel persecution of mine enemies thou that art the Almighty and gracious Lord God set me free and deliver me from the injuries of proud malicious minded men so shall I be ingaged and inabled when set at liberty thankfully and chearfully to serve and please thee 135 Bring me out of this comfortless darksom condition threatening thy displeasure whereby I have nothing but troubles without and sorrows within let me by deliverance see the skie clear up upon me let thy favourable aspect break forth from under this cloud and Lord it is as well the light of grace as comfort of sanctification as deliverance that I beg of thee the one without the other will but little profit nor please me 136 So deeply am I affected with the opprobries and contempt that thou undergoest by the wicked of the world specially mine enemies who turn grace into wantonness and make thy impunity their immunity to sin that it is a greater trouble and grief of heart to me than any I undergo in mine own behalf and costs me as many sighs and tears the injuring of thee in thine honour as my self in my peace and innocencie which I should be as glad were vindicated and they punished as I delivered Tsaddi The eighteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the eighteenth part 137 Let other men that love to live in sin think as contemptuously as they will of thee and thy Laws yet art thou and they righteous and so they shall find when according to those Laws thou passest a just and righteous sentence upon them for their wicked disobedience 138 What thou hast testified to be thy will in thy word by commanding it to be done is just and righteous in it self and tends to make men so if rightly performed yea happie also thy commands having their rewards which to the faithful shall be faithfully performed 139 I sustain no small grief by my persecutours in mine own person but if I know mine own heart it is far short of what I undergo for thy sake the contemptuous neglect and slight esteem which my proud enemies have of thy commandments making a trade of sinning hath so affected me to see thee thus dishonoured and thy Law unregarded that mine ardent apprehension of it in fervour and affection to thee and holy impatience against them hath meagred and impaired me much 140 That for which others dislike and refuse thy word is because it is in its own nature pure and tends to the refining their natures and corrupt manners which wicked worldlings cannot abide And for this very reason sake do I love it and delight in it because it is such and hath that gracious operation with it for that I am thy servant and do long more and more to be so in all manner of holiness and righteousness whereof it is the perfect rule and pattern 141 I have temptations of poverty persecution scorn and what not that put me to it yet I swerve not nor cast not off thy yoak though
the vile from the precious which here are undistinguished into the place of execution torment together But blessed are they that are Israelites indeed that worship God in spirit and in truth who onely are the Israel and Church of God grace and peace from God their Father through Christ their Saviour shall be their portion interessed in their consciences to their unspeakable consolation here with assurance of glory hereafter The cxxvi PSALM This Psalm shews the excess of joy the Iews specially the Godly had at Gods wonderfull infranchising them after their long captivitie in Babylon which the heathen themselves admired God for but much more his people who pray for accomplishment of those happy beginnings and promise out of their own experience and â—aith that all Gods people that undergo afflictions patiently shall have them end happily See the title of the cxx Psalm 1 AFter we had endured a long and grievous captivitie in Babylon the figure of Satan and Antichrist exiled out of our own countrey and from the priviledges we there enjoyed of worshiping God in Jerusalem at last when the set time was come prefixed long before by Jeremiah's prophesie and that according thereunto the Lord so miraculously moved the heart of Cyrus a heathen Potentate to proclaim our libertie with so much unexpected favour and accommodation for our journey and entertainment at our journeys end when we came into Canaan with leave there to dwell and to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple and there to worship God as formerly It was so great a mercy after so long a miserie so unexpected and improbable considering the disproportion of our abject condition and Cyrus his greatness not worth his taking notice of and so strange to come of himself an Infidel and Pagan together with the suddenness of it and the over-joy we conceived at it that we know not whether we apprehended it sleeping or waking we could scarce believe our own ears what we heard of it or our own hearts what we thought of it to be real fearing the certainty and yet hoping the truth 2 But when we had over-come our amazement and were come to our selves and had digested the certainty and wonderfulness of the thing O the unexpressable joy that we were in like men besides our selves not knowing how to vent our passions sometimes congratulating it amongst our selves with inarticulate laughter and hands lifted up to heaven in stupified admiration other-sometimes more soberly resolving our joy into articulate expressions of thanks and praises expressed in Psalms and Hymns And as God over-powered the King to grant it so he convinced the very heathens in their kind to magnifie him for it those with whom we were captive could not but see and admire the finger of God in this their own very act of our deliverance so much against their nature and interest and to acknowledge both the transcendencie of the King and of the power that wrought it to the glory of our God whom they were forced to magnifie in our behalfs that formerly had contemned both him and us 3 Surely we can say no less of it than they that the Lord hath wrought wonders for us yea let us at least go one step beyond them as we have cause If they that are blind Idolaters and bare spectatours are yet so far enlightened by it as to have the sight of God in it and to magnifie though not gratifie him for it let us do more every way indear it that are the immediate subjects of so rich mercie not onely see his power and greatness as they do but admire his love and goodness thank him for it as a benefit inestimable as well as praise him for it as a miracle and with a holy avarice take the praises out of their mouthes that are no sharers in it and appropriate both him and it wholly to our selves by a joyfull welcom of God again amongst us in his declarative goodness and thankfull acknowledgement of his favour 4 O Lord go on to shew thine omnipotencie as in begetting and beginning so in the progression and perfecting this great work of our return from captivitie and re-establishment in Canaan that as the sun in its season makes streams like rivers to run in the droughtie desarts of southern countries where naturally there are none to the refreshing of the thirstie traveller by dissolving snow and ice from high hils and remote parts so O Lord let thy favour now it is returned upon us go on to move and melt the heathenish hearts of Cyrus his Princes and people on our behalfs to our infinite rejoycing to forward us homeward to Judah out of this our Babylonish captivity under them which with so much hardship we have long endured as also the frozen and carnal hearts of thine own very Israel to accept this opportunity and offer themselves willingly as thy people shall do in the day of thy power and Gospel-jubilee in one joynt compleat bodie universally and unanimously to return as rivers by instinct run towards the sea from whence they came to repossess and replenish our desolate countrey that as a wilderness is uninhabited except by barbarous and savage people without form or beautie of Church or Common-wealth and neither for fear or sloth in respect of difficulties or dangers in the journey or at the journeys end faithlesly draw back chuse to stay and refuse to go as carnal Christians will the tender of grace imbracing rather this present world 5 The Lord will never quite forsake his people we are a perfect emblem of his faithfulness to the faithful that submit to him and wait upon him O the sad hearts that we left our countrey withall at the command of God by his prophet Jeremiah to put our necks into this long Babylonish yoak but our sins and Gods decree had so destined it either so or worse therefore though with great renitencie as the needie husbandman in time of dearth casts his corn which should stustain him for seed into the ground in hope of future gain by present loss so we with a willing willingness for obedience sake put our selves into thraldom loth to displease and as loth to leave our libertie and countrey in hope and expectation of a joyfull return and deliverance as the Church and people of God shall ever have out of their sufferings from out this bondage as now it is made good unto us our joy surpassing our sorrow a hundred fold 6 We are set for the incouragement of the Church in whole and in every part for what is true in the general is applicable to each particular the members singly sharing the promise among them that is made to the bodie joyntly therefore may all and every one that is godly be confident that what precious faith and patience in obedience to God they sow in affliction they shall at last reap it again in reward and consolation God will wipe all tears from their
evermore had and which many and many a time hath crushed them sore yet could never through the over-ruling hand of our Almightie and good God prevail to supplant and eradicate it as was their aim and desire to have done no nor never shall no more now than heretofore fear it not 3 4 The poor Church and people of God have undergone great hardship by the ungodly men of this world to whom it hath been meat and drink to afflict us witness our late Babylonish task-masters and as much pains have they taken to do it by plots and practices as the plow-man does to tear the ground in pieces and as cruelly they have handled us so far as ever God gave them leave and so they shall Christ himself whose husbandmen they are and ever have been and the Church his field wherein thereby he hath always sown his seed and reaped his harvest that hath been the use he put the Churches afflictions and persecutions to always notwithstanding them approving himself righteous and faithfull to his word and promise of grace and so is still and ever will be to remember mercie though the wicked world know none to abate of what it intends against them both for length of time and measure of affliction as we have experience in our late deliverance and to disappoint their purposes and machinations as he hath always done to his churches preservation and their destruction in his own time and by his almightie power maugre their malice 5 And as Lord thou hast ruined Babylon for our sakes so vouchsafe still to appear for thy Church against her enemies bringing them all to confusion that would do so by Sion the place of thy worship and type of thy Church for ever let not their malicious combinations and wicked projects take effect against the type or anti-type but utterly and shamefully defeat and frustrate them for it is for thy sake that they bear evil will to thy place and people 6 7 8 Lord let such haters of God and godliness however they seem to flourish and over-top thy poor Church come to nought both they all their wicked designs as the light corn that makes a fair shew on the ridge of an house for want of rooting withers in a moment before it ripen and comes to any perfection by the heat of the sun and is of no use nor regard so let alwaies the Churches enemies that are under a curse and not a blessing and at present our persecuting neighbours be blasted and in thy wrathfull displeasure destroyed both their persons and purposes let neither the one nor the other ever come to good like those empty ears let them be found by those they curry-favour with a dissembling lying generation great promisers and no performers and find favour accordingly Let not those that are spectatours of us and them whose pendulous judgements the event will preponderate the common errour of the world to judge and side according to success let them not have cause by their prospering against us to bless them and curse us and to misuse thy name against thine own people in behalf of thine and our enemies by blessing those whom thou cursest and cursing those whom thou blessest The cxxx PSALM The Psalmist sore afflicted under the sense of sin and miserie cries to the Lord for mercie making mercie his onely plea for himself and incouragement to persist in the obedience of faith and patient waiting and eager longing for appearance of grace And draws his practise into precept to all the faithfull people of God willing them to hold out hoping in mercie for deliverance through Christ whatever be their pressure sin or suffering See the Title of the 120. Psalm 1 IN the extream agony of my spirit now that I am to mine own sense and in all appearance quite over-whelmed with outward distress and inward terrour death on the one hand ready to devour me my sins and thy wrath on the other hand grievously afflicting and affrighting me yet as from the bottom of this gulph and sea of miseries have I sent forth mine ardent prayer in the faith of thy power and hopes of thy goodness O Almighty and mercifull Lord. 2 In such a case as this Lord let me not speak to a deaf ear but graciously grant me audience yea watch for my prayers at such a time for they shall never fail thee neither do thou fail them especially in such straits 3 If thou O Lord who art the righteous and terrible Judge of all the world a jealous God and a consuming fire doth take strict notice of our sins to take us to task and punish us for them according to our deservings by the law of righteousness and rule of justice alas in such a case what man can stand before thee in his own justification either to acquit himself as sinless or to make satisfaction being sinfull or in case he be able to do neither as no man can how shall he be able to bear and undergo thy judgement and heavy displeasure for sin without sinking under it no flesh can do it 4 But the case is otherwaies with thee towards poor humble hearted sinners and suitours to such thou standest not upon such terms of strictness for thou hast proclamed pardon to all such which by faith they may take out and plead for themselves as also a gracious acceptance of their weak but filiall services whereby they may be and are incouraged knowing thy loving kindness and mercy to worship and serve thee both by believing in thy promises though with much mixture of unbelief and doing thy commandments though in frailty and weakness short of perfection which none can reach yet in sincerity 5 Though my sinns be heavy and mine affliction burdensome upon me and have been so along time yet I despair not but in the faith of his forgiveness and compassion I wait for the sun to break out from under this cloud my soul is in continuall expectation of it and so long as I have his word for it I will hope and look for deliverance and mercy what ever be my fears and dangers 6 My soul longs for and looks out after the comfortable appearance of the grace of God to set me free from these my tedious insupportable miseries of his disfavour and the sad effects thereof with as eager a desire yea far more earnestly and affectionately do I and will I hold on to expect it than ever the poor weary Watch-man or Centry that hath been kept waking all Night prayes for Day-break that he may be discharged and have his liberty to take his rest 7 What ever be the afflictions of faithfull Israel the people of God let them for all that by no means relinquish their hope in the Lord his power and goodness but hold out in the assured confidence that God both is mercifull in himself however he seem and will be
flourishing of my Crown and Kingly office that my heart is so much fixed on as thereby to forget the Priestly office and worship which is to go hand in hand and by which and for which it must be that both I and my Kingdom must be preserved therefore though I have built me an house fit for me yet will I take no pleasure to dwell in it nor enjoy the benefits and conveniences of it 4 Nay I will not sleep in quiet nor take any comfortable rest with content of mind 5 But with a longing desire will watch at what time and by what way and means the season being now at hand God will reveal to me the place long ago forespoken of that he would choose to set his name pitch his Ark and build his temple there where he hath promised his constant abode his presence and residence for ever and from whence he will eminently yield protection and assistance to his people the seed of Jacob calling on him as he did whom he assisted mightily against his enemies and so will them from thence against theirs 6 Lo we have heard of the several transplantations and removes thine Ark hath made one while residing at Shiloh within the tribe of Ephraim another while after thou hadst miraculously rescued it from the Philistines in the house of Abinadab at Kiriath-jearim a place of plains and woods whereby the iniquitie of the times and obscuritie of the place it was disfrequented and scarce taken notice of to be there where yet David found it out and whence he with the approbation and applause of all Israel removed it to Jerusalem preordained and by thee revealed to him to be its place of residence where accordingly it now is to be frequented and thou to be worshipped in that solemn manner befitting the present State of thy Church 7 Whither we thy people generally and unanimously will resort with chearful obedience to thy holy sanctuarie and temple where thou that art in heaven art pleased by typical umbrages to vouchsafe thy real presence and residence and there we will worship thee as thou hast ordained and onely there henceforward as the Church shall for ever worship God in Christ onely accessible in his humane nature where is the fulness of the God-head bodily 8 And that prayer which hath been so often made by Moses in the itinerarie removes of thine Ark now do I prefer and do thou Lord fulfil as it were once for all now possess thy self of this holy mountain and take thou up thy rest and residence there where thou hast promised to dwell amongst thy people in a state triumphant such as both Christ and his Church shall have after their afflictions even on mount Sion in the Temple where thine Ark is at last scituate the sign as of thy presence so of thy powerful goodness in thy peoples preservation and their enemies confusion to remove no more neither thou nor it but there to abide a blessed God amongst a blessed people 9 Now Lord let thy Church flourish that hath been long under the wheel let it at last bear the character of thee the Almighty and merciful God in holiness and happiness both Priests and people let those in thine abundant faithfulness not onely ritually but really by the sanctifying graces of thy spirit be holy to the Lord as their office holds forth salvation so let them in life and conversation so walk before thee as that thou mayest bless and preserve them and thy worship and people by their means Let the time to come burie the memorie of thy Churches former infelicitie by a glorious resurrection of all things to the highest pitch of heavenly and spiritual lustre in temporal and typical resemblances to the ravishment of thy faithful servants and sanctified ones that have long looked for this triumphant condition of Christ in his Churches felicitie and the Temples glorie 10 Yea grant I pray thee my request put up in behalf as of thy service and servants the Temple and Kingdom in general so more particularly in mine own behalf in whom they are so eminently concerned and that for the sake and in the name of that typical mediatour and faithful servant of thine the blessed type of thy blessed son the Messiah David my father with whom thou plightest thy faith by promise and Covenant to be his God and the God of his seed after him to bless them and make them blessings to thy people Lord make me so happie whom thou hast by especial appointment ordained to be his immediate successour in this high dignitie and office of being King over Israel before whom I pray thee honour me with a gracious acceptance of my service in building thee an house by some extraordinarie token of favour and by effectual answering my prayer put up in their and mine own behalf at that thy Temple that they may see thou favourest me and for that cause may have me and my Government in honour and estimation as they had my fathers and be blessed as by him and his Government so by me and mine 11 Thy faithfulnes is my confidence comfort thou hast of thine own free grace ingaged thy word of truth that is as infallible thy self by a firm and lasting promise to David that lived and died in thy favour a lively type of the Mediatour Christ that thou wilt not do by him as by Saul let him be King for tearm of life onely but out of his own loins should proceed his successour whom thou wilt choose as thou didst David himself from among all his brethren to govern his people after him as is verified this day in me thine anointed 12 Nor hath thy favour to him determined in his immediate seed but is extended by thy gracious promise to a successive establishment of the throne of Israel in his seeds seed in case they walk worthy so rich mercie treading in the steps of their father David by keeping the Commandments of the Lord in faith and godliness without deviating or stepping aside to carnal confidence or will-worship even so long as it is to endure to Christs coming and in him to eternitie 13 14 For the Lord hath foretold the prosperous condition of his Church in the dayes of David and his seed how his Ark should then have rest his temple be built where he would reside among his people by special presence of goodness and faithfulness in Sion long defore designed for this honour but not revealed till David and to him it was made known that that was the very place where he would establish the Kingly and Priestly office of his beloved son the Messiah in their lively prefigurations whence he will by his anointed Kings and Priests rule and bless his people if they forfeit not so great blessedness as from heaven he shall his Church in and by Christs mediation the onely High-priest and Potentate ascended sitten down for ever
Series of them 5 Free grace and mercie is and ought to be the salt that seasons all things as what you offer to God is seasoned with the salt of the covenant so let all the considerations you have of God his acts or attributes works or wisdom be salted and seasoned in like sort with the thankful memorial of covenant-grace without which all God is and all God does is as nothing for grace onely gives verdure to and proprietie in all yea and in himself that is more than all not onely his works of wonder to his Church in particular but even his wonderful works in common of creation are to be considered not as acts of power and wisdom onely but his mercie in both is chiefly to be considered â—s that which makes the very heavens to be heavens to us as at first they were so still to be glorious and excellent in their beautie and use be thankful therefore to the God of everlasting grace ever when you behold the heavens and admire his wisdom in those works of nature 6 Yea whethersoever ye look upward or downward and whatsoever ye see in heaven or earth that shews you God under any notion see mercie in it and so be thankful for it as the drie land and habitable earth which wonderfully declares his power being so great a superficies by his appointment above the waters that were above it and would be so again but that his decree stands firm our sins have not let them loose from their restraint because his never-failing grace and mercie over-rules them now as did his word of command at first therefore whensoever you see him in the one do not over-see him in the other for what power created powerful mercie hath continued 7 How many are enlightened by those two glorious luminaries that shine in the firmament that either see not God by them or if they do but with a natural notion of temporal benefit and common goodness and are not thereby raised in their thoughts to see him a God in covenant and that therefore as at first in goodness he made them so in mercie he continueth them for the use of man 8 9 The sun to give light by day wherein man is to labour and therefore hath need of greater light and the moon that other great but lesser light together with the additionals of infinite stars all which giving less light seasonably shine in the night the time appointed properly for rest and improperly imployed in business which yet more or less cannot well be avoided and therefore hath his goodness afforded and his wisdom ordered these gradual lights to shine so opportunely and successively as man hath more and less need of them and so also his mercie doth and hath continued them for these many thousand years notwithstanding so many millions of sins never therefore see these lights or by them but see Gods grace and mercie shine through them and be thankful for it and them 10 If mercie be the motive of common natural benefits why God gives them and we enjoy them and be to be seen in them as thank-worthie how much more in those special and supernatural benefits and miracles wrought for his Church in peculiar surely we are not to forget them nor his mercie in them but as to magnifie it in his acts of creation which are common so much more in those of providence and preservation to his people in special as that of his killing all the first-born of Egypt both of Prince and people man and beast when they would not let Israel go which is for ever to be memorized and recorded by his first-born the Church as a special fruit and effect of that covenant-mercie by which she is and shall ever be preserved thereby to be corroborated 11 12 Whereby he rescued his embondaged people Israel even all of them by a mightie hand of power which his mercie set on work from their cruel Task-masters whose power through mercie wrought that their deliverance maugre the Egyptians powerful opposition remember it see mercie in it and thank him for it yea let your thoughts run descant upon it double and treble your sense of it and thanks for such a mercie the great seal and first-born mercie of his everlasting covenant to his Church national Yea go from circumstance to circumstance see a succession of miraculous mercies and all of them springing out of that everliving root and mother-mercie covenant-grace as before in Egypt so out of Egypt at the red-sea which by almightie mercie being one was divided into two as it were walls of water on each hand them and a great distance of drie land betwixt 14 Through which he made all Israel to pass with safetie the divided sea never offering to unite the whilest they and their cattel journeyed through it 15 But on the contrarie when hard-hearted Pharaoh that pursued Israel after he had let them go ventured after them God the second time made dreadful slaughter of the Egyptians even of Pharaoh and all his host causing the sea to return and destroy all them who else had destroyed all Israel a mercie indeed as well as a miracle and so to be taken notice of admire therefore the one and thank him for the other by an eye of faith see mercie all along yea covenant-mercie such as makes God himself to be yours as well as his benefits and that by a tie of grace which through grace is never to be dissolved else your digestion of benefits themselves is crude and not nourishing as therefore this was typical so let your apprehension of it be spiritual see a blessing as well as a benefit in it to Israel which is the much more sweet and beneficial consideration and bless ye the Lord for blessing his people with so gracious as well as great deliverance 16 And as in your minds you revolve and carrie on the storie of Israels march from Egypt through the sea and so from the sea where they took an everlasting fare-wel of Pharaoh through the drie and desart wilderness where God lead them all along as a shepheard his sheep providing for them meat drink and clothes shade and protection miraculously but no less mercifully their provocations and his admirable patience shewed it and proved it too to be such a mercie whose motive is in God and therefore everlasting like himself a mercie that dures for ever else had it and the Church for ever there received an end for which then as such we are to thank and praise him and to mind that mercie in a paralel line quite along through all our consideration of the storie 17 18 19 20 21 22 And as before he overthrew Pharaoh for their sakes in their enterance into the wilderness so now at their going out of it and entering into Canaan by virtue of that his everlasting mercie patience long-suffering exercised for so
hath appointed it for his worship in his Temple do mine enemies what they can 6 Nay if I let out my hopes or joys towards any thing comparable to thy restitution if any thing though in this estate take up my mind and heart more than that so that I make it not the continual subject of my desire and prayer let me be dumb and my tongue cease to speak especially to sing and celebrate thy praise if above all desires I desire not and above all joys rejoice not in the happie recoverie and flourishing estate of Jerusalem and Gods worship there as my sole and onely solace how ever both it and we are here in derision 7 O Lord as thy people forget not Jerusalem now in her and their captivity so nor do thou forget her enemies hereafter in the day of her prosperity let the cruel despight the Edomites those sons of Esau old enemies though near of kin to Jacob and his posterity together with the other bordering nations be upon record against them that with greater hatred than the very Babylonians themselves whom they stirred up against us helped to demollish that sacred citie encouraging them and one another to do it to the full not to leave one stone upon another desiring the utter abolition of it and its memory for ever so insatiable was their malice Lay therefore thy vengeance upon Edom by the hand of thy people when thou shalt restore them and let them do in Edom according to thine anger and furie as by thy Prophet thou hast foretold they shall 8 O thou great and mighty Empire now in thy prime that takest thy denomination from famous Babylon the mother-citie who for all thy pride and potencie wherewith thou now insultest over others and us especially as thou art the rod in Gods hand for our punishment at present so the time shall come and that assuredly that thou shalt be cast into the fire lamentable destruction is preparing for thee and shall in the time appointed befall thee unavoidably by the Medes and Persians the Princes and people whereof shall do by thee as thou hast done by us utterly ruin and captivate the whole Empire with reciprocal cruelty to that we have found at thine hands for all thy might at present this is true of thee and so thou shalt find it neither thy great citie Babylon nor its Empire shall scape one jot better than our poor Jerusalem and Judah but confusion and desolation shall be thy portion for they shall prevail against thee and be victorious 9 Remember how thou tyrannizedst in thy victory over us deflowring ravishing butchering even poor innocent infants taking pleasure in barbarism and cruelty such measure shall be met to thee in those daies Cyrus and Darius shall revenge our quarrel and right our wrongs and with like success and no less delight in bloud shall they recompence thee with utter subversion even to the slaughtering men women and children without sparing sex or age none pitying your condition but rejoycing at your misery no more than you pitied us but rejoyced at ours and thought it your felicitie so shall yours be theirs The cxxxviii PSALM David having got through the worst of his troubles under Saul whom God had dispatched and being earnested of the whole Kingdom by possession of a considerable part stâ—â—ds as it were and admires what is past and the wonderfull progress alreadie made by God in the fulfilling of his promise promising himself cause of praising God for the rest that is behind and promising God the actual performance of it who hath never failed him in his need but upheld his faith which upheld him Which wonderfull grace of his exaltation shall shine as the sun in the firmament to give light and conviction to all the Princes round about that hear of it to their admiration and Gods glorification And lastly he recommends by experience an humble suffering State before a proud presumptuous one not doubting of Gods perseverance in mercie towards him unto preservation and in judgement towards his enemies unto their utter confusion A Psalm of thanks-giving of Davids making 1 LOrd I am neither unmindfull of nor unthankfull for the great things thou hast done and wilt do for me but will not with hypocrytical semblance as too many do that worship thee but with an honest and sincere heart give the glory of them wholly to thee and those opportunities that may most advance thy praise will I take more especially to celebrate it even then when the greatest concourse of heaven and earth is present when the Princes of thy people Israel and thy people with their Heads and Elders are solemnly congregated at thy sanctuary and thine Angels those blessed spectatours who are there figured by the Cherubims attendants upon the Ark that sacred representation of thine own presence be present also even in the sight and hearing of these created powers and principallities celestial and terrene will I with cordial affection and musical adoration celebrate thy praises that art God of Gods and Lord of Lords 2 Yea both in thy Sancturay and out of it will I memorize thy praise-worthy goodness to me wheresoever I am the face of my soul shall turn like the needle of a dial by sacred instinct towards thee in that holy repesentation of thee the Ark of thy presence when fixed upon Sion where it is to have its residence for ever in the Temple which shall be built thereon thither-ward will I worship thee that art there wheresoever I am even as thy Church from all places on the earth shall Christ their head in heaven and magnifie thy power and goodness so clearly demonstrated on my behalf in those acts of grace and favour and of no less truth and faithfulness vouchsafed me in my manifold protections wonderfull deliverances and happy establishment in the Kingdom according as long since thou promised and fore-told by thy Prophets which considering the greatness of the thing the remoteness of time the improbability of means the distance of my condition and the difficulties intervening these things considered though all thine attributes of greatness and goodness shine with a beautifull lustre in thine accomplishment thus far advanced yet thy faithfulness in fulfilling those thy so unlikely promises and prophesies out-shines and be-dims them all for they being known to all and believed of few or none because of those interposing improbabilities now they are fulfilled in a good measure in their view and to their admiration it makes thy truth to bear the bell comparatively nothing else is thought of thy power nor mercie saving in subservience thereunto It is magnified of all and above all 3 In my calamitous estate when as I cried unto thee as I did oft and many a time thou still heardest and answeredst me graciously and gavest me inward supportation strengthening me by faith in that thy word to undergo my time of trouble with patience and wait for
the promised time of my deliverance with confidence 4 All even the heathen Kings that have little knowledge or sence of God round about when they hear and understand how this thing is brought to pass that I am become King of Israel a poor persecuted abject man how that it was fore-told by thy Prophet that it should be so and answerably fulfilled by thy power it shall convince those very infidels to believe and admire thee for thy word of truth and the wonderfull unquestionable truth of that thy word to the praise thereof 5 Yea they shall be ravished in their spirits at the consideration of circumstances and providences and shall not contain themselves but in praisefull expressions shall vent their apprehensions of thee touching those strange and circumferent waies thou hast taken and untroden paths of unlikely means and providences which thou hast made use of to bring to pass thy purpose towards me so manifestly shalt thou appear even to them to be the sole author of it so glorious shalt thou appear in those manifestations of my preservation exaltation and mine enemies confusion notwithstanding the great disproportion that was betwixt me and them 6 For though the Lord be in heaven swaying there the universal scepter and that such greatness seems to be at too infinite a distance and disparitie to one man of mankind and he also a mean one as I was that he should regard him yet is that no cause of disregard in God I have found it so that this almightie glorious Lord and heavenly Potentate is notwithstanding respectfull of the poor in spirit that suffer wrongfully and walk dependingly on his grace to relieve and protect them whereas those that walk presumptuously to God or oppressively towards their brethren and think their places or personal excellencies as Gods on earth engage him or prefer them in his favour such shall find that humble adversitie is more regarded of God than proud prosperitie he is near to those that to the world seem to be far from him and far from those that upon mistaken grounds think themselves near unto him and much respected by him for such he knows indeed but with no good intentions towards them to judge them not to save them I and mine enemies have found it so and so shall others too 7 The experience I have had of thy power and faithfulness makes me confident for future that however I may have troubles still yea though my life be a continual war-fare and that I may seem to be crushed by them yet my greatest extremity shall be but thine opportunitie even from the grave it self as it were wilt thou restore me as thou shalt Christ. Mine enemies rage against me shall enrage thee against them and instead of hurting me they shall undo themselves for in judgement shalt thou mightily destroy them and with almighty mercie preserve me from them 8 What the Lord had purposed and promised concerning me though it seem impossible to be brought to pass yet he that hath thus far advanced it will as certainly perfect it as he will the Kingdom of Christ it shall not miscarrie by any malice or power of men for God is not as man to say and unsay do and undo the works and calling of God are without repentance what thou O Lord in mercy purposeth to and for thy Church and people that thou wilt in mercy perfect thy Covenant is an everlasting Covenant as mercie moved thee to it so nothing shall remove thee from it or make the grace faithfulness of God of none effect in mercy therefore persevere to finish and lay the top-stone of grace concerning me who am brought thus far onwards towards it by thine almightie goodness and efficiencie who hath done all that hath been done and so must do still The cxxxix PSALM David to evince God of his integritie and freedom from close hypocrisie a sin too common in the world useth several arguments of his knowledge of Gods omnisciencie omnipresencie and omnipotencie as appears in his works of creation but specially in himself so artificially framed for which with reverence and fear he magnifieth and praiseth God as also for his gracious purposes towards him which also are ever in his eye as the one to deter him so the other to affect and dispose him better than to dissemble with such a God who is severe against sinners with whom therefore he dare hold no correspondencie in their wicked ungodly courses but from his heart abandons them and bears them as much ill will that are so minded towards God as if they were open enemies to himself for all which both on his integritie of heart towards God and sincere hatred of sin and sinners he puts himself upon Gods soul-searching inquisition praying if he be in any thing mistaken God would rectifie him To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 O Lord that art all-seeing and all-knowing thou hast exercised me under many trying temptations for a long time and what hath been my behaviour under them thou knowest right-well having put me to it thou knowest me by it what mine heart is and how it stands affected towards thee thy commandements 2 Thou knowest me throughout in thought word and deed all the actions of my life are apparent to thee from one to another of what kind or nature soever they be none excepted yea my very thoughts whence originally spring those mine actions are also known unto thee yea before my mind conceive them thou fore-seest them much more before I act them whilest I think them 3 Wheresoever I am whithersoever I go whatsoever I do night or day thou art with me and knowest both me and it nothing can scape thee no time nor place for thou art present with me every step I take and every thing I do all my life long to judge both it and me 4 For there is not the least word which at any time I have a purpose to speak but sure enough thou knowest it before I utter it yea the motives and ends whereupon and whereunto I do speak it are known to thee though oftentimes they are concealed from man who can judge onely by the letter but thou knowest the spirit 5 Thine omnipresencie hath and doth begirt me round there is no avoiding thee if one had a mind to it for as thou willest or permittest so it is and must be even as a child in a mans hand is guided which way he will so am I by thine all-disposing hand of power and providence in all I do think or speak 6 Lord such incomprehensible wisdom as thou hast that thus wonderfully knowest all things before they are and when they are in their causes motives ends is too deep for me to fathom and too high for me to climbe
that thou wilt be meet with wicked workers and pay them in their kind they that unjustly seek to destroy others shall themselves justly be destroyed by thee the righteous God and judge of all the world therefore will I keep me free from partner-ship with them in those their evil and injurious waies of wrong or revenge no such guilt will I bring upon my head and so I declare my self I fear thee though they do not 20 For they stick not presumptuously to despise and despite thee by open blasphemies and reproches of thy justice power and faithfulness scornfully abusing in the height of their pride and malice against thee and thine all those thine excellencies which thy people fear and reverence thee for 21 Thou Lord knowest how little good-will I bear to wickedness and wicked men I am far from having fellowship with them that I see bear an evil will toward thee thy worship or people my very heart riseth at such with indignation out of zeal to thee and it is no small trouble to me to see wicked men to provoke thee and bear themselves so contemptuously toward thee so great a God as they do 22 Yea from my heart root do I abominate wicked men in their wicked courses nor do I dissemble the matter but profess my self no friend or favourer of them no more nor so much than if they were mine own very enemies and hated me for my love to thee makes me more sensible of the dishonour and indignitie that is done thee than my self and worse can I endure it or them that do it 23 And in regard many that are mine enemies are also thine such as perversly sin against thee as well as injure me and that therefore I may play the hypocrite and dissemblingly make shew of hatred to them for thy sake when covertly it is for mine own thinking thereby to commend my self unto thee and gain upon thee by such a profession therefore do I willingly lay my self open before thee and uncover every corner of my heart for thee to see into it whether it be not as I say and that my thoughts and affections in this point be not sincere and upright against wicked men purely for wickedness 24 Yea spare not to make such discovery of me whether although I speciously seem to hate their persons if yet secretly I love not their waies and could find in my heart to practise wickedness as they do rather than pietie yea if there be any the least root of bitterness remaining in me or the least sin unmortified or abetted by me whereby I may incur thy displeasure that art an all-discerning God or grieve thy spirit who am judge of mine and if there be any such unknown to me for I know mans heart is deceitful convince me of it and convert me from it that by thy gracious powerful manu-mission I may be set free from thraldom to sin that leads to perdition the reward of every such transgression and by thy no less gracious and powerful manu-diction be ordered and inabled in my whole man through my whole life to walke in a perfect way of holiness that onely leads to everlasting life and thy well pleasing this Lord is my desire The cxl PSALM David in way of prayer makes his complaint against his wicked and violent persecutours Saul and Doeg and the rest of their considerates that by a saynt combination plot and labour to take away both his life and good name by all under-hand contriâ—anâ—â—s that may be Therefore he applies himself to God that hath preserved him from open now to protect him from secret violence and bring the evil they intend to him upon themselves yea remarkable judgements upon such impâ—nitâ—nts And promiseth himself and all others that suffers in a good cause with a good conscience as he doth happy deliverance and their enemies confusion To him that is the first and principall of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 O Lord that knowest the wrong I sustain by being thus unjustly persecuted of Saul and his complices that most wickedly and unmercifully prosecute me to the death that never wronged him nor them in all my life do thou that art a righteous Judge of oppressours and a gracious God to right the oppressed undertake my cause and me to vindicate the one and protect the other from the bloudy intentions of my causeless cruell enemy and enemies 2 Whose hearts are full of cursed contrivances how to mischief and undo me and to take away both my good name and life labouring to increase their party and stirre up others against me dayly by false suggestions plotting all manner of wayes and means by joynt advice and endeavour to wage war upon me that would fain be at peace 3 They labour to wound mine innocency as deep as they can possibly by lying and slanderous reports of me and vermin-like spit their venom at me behind my back by prejudicing the people against me with their false calumnies which they have ready at hand to poyson all ears that will give them the hearing It is their continuall practise 4 5 The good Lord watch for me to save me as they do against me to undo me and keep me from their destructive malice and power that have put in practise every way in the world to compass my ruin with extream and unappeasable violence doth Saul seek my life and to that end hath laid snares to catch and intrap me that I should not escape him as yet I bless thee I have done and pray still I may do by thy powerfull preservation and deliverance of me from him and those proud presumptuous wretches his Partizans that disdain the purpose though of God himself as touching me to be King over them and therefore try all conclusions and use their utmost endeavours to disappoint it by subtill stratagems and wicked devices laying as it were traps and toils nets and grins all manner of engins to catch me that craft can device the way they think I take as if I were some wild beast or monster among men of a perillous nature and dangerous consequence not fit to live They are restless to ruin me 6 In this my hazardous condition when I was thus way-laid on all hands I repaired to God as alwayes I do to extricate me out of it by faithfull prayer pleading my propriety in him and his grace which of grace he had vouchsafed me minded him of it and prayed him for it to lend me an hearing ear in my very great need for deliverance and preservation 7 Saying O gracious God the onely Lord Almighty the sole power I trust in and depend upon for safety I have found thee a deliverer and preserver in former dangers when my life hath laien at stake and been in hazard by open violence in the day
of battell against the enemie as now it doth by secret machinations of inveterate deadly foes no less endangering it 8 And as I pray for my self by virtue of mine interest and near relation to thee so give me leave to pray against my wicked enemies that are also thine that what they desire to bring to pass against me may not take effect blast thou their wicked designs which I am sure can take no place if thou doest not more or less allow them which I pray thee do not but the contrarie least they vain-gloriously magnifie their cause and disparage mine and being fleshed with success blasphemously set light by thee as well as me compared with themselves which else they will be sure to do 9 As for the chief hunts-men the principal ringleaders and occasioners of this my trouble and persecution Saul and Doeg that set the multitude on work to betray and entrap me every where where I come whom they have deceived and misled by their false reports let that they intend to bring upon me even destruction fall heavily and unavoidably upon them that they may by no means escape it but in thy justice be themselves taken in the net they laid for others 10 Let such impenitent reprobate minded men come to an exemplarie end by some severe and formidable judgement as did Sodom and Gomorrah consume them utterly by thy vengeance and fiery indignation yea by sudden and fearfull destruction as thou didst Korah and Dathan remove them once for all from off the face of the earth where they do so much mischief in opposing thee and the coming of thy Kingdom that they may rest in perpetuall darkness of death which onely can stitle them and hold their hands and whence they shall never more return to do as they have done being thereby everlastingly disposed of 11 Lord let not any man much less mine enemies by lying and slandering and such wicked unworthy wayes prosper in his designs against the plain and sincere hearted least it incourage other earth-worms that know not God nor care not for heaven to take the like courses when they see them thereby brought to ruin and the wicked contrivers succesfull and fortunate against them No I am confident and dare pronounce it in the name of the Lord that the wicked purposes and contrivances of the ungodly bloud-thirsty man be he higher or lower wherewith he hunts others to the death if he could catch them shall follow him at heeles and drive him into such a trap and snare at last that he shall never escape even utter destruction 12 And on the other hand I dare promise as much for God on the behalf of them that for his sake are unjustly wronged and persecuted be they never so poor and their oppressours never so potent God will patronize both them and their cause against the wrong-doers stand to them and appear for them to do them right and justifie their innocence of this I am confident for his truth is ingaged for it and his glory is concerned in it I doubt not to find it so in mine own particular though it fare ill with me now 13 Sure enough the time will come that they that with a good and honest heart mannage a righteous cause though they may and must be content to suffer for a time as long and as much as pleaseth God yet they shall see a happy end of their sufferings and the miserable catastrophe of their oppressours to their exceeding great cause of joy in and thankfulness to God that by his grace and power hath brought it so about beyond expectation or probability They that are upright and so hold out under affliction keeping a good conscience toward God and man patiently waiting and enduring shall happily survive their afflictions and afflictours here so that God shall lead them through and land them safe on the other side as I doubt not he will do me where the residue of their dayes they shall propitiously enjoy the Lord for their God or if they miscarry in them as so he may permit yet shall they not miscarry by them but shall be happier in heaven whither they shall translate them than earth could have made them in a full fruition of him there in that glorified estate whither no sorrow shall follow them The cxli. PSALM David and his men being in great danger by Sauls surprise probably either in the wilderness of Engeddi or of Ziph and having opportunity and temptation of revenge prayes that God would deliver him both from death and sinne in that strait Is greatly troubled that so many innocents should so prosecute him through misunderstanding wishes they would take another course more agreeable to charity for whom yet his charity shall move him to pray that they may not perish with their malicious mislâ—aders in hope that when they are removed out of the way by Gods just judgâ—ments these will then be reduced and hear reason though now their ears are charmed And lastly represents his and his partizans perillous case to God but withall his faith in God praying for his own deliverance and his enemies subversion A Psalm made by David 1 LOrd no danger is so great nor eminent as to stifle my faith or stop my mouth but be it what it will be I make my moan unto thee even now in this mine extremity wherein I am not a little concerned nor thee to make hast to my rescue being sore laid to be not therefore a stranger to me nor deaf to hear me but graciously compassionate my misery and hear me effectually now and alwayes when in such straits I supplicate thy Majesty 2 Let my prayer which I dayly put up unto thee in the virtue of Christs mediation ascend and be accepted of thee as the Type thereof that perpetuall fragrant incense-offering burnt each morning in the sanctuary â—nd let my supplication the spirituall sacrifice of a faithfull heart be as pleasing as the appointed meat-offering every evening 3 Lord my temptations are great and provocations many suffering so unjustly and ungratefully as I do under a tedious and trying persecution that exerciseth all the faith and patience I have and were it not for thy supporting auxiliary grace would be too hard for me notwithstanding mine which can of it self ill grapple with such adversaries and adversities without out-breaches of corruptions whereto my mind and mouth in thoughts and words are over prone therefore good Lord carefully keep and restrain me that through sinfull impatience or incogitancy I sometime or other forget not my self and imprudently let fall either words or rash discontent towards thee or of sinfull revenge towards mine adversaries unworthy the Mediatour and Lamb-like patience of him whom I prefigure in these my durances but may patiently wait and bear what is thy pleasure to the utmost time and measure as he shall not sinning so much as in word or thought 4 I
my greatest dangers mine enemies were too cunning for me and all the shift I could make and by their subtility and secrecy had certainly surprized me hadst not thou mightily prevented it 4 I ruminated with my self and thought as men in such cases are apt sometimes to hope and sometimes to fear that sure this or the other man would intercede to Saul for me and stand up in the defence of mine innocency to save my life and that I had some friends and acquaintance yet left me that would appear for me in such a time of need but there was none all were against me not a man for me all sought my ruin none pitied my case nor offered to speak a word in my behalf when my life lay at stake so utterly destitute was I and humanely helpless 5 My last and best refuge was therefore to thee O Lord whom I earnestly beseeched to be helpfull to me in that so great extremity shewed thee how all helps else failed me that thou onely and alone wast left me to flie to and hope in who art the stay and strength of mine heart my never-failing deliverer and how that being stript of all interest and propriety in the promised land and all in it as if I were an utter stranger and no Israelite nothing is left me but thy self a naked God in promise is all my part and portion therein 6 Lord forget not thy servant that is so mindfull of thee whose all in all thou art but make this mine extremity thine opportunity hear me effectually that cry unto thee ardently as mine extremity enforceth me to do having as it were one foot within the door of death never man was nearer it and scape be thou that art Almighty my powerfull deliverer from my potent enemies and bloudy persecutours that so surround me and so far surpass me 7 Deliver me from out this present danger and inclusion yea put a finall end to my persecution whereby my life is held in continuall danger and set me at liberty from the oppressing power of mine enemie that as thy free-man when freed I may glorifie thee thy power and goodness that hath done so great things for me And then shall the good and well-meaning people though now misled too many of them flock about me with admiration and praise of thy wonderfull works in my strange manifold and manifest deliverances by the good hand of God to me which shall clearly shew it self to the conviction of all that I am the man which under thee must rule over them as Christ over his Church The cxliii PSALM David under great persecution and trouble prayes earnestly that God would not as he might proceed against him in relation to himself but against his enemies in relation to him for though as to God he was a sinner to them he was none who therefore injuriously sought his life to his extream perplexity Yet he comforts himelf in God his former mercies and prayers to him for present deliverance and perseverance in holiness and concludeth with prayer for his own preservation and his enemies destruction A Psalm made by David 1 MY calamities are such as put me upon vehement and often supplications to thy Majesty for deliverance O that thou wouldest hear me once for all by putting a period to my misery according to the faithfulness of thy promise in that behalf and the gracious nature that is in thee in justice to deliver the oppressed 2 Let not mine afflictions be the punishments of my sins as I confess they justly may for then shall I be hopeless and they endless but remember me under another notion as one chosen and called through grace to be thy servant and that in eminent place in thy Church consider me as such I pray thee in mercy to pardon and pass by my sinfulness for it is not mine innocency but thy clemency that must acquit me as to thee though as to mine enemies I dare plead it but not as to thee who art a God of pure eyes and seest sin enough in me and every one else seem he never so righteous in the eye of the world or his own utterly and for ever to sentence us to hell much more to punish us here 3 It is justice betwixt me and mine enemies that I sue for to be of grace vouchsafed me for they have unjustly hunted after my life for a long time together and have brought it as near to death as could be possible and banished me the society and communion of men to seek sanctuary in wildernesses and caves solitary and desolate disregarded and given of all for lost never to recover any better fortune no more than for a man that is dead and buried to arise 4 Which uncomfortable forlorn cast-away condition doth grievously affect me with trouble of mind and makes my heart as void of comfort within as my life is without 5 Yet Lord do not I altogether count my self as others do but for all I am so as I am my hope is still in thee I consider how it hath been both with my self and other thy servants of old what difficulties they have waded through what deliverances and preservations they have had and from what an ebb-condition thou hast by thy mighty power and goodness raised them and truly this holds mine head still above water and sustains me in faith and hope 6 So that I cease not to pray my danger stops not my mouth nor makes me desperate but in the hope I have in thee though destitute of all else I make my fervent addresses to thee with an eager desire to be heard and to enjoy the fruits of thy promises never did the chawned earth more need and desire the rain to moisten it in time of drought than doth this heart of mine thirst after the supplement of grace in this my calamity Thou Lord knowest it 7 And therefore accordingly vouchsafe to expedite help unto me for truly such outward miseries inward perplexities and forcible heart-breathings after thee will quickly expire me I cannot long live under such heavy burdens and depressions of nature they will consume me if thou doest not quickly afford some reviving by timely redress and effectuall favour which I beseech thee to do least death and destruction seize suddenly upon me which to speak humanely I am within a very little of 8 Whilest yet there is hope before life extinct make hast to help me and as it were to revive my dying decaying spirits with some cordiall of grace and timoâ—s deliverance for my trust is still in thee for it how low soever I am brought point me out by thy singer of direction and hand of providence how I may come safe out of this inextricable labyrinth of troubles wherewith I am incumbred and know no way to escape them but by immediate and miraculous mercy for which I am an humble suitour to thee with all
the powers of my soul that is left me 9 Thy effectuall grace in my powerfull deliverance is mine humble and earnest suit I put up unto thee that mine enemies who seek and make sure of my life may not destroy it which they will certainly and suddenly do if thou prevent not to whom onely I flie from them for no place on earth can escape them 10 And as I beg to be preserved by thy power out of the hands of mine enemies so by thy grace out of the power of my corruptions which by reason of my temptations are very stirring and hardly suppressed inclining me upon occasion to deviate but my trust is in thee and prayer unto thee for this as well as that sinne being as death to me therefore for thy goodness sake which hath so freely and so fully ingaged thee to be every way a gracious God unto me and specially in soul-concernments Lord teach me at every turn and in every strait what is thy will and how to obey it by the powerfull energie of thy spirit which himself is good and can make me so by his efficacious impowering my spirit thereunto maugre all temptations within or without yea all my life long effectually dispose me to walk in the way of holiness and righteousness which onely leads unto everlasting life the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness a pattern whereof shall be that flourishing estate of thy Church in holiness shortly to be accomplished to thine Israel by and under me a figure of Christ which good Lord teach me how to attain to that my sins debar me not so great a blessing 11 For the glory of thy power which is so highly esteemed and little feared by mine enemies do thou manifest it in as it were my resurrection from the dead for such am I in effect and in all humane appearance and for thy faithfulness sake both in point of grace and justice be mindfull of me thy servant wrongfully oppressed and persecuted to set me free from these deadly dangers I am continually in 12 And of meer compassion to me in so great misery undertake my cause and quarrell that without cause am thus persecuted to the death by violent and bloudy enemies who are untreatable and from whom I must never expect other till thou shalt disable them to destroy me by destroying them which I pray thee do as an act of mercy to my wronged innocency let none escape that would not have me do so that my soul may be free from these distractions to serve thee for thereunto through mercy am I designed and by grace am I called The cxliv. PSALM David being in part possessed of the Kingdom blesseth God for that which he acknowledgeth to be of him as also all his atchievements and deliverances and aggravates the greatness of God goodness to him from the baseness and disparity of him to God whom he prayes extraordinarily to stand for him against and rid him of his remainder of enemies as bad as the rest and promiseth upon finall deliverance to tune all his instruments to his praise as the sole Saviour specially of him and again iterates his request that the times of Israels tranquillity under him and his may hasten that they may once be happie after so much miserie which then they shall be with the ample possession of temporall felicities of all kinds and God to boot which will make them or any people happie that are so blessed A Psalm made by David 1 MAgnified be the Lord for his praise-worthy goodness to me in so marvellously inabling me beyond either naturall ability or acquired skill to do things so much above my self in souldiery as through his assistance I have done to mine own and all mens admiration and to such wonderfull success as I have had thereby 2 But it was the Lord and of him onely who hath and doth shew me so many favours and is so bountifull and beneficent to me as I cannot express it but in the abstract of goodness it self so freely are they acted and so manifoldly multiplied to descend into particulars were infinite but what can be imagined by way of offence to mine enemies or defence to my self that the Lord is and hath been to me and I am confident so will be still He it is that hath brought and will go on irresistably to bring this stubborn stiff-necked people of Israel to submit to me as their King who so hardly are removed from their prejudices concerning me and brought to believe the truth of promises touching me 3 Lord I cannot when I reflect upon my self and thee the disproportion 'twixt my nature and essence frail mortal dust and ashes here below and thy spiritual eternal incomprehensible Being and infinite Majestie in heaven above but admire That such an earth-worm as man the whole kind whereof is at best but as the drop of thy bucket subject to generation and corruption should be so regarded of thee as to expend and lay out so much of thy wisdom care and providence upon him especially considering what he is becom by sin not worthie the name of a creature that by nature is thine enemy and that yet thou shouldest exercise so much grace and goodness towards him sundry wayes 4 Man in respect of thee is as the most vain and emptiest thing in the world is to him for substance a thing of nothing and for duration as momentanie and uncertain is his life subject to time and change as the shadow which is as transient as the sun is moveable 5 Yet such is thy goodness to this poor inconsiderable creature that thou art pleased to work miracles many times for the preservation of a very few yea of one single person that belongs unto thee and to descend as it were from thine imperial throne of Divine Majestie to help here on earth wonderfully when thine are in extremitie and so Lord vouchsafe to do now manifest thy presence as when in thick and darksome clouds thou formerly descendedst and made the mountains seem all on fire under thee such let be thine out-goings against mine and thy Churches enemies consume those mountainous powerful adversaries that oppose themselves against thee in thy wrathful displeasure a little whereof will serve to do it as high and mightie as they are in their own vain imaginations 6 Thy peoples extraordinarie dangers have produced extraordinarie and miraculous effects of providence for their preservation and so let it do still let thy power be now as evident as when with thunder and lightening thou foughtest for them destroyedst and discomfitedst their enemies heretofore 7 When earthly helps fail from heaven do thou send succour and set me free from this deluge of trouble and troublesome adversaries that break in upon me like an unresistable torrent let me not fall into the hands of those that though they are visible Israelites of the seed and family
of Jacob yet by their wicked malicious deportment might be as well infidels and heathens and as much charitie and humanity may I expect from those as these 8 Who are perfect proficients in all kind of treachery and dissimulation practising nothing else but how they may deceive and intrap the innocent no tie can hold them whatsoever they promise they break and their contracts though never so solemnly smitten are but snares and traps one can believe nothing they say or do so false are they 9 As thy mercies multiply so shall my praises which hitherto have gone along foot by foot with all thy gratious dispensations every remarkable mercie hath inspired me afresh and brought forth a suitable Psalm of praise and thanks-giving and so shall they that are to succeed when thou shalt compleat mine establishment and work out my final deliverance I will not be behind hand to express it to the full in a full and open acknowledgement answerably magnifying thee with the uttermost of my skill both by voice and instrument tuned to thy praise 10 And I will say that the Lord alone is worthie to be magnified by all his vice-gerents upon earth who disposeth of Kings and Kingdoms as pleaseth him none though never so great standing or prevailing by their own power but by his either in victorie over their enemies or peaceable government over their people and I least of all who am most of all bound to acknowledge his protection and deliverance of me out of otherwayes unavoidable deaths yea many an one that had else swallowed me up had not his hand of power answered his word of promise in the preservation and preferment of me to this place of honour and service to rule his people Israel 11 Thou hast made some good riddance of mine enemies but more remain do by these as by those who are no better Israelites at large onely by birth-priviledge have they got the start of heathens savouring the things of honesty truth no more than they See further the 7 and 8 verses foregoing of this Psalm 12 Settle us in a peaceable and prosperous condition by ridding out those that stand in the way of Israels wel-fare and flourishing estate under me and mine that the times may come which are not far off according to the date of thine ordination and promise when we shall have even a heaven upon earth thy blessings of all sorts abounding to us and our posterities and the Common-wealth be peopled and re-edified as it were with handsome well educated youth the effects of peace both men and women that hath been so long unpolished and in the rough void of all order and comliness 13 And when the blessings of corn and cattel shall to admiration be poured out upon us in so great abundance as ever either room within doors can receive or pasturage without all the land over can maintain 14 And when by peace and plentie our beasts of labour and burden shall be blessed with strength thereto and the Kingdom enriched therewith and that there shall be no more wasting robbing plundering spoiling killing and captiving as lamentably hath been by invasions and inroads of cruel enemies nor no need of flying for our securitie or fighting for our defence but that in stead of wringing our hands and wailing our misfortunes at home we may carrie sorrow to our enemies doors abroad whilest nothing but peace and tranquillitie is in the borders of Israel 15 O the blessedness of such a change what a happy age will be that brings with it such an affluence of posteritie peace and plentie which are the riches of a Kingdom and thus shall it be with us nothing shall be wanting to the perfecting our felicitie even in these above all the nations upon earth and which is more worth and sets a Crown upon the head of all the rest God himself will be ours to bless us and remain with us whose grace and favour is our greatest felicitie when our felicitie is at greatest a happiness of all other most desireable and an enjoyment incomparable when and to whom God vouchsafes it as in goodness and faithfulness under the reign and government of me and mine now at hand he will to us his peculiar people The cxlv PSALM It is noted of this Psalm as also of some others tending to praise as Psalm 111 112 that they are written according in the Hebrew Alphabet each verse beginning with the letters as they lie in order of succession some onely pretermitted This particular Psalm it is conceived was composed when the Kingdom of David flourished wherein he insists much upon the supremacie and empire of God over all in general and his people in special promising as high as he is to set God above him confessing him onely to be great that rules and does all by an Almighty power and greatness consounding his enemies and exercising all manner of grace to his Church and people and though just yet beneficent deserving praise from all but his saints especially who are under the covenant and Kingdom of grace which hath been so powerfully administred in their behalfs and shall continue to the end of the world as it hath done from the beginning for the preservation of his people by him who is pitiful to the oppressed to right and raise them He shews his goodness to be universal and that as all things have an instinct towards him so he towards them to do them good and as he hath given them â— Being so he maintains it which he doth by manifold dispensations of good creatures in sit seasons And whose transcendencie appears chiefly in this that nothing falls out in the administration of his government but what is holy and righteous And though he be bountiful to all yet is he graciously propitious but to few and yet to all those which yet are but few that serve him in sinceritie salvation is there portion and destruction the wickeds For all which he promiseth to magnifie God and bespeaks all else to do so A Psalm made by David wherein himself praiseth God abundantly and incites all others to it exceedingly by setting forth before them his praise-worthy acts and excellencies 1 THou Lord hast highly exalted me and so will I thee as well thou deservest at my hands I will magnifie thy bountie to me and do my homage to thee the King of Kings and more peculiarly of me thine anointed who hold what I have by thy donation and am what I am in subordination to thee the Sovereign Lord of all the Kingdoms of the world but more especially of mine Thy greatness and goodness shall for ever be acknowledged and magnified by me whilest I live were I to live everlastingly and I will leave it upon record to posteritie to do so too 2 The memorie of thy mercies shall never depart from me nor shall the dutie of thanks-giving be intermitted by me time shall
been under sore dejections and grievous oppressions yet still upheld and in its lowest condition made to keep its feet to have a Being and raised in time to a well-being in despite of its potent adversaries by the Lord whose power many a time hath underpropt it and his grace restored it when it was low brought and who indeed in righteousness is pitiful to all that are wrongfully oppressed to right and relieve them and hath power to do it be their condition never so bad especially if they trust in him and seek to him whose Kingdom over the world is chiefly exercised in administring justice and mercie for and towards the afflicted 15 16 Whose goodness is as universal as his greatness and providencially extends it self to every creature that he hath made which also by instinct of nature it self waits upon providence seeks after and endeavours its own means of subsistence every one what is proper to its nature and kind as by and from God his ordination and especial dispensation thus acknowledging his supremacie both man and beast even the whole creation And he orderly in a suitable and seasonable manner supplies unto them food of several kinds in several seasons of both time and opportunitie for sustaining the nature and satisfying the hunger of all creatures of so many several kinds as are in the world and of every individual of each kind by his liberalitie and bountie so universally extended over the whole earth and providently dispensed to the sundry particulars in it which is onely then had when he gives it and therefore had because he gives it none being able to supply their own wants much less worthy to share in the honour of the worlds providing for both which is of the Lord alone who makes second causes instrumental to him and useful to man the power and governance of all creatures being his which therofore bringeth forth and increaseth because he appointeth and is satisfied because he dispenseth 17 Manifold dispensations there are in the world towards good and bad that seemeth strange to us but in this also is God and his government admirable and transcendently praise-worthy that nothing he does be it never so discrepant to humane reason and rules of policie amongst men but he is both righteous and holy in so doing for his will being the onely rule of both his works can none of them disaagree from either 18 His government and dispensation though it be to and over all yet principally and primarily doth it belong to the faithful as near as he seems to others yet is he far enough from them and as far as he seems from these who have the greatest share of adverse fortune in this life yet is he near unto them They that profess him publickly by adoration and worship and withal serve him sincerely in faith and affection that offer to find him fervent not fained prayer they shall be sure to find him a propitious God to a gracious heart accompanied with a holy life 19 Such as take care of him hee 'l take care of them they that fear to sin shall be satisfied with good such God will hear and answer graciously as hear and obey him conscionably and though sometimes by extraordinarie trials he may put them to it to ask yea crie hard for ease before they have it yet that is but to trie and exercise their graces with patient waiting and fervent importuning till the time the set time be come which he hath determined in himself as most opportune for him and them to be relieved and answered in and then though not till then they shall be sure of it when their fears are greatest and their hopes humanely least 20 The Lord will keep promise with all that fear to offend him out of love and desire to please him he may venture them but he will not lose them his eye is over and his hand under them for he has not many such that so love him nor therefore are there many that are so beloved of him and so they shall find that wickedly transgress against him that as he hath powerful grace in store to preserve the one so hath he vindicative justice to destroy the other which shall certainly fall to their lot every mothers son of them his Kingdom is administred by mercie and justice and so the good and bad shall find 21 My mind shall meditate of these thine admirable excellencies of several kinds exhibited to the world in general and thy people in particular both which are wholly under thy dominion and dispensation subject to thy greatness and sharers of thy goodness respectively common and special as also of thy mercie and justice My mouth shall extol them and praise thee the God of them that art so great in power so gracious in providence so rich in mercie and so severe in justice and let mankind in general in all times and places who ought to know thee under all and do know thee under most of these notions whereof they have dayly and frequent experience bless and magnifie thee in all thy holy attributes and properties that so shine forth in thy works of mercie power and righteousness all the world over in all the ages of it The cxlvi PSALM David exciteth all especially Gods people and most especially himself to praise the Lord principally by trusting in him and distrusting all but him Man both great and small being a perishable creature and God onely to be relied on but then that must be the true God and that also by a true faith acted upon his power goodness and never-failing faithfulness and that is every condition believing in God with a like never-failing stedfastness though our estate be various and miserable for that to the good he is ever graciously enclined and to the wicked quite contrarie As also for the perpetuitie and unchangeableness of his throne and dominion over his Church and people for their protection throughout all ages to the end of the world does the Psalmist again excite to praise him concluding as he began in this and so do every of these 5 concluding Psalms 1 2 AS it is the dutie so I wish it were the practise of all especially his people to be constant and conversant in praising God who himself is so constant and conversant in praise-worthie dispensations of several sorts and what I admonish others of I do much more so to my self that have cause beyond all men to praise the Lord and that with my whole heart throughout my whole life as well he deserves that I should spend and lay out my utmost strenght and best affections in praising him which I will be sure to do whilest my tounge can wag 3 4 But let your praises be real give God the praise of your faith which is thank worthie when in your hearts you set up his throne above all principalities and powers trust in him solely
ones for ever in all ages to do them good protect and save them spite of all worldly power or malice Such a God is thy God O Israel whom thou worshippest in his sanctuary upon his holy hill Sion of which accordingly he will bless preserve as the type of his Church universal which as his shall be upheld by him who himself is everlasting whilest the world endures Therefore praise ye the Lord trust in him and in nothing else all ye that are now or shall hereafter be his people the true worshippers of the onely true God The cxlvii PSALM David exceedingly exciteth the people of God his Israel to be frequent and conversant in praising the Lord by sweet motives and powerfull arguments proper and common shewing sometimes his tender care in speciall over his Church then again illustrating him by his native excellencies also by his gracious just and different dispensations to good and bad all having relation to his people whom he again stirs up to the dutie of thanksgiving and praise by acts of powerfull providence above and below to beast and birds He further cautionizeth them not to be misled in judgement so as to think the favour of God or success from God is attainable by humane inducemâ—nes or probabilities no but by faith and holy fear which being the things that indear us to God he again incites gods people to praise him for the priviledge of such truths revealed and such graces exhibited whereby they are so blessed and prospered with peace and plentie by him who as Lord paramount commands the whole creation and is obeyed by it both in heaven and earth but he is Israels and Israel his after a more peculiar and excellent manner than any other nations or all the worlds besides for which he concludes they ought to praise him answerably 1 O Ye people of the Lord be much busied in praising him no greater testimonie of a good heart towards God than to be praisefully affected and disposed nothing we can do more profitable and available to our selves for it keeps the heart in a holy frame and tunableness in the exercise of faith and love to God-ward and gains upon him exceedingly who is much delighted with that kind of service and sacrifice to have the honour done him and homage paid him that 's due unto him from the creature specially his people that do it with faith and understanding it is a work well becoming these to magnifie the Lord both for what he is in himself considered and also to them in grace and gracious dispensations 2 Who indeed deserves praise but he That is all in all specially to his Church it is he that laieth the foundation of it in election and builds it progressively by faith and sanctification and finisheth his work of grace and his peoples happiness in glorification like as out of all the world Jerusalem is the chosen place of his worship and Israel a chosen people to worship him both which he of meer grace by an Almightie power doth bless and build up unto a flourishing state and condition and that notwithstanding their many enemies Yea he brings his people Israel out of their several mis-fortunes and dispersions to be the sole subjects of his Kingdom and to be united under me their head his substitute in a formed Church and Common-wealth thereby to live happilie and serve him acceptably as in like sort he shall call his chosen all the world over into one body his Church under one head Christ to serve and honour him and partake of his happiness It is he that doth both the one and the other 3 God many times is pleased to break and bruise his people with outward afflictions and inward depressions of mind and conscience by the weight of sins guilt or his dis-favour but it is but to find his grace and spirit work to shew his skill and to verifie his word who healeth them again with the balm of Gilead the light of his countenance ariseth upon such a soul after some conflict for God is tender over his people specially in distress and most specially in soul-agonies when they pant under a troublesom spirit he is the true Samaritan that poureth in wine and oyl and binds up the wound of his Church and chosen which the world without or trouble within hath made 4 He that can number the numberless stars from one end of the heavens to the other and knoweth them particularly and distinctly one by one as many as they are having indeed made them all and ordained each one its orb and office causing them to appear and act in their seasons orderly and successively without confusion notwithstanding their infinite number as also their variable manifold and inter-winding courses he as well knoweth the number of the stars on earth as in heaven his people wheresoever dispersed upon the face of the whole earth to gather them into his bodie as Israel into Canaan from their dispersions yea every particular person and member of his Church universal knows he to bring him in in his season age and generation and both where and how to imploy him in what station of the world and place in his Church for the service of him and it 5 For as the Lord is great in knowledge so also in power there can no bounds be set to either he is infinite in understanding past our capacitie a fit object of of our faith and subject of our praise in all his proceedings 6 As appears by the certain conclusions he brings out of uncertain providences how those that meekly and humbly undergo their time and portion of sufferings the share of all his servants wherein they seem to themselves and others to be forlorne and helpless he by an Almightie hand beyond imagination relieves and releaseth them makes them able with joy to over-top their sorrows how despicable soever they were in the eyes of the world whereas on the contrarie those that with worldly pomp and affluence are lifted up to do wickedly against him or his Church oppressing them or contemning him these as high as they are in power and pride and though they seem to the world and themselves in respect of their present condition to be as immoveable as a mountain God notwithstanding nay therefore ruinates them and lets the world see the difference of good and bad of them that fear him and also of them that fear him not 7 Consider the thank-worthy goodness of God to stir you up to zeal and gratitude when you praise him in Psalms and Hymns which neglect not to do even to do with all your might and the best of your skill both of voice and instrument and all too little to give God his due specially we his peculiar people cannot do too much in this way who by special priviledge are the onely people of all the world that worship the onely true God 8 For it is he
wonderous works one as well as another from of the globe of the earth and sea here below as well as from heaven on high Let his immense power be magnified in framing such depths as well as heights even those vast and profound seas adequate for those huge and formidable whales and sea-dragons which he hath made and disposed of there as their proper place and element And so ye exhalations and meteors whether of fire or water that by the force of the sun are drawn from the earth into the air and there by an Almightie power severally disposed of into divers forms and beings and to several ends and all as pleaseth God whether unto thunder lightenings hail snow rain mists storms and tempests all of you jointly severally as God pleaseth to use you sometimes for good sometimes for evil whose will in both you must and do obey acting as by him and not your selves so for him to fulfil his command and do the errand whereon he sends you set ye forth the power and greatness of God to his praise in doing his pleasure 9 And ye earthly heights as well as waterie depths ye hils and mountains of several quantities and dimensions higher and lower greater and less also ye trees that grow upon the earth of several natures to several uses some for fruit and some for timber as all of you are of and from the Lord so are you for and to him you ought to be to his praise who gave you your several kinds and existences for the use and benefit of man 10 Ye that exceed these vegetives which yet are excellent in their kind toward the making up the beautifull frame and order of nature you I say that are a form higher in the creation ye animals endowed with sence as well as life and first ye four footed beasts and cattel of several sorts and kinds which are so manifold great and small one and other yea and you that by gods ordination are under the same Genus but of a far different Species that instead of going upon feet are wonderfully facilitated to creep upon your bellies as also you several fowl that live in another element the air dexterously conveying your selves by flight from place to place with wings instead of feet do you in your several kinds natures and places set forth the Almighty power and wisdom of the Creatour of all things 11 12 And you who enjoy the best of beings next the angels comprehending the perfection of all living creatures vegetative and sensitive with a superaddition of a reasonable soul you men and of men principally you that are principal ye Kings and great men of the world lead you the way and go before others in good example that have so much cause above others to magnifie God and celebrate his praise And all ye people also not onely in but under authoritie both high and low do you the like Chiefly ye great men look you to it to whom it principally appertains and who for the most part are most deficient and too high to do homage but be your power or wisdom never so great yet be so wise and lowly as to let God be both greater and wiser and be you never so beneficial in your places yet let God be acknowledged the best benefactor by you and those that are under you who is above all as in greatness the sovereign King and Judge of all the earth so in goodness administring righteous judgement and yielding just protection And though principally yet not onely doth this duty of praise belong to great men no nor yet to men whether you respect their age or sex for though their priviledge in both regards engage them comparatively beyond others yet it belongs to all of all ages and sexes both men and women to them that are in their prime for mind body with strength and beauty as young men and maids and them also that are growing to it or gone beyond it old men and children for as in civil government there are degrees of places offices higher and lower as princes peopele so in nature there are and must be degrees of ages succession of generations as fathers children both which are respectively thereby beautified with orderly subsistence which else would be a confused paritie each setting forth the praise-worthy wisdom of God in their gradual subordinations as high and low so young and old some governing some governed one generation coming another going to the praise of the God of nature that so orders things in the great Common-wealth thereof and in that variety of creatures ages and sexes as to produce so beautiful and orderly a progression from one end of the world to the other 13 All the whole creation consisting of infinite particulars never all of them to be enumerated in their several kinds and capacities let them joyn in this harmonie of Halelu-jah celestial and terrestrial creatures every of them severally and all of them joyntly make up a Quire of praising God for his praise-worthy excellencies of several sorts specified in their several kinds some as men and angels actually offer up others as all other creatures declaratively set forth the greatness and goodness power wisdom and glorie of their maker who therefore made them and who excels all created excellencies all and every of them being but borrowed from the fountain of his sole sufficiencie He onely is originally and they derivatively good whose transcendent Majestie and glorious excellencie inherent in himself is infinitly superlative to all earthly Majesties and all natural excellencies whether in the heavens above or the earth here beneath yea though you could fancie them all in one collective bodie and frame an Idea of all created perfections the glorie riches beautie order of all creatures in one entire resplendencie and representation yet is he alone infinitely beyond them all in all their several excellencies joyntly considered and to be praised both above them and for them who himself both is all above all and all in all 14 He is worthy praise from all creatures for what they are and have derivatively from him but that which is of greatest note and most praise-worthie is the Crown of all the rest which he hath set upon his peoples head his Covenant-mercie and grace and that not onely in promise but performance having in and by me as he hath and shall spiritually by and in Christ wonderfully blessed and prospered his people brought them out of all their sorrows and set them above all their enemies and therefore is he if to the creatures much more to his elect and chosen people especially the called and sanctified ones among them matter of praise who hath exatalted and preferred them to that praise-worthie priviledge of being his in a peculiar singular way of grace and adoption differing from all men and all creatures besides I mean his Israel the people of his Covenant made with their
the tongue that speaketh proud things 4 Who have said with our tongue will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us 5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needie now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him in safetie from him that puffeth at him 6 The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times 7 Thou shalt keep them O Lord thou shalt preserve them from this Generation for ever 8 The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted Psalm xiii To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 HOw long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long shall mine enemies be exalted over me 3 Consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes least I sleep the sleep of death 4 Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me rejoyce when I am moved 5 But I have trusted in thy mercie my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation 6 I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me Psalm xiii To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 THe fool hath said in his heart there is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good 2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God 3 They are all gone aside they are all together become filthy there is none that doth good no not one 4 Have all the workers of iniquitie no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. 5 There were they in great fear for God is in the generation of the righteous 6 You hâ—ve shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge 7 O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people Jacob shall reioyce and Israel shall be glad Psalm xv A Psalm of David 1 LOrd who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill 2 He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnes and speaketh the truth in his heart 3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproch against his neighbour 4 In whose eyes a â—â—le person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not 5 He that putted not out his money to usurie nor taketh reward against the innocent He that doth these things shall never be moved Psalm xvi Michtam of David 1 PReserve me O God for in thee do I put my trust 2 O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord Thou art my Lord my goodnes extendeth not to thee 3 But to the sâ—â—ints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God their drink-offerings of bloud will I not offer nor take up their names into my lips 5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage 7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also instruct me in the night seasons 8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glorie rejoyceth my flâ—sh also shall rest in hope 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither â—ilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psalm 17. A prayer of David 1 Hear the right O Lord attend unto my cry give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence let thine eyes behold the things that are equal 3 Thou hast proved mine heart thou hast viâ—ited me in the night thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgreâ—â— 4 Concerning the works of men by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer 5 Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not 6 I have called upon thee for thou wilt hear me O God incline thine ear unto me hear my speech 7 Shew thy marvellous loving kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings 9 From the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about 10 They are inclosed in their own fat with their mouth they speak proudly 11 They have now compassed us in our steps they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth 12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places 13 Arise O Lord disappoint him cast him down deliver my soul from the wicked which is or as in the margin by thy sword 14 From men which are or as in the margin by thine hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasurâ— they are full of children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes 15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Psalm xviii To the chief musician a Psalm of David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul And he said 1 I Will love theâ— O Lord my strength 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the born of my salvation and my high tower 3 I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praiâ—ed so shall I be saved from mine enemies 4 The sorrows of death compassed me and the flouds of ungodly men made me afraid 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about the snares of death prevented me 6 In my distresse I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God he heard my prayer out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears 7 Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he
was wroth 8 There went up a smoak out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it 9 He bowed the heavens also came down and darkness was under his feet 10 And he rode upon a cherub and did flie yea he did flie upon the wings of the wind 11 He made darkness his secret place his pavilion â—round about him were dark watters and thick clouds of the skies 12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed hail-stones and coals of fire 13 The Lord also thundred in the heavens and the highest gave his voice hailstones coals of fire 14 Yea he sent out his arrows and scattered them and be shot out lightnings discomfited them 15 Then the chanels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils 16 He sent from above he took me he drew me out of many waters 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them whiâ—h hated me for they were too strong for me 18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity but the Lord was my stay 19 He brought me forth also into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me 20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hand hath he recompâ—nced me 21 For I have kept the wayes of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God 22 For all his judgements were before me and I did not put away his statutes from me 23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity 24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands in his eye-sight 25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful with an upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright 26 With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward 27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring down high looks 28 For thou wilt light my candle the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness 29 For by thee I have run through a troupâ— and by my God have I leaped over a wall 30 As for God his way is perfect the word of the Lord is tried he is a buckler to all those that trust in him 31 For who is God save the Lord or who is a rock save our God 32 It is God that girdeâ—h me with strength and maketh my way perfect 33 He maketh my feet like hindes feet setteth me upon my high plaâ—es 34 He teacheth my hands to warre so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand hath holden me up thy gentleness hath made me great 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me that my feet did not slip 37 I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them nâ—ither did I turn again till they were consumed 38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise they are fallen under my feet 39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto battel thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me 40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me 41 They cried but there was none to save them even unto the Lord but he answered them not 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets 43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people and thou hast made me the head of the heathen a people whom I have not known shall serve me 44 As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me the strangers shall submit themselves unto me 45 The strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close places 46 The Lord liveth blessed be my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted 47 It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the people under me 48 He delivereth me from mine enemies yea thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me thou hast delivered me from the violent man 49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee O Lord among the heathen and sing pâ—aiâ—â—â—â— unto thy name 50 Great deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his annointed to David and to his seed for evermore Psalm 19. To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 THe heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work 2 Day unto day uttereth speech night unto night sheweth knowledg 3 There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard 4 Their line is gone out throughout all the earth and their words to the end of the world in them hath he set a Tabernacle for the sun 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a â—ace 6 His going forth is from the end of the Heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof 7 The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple 8 The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes 9 The fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever the iudgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 10 More to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also then honey and the honey-comb 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward 12 Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret faults 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sâ—â—s let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer Psalm xx To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord bear thee in the day of trouble the name of the God of Jacob defend thee 2 Send thee help from the sanctuarie and strengthen thee out of Sion 3 Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice Selah 4 Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsel 5 We will rejoyce in thy salvation and in the name of our God we will set up our banners the Lord fulfil all thy petitions 6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his annointed he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his â—ight hand 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God 8 They
not mine enemies triumph over me 3 Yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed which transgress without cause 4 Shew me thy wayes O Lord teach me thy paths 5 Lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day 6 Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they have been ever of old 7 Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. 8 Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way 9 The meek will he guide in judgement and the meek will he teach his way 10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies 11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great 12 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 13 His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the land 14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant 15 Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net 16 Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my distresses 18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain and forgive all my sinnes 19 Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruel hatred 20 O keep my soul and deliver me let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee 21 Let integrity â— uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee 22 Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles Psalm xxvi A Psalm of David 1 JUdge me O Lord for I have walked in mine innocency I have trusted also in the Lord therefore I shall not slide 2 Examine me O Lord and prove me try my reins and my heart 3 For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth 4 I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked 6 I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. 7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works 8 Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house the place where thine honour dwelleth 9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloudy men 10 In whose hands is mischief and their right hand is full of bribes 11 But as for me I will walk in mine integrity redeem me and be merciful unto me 12 My foot standeth in an even place in the congregations will I bless the Lord. Psalm xxvii A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord is my light and my salvation whoÌ„ shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid 2 When the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell 3 Though an host should enâ—amp against me my heart shall not fear though warre should rise against me in this will I be confident 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord to enquire in his Temple 5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a rock 6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yea I will sing praises unto the Lord. 7 Hear O Lord when I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me and answer me 8 When thou saidest seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek 9 Hide not thy face farre from me put not thy servant away in anger thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation 10 When my father and my mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up 11 Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies 12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies for false witnesses are risen up against me and such as breath out cruelty 13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living 14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Psalm xxviii A Psalm of David 1 UNto thee will I cry O Lord my rock be not silent to me lest if thou be silent to me I become like them that go down into the pit 2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee when I lift up mine hands toward thy holy oracle 3 Draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbours but mischief is in their hearts 4 Give them according to their deeds according to the wickedness of their endeavours give them after the works of their hands render to them their desert 5 Because they regard not the works of the lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them not build them up 6 Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications 7 The Lord is my strength my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth and with my song will I praise him 8 The Lord is their strength and he is the saving strength of his annointed 9 Save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed them also and lift them up for ever Psalm xxix A Psalm of David 1 GIve unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness 3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters the God of glory thundereth the Lord is upon many waters 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of Majestie 5 The voice of the Lord breaketh Cedars yea the Lord breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon 6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn 7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire 8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadâ—sh 9 The voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds to calve and discovereth the forrests and in
his temple doth every one speak of his glorie 10 The Lord sitteth upon the floud yea the Lord sitteth King for ever 11 The Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will bless his people with peaâ—e Psalm xxx A Psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David 1 I Will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoyce over me 2 O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me 3 O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit 4 Sing unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness 5 For his anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning 6 And in my prosperitie I said I should never be moved 7 Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled 8 I cried to thee O Lord and unto the Lord I made supplication 9 What profit is there in my bloud when I go down to the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy truth 10 Hear O Lord and have mercie upon me Lord be thou mine helper 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness 12 To the end that my glorie may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Psalm xxxi To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 IN thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be ashamed deliver me in thy righteousnes 2 Bow down thine ear to me deliver me speedily be thou my strong rock for an house of defence to save me 3 For thou art my rock and my fortress therefore for thy name sake lead me and guid me 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me for thou art my strength 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth 6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities but I trust in the Lord. 7 I will be glâ—d and rejoyce in thy mercie for thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in adversities 8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemie thou hast set my feet in a large room 9 Have mercie upon me O Lord for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly 10 For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine iniquitie and my bones are consumed 11 I was a reproch among all mine enemies but especially among my neighbours and a fear to mine acquaintance they that did see me without sled from me 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind I am like a broken vessel 13 For I have heard the slaunder of many fear was on every side while they took counsel together against me they devised to take away my life 14 But I trusted in thee O Lord I said Thou art my God 15 My times are in thy hand deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for thy mercies sake 17 Let me not be ashamed O Lord for I have called upon thee let the wicked be ashamed and let them be silent in the grave 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous 19 O how great is thy goodnes which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee whâ—ch thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sâ—ns of men 20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues 21 Blessed be the Lord for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong citie 22 For I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou hearest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee 23 O love the Lord all ye his saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer 24 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord. Psalm xxxii A Psalm of David Maschil 1 BLessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquitie and in whose spirit there is no guil 3 When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long 4 For day and night thy hand was heavie upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of summer Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquitie have I not hid I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquitie of my sin Selah 6 For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found surely in the flouds of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him 7 Thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance Selah 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go I will guid thee with mine eye 9 Be ye not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding whose mouths must be held in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upâ—ight in heart Psalm xxxiii 1 REjoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright 2 Praise the Lord with harp sing unto him with the psalterie and an instrument of ten strings 3 Sing unto him a new song play skilfully with a loud noise 4 For the word of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth 5 He loveth righteousness and judgement the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord weâ—e the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap he layeth up the depth in store houses 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him 9 For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast 10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect 11 The
counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance 13 The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their works 16 There is no King saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength 17 An horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength 18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy 19 To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine 20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord he is our help and our shield 21 For our heart shall rejoyce in him because we have trusted in his holy name 22 Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee Psalm xxxiv A Psalm of David when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed 1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad 3 O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together 4 I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears 5 They looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed 6 This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles 7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them 8 O tast see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him 9 O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him 10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing 11 Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 What man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good 13 Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile 14 Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it 15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry 16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth 17 The righteous cry the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all 20 He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken 21 Evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate 22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Psalm xxxv A Psalm of David 1 PLead my cause O Lord with them that strive with me fight against them that fight against me 2 Take hold of shield and buckler stand up for mine help 3 Draw out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me say unto my soul I am thy salvation 4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul let them be turned back brought to confusion that devise my hurt 5 Let them be as chaff bâ—fore the wind and let the Angel of the Lord chase them 6 Let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persebute them 7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soul. 8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction let him fall 9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord it shall rejoyce in his salvation 10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him 11 False witnesses did rise up they laid to my charge things that I knew not 12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. 13 But as for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosome 14 I behaved my self as though he had been my friend or brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother 15 But in mine adversity they rejoyced and gathered themselves together yea the abjects gathered themselves together against me and I know it not they did tear me and ceased not 16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth 17 Lord how long wilt thou look on rescue my soul from their destructions my darling from the lions 18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation I will praise thee among much people 19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoyce over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause 20 For they speak not peace but they devise deceitâ—ul matters against them that are quiet in the land 21 Yea they opened their mouth wide against me and said Aha aha our eye hath seen it 22 This thou hast seen O Lord keep not silence O Lord be not far from me 23 Stir up thy self awake to my judgement even unto my cause my God and my Lord. 24 Judge me O Lord my God according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoyce over me 25 Let them not say in their hearts Ah so would we have it let them not say we have swallowed him up 26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoyce at mine hurt let them be clothed with shame dishonour that magnifie themselves against me 27 Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long Psalm xxxvi To the chief musician A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. 1 THe transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyeâ— 2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful 3 The words of his mouth are iniquity deceit he hath left off to be wise and to do good 4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed he setteth himself in a way that is not
good he abhorreth not evil 5 Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds 6 Thy righteousnes is like the great mountains thy judgements are a great deep O Lord thou preservest man and beast 7 How excellent is thy loving kindness ' O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow oâ— thy wings 8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures 9 For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light 10 O continue thy loving kindness unto them that know thee and thy righteousness to the upright in heart 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me and let not the hand of the wicked remove me 12 There are the workers of iniquitie fallen they are cast down and shall not be able to rise Psalm xxxvii A Psalm of David 1 FRet not thy self because of evil doers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquitie 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb 3 Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed 4 Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the noon-day 7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him fret not thy self because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass Cease from anger 〈◊〉 forsake wrath â—â—et not thy self in any wise to do evil 9 For evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the land 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be yeâ— thou shalt diligently consider his place and iâ— shall not be 11 But the meek shal inherit the earth shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace 12 The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth 13 The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming 14 The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needie and to slay such as be of upright conversation 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall he broken 16 A little that a righteous man hath is is better than the riches of many wicked 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken but the Lord upholdeth the righteous 18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be for ever 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famin they shall be satisfied 20 But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs they shall consume into smoak shall they consume away 21 The wicked borroweth and payeth not again but the righteous sheweth mercie and giveth 22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way 24 Though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand 25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread 26 He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed is blessed 27 Depart from evil and do good dwell for evermore 28 For the Lord loveth judgement and forsaketh not his saints they are preserved for ever but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off 29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever 30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom his tongue talketh of judgement 31 The Law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide 32 The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him 33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged 34 Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it 35 I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree 36 Yet he passed away and so he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found 37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace 38 But the transgressours shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off 39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble 40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him Psalm xxxviii A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance 1 O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure 2 For thine arrows stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me soar 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin 4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me 5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness 6 I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long 7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease there is no soundness in my flesh 8 I am feeble sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart 9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee 10 My heart panteth my strength faileth me as for the light of mine eyes it also is gone from me 11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore and my kinsmen stand far off 12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me they that seek my hurt â—peak mischievous things and imagin deceits all the day long 13 But I as a deaf man heard not and I was as a dumb man that opened not his mouth 14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs 15 For in thee O Lord do I hope thou wilt hear O Lord my God 16 For I said Hear me least otherwise they should reâ—oyce over me when my foot slippeth they magnifie themselves against me 17 For I am readie to halt and my sorrow is continually before me 18 For I will declare mine iniquitie I will be sorie for my sin 19 But mine enemies are lively and they are strong and they that hate me wrongfully
are multiplied 20 They also that render evil for good are mine aduersaries because I follow the thing that good is 21 Forsake me not O Lord O my God be not far from me 22 Make hast to help me O Lord my salvation Psalm xxxvi To the chief musician even to Jeduthun A Psalm of David 1 I Said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me 2 I was dumb with silence I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred 3 My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my tongue 4 Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is that I may know how frail I am 5 Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand-bredth and mine age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best state is altogether vanitie Selah 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them 7 And now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions make me not the reproch of the foolish 9 I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it 10 Remove thy stroke away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquitie thou makest his beautie to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanitie Selah 12 Hear my prayer O Lord and give ear unto my cry hold not thy peace at my tears for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were 13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence be no more Psalm xl To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 I waited patiently for the Lord and he enclined unto me and heard my cry 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit out of the mirie clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings 3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth even praise unto our God many shall see it and fear shall trust in the Lord. 4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies 5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderfull works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I would declare speak of them they are more than can be numbred 6 Sacrifice offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required 7 Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me 8 I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation so I have not refrained my lips O Lord thou knowst 10 I have not hid thy righteousnes within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation 11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me 12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of mine head therefore mine heart faileth me 13 Be pleased O Lord to deliver me O Lord make hast to help me 14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil 15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me Aha Aha 16 Let all those that seek thee rejoyce and be glad in thee let such as love thy salvation say continually the Lord be magnified 17 But I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me thou art my help my deliverer make no tarrying O my God Psalm xl To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 BLessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble 2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies 3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness 4 I said Lord be merciful unto me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee 5 Mine enemies speak evil of me when shall he die and his name perish 6 And if he come to see me he speaketh vanity his heart gathereth iniquity to it self when he goeth abroad he telleth it 7 All that hate me whisper together against me against me do they devise my hurt 8 An evil disease say they cleaveth fast unto him and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more 9 Yea mine own familiar friend in whō I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me 10 But thou O Lord be merciful unto me and raise me up that I may requite them 11 By this I know that thou favourest me because mine enemy doth not triumph over me 12 And as for me thou upholdest me in mine integrity and settest me before thy face for ever 13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting Amen and Amen Psalm xlii To the chief musician Maschil for the sons of Korah 1 As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God 2 My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God 3 My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me where is thy God 4 When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me for I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy-day 5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted in me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance 6 O my God my soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Mizar 7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me 8 Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time and in the night his song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life 9 I will sing unto God my rock why hast thou forgotten me why go I mourning because of the oppression of the
Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah Psalm xlvii To the chief musician A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 O Clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voice of triumph 2 For the Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over all the earth 3 He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet 4 For he shall chuse our inheritance for us the excellencie of Jacob whom he loved Selah 5 God is gone up with a shout The Lord with the sound of a trumpet 6 Sing praises to God sing praises sing praises unto our King sing praises 7 For God is the King of all the earth sing ye praises with understanding 8 God reigneth over the heathen God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness 9 The Princes of the people are gathered together even the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong unto God he is greatly exalted Psalm xlviii A song and Psalm for the sonnes of Korah 1 GReat is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the Citie of our God in the mountain of his holiness 2 Beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion on the sides of the North the Citie of the great King 3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge 4 For â—o the Kings were assembled they passed by together 5 They saw it and so thâ—y marvelled they were troubled and hasted away 6 Fear took hold upon them there and pain as of a womaâ— in travell 7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an Eastwind 8 As we have heard so have we seen in the Citie of the Lord of hosts in the Citie of our God God will establish it for ever Selah 10 We have thought of thy loving kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple 10 According to thy name O God so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth thy right hand is full of righteousness 11 Let mount Sion rejoyce let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgements 12 Walk about Sion and go round about her tell the towers thereof 13 Mark ye well her bulwarks consider her palaces that ye may tell it to the generation following 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guid even unto death Psalm xlix To the chief musician A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 HEar this all ye people give ear all ye inhabitants of the world 2 Both low high rich poor together 3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding 4 I will encline mine ear to a parable I will open my dark saying upon the Harp 5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity of mine heels shall compass me about 6 They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him 8 For the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever 9 That he should still live for ever and not see corruption 10 For he seeth that wise men die likewise the fool and the brutish person perish 11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations they call their lands after their own names 12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish 13 This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings Selah 14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feâ—d on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me Selah 16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his house is increased 17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him 18 Though whilst he lived he blessed his soul and mâ—n will praise thee when thou dost well to thy self 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers they shall never see light 20 Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Psalm l. A Psalm of Asaph 1 THe mighty God even the Lord hath spoken called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof 2 Out of Sion the perfection of beauty God hath shined 3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him 4 He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people 5 Gather my saints together unto me those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice 6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness for God is judge himself Selah 7 Hear O my people and I will speakâ— O Israel and I will testifie against thee I am God even thy God 8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings to have been continually before me 9 I will take no Bullock out of thy house nor He-Goats out of thy folds 10 For every beast of the forrest is mine and the cattell upon a thousand hills 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine 12 If I be hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine the fulness thereof 13 Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the bloud of goats 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high 15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me 16 But unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statures or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth 17 Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee 18 When thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with adulterers 19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit 20 Thou â—iâ—test and speakest against thy brother thou slanderest thine own mothers sonne 21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes 22 Now consider this ye that forget God least I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver 23 Who so offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Psalm li. To the chief musician A Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to
mouth were smoother than butter but war was in his heart his words were softer than oyl yet were they drawn swords 22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he will sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved 23 But thou O God shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction bloudie and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes but I will trust in thee Psalm lvi To the chief musician upon Jonath-elem-rechokim Michtam of David when the Philistines took him in Gath. 1 BE merciful unto me O God for man would swallow me up he fighting daily oppresseth me 2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up for they be many that fight against me O thou most High 3 What time I am afraid I will trust in thee 4 In God I will praise his word in God I have put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me 5 Every day they wrest my words all their thoughts are against me for evil 6 They gather themselves together they hide themselves they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. 7 Shall they escape by iniquitie in thine anger cast down the people O God 8 Thou tellest my wandrings put thou my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy book 9 When I crie unto thee then shall mine enemies turn back this I know for God is for me 10 In God will I praise his word in the Lord will I praise his word 11 In God will I put my trust I will not be afraid what man can do unto me 12 Thy vows are upon me O God I will render praises unto thee 13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death wilt not thou deliverâ— my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of the living Psalm lvii To the chief musician Altaschith Michtam of David when he fled from Saul in the cave 1 BE mercifull unto me O God be mercifull unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge untill these calamities be overpast 2 I will cry unto God most high unto God that performâ—th all things for me 3 He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproch of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and his truth 4 My soul is among lions and I lie even among them that are set on fire even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword 5 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth 6 They have prepared a net for my steps my soul is bowed down they have digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves Selah 7 My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise 8 Awake up my glory awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early 9 I will praise thee O Lord among the people I will sing unto thee among the nations 10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds 11 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth Psalm lviii To the chief musician Altaschith â— Michtam of David 1 DO ye indeed speak righteousness O generation do ye judge uprightly O ye sons of men 2 Yea in heart you work wickedness you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray assoon as they be born speaking lies 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent they are like the deaf Adder that stoppeth her ear 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers charming never so wisely 6 Break their teeth O God in their mouth break out the great teeth of the young lions O Lord. 7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows let them be as cut in peices 8 As a snail which melteth let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman that they may not see the sun 9 Before your pots can â—eel the thornes he shall take them away as with a whirlwind 10 The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance he shall wash his feet in the bloud of the wicked 11 So that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth Psalm lix To the chief musician Al-taschith Michtam of David when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him 1 DEliver me from mine enemies O my God defend me from them that rise up against me 2 Deliver me from the wrâ—kers of iniquity and save me from bloudy men 3 For lo they lie in wait for my soul the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord. 4 They run prepare themselves without my fault awake to help me behold 5 Thou therefore O Lord God of hosts the God of Israel awake to visit all the heathen be not mercifull to any wicked transgressours 6 They return at evening they make a noise like a dog and go round about the Citie 7 Behold they belch out with their mouth swords are in their lips for who say they doth hear 8 But thou O Lord shalt laugh at them thou shalt have all the heathen in derision 9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee for God is my defence 10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies 11 Slay them not least my people forget scatter them by thy power and bring them down O Lord our shield 12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride and for cursing lying which they speak 13 Consume them in wrath consume them that they may not be and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth 14 And at evening let them return and let them make a noise like a dog and go round about the citie 15 Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied 16 But I will sing of thy power yea I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble 17 Unto thee O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and the God of my mercy Psalm lx To the chief musician upon Shushan Eduth Michtam of David to teach when he strove with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah when Joab returned and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand 1 O God thou hast cast us off thou hast scattered us thou hast been displeased O turn thy self to us again 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble
day is thine the night also is thine thou hast prepared the light and the sun 17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth thou hast made summer and winter 18 Remember this that the enemy hath reproched O Lord and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name 19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of the wicked forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever 20 Have respect unto the covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of crueltie 21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed let the poor and needy praise thy name 22 Arise O God plead thine own cause remember how the foolish man reprocheth thee dayly 23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually Psalm lxxv To the chief musician Al-taschith A psalm or song of or for Asaph 1 UNto thee O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare 2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly 3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the piâ—lars of it Selah 4 I said unto the fools deal not foolishly and to the wicked lift not up your horn 5 Lift not up your horn on high speak not with a stiff neck 6 For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south 7 But God is the judge he putteth down one and setteth up another 8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them 9 But I will declare for ever I will sing praise to the God of Jacob. 10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut oâ—f but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted Psalm lxxvi To the chief musician on Neginoth a Psalm or song of or for Asaph 1 IN Judah is God known his name is great in Israel 2 In Salem also is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion 3 There brake he the arrows of the bow the shield and the sword and the battell Selah 4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey 5 The stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their sleep and none of the men of might have found their hands 6 At thy rebuke O God of Jacob both the charriot and the horse are cast into a dead sleep 7 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry 8 Thou didst cause iudgement to be heard from heaven the earth feared and was still 9 When God arose to judgement to save all the meek of the earth Selah 10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain 11 Vow and pay unto the Lord your God let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared 12 He shall cut off the spirit of Princes he is terrible to the Kings of the earth Psalm lxxvii To the chief musiâ—ian to Jeduthun A Psalm of Asaph 1 I cried unto God with my voice even unto God with my voice and he gave car unto me 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted 3 I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Selah 4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak 5 I have considered the days of old the years of auncient times 6 I call to remembrance my song in the night I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent searâ—h 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more 8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Selah 10 And I said this is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high 11 I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old 12 I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings 13 Thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a God as our God 14 Thou art the God that doest wonders thou hast declared thy strength among the people 15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the sons of Jacob and Joseph Selah 16 The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee they were afraid tâ—e deptâ—s also were troubled 17 The clouds poured out water the skies sent out a sound thine arrows also went abroad 18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven the lightnings lightned the world the earth trembled and shook 19 Thy way is in the sea and thy path in the great waters thy foot-steps are not known 20 Thou ledest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses Aaron Psalm lxxviii Maschil of or for Asaph 1 GIve ear O my people to my law encline your ears to the words of my mouth 2 I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old 3 Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us 4 We will not hide them from their children shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderfull works that he hath done 5 For he established a testimony in Jaâ—ob and apâ—ointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children 6 That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise declare them to their children 7 That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments 8 And might not be as their fathers a stubbourn and rebellious generation a generation that set not their hearts aright and whose spirit was not stedfast with God 9 The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bowes turned back in the day of battel 10 They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law 11 And forgat his works and his wonders that he had shewed them 12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan 13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through and he made the waters to stand as a heap 14 In the day time also he led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire 15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as out of the great depths 16 He brought streams
die 12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom the reproch wherewith they have reproched thee O Lord. 13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever we will shew forth thy praise to all generations Psalm lxxx To the chief musician upon Shoshannim-Edush A psalm of or for Asaph 1 GIve ear O shepheard of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a flock thou that dwellest between the Cheâ—â—bims shine forth 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us 3 Turn us again O God and cause thy face to shineâ— and we shall be saved 4 O Lord God of hosts how long wilt thou be angrie against the prayer of thy people 5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure 6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laugh among themselves 7 Turn us again O God of hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it 9 Thou preparedst room before it and didst cause it to take deep root and it filled the land 10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it and the boughs thereof were like the goodly Cedars 11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river 12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her 13 The boar out of the wood doth wast it and the wild beast of the field doth devour it 14 Return we beseech thee O God of hosts look down from heaven and behold and viâ—it tâ—is vine 15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the branch which thou madest strong for thy self 16 It is burnt with fire it is cut down they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance 17 Lâ—t thy hand be upon the man oâ— thy right hand upon the son of man whom 〈◊〉 madest strong for thy self 18 So will not we go back from thee quicken us we will call upon thy name 19 Turn us again O Lord God of hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved Psalm lxxxi To the chief musician upon Gittith A Psalm of Asaph 1 SIng aloud unto God ourstrength make a joyfull noise unto the God of jacob 2 Take a Psalm bring hither the timbrel the pleasant harp with the Psaltery 3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn feaâ—t day 4 For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob. 5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not 6 I removed his shoulder from the burden his hands were delivered from the pots 7 Thou calledst in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder I proved thee at the waters of Meribah Selah 8 Hear O my people and I will testifie unto thee O Israel if thou wilt hearken unto me 9 There shall no strange God be in thee neither shalt thou worship any strange God 10 I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt open thy mouth wide and I will fill it 11 But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me 12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust and they walked in their own counsels 13 O that my people had hearkned unto me and Israel had walked in my ways 14 I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries 15 The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever 16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them Psalm lxxxii A Psalm of Asaph 1 GOd standeth in the congregation of the mighty he judgeth among the Gods 2 How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the perâ—ons of the wicked Selah 3 Defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy 4 Deliver the poor and needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked 5 They know not neither will they understand they walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course 6 I have said ye are Gods and all of you are children of the most high 7 But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the Princes 8 Arise O God judge the earth for thou shalt inherit all nations Psalm lxxiii A song or Psalm or or for Asaph 1 KEep not thou silence O God hold not thy peace and be not still O God 2 For lo thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head 3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones 4 They have said come and let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel may be no more is remembrance 5 For they have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee 6 The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarens 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre 8 Assur also is joyned with them they have holpen the children of Lot Selah 9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites as â—o Sisera as to Jabin at the brooks of Kâ—son 10 Which perished at En-dor they became as dung for the earth 11 Make their Nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb yea all their Princes as Zebah and as Zalmunna 12 Who said let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession 13 O my God make them like a wheel as the stubble before the wind 14 As the fire burneth the wood and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire 15 So persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storm 16 Fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name O Lord. 17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever yea let them be put to shame and perish 18 That men may know that thou whole name alone is Iehovah art them â—st high over all the earth Psalm lxxxiv To the chief musician upon Gittith A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 HOw amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts 2 My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God 3 Yea the sparrow hath found an house the swallow a nest for her self where she may lay her young even thine Altar O Lord of hosts my King and my God 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thine house they will be still praising thee
Selah 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well the rain also filleth the pooles 7 They go from strength to strength every one of them in Sion appeareth before God 8 O Lord God of hosts hear my prayer give ear O God of Jacob Selah 9 Behold O God our shield and look upon the face of thine anointed 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwel in the â—ents of wickedness 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will â—e with-hold from them that walk uprightly 12 O Lord of hosts blessed is the man that trusteth in thee Psalm lxxxv To the chief musician A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 LOrd thou hast been favourable unto thy land thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquitie of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Selah 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness of thine anger 4 Turn us O God of our salvation and cause thine anger towards us to cease 5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations 6 Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoce in thee 7 Shew us thy merâ— O Lord and grant salvation 8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints but let them not turn again to â—olly 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him that glorie may dwell in our land 10 Mercie and truth are met together righteousness peace have killed eaâ—h other 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven 12 Yea the Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase 13 Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps Psalm lxxxvi A prayer of David 1 BOw down thine ear O Lord hear me for I am poor and needie 2 Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee 3 Be merciful unto me O Lord for I crie unto thee dayly 4 Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercie unto all them that call upon thee 6 Give ear O Lord unto my praier and attend to the voice oâ— my supplications 7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me 8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name 10 For thou art great and doest wondrous things thou art God alone 11 Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name 12 I will praise thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy name for evermore 13 For great is thy mercie toward me and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell 14 O God the proud are risen against me and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before them 15 But thou O Lord art a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercie and truth 16 O turn unto me and have mercie upon me give thy strength unto thy servant and save the son of thine handmaid 17 Shew me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamâ—d because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Psalm lxxxvii A Psalm or song for the sons of Korah 1 HIs foundation is in the holy mountains 2 The Lord loveth the gates of Sâ—on more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee O citie of God Selah 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know ' me behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there 5 And of Sion it shall be said This and that man was born in her and the highest himself shall establish her 6 The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there Selah 7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there all my springs are in thee Psalm lxxviii A song or Psalm for the sons of Korah to the chief musician upon Mahalath Leannoth Maschil of Heman the Ezraelite 1 O Lord God of my salvation I have cried day and night before thee 2 Let my prayer come before thee incline thine ear unto my cry 3 For my soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave 4 I aâ— counted with them that go down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength 5 Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou rememberest no more and they are cut off from thy hand 6 Thou hast â—aid me in the lowest pit in darknes in the deeps 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves Selah 8 Thou hast put away mine aâ—quaintance far from me thou hast made me an abomination unto them I am shut up and I cannot come forth 9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of afâ—â—ition Lord I have called dâ—lly upon thee I have stretched our mine hands unto thee 10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah 11 Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness 13 But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee 14 Lord why castest thou off my soul why hidest thou thy face from me 15 I am afflicted and readie to die from my youth up while I suâ—fer thy terrours I am distracted 16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cut me off 17 They came round about me dayly like water they compassed me about together 18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness Psalm lxxxix Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite 1 I Will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations 2 For I have said mercie shall be built up for ever thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens 3 I have made a covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto
David my servant 4 Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations Selah 5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders O Lord thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints 6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord who among the sons of the mightie can be likened unto the Lord. 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him 8 O Lord God of hosts who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy faithfulness round about thee 9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them 10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm 11 The heavens are thine the earth also is thine as for the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded them 12 The North and the South thou hast created them Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy name 13 Thou hast a mightie arm strong is thine hand and high is thy right hand 14 Justice judgement are the habitation of thy throne mercy and truth shall go before thy face 15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance 16 In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted 17 For thou art the glorie of their strength and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted 18 For the Lord is our defence and the holy one of Israel is our King 19 Then thou spaâ—est in vision unto thy holy one and saidst I have laid help upon one that is mightie I have exalted one chosen out of the people 20 I have found David my servant with my holy oil have I anointed him 21 With whom my hand shall be established mine arm also shall strengthen him 22 The enemy shall not exact upon him nor the son of wickedness afflict him 23 And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him 24 But my faithfulness and my mercie shall be with him and in my name shall his horn be exalted 25 I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers 26 He shall crie unto me Thou art my Father my God and the rock of my salvation 27 Also I will make him my first born higher than the Kings oâ— the earth 28 My mercie will I keep for him for evermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him 29 His sâ—ed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of heaven 30 If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgements 31 If they break my statutes and keep not in my judgements 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquitie with stripes 33 Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 34 My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips 35 Once have I sworn by mine Holiness that I will not lie unto David 36 His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me 37 It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful witness in heaven Selah 38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred thou hast been wroth with thine anointed 39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground 40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges thou hast brought his strong holds to ruine 41 All that pass by the way spoil him he is a reproch to his neighbours 42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversarie thou hast made all his enemies to rejoyce 43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword and hast not made him to stand in the battel 44 Thou hast made his glorie to cease and cast his throne down to the ground 45 The dayes of his youth hast thou shortned thou hast covered him with shamâ— Selah 46 How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever shall thy wrath burn like fire 47 Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vain 48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah 49 Lord where are thy former loving kindnesses which thou swarest unto David in thy truth 50 Remember Lord the reproch of thy servant how I do bear in my bosom the reproch of all the mightie people 51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproched O Lord wherewith they have reproched the footsteps of thine anointed 52 Blessed be the Lord for evermore Amen and Amen Psalm xc A Prayer of Moses the man of God 1 LOrd thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations 2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God 3 Thou turnest man to destruction and saiest return ye children of men 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night 5 Thou carriest them away as with a floud they are as a sleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up 6 In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth 7 For we are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance 9 For all our dayes are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told 10 The dayes of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flie away 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath 12 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom 13 Return O Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants 14 O satisfie us early with thy mercy that we may rejoyce and be glad all our days 15 Make us glad according to the dayes wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil 16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children 17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us establish thou the works of our hands upon us yea the woâ—k of our hands establish thou it Psalm xci 1 HE that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty 2 I will say of the Lord he is my
reâ—uge and my fortress my God in him will I trust 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snâ—re of the fowler anâ— from the noysom pestilence 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his trust shall be thy shield and buckler 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terrour by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh ie darkness nor for thâ— destruction that wasteth at noon-day 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee 8 Onely with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked 9 Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most high thy habitation 10 There shall no evil befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling 11 For he shall give his Angelâ— charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands least thou dash thy foot against a stone 13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder the young lion the dragon shalt thou trample under feet 14 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my name 15 He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him 16 With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Psalm cxii A Psalm or song for the Sabbath-day 1 IT is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord to sing praises unto thy name O most high 2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning thy faithfulness every night 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings upon the Psaltery upon the harp with a solemn â—ound 4 For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands 5 O Lord how great art thy works and thy thoughts are very deep 6 A bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this 7 When the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroied for ever 8 But thou Lord art most high for evermore 9 For lo thine enemies O Lord for lo thine enemies shall perish all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered 10 But my horn shall thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn I shall be anointed with fresh oyl 11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me 12 The righteous shall flourish like the Palm-tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon 13 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing 15 To shew that the Lord is upright he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him Psalm cxiii 1 THe Lord reigneth he is clothed with majesty the Lord is clothed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself the world also is established that it cannot be moved 2 Thy throne is established of old thou art from everlasting 3 The flouds have lifted up O Lord the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves 4 The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters yea than the mighty waves of the sea 5 Thy testimonies are very sure holines becometh thine house O Lord for ever Psalm xciv 1 O Lord God to to whom vengeance belongeth O God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy self 2 Lift up thy self thou Judge of the earth â—ender a reward to the proud 3 Lord how long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph 4 How shall they utter and speak hard things and all the workers of iniquitie boast themselves 5 They break in pieces thy people O Lord and afflict thine heritage 6 They slay the widow and the stranger and murther the fatherless 7 Yet they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it 8 Understand ye bruitish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise 9 He that planted the ear shall he not hear he that formed the eye shall he not see 10 He that chastiseth the heathen shall not he correct he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know 11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanitie 12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy law 13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversitie untill the pit be digged for the wicked 14 For the Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance 15 But judgement shall return unto righteousness and the upright in heart shall follow it 16 Who will rise up for me against the evil doers or who will stand with me against the workers of iniquitie 17 Unless the Lord had been my help my soul had dwelt in silence 18 When I said my foot slippeth Thy mercie O Lord held me up 19 In the multitude of the thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquitie have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a law 21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous condemn the innocent bloud 22 But the Lord is my defence and my God is the rock of my refuge 23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquitie and shall cut them off in their own wickednes yea the Lord our God shall cut them off Psalm xcv 1 O Come let us â—ing unto the Lord let us make a joyfull noise to the rock of our salvation 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyfull noise unto him with Psalms 3 For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth the strength of the hils is his also 5 The sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the drie land 6 O come let us worship bow down let us kneel before the Lord our maker 7 For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand to day if you will hear his voice 8 Harden not your heart as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness 9 When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works 10 Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do erre in their heart and they have not known my ways 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Psalm xcvi 1 O Sing unto the
Lord a new song sing unto the Lord all the earth 2 Sing unto the Lord bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day 3 Declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people 4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods 5 For all the gods of the naâ—ions are idols but the Lord made the heavens 6 Honour and majestie are before him strength and beautie are in his sanctuarie 7 Give unto the Lord O ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glorie and strength 8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts 9 O worship the Lord in the beautie of holiness fear before him all the earth 10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved he shall judge the people righteously 11 Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulness thereof 12 Let the field be joyfull and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce 13 Before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth Psalm xcvii 1 THe Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof 2 Clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness judgement are the habitations of his throne 3 A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about 4 His lightenings enlightned the world the earth saw and trembled 5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth 6 The heavens declare his righteousnes and all the people â—ee his glory 7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols worship him all ye gods 8 Sion heard was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoyced because of thy judgements O Lord. 9 For thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods 10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil he preserveth the souls of his Saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked 11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart 12 Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous give thanks at the remembrance of his holinesâ— Psalm xcviii A Psalm 1 O sing unto the Lord a new song for he hath done marvellous things his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten himself the victory 2 The Lord hath made known his salvation his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen 3 He hath remembred his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God 4 Make a joyfull noise unto the Lord all the earth make a loud noise and rejoyce and sing praise 5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp with the harp and the voice of a Psalm 6 With trumpets sound of corner make a joyfull noise before the Lord the King 7 Let the sea roar the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein 8 Let the flouds clap their hands let the hils be joyful together 9 Before the Lord for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equitie Psalm xcix 1 THe Lord reigneth let the people tremble he sitteth between the cherubims let the earth be moved 2 The Lord is great in Sion and he is high above all people 3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name for it is holy 4 The Kings strength also loveth judgement thou doest establish equity thou executest judgement and righteousness in Jacob 5 Exalt ye the Lord your God and worship at his foot-stool for he is holy 6 Moses and Aaron among his Priests and Samuel among them that call upon his name they called upon the Lord and he answered them 7 He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar they kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them 8 Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions 9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy A psalm of praise 1 MAke a joyfull noise unto the Lord all ye lands 2 Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankfull unto him bless his name 5 For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Psalm ci A Psalm of David 1 I will sing of mercy judgement unto thee O Lord will I sing 2 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way O when wilt thou come unto me 3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside 4 A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked person 5 Who so privily slandereth his neighbour him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithfull of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight 8 I will early destroy all the wiâ—ked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the citie of the Lord. Psalm cii A Prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed pourâ—th out his complaints before the Lord. 1 HEar my prayer O Lord and let my cry come unto thee 2 Hide not thy â—ace from me in the day that I am in trouble encline thine ear unto me in the day when I call answer me speedily 3 For my dayes are consumed like smoak my bones are burnt as an hearth 4 My heart is smittâ—â— and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread 5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin 6 I am like a Pelican of the wilderness I am like an Owl of the desert 7 I watch and anâ— as a sparrow alone upon the house top 8 Mine enemies reproch me all the day and they that are mad against me are sworn against me 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down 11 My dayes are like a shadow that declineth
and I am withered like grass 12 But thou O Lord shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations 13 Thou shalt arise and have mercie upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glorie 16 When the Lord shall build Sion he shall appear in his glorie 17 He shall regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer 18 This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. 19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuarie from heaven did the Lord behold the earth 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death 21 To declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 When the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the Lord. 23 He weakened my strength in the way he shortned my dayes 24 I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my daie 2 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed as the Eagles 6 The Lord executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed 7 He made known his wayes unto Moses his acts unto the children of Israel 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy 9 He will not allwayes chide neither will he keep his anger for ever 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercie toward them that fear him 12 As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removeth our transgressions from us 13 Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 14 For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust 15 As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth 16 For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 17 But the mercie of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children 18 To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them 19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all 20 Bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength that do his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word 21 Bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure 22 Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord O my soul. Psalm civ 1 BLess the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art clothed with honour and Majestie 2 Who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariot who walketh upon the wings of the wind 4 Who maketh his angels spirits his ministers a flaming â—ire 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the mountains 7 At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away 8 They go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth 10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hils 11 They give drink to every beast of the field the wild asses quench their thirst 12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation which sing among the branches 13 He watereth the hils from his chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works 14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel and hearb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth 15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man and oyl to make his face to shine and bread which strengtheneth mans heart 16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap the Cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted 17 Where the birds make their nests as for the stork the fir-trees are her house 18 The high hils are a refuge for the wild Goats and the rocks for the conies 19 He appointeth the moon for seasons the sun knoweth his going down 20 Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forrest do creep forth 21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God 22 The sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens 23 Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening 24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches 25 So is the great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great 26 There go the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein 27 These wait all upon thee that thou maist give them their meat in due season 28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good 29 Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 31 The glorie of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works 32 He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoak 33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being 34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. 35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more bless thou the Lord O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cv 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the people 2 Sing unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wonderous works 3 Glorie ye in his holy name let the heart of them rejoyce that â—ear the Lord. 4 Seek
polluted with bloud 39 Thus were theâ— defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions 40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people insomuch as he abhorred his own inheritanâ—e 41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen and they that hated them ruled over them 42 Their enemies also oppressed them they were brought into subjection under their hand 43 Many times did he deliver them but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquitie 44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their crie 45 And he remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies 46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives 47 Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise 48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hands of the enemy 3 And gathered them out of the lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitarie way they found no Citie to dwell in 5 Hungrie and thirstie their soul fainted in them 6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses 7 And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a Citie of habitation 8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness 10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most high 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder 15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children ofmen 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in â—â—nder 17 Fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are afflicted 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death 19 Then they crie unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses 20 He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction 21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanks-giving and declare his works with rejoycing 23 They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters 24 These see the works of the Lord â—nd his wonders in the deep 25 For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof 26 They mount up to the heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble 27 They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 28 Then they crie unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses 29 He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven 31 Ohâ— that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into drie ground 34 A fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein 35 He turned the wilderness into a standing water and drie ground into water-springs 36 And there he maketh the hungrie to dwell that they may prepare a Citie for habitation 37 And sow the fields and plant vineyards which may yield fruits of increase 38 He blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly suffereth not their cattel to decrease 39 Again they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow 40 He poureth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high and maketh him families like a â—lock 42 The righteous shall see it and rejoyce and all iniquitie shall stop her mouth 43 Who so is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Psalm cviii A Song or Psalm of David 1 O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glorie 2 Awake Psalterie and harp I my self will awake early 3 I will praise thee O Lord among the People and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations 4 For thy mercie is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds 5 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens and thy glorie above all the earth 6 That thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand and answer me 7 God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce I will divide Sechem and meet out the valley of Succoth 8 Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of mine head Judah is my law-giver 9 Moab is my wash-pot over Edom will I cast my shoe over Philistia will I triumph 10 Who will bring me into the strong citie who will lead me into Edom. 11 Wilt not thou O God who hast cast us off and wilt not thou O God go foâ—th with our hosts 12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man 13 Through God we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies Psalm cix To the chief musitian A Psalm of David 1 HOld not thy thy peace O God of my praise 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceiptful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue 3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause 4 For my love they are mine advâ—rsaries but I give my self unto prayer 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love 6 Set thou a wicked man over him and lâ—t
Satan stand at his right hand 7 When he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin 8 Let his daies be few and let another take his office 9 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow 10 Let his children be continual vagabonds and beg let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places 11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labour 12 Let there be none to extend mercie unto him neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children 13 Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembred of the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out 15 Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth 16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercie but persecuted the poor and needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart 17 As he loved cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing so let it be far from him 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyl into his bones 19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually 20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul. 21 But do thou for me O God the Lord for thy names sake because thy mercy is good deliver thou me 22 For I am poor and needy and mine heart is wounded within me 23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth I am tossed up and down as the locust 24 My knees are weak through fasting and my flesh faileth of fatness 25 I became also a reproach unto them when they looked upon me they shaked their heads 26 Help me O Lord my God O save me according to thy mercie 27 That they may know that this is thy hand that thou Lord hast done it 28 Let them curse but bless thou when they arise let them be ashamâ—d but let thy servant rejoice 29 Let mine adversaâ—ies be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle 30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth yea I will praise him among the multitude 31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul. Psalm cx A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord said unto my Lord fit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool 2 The Lord â—shall send the rod of thy strength out of Sion rule thou in the middest of thine enemies 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth 4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck 5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath 6 He shall judge among the heathen he shall fill the places with the dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many countries 7 He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up the head Psalm cxi 1 PRraise ye the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation 2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein 3 His work is honourable glorious and his righteousness endureth for ever 4 He hath made his wonderfull works to be remembred the Lord is gracious and full of compassion 5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindfull of his covenant 6 He hath shewed his people the power of his works that he may give them the heritage of the heathen 7 The works of his hands are verity and judgement all his commandments are sure 8 They stand fast for ever and ever and are done in truth and uprigâ—tness 9 He sent redemption unto his people he hath commanded his covenant for ever holy and reverend is his name 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have all they that do his commandments his praise endureth for ever Psalm cxii 1 PRaise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments 2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth the generation of the upright shall be blessed 3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousness endureth forever 4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness he is gracious and full of compassion and righteous 5 A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with discretion 6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance 7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. 8 His heart is established he shall not be afraid untill he see his desire upon his enemies 9 He hath dispersed he hath given to the poore his righteousness endureth for ever his horn shall be exhalted with honour 10 The wicked shall see it and be grieved he shall gnash with his teeth and melt away the desire of the wicked shall perish Psalm cxiii 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise O ye servants of the Lord praise the name of the Lord. 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermorâ— 3 From the 〈…〉 the sunne unto the 〈◊〉 down of the 〈◊〉 the Lords name is 〈◊〉 be praised 4 The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens 5 Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth 7 He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill 8 That he may set him with Princes even with the Princes of his people 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyfull mother of children praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxiv 1 WHen Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language 2 Judah was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion 3 The sea saw it and fled Jordan was dâ—iven back 4 The mountains skipped like ramâ— and the little hills like lambs 5 What ailed thee O thou sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back 6 Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams and ye little hills like lambs 7 Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the
presence of the God of Jacob. 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters Psalm cxv 1 NOt unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake 2 Wherefore should the heathen say where 〈◊〉 now their God 3 But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased 4 Their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands 5 They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 6 They have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not 7 They have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat 8 They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is thy help and thy shield 10 O house of Aaron trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield 11 Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield 12 The Lord hath been mindfull of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron 13 He will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great 14 The Lord shall increase you more and more you and your children 15 You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth 16 The heaven even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he given to the children of men 17 The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Praise the Lord. 1 I Love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications 2 Because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 3 The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell-gate hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow 4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my Soul 5 Gracious is the Lord and righteousâ— yea our God is merciful 6 The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me 7 Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living 10 I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted 11 I said in my hast All men are liars 12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me 13 I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints 16 Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanks-giving will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 19 In the courts of the Lords house in the middest of thee O Jerusalem praise yâ— the Lord. Psalm cxvii 1 O Praise the Lord all ye nations praise him all ye people 2 For his merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxviii 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercie endureth for ever 2 Let Israel now say that his mercie endureth for ever 3 Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercie endureth for ever 4 Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever 5 I called upon the Lord in distress the Lord answered me and set me in a large place 6 The Lord is on my side I will not fâ—ar what can man do unto me 7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me 8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princeâ— 10 All nations compassed me about but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them 11 They compassed me about yea they compassed me about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 12 They compassed me about like bees they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me 14 The Lord is my strength and song and is become my saltion 15 The voyce of rejoycing and salvation is in the Tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 17 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. 18 The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over unto death 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness I will go in to them I will praise the Lord. 20 This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter 21 I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner 23 This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it 25 Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperitie 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. 27 God is the Lord which hath shewed us light bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the Altar 28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God I will exalt thee 29 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever Aleph 1 BLessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart 3 They also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes 4 Thâ—u hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently 5 O that my wayeâ— were directed to keep thy statutes 6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgements 8 I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly Beth. 9 Wherewithall shall a
thy servants 92 Unless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in mine affliction 93 I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickened me 94 I am thine save me for I have sought thy precepts 95 The wicked have waited for me to destroy me but I will consider thy testimonies 96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandment is exceeding broad Mem. 97 O how love I thy Law it is my meditation all the day 98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever with me 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my mediation 100 I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy testimonies 101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep thy word 102 I have not departed from thy judgements for thou hast taught me 103 How sweet are thy words unto my tast yea sweeter than honey to my mouth 104 Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way Nun. 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path 106 I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgements 107 I am afflicted very much quicken me O Lord according unto thy word 108 Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offerings of my mouth O Lord and teach me thy judgements 109 My soul is continually in my hand yet do I not forget thy Law 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me yet I erred not from thy precepts 111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart 112 I have enclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end Samech 113 I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love 114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield I hope in thy word 115 Depart from my ye evil duers for I will keep the commandments of my God 116 Uphold me according unto thy word that I may live and let me not be ashamed of my hope 117 Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually 118 Thou hast troden down all them that erre from thy statutes for their deceit is falshood 119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross therefore I love thy testimonies 120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Ain 121 I have done judgement and justice leave me not to mine oppressours 122 Be surety for thy servant for good let not the proud oppress me 123 Mine eyes fail for thy salvation and for the word of thy righteousness 124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercie teach me thy statutes 125 I am thy servant give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies 126 It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy Law 127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold yea above fine gold 128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way Pe. 129 Thy testimonies are wonderful therefore doth my soul keep them 130 The enterance of thy words giveth light it giveth understanding unto the simple 131 I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for thy commandments 132 Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name 133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquitie have dominion over me 134 Deliver me from the oppression of man so will I keep thy precepts 135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes 136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law Tsaddi 137 Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy judgements 138 Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful 139 My zeal hath consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten thy words 140 Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it 141 I am small and despised yet do I not forget thy precepts 142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and thy Law is the truth 143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me yet thy commandments are my delights 144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting give me understanding and I shall live Koph 145 I cried with my whole heart hear me O Lord I will keep thy statutes 146 I cried unto thee save me and I shall keep thy testimonies 147 I prevented the dawning of the morning and cried I hoped in thy word 148 Mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word 149 Hear my voyce according unto thy loving kindness O Lord quicken me according to thy judgement 150 They draw nigh that follow after mischief they are far from thy Law 151 Thou art near O Lord and all thy commandments are truth 152 Concerning thy testimonies I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever Resh 153 Consider mine affliction and deliver me for I do not forget thy Law 154 Plead my cause and deliver me quicken me according to thy word 155 Salvation is far from the wicked for they seek not thy statutes 156 Great are thy tender mercies O Lord quicken me according to thy judgements 157 Many are my persecutors mine enemies yet do I not decline from thy testimonies 158 I beheld the transgressours and was grâ—eved because they kept not thy word 159 Consider how I love thy precepts quicken me O Lord according to thy loving kindness 160 Thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgements endureth for ever Schin 161 Princes have persecuted me without a cause but mine heart standeth in aw of thy word 162 I rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoil 163 I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love 164 Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements 165 Great peace have they which love thy Law and nothing shall offend them 166 Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments 167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly 168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my wayes are before thee Tau 169 Let my cry come near before thee O Lord give me understanding according to thy word 170 Let my supplication come before thee deliver me according to thy word 171 My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes 172 My tongue shall speak of thy word for all thy commandments are righteousness 173 Let thine hand help me for I have chosen thy precepts 174 I have longed for thy salvation O Lord and thy Law is my delight 175 Let my soul live and it shall praise thee let thy judgements
help me 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant for I do not forget thy commandments A song of degrees Psalm cxx 1 IN my distress I cried unto the Lord and he heard me 2 Deliver my Soul O Lord from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue 3 What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue 4 Sharp arrows of the mightie with coals of juniper 5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar 6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace 7 I am for peace but when I speak they are for war Psalm cxxi A song of degrees 1 I Will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help 2 My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven earth 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved he that keepeth thee will not slamber 4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep 5 The Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night 7 The Lord shall reserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore Psalm cxxii A song of degrees of David 1 I Was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem 3 Jerusalem is builded as a Citie that is compact together 4 Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimonie of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. 5 For there are set thrones of judgement the thrones of the house of David 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee 7 Peace be within thy walls and prosperiâ—ie within thy palaces 8 For my brethren and companions sake I will now say Peace be with thee 9 Because of tâ—e house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good Psalm cxxiii A song of degreeâ— 1 UNto thee lift I up mine eyeâ— O thou that dwellest in the heavens 2 Behoâ—d as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their maiters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercie upon us 3 Have mercie upon us O Lord have mercie upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt 4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud Psalm cxxiv A song of degrees of David 1 IF it had not been the Lord who was on our side now may Israel say 2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over our soul. 5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. 6 Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped 8 Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Psalm cxxv A song of degrees 1 THey that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever 3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquitie 4 Do good O Lord unto those that be good and to them that are upright in their hearts 5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquitie but peace shall be upon Israel Psalm cxxvi A song of degrees 1 WHen the Lord turned again the captivitie of Sion we were like them that dream 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter our toÌ„gue with singing then said they among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them 3 The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad 4 Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth hearing pretious seed shall doubtless â—ome again wiâ—h reioycing bringing his sheaves with him Psalm cxxvii A Song of degrees for or as in the margin of Solomon 1 EXcept the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it except the Lord keep the citie the watchman waketh but in vain 2 It is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrow for so he giveth his beloved sleep 3 Lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward 4 As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man so are children of the youth 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate Psalm cxxviii A Song of degrees 1 BLessed is every one that feareth the Lord that walketh in his waies 2 〈◊〉 thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitfull vine by the sides of thine house thy children like olive plants round about thy table 4 Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. 5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Sion and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life 7 Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and peaâ—e upon Israel Psalm cxxix 1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me 3 The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows 4 The Lord is righteous he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion 6 Let them be as the grass upon the house tops which withereth before it springeth up 7 Wherewith the mowe silieth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom 8 Neither do they whiâ—h go by say the blessing of the Lord be upon you we bless you in the name of the Lord. Psalm CXXX A song of degrees 1 OUt of the depths have I cried uno thee O Lord. 2 Lord hear my vioce let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication 3 If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities
O Lord who shall stand 4 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou maiest befeared 5 I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning 7 Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption 8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psalm cxxxi A song of degrees of David 1 LOrd my heart is not haughtie nor mine eyes loftie neither do I exercise my self in great matters or in things too high for me 2 Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child 3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever Psalm cxxxii A song of degrees 1 LOrd remember David and all his afflictions 2 How he sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. 3 Surely I will not come into the Tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to my eye-lids 5 Until I find out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. 6 Lo we heard of it at Ephratah we found it in the fields of the wood 7 We will go into thy Tabernacles we will worship at thy foot-stool 8 Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the Ark of thy strength 9 Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousnâ—s and let thy saints shout for joy 10 For thy servan Davids sake turn not away the face of thine anointed 11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David he will not turn from it of the fruit of thy bodie will I set upon thy throne 12 If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimonie that I shall teach them their children also shall fit on thy throne for evermore 13 For the Lord hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his habitation 14 This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it 15 I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfie her poor with bread 16 I will also clothe her Priests with salvation and her saints shall shout aloud for joy 17 There will I make the horn of David to bud I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed 18 His enemies will I clothe with shame but upon himself shall his Crown flourish A song of degrees of David Psalm cxxxiii 1 BEhold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unitie 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garment 3 As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Sion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore Psalm cxxxiv. A song of degrees 1 BEhold bless ye the Lord all ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the house of the Lord. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuarie and bless the Lord. 3 The Lord that made heaven earth bless thee out of Sion Psalm cxxxv 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise ye the name of the Lord praise him O ye servants of the Lord. 2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord in the courts of the house of our God 3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises unto his name for it is pleasant 4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure 5 For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all Gods 6 Whatsoever tâ—e Lord pleased that did â—e in heaven and in earth 7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth he maketh lightnâ—ngs for the rain he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries 8 Who smote the first-born of Egypt both of man and beast 9 Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee O Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants 10 Who smote great nations slew mightie Kings 11 Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan and all the Kingdoms of Canaan 12 And gave their land for an heritage unto Israel his people 13 Thy name O Lord endureth for ever and thy memorial O Lord through all generations 14 For the Lord will judge his people and he will repâ—nt himself concerning his servants 15 The Idols of the heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands 16 They have mouthes but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 17 They have eaâ—s but they heâ—r not neither is there any breath in their mouthes 18 They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 19 Bless the Lord O houâ—e of Israel bless the Lord O house of Aaron 20 Bless the Lord O house of Levi ye that fear the Lord bless the Lord. 21 Blessed be the Lord out of Sion which dwelleth at Jerusalem Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxxxvi 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever 2 O give thanks unto the God of Gods for his mercie endureth for ever 3 O give thanks to the Lord of Lords for his mercie endureth for ever 4 To him who alone doth great wonders for his mercie endureth for ever 5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens for his mercie endureth for ever 6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercie endureth for ever 7 To him that made great lights for his mercie endureth for ever 8 The son to rule by day â—or his mercie endureth for ever 9 The moon and stars to rule by night for his mercie endureth for ever 10 To him that smote Egypt in their first-born for his mercie endureth for-ever 11 And brought out Israel from among them for his mercie endureth for ever 12 With a strong hand and a stretched-out arm for his mercie endureth for ever 13 To him which divided the red-sea into parts for his mercie endureth for ever 14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it for his mercie endureth for ever 15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red-sea for his mercie endureth for ever 16 To him which led his people through the wilderness for his mercie endureth for ever 17 To him which smote great Kings for his mercie endureth for ever 18 And slew famous Kings for his mercie endureth for ever 19 Sihon King of the Amorites for his mercie endureth for ever 20 And Og the King of Bashan for his mercie endureth for ever 21 And gave their land for an heritage for his mercie endureth for ever 22 Even an heritage unto Israel his servant for his mercie endureth
for ever 23 Who remembered us in our low estate for his mercie endureth for ever 24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies for his mercie endureth for ever 25 Who giveth food to all flesh â— for his mercie endureth for ever 26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven for his mercie endureth for ever Psalm cxxxvii 1 BY the rivers of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Sion 2 We haâ—ged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof 3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying sing us one of the songs of Sion 4 How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land 5 If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning 6 If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy 7 Remember O Lord the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said Rase it rase it even to the foundation thereof 8 O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us 9 Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones Psalm cxxxviii A Psalm of David 1 I will praise thee with my whole heart before thâ— Gods will I sing 〈◊〉 unto thee 2 I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name 3 In the day when I cried thou answeredsâ— me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. 4 All the Kings of the earth shall praise thee O Lord when they hear the words of thy mouth 5 Yea they shall sing in the waies of the Lord for great is the glorie of the Lord. 6 Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect to the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revâ—ve me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me 8 The Lord will perfect that which cocerneth me thy mercie O Lord endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands Psalm cxxxix To the chief musitian A Psalm of David 1 O Lord thou hast searched me known me 2 Thou knowest my down â—itting and mine uprising thou understandest my thoughts afar off 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my waies 4 For there is not a word in my tongue but â—o O Lord thou knowest it altogether 5 Thou hast besâ—t me behind and before and laid thine haâ—d upon me 6 Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me it is high I cannot attain unto it 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence 8 If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 〈◊〉 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me 11 If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me 12 Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee 13 For thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my mothers womb 14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well 15 My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth 16 Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members are written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the summe of them 18 If I should count them they are moe in number than the sand when I wake I am still with thee 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked O God depart from me tâ—erefore ye bloâ—dy men 20 For they speak against theâ— wickedly thine enâ—mies take thy name in 〈◊〉 21 Do not I hate them O Lord that haâ—â— thee and am I not grieved with these that rise up against theâ— 22 I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies 23 Search me O God and know my heart try me know my thoughts 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Psalm cxl To the chief musitian A Psalm of David 1 DEveâ— me O Lord from the evil man preserve 〈◊〉 from the violent man 2 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart continually are they gathered together for war 3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent adders poison is under their lips Selah 4 Keep me O Lord from the hands of the wicked preserve me from the violent man who have purposed to overthrow my goings 5 The proud have hid a snare for me and cords they have spread a net by the way side they have set grins for me Selaâ— 6 I said 〈…〉 Lord thou art my God hear the voice of my supplications O Lord. 7 O God the Lord the strength of my salvation thou hast covered my head in the day of battell 8 Grant not O Lord the desires of the wicked further not his wicked deviâ—e least they exalt themselves Selah 9 As for the head of those that compass me about let the mischief of their own lips cover them 10 Let buâ—ning coals â—all upon them let them be cast into the fire into deep pits that they rise not up again 11 Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth evil shall hunt the violent maâ— to overthrow him 12 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor 13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name the upright shall dwell in thy presence Psalm cxli. A Psalm of David 1 LOrd I cry unto thee make hast unto me give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee 2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice 3 Set a watch O Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips 4 Encline not my heart to any evil thing to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity and let me not eat of their dainties 5 Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities 6 When their Judges are overthrown in stony
places they shall hear my words for they are sweet 7 Our bones are scatterâ—d the graves mouth as whâ—n one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth 8 But mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute 9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me and the grins of the workers of iniquitie 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets whilest that I withall escape Psalm cxlii Masâ—hil of David a pâ—ayer when he was in the cave 1 I cried unto the Lord with my voice with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication 2 I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me 4 I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul. 5 I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living 6 Attend unto my cry for I am brought very low deliver me from my persecutours for they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name the righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me Psalm cxliii A Psalm of David 1 HEar my prayer O Lord give ear to my supplications in thy faithfulness answer me in thy righteousness 2 And enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified 3 For the enemie hath persecuted my soul he hath smitten my life down to the ground he hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead 4 Therefore is my spirit over-whelmed within me my heart within me is desolate 5 I remember the dayes of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the work of thine hands 6 I stretch forth mine hands unto thee my soul thin steth after thee as a thâ—rsty land Sâ—laâ— 7 Heaâ— me speedily O Lord my spirit saileth hide not thy face from me least I be like unto them that go down into the pit 8 Cause me to heathy loving kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust cause me to know the way wherein I shall walk for I lift up my soul unto thee 9 Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies I flie unto thee to hide me 10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me in the land of uprightness 11 Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble 12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul for I am thy servant Psalm cxliv. A Psalm of David BLessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight 2 My goodness and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer my shield and he in whom I trust who subdueth my people under me 3 Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him 4 Man is like to vanitie his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away 5 Bow thy heavenâ— O Lord and come down touch the mountains and they shall smoke 6 Cast forth lightning and scatter them shoot out thine arrows destroy them 7 Send thine hand from above rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children 8 Whose mouth speaketh vanitie and their right hand is a right hand of falshood 9 I will sing a new song unto thee O God upon a â—saltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee 10 It is he that giveth salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword 11 Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falshood 12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our daugâ—ters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace 13 That our garners may be full affording all manner of store that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets 14 That our oxen may be strong to labour that there be no breaking in nor going out that there be no complaining in our streets 15 Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Psalm cxlv Davids Psalm of praise 1 I Will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy name for ever and ever 2 Every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name for ever and ever 3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mightie acts 5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majestie and of thy wonderous works 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and will declare thy greatness 7 They shall abundantly utter the memorie of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness 8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercie 9 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works 10 All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and the saints shall bless thee 11 They shall speak of the glorie of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power 12 To make known to the sons of men his mightie acts and the glorious Majestie of his Kingdom 13 Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall raiseth up all those that be bowed down 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee and and thou givest them their meat in due season 16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing 17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works 18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth 19 He 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 that fear 〈…〉 will hâ—ar their crie and will save them 20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him but all the wicked will he destroy 21 My mouth â—hall speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever Psalm cxlvi 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise the Lord O my soul. 2 While I live will I praise the Lord I will sing praise unto my God while I have any being 3 Put not your trâ—st in Princes nor in the son of men in whom there is no help 4 His breath goeth forth be returneth to this
earth in that very day his thoughts perish 5 Happie is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God 6 Which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth trust for ever 7 Which executeth judgement for the oppressed whiâ—h givâ—th food to the hungry the Lord looseth the prisoners 8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down the Lord loveth the righteous 9 The Lord preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow but the way of the wicked he turneth it upâ—side do 〈◊〉 10 The Lord shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion unto all generations Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxlvii 1 PRaise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is coâ—ly 2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem he gathereth together the out-casts of Israel 3 He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds 4 He telleth the number of the stars he calleth them all by their names 5 Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite 6 The Lord lifteth up the meek he casteth the wicked down to the ground 7 Sings unto the Lord with thanks-giving sing praise upon the harp unto our God 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds who prepareth rain for the earth who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains 9 He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens which crie 10 He delighteth not in the strenght of horse he taketh not pleasure in the leggs of a man 11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercie 12 Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion 13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates he hath blessed thy children within thee 14 He maketh peace in thy borders and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat 15 He sendeth forth his commandement upon earth his word runneth very swiftly 16 He giveth snow like wooll he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes 17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels who can stand before his cold 18 He sendeth out his word and meltâ—th them he causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow 19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes his judgements unto Israel 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgements they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxlviii 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise ye the Lord from the heavens praise him in the heights 2 Praise ye him all his Angels praise ye him all his hosts 3 Praise ye him sun and moon praise ye him all ye stars of light 4 Praise him ye heavens of heavens ye waters that be above the heavens 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded they were created 6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever he hath made a decree which shall not pass 7 Praise the lord from the earth ye dragons all deeps 8 Fire hail snow and vapour stormy wind fulfilling his word 9 Mountains and all hils fruitful trees and all Cedars 10 Beasts and aâ— cattel creeping things and flying fowl 11 Kings of the earth and all people Princes all Judges of the earth 12 Both young men and maidens old men and children 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glorie is above the earth and heaven 14 He also exalteth the horn of his people the praise of all his saints even of the children of Israel a people near unto him Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxlix 1 PRaise ye the Lord sing unto Lord a new the song and his praise in the congregation of saints 2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Sion be joyfull in their King 3 Let them praise his nâ—me in the dance let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvatâ—â—â— 5 Let the saints be joyful in glorie let them sing aloud upon their beds 6 Let the high praiseâ— of God be in their mouth and a two edged sword in their hand 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people 8 To bind their Kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron 9 To execute upon them the judgement written this honour have all his saints Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cl 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power 2 Praise him for his mightie acts praise him according to his excellent greatness 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the psaltery and harp 4 Praise him with the timbrel dance praiâ—e him with the stringed instruments and organs 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals praise him upon the high sounding cymbals 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
sun by their blackness and greatness 12 And then suddainly changing the face of the heavens from that immensity of darkness to such an extraordinary and supernatural brightness which ushered in his presence as instantly dispelled those foresaid clouds wherein before he terribly appeared and then again as terribly in the contrary temperament of the sky being all of a light fire by flashes of lightening which even consumed and burnt up what was combustible accompanied with showers of hail issuing from those clouds so broken with the brightness of his appearing 13 Or when as the Lord raised terrible thunder-claps in the heavens and sent forth that dreadful voice of his to the amazement of his peoples enemies the Egyptians and others and therewith powred down upon them hailstones mingled with fire which beat them and burnt them up like straw or stubble 14 Yea when he shot his mortal thunderbolts amongst them and put them to flight frighting them out of all order and array and discharged his swift and penetrating lightnings upon them and utterly routed and discomfited them 15 And when his people being in danger upon their prayer God made the very sea it self dry and fordable for their safe retreat and their enemies ruine And the bottom of that deep concave and Abisse whereinto the earth received the water at the creation was disclosed by the seas dividing it self at the Lords command and by the winds that he raised to interrupt its course and force it to a stand 16 As much as all this hath he done for me though by a more occult way of providence he hath wrought and fought from heaven for me many a time and after diverse manners he ever had a special eye to me and care of my safety and from manifold and great dangers hath he powerfully maugre the force and malice of mine enemies delivered me 17 Yea from Saul who was my mightiest and cruelest enemy and from all that sided with him against me in hatred to me hath he most miraculously delivered me whom else I could never have escaped nor prevailed against considering their strength above mine 18 For in humane power and policy they were ever too hard for me in the time of mine adversity and persecution But I firmly trusted in the Lord who was alwayes on my side and still sustained and delivered me notwithstanding all they could do 19 Yea he hath not onely brought me out of my troubles but moreover hath advanced me highly and stated me in a most happy condition from out those straits I was in And the reason why he thus wrought for me and had such care over me to deliver me was his good grace and free favour to me 20 And to the honest cause which I maintained and which he sustained in my behalf prospering me in it and for it and mine innocent and just behaviour against mine enemies injustice and cruelty hath he recompenced with their downfal and mine advancement 21 For in all my troubles I was careful to keep a good conscience towards God in doing justly and walking uprightly and did not saving the slips of humane frailty and infirmity at any time perversly step aside or fail in my duty to God whom I ever found so gratious 22 For I was sincere and had alwayes his righteous precepts in mind and memory to order my self and my wayes impartially thereafter and did not refuse upon any reason or occasion to yield obedience to them 23 Nor was mine inward man wanting but he that sees all things knows my obedience was performed from my heart in faith and affection to the commander as well as to the commandment and that in love to him I bridled and refrained my self from the sin that either by nature or occasion I was most prone and tempted to 24 And now I find I am no loser by it for the Lord in mercy hath had consideration of the justice of my cause and of mine innocent and holy demeanour and hath rewarded me accordingly with the ruine of mine enemies and mine own preservation and advancement 25 I and mine enemies are a pattern of thy truth and justice and that thou wilt reward all manner of men according to their works they that shew mercy shall find mercy at thine hands as I have done in my deliverance and they that exercise their faith and love towards thee shall find both love and faithfulness from thee again 26 And such as are undefiled in the way careful to walk uprightly and do justly according to thy commandments shall in the end find thee just in thy promises and gracious in thy providences and on the contrary so shall they find thee cross in providence and just in judgements that proudly and perversly erre from thy precepts 27 For thou wilt not fail to save and deliver the innocent and oppressed that trust in thee and call upon thee but on the other hand wilt be sure to bring to ruine those that set light by thee and thine 28 I may say it for so I have and shall find it more and more to be true for thou both hast and wilt make my condition prosperous and happy the Lord in whom I trust and whom I have ever found trusty to me as he hath out of love and faithfulness begun so I know and believe he will go on until he have estated me in perfect peace and prosperity and made me as happy as ever I was miserable 29 For by what thou hast done I know what thou wilt do in that by thy power I have been wonderfully preserved in battel and defeated mine enemies and by thy assistance have escaped many perils and skaled their fortresses even so shall I do still 30 As for God you need not doubt him for his way of proceeding towards his people is a most absolute and perfect way full of wisdome justice and truth his promises have alwayes been found true and never deceived them that trusted to them for according to them he ever was and ever will be a preserver and defender of all them that faithfully depend upon him 31 And the contrary is very foolishness for who is a God to be trusted in and depended on save the Lord Almighty onely and who can defend and protect but that God who hath shewed such wonderful strength and power in our preservation that relied on him 32 It is God and God alone that hath made me of mean and impotent to become thus considerable and potent above mine enemies and that maketh all my proceedings prosperous and successefull 33 He enables me to over-run conquer all mine enemies with ease and expedition and subdues them under me making me Lord of them and all their strength 34 He puts power and skill into me and makes me both too cunning and too strong for mine enemies 35 Thou hast not onely thus given me power
over mine enemies but hast also evermore preserved me from theirs and by thine omnipotency hast upheld me from being overthrown in the dayes of my weakness and persecution and as thy tender care hath thus preserved me so thy loving kindness hath advanced me to this top of honour and felicity I am now seated in 36 Thou many a time set me at liberty out of my straights and difficulties so that I miscarried not in my hazardous condition 37 I have defeated mine enemies so that they have fled from me and I have chased overtaken and utterly destroied them returning victorious 38 I have so spoiled and disabled their power that they have not been able to stirre against me they are subdued under me and are at my mercy 39 For thou Lord didst furnish me with courage and puissance to encounter mine enemies in plain field and set battel And thou it is that gavest me victory and enablest me to vanquish them that have waged warre against me 40 Yea thou hast subjugated them under mine obeisance and command and given me absolute and supream power to execute my pleasure on them that dare to malign or oppose me as Christ shall have 41 In their necessities they importuned help on all hands but there were none that durst appear in their behalfs against me yea they tried how they could speed by prayer to God because they saw others had done so and found themselves void of all other succour but they lost their labour and had no answer 42 But in stead thereof were wholly put into my hands whom I made examples of my just displeasure by taking deserved punishment upon them executing martial law I destroied them by multitudes without mercy or compassion as Christ shall his enemies when he takes vengeance on them and breaks them to pieces with a rod of iron 43 Thou hast delivered me from the oppositions and gain sayings that I found at mine entrance to the Crown by mine own people Israel and hast both set me over them and extended my dominions over many heathen nations also yea thou wilt yet make more and strange nations subject to me as well as they even as Jews and Gentils shall be to Christ. 44 So soon as they hear of my prowesse and victories they shall be willing to become my tributaries The heathen shall be glad to strike sail and offer me their allegiance as in like manner they shall do to the Messiah who shall conquer by his word as I by my sword 45 The courages of the heathen shall abate and they shall flie away at the renown of my power nor shall they think themselves safe in their strong holds but shall abandon them for fear of me 46 It is the Almighty and everliving God to whom I ascribe the surviving of all my miseries and the enjoyment of all my happiness and him will I ever blesse who hath been a sure rock of defence and safety to me in all storms and I will never forget to magnifie God as my sole and onely Saviour out of all my troubles 47 It is God that taketh vengeance of my potent and malicious enemies and suppresseth the mutinous and rebellious spirits of the popularity and keeps them in subjection and Allegiance to me 48 He delivers me from all mine enemies great and small less and more yea and subdues them that take up arms against me under my dominion yea thou hast done many favours for me but one above all the rest which I must principally record that is my great preservation from Saul my â—orest enemy and most malicious persecutor 49 Therefore will I give thee thanks O Lord even amongst the heathen will I publish the renown of thy saving power and goodness as Christ shall thy saving grace and righteousness that they may also know thee and believe in thee and will sing the praises of all thou hast wrought for me and give the glory thereof to thy grace and might 50 Great deliverance he both hath given and still continues to give to me whom he hath made King over Israel and ratified it after an extraordinary manner And hath and will shew mercy to his appointed and Annointed servant and Soveraign of his people in testimony of his favour and good will to him even to David the selected type of Christ and his victorious Kingdom who shall come of him and reign over his Church everlastingly as he and his posterity shall over Judah from generation to generation The xix PSALM David intending to magnifie Gods word and the condition of his people the Iews that did enjoy it of all the people of the world takes his rise from his works and those nations that onely enjoy them whereby though they might attain to much excellent knowledg of God thereby to magnifie and praise him Yet do his works how excellent soever declare him but under a common notion whereas his word holds him forth in a special manner manifesting and that with power and efficacy the way of life and salvation which we having lost it onely restores it to us making us holy like it self and consequently happy containing nothing but what is pure true and just and yields most profit and delight of any thing to them that conscionably observe it Which none doth or can do so exactly but that he needs both pardon of unknown sins and preservation against known ones which the very godly themselves cannot avoid but by power from God To be accepted in whose sight we must get our persons sanctified in thought word and deed and our sins done away by the virtue of Christs redemption To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 THe heavens and those glorious lights that shine therein manifest and magnifie the more glorious wisdom and power of God and that vast expanse and transparent region of the aire wherein those great and mighty clouds reside and birds take their flight shew forth his might and skill that made them 2 The continual and never failing succession of one day after another by the suns return upon the earth speaks the praise of his wise contrivement and by a constant course of one nights following another by the setting of the sun and the appearing of the moon and starrs is his exceeding great wisdom power and providence shewed and held forth 3 There is no people under heaven be they of never such different languages but the benefit of these things are participated to them and thereby the praise and glory of God is taught them and communicated to their understandings capacities 4 This glorious peice of creation the heavens and the firmament by the ordinance of God ever from the beginning have they overspread the whole earth and they speak the excellent wisdom