A SERMON Preached at DORCHESTER In the County of DORCET AT THE PROCLAIMING OF HIS SACRED MAJESTY CHARLES THE II. May 15. 1660. By Gilbert Ironsyde Batchelour of Divinity and Minister of Stepleton in the said County LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Staggs head in S. Pauls Church-yard 1660. To the Right worshipfull the Knights and Gentry c. of the County of Dorset that came with Loyall bearts to Proclaim his Sacred Majesty at Dorchester May 15. 1660. Right Worshipfull BEauty consists more in proportion of parts then in the exquisitnesse of Complexion for whatsoever this be if the other be wanting it begets a deformity And was it not so in your late meeting about the greatest affair that ever this County or Nation had the Proclaiming of the Kings Majesty I must needs acknowledge and record it for your Honour that you did it with all Alacrity Solemnity and Loyalty yet an ill choice was made of your Preacher an intigrall part of that Service an old man much decayd in Strength Lungs Parts plundered of Abilities as well as Books by the Discouragements and Distractions of our late Confusions and this was not so handsome I have but a few things to say for him besides that he was of their own appointing that there was a kind of proportion even in this disproportion I mean as to the work in some sort to which he was to speak for concerning this Origens observation is good Deus vult ex locustis vincere Gigantes God will by grassehoppers overcome Giants as we see at this day and as for him Davids words are verified Ex ore infantium fundasti robur God can perfect praise out of the Mouth of a weak instrument Besides when Abraham entertain'd the Angels Senex currit Vxor festinat Puer accellerat nullus piger est in toâ—â— familia The Servant made haste the VVife bestird her self the old man ran too as fast as he could It 's the same Fathers observation It was so when we received our gracious Soveraign as an Angel of God sent from heaven in that blessed Proclamation Nullus piger in tota familia Every man acted his part with the best of his abil ties the Sheriff proclaimed the Gentry attended the Country waited the young men displayed their banners the whole Town triumphed Men Women and Children acclaimed and the old man your Preacher did run too as fast as he could and though he fetcht not with Abraham a fatling from the herd yet with Mary be brought his young Pigeons and his Turtle as much Affectionate Zeal and Loyalty as the best And now if you ask why I present it to you the second time in this dresse being so leane Answerable to the time I had I shall not make use of that old Gentleman-usher or Trapanner to the Print-house Importunity not to be resisted though this also might be pretended the more I pitty their Judgments the true reason is that the loudnesse of my Voice might be supplied by the loudnesse of the Presse and that those that could be but spectators for the Noise Croud and my Defects may now be readers of the Sermon if they please and thereby both retain and renew within themselves the solemnity of that day never to be forgotten And upon this account craving your pardons and praying for your happinesse from under our most Wise God and our most Gracious and Dread Soveraign whom God preserve be pleased to accept the services of Gentlemen Yours most Affectionately Devoted G. J. PSALM 85.8 I will hearken what God the Lord will say for he will speake peace to his people and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly WHen our blessed Lord went from Bethphage to Jerusalem they that went before and they that followed and the very children in the Temple cryed Hosanna to the son of David Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord Mat. 21.8 9 15. This Hosanna is a long prayer in a short word comprehending much matter in a few syllables Ne sibi blandiantur verbosi oratores as Mr. Calvin speaks on another place God is not always best pleased when we make him the longest Orations You may read if you please this long-short prayer for so I may call it in Psal 118.25 O Lord I pray thee save now O Lord send now prosperity Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Some will tell you that this 118. Psalm was penned by David for the use of the people when he returned victorious from the Philistins but give me leave to say when he returned from his long banishment from being hunted by Saul another Nimrod as a partridge upon the mountains when the people had proclaimed him in Hebron and Samuels unction had taken full effect as in 2 Sam. 5. This appears to me by the precedent verses The stone which the builders refused Saul and his counsell which should have been builders but were indeed destroyers is become the head in the Corner the chief pillar and support both of Church and State This was the Lords doing and it was marvellous in our eyes this is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it It is therefore you see a Psalm of prayers and praises and this Hosanna is a great acclamation containing both even the same which they commonly used at all their Kings Inaugurations When Saul was presented by Samuel with a See ye not him whom the Lord hath chosen All the people shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10.24 and when Zadock had anointed Solomon they blew the Trumpet and all the people said God save King Solomon 1 King 1.39 It is so here these people look upon Christ as the King of Israel therefore cry Hosanna to the son of David There is yet more in this Hosanna and it lies Emphatically in this particle of the present tense Now O Lord I pray thee save now O Lord send now prosperity This Now refers to what was past as much as to say we have hitherto been opprest by Saul and his Agents commonly styled the violent and the cruel man but now we have a King of another nature of a better temper therefore Save now O Lord O Lord send now prosperity Besides those that hitherto we have had come in their own names Saul was a proud usurper David the true proprietor and that by Gods own donation which is here called his name Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And how well doth all this suit with our present occasion Is not our David returned from his long exile and banishment Have not our Tribes proclaimed him in Hebron No longer hunted by any Nimrod we know Is not this long refused stone become the head of our corner Is not this the Lords onely doing and is it not marvellous in our eyes and in the eyes of all the world It 's surely the day which God alone hath
pleaseth him and pleaseth him better as saith the Prophet Micah Therefore though heavinesse be for a night yet joy cometh in the morning the sufferings of Gods people may be great but momentary for he is not willing they should be discouraged It was a shrewd question of the Divel Doth Job serve God for nought take away thy hedge this taking away the hedge did fright Job from God yet it did not stagger amaze him therefore though the rod of the ungodly may fall upon the lot of the righteous it shall not ever rest there but at last be cast into the fire Else what an heartning would it be to the wicked and how would they blaspheme when their enemies that ruled over them made them to howl saith the Prophet His name was continually every day blasphemed Esay 52.5 Every day and every day continually they did blaspheme what even his holy name his omnipotency as God his faithfulnesse as Jehovah see how effectually this works upon the Lord v. 6. Therefore my people shall know experimentally know my name that I am he that doth speake Behold it is 1. He will speak peace but when There be two Adverbs which I had almost said are Antichristian when they interpose in holy things the one is the Quomodo dubitantis an How of doubting the other a Quando murmurantis the When of repining the one is destructive of our faith as in the Noble man 2 King 7.7 as long as Nicodemus kept himself to his Quomodo istud he could could not enter into the kingdome of God the other is destructive to our hope as in Jehoram Should I attend any longer on the Lord the Quomodo hath almost spoiled us of all our Religion for how many nice and needless and therefore fruitlesse controversies hath it raised We agree upon Gods decrees but whether they be supralapsarian or sublapsarian absolute or conditional we defie one another as hereticks that Christ is in the Sacrament all agree but whether Con or Sub or Tran. or after Mr. Calvins modo ineffabili which sure must needs be best the world will never agree That Christ gave Peter the keys no man denies but whether as he was an Apostle or as a Pastor or as a Believer we most eagerly dispute So for the Quando it eats even into the marrow of the souls of Gods best people many times in their distresses Why art thou cast down O my soul saith David why art thou so disquicted within me Not so much his sufferings as the Quando of his release tormented him This cast down his soul this disquieted his heart within him for hope that is deferred longer then we would or expect makes the heart sick Prov. 13.12 Take heed therefore of the curiosity of the Quomodo if you would preserve your faith of the intemperance of the Quando of you would not be sick at heart I beseech you observe how sweetly our Saviour chides his beloved disciples for this Quando Master say they wilt thou at this time restore the kingdome to Israel they had long dreamed of an earthly kingdome much as our Chiliasts doe of their fist Monarchy a carnall phancie too They thought long to sit one at his right hand the other at his left to be great and glorious princes to Lord it over the Chief Priests and Elders the Roman governour the Emperour himself for spirituall pride is more boundlesse then carnall therefore Master wilt thou at this time restore the kingdome unto Israel they name Israel but they mean themselves but saith Christ What have you to doe to ask such questions possess your souls in patience it is not for you to know times and seasons the Father hath reserved them in his own hands Answer enough to satisfie the most impatient spirit Consider the Fathers Soveraignty it is his Prerogative to appoint the Quando and his appointments the Scripture calls the fullnesse of time Israel shall come out of Egypt the self same day that he had determined he sets the very hour my hour is not yet come saith our Saviour Gods set times are his decreed times and his decrees are secret to us we can only say that as he will have mercy on whom he will so when he will for peace is a creature of his own making I create peace and according to this rule Dei Deo it is fit he should dispose of his own Then consider the Wisedome of the Father and Wisedome is most seen in the seasonablenesse of her Words and Actions it makes them like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver it s the the very salt that gives them savour he will therefore speak peace to his people when it is most seasonable Lastly consider that as this Father is the most wise so our most gracious God and therefore he will speak peace to his people when it is best for them I will hold you no longer in the generalls of this Quando I will descend to particulars Gods seasons to speak peace are cheifly three First when we cannot help our selves to peace when we have tried our Strength our Wisdome our All and nothing can doe then God will doe when the children are come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth when the Mariners in a Tempest have tug'd and tired themselves even at their Wits ends then he delivered them out of their distresse Psal 107. God of all things loves to take his people off from themselves that no flesh not the most Sanctified flesh might glory in his presence if this were well considered we would cease to eclipse the glory of our present peace by attributing it as many doe in parties to our selves with not you but we is ours not yours foolish people he is neither yours nor yours but only Gods Qui facit mirabilia solus who alone without our help doth such wonders for his people be as zealous as you will for the King as the Cities of Greece were for their Homer but let it be the Zeal of Love not Envy of Union not Faction lest you break all in pieces Secondly Gods time for peace is when he hath well prepared his people to receive it all the ways of the Lord must be prepared to make a more easie passage for his work that of the Son of Syrac Wisd 8.1 may goe for Canonicall Scripture Gods wisedome reacheth from one end to another mightily and sweetly doth she order all things her strength is seen in the work her sweetnesse in the foregoing preparations it is so in the invisible peace for it doth not break in suddenly abruptly irresistibly into mans heart as a strong man armed it did not so in S. Pauls conversion which looks most like it there was first a Light then a Striking to the ground then a Reproving voice from heaven to work off by degrees the innate and adnate resistibility at last he was sent to Ananias and so Saul became a Paul It is so when God gives outward
pierceth heaven God resisteth the proud and dispenseth his favours to the humble and meek Or was not the weather ill the waves went high the tempest as 't is said of Jonas his ship made her sides to crack for our hearts are apt to double with God we dare not trust him being as the Apostle expresseth it double-minded and then mark what follows Let not such a man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord 1 Jam. 7. As soon as Peter began to doubt he began to sink Or were not our prayers such as were prohibited in the Court of Heaven wicked and ungodly desires these may have returns I grant but with vengeance not mercy Or did not the end blast the work we desire to have good things but to spend upon our lusts then we may ask and not have saith the Apostle Nay were we not our selves our own enemies we should seek to God only for God else we set our selves in his room and will God answer Idols Or even those good things asked for good ends yet hurtfull for us and should a father that loves us give stones instead of Bread a Scorpion instead of fish Negat propitius quod dat iratus God is many times more gracious in denying then granting it were no heresie to say that because we are too well like those disciples that knew not what they asked we are bound to blesse God more for his denyings then for his givings Or perhaps we may have returns and not know it is it not usuall with Merchants to send for one Commodity and receive another their Factor who lives upon the place best knows what will be for their profit but who is our Agent in heaven will always send us what is best for us Or want we not a sufficient measure of patience a surly Suitor looks presently to be dispatcht and therefore is many times last served to teach him more civility I think I may truly say we are commonly more rude with God then we are with men I am sure it was so in Malachi his time go offer it now to thy Prince and why not in this unnurtured barbarous and presuming Age Lastly God may perhaps deny us for our selves as he did David the building of the Temple reserving the honour of that work for his Son Solomon If therefore we would have returns let our hearts be sound in themselves disengaged from our most beloved sins let them be sincerely upright with God not starting aside like broken and deceitfull bows let both the Request and Ends be answerable to him to whom they are sent Ad Deos non nisi casta said the Heathen holy prayers should be directed to a holy God It is therefore a good distinction of Aquinas with which I will shut up this point the same prayer may be good and bad such as God will hear and such as he will refuse it may be good for the Petitions Expressions Delivery but bad for the mans sake that sends it a Wicked man nay the worst Hypocrite may speak a good prayer but Impius non potest pieorare he can never make a good prayer that is pray as he ought to pray Thus we must hearken for returns and how God gives them is the next thing which the Text shews us what God the Lord doth say God the Lord speaks unto us now only by a double Voice for that Filia vocis as it s called Gods immediate commerce as with Adam and Abraham is long since silent he speaks now I mean as to mens prayers by his Word and by his Providence he speaks by his Word in precepts promises Threatnings by his providence in Events and Successes Dei dicere est Dei facere Gods speaking is Gods working these two seem many times to us mortalls to speak contrary things instance in Ahabs case a day of humiliation is proclaimed fasting and prayer enjoyned for the discovery of a blasphemous execution of Justice if you hearken what God the Lord will say by his Word he forbids Hypocrisie Covetousnesse Subordination Oppression if you will hearken what God the Lord will say by his Providence Naboth must be murdered his vineyard seised hath his Providence answered against his Word nothing lesse it only suffered the Event for the further hardening of Ahabs heart and the hastening of his destruction Therefore when the Voice of the Word approves our prayer on the one side and the Voice of his Providence gives successe on the other side then God the Lord hath said else the Turke may say I have prayed against the Christians and the Pope may say I have prayed against the Protestants and curst them too may not both cry out what successes do you not here what God the Lord hath said Nay the Legion of Devils might boast of Christs favour because upon request they entred into the swine and choked them in the deep This point Honoured and Beloved fathers it self too well upon us of this Nation we have had many days of solemn Humiliation and Thanksgiving and have been thought to have prospered even beyond our own present desires but we never I believe considered whether Gods Voice in his Word and his Voice in his Works went together yet it was easily discerned for did we not fast to strife and debate to say no worse did we not fast to smite with the fist that is too soft a smiting I am loth to name the Acts of Wickedness and when we gave thanks was it not for Rapine Violence the shedding of innocent Bloud and other horrid consequences of War against our neighbour-Nations nay our own people we should have hearkned to the voice of Gods Word forbidding our Barbarous Inhumanity Even the selling the Righteous for silver and the poor for shooes Amos 2.6 8. and not have hardned our hearts from the Voice of his providence take it for a Rule When the voice of the Word speaks one thing and the voice of successes seems to speak another look upon it either as a Temptation or a Judgment even a leading to a reprobate sense it is always so when God grants wicked men the wicked desires of their wicked Hearts Not to trouble you much it hath been a long time a praying time the Court of Heaven hath been solicited this many years pro and con with much Preaching Fasting and Crying to and now let the world judge whose prayers have been heard Can it be denied that God did hear and grant the prayers sighs and groans hae sunt ipsissimae sanctorum Orationes of the now instrument of his glory and his peoples good with all them that mourned in secret with him even when he seemed to others to be most deaf unto them and did he not reject all their Anti-suitors even then when they thought and proclaimed to the world that they had been heard because of their successes And the reason is evident for were not their prayers contrary to the voice of the Word to oppresse
the Fatherlesse and the Widow a man and his house to subvert right and pervert Justice and rather to Sacrifice whole kingdomes then their own Ambition and Lust and were not those others according to the Voice of the Word that the yoke of every oppressor may be broken that God would judge the world in Righteousnesse and at last require the bloud of his Servants So that put the Voice of God speaking in his Word and the Voice of Successe as we see at this day together they make a full Answer from God the Lord out of heaven and when God speaks so plainly so distinctly so with an Eccho Voice answering Voice can men or angels forbear their Hosannahs Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord When we thus hearken what God the Lord will say we need not fear for he will certainly he will speak peace unto his people the next thing in the Text. Peace in this place is the prosperous settlement of that Nation and therefore we are to understand his Pople not by way of distinction and separation but the whole visible State and Church of the Jews For that which is added and to his Saints is onely expository for what are his People but his Saints and what are his Saints but his People it is an Hebraism worth observing affirming that to be which ought to be to these he will speak Peace therefore they wanted it for the present he will speak Peace therefore they shall not ever be without it and he it is that will speak Peace and therefore it can come from no other hand and he will when it is best for them The people of God do sometimes want Peace The Moon hath her Wanes and Eclipses as well as her Light and Glory and Ecclesia habet sua tempora she is like the pole-Star Semper versatur nunquaâ—â— mergitur she is sometimes aloft and anon you would think her falling into the Sea In me saith our Saviour you shall have Peace but in the World tribulation What Peace had Israel in Egypt for near 200. yeares together or in Babylon for 70. yeares what Peace had the Primitive Christians in their 10. Persecutions near 400. yeares and what our English Professors in those Marian dayes I am sure our Jerusalem complaines that the plowers made long furrowes upon her back more then once or twice yea many times Psal 129. and we our selves have lived to see and feel and smart under this Truth conviction strong enough against Academicks and Scepticks themselves And indeed it is Gods wisdom to have it so thereby to pluck his peoples Lips from the teats of this Earth the Nurse puts Wormwood or some sharper thing to her Nipples to wean her child and God doth imbitter our sweets and blast our blessings to take off our Affections from the things below the better to fit us to walk with him and have our converse in Heaven for the want of Peace is the Mother of holy Wisdom when we are quiet and at ease we are like the prodigall having his portion minding nothing but travelling as far as we can from our Father into strange Countries with Harlots and Riotous living but the want of Peace the sound of the Drum and Trumpet the neighing and prancings of the mighty ones make us return to our selves and think of home Outward Peace also begets a kind of Spirituall lazynesse and we say to our selves with him in the Parable Soul eat and be merry take thy ease but when Peace is gone this lazy humour is gone and we set our selves to work again In a calm at Sea the Mariners lie ilde upon the decks but when a storm is up they also are up and are doing some tend the Anchor some guide the Ship some dresse the Sailes some pull the Ropes and some stand at the pump it is so with our Graces in the time of Peace scarce one stirs but when Peace is gone every one is summon'd to his duty Faith must steer Hope must be the Anchor Charity must dresse the Sailes Patience must pull the Ropes and Repentance stand at the Pump Besides we are apt to abuse Peace when we have long had it more then any other blessing whatsoever We may truly invert the Apostles words and say where this grace doth abound there sin doth abound even Sodoms sins Pride Fullnesse of bread Idlenesse Drunkennesse Uncleanness Uncharitableness Lukewarmness Prophaseness I cannot say they are the Effects of Peace no more then the weeds in the Garden are the Effects of the Suns shining No they are the spurious brats of our own corrupt hearts yet we know they are the companions and attendants of a long Peace whereas Wars Persecutions Afflictions are Gods weeding knifes to cut off these Evils even by the Rootes thefore saith David it was good for me to be afflicted he means chiefly by the Wars made upon him by Saul and his Son Absolom the Crosse of Christ saith a Father was Currus Triumphalis his Triumphant Chariot so in its kind is the Cross of his Children even Gods fiery Chariot in which he sets them to triumph over their spirituall Enemies and so to ascend to his Throne of Glory and if so it is not onely Gods wisdom but his infinite Goodness and Mercy that his people have not alwaies Peace I remember St. Austin against Parmenion the Donatist hath this distinction Est charitas severitatis charitas mansuetudinis but is it not a distinction without a difference or is not Gods severity also many times his greatest Mercy Believe it God is often more mercifull in taking away then in giving Peace unto his people methinks Job is at a stand for which to bless him most when he saies The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord either he makes them equal or prefers the taking away before the giving Consider this all ye that have suffered even Jobs taking away Murmur not against it make Gods uses of it let it weane you from the world which vanisheth away let it lift you up to a more heavenly mindednesse learn holy wisdome from it for 't is Gods school shake off spiritual slothfulnesse or melancholy as Divines call it and abandon your former abusings of this mercy thus let me advise you to kisse Gods rod then who can tell whether the latter end of Job may not be more blessed then the beginning for this we know that though Gods people have not always peace yet they shall not always want it as long as they are his people till the Bill of divorce be issued out and Lo-ammi not my people be pronounced upon them which perhaps is the case of the Jews to this day Whose desolation must be untill the consummation Dan. 9. as also of these poor people in America For God loves not the rod as 't is a rod 't is opus alienum a strange work to him as Esay calls it it is mercy that
made no flesh can claime it we have great cause to rejoyce and be glad in it for we have hitherto been harrowed by proud ambitious usuâ—ping Tyrants this was their name But now the Lord hath sent us a King in his own name a name written in the Law of Nature the Law of Nations the Law of the Land Therefore let Zadock anoint him let them blow the Trumpet and let all the people cry Hosanna God save the King Blessed be he that thus cometh in the name of the Lord. I hope it is not with us as with those people when they cryed their Hosanna's for the Text tells us that the Priests and Scribes were so displeased and some of the Pharisees never behind Priests and Scribes in this kind said Master rebuke thy Disciples Luk. 19 39. I hope there be no such Malignant spirits amongst us if there be and 't is possible there may be for God never did a work so glorious against which some mens hearts were not imbittered and their tongues viperous not the Creation witnesse the Manichees not the Incarnation witness the Marcionites not the Redemption witnesse the Socinians not his Grace witnesse the Pelagians nor his wonderfull workes of Providence witnesse our Modern Stotcks Ranters and Atheists it may therefore be so here But if there be their answer lyes ready in the Text I tell you if these should hold their peace the stones would cry God would rather give mouthes and tongues to the very stones then lose the praise of so glorious a work or which is not impertinent were mens hearts flints or Adamants such a mercy as the Son of David hath in it heat enough to melt them Honoured and Beloved I appeal to the conscience of all Mankind whether this our mercy hath not in it very much of a melting quality unlesse it meet with hearts harder then the upper and nether mill-stone To see a King such a King so miraculously delivered preserved restored even by an out-stretched arme from heaven To see a Languishing State revived a dying Church quickned To see Factions Schismes Sects Heresies Prophaneness Irreligion Atheism and which is yet worse Satanicall delusions Fanatick phrensies that dark and thick cloud ascending from the bottomlesse pit which hath been spread over us these many years so suddenly to vanish and disappear And in the room of those ugly Fiends the choise blessings of God like so many glorious Angels Peace and Settlement Trade and Commerce Government and Religion Laws and Liberties to be re-established To see all these cast upon us with the light of Gods pleased countenance in a generall conjunction if not concurrence without the least drop of the bloud of revenge as if Esays prophesy were visibly fulfilled the wolfe to lye down with the Lamb the Leopard with the Kid and none to destroy in all the holy mountain And that which heightens all the rest to see that God hath vouchsafed to such an unworthy people once more a King and such a King as may seem to secure all other his favors a King of the ancient extract from his Royall Progenitors to prevent future usurpations a King born in our Nation and therefore sure must love the Nation a King so eminent in his person more then eminent for his most excellent endowments a King whom God himself hath bred and tutored in the school of forreign experience without the least taint of their religion or vices An excellent school for a King and in his own house a school of afflictions the best school any Prince can be brought up in in a parallel to both these I think no History can afford Is not all this enough to melt us into Hosannas that have not put off humanity and in the room thereof taken the Wolf or Tyger Therefore if there be any that is otherwise minded whether Priest Seribe or Pharisee Papist Jesuite or Sectarie God I hope shall reveal it to him also in due time But if any be obstinate let him be obstinate still In the mean time let us doe our duties and to this purpose let me beg your patience I shall not abuse it I hope with any long or impertinent discourse upon the words of the Text I will hearken c. This Psalm is prophetical and the spirit of prophesie sees as God himself sees future events in their present existencies When Alexander the Great died in Babylon according to the prediction of the Solar and Lunar trees in India he divided his Empire amongst his Commanders saith the Historian 1 Mac. 1. by this means Syria came to Antiochus Epiphanes v. 10. Syria was ever an ill neighbour to Judea and Antiochus was one of the worst that ever had Syria no marvel then if there were great lamentation in Israel v. 25. for he not only invades the Land but also proudly enters the Sanctuary robs it of all its glorious furniture takes away the golden Altar the Candlestick the Table the golden basons all the gold and silver jewels and treasure he could find v. 21 22. He that begins will sacriledge will easily swallow bloud so did Antiochus he murdered many a man saith the Text v. 25. He that will not stick at Sacriledge and bloud will make little of rapine oppression persecution and a wicked toleration of all religions no more did Antiochus v. 41 42. till all the house of Israel was covered with confusion saith the Author This Epiphonema this Tyranny was very great upon the people of Israel Credibile est It is very credible saith a good interpreter that our Prophet in this Psalme speaks of the condition of the Jews under this Antiochus and first he tells what this poor people did in the time of their great disconsolation as chickens when the Kite hovers over them fly to the wings of the Dam so these hope to be safe under the feathers of the Almighty this was always their manner when they were afflicted they sought him and sought him early this also the Prophet fore-sees for he gives us a copy of their prayer nay he pens it for them in readinesse against the time should come This is usuall with Gods Spirit to provide his people of set formes for particular occasions many years before they happen Moses Esay David Solomon did so and our blessed Saviour hath given us a most comprehensive forme which may serve all our occasions to the worlds end So far is Gods spirit from branding set formes with lazie services This prayer therefore must needs be excellent for the Authors sake and for its own too For in it they First thankfully acknowledge the goodnesse of God to their predecessors he had been formerly favourable to their Land he had brought again the captivity of Jacob he had forgiven their sins covered or buried their iniquitte and so withdrawn his wrath v. 1 2 3. Then they supplicate for themselves Turn us O God which is not meant of their persons by repentance but of their present condition from