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
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
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
happy is that man whom in mercie God freely justifies and acquits from the guilt and punishment of his sin and seals it to him by the never-failing testimonie of his sanctifying spirit bestowed upon him creating him anew towards God in sinceritie and holiness 3 I can speak by experience for when as I loved my sin and lived in it and was loth to confess and forsake it not seeking pardon for it nor grace against it how bitter and burdensome at last did the Lord make it to me tormenting me within with most insupportable horrours to the sensible decay of nature by reason of his heavy displeasure and the want of his favour so that it made me restlesly to roar and crie 4 Yea incessantly without intermission was I tormented with fear and terrour so that I was even scorched and my natural moisture dried up with inward anguish like unto leaves and grass by a summers drought I speak it freelingly 5 This made me come off and glad I was to acknowledge my sin unto thee and ask forgiveness which I did not daring to conceal it any longer but spread it before thee with confession and deprecation And truly when once I did but feel my self throughly and sincerely resolved in my spirit no longer to hide and harbour it in my bosom but humbly in self-judging to lay it open before the Lord presently hereupon I felt my heart eased of mine inward pressures and cleared with the comfortable apprehension of the pardon of the guilt and punishment of my sin and thine acceptance of me into grace and favour again I speak it joyfully 6 This testimonie of mine touching thy ready mercie to humble penitents shall incite by the faith thereof all that are or desire to be Godly to make their addresses to thee in their trouble for sin in hope and full assurance to find the like mercie from thee in their miserie which is a time indeed wherein thou art readiest to afford help and comfort Surely in the greatest of outward troubles or inward perplexities such an one as flies to thee for refuge shall find as I have done that though like waves they may threaten and affright him yet they shall not overwhelm him but being in faith by prayer sought unto thou wilt command a calm in his soul as thou didst in mine 7 Thou art the refuge that my soul still flies unto for succour in all distresses and so thou hast approved thy self and so wilt ever do in time of need I am confident thou wilt never but shew me mercie in my miserie and so wilt ever give me cause to praise thee and rejoyce in thee still as I have need of thee by my manifold and seasonable deliverances To thy glorie I speak it 8 As I have learned of the Lord the way of wel-doing so will I as is my dutie teach it unto thee who ever thou art for thy welfare out of a care and and desire of thy good I will shew thee the readie and certain way of gaining the favour of God as I have found it and seen the experience of it so will I declare it to thee 9 Which is this walk humbly with thy God and be tractable to his will and pleasure not rebelliously persisting in sin and so foolishly provoking him against thee to reduce thee by extremities as we are fain to do brute beasts or plague thee with his judgements to keep thee within compass 10 For the wicked by their wickedness do but kick against pricks and heap up judgement to themselves But he that is the Lords by faith and obedience the sails of his soul shall be filled with the comfortable sense of Gods mercie and favour to him and he shall find the good effects thereof in the whole course of his life 11 Therefore if the wicked will still be so at their peril But as for the Godly they have chosen the better part for the Lord is their portion in whom they may and ought to be glad and rejoyce even all that believe in him for the pardon of their sins and are sanctified by his holy spirit such whatsoever the world think of them that are thus sincere and truly Godly which all are not that make profession and shew of religion have infinit cause of joy in their blessed and happie condition which they shall do well to put in practise and make conscience of by an answerable actual rejoycing and comfortable course of life to the conviction of the world and the honour of God The xxxiii PSALM In this Psalm the Godly are incited exceedingly to praise the Lord because of their faithful experience of his word and works his holy nature goodness and power manifested all the world over for which all men also ought to reverence him But principally his people Israel whose happiness he hath decreed and will bring to pass maugre all opposition of contrarie counsels and attempts in case they walk with him and hope in him he will be with them He underrates for Israel in the name of all the faithful that they will and do effectually hope in the Lord and promiseth in so doing they shall speed accordingly and lastly prayes it may be so 1 O all ye chosen Israel who are or should be Saints and servants of the Lord rejoyce and be exceeding glad all those that are so in that you have him for your portion and truly better and more seemly service they cannot do him that are partakers of his grace and spirit than to render him praise for his love and benefits towards them 2 Never think you can give too many or too much praise to God but learn to be skilful in it and every way in the very best manner and with the most raised affections look you perform it to him that so highly deserves it at your hands 3 As he vouchsafes new mercies so still do you indite new praises to him with thankful hearts set all your skill and might on work to magnifie him 4 For the word of promise which he hath made to the righteous is firm to be trusted and will not deceive the believing soul but is and ever shall be true to him and all his works of power and providence towards them and against their enemies are the fruits of his mercy and faithfulness 5 The Lord is righteous and holy hates the wayes of the world injury and oppression and contrarily loves justice and equity and such as practise them he is bountiful also and out of his goodness fills the earth with abundance of good things for the use of man 6 And as his goodness so his power wonderfully appears in the world for at his meer command the heavens and all those lightsome glorious ornaments therein were made and other way of Being they had none saving his command to Be. 7 And as the heavens above so the earth beneath sheweth his
dispensation men die and fall as thick as hail round about thee by the pestilence which of it self knows no difference nor makes none betwixt one man and another whose natures are alike mortall and their constitutions alike apt to infection yet shall God whose judgement it is and whose will it performs so order and dispose the dispensation of it that thou shalt be as it were shot-free when thousands and ten thousands drop dead at thy feet 8 Thou in thine own person shalt feel no harm thou shalt onely be a spectatour of other mens destruction and Gods judgement executed upon sinners by suddain and untimely death overtaking many thousands that misimploied their life-time living in sin and impenitency and would have continued so 9 Because thou hast done as I do thou shalt speed as I have sped for God his promise and performance shall be one and the same to all believers and therefore as I made him my refuge and so he was so thou doing the like he shall be the like even the Almighty God from heaven shall safeguard thee as well as me if thou take sanctuary in him 10 So doing thou shalt be like Israel in Egypt when the first born were smitten how ever it happen to others thy faith shall secure thee yea both thee and thine even from commonest judgements 11 For all the powers of heaven shall be imploid to preserve thee if there be need besides both the ordinary and extraordinary providence of God he shall double his guard upon thee yea not one but many nor many but all the Angels of heaven shall stand charged with thee if there be cause to protect thee from miscarriage by any power or accidents on earth whilest thou walkest in wayes pleasing to God and believest stedfastly in him 12 For as the faithfull have many and great enemies so have they many more and greater friends If Sathan and his Angels lay stumbling blocks in thy way God and his Angels shall either remove them that is enable thee to keep on thy course without making a stand or turning back thou shalt either not stumble or so as not to fall thou shalt catch no hurt though thou maiest be endangered 13 Manifold dangers and fierce enemies men and divels the faithfull shall meet with secret plotters and open assailers but neither the one nor the other shall do them any hurt but instead thereof both they and their attempts shall miscarry Gods faithfull people shall take no hurt by the most hurtfull creatures be they never so poisonous or ravenous nor by men of like dispositions to whom the godly are great eye-sores living amongst them they are a trouble and vexation to them against whom they act their rage and malice but to their own destruction 14 Besides my doctrine and example hear God himself bespeaking thee with promises as from his own mouth whom I his Prophet personate Because saith he he that is faithfull hath out of love to me and my faithfulness put his affiance in me he shall have no cause to repent him I will not deceive him he shall not miscarry I will deliver him out of trouble and danger set him quite out of gun-shot they shall as soon hurt heaven as him because out of a right understanding and belief of my power and faithfulness he hath honoured me by believing in me with sutable recumbency 15 Such an one shall but ask and have if he be in trouble I will have an eye to him and an ear for him if he call for deliverance it shall come at his call I will deliver him and in such a manner as that because he honours me I also will honour him with speciall marks of my favour such as his very enemies men or divels shall honour or envy him for here on earth and reward him with glory in heaven 16 Thus will I preserve and lengthen his life to his own desire maugre all that would shorten it he shall know I can and will save him if he trust in me yea my everlasting salvation more worth than my temporall will I open his eyes to see and desire above it and if he believe me for it he shall be sure of it and he that hath the comfort and assurance of that by my spirits ascertaining it unto him will have no cause to think I break faith with him or deceive his faith in me whatever happen The xcii PSALM The Psalmist for the better sanctifying of the Sabbath having penned this Psalm shews the proper and adequate service of that day is to praise the Lord for his manifestations of himself and thank him for his gracious and beneficiall administrations to his people richly declared in his works of creation redemption providence and just judgements all which are nothing in the eyes of worldlings that mind the creature and not the Creatour but how ever they neglect God yet be neglects not to punish them and bless his people who by him and in him shall be happy here and hereafter A Psalm to be both sung and plaied by voices and instruments principally of use upon the Sabbath-day for its better celebrating and the peoples edifying when then they are solemnly assembled to serve the Lord. 1 IT is an acceptable service to God and a commendable imploiment for his people to be much conversant specially on the Sabbath-day in the meditation and recollection of all the benefits of what nature soever which God hath and doth bestow upon us whether of creation providence or redemption and to have our hearts affected and enflamed with them so as to be exceeding thankfull for them And to view and consider his power goodness and mercy manifested and exhibited in them so as to be moved thereby with reverence love and admiration devoutly and solemnly to worship before him and to celebrate his glory and praise as the great and onely God worthy of honour 2 Our duty is to take continuall notice of thy continued and renewed benefits and always to have our hearts upheld thereby in a sweet gratuitous frame and temper with the eye of faith piercing into the love and faithfulness answerable to his grace and promises which shine forth in them that should take us more than the things themselves and cause our thanksgivings far beyond them 3 Which cannot be too solemnly celebrated all the musick of the Temple is too little to do it therefore lay out your utmost strength and skill you that are especially appointed to that honour and service and gifted for it resembling the heavenly Quire raise up your hearts and in that holy place at the appointed times tune up all your instruments those chiefly that are most affecting and heart-ravishing to this work chiefly on this day 4 For though O Lord thou art exceeding beneficiall to all mankind yet of all the world thou hast done most for us which I and the rest of thy peculiar
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
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
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
not cancel them but day by day will I recount and recal them and afresh magnifie thee for them and bless thee that blesseth me yea live I never so long they shall never die but all that I am or shall ever be I will be it of thee and acknowledge it to thee thy praise and glorie 3 In Majestie power and grace transcendent is the Lord the worlds sole Sovereign and how ought his praises to be suitably superlative whose greatness in glorie and every other excellencie is infinite and incomprehensible rather to be admired than understood by men of finite and shallow capacities as his works declare 4 The world shall never be without matter of praise that shall set forth the immensity of thee the Lord whose praise-worthy works of power justice mercie shall be renewed upon the face of the earth continually every generation shall have a succession of them which shall accordingly by thy people be observed and transferred in their gratulatorie memorials from one to another the fathers shall tell and teach what their forefathers taught and told them and the additions thou hast made in their time of works of wonder and acts of power and grace to their posterities and they to theirs to the worlds end 5 I for my part will extol thee in the age that I live in and leave a copie for after-ages to write by and do the like in exalting thy supream superlative honour and glorie that is essential to thee the Sovereign Majestie of heaven and earth and in magnifying thine Almightie power so wonderfully specified in the works of creation preservation and destruction acted and evident in the world respectively to good and bad 6 Those that give themselves to observation as I do shall have cause enough whilest the world endures to extol thy powerful justice upon thine and thy Churches enemies in the terrible execution of it by formidable judgements such as former ages have been full of and after-ages shall not be wanting in and I will be sure to do my part towards it in preaching thy Sovereign justice and power how able thou art to confound them and how terribly thy displeasure shall be executed upon evil doers wicked despisers of God and oppressours of his people 7 Such faithful observers shall also have abundant matter stored up in memorie of thy goodness and mercie yea manifold and remarkable mercies to thy Church and people which they themselves shall bless and praise thee for and teach them to others even to succeeding generations to be remembred of them in like sort and shall rejoyce exceedingly in their own and the Churches constant experience of thy faithfull performances of thy gracious promises freely made and in righteousness made good touching thy blessings to them and thy judgements upon their enemies 8 They shall have cause to magnifie Gods manifold gracious properties by manifold sweet experiences and to say of him as he by Moses sayeth of himself That he is as good as great Gracious in promising and performing Compassionate over his people in their afflictions though afflicted for their sins which he is slow to punish and very forbearing to execute his just displeasure where and when or as oft as it is deserved and as ready mercifully to forgive their sin when committed and remove his judgements when inflicted upon their repentance as they themselves can wish be their sins what they will never so great he can and will forgive them upon conversion and repent of his punishing when they repent of their provoking 9 And though covenant-grace and pardoning mercie be the portion of his own peculiar yet to those that are not so but strangers yea enemies to him he is beneficial even to all good and bad God is good and declares it by large dispensations of manifold good things creative and providential Though sin hath brought an over-flowing deluge of displeasure into the world and shut up the whole creation man and all things that were made for his use under a curse and Divine severity yet cannot this hinder on Gods part his being merciful who freely extends his liberal beneficence to every creature supplying their wants maintaining and taking care for their subsistencies from the least to the greatest 10 There is nothing in the whole world in that its kind and nature sets not forth thy praise-worrhy goodness and greatness O thou Sovereign and sole Lord thereof and above all thy peculiar people chosen and called have cause not onely for common mercies whereof together with the rest of the world they liberally partake to praise thee but for special love-tokens of grace and favour which the world knows not what belongs to wherewith thou peculiarly blessest them shall they actively bless and magnifie thee in love and thankfulness 11 Thy saints they shall not by bare instinct or meer necessitie of nature passively praise thee as others do that are subjects at large of the Kingdom of thy power onely but as those that are received into grace shall they magnifie the glorious excellencie of that thy Kingdom of grace as well as of power whereof more especially they are subjects and knowingly in the comfortable experience of their own hearts declare the happiness of that estate transcendent to any worldly one both for dignity and security the King of saints being the onely Lord God glorious in Majestie and omnipotent in power as his acts declare 12 From the enlargements of their hearts in the love and admiration of thee they shall publish to the world that so best understands thee the memorable atchievements which thou hast in sundry ages brought to pass thereby to spread thy fame and gain thee the glorie of thine omnipotencie and sole Sovereigntie over the world the pomp and power thereof as sundry times and wayes upon sundry nations and mightie potentates thou hast made it manifest by demonstrative evidence in thy Churches and peoples behalf 13 Yea all the excellent prerogatives and properties of thy Kingdom and empire shall they preach and promulgate to gain thee the precedencie of worldly honour which though never so great yet is transient and momentanie on top of the wheel to day and under it to morrow whereas thy dominion and Sovereigntie as it excels in power and dignitie so in permanence and perpetuitie thou canst crush earthly Kingdoms their Princes and people but they with all their might and malice can neither crush thee nor thine neither weaken thy power lessen thy glorie nor extirpate thy Church but as thou so it maugre all the world is of an infinite date no period can be put to either for both shall everlastingly endure and every age shall make it appear so by the admirable works of governance and powerful preservation of thy Church and Kingdom founded upon an everlasting covenant 14 Otherwise his Church had been extirpated many a day ago every age lifting at it so that it hath
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
his bow and made it readie 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors 14 Behold he travelleth with iniquitie and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falshood 15 He made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come upon his own pate 17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousnes and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high Psalm 8. To the chief musician upon Gittith A Psalm of David 1 O Lord our God how excellent is thy name in all the earth who hast set thy glory above the Heavens 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thineâ— enemies that thou mightest still thâ— enemie and the avenger 3 When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Starrs which thou hast ordained 4 What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels hast crowned him with glory and honour 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet 7 All sheep and Oxen yea and the beasts of the field 8 The fowl of the aire and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea 9 O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth Psalm 9. To the chief musiciâ—n upon Muth-labben A Psalm of David 1 I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will shew forth all thy marvellous works 2 I will be glad and rejoyce in thee I will sing praise to thy name O thou most high 3 When mine enemies are turned back they shall fall and perish at thy presence 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause thou â—atest in the throne judgeing right 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen thou hast destroied the wicked thou hast put out their name for ever and ever 6 O thou enemy destructions are come to a perpetual end and thou hast destroied cities their memory is perished with them 7 But the Lord shall endure for ever he hath prepared his throne for judgement 8 And he shall judge the world in righteousnesse he shall minister judgement to the people in uprightness 9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble 10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee 11 Sing praises to the Lord which dwelleth in Sion declare among the people his doings 12 When he maketh inquisition for blood he remembreth them he forgetteth not the cry of the humble 13 Have mercy upon me O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me thou that liftest me up from the gates of death 14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Sion I will rejoyce in thy salvation 15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken 16 The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten the exspectation of the poor shall not perish for ever 19 Arise O Lord let not man prevail let the heathen be judged in thy sight 20 Put them in fear O Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men Selah Psalm 10. 1 WHy standest thou afar of O Lord why hidest thou thy self in times of trouble 2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined 3 For the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth 4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts 5 His ways are always grievous thy judgements are far above out of his sight 6 He hath said in his heart I shall not be moved for I shall never be in adversity 7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud under his tongue is mischief and vanitie 8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages in the secret places doth he murder the innocent his eyes are privily â—et against the poor 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a Lion in his den he lieth in wait to catch the poor he doth catâ—h the poor when he draweth him into his net 10 He croucheth and humbleth himself that the poor may fall by his strong ones 11 He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hideth his face he will never see it 12 Arise O Lord O God lift up thine hand forget not the humble 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God he hath said in his heart Thou wilt not require it 14 Thou hast seen it for thoâ— beholdest mischief and spite to require it with thy hand the poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the â—eâ—per of the fatherless 15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man seek out his wickâ—dness till thou find none 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever the heathen are perished out of his land 17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear 18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed that the man of the earth may no more oppress Psalm xi To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 IN the Lord put â— my trust how say ye to my soul flee as a bird to your mountain 2 For lo the wicked bend their bow they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart 3 If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do 4 The Lord is in his holy temple the Lords throne is in heaven his eyes behold his eye lids trie the children of men 5 The Lord trieth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousnes his countenanâ—e doth behold the upright Psalm xii To the chief musician upon Sheminith A Psalm of David 1 HElp Lord for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from among the children oâ— men 2 They speak vanitie every one with hiâ— neighbour with flattering lips and witâ— a double heart 〈◊〉 they speak 3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and
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
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
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
BRIEF NOTES Upon the whole Book of PSALMS Put forth for the help of such who desire to exercise themselves in them and cannot understand without a Guid. Being a pithie and clear opening of the Scope and Meaning of the Text to the capacitie of the Weakest By GEORGE ABBOT ACTS 18. vers 30 31. And Philip said unto the Eunuch Vnderstandest thou what thou Readest And he said How can I except some man should Guid me LONDON Printed by WILLIAM BENTLEY and are to be sold by Iohn Williams at the Crown and Francis Eglesfield at the Mary-gold in S. Pauls Church-yard Anno Dom. 1651. TO The truly Religious and Virtuous M ris JOAN PUREFOY Wife to the Honourable Colonell William Purefoy of Caldecote in Warwickshire Esquire a Member of this present PARLIAMENT THe Authours name bespeaks entertainment for this Book with those that knew him and the work it selfe with those that knew him not The return of it unto you whose interest and property therein is greater than can be derived by any dedication may peradventure at the first sight have the like operation upon you which those words of Jospeph's brethren had upon their father Jacob. Is not this thy sons Coat But upon further insight into and more inward acquaintance with it you shall find that he who took a great part of your heart with him out of this World Hath distilled into this work so much of those sweet spirits and graces which were fragrant in him while he lived as may represent and continew unto you the fruition of him in that which was his better part besides whom you had no other object of maternall affection and by whom there was left no other off-spring but the fruit of his studies and pen the more lively characters of his heart and spirit of which this is the last drawn forth unto the life immediately before his death left as a legacy to the people of God and as an account of his expence of that time which by reason of bodily infirmities could not be imployed in the service of the Common-wealth in Parliament whereof he was a Member There is not a line added to it by any other pencill neither did it need any thing but midwifery to bring it forth into the World and present it unto you as his or if you please as him The honour of which service pardon me if I claim as of a kind of right upon my acquaintance with his studies and his both frequent communications with me and obligations put upon me for the greater part of twenty years together in which he lived under my Ministery and in intimate correspondence with me whereby he put me into a greater debt to him than I can exonerate by this acknowledgment which indeed might lessen my testimonie by misprision of partiality had he not left a blessed memory behind him for my justification and incouragement If I should set forth his spirituall abilities to the life which I decline and rather chuse to point out the way and means of his improvement to so great a measure and maturity of them and thereby render the point at which he aimed attainable by others that shall transcribe his copy by shewing the line in which he moved to it The method or discipline which God used towards him at his first entrance into the school of Christ was not unlike to that of the Wilderness wherein through the frequent recesses of the spirit and Gods turning the dark side of the cloud towards him he was exercised with fresh agitations discomposures of spirit so as like massive bodies he could not settle upon his true center without previous trepidation whereupon he converted his studies and indeavours to the settlement of his spirituall estate and began to search the Scriptures for the treasure hidden in that field which together with his assiduity in hearing the word Preached his sucking the sweet out of such Books as had marrow and experience in them his constant trade with Heaven by Prayer his communication of experience and conversation with such as knew Jesus Christ brought him to such firmness of consistence in his own spirit as one that was the better rooted by former shakings to such fixedness in his principles as one that did not onely understand the truth of them but had tasted the goodness and felt the power of them to such riches of spirituall experiences as he became the resort of troubled consciences and a dexterous artist in swathing up tender and weak infants in grace and to such spiritualty of affection as in whom the primogeniall virtue and sence of Gods dispensations toward and impressions upon him in his conversion or as the Scripture speaks the love of his espousalls continued fresh and vigorous As for his proficiency and progress in the way of Christianity it was thus advanced in matter of knowledge or doctrine his chiefest inquiry upon any point was cui bono of what proper use and conducement it was unto practicall holiness or fruition of good c. Searching out the nutrimentall pith or marrow that was in it and not greatly ingaging his thoughts into opinions of contention or mere notion which had no kernell In duties altogether unsatisfied except he found the spirit acting and stirring in him or were particularly sensible of the absence withdrawments of it In company communicative and trading in the staple commodities of Heaven Especially upon the Sabbath-day wherein he used to sequester his thoughts and words to the proper work of that day and to divert common and obvious occurrences into matter of spirituall insinuation which day he also vindicated in his Book entituled Vindiciae Sabbati when that controversie was rife and hot and some began to lay open Gods inclosure into common fields and upon which day the Lord of the day honoured him in the defence of an unfortified House by a very few assistants against the furious assaults by fire and sword of a numerous and potent enemy The memory of which deliverance he kept alive in himself and exprest his sence thereof even in his last will and Testament the rather doubtless in respect that you his ever honoured Mother being imbarked in the same bottom with him at that time was supported with courage above your sex and with faith above present sence and so brought clear off that threatning storm by the good hand of the Lord your God unto whom as you have learned and do know it is all one to save by few as by many I shall say no more of him thereby to aggravate your loss which yet was not all yours for the Family the Town the Countrey were sensible of the influence of his exemplary holiness but shall pray for you a heart to make a gain of it by learning to walk with God without a crutch and in him onely to make out all deficiency and wants of secondary helps in whom every creature-comfort is virtually and eminently contained and so shall you quench
your thirst at the spring it self whose waters are purest and which never shall be dry A lesson which you shall be often taught by the holy Psalmist and the godly Paraphrast in this Book whereof I need not say a word being therein prevented by the Authour himself in his Epistle to the Reader who shall here find the sweet spices punned into a greater fragrancy by the Authours accommodating his stile to the most vulgar capacity for it was his aime to elevate affections which in Psalms and spirituall songs are the predominant part and therefore he wrote not so much to the eye as to the tast which pardon the solecisme is the best sence to read him with so carrying on the work in this Paraphrase as also in that of Iob as one that had not a mere notionall or carnall knowledge of spirituall things but that peculiar light which they have which are taught of God Without which even Schollars themselves do see the beauty of them but by candle-light and which that it may increase in you as the light of the Sun unto the perfect day shall be the Prayer of LONDON Iune 17. 1650. Your ever obliged Servant In the work of the Lord Iesus RICHARD VINES TO THE READER In way of ARGUMENT and APPLICATION ALL Scripture was written by the holy men of God as they were moved or inspired by the holy Ghost but this of the Psalms was not onely written by a holy man but by a holy man in holy frames who was not onely moved by the spirit to write them but was in the spirit when he penned them not so much acted by externall impulsion as inward affection warmth of zeal and sensible experience For the Psalms being to be a speciall part of the worship of God in all ages of the Church whereby God not onely speaks to us as in other Scripture but we to him in Prayer and praise the Arguments of almost all of them were therefore dictated by another spirit than other Scripture by the spirit of grace and operation not onely of illumination prophesie or inspiration to shew us how God is to be worshipped not onely by holy regenerate men such as were all the sacred pen-men but by the regenerate part of a regenerate man else Prayers nor praises neither come down from heaven nor go up to heaven It was not enough to be a Priest to offer Sacrifice but it must be done by a holy man with holy fire And therefore should we sing the Psalms of David in the spirit of David and read them as he writ them with frameable tempers to the matter treated Of all Scripture our meditation in the perusall of this Book of the Psalmes so full of practicall Gospel ought to be sweet and spirituall of which one rightly affirms Let all the rest of the Scripture be the body and this is the heart so full of heavenly affections Every Psalm whereof is a spirituall pang or fresh gail breathed by the holy Ghost on Davids heart and penned by him and the rest in instanti in heat of affection His writing is his feeling and so should be thy reading the musick of the Temple should make musick in the living Temples of the holy Ghost the sons of Sion therefore have I laboured not onely to render the proper but also the full extensive meanings of the Psalmists by congruous enlargements to move the affections as well as to inform the judgement That so Davids spirit in these Psalms may be transmigrated into the experienced Reader in proportionable power energie wherewith they were conceived digestedly put over by him to the Church whereof as of Christ he was a most lively type wading through so many dangers temptations ebbings flowings yea and sins too to create him to be a Looking-glass for the Church and Spouse of Christ who may be black yet comly and can never pass through any condition of sin or suffering where first he hath not led the way and shewen the issue whose varieties of providences states and tempers made him of such an evangelicall spirit in the time of the Law as that God stiles him a man after his own heart so that in him we see that neither great sins nor great afflictions can seperate us from the love and approbation of God though the one may cost us dear and the other may lay us low yet neither the one nor the other can build up such a partition wall but that the grapling irons of Faith Prayer and Repentance are able to demolish it and make way for us to the throne of grace whither if we can but come we shall be sure to speed for grace can deny grace to none that graciously ask it And therefore if ever we will gain that Encomium of being as he was after Gods own heart who ever loves a zealous penitent better than a luke-warm innocent it must be by improving all advantages to the encrease of Gospel-growth thus If at any time God in his wisdom let us fall or Satan by his subtility and strength give us a fall or we by our weakness catch a fall all which may be in one and the same sin then know that that sin is thine advantage or opportunity which thou art to improve to mount thee to a higher rise of Gospel-ground and step forward towards more grace by the fresh exercise or exercise of fresh faith and humiliation God being more pleased with us when we penitently and faithfully confess our sin wherein David was very ingenuous than displeased when we commit it For though we are not to sin that grace may abound yet when we have sinned it s both our wisdom and duty too to look that grace do abound and that we make a sanctified sin of it Acts of sinning in the regenerate contrary to Philosophy lessening the habits of sin And so if we fall into afflictions there is another opportunity for the promise is that all shall work for good and that going in and out we shall find pasture yea even a price in our hands which if improved by the exercise of seasonable and suitable graces will ready us in our Gospel-way better than any trade-wind or constant gail of providence can ever do Severall conditions make exceedingly for setting forth the Art of God in the second Creation as severall creatures do his skill in the first which variety in both makes us to abound not onely with necessaries but delights which Scripture calls things both new and old which no one condition unvaried can possibly render us capable of for it is said all things work together for good c. Alluding to the Art of the Apothecary in the mixing of various and diverse Simples no one whereof alone is able to work that effect that many joyntly can And when I speak of change of states I mean inward as well as outward for the soul would be as a cake unturned excellent in something and stark naught in othersome or
as a vessel unemptied taking taint by long standing in any one condition and therefore God hath ordered it that the soul as the Sea shall purge it sel◠by its constant vicissitudes of ebbings and flowings whether the winds blow without or not But least Christians wonder at such fortunes as befall them God hath shewen us that we sail but the course of other men that went before us and have landed safely through many cross winds and high Seas in a happy issue or conclusion and David is the highest Sea-mark in all the Bible for men of shipwracked souls bodies states or names to cast their eye upon who ever lived that endured such and such variety of affliction for that he was to be the type as of the Crown so of the cross of Christ yea and of every Christian or the Church in generall And therefore what state soever thou beest in the Psalms are as an Apothecaries stop full of boxes and they are full of all manner of store for men in all tempers and distempers at all times and in all tunes to make use of especially when thou hast to do in a good cause against a wicked enemy Bodily weakness disabling me for other imploiments gave me opportunity to make thus much more progress in Scripture-paraphrase and though the Psalms which being so frequently used ought the better to be understood may primâ facie seem to need none yet they that look into them with inspection will find much more sence than lies above board besides that of coherence and connexion the hardest part of paraphrase which most Readers omit and most expositours neglect rendering though a true sence of the Text if disjoyned yet not carefully considering the scope of the contexture they give not the sence in its full propriety which is the endeavour of Thine in the work of the Lord. G. F. Advertisements premised WHerein the word Maschil is prefixed to a Psalm it imports it to be a Psalm of direction instruction or information in some sort or other Where the word Selah is affixed to any sentence or verse it is to be understood by way of Emphasis or as an Emphaticall close to the matter foregoing suitable to it by way of Exaggeration or Amplification for Impression sake And so in like sort the word Higgaion which signifies to muse or meditate is to be taken when and where it is affixed to a sentence as where Higgaion Selah concludes a verse The first PSALM The Contents The Prophet to induce to godliness and disswade from wickedness shews in this Psalm that the first of these does onely make men happie and blessed and the other doth certainly and eternally make men miserable 1 WOuldst thou be a blessed man mistake not then but know upon the word of a Prophet speaking from God that He and He onely is here and shall be for ever hereafter happie and blessed to wit with the favour of God true peace of conscience and joys of heaven the onely true happiness that maugre the opinion of the world to the contrarie shuts his ear to the sinful perswasions of wicked men not suffering himself to be seduced to lead their lives much less willingly and impudently gives himself over to a course of sinning and least of all with brazen face scorns and opposes the ways of God and them that walk them 2 But on the contrarie is ruled by the Word studying it and walking those ways which it prescribes and commands with as much pleasure and content of mind as wicked men take in sin keeping it in mind and memorie to order his ways according to it that in nothing nor at no time sin may mislead him 3 And God shall so bless this his holy care and industrie that his soul shall be plentifully fed from heaven with the never-failing influences of Grace and Consolation to the making him fruitful in every good work and work comfortable in every condition and inable him to hold forth a holy profession throughout prosperitie and adversitie to the end maugre the world and wicked men to the glorie of God and honour of Religion and his own great advantage too here as well as hereafter thereby procuring the blessing of God upon all he hath and doth 4 Whereas the wicked have no firm footing in any good condition for in the way they walk God will never bless them nor respect them but as they are nought so will he set them at nought and will make it appear he does so when he executes his displeasure upon them which shall part them from the prosperitie they enjoyed in this life with a fearful farewel never exspecting to see good day again 5 For the conscience of their wicked ways and the expectation of that just and fearful sentence Go ye cursed to be pronounced upon them shall make them hang the head in deep despair at the great Assize when as the godly shall be able to lift up their heads with joy nor shall such sinful wretches ever set foot within heavens threshold or have any fellowship or share there in the happiness of the saints 6 For however wicked men that know not things that differ think as well and better of themselves and their ways than of the godly and theirs Yet God knows the difference and shall one day make them to know it too when he comes to judge and reward every one according to his works then he will make it appear what notice he took of the godly and how he approved them the world contemned And the wicked they shall see and find for all their confidence and jolity where their way will end and to what a woful condition it will bring them at last Even to everlasting destruction Second PSALM David finding great opposition in his coming to the Kingdom both at home by the House of Saul and they that sided with them and also abroad by confederacy of neighbour-Princes and People He shews them both their folly and danger in so doing for that as a Prophet he does assure them that God hath designed him to rule both over Iews and Gentiles as a figure of Christs doing the like in his spiritual Kingdom all the world over and therefore exhorts them to desist and submit to the will of the Lord and not to their utter undoing put from them the Grace that is offered them in Christ whose type onely he was and of whose Kingdom he prophesies which would make them blessed for ever 1 HOw senselesly do the Gentile and Heathen nations amongst us and about us yea and so many that are of Israel too so violently oppose my Government and refuse their subjection to me which nevertheless shall be effected maugre all their rage and resistance for that herein I am to be a type of Christ the Son of God his universal Sovereignty over Jews and Gentiles which by the wicked of both sorts shall in like manner be opposed but in
vain for his spiritual Kingdom his Church shall prosper in spite of all the world as shall my temporal 2 Yea mighty Princes and great States-men by their worldly power and wisdom both within Israel and without in many neighbour-nations set themselves with all their might against me but in so doing they fight against God and against me not for mine own sake who never sought the Kingdom but because the Lord had anointed and designed me to it in a figure to pourtray out Christ and his Kingdom by me who likewise shall be so opposed 3 They say in effect both Princes and People we will not be subject to David nor under his Government but in so saying they also in effect say they will not be subject to God nor have his Son Christ to rule over them neither him nor me 4 And therefore though they set light by me and think themselves able enough by their worldly power and policy to crush me yet he that reigns in Heaven in whom I trust being engaged in my quarrel contemns their pride and laughs at their foolishness for that he both can and will subjugate them to me and in me to himself 5 And if they will needs provoke him to anger and put him to use his power refusing to submit to his Scepter and mine they shall then find him a potent and wrathful enemy in his own and my behalf and such an one as will easily subdue and destroy them and revenge himself to the full upon their rebellious stubbornness against him and me 6 For as a Prophet in the Name of the Lord I pronounce it That maugre what man can do the Lord shall certainly set me over Israel and establish my throne in Ierusalem where his holy Temple shall be built as the chosen type of Christ who shall rule by the Scepter of his Holiness in and over his Church whereof Sion is a type maugre all the enemies both of him and me 7 And further that men may know they strive against the stream in opposing me I will tell them truly what the Lord hath revealed to me concerning my self by the spirit of prophesie that is That he hath decreed me to be the figure of Christ. And in a figure hath said thus to me Thou art and shalt be my son that is in the place and stead of mine onely Son the Heir of all things resembling the power that he shall have over his enemies and the Government in his Church which I shall give him then when I have as it were begotten him a new and powerfully declared him to be so by raising him from the dead and exalted him at my right hand in glory as I have and shall do thee out of thy low and troublous state by anointing thee King and setting thee in the throne of Israel 8 And as I will do by him so will I do by thee By his intercession the heathen Gentiles shall come under his subjection yea the most remote and furthest parts of all the world as well as Iudea shall he possess and inherit by my gift for to be his people And so at thy prayer and intreaty shalt thou prevail over and be possessor of all them that rise up against thee both Jews and Gentiles far and near to be thine and under thee 9 Maugre all their resistance and rebellion yet shalt thou be set over them and they miserably destroyed by thy power that will not come under the Scepter as shall all be that make resistance to my Son Christ whose wrathful vengeance will fall heavy upon such mortals as refuse salvation from him and subjection to him 10 Now therefore seeing I have told you the truth Take warning and be advised even ye that are Kings and Potentates here on earth yet to do your Homage and render obedience and subjection in me to the Lord that rules in Heaven Neither do you that are the Judges and Sages of the world think your selves too wise to take Laws from God though here you give Laws to men 11 As high as you are think not scorn to stoop to serve the Lord with fear of his displeasure and take heed your prosperity make you not forget your selves and God but use it soberly and rejoyce in it moderately fearing to offend him that raised you up and can cast you down 12 Take heed of rejecting Christ in rejecting me who is Son and Heir of all things but yield obedience and do your homage unto him in believing what I have said and framing your course accordingly least you turn that grace and favour which he hath offered you by being willing to accept you for his people into heavy displeasure and so forsaking the onely way of happiness which God hath chalked you out in him you perish and that everlastingly when as by refusing subjection to his gracious Government you have once shut the door of mercy upon your selves and kindled his anger against you the least spark whereof will be of dreadful consequence to the rebellious Therefore if you would be happy and blessed as I know all desire to be then be assured of this That they and they onely are and shall be so that in humility and faith embrace the mercy that is offered them in him receiving him for their Saviour and yielding themselves his thankful and obedient servants and subjects whose type and Prophet onely I am Third PSALM David being much troubled at the unnatural and undutiful rebellion of his son and subjects makes his complaint to God lamenting his enemies strength and opprobries But notwithstanding chears up himself by his faith in God to restore him as by an answer to a prayer he was assured In the â—aith whereof for all his many adversaries he comforts himself and is confident and prays that God would make good this his confidence by delivering him now as heretofore in respect of his promise to make him a blessed type of Christ to his people A Psalm made by Davidupon occasion of his flying from Absalom his son when he rebelled against him 1 LOrd how strange and unexpectedly are new enemies risen up to molest and vex me when I was in hope of Rest and Peace not onely mine old inveterate ones of the house of Saul but even mine own off-spring and almost all Israel rebel against me and go about to take the Kingdom from me 2 And to such straits am I now brought worse than ever as that most men give me for lost and by reason of my sin which hath caused this trouble they think me to be utterly out of favour with thee so that they are confident they shall prevail for that thou hast quite rejected me which I would have them know would be to me the worst of evils 3 But though my sin be great for which thou hast brought this distress upon me so that I am esteemed as quite undone yet
cannot I so easily yield up my faith and distrust thy promise and goodness But am confident thou that art the Lord Almighty and my good God wilt now deliver me from mine enemies as thou hast ever done and wilt restore me to and maintain me in mine honour which thou hast given me and turn my sorrow into joy 4 Nor do I speak this presumptiously or by guess but am well assured of it by a special answer I received from God in mine earnest prayer which I made towards mount Sion where his Ark resides And this my confidence to find mercy with God I care not who know so sure am I of it 5 Which hath so comfortably secured me in mine own mind as that for all my trouble I can sleep as quietly and wake as chearfully as at any time before The Lord hath given me such a spirit of confidence and assurance that he will be the same God to me that he hath been and will sustain me now as he hath done heretofore maugre mine enemies 6 So that though I must needs confess in outward appearance my condition is very forlorn beeing fain to flie before mine enemies yet I am so comforted in God as that my faith is far above my fear so that though multitudes oppose me and the whole Kingdom as it were on every hand rebel against me and but a very few left to take my part whilest God is for me I care not who or how many be against me 7 And now O Lord let it appear that I speak the truth shew thy self in my behalf put forth thine Almighty power and save me who thou knowest am thine and one that trusts in thee and cause I have to do so for thou hast ever been gracious to me and defeated mine enemies though they have been never so strong and I in never such peril yet hast thou brought me out and set me free from the malicious cruelty of all those ungodly ones that have opposed me for such and none other have ever been mine enemies 8 So that it is neither the power of mine adversaries nor the straits I am in that shall make me doubt of deliverance whilest I have a God to trust in who can and will preserve me as he hath done for to him belongeth the glory of my preservation because he hath firmly purposed and faithfully promised his chief and choisest blessing to his Church and people by me which shall not be frustrated even his Son Christ to rule over them and to be victorious for them of whom he hath made me the Type Oh that Israel would understand this submit to it and praise him for it Fourth PSALM David first speaks to God by prayer and gaining comfort and confidence thereby he then speaks to his enemies by advice to leave off troubling him and themselves in vain for that they should never be able to get his Kingdom from him because God had given it to him and would keep it for him do what they could and therefore admonisheth them not headily to persist in sinning by rebelling but to advise with their pillow in a point of so great concernment and infallibility and to desist and subject themselves to the will of God so should they find pardon and favour with him which would be better to them than all worldly happiness which they were so greedy of and which for his part seeing he had done he feared nothing To him that is most skilful upon the stringed instrument Neginoth 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 suffer much in thy quarrel am put to many straits in all which I flie to thee therefore good Lord hear my prayer in such cases for though I my self be a sinner yet I trust in thy righteousness and make thee the judge of mine innocencie of whose goodness I have had large experiences for thou hast ever been faithful to deliver me out of all my dangers And therefore I will still believe in thee and pray to thee that thou wilt continue thy mercie as mine enemies continue their malice and hear me still as they give me cause to crie to thee for help 2 O ye that are too weak to resist the Almighty and as weak in understanding heavenly things how long will you perversly refuse to give and acknowledge that honour which God hath designed to me and will certainly fulfil in making me the Kingly type of the promised Messiah and in that relation to submit unto me Will you never be reclaimed But still vainly seek to destroy Christs spiritual Kingdom by indeavouring to dispossess me of mine which you shall never be able to compass though you labour it never so in hope to have it from me but deceive your selves and lose your labour I would you would take warning to seek the heavenly and not the earthly Kingdom which you are so greedie of 3 Indeed be advised and know to save you further trouble that I have not laboured to advance my self to this honour of a King for ambition sake but it was God who had a favour to me for the grace sake he hath wrought in me that hath designed me to this place and office wherein he is pleased to use me and as he hath raised me to it so will he never suffer me to be divested of it but will be sure to relieve me and give me the better of mine enemies whensoever in my need I call upon him 4 O that you would take my counsel to fear God not proudly passionately go on in sinning against him by opposing your selves against me Weigh but with your selves seriously the consequence of mine advice as to your everlasting welfare and in cold bloud consider the strange providences that have thus far carried on the work of mine advancement to the Kingdom maugre mine enemies and judge whether that do not promise as much as I prophecie and whether it were not therefore best for you to give over and be quiet I would you would consider it for your good 5 Come be perswaded to submit and render your selves the righteous and obedient servants and subjects of the Lord as a sacrifice due to him that deserves and expects it from you and in so doing trust in the Lord for mercie and grace which you shall be sure to find and trust not in your own power and policie to frustrate his will and pleasure 6 How many gape after this worldly and outward prosperitie and labour it tooth and nail as if that were their chiefest good But let me tell you the way to be happie indeed is to get the grace and favour of God to belong unto you this I for my part would have above all for me and mine to be happie by 7 For for my own part I am able to speak it to
to Saul that though he be mine utter enemie and hath wrongfully and without any cause at any time given by me laboured my destruction which nature can ill brook yet even then in that time of open hostilitie when I had him at advantage and might have rid my self of him once or twice such was my respect and loyaltie to him and fear of sinning against thee that I delivered him though to the hazard of mine own life thereby 5 If thou Lord who knowest all things know me guilty of this persidious treacherie whereof I am accused then in thy righteous judgement let Saul never cease to seek my life till he have it and then let him put me to as shameful a death as ever any suffered and brand me for a most treacherous ignominious wretch to all posteritie even from my heart I wish it 6 But Lord thou knowest its otherways therefore in thy just displeasure and in the greatness of thy power bestir thee in my behalf to right me on my false accusers and bloudie persecutors because of their unjust violence against me and delay no longer but take this season of their sinning to destroy them and fulfil that righteous decree and judgement which is gone forth of thy mouth concerning the making me the Kingly type of Christ over Israel 7 And I will cause thy sanctuarie to be erected upon Sion so shall all Israel meet solemnly to worship thee therefore for thy peoples sake who do now want the means of serving and seeking thee as they desire seat thy self upon thy Tribunal to do justice which now thou hast long forborn and shew forth thy power from heaven as formerly thou hast done in their behalfs 8 The Lord will right this wrong which his people sustain in having his worship deteined from them and I pray thee consider my case too O Lord to right me also on mine enemies who have deprived me of thine ordinances for that thou knowest me just in my behaviour and in mine heart upright towards Saul and most falsly slandered in those things whereof I am accused and for which I am persecuted 9 O Lord do thou put an end to the wicked practises of mine ungodly enemies but make good thy promise of mine establishment in the throne of Israel who fears thy name and am just in all my dealings for thou that knowest the inward thoughts and desires of mens hearts canst judge whether I or mine enemies be the wrong-doors 10 My trust is wholly in the Lord for my preservation against the furie of mine implacable and malicious adversaries who I know will not let the upright hearted man perish who fears to sin and hath a care to walk honestly 11 God though he seem slack yet will sooner or later judge the righteous mans cause and as well as the wicked seem to prosper yet hath God a continual eye upon them and their evil ways whereby his displeasure is daily increased against them 12 He indeed waits a time to see if the wicked will repent and turn from his evil ways but if after he have waited a while he turn not then will he be the more inraged severe in the execution of justice for which he hath all things in a readiness when the time comes 13 Yea he is preparing all the while he lets him live in sin to bring upon him utter destruction for it at last and the proud persecutors of the poor and godly he means in the end to make them the marks at whom he will discharge all his quiver of plagues and punishments 14 The world shall see that after he hath taken a great deal of pains and been at much trouble to compass his wicked ends by wicked means and hath with much studie contrived mischievous devices against the innocent the end will be that he will be deceived in his expectation both of the righteous mans ruin and his own prospering for he shall be the man that shall perish with all his machinations but the upright man shall be preserved in his innocencie 15 After he hath long set his wits a work and moiled and toiled to compass the godly mans destruction God shall so bring it about that his very design upon the righteous shall turn to his own utter undoing 16 All the ill he meant to others shall light upon himself and his violence against the good shall fall heavie upon him to his utter destruction 17 That day I know and am sure I shall live to see though it seems afar off when I shall have cause to praise the Lord for keeping promise with me and for all his righteous judging me according to mine innocencie in my deliverance and mine enemies downfall and when this is which I am sure will be I promise before hand in the faith of it that I will praise the power and goodness of the Lord God Almightie who rules over all and raiseth and abaseth whom he pleaseth Eighth PSALM David having honoured God with his absolute and relative title of Sovereigntie extols the excellencie of his manifested attributes which appear in his works by way of interrogation as unable otherways to express them to their worth shewing how both great and small yea the smallest things most convincingly set forth the praise of his admirable power and gracious goodness and providence towards mankind even to the confounding and confuting all ungodly and perverse Atheists And shews that for his own part when he seriously considers the workmanship of God in the Heavens and his creating the lights that shine therein for mans use together with his gracious rebestowing the use and dominion of the creature upon him by a new title of Redemption and heaven to boot when as he had lost all by sin and was worthie of none he cannot but with admiration acknowledge his great goodnes to man yea he cannot enough admire both his greatnes and goodnes To him that is most skilful upon Gittith the instrument used by Obed-Edom the Gittite and his family do I David that made this Psalm commit it for his ordering it in the Quire 1 MOst glorious Lord who hast the dominion over all the world and specially over us thy chosen how full of renown is thy power wisdom and greatness all the world over by reason of those admirable creatures and glorious Lights the Sun Moon and Starrs which thou hast created and placed up on high to shine through the ayrie regions to give light and convey heat to all that live upon earth 2 Yea every thing high and low great and small hold forth thy glory and manifest thy prais-worthy power and providence The very instinct and infant oratory that thou puttest into the new born babe to cry after the Mothers breasts making that silly creature so wise as to seek its subsistence so soon as it hath a Beeing and by moving pity therewith to be able also
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
all natural men live in sin and from the beginning have multiplied abominations not one either is or ever was that by nature without special and supernatural grace ever knew or served the Lord aright 2 The Lord made a long trial of it in the first age of the world in that time of nature between Adam and the giving of the Law purposely to see what it of it self would bring forth and how improve the talent that age afforded whether there were any one of all mankind that could and would improve it to the knowledge belief and worship of him or for default by nature to make out to him for grace 3 But he found by long experience notwithstanding his documents to and judgements upon the old world and so he finds still That all men are naturally fools void of understanding and generally without exception of polluted hearts and lives loathsome in his sight that none in nature does that which is right and acceptable no not a man of all mankind nor covets grace 4 In so much as God himself admired to see all men by nature void of the knowledge of him and of themselves in relation to him and wholly given over to sin and carnalitie yea even to the hatred and devouring those few in the world that are the people of God upon whom he hath bestowed his favour and grace and that differing from them walk in holines and righteousnes never taking thought to do or be like them neither themselves of themselves by nature worshipping God nor seeking to God for the like grace and inablement that those had given them but contemned it and hated them 5 Which at last brought fearful desolation upon them when the floud came and swept them all away Like measure shall the wicked contemners and haters of God and his worshippers have they shall find that God who by his spirit and grace throughout all ages is in the righteous will also be for them and against those that are against them 6 You graceless and wicked ones of this age take notice of it that have persecuted the poor and helpless and scorned him as a hairbrain fool for trusting so nakedly upon the Lord and bearing himself upon him without humane probabilities for deliverance and establishment 7 But O that the time were come which I am sure will come and is not long too that God will by mine enemies ruin settle my Kingdom in Sion as a Type of Christs in heaven and then and there by me send deliverance and happines to his people Israel as he will thence by him send salvation to his Church When God shall have thus delivered them from their enemies and out of their present troubles as formerly he did out of their captivities into peace and tranquillity as his Church by Christ shall be from wrath and hell how shall the faithful and true Israel of God who properly are the seed of his servant Jacob rejoyce proportionably in the type to what they shall then in the Antitype The xv PSALM David dâ—sirous to convince and convert the fâ—rmâ—â— professor or outward Jâ—y of and from an overweening conceit and mistaken apprehension of himsâ—lf and his ceremonious worship As a Prophet goes to God by way of question to know of him and so to deliver from him who he is that is in his account a true worshâ—pper of him and is and shall be partaker of his grace and glorie And brings answer that it s he and only he that in the sight of God is as well conscientious of the moral as of the ceremonial law practizing as well righteousness as holines in all manner converse and commerce with men in thought words and actions A Psalm made by David 1 LOrd there are many pretenders to thy service and frequenters of thy Tabernacle worship that take themselves to be of the Church because they are in it but thou knowest that many are of Israel that are not Israel Therefore declare by me thy prophet who and what manner of man he must be that is an Israelite indeed a true worshipper of thee and savingly implanted into the true Church ever to abide in thy Kingdom of grace here and of glorie hereafter 2 Why no wicked man nor bare professor or meer ceremonial worshipper that is but seemingly holy But he and he onely that in conscience to God carries on the whole trade of his life holily and righteously both in duties of pietie and acts of moralitie in common converse and commerce 'twixt man and man doing what he does justly and honestly without fraud and deceit and saying what he says in truth from his heart without dissembling 3 Doing injurie to no man by undermining his good name and sliely seeking his disreputation by insinuating and speaking ill of him behind his back yea that neither in word or deed doth willingly disparage or disprofit any man nor is well pleased another should not itching after tales and reports to other mens disparagement and aspersion nor being over credulous of them when he hears them to the lessening their credit but in all things is careful to do as he would be done by counting every man his neighbour and walking thereafter in doing good and not evil to all 4 He that gives no countenance or encouragement to wickednes and wicked men but declares himself against it and them for its sake contrarily having in great esteem and shewing good respect to them that are known to be holy and good and is careful to walk unblameably and therefore is so tender of his word as that if he have promised or sworn any lawful thing he will keep it though it be to his disadvantage rather than falsifie 5 He that violates not the Laws of charitie and justice but having it by him lends freely to them that need intending their commoditie and not his own And that in office or judicature gives judgement uprightly not suffering himself to be perverted by bribery to wrong the innocent He that thus walks is no formalist nor Hipocrâ—â— or cast-away but is the truly godly man that is blessed for ever with saving grace and assurance of glorie The xvi PSALM David having praied for divine preservation shews he expects to be saved by Gods goodnes and not his own which onely is gratuitous not meritorious Then he shews the vanitie and miserie of false religion and worship which he for his part disclainâ—s and by faith chuses to be happie in God onely Blessing God that hath by his word and spirit given him the wisdom to believe in him Which stablishes his heart in peace during life and in assured hope after death touching perseverance to the end and heaven in the end A Psalm made and set by David to a special tune called Michtam 1 O God of power uphold me from falling from thee lead me on in the knowledge love obedience of thy truth to
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
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
from the dead by freeing me from mortal dangers which put my very life in peril and caused much affliction of mind he hath carried on all the course of his providence towards me in a way of truth and faithfulnes according to his promise and that onely for his own free-grace and mercies sake therefore hath nothing failed of all that he promised me 4 Yea I have had such large and unquestionable experience of thy love and faithfulnes that though I should be brought into never so great danger and lie never so long under it yet will I not distrust thy deliverance at last for because all that befals me is by thy permission and makes not void thy grace and providence which is then with me when all things are against me Thou hast a rod of offence for mine enemies and a staff of defence and protection for thy sheep and for me thy servant which sustains my faith and courage against all fears and dangers 5 Thou hast plentifully provided for me enriched me with the spoil of my very enemies and made me master and owner of that was theirs to the great regret of those of them that live to see me so as many of them do Thou hast heaped such an abundance of all manner of affluence and beneficence both for honour delight and necessitie upon me that thou hast made me overflow in blessings and benefits unto others as shall Christ the head to his members 6 I cannot but conclude from that goodnes and mercie I have already found according to thy promise that I shall ever whilest I live be a large sharer in thy free and bounteous beneficence and liberality And I promise by Gods grace I will never so surfet of thy benefits as to forget my benefactor but will diligently frequent thy sanctuarie and hold on a constant course of praise and thanks-giving therein according to thy commandments as thou shalt hold on a course of mercie and favour to me according to promise ending as I begin The xxiiii PSALM David to invite men into a participation of the sanctifying graces of the spirit and salvation and glorification by Christ shews That though all the world and men in it belong to God yet with great difference for though all are his by right of creation yet hath his special favour of election and calling passed onely upon such as are holy others are but his creatures these his sons and daughters whom he spurs on to enlarge their desires after Christ in the exercise of faith and use of means and promises both him and together with him happines and security to such A Psalm made by David 1 THe Lord hath dominion over all the earth which together with those infinit species and individuals of creatures animate and inanimate that are in it are all of them his Yea the whole world from North to South and East to West is his and under his regiment together with all the inhabitants thereof every where 2 For it is he that hath made all both sea and land and that hath given an habitable existence and being to the earth above the waters which he hath placed below it in that great Abysse where the seas remain By his decree it is thus established over and above the waves and surges of the sea which else would soon surmount it 3 But though all the world be the Lords in common right of creation yet who are they that are his redeemed ones in special relation that have the honour and priviledge to be peculiarly elected and called out of the world to worship and serve him here and to be glorified of him hereafter like as in type we are being his peculiar and chosen people who of all the world are priviledged with his sanctuarie which we frequent and where we worship him upon mount Sion the figure of heaven 4 Why onely he that is holy and upright whose conversation and affections are changed from the corrupt course of the world in obedience and love to God purifying his heart from inward concupiscences and leading his life unblameably Who hath not either committed impietie in trusting in vain confidences or worshipping vain idols instead of the true God or iniquitie in swearing falsely to the wronging of truth or equitie 5 Such an one is and shall be blessed of the Lord with his grace and favour and shall partake the righteous reward of his holy walking at the hands of God who hath thereby ordained him unto salvation and glorification 6 These are the peculiar people and children of God chosen out of the world that do thus truly and sincerely set themselves to worship him Yea amongst Israel it self also there are none that are truly that is spiritually the children of holy Jacob that in this wise walk not in his steps sincerely serving and worshipping the God of Jacob. These are onely the blessed people of a blessed God 7 Ye that are thus the living Temples of the Lord and have already entertained his sanctifying spirit into you do you lift up your hearts in the use of holy ordinances through faith in joyful desires and assured expectation of him yea be you abundantly lift up by faith in the use of holy means who are the everlasting habitation of an everlasting God with a joyful and assured welcome of him for so shall you invite and undoubtedly entertain the high and mightie potentate the Lord Christ into your souls with the glorious manifestation and ravishing operation of his love benefits and graces 8 And know O all ye faithful and obedient ones for your courage and comfort who and of what qualitie this glorious King the Lord Jesus is whom the world despises but you honour Why he is the Almighty God of power all-sufficient to preserve and defend his people and Church that in trust of him do love and serve him against all the strength and power of men and devils that do or shall malign or oppose themselves against them and to put them to the foil as we his Israel in the letter have found by experience for your instruction and corroboration that are his people in Spirit 9 10 See the seventh and eigth verses foregoing These being a repetition tending to amplification for further assurance of what is there promised and ratified with a Selah for the incouragement of the Godly The xxv PSALM David notwithstanding the deep sense he had of his sins by reason of the great afflictions he lay under yet confidently repairs to God in prayer for justice against his enemies and mercie for himself both in the pardon of his sins and bestowing grace upon him assuring himself that herein he shall be heard because of Gods goodnes and the many sweet promises which in the general he hath made to his people which he applies to himself in particular And so ends as he begins with prayer forcibly urged upon God by the greatnes of
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
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
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
and great commander in chief the Lord of Hosts even of all the numberless number of created beings in heaven and earth is with us the God of Jacob that mightily delivered him is on our side and in covenant with us to do the like for us in time of danger and difficultie Let us therefore be comforted in him The xlvii PSALM The Author of this Psalm which seems to be penned in the time of the glorious condition of the people of Israel under David and Solomon in the name of the Iewish Church and nation invites all the world to yield obedience to the Government of Christ typified in theirs then ascendent and to be partakers of their happiness and tells them the danger of refusing for as Christ must prevail so must his Church and people whose happiness he greatly extols because of the love and presence of God with them for which he stirs them up mightily to magnifie the Lord. And prophesies the enlargement of Christs Kingdom over and amongst the Gentils by the Almightie over-ruling hand of God and the glorious condition of the Evangelical Church under him as of theirs under David or Salomon and far beyond it A Psalm committed to Heman the chief musician of the familie of the Korathites for him and them to sing 1 O That all the world would be advised to share in our happiness by entertaining that common salvation tendred them in the Messiah now as it were ascended into heaven in that pledge of his presence the Ark pitched upon Sion and that now they would subject themselves unto him together with us not of constraint but of a willing mind with joyful and thankful hearts as one day they shall receiving him for their Lord and King that he might triumphantly reign over Jews and Gentils 2 For they that refuse voluntarie subjection to him will have cause to repent it they will find him even the Messiah whom they slighted in his types on earth to be the most high God reigning not onely in heaven but on earth also yea all the world over as he will make it appear by executing terrible vengeance upon such as rebel against him 3 But for our parts that are his chosen people we shall be blessed of the Lord and how ever the Gentils do stubbornly refuse to come in unto us partake of our priviledges and subject themselves to his government among us yet shall they be made subject to us and to our Kings the types of Christ whose spiritual Kingdom shall enlarge it self over all the world over-powring by his spirit the most ignorant and rebellious to receive him and be subject to him 4 As he hath graciously made choice of us for his people so will he accordingly give us the utmost he hath promised to our forefathers his faithful servants and their faithful seed concerning both an earthly and heavenly inheritance maugre all enemies temporal or spiritual and dignifie us the seed of holy Jacob his beloved with those excellent priviledges appropriated by promise of Temple-worship and royal government figuring Christ his King and priestly office An honour unspeakable 5 How do we see it made good to us in that the Lords Ark the sure pledge and token of his presence with us and favour to us is at this time to be fixed in its abiding place upon mount Sion whether it is triumphantly carried with joyful acclamations and sound of trumpet answerable to the welcome entertainment of Christ in the hearts of his Gospel-converts and faithful people in his Church Evangelical on earth and his glorious entertainment at his ascention by saints and Angels in heaven 6 O that we could rise up to their pitch of praise and gratitude for this unestinable mercie and priviledge we enjoy of the gracious presence and divine favour of God in Christ to us and amongst us in its lively types but though we cannot but come short of what it merits from us yet let us lay out our selves to the utmost of our skill and abilities in praising magnifying and exalting the Lord both for his own excellencies and for our interest and proprietie in him and them as a people ought to do that have such a God for their King and gracious benefactor 7 We above all people have cause to praise him for though he be King of all the whole earth yet of us in a differing manner and eminencie so that though honour be due to him from all creatures yet more especially from us for that none have that knowledge of him and peculiar obligation to him that we have Therefore we are not to praise him as others that know him onely by acts of creation and providence and are subjects at large but with a saving Gospel-understanding of him in the Messiah and powerfully not formally acting-faith in our hearts answerably to the praises of our lips 8 And though we be now the onely peculiar of God and all the world but we are as it were exempted out of grace and favour Yet are the heathen as well as we under his government and power And the same God that hath been gracious to us can make them also his people when he pleaseth And doubtless will from heaven his place of holiness remember in truth and faithfulness the promises made to and concerning them for light to shine out of Sion to them that sit in darkness which he is able to fulfil and bring them in to himself accordingly 9 Yea and which he will certainly do in great abundance even Kings and Kingdoms that now are heathenish shall imbrace the faith of Christ preached amongst them out of Jerusalem and be ingrafted into the stock of faithful Abraham our predecessour as well as we our selves whose seed they all are that do or shall believe upon the face of the whole earth and have as good a right to the God of Abraham as we whose priviledge ought not to be in the flesh but in the spirit by and in which spirit shall Jews and Gentils be united when the power of God shall be made manifest in Christ then shall the great as well as the small belong unto God and how ever they have refused subjection to him and stood in opposition against him yet they shall take Laws from him and and that right willingly becomming of enemies friends yea under him protectors and defendors of their fellow-brethren believers in Christ throughout all the earth Thus shall God in Christ be universally worshipped and his Kingdom enlarged far beyond the bounds of Jewry The particion shall be taken down and his dominion shall be throughout all the world as Davids and Salomons is over Jews and Gentils The xlviii PSALM This Psalm seems to be made upon some notable deliverance that Ierusalem had from some potent armie made up of several nations that had besiedged it but by a special and immediate hand of God wâ—re wonderfully defeated and sent away
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
mischief and being the instrument of Sauls crueltie O thou treacherous parasite 5 But as thou hast been the death of the Preists of Nob even fourscore and five innocent persons and hast extirpated the family of Abimelech so shall God do by thee and thine he shall utterly destroy both thee and all that belongs unto thee null thy hopes of preferment and ruine thy substance and cast thee out of the land of Israel where there shall not so much as one remain of thy family where indeed thou wast never rightly planted hypocritically counterfeiting thy self a proselyte for the place and preferment sake thou hadst in Sauls Court And so bet it 6 The righteous people of God whom thou so much hatest and hast been the destruction of not a few of them for all that their survivors shall live to see as much by thee according to my prediction and shall give glorie to God in reverence of his righteous justice upon such enemies and faithfulness to his Church and people and in heart shall laugh at the folly of unbelievers and hypocrites for thy sake and personally at thee 7 Whom God shall especially make remarkable in the execution of his just judgements upon thee whereby the Godly shall be confirmed in their faith and dependance upon God when they see what thy courses come to in trusting and relying upon thy power at Court the wealth thou hast gotten and thine own wicked devises to amplifie and establish these and not upon God 8 Thou shalt wither when I and such as trust in God shall for all thine and Sauls malice to me and the present calamities that lie upon me being driven from the tabernacle and service of God be returned thither again in a flourishing condition of honour and felicitie and this I believe as confidently as if I were there already for as I know thy present prosperitie shall have a certain end so shall this mine unhappiness which shall not dismay me for expecting better through the mercie of God wherein I trust which in his own good time shall implant me in a perpetuated good condition like as his justice shall weed thee up by the roots never to grow again 9 Though I am now far from such a State yet will I give even present aswell as future thanks and praise unto thee for it O God of my hope as if I were possessed of it already because it is as sure to me as the destruction of Doeg is to him both which shall certainly come to pass to thine everlasting praise and for which I will live in humble expectancie depending upon thy grace and faithfulness till they be accomplished which are precious things with thy people the very solace and support of their souls how ever neglected by hypocrites and unbelievers who trust in riches and honour whilst that thy saints believe in thee because of them The liii 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 only unto sin and professedly hates those few in the world whom God hath renewed instead of seeking to become such themselves But he shews that they both have and shall certainly smart for that sin of contempt and hatred of God and his Church and praies that God would presently by him give tranquillity to his people as Christ shall to his Church To him that is most skilful upon the wind instrument Mahalath is this Psalm of Davids making committed instructing what man is by nature what Gods people must find from such and how God will take their parts against them 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 all natural men live in sin and from the beginning have multiplied abominations not one either is or ever was that by nature without special and supernatural grace ever knew or served the Lord aright 2 The Lord made a long trial of it in the first age of the world in that time of nature between Adam and the Law purposely to see what nature of it self would bring forth whether there were any that could and would improve it to the knowledge belief and worship of God his love and service as a glass for after-ages to see themselves in 3 But he found by long trial and experience notwithstanding his documents and judgements upon the old world and so he finds still that all men are naturally fools void of true understanding carnally-minded and generally without exception of polluted hearts and lives lothsome in his sight that none in nature does that which is right or acceptable no not a man of all mankind every imagination of the thoughts of whose heart is onely evil continually 4 Insomuch as God himself admired to see all men by nature void of knowledge and given over to sin yea even to the hatred and devouring those few in the world that are the people of God and have obtained mercie and differing from them walk in wayes of holiness and righteousness never taking thought to do or to be like them neither themselves by nature worshipping God nor yet seeking to God for the grace and inablement that they had but contemned it and hated them 5 Which at last brought fearful and unexpected desolation upon them when the floud came and swept them all away in the midst of their jollitie Like measure shall the wicked contemners and haters of God and his worshippers have in after-ages God will certainly take part with his Church though never so few against her persecutors and despisers though never so many to save it and ruin them As then he did so shall he in his fierce wrath destroy even the whole world of wicked wretches that know not God and persecute his Church she shall worst them as contemptible as she seems because themselves are as hateful and detestable to God as she is to them who is and ever will be an enemy to his Churches enemies to blast befool and utterly destroy them 6 O that the time were come which I am sure will come and is not long to that God will be mine enemies ruin settle my Kingdom in Sion as a type of Christs in heaven and then and there by me send deliverance and happiness to his people Israel as he will thence salvation to his Church by him When God shall thus have delivered them from their enemies and out of their present troubles as formerly he did out of their captivities into peace and tranquillitie as his Church by Christ shall be from wrath and hell how shall the faithful and true Israel of God who properly are the seed of his servant Jacob rejoyce proportionably now in the type as then in the antitype The liiii
amends at last and all that thou promisedst hast thou performed for thou hast by a strong hand invested us in a happie condition and possessed us of a fruitful land spite of all our enemies so shall thy Church have deliverances here but let not them never doubt of heaven hereafter 13 14 What I would have others do I hope I shall not fail for mine own part to practise I am resolved upon consideration of what I have recounted that thou hast done for us and I am sure wilt do for thy Church to give thee praise and thanks not onely inwardly in my heart but also outwardly in the eyes and for the example sake of all others according to thine appointment by solemn sacrifices and especially for my self who have been in not a few nor those no small troubles at what time I vowed them to thee and have tasted accordingly of not a few and those no small deliverances 15 What ever thou hast commanded to be offered thee I will do it to the full in the performance of my thanks and acknowledgement of thy mercies both for number and worth even the best I can get what charge soever I am at And that with a free heart 16 Thou hast set me up as a pillar and monument of thy unspeakable goodness to thy servants which I hope and do desire that all thy people in all ages of the World would take notice of and to that end I will leave it upon record even the wondrous mercies I have partaked of and miraculous preservation that I have had 17 How that I never in my need put up my prayer to him in fervour and faith but I had a return answerable and my prayer was turned to praise 18 I speak not this to embolden hypocrits as if they were so priviledged who are apt enough to pray in their need as well as the Godly but for the incouragement of the sincere and upright such as I bless God I am harbouring the love of no known sin in me I know how I should have sped if I had not as I have done but have had the deaf ear turned upon me and well I had deserved it as all hypocrits and carnal formal professers do 19 But assuredly the Lord from time to time hath heard me and answered me too very graciously yea he hath carefully had respect to me whensoever I poured out my heart before him in the anguish thereof in time of trouble 20 I bless the Lord he hath blessed me and not sent me away without mine errand when as I have come to him in prayer and supplication nor withheld his mercie from me in mine extremitie but hath effectually appeared for me and so he will for all that trust in him and seek to him as I have done The lxvii PSALM The Psalmist praies that God would in such a sort be good to Israel that the Gentils may note it and be won by it to imbrace his saving truth and serve him as well as they But for the full â—ffecting of their conversion he wishes heartily for the comming of Christ and his Kingdom and the happie dayes that shall be then all the World over To him that is most skilful upon the stringed instrument Neginoth to which this Psalm is chiefly set is it committed for his care and ordering it be sung and plaid 1 THe good Lord be merciful unto us in the pardon of our sins and graciously benevolent and propitious in multiplying blessings upon us and manifesting his favour to us so as it may be notorious in the eyes of the World Even so be it 2 That the whole earth that now wander out of the way may be brought to acknowledge thee for the only true God to worship thee aright when they perceive the mercies that we that do so do enjoy above all others may be brought to hearken enquire after the saving righteousness thou hast revealed to us whereof they are utterly ignorant 3 Lord let the Gentils as well as we have the knowledge and experience of thy rich mercie and saving goodness that they may praise thee for it yea spread and proclaim it to all the World that thou mayest every where have a people to magnifie thee for it upon the whole earth 4 When shall Christ come to proclaim the year of Jubile even life and salvation to the Gentils to their unspeakable joy and thy unspeakable praise and to take the Government into his hands which he shall sway with equitie and justice both to the good and to the bad Lord hasten it 5 Let the Gentils as well as we have the knowledge and experience of thy rich mercie and saving goodness that they may praise thee for it yea spread and proclaim it to all the World that thou mayest every where have a people to magnifie thee for it upon the whole earth 6 O that this time were now for when it is happie shall those dayes be when the Messiah shall come infinite of blessings of every sort temporal and spiritual will he bring with him The whole earth that is cursed by the fall shall by him be blessedly restored and made a Canaan fruitful to God and man and God who was become a stranger by it shall by and in him be as much and more his peoples in more near proprietie and relation than ever and bless them with better blessings through grace than ever they were and could be capable of other wayes 7 Then shall be a time of sweet harmonious interchangeable correspondencies betwixt heaven and earth God he shall pour out his spirit upon all flesh and spread his Gospel over the whole earth and accompany it with no small store of temporal mercies and his people shall from all the ends of the World be hereby gathered to him and give up themselves in faith and obedience to be his The lxviii PSALM David upon the great victories he had had over his enemies and the remove of the Ark to its setled abode in Ierusalem praies and prophesus the infelicitie of the adversaries of Gods Church and the prospâ—ritie of the righteous whereof he advises them to be confident and therein to rejoyce for God in mercie will be mindful of the oppressed and injustice of the oppressors whereof they had had ample experience by marvellous deliverance out of Aegypt settlement in Canaan in the gaining whereof he gave them wonderful victories and as their case was prospâ—rous then so he prefigures it shall be again now in his time both Church and Common-wealth shall flourish because of the favour of God to them and his protection over them for he is to be a resemblance of Christ after his ascension victor over all his enemies Having shewn the happie consequences of the Arks remove he amplifies the manner of its transportation from the house of Obed-Edom in what order and with what harmonie
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
the Lord all the waies in the world 1 O Lord thou knowest that what ever be my dangers yet my faith still sticks close to thee and thy promises of deliverance let me therefore alwaies be preserved accordingly and now amongst the rest let no power or malice of mine enenemies ever be able to prevail against me to frustrate my hope or thy faithfulness 2 But alwaies remember thy gracious ingagements which though made to me of free-grace yet art thou bound in justice now to make them good therefore deliver me according to them and by thy wisdom and power bring to pass mine escape out of this perillous condition that I am in favour me with thine audience of this my request and let it be effectual and prevalent with thee to the preserving of my life 3 Let me find some securitie and certaintie of protection from thee stil upon the making out of my faith and prayer unto thee in every strait as that I may thereby be invited and encouraged to come as oft as I have need and never to fail thee because thou never failest me I know thy promise and purpose is to save me and so long I cannot perish for nothing can contradict thy will no earthly power can hurt me seeing thou hast undertaken to preserve me whom every thing must and shall obey 4 O God in whom I trust and whom I serve let me not fall into the hands of such wicked wretches that traiterously seek my life and have not the fear of God before their eyes deliver me from the power and from the purposes of this mine unnatural son and his complices that rebelliously seek to murther me to get the Kingdom 5 For though I seem helpless yet I am not hopeless O Lord my God I must do as I have done trust in thee still thou knowest I ever had a propensitie in all my necessitie to creep under thy wings as well young as old 6 I am not ignorant nor never was since thou gavest me understanding to consider it though it be a thing little thought of by most men how wonderfully I was conceived and preserved both in the womb and ever since by thy power and providence more than by any secondarie causes otherwaies all humane helps could never have brought me alive into this world it was and is thou O Lord that from first to last hast evermore upheld me else I had either never been or long before this had miscarried in so many dangers as I have gone through no part of my life but hath liberally tasted of thy praise-worthy mercies and benefits which I hope and purpose gratefully to remember and praisefully retaliate to my death 7 My condition is wonderfull strange and hopeless in most mens judgements who in diffidence of my success and in amazement at this prodigie of my sons rebellion against me and seeking my life they flie from me as if I were some monster few or none taking my part or ever thinking to see me prosper but what ever I am to them I know what thou art to me even an all-sufficient God able to protect me in and bring me out of this very distress and strange trial 8 Let me have still more and more experience of thy power and goodness fresh matter for my spirit to work upon all along my life furnish me with opportunities of praising and magnifying thee for I love to be so imployed and now especially is the time by delivering me 9 Leave me not voide of thy mercie and goodness now that by it hast carried me on thus far of my life be not less good when I have more need but as thou hast been my God the two foregoing parts of my life youth and middle-age so continue to be in this third and last wherein I have as much need if not more than ever 10 For all the waies in the world I am laboured to be depressed I am traduced and slandered to my people and rendered as an evil doer by mine enemies to cloak their wicked and unnatural rebellion and all the plots and waies that can be devised are set on foot and complotted by Achitophel and the rest to mischieve me that rather than their lives would bereave me of mine 11 Giving out that however God hath taken my part heretofore yet now for my prodigious sins God hath in his just judgement brought upon me these prodigious punishments that shall certainly bring me to ruine and therefore they assure themselves they need not fear the issue but that if they pursue me a proscribed person they are confident to overtake and defeat me my partie being so small and God mine enemie 12 But Lord let it appear that thou art not so much mine enemie as they think for nay that thou art still my gracious God and mighty deliverer by stepping in betwixt me and ruin so contrarie to their epexctations and wonderfull rescuing of me out of their power 13 Let me be preserved whom causelessly they seek to destroy and dethrone and let them that do so taste the bitter fruits of their own evil waies let destruction and confusion be their portion that would make it mine and let them to their shame be found themselves to be the evil doers and reap the disgrace they have sowed for me 14 And however the clouds gather over my head yet my hope shall bear up I will not despaire to the last but be confident that this storm will blow over and that I shall yet have this deliverance added to and above all the rest to praise thee for 15 I shall have cause to glorifie and praise thee for thy faithfulness all my life long thou wilt never fail me of thy promise touching deliverance and preservation but the same thou hast been thou wilt be so to me still in such like marvellous mercies which however my desire and purpose is to praise thee in some proportion to them which deserve so infinitely yet must I needs confess I am short of them they being so surpassing great and many and rather the object of mine admiration than thanks-giving which yet shall not be idle but alwais acting to my power 16 I will bear up and hold out stedfast in believing my faith shall not now no more than at other times flie back from God either by despair or taking to and relying on other helps and refuges his power shall supply my weakness It is his promise and faithfulness thereunto that I trust in and doubt not to praise him for by effectual experience now as ever heretofore I have done yea upon it and it onely do I depend and ever did so in all my difficulties 17 O God I have been trained up in the frequent experiences of thy never failing faithfulness and goodness to me all my life long alwaies heretofore hast thou done me good and never but given me cause of praise
of God increase in his daies and exceeding great happiness shall be to them during the long reign of Solomon even as under Christ when the church shall grow and be blessed with all spiritual imbellishments throughout the ages of the world 8 He shall admirably point out Christ and his Kingdom as in prosperitie and duration so in extent and demensions of length and breadth for as Christs must be universal all the world over some of all nations and all of some yielding their subjection to him so shall Solomons to figure out this be inlarged far beyond the ordinarie bounds to the uttermost extent of Moses in his predictions even from the red sea adjoyning upon the Egyptian unto the sea of the Philistines parcel of the Mediterranian and also from the greater river the river Euphrates unto the wilderness and Lebanon 9 People remote and barbarous shall be subject to him and the stout and stubborn enemies of Israel shall under his government be brought to a submissive reverential subjugation far and near 10 The Kings of Cilicia and of the Islands in and countries beyond the Mediterranian sea shall have him in respect and honour shall desire his friendship and confederation and shall from those remote parts send embassies and presents to him so shall the Queen of the South come out of Sheba in Arabia-Faelix to see his glorie and hear his wisdom and shall not come empty-handed but shall bring and present him with the chiefest riches and choisest commodities of that countrey and other far distant Kings and Princes of the world shall do the like shall come or send to him even from Seba in or bordering upon Ethiopia 11 No Princes nor people round about him but they shall give him precedencie of honour and dignitie and shall serve him either as subjects or as friends or allies freely transacting the commodities of their countreys for the use and service of him and his All which shall be in resemblance of that universal acknowledgement that shall be made by the Gentiles of the sovereignty of Christ when once he is estated in his Kingdom spiritual as Solomon his type in his Kingdom temporal 12 Wherein not onely greatness justice and mercie he shall figure out the Messiah for he shall not be a Tyrant according to the common course of Kings nor imploy his power to oppression and wrong but shall be a Saviour of the oppressed and miserable the poor and helpless shall be relieved by him for which the Lord shall exalt and prosper him 13 He shall be gentle-handed and tender-hearted to those that are the objects of compassion and shall imploy his power and authoritie for the preservation not for the destruction of the helpless and afflicted 14 He shall make it his work to search out a matter in the poors behalf and to save him out of the hands of them that would destroy him his wisdom authority shall be the bulwarks of the poor mans innocencie against the might or fraudulencie of his oppressour how light soever others set by the lives of poor men he shall value them at a higher rate if they be under his protection and government the bloud of the poor shall be as precious as the bloud of the rich 15 Would all Kings reign thus and improve their power and greatness to these uses they should be happie as he shall to whom God shall give a long and prosperous reign in peace and affluence far and near shall he be honoured and enriched with the presents of his friends and tributes of his subjects willingly paid so great and gainfull shall be their trading To the poor he shall yield such protection govern with such moderation and administer justice with so equal an hand that all people shall bless him pray for his long life and happie reign and acknowledge it a rich mercie of God so to change the face of things in Israel to what they have been in former ages by giveing them a King so divinely qualified with wisdom and and virtue which they shall daily reap the benefit of and he the thanks and praises 16 The happiness of his government is not to be expressed with what peace and plenty God shall bless them all his long reign there shall be strange increase in the land all over it shall seem to bring forth of it self the blessing of God shall so strangely metamorphose things as that barrenest places with no great pains nor cost shall fructifie unmeasurably a little scattered corn on mountains that cannot be husbanded shall yet yield a great increase high hills shall be as fruitfull vallies and the whole land both town and countrie shall be exceedingly enriched so multiply increase with people as that children shall seem to grow in cities and villages like corn and grass in the field so populous and plentiful shall all places be with all manner of opulencie 17 The renown of his wisdom as it shall spread into all nations so it shall also be recorded unto all ages the fame of it shall never die it shall be proverbial As wise as Solomon his rules and precepts shall for ever remain in the Church of God to teach men true wisdom and understanding even the fear of the Lord the onely thing that makes men happie and blessed All nations and all ages shall confess him to have been peculiarly chosen and extraordinarily inspired of God for that his Kingly office over Israel in a blessed resemblance of Christ who in like sort shall govern his Church with wisdom power and justice 18 Thus O Lord I know shall be the happie condition of thy people in the reign of my son Solomon Blessed be thou O Lord God for it who art the faithfull and gracious God of this thine Israel and therefore hast thou the onely wonder-working God marvellously endowed him with wisdom extraordinarie and supernatural to govern them happily and make them a flourishing Church and State to the admiration of all the world that were wont to be a people of least regard 19 And now Lord as thou hast got thee a name a glorious renown over all the nations by the wisdom and government of Solomon and the flourishing condition of thy people which I pray may continue for ever and that it may do so let thy Kingdom come let the Messiah happily and speedily succeed his type and prefiguration that not onely Israel but the whole world may flourish with a glorious Church and the saving light of thy Gospel Lord as I pray so do thou say Amen unto it 20 And thus ended David his prayer for his son Solomon which was the last he made of publick note and upon Scripture record in time though not in order he dying soon after who was born a sheapheard the son of Jesse and died a King and the father of Solomon The lxxiii PSALM The Psalmist being delivered out of an extraordinary
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
as well now as then that as they so we for our remarkable return to Canaan may praise and magnifie thy power and greatness 22 So much vilified by these heathenish wretches if not for our sufferings yet for thine own which we cannot chuse but lay to heart however thou doest by us O God be intreated to vindicate thy self upon this prophane nation that foolishly judging by success magnifie themselves and their Gods above us and ours dayly hitting us in the teeth with thee 23 We must needs put thee in mind again and again and ease our minds in opening our hearts and uttering our complaints unto thee concerning what to our unsupportable grief we dayly see and hear from our enemies how they roar it out against thee the uncontrolable outragious carriage of those that have invaded and conquered us and thee also as they think by thy forbearance to punish them and thy severitie to us grows continually worse and worse Lord take notice of it to plague them for it The lxxv PSALM The Psalmist thankful for past and confident of future good success minds God of the dangerous condition Israel is in by intestine broils betwixt Davids house and that of Saul bandied between Judah and the rest of the Tribes and the destructive event that is like to come of it But is confident it shall not last long but that as he hath been so he will still be Davids God and theirs aad under his government will shortly sâ—ttle them in peace religion and righteousness Admonishes the enemies of their opposition both from the folly and danger of it for as David hath done alwayes hitherto against Saul so shall he do still prevail at last and those that remain shall fall as he did A Psalm either made by Asaph himself prophetically personating David and Christ or by David and by him committed to Asaph for him together with the President of the Quire to order it to be sung and plaid by voices and instruments The sum or substance whereof is comprised in this one word Al-taschith signifying destroy not upon occasion of the difference that was long depending betwixt the house of David and the house of Saul and the bloud-shed of the people of Israel that was thereupon which therefore the prophet would have to have a speedie end and that the people may not longer be so destroyed 1 IT is thou O Lord that art our praise-worthie God to thee will we that are thy faithful people give special and peculiar thanks yea to thee onely will we give them and thy power and goodness toward us will we certainly celebrate for that thou hast been a benigne and beneficent God to us and specially to me the things thou hast done and the wonders thou hast wrought for us in general and for me in particular in the midst of so many enemies and great oppositions do sufficiently declare it out of all which and in all which thou hast still delivered and preserved us and brought us to the dawnings of happier times than ever yet the Godly saw which bode the near approch of the full complement thereof long since promised to thy people and that shortly thou wilt be known by thy name Jehovah that givest being to all predictions and promises recorded in thy word touching thy Churches well-being 2 And therefore I am confident the time is at hand that I shall be King over all Israel which already is begun in part and when I am so it is my purpose and promise to walk worthie mine office and the place I hold in thy Church in upright and just dispensations to thy people in resemblance of that righteousness which Christ the Judge of all the World and King of his Church shall in behalf thereof administer 3 Lord thou seest what a dissolution is like to befal us by these civil dissentions and destructions that ensue thereupon if they should continue it would bring to ruine by consequence the whole World for both this Church and Common-wealth Land and People all would perish for whom and by whom the world subsists and be utterly spoiled and wasted by themselves or forreigners that will take advantage thereof if this disorder should last long but I know it s otherways determined by thee for as the world subsists by them so they and it by me I am appointed to reduce this people into a better condition I am he that must establish Religion and Justice amongst them in better times and speedily reconcile in one Judah and Israel though now at so great difference by a peaceable and happy reign over both as Christ the mediatorian King of his people at his coming when things shall be at worst as now they are shall Jews and Gentils by a peaceable Government of his Church made up of both in the whole world the partition-wall being broken down This is certainly true 4 I would fain have advised those that so unwisely go about to frustrate thy decrees concerning me by opposing my rise to have desisted and saved both bloud and labour and such as out of pride and perversness of spirit are confident to prevail against me notwithstanding they see what a progress thou hast already made towards it I being actuall King of Judah so considerable a Tribe because they have all the rest to side with them these I would gladly have rectified and perswaded them to a peaceable submission to thy determination and not with such pride and confidence in sublunary power to wage war against thee 5 And in such a manner to scorn and set light by me as never likely to have any more than this single Tribe nor that neither long I have been thought meanly of heretofore and was in an unlikely case as mine enemies thought then ever to come to good but you know what is come of them and you see what a step I have made in despight of that great and general opposition towards the Kingdom and for all your high words and proud speeches I am sure to have the rest as well as this and the proudest of you all shall submit to me and be subjected under my government as reluctant and renitant as you are to it 6 For no advancement of any man upon earth comes by meer chance nor by humane power or policie least of all this of mine that I should become King over Israel in stead of Saul this is not of man nor therefore to be hindred by man his power or policie 7 But it is God that in his righteous judgement punished his sin and rewarded mine innocencie and who hath the sovereign imperial dispensation of all honours and preferments in his power whereupon it is that this man is preferred and not that and that one man is abased and another advanced even that Saul and his house must grow weaker and weaker and I and my house must grow stronger and stronger do you what you can to
them throughout their travel in the wilderness as Christ is to his Church and people all along their life The lxxviii PSALM The Prophet after an attractive insinuating preamble to gain attention for edification and caution from what shall be delivered falleth to depaint as in a table and in a compendious map to set forth the world of gracious priviledges which peculiarly God hath bestowed and conferred on Israel and the wonderfull unspeakable things he did for them and the many miraculous mercies that he had vouchsafed to them from time to time all along from Egypt to their establishment under David and Solomon Together with their monstrous ingratitudes of gross unbelief and rebellious provocations endlesly persisted in by all their forefathers throughout so many ages as expired betwixt their coming out of Egypt to those dayes Also interweaves the just and terrible judgements of God acted upon them though with much long-suffering and unwillingness for those their unfaithfull and disobedient ingratitudes with their feigned repentances and constant backslidings and notwithstanding all records Gods gracious perseverance towards them and faithfull performance of his promise in bringing that Church and Kingdom unto so flourishing a condition as it enjoyed under David and Solomon A Psalm advertising the people of Israel of Gods mighty works and singular favours to their forefathers and their ill requitals of them made probably by Asaph the seer or some other holy man of God and committed to his successours that bare his name 1 THus saith the Lord by me his Prophet hearken diligently to the doctrine that I am about to teach you give good attention to what I shall speak for it is of concernment to you 2 Though it was acted long before your time For that I am about to deliver doctrinall truths couched in historicall examples transacted and recorded of old but of good use for ever 3 It is what hath been inculcated continually by our fathers and their fore-fathers successively from age to age have these things been taught and pressed the godly in every generation have been carefull to derive the knowledge of them to their posterity for their benefit and the glory of God 4 And as it hath been transmitted to us by them with intention to pass it down throughout all the generations of Israel accordingly let us also that are their children hand it still down-ward to our posterity and theirs even the doctrin of the prais-worthy acts of God those powerfull deliverances that he wrought and miraculous mercies he vouchsafed his people in times past 5 For this was not done as a bare arbitrary act of care by our parents but as a duty also laid upon them by God who gave them in charge to do so as also to transfer his holy covenant made up of commandments and promises both by doctrine and exemplary observation of faith and obedience down to their children 6 That so the next generation following might learn what to know and how to do by the early teaching and good example of the next fore-going that so they also being well instructed and timely trained up in their tender years might grow so ripe and perfect as also in like sort to convey them to their children as they received them from their fathers 7 To the end that all of us from first to last might learn to fix our hope and confidence upon the Lord alone and believe in him as a gracious and al-sufficient God unto us throughout all ages and in all conditions considering and ever bearing in mind what he had don for our fore-fathers what wonders he had wrought for them to be standing presidents and pledges to posteritie that so they might be well acquainted both with his works and word by the one to learn to believe in him and by the other to reverence and obey him 8 Thus the godly Patriarks Prophets and teachers of old were wont to do take pains to indoctrinate youth in the works and waies of God to keep still alive a godly seed a spiritual people to the Lord that might not be as was for most part their fore-fathers for all their good instructions an untractable stiff-necked unbelieving people as lived upon the earth refusing their own mercies murmuring and rebelling against God his magistrates ministers and oppugning all that would have done them good and made them happy who for all that God did or could do for them which were admirable things and marvelous mercies he could not gain them heartily and sincerely to be his so as to believe in him stedfastly love him cordially and obey him uprightly but were with every temptation drawn away from him to distrust him and to imbrace sin and Idolatrie rather than his worship and service 9 In so much as the children of Ephraim though strong enough in men and arms furnished with those kind of weapons and skill to use them wherewith they were able to gall and beat back the enemy at a distance and never come to handle blows yet how cowardly being degenerated in faith and good conscience did they by the just judgement of God turn their backs and flie before their enemies the Philistines and caused the rest to do so too even to the loosing of the Ark chiefly intrusted in their Tribe and after for their sinfull revolting from the true worship of God to Jeroboams Idolotrous calves how did they and their partizans the ten Tribes fall before the enemie and wast away until they were led captive and extinct Let us beware 10 They totally fell off from God to whom they were tyed by all manner of bonds even by special contract and covenant mutually stipulated betwixt God and them he promising to be their protector and deliverer and they to believe in him as such than which they did nothing less and no wonder when as they had quite forsaken him his Tabernacle-worship at Shiloh and his Temple at Jerusalem and took to high places Jeroboams calves nor would they be reclaimed by any thing God could do or his Prophets say 11 Most ungratefully turning their back upon and forsaking that God that had done such wonders for his people whereof they were both eye and ear-witnesses for they were not ignorant of what he did of old as well as of late the wonders and the great things that were done by him they knew well enough but they set light by them let them slip out of memory and note though well enough instructed in them by our godly forefathers 12 Who ever were carefull to derive the memory and notice of such mercies down to posteritie though for the generalitie Israel as well in the twelve as in the ten Tribes hath ever been of a degenerate revolting disposition from God which should caution us to be careful for we have heard of the marvellous miracles God wrought before their faces and for their sakes the wonderfull plagues he brought upon the
after time preserved and defended them from one enemy after another till he brought them safe to the very skirts of Canaan the type of heaven a land long before promised them and designed for the special place of his worship and residence of his Church where when they were ready to enter and he to give them possession how did they then also murmur and disbelieve so that that generation was not permitted to enter but wandered in the wilderness till they perished there but their posteritie lived to enjoy it God brought them into possession of this promised land by as great victories and miracles as their fore-fathers had seen in Egypt and the wilderness casting out the inhabitants from before them in every place where they came yea the scornfull self-confident Jebusites by the hands of his servant David whom he made able to dislodge them from of mount Sion that strong fort so long detained and possess it for his special use and service placing his Sanctuary there 55 As great and gyant-like as the natives of Canaan were and as high and strong as were the walls yet God made way for his people to pass through the land as conquerours where ever they came no enemy could stand before them but were either put to flight or taken and killed So that they were enriched with the spoils of the land which they became Lords and masters of the heathen-native Canaanites by Gods just judgements and mighty power being ejected the whole countrie was apportioned amongst them as they thought good each tribe being possessed of those cities towns and houses that fell to their lot which were built to their hands 56 Yet these Israelites to whom God gave possession of this promised land notwithstanding all the wondrous works he wrought for them and the terrible judgements they saw executed before their faces and by their very hands upon their Idolatrous enemies yet did they from time to time even in the land of Canaan do as did their fore-fathers in the way thither provoke the Lord to anger even the God of whom they had had such experience for his power to punish them in case they sinned and faithfulness to fulfil his promise in case they believed and obeyed which they did neither 57 Never cared for God further than to serve their turns upon him when they had need of him then they could flatter and dissemble with fair promises and pretended good affections just as did their forefathers and made good nothing they said but fell off presently from God both disbelieved and disobeyed as did their perfidious ancestours before them whom therefore God destroyed in the wilderness and would not suffer to enter Canaan which yet he gave to these their posteritie in hope they would take example from their predecessours sins and his punishments to walk more closely and believe more firmly But they utterly deceived his expectation and warped from the rule he gave them to walk by both in faith and manners as an arrow deviates from the mark when shot by an unsteadie hand or out of a crooked wrycast bow 58 For in stead of frequenting his tabernacle to worship him there as he appointed they built altars in high places an invention of their own not commanded of God and so provoked God to anger by worshipping not onely the true God in a false manner but even other Gods graven images strange things for the chosen people of the living and great God to worship especially after such and so wonderful declarations of himself and his power whereby they grievously incensed him to see them go a whoring in this sort to whom he bare such conjugal affections being his onely spouse and of whose reciprocal respect and love to him he was so jealous 59 When the Lord saw this and heard the crie of their ungrateful back-sliding in this manner come up to heaven he could not hold but grew extream angrie at such base abuse and rejection of him and the more he had loved them the more now upon this occasion he hated and abhorred his own chosen Israel 60 So that having cast off his people that would not worship him he cast off the place too where he was to be worshipped afforded no protection to Shiloh nor presence there where the Ark and Tabernacle had been so long the pledge of his presence where he hath vouchsafed to dwell and onely there of all the earth in his Tabernacle as in a tent whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain 61 But in anger and discontent at such ingratitude and neglect from a people that he had done so much for and took such delight in he at last even gave up his Ark that pledge of his presence and consequently of his gracious and powerful assistance by which and for which he had given them so many deliverances from and victories over their enemies into their enemies hand whom he then made absolute victors over them and the Ark too suffering the Philistines to take it prisoner and carrie it away captive into their own countrey and so left Israel naked and destitute of divine power and protection and stript off the visible sign of the presence of the invisible God amongst them and for them a most glorious priviledge afforded them above and beyond all the whole World which they lost and the Philistines in punishment of their sins and to the everlasting shame and reproch of their cowardise specially Ephraims took and carried from them 62 And to shew their strength was gone when God had left them and suffered his Ark the token both of him and it to be taken by the uncircumcised Philistines and how little he cared for them that cared not for him he utterly forsook his people that day and let the enemie kill and slay as they would themselves so that there fell that day at Eben-Ezer thirtie thousand foot-men they cowardly deserting the battel and fled every man to his tent and this was the issue of their provoking God to anger they lost him and themselves too 63 For the jealousie of the Lord which was kindled against them suddenly consumed them in his fierce displeasure did he expose them to the merciless sword of the Philistines which hewed down so many thousands of the choice young men of Israel that day which so unpeopled them that the maids could not have husbands there not being men enow to marrie them nor if there had would those times the saddest that ever befel Israel have been oportune for bride-feasts when all eyes were full of tears and hearts full of sorrow at so great disaster upon such a slaughter and the loss of the Ark of God their strength and glorie 64 At which time also Hophni and Phinehas the two sons of Eli that waited upon the Ark were likewise slain wose widows were so transported with the loss of the Ark as the loss of their husbands was swallowed up in it
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
Lord I am one of those be thou therefore so to me in thy goodness and mercie hear me calling and crying unto thee for relief in this my distressed estate 7 And truly Lord that goodness of thine and my confidence in it prompts me what ever and whensoever I am in affliction to flie to thee by prayer and supplication not doubting of a gracious answer and issue 8 There are many gods worshipped in the world besides thee but for my part I know none but thee nor will pray or seek to any else for I am sure it is but lost labour Thine onely is the Kingdom power and glorie Thy works are worthy of thee but they as they are no Gods so there is nothing they can do neither god nor man besides thy self no creature whatsoever can do any thing worthy a mans trust for all that is done is either of thee or from thee and those things wherein thou art pleased to appear and to put forth thy power how transcendent are they 9 Yea though it be a thing almost incredible and seemingly impossible considering that ignorance and enmity that is all the world over yet shalt thou that by thine infinit Almighty power hast made all nations make to thy self a Church of every people in the whole earth aswel Gentiles as Jews and they shall yield thee not constrained but voluntarie obedience and acknowledgement under the Kingdom of Christ whereof my Kingdom no less powerfully brought about by thee shall be some resemblance for then shall the heathen nations do thee homage and dread thy power I shall convince them but Christ shall convert them whose people and servants they shall then be as we now are 10 For there is nothing impossible to God who is able to do whatsoever he will his power is infinit and omnipotent as his wondrous works declare and the strange transcendent things he hath done for his Church in all ages and will do still even make the whole world his Church and himself to be worshipped and acknowledged of the very heathen they that now are Idolaters and serve many Gods yea every thing for God but God shall serve him and none besides him as we do 11 O Lord in the hour of temptation and time of trouble which is now upon me thou knowest how apt we are to step aside partly by ignorance partly by frailty my suit therefore is that thou wouldest instruct me how to demean my self so that I sin not against thee and to that end mind me of my dutie in every emergencie Let me hear a voice behind me saying this is the way and my purpose is not to deviat from it but my power must be from thee to make good this purpose therefore Lord give me such grace and courage and such seasonable supplement thereof that I may be resolved to believe firmly in thee and to walk exactly with thee at all essayes not staggering either in faith or a good conscience 12 As I have found thee mindful of me in trouble so shalt thou find me no less mindful of thee and my dutie to thee out of it I will not forget nor fail to give thee praises and that unfeigned ones uttered from my heart in the faith of thy power and grace O Lord my good God yea it shall be my constant practise to praise thee and to magnifie thee in and for them whilest I have any being 13 For greatly have they been manifested in thy mercie towards me and in so wonderfully preserving me from death and destruction that so unavoidably assailed me and had certainly devoured me hadst not thou mightily preserved me 14 And indeed I had need of no less power than thine to preserve me considering my humane help how weak it is and mine enemies insolencie and rage how great they are for multitudes of such as care neither for God nor man that disdain to walk by any rules but their own dictates without regard either to mine innocencie or thy severitie and justice resolve to persecute me to death 15 But thou O Lord art as gracious and merciful as they are cruel as pitiful as they are pitiless pardoning the sins and sensible of the sufferings of thy servant bearing with my frailties and passing by my infirmities in these my trials and failest me not as I have need of thee but hast abundantly approved thy goodness to be as large as thy truth and promise and thy self to be every jot as good as thy word 16 And so let me still find thee thy favour and grace O Lord vouchsafe me and in a time of need have mercie upon me to deliver me as I am thy servant so Lord inable me to persevere give inward strength of faith and courage to uphold me in and under these outward calamities and power to wade through them so as that I perish not in them have a gracious regard to me who thou knowest am a child not onely of thy visible but of thine invisible Church an heir of the promise born and bred under thy roof of thine own family neerly related to thee and therefore pray and hope for protection from thee 17 As I stand in need of more than ordinarie supportation so also of extraordinarie consolation and mine enemies of extraordinarie conviction by reason of their arrogance and malignitie Therefore Lord vouchsafe some notable act of providence in the behalf of my preservation and of power in their confusion that they which so extreamly hate me may know thou lovest me and hatest them for hating me and be ashamed at their hating and persecuting one whom they see thou lovest and preservest and for whose sake thou discomfits them to be a help and comfort unto me The lxxxvii PSALM For as much as 〈◊〉 the captivity upon their return the Iewâ— wâ—re or might bâ— dâ—jâ—cted with the paâ—citie of their people and povertie of their condition the holy Ghost by the Psalmist animates them and diverts the thoughts and apprehensions of the godly by setting forth the glorious priviledges of Sion prophâ—sted of old but not yet fulfilled saving in their shâ—dows which shortly would be accomplished in substance when all nations should be ambitious to be Sionists for the Church it selfe should bear that name which shall abound both in a numerous issue and heavenly qualifications A Psalm made to be both sung and played by the Korathites 1 THe holy Lord God from out all the world hath chosen Canaan a hilly countrey Jerusalem a mountainous place and in Jerusalem mount Sion and Moriah to scituate his Temple and to rest his Ark and establish his worship in There had his Church the pillar and ground of truth the first setling and truth it self the first firm footing upon which foundation laid among these hils was to be built and reared that great famous structure of the Gentil-Church Christ himself the principal corner-stone digged out of those mountains
and natural reason thou hast broken all the ties that were upon thee oath promise faithfulness holiness covenant which seems to be quite made void even that thou mad'st with thy servant David concerning the establishment of his throne and dignitie upon him and his posteritie for ever For thou hast suffered as much despight to be done to that royal diadem as the prophane ignorant Idolatrous heathen can devise to do by captivating King and Kingdom contemptibly subjugated and transplanted into another nation far remote where they are made bon dmen even the people and posteritie of David his throne is thus abased of whom thou saidst The enemy shall not exact nor the son of wickedness afflict him 40 Instead of protection thou hast brought upon it utter devastation thou hast quite ruinated all the strength of the Kingdom defensive and offensive and made the enemy absolute there 41 He is brought to so forlorn a condition that the whole Kingdom countrey cities people goods every thing are preid upon and spoiled at pleasure by all that will houses gardens vine-yards all the whole land is a very through-fare for all commers and goers that take and leave as they list themselves there is no bodie nor nothing to resist them Those Idolatrous prophane people the Ammonites Moabites c. that border about us whom thou saidest should be under him are got above him and most insultingly reproch him upon this occasion and deridingly ask if this be the King whose throne shall endure so long as the Sun and Moon which extreamly reflects upon the Messiah himself and calls in question thy covenant as to him 42 Thou hast given strength courage and success to his enemies and made them triumphant over him 43 On the contrarie thou hast weakned his power made ineffectual all his indeavours and turned the courage wherewith he was wont to be endowed into cowardise and made him to flie before the enemie who was wont to flie before him 44 Thou hast put an end to that honour and dignitie which thou saidst nay swearest should continue for ever his throne which thou covenantest to establish is utterly demolished he is laid level with the common people nay a very bondman in captivitie 45 Instead of estating him and his Kingdom in everlasting happiness thou hast brought sudden and speedie desolation it is true some few dayes of glorie and felicitie he hath seen but they soon have an end nay a shameful end Lord this is true 46 Lord instead of being everlastingly gracious wilt thou be everlastingly displeased shall we never partake of favour and grace again art thou utterly estranged and we utterly rejected shall we be quite consumed in thine anger without any mixture of mercie or mitigation of thy wrath 47 48 Lord consider the shortness and vanitie of my life and by me judge of all other men that by course of nature are as I am short-lived and sure to die Now then if thou thus breakest covenant casts off thy people nullifies thy Church and hereby overthrows all possibilitie of the Messiah and his Kingdom what a vain thing must it needs be for thee to have made man if all the happiness he shall have is but to live a few dayes on earth and so die or if that be all the honour and service thou art like to have of him and truly Lord if thy Church and covenant be null that is all can come on 't for none shall be saved but thy people and no people are so but by Covenant if then the one be not and so the other be frustrate we are all reduced into the sinful mass of mankind at best to live miserably and die wretchedly This will be the issue 49 Lord thou doest infinitly amaze us to consider what loving kindness thou hast heretofore covenanted to shew to David and his seed for ever and ratified it with a deep and solemn Oath obliging thee in thine infinit truth and faithfulness to fulfil it we are at a stand to think on this and withall how this thy word and these thy works are consistent and reconcileable 50 Lord for all this make it appear thou canst keep Covenant and preserve thy Church and people as low as they be brought and that thou mayest be moved hereunto Remember and take notice of the reprochful contumelious usage thy servants have at their enemies hands for thy sake more than their own and to thy dishonour more than theirs Weigh well to what an ebb of fortune we are fallen when subjugated and captivated under the insolentest and mightiest nation upon earth whose reprochful insufferable abuse of thy people they are forced to put up and with infinit patience to dissemble their grief which goes to my heart to think of and am as sensible of it as if I bare the whole burden on my own back 51 Even those blasphemous reprochful taunts which those victorious heathen enemies to thee and for thy sake to thy people do cast upon their hope in thy promises and their faithful expectation of the coming and near approch of the Messiah their King thine anointed now in this their so low miserable and irrecoverable estate 52 But how ever it be neither our miserie the enemies insolencie thy severitie and seeming perfidie nor our amazements upon all these shall eradicate the faith and hope mine heart hath in thee and thy covenant nor stop my mouth from praising thee for it but that I do affirm thee holy faithful and gracious for all these even to David to whom thou wilt make good all that ever thou hast promised yea to the end of the World shall his Kingdom last The Messiah for all this shall come whose shall be the Kingdom power and glorie for evermore And in the faith hereof I do bless thee now as if it were and pronounce thee worthie of blessing praise and thanksgiving throughout all ages of the World so long as Sun and Moon endures so be it yea Lord dispose the hearts of thy people to believe that so it shall be that in the hope thereof we may praise thee and in the happie enjoyment thereof all ages hereafter may do so too The xc PSALM This praier of Moses in likelihood was made by him some time before his death betwixt the Israelites being inhabited Canaan because of their murmuring and misbelief when the spies brought an evil report upon the land in that long peregrination of theirs in the wilderness and the time they entered it wherein he first mentions the continual care that he the everlasting God hath had over them in all their travels and sojournings and next the often afflictions and destructions to which their sins and his displeasure brought them and the great deliverances he hath afforded them as it were a resurrection from the dead Then declares how its worse with them his people than the rest of mankind for though all must and
do perish by frailty and casualty yet his wrath is upon none so sore as them they perish by that more than thâ—se All life is short and all old age wearisome but their shortest and wearisomest of any he praies that a good use may be made both of the naturall and supernaturall brevity of their lives and that God would after so long estrangement be gracious to them and make good his promise touching the promised land and their happy condition therein A Psalm being a Prayer made by Moses that extraordinary servant and Prophet of the Lord. 1 LOrd ever since we were thy people even from Abraham and so downward successively we have wandered and sojourned as strangers in one place after another by thy appointment and providence who hast still gone along with us provided for us and been a harbour shelter and protection to us in all places and throughout all ages to this day as thou wilt be to thy Church to the end of the world 2 There is no God besides thee who art eternall the Creatour of all things for before the huge mountains which seem to have had no beginning but to have been from everlasting yet before them thou hadst thy being when they had none nor no appearance of any both which thou causedst providing the Abyss and huge concave of the sea to receive the waters which till then overflowed their highest tops yea before the earth both sea and land and heavens too had any existence thou Lord hadst thine and formedst them as now they are Before the world was thou wast for else it had not been yea before time was even from everlasting thou wast God and so shalt be to everlasting even when time and all this world shall have an end and thy peoples God from their everlasting predestination to their everlasting glorification 3 Living and dead mans sin and frailty thy power and mercy appears For thou often bringest him to the point of ruin and yet pronounceth a reprieve and lengthenest his life as we well know that else would soon expire under thy hand when thou laiest it upon him and when death it self hath swallowed him thou by thine Almighty power shalt command the grave to give up her dead after she hath long detained them and make all mankind at last to live again at the resurrection whereof we have been a figure 4 For however we judge and measure things by time being subject to futurity and so think a little a great deal and that which is short to be long but to thee who comprehendeth Eternity and before whose eyes all things past and to come are present a thousand years are nothing they are as it were at an end so soon as begun what time past is to us such time to come is with thee an hour day year age are all alike even all the time we lie in the grave though a thousand years which to our thoughts seems a kind of Eternity it is to thee but as a piece of a night a few hours the watch of one Centry 5 6 Lord how in thy displeasure doest thou sweep away the sinfull sons of men what examples of it have we seen both amongst our enemies and our selves like an over-flowing torrent that bears down all before it so vain a thing is man and so frail a thing his life as transient or momentary as a sleep or dream as short-lived as grass In the youthfull part of their time which is as it were the morning of their age they are strong and busie for a while like unto grass which in the morning of the day is green and flourishing and before night is mowed down and withered so short and uncertain is the life of man 7 We of all men have experience of it that have so often and so many of us perished in thy displeasure and by terrible judgements been strangely and suddenly slain to the amazement and terrour of the rest 8 For our sins and provocations as such times as thou hast been pleased to take notice of them and to reckon with us for them which thou hast done very severely even those sinnes which we had thought thou hadst scarce taken notice of the murmurings and secret misbelief of our hearts these thou hast clearly seen and we have felt as much thy grace and favour being be-clouded towards us by their interposition 9 Insomuch as we that had a flourishing time of it when first we came out of Egypt having the light of thy countenance shining sweetly upon us for some season are now in a quite other condition and for a many years have wandred and wasted away in thy displeasure our carcases falling in the wilderness vainly and unprofitably exhausting our time living uselesly and dying regardlesly 10 The ordinary rate of mans life is seventy years and if by speciall blessing or bitterness of constitution any surmount that number and attain to fourscore yet by reason of the infirmities incident to old age that surplusage of time is of little or no content saving that they live so accompanied is that remainder of their life with pains and irksomness such as we have had our shares of in this time of thy disfavour for their strength then is not vigorous meerly yields subsistance and being but no well-being and that very being so frail and feeble that almost any thing serves to annihilate it so uncertain and transient is our life alwayes especially then at that decrepit age that we are gone in a moment 11 We have had experience of thine anger and thy power to execute it though in a remiss degree what infinite numbers of us momentany short-lived creatures have untimely perished by it and not reached that proportion of years which our infirm natures might else have attained unto and yet hast thou been mercifull to us too considering how able thou wast to have cut us all off at a blow for it can neither be expressed nor conceived how Almighty thou art to vindicate thy dishonour upon such sinners as we have been if thou wouldst have stirred up all thy wrath and put forth thy power to the uttermost but this terrour of thine is hid from most mens eyes the world hath not the faith of it because they have not the fear of thee onely thine own people nor they neither saving such of them as thou hast by an inward call begotten to thee and made to fear thee have any right understanding of the greatness of it they that filially fear thee which is the true knowledge of thee do onely tremblingly reverence thine irefulness 12 Naturally we know nothing neither the power of thine anger nor our own brevity of life and imbecillity of nature thou must teach us not onely what concerns thee but what concerns our selves also doctrine will not do it it is thou that must be our teacher else we shall never learn practically and profitably
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
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
wert not God alone yet thou wilt now set their judgements right and let them know that none can pretend to Godhead but thy self as heaven is thy throne so the earth is thy foot-stool and shall be subdued unto Jesus Christ for that in him thou shalt be magnified beyond all that are called Gods who shall then appear to be what indeed they are Lying vanities and so shall be accounted of 10 Great shall be the numbers of Professours and pretenders to Christianity infinite will give their names to Christ and be ambitious to have his name named upon them in those dayes but there is more belongs to it than so He that is indeed the Lord Christs a loyall subject of his Kingdom and member of his Church must sincerely love him and that must appear by an upright walking with him and believing on him he must fear to offend him and therefore hate sin because it doth so and so doing be fearless as touching his salvation and preservation faithfully relying upon the truth and providence of God for both maugre both his ghostly and temporall enemies which God may suffer to hazard his Church and people for the triall of their faith and exercise of their graces but never to ruine them 11 For when ever God seems to plow and harrow his Church by persecutions and troubles that is his and her seeds-time then is he but husbanding his field weeding and clodding it all that time of darkness and infelicity is but the seed-season and preparatory to the breaking out of greater favour and grace upon her which he preserves in store she shall not lose but gain by it when the spring and harvest comes her joy shall be redoubled when the ecclipse is over Thus shall it be not with all professours but with the uncorrupt and pure in heart who are the Lords as well within as without in affections as actions whose ends and motives are principled from God and for God by faith in him and love to him 12 Let such righteous ones though they meet with never so many rubs in the way be so far from being dismaid at them as to go on with full sails of assurance and joy in God making no stop but over-topping all fear by faith still casting their eye upon Gods never-failing faithfulness and being as thankfull for a happy issue and deliverance out of their afflictions as if they had it because of the ingagement of Gods holiness which cannot deceive them The xcviii PSALM This Psalm is as if it had been made by Iohn Baptist himself pointing out Christ and his Kingdom already come through the propinquity and certainty of it shewing sorth the prais-worthy deliverance and universall benefit that to Iew and Gentile shall accrue thereby yea to the very irrationall and unsensible creatures whereupon be excites all rationall and irrationall to praise the Lord proportionably A Psalm to be sung 1 O what wonderfull occasions from time to time hath God given his people Israel of frequent and fresh praises by deliverance upon deliverance and all of them so strange and miraculous that we could not have the face to ascribe them to any but to him to whom we have endited and sung many a new Psalm for new mercies all which temporall salvations and our thanksgivings for them were but prefigurations of that one onely salvation of his Church by Christ God incarnate whose powerfull triumphant death and holy life active and passive obedience hath gotten so glorious a victory to his everlasting praise over all the spirituall enemies of his elect and faithfull people which as it is the deliverance whereof all others were but adumbrations so ought it to have the praise above them all joyntly or severally A Quire of Angels are but fit to celebrate this great and Gospel salvation the good news whereof ought much more to set the spirituall Preists and people of God on work to praise him for it that are saved by it 2 The heathen people have admired our salvations and wondrous deliverances many a time which the Lord hath wrought for us in their sight and hearing But they shall have much more cause to admire their own when God shall proclaim the year of Jubilee to the Gentiles and bring them by the redemption of the Messiah which is at hand out of the power of Hell sin death and darkness setting wide open to them the doore of life that were shut out and Preaching salvation of free-grace to all the world according to his promise 3 The promised Messiah which was to come of the seed of Israel our Father and in whom is to be accomplished all those covenanted engagements and Gospel promises made with Abraham of grace and mercy pardon and atonement God in faithfulness and fulness of time hath sent him in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed for the benefit both of Jews and Gentiles whose all-sufficient merit and common salvation shall in the fame and promulgation of it extend it self by a gracious and free tender to all people in all places of the world without exception our God is their God in and through Christ and his salvation both ours and theirs they being through grace adopted and ingrafted into one stock with us the faithfull seed of faithfull Abraham every where sharers in the blessing 4 5 6 We a corner of the world a few in comparison of the whole O how were we wont to resound and eccho out the Honour and praises of the Lord in that onely Temple with all manner of musicall Instruments and Voices for our temporall and comparatively petty deliverances from earthly enemies and humane captivities and imbondagements O with what ineffable rejoycings in the superlativest manner we could devise did we magnifie the Lord and set the Crown of all glory upon his head How much more now are his praises to exceed when as all the earth is his Church Christ himself the Saviour and the termes to and from which we are saved are heaven and hell the subject of his salvation our pretious souls as well as mortall bodies both redeemed not onely into a capacity but certainty of spirituall and eternall life and freed from death of both sorts What praises are enough for this how can the redeemed of the Lord each whereof is a Temple and each Temple a Quire sufficiently extoll the Lord the King Christ Jesus dead and risen yea ascended into glory Go not less in the praises of such a Saviour for his salvation in the universall Catholick Church than we did for ours in our particular nationall Sinagogue But let your faith praise him in full assurance your joy in heart-ravishment your love by being such as many waters cannot quench your hope anchored within the vail Let all these graces by a joynt harmony like the voices and instruments of the Temple be sublimated to their highest sphear of activity in the celebration of
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
21 The stoutest and ravenousest of all beasts by a special hand of restraining providence even the very lions are afraid of the light that they themselves may not affright other creatures and therefore do they also yea the fiercest of them the young lions in the night-season onely rouze themselves out of their dens and after their kind make known their want to their kind make known their want to God by roaring for their prey for as ravenous and strong as they are they cannot be their own carvers but depend upon God what his providence hath appointed to fall in their way without their knowledge or expectation that and onely that must serve their turns to satisfie hunger and sustain nature who else would devour all at once 22 23 As the sands bounds the seas so it is as strange that the meer day-light should serve to enervate the furie of such ravenous savage creatures which yet it does for no sooner the sun riseth but they as if they were driven by heards of their own accord cease their ranging and not one but all the kind of them by special instinct and providence go tamely to their dens and lay them down to sleep then when men and cattel take their turns to go forth to work and feed which till the sun go down again that their time come they do securelie 24 O Lord when I enter into the consideration of each particular work of creation and providence wherein thou appearest how am I at my wits end to think how numberless they are a few may serve to strike us into admiration of them and all the rest to see and consider the powerfull wisdom that hath given them such beings ways of subsistances without confusion or destruction of themselves and one another as soon would fall out amongst both the elements and creatures diddest not thou over-power them by thine hand and over-rule them by thy wisdom infinitely is the whole earth replenished every where and enriched with thy bounty and goodness nourishing and bringing forth creatures animate and inanimate for the use one of another and all for the glory of thee the sole and great Creatour of all things 25 And as the earth so the Sea which by its own vast dimensions if there were nothing else doth sufficiently manifest this power and greatness but especially if we consider how full fraught that Element is for as infinite of Fishes are there as Beasts here on earth not onely of individuals but of several kindes and quantities all which as many as there are though innumerable yet have room enough there to swim a motion like that of creeping creatures that on earth glide upon their bellies 26 There sail the ships too and fro trading from countrey to countrey even as men pass and repass about their business on land There is that singular fish the Whale that for greatness so far exceeds every living creature the Lion or King of all the rest that by his strength and greatness sets forth thine who hast made him and placed him in that element inoffensive to man which is so large and capacious that as great as he is there is room enough for him to take his pleasure and disport himself by swimming and moving hither and thither as a bird in the air and with as much ease and dexteritie as the least fish in the sea 27 All these forementioned creatures in what station or element soever they are whether birds of the air beasts of the field or fishes in the sea as they have all of them their beings from thee by creation so also their well-being by providence wonderfully providing suitable sustenance for each creature and each kind as many and divers as they are and dost not onely provide it for them suitable to their natures but administer it to them seasonably not suffering them to be their own carvers who out of their ravenous and irrational disposition would keep no mean but thou restrainest them and at fit times dost exhibit a meet measure and proportion of food to them and till then nor beyond that they cannot carve for themselves none of them all 28 What thou pleasest in providence and bounty to bestow on them that they must have and no more it is not their power and strength nor their rage and ravenousness that can make them exceed the limits thy providence sets them they gather what thou lettest fall in their way whilest thou suspendest to give they cannot have be it for a longer or shorter time which thou art pleased to do ordinarily in such a manner as may adapt their natures with appetite and delight to receive the blessing intended for them and then to bestow it And this is true of all living creatures as well men as others for it is not the advantage of reason but thy dispensations that makes fruitfull seasons and gives seasonable accommodations 29 And as all things have their being and existence from thee so also their determination and period If thou seemest to be displeased with them or to absent thy self from them by suspension of needfull things in the usual way of providence dispenced then are they at their wits end know not how to shift for themselves And this thou art pleased to do as to provide for them whilest thou hast determined them to live so to take away either meat or stomach when thou hast appointed them to die none of them being able to lengthen his life one minute or breathing time beyond their determined period for their subsistance is by the breath of life thou hast breathed into them which when thou drawest back they instantly expire and in a very small time after rot and consume to the dust whereof at first all liveing creatures were made than which their bodies are no better when their souls cease to act in them and depart from them 30 And thou as soon and with as much ease makest new creatures as dissolvest the old for as the one is by withdrawing or detaining thy breath so the other is but by inspiring or breathing of it forth upon liveless materials and presently the creature is formed into a living existence of what kind soever and so by a continued succession and propagation doest thou replenish the whole earth with one generation after another as it were a new creation and by the self-same spirit that then at the very first moved upon the face of the waters when all things were formed 31 This glorious fabrick of the world and the creatures in it by succeeding generations shall endure as long as time it self lasteth so long will the Lord carry on the creation and for his pleasure sake manifest his glorious power in making and providence in preserving the works of his hands in orderly progression 32 And as thus living creatures are at Gods makeing and marring so the earth it self is cherished with Gods favour to it as if
it were a sensible creature and dejected even to trembling and amazement at the dispensations of his frowns and displeasure the great stupendious mountains are but as stubble to the fire if the Lord do but actuate the least token of his anger upon them they also are extreamly troubled and affrighted or annihilated and consumed for all their greatness like other things 33 Such are the works of God and so resplendent his greatness and goodness in them as that not a day shall go over my head wherein I will not out of the serious consideration and happy impression they make upon my spirit give glorie to God and will sing their praises to him day by day not for a fit or in a humor as hypocrits do when he humours them but how ever it go with me in weal or woe him will I worship and his name will I magnifie nothing shall hinder whilest God lends me life 34 I will not as most men do overlook his works and see nothing praise-worthy in them the commonness of them shall not so blind mine eyes but I will consider them and his praise-worthy attributes that shine forth in them I will not let mine heart stick in the creature it shall be my foot-stool to lift me up to the Creator to take a view of his excellencies and properties there shall mine heart lay out it self and suck in their sweetnesses which shall rejoice and establish it because of my relation to and interest in such a God so wonderfully qualified I will improve my meditation into application my thoughts shall not be meerly speculative but practical to the warning and working of my heart usefully towards God when my head is imployed about the creature 35 Those that will not honour and serve such a God that hath done all these things furnished the earth with such excellent commodities whereof they reap the benefit it is pitie they should live upon it to devour the creature without magnifying the Creatour especially they that abuse so much goodness and turn grace into wantonness making the creature against its nature to disserve the Lord by their perverting the use of it unto sin and Idolatrie I would such were in their graves that discontent God and discommode the godly But what ever others do O my soul do thou thy duty muster up all his mercies meditate all his works be thou affected by them to praise him for them and return the glorie of his Attributes that shine forth in them And all yee whose souls are like mine even all that are faithfull and upright in heart do as I do let him have his due praises as well from you as from me The cv PSALM This Psalm made by David as appears by part of that song upon the Arks remove to Ierusalem 1 Chron. 16. Exciteth the people of Israel to be thankfull to God to praise him and in faith to seek him for all that he hath done in the behalf of them and their fore-fathers of old in that he chose them entred covenant with them of all the earth for which covenant sake he had so infinitely befriended them ever since in the Patriarks sojournings Iosephs preferring Israels preserving in Egypt and wonderfull deliverance thence their provision and conduct in the wilderness and possession of Canaan and lastly shews the final cause of all the service of God and what should be the result His praise 1 AFter so many and great mercies as God hath afforded you above all people even to the setling the Ark of his presence amongst you upon his holy hill the resting place of it and him be not unmindfull of nor ungratefull for them but pour out your souls in thankfull acknowledgements of them all to the Lord especially of this tending so much to the perfecting and full accomplishment of the happie condition of this Church and Kingdom so long since promised and foretold and to that purpose frequent this place of his special residence here to worship him pray to him and praise him yea every where where you come and have opportunitie publish the great things he hath done from time to time and the wonders he hath wrought in behalf of his chosen Israel to get him glorie both amongst Jews and Gentiles 2 Make it your business to praise the Lord every way and by all manner of means sing forth his praises with heart and voice in Psalms solemnly sung and Quire-like with all the Art and Melodie that musical instruments added thereunto can make and at your own houses as well as at his busie your selves about him when you have not opportunitie to glorifie him one way do it another way speak and discourse of him and his works wrought for you to the keeping them alive in memorie and affections both your own and others at home and abroad as you have occasion 3 Make your boasts of God ye that are so nearly related to him both of what he hath done and of what he is able and hath promised to do for you be strong in faith and with assured hope and confidence rejoyce in the Lords future favour and grace to his people have no doubts nor fears to the contrarie onely frequent his sanctuary and there worship him and open your hearts in faithfull prayer unto him 4 You know where the Lord is to be sought and where he will be found his Ark is both the pledge of his strength and favour there you may have them for asking therefore be not lazie lose not such pearls for the digging though it cost you some travel yet such gains will quit your cost bestir you therefore come often at least as oft as he requires you and your posteritie after you keep him now you have him never forsake him and he will never forsake you 5 And when you do come come warm in affection carrie along in your hearts the faithfull and gratefull memorie of what wonderfull works he hath alreadie heretofore wrought in your behalfs the better to possess you of his power and good will towards you and to animate you in faithfull prayer towards him that you have found so faithfull and true of his word both of promise to you and of judgements to your enemies as he threatened 6 What I have spoken by way of exhortation I speak it to you and you onely that are the Israel of God heirs of promise the people of his covenant which he made with Abraham your father and his faithfull and obedient servant who as you come of him so I exhort you to inherit and imitate his graces that his God may be yours as also your more immediate father Jacob that holy Patriarch chosen of Gods free grace and you in him to be his peculiar Church and people when as his elder brother Esau and the Edomites his posteritie were and are rejected and given up to serve other gods yea all the world but you 7 He onely is the
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
being yet alive went down into the grave by Gods extraordinary judgement like as men do that being dead are by course of nature buried 18 Besides which there came out a fire from the Lord that wonderfully and dreadfully consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense chief Partizans with Korah and his complices in this wicked combination 19 Also that shamefull apostacy of theirs that after they had been witnesses of so much power in so many miracles and upon mount Sinai had seen such evident tokens of an unexpressible God yet that then immediately upon that in Horeb they should go about as they did to represent him in the similitude of a calfe and think to serve him that made them by doing honour to it that they themselves had newly made 20 And so they exchanged that glorious priviledge they had above all the world in worshipping the onely true and living God the Honour of Israel into the sordidness of base bruitish Idolatry heathen-like worshipping for the Creatour of heaven and earth a creature and that none of Gods neither but their own even the senceless similitude of a living ox the highest perfection and chiefest good of which imaginary deity is but to maintain alive a sensitive soul one degree above vegetives the grass it feeds on which both man and beast tread under their feet 21 And this must be their God that brought them out of Egypt forgetting him that did so indeed that so mightily saved them and delivered them from thence which was the Lord Almighty as his works right well made manifest which he wrought there for them 22 In that land of their enemies the posterity of Cham the accursed whom the Lord so extraordinarily plagued for their sakes as also after at the red sea when he compleated their deliverance by the Egyptians fearfull end and sudden destruction of their whole host 23 This stupid sordidness and ungratefull mindlesness made the Lord exceeding wroth insomuch as he would have bribed Moses by promise of raising himself a people out of his loines to have let him destroyed them that had so mishapen him and shamefully denudated themselves but Moses chosen to represent Christ in the conduct and Mediatorship of his people by an effectuall intercession prevailed to stay his hand when he was ready to strike and to beg their pardon at least their reprieve so that God was intreated by him and did at that time spare them for his sake 24 And as if all the way had been too little from Egypt to Canaan to provoke God they to approve themselves no changelings when they arrived at the skirts of the promised land and were to take possession fell a mutining against God as a deluder of them vilifying Canaan that Type of heaven and heaven on earth where God had chosen to fix his gracious presence and to be worshipped there of all the places in the world and of them before all other people and had promised him in that place so many blessings both spirituall and temporall and which it self was a good land and so reported by the faithfull spies though misrelated of the rest which spread like a Gangreen among that corrupt multitude crediting their false Alarm of the penury of the land and their impossibility to master it for all that God had said to the contrary of the one and promised concerning the other 25 And murmured against God and Moses Caleb and Josua weeping and mourning for their misfortune in leaving Egypt and being beguiled with fair promises of just nothing for no better esteem had they of Canaan neither believing it worth the fighting for nor possible to be gained and therefore sate discontented in their Tents and would never attempt it for all that either Gods promises and miracles which as signs and previous pledges spake unto them or that Moses and those faithful spies his servants said to the contrarie in way of incouragement could do 26 27 Whereupon the Lord was so enraged that he was even as it were fetching his full blow at them to have destroyed them root and branch from ever being a people more in the wilderness where they had so extreamly misbelieved tempted and provoked him so many several times against the clear light of so many wonderful and gracious miracles and utterly to disinherit them Canaan offering to make Moses a greater and mightier nation and to scatter them like vagabonds and for bondmen amongst those heathenish borderers and to let them kill and conquer them at their pleasure but for Moses who prevailed now also with God to spare their lives and mitigate his displeasure 28 After all this in stead of repenting and confessing their sins they continue and increase their provocations divorcing themselves from God and his worship and took them another husband even the abomination of the heathen turned worshippers of Baal-peor the Idol of the Moabites first committing carnal fornication with the daughters of Moab and then at their perswasion spiritual whoredom with their Idol imitating their manners throughout for in stead of eating the sacrifices offered to the living God as they were wont they gave themselves to sacrifice and to feast with the sacrifices o that senseless liveless Idol as the Moabites did and in all points turned perfect Idolaters like them 29 Thus from time to time and especially at this time by this grand apostacie worshipping other Gods of their own chusing and rejecting him that had chosen them did they extreamly provoke him to anger insomuch as he sent a sore destroying plague among them that soon dispatched twenty four thousand of that rebellious Idolatrous crew it cost so many of them their lives before it ceased 30 But the Lord would not destroy them all therefore so soon as Phinehas grand-child to Aaron had in zeal to God in the face of the congregation executed justice upon Zimri a man of Israel and Cozbi a Midianitish woman by running them both through with a javelin in the act of uncleanness the Lord upon that stayed the plague that it went no further 31 Which act of zeal and justice was by God graciously accepted as a price of singular service and well rewarded with the covenant of the everlasting Priesthood to him and his seed perpetuated in Jesus Christ himself the son of God the atonement-maker and appeaser of his fathers wrath 32 33 Also at Meribah those waters of strife where the children of Israel our predecessours chode with Moses and consequently strove with the Lord whereat he was angrie yet made not the least semblance of it to Moses as at other times in like provocations but without once mentioning their sin or his displeasure bid Moses not smite the rock for the Lord who hath mercie on whom and when he will have mercie was then at that time purposed to shew no signs of bitterness by word or deed but with an absolute
in the praiseful acknowledgement whereof as also of thy grace and goodness towards us thy people thou thereby wilt give us infinite cause to rejoyce and glorie 48 And how ever we smart deservedly for our sins yet let the Lord be glorified Let us not forget his surpassing mercies to this nation but bless him that whatever our demerits have been yet hath ever approved himself like himself faithful and gracious and so will ever be to his people who ought therefore in the memorie of past and the faith of future mercies to bless him for it whilest the world endures and to this let all Israel subscribe and consent one and other for it is their dutie and the Lords due from them Therefore fail not on your part let nothing discourage you from thus praising the Lord and mark the issue The cvii. PSALM The Psalmist publishâ—th the Lords goodness and stirs up his Israel both in letter and spirit to be thankful for it so many wayes extended to them in all dispensations of what nature soever Yea all afflicted ones whom though in justice God punish for their sins yet he spares them when they crie unto him for mens folly enforceth God in goodness aswel as in justice to teach them wisdom by chastisement which so soon as they have learned they are released which providences and dispensations the Psalmist would not have lightly over-looked but solemnly acknowledged together with those admirable sea-providences in preserving and delivering men out of the jaws of death that King of fears as also his just and powerful transmutations in nature upon the land aswel as at sea and the righteous and gracious government he exerciseth upon the oppressor and oppressed respectively which to the godly-wise ought to be great rejoycing to see such love in such providence 1 LEt us give God his due praise and thanks for all those great and gracious mercies which he hath expressed to and bestowed on us his people and that goodness that still remains with him in our behalfs by vertue of his Covenant which makes that his mercie shall not determine but that we shall reap the benefit of his gracious engagement till all be fulfilled that is promised concerning his people to the end of the world 2 Let us and all the redeemed of the Lord to the worlds end speak forth our and their praise-worthy experinces of God his goodness and mercie whom he hath mightily rescued from under the cruel captivitie of our deadly enemies whether temporal or spiritual Pharaoh or the devil by Christ or Moses 3 And whom he hath chosen from among the confused heap of mankind to be peculiarly his and gathered far and near his elect from out all places on earth to inhabit heaven as he did us his Israel first out of Mesopotamia whence Abraham and his family was called and after that out of Egypt to be possessors of Canaan 4 In passage whereunto they had many a wearie step in a desert wilderness as the godly must exspect in their pilgrimage here and during all that time had no setled habitation but sought one to come as the faithful must do who like strangers and way-faring men here on earth live upon the promise and expectation of heaven hereafter 5 All that while having nothing to sustain them neither bread nor water but what providence and that extraordinarie administred to them which did supply them but not till God had tried and humbled them with the want yea very great want even of needful and essential accommodations as spiritually he orders his Church and chosen people during this their peregrination 6 When they were necessitated and saw that by no ordinarie course of nature nor no humane help they could be supplied they cried to the Lord for what they lacked and he never failed them when they did so but super-naturally supplied to them both bread and water and protection too when their necessitie required it and that Moses faithfully craved it for them as spiritually he provides for and sustains his Church when their soul-necessities sends them and Christs intercession recommends them to him 7 And he guided them by his own special conduct with a visible pillar of cloud and fire continually protecting and directing them the way that was most for his glorie and their good though to their carnal eyes least seeming so towards the land of Canaan there to settle them in tranquillity and rest and possess them of Towns and Cities ready built and provided to their hands like care to which he takes for his Church spiritual affording them invisible conduct all along this life in the manifold windings and turnings thereof which is the best though seemingly not the nearest way to heaven where they shall enter into their rest and be everlasting inhabitants of the new Jerusalem the Citie which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God purchased and prepared for them by Christ. 8 Oh that all men that every where participate of the goodness of God some more some less some in one kind some in another 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 9 For its he that fills the hearts of men with food and gladness and the souls of penitents that hunger and thirst after righteousness with enough of it 10 Such as either in bodie or soul are in a comfortless condition and have the sentence of death really or in their own sense and apprehension past upon them and are detained in outward bonds or trouble of spirit or both 11 Because they have sinned against the Law of God written in their hearts or the word of God written in the Scriptures and refused to be ruled by his reason who as he is the Lord of all things ought also to be theirs and they obedient to his dictates 12 Therefore did the Lord and doth still upon occasion so load them with outward or inward sorrows either by enemies cross accidents or desertions that they are made glad to confess their folly and to humble themselves before the Lord whom they before set light by when they find themselves helpless in any other way than by the powerful hand or free grace of God 13 Then they used and are wont to make their addresses to God in such inextricable extremities 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 14 Out of that disconsolate condition whereinto he cast them for their rebellions that he might humble them and then be gracious to them 15 Oh that all men that every where participate of the goodness of God would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of
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
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
Lord my soul is as the broken and chawned earth in time of drought labouring alwayes in unsatiable desire after the soul-nourishing and refreshing knowledge of the divine excellencies comprehended in thy righteous precepts and covenant-dispensations as it doth incessantly after rain that so I may alwayes live the life of faith and fear love and obedience 21 That 's my desire to understand the fear of the Lord that I may walk humbly with my God for the proud disobedient gain-sayers of his will that have taken cursed and displeasing curses the Lord hath sooner or later met with them as they are hatefull to him so he hath made it appear upon them by heavy judgements 22 Which I am confident shall still be their portion even the portion of my proud disdainfull enemies who think scorn of me and basely asperse me because of my faith in and obedience unto God but Lord I hope that both I and they are accepted at thine hands and that thou takest notice of mine Ismaelitish persecution by mine arrogant foes and wilt find a time to quit me of them who thou knowest hath not been ashamed of thee nor deserted either my faith or fear of thee for fear of men 23 I have been the by-word of high and low those that should have been by their places men of more integrity and good example yet did not they stick to abuse their authority and me by casting scorn upon me in the audience of others but I patiently bear it and my thoughts the while were upon thy word and my duty in such cases that so I might approve my self to thee not caring to be judged by mans day 24 And though I had cause enough of sorrow and trouble yet my comfort is they made me not break covenant nor falsifie my faith but still I kept a good conscience and followed my rule and had the comfort of it in mine own spirit not consulting with flesh and bloud what to do at such times when temptations were sore upon me but with thy word which I knew was the will and wisdom of God the mighty Counsellour and Prince of Princes Daleth The fourth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fourth part 25 I am exceeding low brought by thine afflicting hand my discomfitures make my life a very death oh do thou raise me restore comfort and thereby life unto me according as thou hast graciously promised 26 For I have not hid mine offences but confessed and declared them to thee as I have done every thing else in the whole course of my life I have alwayes acquainted thee how it was with me in my temptations and troubles and I have ever found thee gracious and so doubt not still to do speak peace and holiness therefore now to my soul that I may sinne no more but learn to love and serve thee 27 Lord instruct me and over-power my naturall pravity and corrupt disposition to walk holily and steadily in the fear of thy name and obedience of thy commandments by thy renewing of my joyes and strengthening of my graces so shall I magnifie thy power in my weakness and animate the faith of others 28 The sense of my sinne and thy displeasure for it lies so heavy upon my spirit that I sensibly decay and wast under it speak reconciliation and absolution to me that may revive and restore me according to thy promise of grace and mercy to poor penitents and suppliants such as I am 29 The sinne that hath brought me into this distemper is my want of faith to carry me through and my making now and then in extremity of temptation lies my refuge which repents me that ever I did so the Lord forgive it and remove that spirit of fear and diffidence that caused it that I may no more tread in such by-paths of thine own free goodness grant me the mercy and grace promised in thy word and exhibited in the typicall ordinances of thy law 30 Lord how ever I have slipt through frailty yet thou knowest the bent and bias of my heart is to love truth and not falshood it is the way I have chosen to walk in and have used the means that might aw me to it and direct me in it by serious pondering thy righteous commandments penally inhibiting such sinfull aversations though my grace being weak my endeavours through temptation have sometimes been ineffectuall 31 I have not ordinarily no nor willingly at any time given the reins to my corruption though otherwhiles they have been too strong for me but have carefully and conscionably in the main and course of my life though troublous and temptatious walked exactly and kept me closely to thy will testified in thy word O Lord therefore compassionate me in this my sinne and trouble for it and so order my wayes that I sinne no more to provoke thee against me to the loss of thy favour and the forfeiting my self to mine enemies 32 I have been faithfull though with some failings which if thou wilt but please to pass by and renew thy favour to me and grace in me whereby my heart may again be comforted and consequently enlarged and enabled for thy joy is my strength then do I promise for my self being confident in the power of thy grace to yield universall and chearfull obedience to thy commandments maugre impediments He. The fifth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fifth part 33 I know my whole life throughout is to be expended in thy service but how to persevere with unwearied and unvaried constancy I see not but by thy speciall and spirituall guidance who canst either order mine affaires to be free from temptation or teach and enable me to wade through them without warping from the rule and way of thy commandments pitie therefore my weakness and humane frailty and by thy spirit supply and prompt me continually so shall I do what else I cannot avoid sinne and persevere in holiness all my life in all the various alterations of it 34 How many are befooled with worldly wisdom and carnall reason Lord thou knowest and truly so shall I amongst the rest if thou beest not more mercifull unto me to teach me better yea contrary to such things as those principles dictate even the wholesome rudiments of thy law and covenant dispensation which if thou wilt of thy good grace vouchsafe to do I shall gladlier serve thee than sinne yea if thou wilt effectually lead me I will gladly and cordially follow and obey thee in whatsoever thou commandest for to will is present with me but how else to perform I see not 35 Both the will and the deed is thine and of thee now therefore as thou hast enabled me in the one for through thy grace my heart is byassed to obedience so that my desire is to it and my delight is in it so do thou no less graciously and
powerfully enable me in the other let me through thine assistance be as able as willing to do thy will alwayes in all things 36 I know O Lord naturally I have the same corrupt and inordinate affections in me as others have as ready upon temptation to warp world-ward as another man but I know thou hast my heart in thy hands and though I cannot rule it thou canst so that I pray thee have an eye to it and keep an hand over it to dispose and bend it the way of thy will and from the worlds allurements of pleasure or profit let grace supersead me from corruption specially of covetousness the root of all evil 37 Let not my outward sences be caught and sinfully transported with the baits of the flesh or of the world but give me a sanctified understanding to believe truly and not seemingly of sublunary things and to know them to be as in their own natures they are vain and transitory that can convey no permanent nor substantiall good or content to a man but delude him with the shews thereof by a false medium carnall concupiscence and that serves to steal the heart from God but Lord avert both eyes and heart from them give me such active graces and lively affections that may have continuall influence into all the parts of body and soul and so dispose them in love to thee and desire of heavenly things that as dead to the world they may comparatively be indisposed to all things else 38 Lord fulfill those promises of grace and goodness wherein thou standest engaged unto thy servant Thou that art Jehovah in thy Being be so in thy word by giving it a being in all those gracious promises it comprehends and exhibits and wherein thou hast caused me to trust in confidence whereof I have wholly cast my self upon thy grace and providence minding alwayes to serve thee more than how to provide and shift for my self as men of the world do 39 Let not thy servant sinne against thee thereby to provoke thee against him to the loss of thy favour the forfeiting of thy protection and the exposing me to mine enemies scorn and insultation which I exceedingly fear as well for thy sake who art so deeply concerned in me as for mine own If at any time I do fall Lord let not that be my punishment be thou and not they my Judge for that thy judgements are like thy self righteous and good but theirs are like themselves merciless and wicked 40 Thou knowest my heart is perfect towards thee take notice of it O Lord how my desires and affections are upright and sincere to the knowing and doing of thy will according to thy word give me a spirit of power and enablement as well as of will and desire according to thy righteous as well as gracious engagements for thou art as just to fulfill promises as to inflict punishments Vau. The sixth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the sixth part 41 And as I desire that thou wilt enable me with a spirit of holiness to walk uprightly in the way so also that in mercy thou wilt remember me concerning the promised end that it may effect that for me even my preservation in and my deliverance out of my sad condition and many dangers as thou hast engaged thy self to do 42 By this means I that now onely live by promises unpossessed of the thing promised and therefore cannot at present effectually convince men of carnall understandings and void of faith shall then be able demonstratively to stop their mouthes that now flout me for mine improbable hopes and forreign expectations and because I bear my self upon thy word which they think will never be fulfilled but I am otherwise perswaded therefore O Lord let not my trust be deceived and they in their presumptuous impiety confirmed 43 And let me never so sinne against thee as thereby to have mine own mouth stopped and despoil my self of what thou hast promised me whereof in faith of thy truth and goodness I have openly declared my confidence according to thy word which Lord let me never have cause to retract nor to speak less in praise of thy faithfulness but more by thy turning promises into performances according to the hope I have had in thy just fullfilling what thou hast promised me and threatened mine enemies 44 So shalt thou oblige me when I am delivered out of these heavy pressures which lie upon me as so many clogs and hinderances which I shall never forget without making bawks in mine obedience which through temptation I have been forced to do and fear I shall still do without thy powerfull prevention in love and thankfulness to serve and please thee the utmost hour of my life if set at liberty 45 Yea when thou hast enfranchized me out of these incumbrances of fear and care and made me a man of liberty and authority in Israel I will as thy free-man and servant carry and demean my self in all manner well-pleasing walking in the way of thy service and keeping all thy commandments which never shall be a burden or bondage to me for to be at liberty and to have ability and opportunity to learn and do thy will according to thy word is that I beg above any thing and which I should esteem as my greatest felicity 46 When thou hast advanced me I also will advance thee and execute the office of a Prophet as well as of a King and think it no shame to do so by declaring to others as occasion is offered what thy will and word is even to Kings and mighty men of the earth with whom I shall then be of equall levell and so have opportunity in that condition to converse more with them than now I have and I promise to improve it when I have it 47 And then will I as a man set at liberty from restraint run the wayes of thy commandments by dayly and frequent doing them my delight shall be to be conversant in thine ordinances which I have longed for and heartily loved and desired to be an actour in but hitherto have been an exile from them which hath set a vehement edge upon mine appetite which then I will satiate 48 For then both heart and hand shall act for thee my whole man with my whole might shall be set on work to know and do thy whole will in thy law revealed which I have dearly loved and longed to do and will perform them in spirit as well as in letter for when my mind is free from these distractions it shall move in a higher sphear and be active in and about the Gospel-sence of thy laws and ordinances Zain The seventh letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the seventh part 49 Be mindfull of thy word of promise and voluntary ingagements made to me thy chosen though unworthy servant touching grace preservation and deliverance upon
which as thou hast commanded me so also hast thou effectually over-powered enabled me by thy spirit to rest in assured hope of thy faithfulness and my happiness thereby 50 Throughout all my long and tedious triall where with thou afflictedst me I have nothing to bear up upon but this and I bless thee for it this serves the turn to do it thy promise through faith doth comfort and cordialize my heart and hath done many a time when to sence and reason I have been a dead man 51 My faith and I for my faiths sake have been exceedingly slighted and scorned by mine enemies men of proud and carnall minds yet have I neither been afraid nor ashamed of my cause or confidence but haue stuck to thy promises in faith and obedience waiting the fulfilling of them 52 I was ever confident that as mine enemies had their time so thou wouldest have thine and that I should see thee as just in reward and punishment as heretofore when by miracle thou savedst thy people and destroyedst thine and their adversaries the consideration hereof knowing thee to be the same unchangeable God in omnipotency and faithfulness hath alwayes born up my heart comfortably in hope of no worse success 53 And were it not for thy word of promise and works of power and providence that the faith of these are a stay to me I were of all men most miserable for the horrid insolencies unjust violences of my wicked and graceless enemies that have no fear of God before their eyes but reject both thee and thy precepts it makes me tremble to think of it and the heavy judgements that will befall them for it so at present I feel the evil effects thereof being driven to extream straits and perplexities both of body and mind by these impious lawless wretches 54 For my life is no better to me by their persecution and prosecution of me from place to place than a perpetuall pilgrimage so that my dwelling is no dwelling for I am in a continuall peregrination restlesly changing my station sometimes in caves sometimes in desarts and sometimes in exile and banishment yet every where and at all times the memory and meditation of thine engagements and promises concerning me which bind thee by grace as laws do us by duty and are thy statutes as well as are thy commandments have cheared up my heart and were as my songs and instruments of musick heretofore were wont to be unto me at leasurable times in mine own house 55 I have made it my imployment and set my seriousest thoughts on work upon the minding and meditating thy faithfulness power and justice when others have been refreshing their bodies with rest in the night season then have I been refreshing my weary and carefull mind with pondering thee in thine excellencies O Lord and have been so setled in mind thereby as I have taken up a resolution by carnall and sinfull shifts never to prevaricate what ever come of me but to persist in faith and holiness to the end 56 These soul supportations renewed graces and heart comfortings the Lord vouchsafed me in the meditations of him his promises and properties because I was conscionable and carefull to walk alwayes in all things to his well-pleasing therefore did he reward and sustain me with these divine cordialls and comforts in the time of my comfortless peregrination Cheth The eighth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the eighth part 57 The comforts and confidences of worldly men are in worldly things there portion is here below in things I bless my God too low for me who have no happiness contentment or confidence short of God who is all in all to me and as Lord thou art mine so I have fully purposed to be thine and to yield thee faithful and fruitful obedience in dependencie on thy promises and conformitie to thy precepts 58 Lord thou knowest what value I have alwayes set on thy favour how above all blessings I have lain at thee for that as more to me than all besides so that before and above all have I preferred and sought it as my choicest and chiefest happiness and therefore beg of thee that I may ever be blessed with thy grace mercie and truth vouchsafed and fulfilled according to promise 59 Fearful was I to offend and forfeit that thy favour I set so much by and therefore was alwayes solicitous and thought-ful of the steps I took whether they tended to thy pleasing or displeasing and if at any time by temptation or frailty I began to be misbiassed or that actually I deviated before I was awar I quickly through thy grace recollected my self and faced about 60 When I found mine errour I soon quit it no reasonings of flesh and bloud prevailed to make me persist but by the power of thy grace I broke through all impediments to serve and please thee 61 Wicked men by wicked wayes have prospered and thriven and by combination have turned me out of all and enriched themselves with my spoils but for all that I have stuck to my tackling held close to faith and a good conscience in believing and doing as I was appointed and left their punishment and my vindication unto thee 62 And it no whit repents me but exceedingly rejoyceth me of that thy gracious supportation of my faith yea such peace of conscience it brings with it and such a seal of special favour it is unto me according to thy righteous ingagements to be thus inabled to walk holily as that the thoughts thereof are more sweet and refreshing to my mind than sleep to my nature and make me suspend the one even in the season thereof to feed upon the other and make thankful repayment of my debts and endearments contracted thereby 63 Thy wayes and they that walk in them are my delight I fear thee my self so I love all those that do so I have no pleasure as not in wickedness so nor in wicked men but the out-casts of the world such as I my self am that fear to offend thee and desire to please and serve thee these have my heart and with such will I stand and fall live and die 64 As a faithful Creator thou hast plentifully provided for man and beast nature is well stored with varieties of created conveniencies for all kinds of Beings upon earth which also are mercifully continued though long since forfeited by the fall But O Lord there is one thing necessarie and a mercie more worth than all these and that is to be able to see and seek a happiness that is above nature and that grows in no earthly soil to have a frameable and teachable heart Lord grant me that write thy Law in it and let both thy precepts and promises be believed and obeyed by me That is my desire Teth. The ninth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the ninth part 65 I have
not found thy grace or truth to fail me but as I have endeavoured to approve my self a good servant so O Lord have I found thee a good master true of thy promise and as good as thy word 66 Lord give me a right understanding of things that differ let me not mistake falshood for truth nor evil for good but teach me to know the thing that good is and dispose mine heart and affections practically thereunto for so far as I have been taught by thy spirit I have gladly imbraced and conscionably obeyed and not refused either belief or subjection to any thy commandments 67 My very afflictions through thy grace and faithfulness are become wholsom physick and good documents to me for I was apt to wander out of thy way until I smarted for my folly but now I have learned another lesson and have ever since run another course kept close to thy will revealed in thy word without hearkening to the dictates of corrupt reason tending to self-pleasing or self-saving which before were too prevailing 68 Goodness of all kinds O Lord is natural to thee so it is not to us in any kind for there is none good but God and flows plentifully from thee as all creatures but man especially can witness of whose bountie they have their beings and those beings their subsistencies all the world over but Lord it is thy saving goodness that I pray to partake of my soul is more to me than my bodie and grace than nature therefore do I beg special and supernatural grace and wisdom to know and do thy will which I prefer before common and natural benefits the pleasing of thee before either profit or pleasure to my self of thy goodness grant me this which is part of the divine nature and onely makes man like to God in being and doing good which I would both be and do 69 My proud disdainful enemies that fear not God nor care not what wickedness they commit in word or deed to discredit me have falsly aspersed me for a traiterous conspiratour and that it is my ambition not thy determination that puts me upon expectancie of the Kingdom but I am resolved this slaunder shall not stagger me but in confidence of thy truth and mine own integritie I will persist to serve thee in sinceritie of heart who I know wilt vindicate mine innocencie and make appear their forgerie 70 Their worldly pomp and plentie hath made their hearts so gross and carnal as that their consciences are benummed and sensless and their minds puft up with pride and arrogance they sin without restraint and scoffe at pietie as pusillanimitie but thy Law is my delight though not theirs I am troubled when I break it and glad at heart when I do and can keep it through thy gracious enablement 71 Yea such is my love to holiness that I never think it a dear purchase whatsoever it cost me and therefore value mine afflictions which in mercie thou sentest to beget in me a teachable and tractable heart to thy commandments above their prosperitie that hardeneth their hearts in ignorance and carnallitie 72 Thy word and Law written in my heart effectually taught and wrought there by thy spirit however it is counter to my corruptions yet because as it is thine so pliable hast thou made my will to thy will even therefore do I praise it and apprehend my self more enriched with my knowledge of it and love to it than if I had the wealth the world so dotes on in never so great abundance Iod. The tenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the tenth part 73 Thou Lord that madest me was pleased to difference me from other creatures by endowing me with natural capacities above them so that though I have lost my created perfections of righteousness and holiness yet not my created and passive capacities of thy renewing them again in me my soul hath the same faculties and my bodie the same parts and Organs thou gavest me at the first in and upon which thou art able to re-imprint thine image vouchsafe me I pray thee thy renewing grace more and more powerfully enlighten my dark understanding encline my whole man O Lord to the loving and obeying of thy whole will I am still thy creature renew thy likeness 74 If Lord thou wilt strengthen thy graces in me and enable me to hold out stedfast in faith and holy obedience to the end and then reward thine own graces in me with a happie issue and close of things how will it rejoyce the hearts of thy servants that fear thee and hope in thee when they shall see me have overcome all my miseries and be possessed of my hopes and thy promises because of thy gracious enabling me to hold out in affiance of thy word it will affect them greatly 75 I know O Lord that thou art righteous in what thou sayest and doest thy word and thy works are consentaneous thy faithfulness is fulfilled in my very afflictions though seemingly otherwayes thy judgements and mercies and shall conduce to bring about thy promises made to me 76 Let I pray thee thy mercie of favour and grace long since promised me be in the faith of it a continual comfort to me yea Lord comfort me thy servant chosen and called with the accomplishment of it according to thy word 77 Make me inwardly sensible of those tender affections which thou bearest me that they may help to revive me in this comfortless condition whilest it lasts and express them also in outward manifestations let me see thy pitie and compassion in a comfortable deliverance and conclusion that I may live free from these troubles which makes my life a very death for how ever by frailtie I have and cannot but offend thee yet thou knowest thou hast mine heart and good will in all things to serve and obey thee that is my desire and in that I delight 78 Let not me therefore miscarrie by the hands of proud men and evil doers that are lawless and scorn subjection Lord let them miscarrie in their designs and evil purposes for thou knowest how contrarie to their consciences they have persecuted me as nocent when as they know me to be an innocent person but their dealing shall not make me forget my dutie I will keep mine eye still fixed upon that and walk stedfastly in the way of thy precepts in confidence of my reward and their punishment 79 Give me such remarkable deliverance and so change the scene that those of thy people that truly fear thee and have been savingly enlightened by thee whom my afflictions have staggered or that have been misled by delusions and false reports may see convincing signs of thy special favour to me and purposes concerning me and thereby be encouraged and invited in the faith of thy promises and my innocent cause to take part and joyn with me against mine
of this my sad condition let nothing fail me that thou hast spoken who am related in a nearer proprietie to thee than that of creation I am thy son and servant not passively but actively by a gratuitous intrinsical principle as thou hast chosen me so I have chosen thee for my Lord and Master and thy Laws for the rule of my faith and manners and allwayes consult them to that purpose 95 I have been in a many a sore temptation and imminent peril of my life by sinister plots and practises of my ungodly adversaries and still am yet will I not deviate by sinful shifts but studie to keep faith and a good conscience for so art thou ingaged to my securitie by thy word the testimonie of thy truth 96 There is but a finite and transitorie good in the very best things that are their natures are too narrow to give either full content to a mans mind or stay to a mans heart being subject to alter or end as I have found by experience and know by reason but thy word is all-sufficient nothing pertaining to holiness or happiness stay or contentment is wanting in thy Law or Divine dispensation nor shall be to him that believes and obeyes it for the dimensions of it are as large as thy self in truth and goodness infinite and permanent superabundantly soul-satisfying Mem. The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the thirteenth part 97 I for my part see so much goodness and find so much settlement in and by thy word that the love of it far transcends the love of all things else I cannot express the affections I bear it they are so ardent towards it that they set my mind on work continually upon it my thoughts and meditations are day and night taken up with the consideration and application of the blessed soul-affecting Divine truths and benefits contained and exhibited in that Law and word of thine 98 By thine instructing and enabling me to walk according to the rule of faith and righteousness commanded in thy word thou hast thereby prospered me above mine enemies and made this mine holy simplicitie to be too hard for their subtilitie and craft which hath never yet taken effect against me but come to naught and ever will whilest by thy grace I abandon the wisdom of the flesh and walk in the wisdom of thy spirit and word which I am careful to do allwayes in all things and prosper by it 99 I have had the benefit of education and humane helps as to the affairs and literature of the world and conversed with men of understanding and seen the wayes that they have gone in the managing of their transactions and when I sum up all the wisdom that ever I have learned and known I both count it and find it to be but foolishness compared with the studie and practise of those holy and righteous rudiments thy word dictates wherein I bless thee I have through thy grace being taught of God out-stript all humane teaching and teachers by delightning to know and do thy will revealed for my direction and supportation 100 Yea I find by experience though young that godliness is greater wisdom and better succeeds a mans affairs by the blessing of God according to his promises thereupon than the advice and counsel of the grave senatours and sages of the world who pretend and justly to great wisdom by advantage of years and experience yet with reverence to those hoary heads I like my wisdom which is thine better than theirs and find sinceritie the best policie and that the best wisdom is to do thy will which accordingly I endeavour 101 I have I bless thee ever since thou taughtest it me been of that mind and my practise hath been answerable for my care was still at no rate to sin but in every thing to tread the steps thy word hath chalk'd me out and leave the rest to thee 102 I have not suffered my self to be misled and seduced by mine own or other mens counsels from keeping thy commandments which I am sure must judge me and all men else for I bless thee thou hast taught me better by thy word and over-powered me by thy spirit to yield to those thy teachings which therefore have been to strong for my temptations which else had been too strong for me 103 I cannot express for any to understand but my self that feel it what pleasure and contentment thy covenant of grace and adoption with its concomitant promises and precepts of holiness and happiness believed and applied brings to my soul and conscience beyond all earthly comparisons hony to my pallate is not comparable 104 I make thy precepts my studie and meditation whereby I get by thine assisting grace good understanding and enablement to avoid by-wayes of sin and errouâ— tending to thy displeasing whereunto I am tempted but make constant resistance and from my heart detest deviation as knowing holiness onely leads to happiness and hath the promises both of this life and of that to come Nun. The fourteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fourteen part 105 Lord throughout this untrodden path of mine where there are so many ways to miscarrie the right way so hard to hit the world and Satan without flesh and corruption within counselling this that to make me stumble and fall my manner is to silence them all consult thy word the Divine light whereof of guids me out of and dispels those mists and fogs that carnal reason taking advantage of my present temptation casts before mine eyes and sets me into and leads me on in the path of thy well-pleasing which I choose to walk 106 As Lord thou hast been pleased to enter covenant with me of pardon acceptance and grace so also have I stipulated with thy Majesty and bound my self by solemn vow for ever to be thine obedient and faithful servant and subject and by thy gracious assistance I am accordingly purposed to walk in conformitie to thy Law the righteous rule of thee my righteous Judge 107 My affliction and grief is very great remember Lord it is for thy sake and by thy providence befallen me therefore grant me what thou hast promised me comfort in and deliverance out of my calamities 108 Thou knowest O Lord I am debarred from sacrificing to thee as else I would but that which is the substance of those ceremonies the free-will-offerings of praise and thanks-giving those I can and do offer which I pray thee accept and shall give me cause so to do by teaching me to know and do thy righteous precepts in all my difficult cases and great temptations 109 I am in perpetual peril of my life imminent danger and destruction is ever at hand yet through faith in thee they do not distract or afright me from my dutie to thee and thy commandments but I call them to counsel and
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
160 Thy promises have lost nothing of their virtue and vigour by their long standing but are as thou thy self art in goodness and faithfulness to thy people the same that ever they were and so shall all thy righteous ingagements be to the end no one word shall fall to the ground that thou hast spoken in way of promise to be believed in or of reward to be hoped for but shall certainly be fulfilled to thy people and Church in one age as well as another hereafter as heretofore and now as well as either Schin The 21 letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the 21 part 161 Mine enemies as they have not been few so nor mean for the chief have been chiefly against me men of might and greatness that should yield protection and right to the innocent and oppressed contrarily they have turned their power upon me to oppress wrong me to whom I never gave cause of offence but I am I bles thee for it not so transported with the fear of man as to forget God thy word the dutie and reverence I ow to it hath taken such rooting in my heart that no earthly powers can extirpate it 162 Whensoever I have been hard beset by temptation and thy word through grace hath seasonably minded me of my faith and dutie it hath joyed mine heart beyond expression no victor hath joyed more in the unexpected spoils of a conquered enemy 163 All false wayes and refuges are an abomination to me my mind and affections can entertain no treatie nor agreement with them they are utterly against the hair with me but thy Law is as consentaneous and connatural as they are contrarie and heterogenial I love it at my heart 164 Continually does my heart ejaculate thy praises every foot am I lifting up my soul in way of thankful acknowledgement of thy grace vouchsafed me in seasonable and effectual revealing thy righteous truths unto me for my support and guidance dayly as I have need which draws forth praises proportionably 165 What outward troubles soever happen unto thy people yet in the sincere filial affection they bear to thy word and will to live up and walk according to it herein do they enjoy transcendent peace and happiness surmounting all miserie for so they know they please thee and are accepted of thee and having God and a good conscience on their side what can trouble them And for my part what thy Law requires that have I constantly and diligently endeavoured to perform both by firm believing and exact walking Thou Lord knowest my hope of salvation has been in thee and thee onely in all my troubles and my wayes and works have been ordered by thy precepts not by mine own corrupt suggestions 167 Nor have I served thee either formally or hypocritically with outward shews or for base ends in the wayes and works of obedience but with an honest sincere heart have I done thy commandments in love to thy righteous will testified in thy word which hath my heart above all things 168 Thy whole covenant and dispensation of thy will as well in one thing as another have I in faith and obedience carefully observed without willfull swerving Thou knowest what I say to be true who from heaven hast beheld me every step I have gone in this my troublesome pilgrimage of persecution and as thine eye hath been upon me so hath mine eye been upon thee all the while as upon an all-seeing righteous judge and gracious rewarder to aw and incourage me Tau The 22 letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the 22 part 169 Lord let me find favour in thine eyes and my earnest prayer have audience at thy throne of grace in a thing so reasonable and consonant to thy mind as is this my request to wit that thou wouldest give me a good and perfect understanding of thy will effectually to be taught me by thy spirit at all times and in all things as occasion requires and thy word dictates and which is no more than thy word promises 170 And as I pray to be heard concerning a good understanding to guid me in the way so also that I may have a gracious audience and comfortable answer concerning the end and determination of these my troubles Lord deliver me from them as well as order me in them for so also is thy promise 171 If thou wilt be the guid of my life and powerfully instruct me how to walk well-pleasingly all along this hour of temptation and time of trial in the end thereof when thou shalt have done so I will pour forth praise to thee in solemn wise at thy sanctuarie 172 Then will I magnifie the faithfulness and righteousness of thy word and teach others to trust in it and walk by it for that they shall be sure to find in the end as I have done that all it sayes is yea and Amen certain and infallible materially righteous it is in it self and effectually so to all that keep and observe it 173 Lord take my part who have taken thine strengthen me against and deliver me from mine enemies and out of this my perillous state fight for me for I fight for thee against the world and the flesh and have chosen to imbrace thy precepts before their allurements and preferred thy will in all things before their suggestions to the contrarie 174 I have not sinfully shifted as I have been tempted to do but have persevered in a faithful expectation and hopeful longing still for thy promised salvation and deliverance for O Lord thou knowest mine heart is fixed upon nothing with contentment and confidence but thy covenant-dispensation for my wellfare and happiness 175 Do thou therefore tender me accordingly let it not be in the power of mine enemies to deprive me of my soul by taking away my life but preserve it as thou hast redeemed it from destruction that I may live by thy mercie and not perish by their cruelty that seek my death so shall I lay out and spend the life thou givest me in faithful affectionate praises of thee all my dayes Lord let thy righteousness be imployed for me in my defence and preservation against mine enemies their cruelty and oppression according as thy word holds forth for me to trust in and rely on 176 In this wilderness of troubles that I am in driven up and down from thy presence and people like a sheep wandred from the flock and out of the Shepheards ken I have I humbly confess lost my way and stept aside out of the direct and streight path I should have trod by infirmitie and frailtie O thou that art my Lord and God the shepheard of my soul whose I am and whom I desire to serve bring me back again into the un-erring path of thy precepts and enjoyment of sweet communion with thee thy people by freedom from these my troubles
shall have no more power to hurt thee through his gracious providence and protection over thee than a worm under thy feet 7 Fear neither less nor more great nor small for God shall certainly protect thee as well from one evil as another especially thy soul whether respecting life temporal or eternal shall have a special guard fear that least because as it is most of wroth in it self so also in Gods esteem and valuation 8 God is every where in all places at all times thou needest not put cases of fear and doubt to thy self of this though not that may befal me and then though not now for whatsoever thou doest and whither ever thou goest God is with thee and it and will ever be so to keep thee from evil and bless thee with good and to prosper thee in all thy wayes of well-doing believe it stedfastly and live comfortably in the faith thereof The cxxii PSALM David overjoyed to see the universal concord and conformitie in his people for the bringing the Ark to Ierusalem and worshipping the Lord there as God had appointed the more to sharpen them to it and ingratiate it to them highly commends the prerogative of that place and that people by reason of it and therefore exhorts them not to degenerate but in love and zeal still to labour and pray for the happiness of it promising happiness to those that do so and so does he himself and shews the reasons why See the title of the 120 Psalm the Authors name superadded here 1 HOw infinitly did it rejoyce me to hear and see such an universal unanimity in my people Israel to submit to and approve of the transportation and fixing the Ark and sanctuarie in Jerusalem where God had appointed it with desire and forwardness to worship God there without the least scruple or question 2 Saying amongst themselves with rejoycing now is the time and Jerusalem is the place that God will fulfil his promise by giving his Ark a settled condition which hitherto hath moved and removed from place to place and together with his Ark his Church and people Israel who have been both for worship and Government in an unsetled and various state but now shall there be an happie establishment as both Christ and the Church by Christ shall have at his glorifying 3 And indeed a blessed and desireable place Jerusalem is exceeding lovely for uniformitie of structure order in Government and harmonie of hearts and affections in the inhabitants towards the true worship of the onely true God stately and strong both in men and materials sweetly composed and well compact a Citie specially blessed of God to represent the happie condition of his Church both under Christ on earth united by faith in him their head and with Christ in heaven 4 It is the most beautiful place of the world and enriched with the most singular and Divine priviledges of any on earth being a resemblance of heaven it self and the Church both there and here for as thither the twelve tribes of Israel a chosen generation out of the whole world do congregate and ascend to the mount of God solemnly to worship him before the Ark the testimonie of his covenant and presence with his people so shall his elect the Church of the first born all the world over be gathered to Jesus and ascend into the heavenly Jerusalem evermore to praise him in that general assembly the celestial Quire of innumerable Angels and spirits of just men made perfect Yea by spirit and faith they shall meet in one bodie mystical on earth and with raised affections worship one God in Christ that blessed Emmanuel the mediatour of the new testament upon mount Sion in spiritual Jerusalem the Church that Citie of the living God 5 And as Christs Priestly office is established and clearly held forth in the sanctuarie-worship in Jerusalem so also is his Kingly in those thrones of honour and justice civil and ecclesiastical erected and perpetuated there in the royal line of David his posterity Kings of Judah the figure and progenitours of Christ according to the flesh as is his tribunal in heaven where he hath dominion over his Church and the whole world and from whence he shall come to judge all flesh at the latter day 6 Many are the enemies of this flourishing Citie Jerusalem as shall be to the Church yea all the world is against it and the worship and Government that is in it but yet we need not fear for God is for it able to preserve it in peace and prosperitie maugre all its adversaries if our sins and carnal presumption do not indispose him to it Therefore all ye Israelites specially ye that with a spiritual understanding are inlightned to know the worth and excellencie of the place which is in the world as the sun is in the firmament mystically comprehending all that Divine light and life that the sun of righteousness the Messiah shall illuminate the world withall when he comes to save his Church as Gods High-priest and take possession of his Kingdom as King of Kings and Lord of Lords do you serve the Lord and seek to him for the continuation of his grace and favour to it and his blessing upon it that it may be evermore happie with his love and presence and as a consequent thereof have rest and quiet from its enemies And of this be confident that they that thus for Christ and religion sake under that notion and relation sincerely love pray for and endeavour the happiness of it shall how ever it may suffer by other mens sins and formal hypocrisies within the pale or without by external violence of Gentile enemies be themselves happie and blessedly rewarded of God with grace peace and protection in their own particulars 7 It is and shall be my heartie prayer that the Lord will preserve thee as from outward forrain enemies so also from intestine civil broils and disunions in peace unanimity and concord within thy self as the Church shall be in heaven and ought to be on earth as one so at one under their one and onely head the Lord Christ. And that the throne of David his royal seed successours over his people Israel here in Jerusalem may successively flourish in peace and prosperitie and by the blessing and favour of God be established in judgement and righteousness there administred in honourable equipage as shall the Prince of peace Christ Jesus the righteous his throne and dominion over his Church be for ever in heaven 8 Nor am I a self-seeker in my well-wishes to this place no the Lord can witness for me that I desire the good and happiness of all the faithful yea of all Israel as mine own who to me are as dear as my nearest kindred and acquaintance by that relation natural and civil that God hath given me to them knowing right well that in the peace and
prosperitie of it the Government and worship in it consists the happiness and tranquillitie of all Israel chiefly the Israel of God whose heaven upon earth Jerusalem is where they worship and serve the God of Israel seek his face and enjoy his presence therefore pray I for her prosperitie and well-fare that they may be blessed with her and by her who are interessed and concerned equally in her felicitie with my self I as the head and they as the bodie 9 It is the zeal I have to the Church and glorie of God that makes me pray thus and for which I will spend and be spent therefore will I lay out mine uttermost endeavours to compass the good and well-fare of Jerusalem that that singular happiness and priviledge of the sanctuarie and sanctuarie-worship of the Lord God of Israel who there is present with us his people and from thence hears our prayers and to which appertains so many excellent promises and by it to us redounds so many precious priviledges and benefits and where is performed the onely true honour and service to the onely true God in all the world Therefore for these reasons do I will I evermore pray and faithfully endeavour the good of this place and so let all others do that are good together with me as members of the Church bodie mystical typified in this resemblance The cxxiii PSALM The Church and people of Israel being at present either under Babylons captivitie or Antiochus his crueltie some Prophet or holy man of God bespake the Lord in this pathetical short psalm in her behalf uttering much of the spirit in few words for afflictions commonly swell the heart too big for the mouth which makes him here to pray rather by signs than words with his eies rather than his tongue yea with both he presseth hard upon God for free grace to shew them mercie in their unspeakable miserie professing their patient waiting till then See the title of the 120 Psalm 1 WHat the present distress and calamities of thy poor Church and people Israel are thou Lord knowest right well utterly helpless and hopeless forlorn and disconsolate none on earth favouring us shewing any mercie or compassion to us but exercise all manner of crueltie and scorn towards us yet Lord in thy Churches and mine own behalf I am an humble suitor to thee in the agonie of my heart who I dare not can not believe hast quite forgotten to be gracious though thou seemest so as things frame here below but O thou that inhabitest the heavens and hast thy reserves of good will and pleasure there known to thy self unknown to us but hoped in by us and power to bring them to pass though to us impossible as much above all sublunarie powers as heaven is above earth to thee there with groans and sighs lift we up our eyes speechless with grief for thee graciously to look down upon us here in this our calamitie 2 Look how bond-men and bond-women who by their condition are as we exposed to hard and uncourteous usage depend upon the free grace and beneficence of their masters and mistesses can chalenge nothing no wages nor reward but wait with patience till pitie and compassion move them to extend their hand of favour and good will to them so do we under this just deserved punishment of long and grievous thraldom by cruel task-masters humbly and patiently wait till thine own mercie move thee towards us a sinful undeserving people yet thy people and thou our God by grace and election which hold us in hope 3 Good Lord take our case into consideration and commiseration to pitie us at last and to shew mercie to us a people that are made the very scum and scorn of our proud imperious enemies who for thy sake whose name we bear and whose we are do Lord it over us with disdain which imbitters our sorrows and breaks our hearts 4 Yea Lord it is not to be spoken how afflictive the reprochful vilifications of our insolent enemies are to us who judging by events because of our calamities scoff and scorn us as a vain besotted people that believe in we know not what and worship we know not whom and boast themselves unmeasurably over us our God and religion to our unutterable grief because of their superioritie and present felicitie which puffs them up with pride and contempt even to blasphemie The cxxiv PSALM David mindes Israel in their prosperitie of their adversitie to make them mindful of God praiseful to God and evermore dependent on God as his Church and people ought ever to be in their transmutations of estates and fortunes See the title of the 120 Psalm the Authors name superadded here 1 2 3 NOw that the Lord hath been pleased to bring us to the happie condition we are in we should do well to look back we the Israel and and Church of God and consider from the beginning to this day ever since we were a people chosen of the Lord out of the world to name his name upon what a world of enemies we have had and perils we have waded through before and since we came into this land where we have been a continual eye-sore not onely to the natives remaining in it but to all the mightie nations and Gentile people bordering round about it who severally and joyntly by combination of great men and Potentates have sundry times and wayes subtilly projected and violently attempted our utter abolition which to speak humanely was inavoidable had not the Lord our good God miraculously from time to time delivered us from their furie and preserved us a people to this day maugre all they could do as he shall his Church spite of the wicked world its power and malice who else long ere this had been no people nor nation but destroyed again and again by those many mightie barbarous enemies of ours that on all hands from all quarters have assailed us with most mortal and bloudie purposes greedy to prey upon us and with that odds of strength that they were able to have devoured us and as it were swallowed us alive as easily as the great fish does the little ones or the savage and ravenous beast tears his prey in pieces if God had not over-powered them and been for us against them when we were altogether unable to make resistance which now we should do well to weigh seriously and in all humilitie to acknowledge thankfully to his praise and glorie 4 5 Yea to consider that when all mankind was as it were against us and we were like sheep in the midst of Wolves and Bears that with mightie power and rage have broken in upon us like an unresistable torrent able to over-run the whole land and destroy man woman and child as easily as the sea or some mightie river drowns the countrey when it breaketh the banks and with pride and confident disdain made
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
eyes let them not fear it how improbable soever as he hath done from us Jeremiahs good sighs that went out of Canaan submittingly carrying along with us the faithfull hope and expectation of Gods engagement though loth to depart from that good land which God had given us to worship him in but yet did put our selves upon adventure and have out-lived our sorrows and at last enjoy those promises in their accomplishment though after so many years in all which time God hath preserved us and his promise sustained us in hope and now at the appointed period delivered us by an Almighty hand and strange providence to our admiration and joy unspeakable and should encourage us to take the opportunity God hath now put into our hands not consulting with flesh and bloud to break through all difficulties and discommodities either in the journey or at the journeys end which fear and faithlesness may represent to deter us in confidence that as they that obedientially came do live to go so they that in this imperfect condition adventures upon God obey his call and rely upon his grace shall in like sort be enabled to undergo and survive all imaginable evils and have their faith and patience abundantly rewarded with grace and peace and themselves at last established again in quiet in the holy Land and Citie The cxxvii PSALM This Psalm is conceived to be penned rather by Solomon himself than by David â—or him and to be a compendium of his Ecclesiastes the stile and matter owns him the subject it treats being politicks government civil and domestick the part appointed him by God more especially to act both in scripture and in practise which he handleth not as a meer moralist or Philosopher but as a divine instructing in all civil and natural affairs to eye God by faith and to make him the efficient and final cause in all publick transanctions and private business or blessing else we take course to set God against us and so to loose all our labour in all we do and in all we hope and desire And sheweth what is the best and most desirable blessing under heaven that brings most happiness to a mans self and makes him most usefull to the publick to wit a numerous and godly off-spring See the Title of the 120. Psalm the Authours name super-added here 1 MOst men act upon their own principles in their own affairs and callings without any eye to God or faith in God for direction or success apprehending issues naturally to ensue upon use of means as they project and design whereas it is far otherwaies for the Lord is all in all nothing can prosper without him it is not enough towards the building of an house whether materially or civilly considered to have the persons and things that conduce thereunto the art of Artificers and the wisdom of a Pater-familias will not serve to erect or order and well govern it or raise and enrich posterity without the blessing of God he can and doth therefore often times blast their endeavours and befool their skil because he is not made the first cause and the last end not sought to for a blessing nor intended to be blessed for the success when second causes are set up above him and a man is his own Idol and kisseth his own hands And as in government domestick so in that which is civil and popular there is the same errour committed men of place States-men and politicians stand on their heads like children and shake their heels at heaven but let such learn from me that know it and by the blessing of God have as much wisdom if not more than other men that it is neither wise for sight and advice nor vigilancie and diligence nor power and strength it is indeed nothing either in a militarie or civil way that can order or secure any countrey place or people from forreign or intestine evils but the gracious provident and watchfull eye and ruling hand of God none can prevent accidents over-rule hearts frustrate designs bless endeavours but the Lord alone infinite unexpected occurrences will nay shall purposely fall out to endanger and deceive them that are carnally confident in an arm of fleshly wisdom strength or diligence if not to ruin them Therefore use the means but subserviently trust in the Lord onely seek him and seek to him faithfully and self-denyingly else look not to succeed or prosper or not to be blessed but cursed in prospering either in the one or other 2 How do men moil and toil in the world some to compass riches others other designs their heads and hands in continual action scarce allowing themselves time to cherish and sustain nature by sleep or food which very repasts are also imbittered by inordinate carefulness through diffidence and vnacquaintance with God not considering that all they do is fruitless and labour lost if God pronounce not a Fiat and say not Amen to what they design and sollicit though never so eagerly which yet is certainly true if they did believe it and knew to live by faith how would it moderate and quiet their thoughts make their lives much more comfortable and enjoy themselves and the blessings God gives them with contentment for so do all they that inwardly feed upon the sweet sense and assurance of Gods love and are happier in that than the cares of the world can make them and whose hearts by believing are staied on the Lord for this he recompenceth it into their bosoms with recumbancy of spirit so that they enjoy him themselves and the blessings less or more he bestows upon them free from perplexities with abundant soul-satisfaction and continual quiet which carking wordly-minded men loose and their labour besides 3 And as some mens ambition and contentment is in honour and riches and such like earthly felicities whereto they bend themselves with might and main and think to compass them by wit and industrie but are deceived so others desire to be rich in children and a good desire it is if moderated by submission and mixed with faith but in this also do men and women miscarrie having their expectation more upon natural causes in natural production than upon Gods supernatural agencie Whereas it is nor strength nor pregnancie of nature in either sex that can assure posterity but the power and free-gift of God that can onely make parents happy with a happy issue which he dispenseth of grace to whom he pleases 4 A numerous and virtuous off-spring is an unspeakable blessing of God he that hath them is fitted by them for all assaies as a strong and valiant man skilful in martial affairs and plentifully provided of ammunition darts and arrows can with honour and advantage to himself them that imploy him for offence and defence discharge them hither and thither so a father blessed with an hopefull and plentifull issue in the flower of his age is himself blessed by it and of
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
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 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
that by his power so alters the face of the heavens as we often see from serene and clear suddenly over-spreading them with thick and dark clouds so disposing it for the use and benefit of the earth that needs as well rain as fair weather which he transmits by those clouds so convoked and thereby causeth the earth to fructifie which else would be barren and like fallow land yea the very mountains are made pasturable by this means that are not capable of the benefit of flouds like lower grounds yet by his blessing from above are usefull and productive of grass and hearbs 9 And so provideth sustentation for the irrational creature making nature to supply the want of art and husbandrie to the very beast and that variously too according to the several kinds thereof in apt times and places producing suitable food to the several Species of that vast Genus and the birds as well as beasts are sustained and provided for by him yea those that we least set by the raven that though it be not meat for man yet God it being his creature provides meat for it and that too when they are young and early forsaken of the old and so want skill to shift for themselves yet have they their cries heard which nature hath taught them to put up their need supplied by God who even hears them 10 Think not that it is any created excellencie that commends men to God he is not moved by such objects and arguments as man is he bestows not his blessings upon man either by or for his own or the creatures strength or exceellencie to give success either therefore or thereafter 11 No that whch moves with God is his own graces active and stirring in the hearts of his people if you would be blessed of him be in favour with him then with filial fear endeavour his pleasing in all you do and avoid the contrarie and so walking before him confidently trust in him for grace and mercie chear-up your hearts in hope of his goodness and faithfulness toward you this and onely this is the way to be accepted of him and blessed by him 12 Wherein you that are his Church and people have the odds of all the world who for those extrinsecal created priviledges of men and horses may go beyond you but not as to God it is your intrinsecal graces wrought by him and active towards him that prefers you above all the world in his esteem O therefore praise the Lord ye his Israel his Church chosÌ„e that have the happiness to congregate at Jerusalem to worship him there in his holy mountain which he hath peculiarely set apart for the place to be worshiped in like as you for the people representing his church universal chosen out of the world to have the honour to worship and serve him from all others on whom he bestows his grace and in whom he onely takes content and pleasure no creature but the new creature since the fall being delightfull to him for which they therefore that are so ought to praise him even for this their happie proprietie and interest in him 13 Whereby it is that Jerusalem both real and mystical is fortified against all earthly power by divine protection stronger than horse or man the sons and daughters of the Church whereof God is the father is blessed in that their relation and interest and are under the Lords special care and power for their preservation as Jerusalem with the inhabitants and faithfull worshippers therein is and shall be secured by the special presence of God there resident 14 To whom he giveth peace and preservation spite of her many enemies even in all the borders of Israel who by the blessing of God in their own land enjoy peace and tranquilitie as his Church and people shall peace of conscience yea and with peace plentie and that of the best of earthly blessings of the flower of wheat the staff of temporal life like as his Church shall be happie as in peace of conscience so in Angels food the joy of the holy Ghost testifying the mind of God his love and favour toward them the best upholder of life spiritual 15 This thy God O Israel is he that commands all the world over and whatsoever throughout the whole creation he pleaseth effectually to will is by all creatures obeyed accordingly and can be no other nothing can give impediment to his will all second causes being at his beck to do his pleasure so that the word of command is no sooner given to any creature or creatures from one end of the world to the other but it is obeyed and the thing acted that he commanded the whole course of nature being nothing else but a ready and actual fulfilling of those things which he commands 16 Witness the several and wonderfull effects thereof how in the winter time by Gods appointmen and transmutation the earth is quite changed in form and complexion being covered over with snow a white and light substance as sheep with wâ—oll which he transmits from above and makes the hoarie frost lye upon the face of the earth scattered and dispersed as ashes when they are blowne about by the wind 17 Also the hail when it falls it is he that as he formed it above so sends it down below not in one intire coagulated bodie as is the nature of ice which would overwhelm and destroy the creature but in those showers and dispersions piece-meal as we see Who lives that is not sensible of the pinching weather that in winter time he is pleased to send and that is able to endure the extremitie of cold without helps and arts whereby to keep them warm 18 And as before he sent out his word and that caused them to be both snow and frost when and whilest they were so when he pleaseth to change the scene and that the earth and waters shall return to their proper elementarie appearance again he doth but give the word and it is done as it made them so it dissolves them he commands but a moist thawing wind for the winds also are his and at his dispose to blow and that melts the snow and ice into the water whereof it was congealed and so reduceth the rivers which in that could season were bound up with a firm unmoveable bodie of ice into their motion and current as before with an over-flowing augmentation by the dissolving of those waterie Meteors 19 By the word of his power creative and providential he is thus seen and known all the world over no people nor nation but partake thereof evidently But to Israel Jacobs posteritie his Church and chosen people doth he besides that hold forth another manner of word to wit a word of grace declaring his whole will to them and government over them not onely as a Creatour but a Lord and Saviour and so also owning them for his not
onely as creatures but sons and servants under the dispensations of grace on his part toward them and laws and ordinances of holiness and righteousness on their part toward him 20 This peculiar priviledge hath the Israel of God above the whole world besides and that by the meer and free grace of God all nations in nature being alike to him it is neither the people nor the place that makes the difference but his election which for any reason out of himself might have passed upon any other people as well as you they might have had the sun of righteousness the star of Jacob risen in their Hemisphere the word and will of God savingly and sanctifyingly revealed to them as it is to you and you have been in darkness as they are at this day but in mercy it is quite contrarie you have what they want and they want what you have even all the world are in darkness and in the shadow of death for want of the word of light and life of holiness and righteousnes on his part and theirs but you be ye therefore stirred up to suitable praise and thanks-giving O ye his peculiar people for such rare and singular mercies and benefits so peculiarly bestowed upon you The cxlviii PSALM David being himself a man of a praisefull spirit an inlarged heart to God-ward in that way feeding that happie temper by frequent observations and and deductions He also factours for God and negotiates in this Psalm with all things in all places to be industrious in his dutie he summons heaven and earth to pay their tribute and do their homage to the most high God for all they themselves are and have as being the maker of them and giver of that and who himself is all that and much more And the better to effect his design when he hath first bespoke them in the general from heaven to earth he also makes a scedule or enumeration of several created existencies of both sorâ—s and of different rancks ages and sexes exciting them all severally by name to make up a joint harmony and Quire according to their utmost capacities of praisefull solemnization to the Lord paramount But principally and above all his Church and chosen people so much obliged to him beyond all for his 〈…〉 love to them in exalting them so high in his favour by Covenant-inâ—â—â—est 1 ALl creatures that have their being from the Lord one other in their several kinds places and offices wherein he hath disposed them set ye forth his glorious greatness and goodness unto the praise thereof More particulary all ye rational and irrational one whose position and residence is above in the heavens whether within the Imperial or on this side it be occupied in his praises according to your several natures some actively towards God others declaratively towards men which is the end of all our beings and of that your advancement also into such a superiority of place and excellencie of nature and offices above sublunaries 2 But in particular principally and primarily ye that are his glorious Angels the immediate favourites and domesticks in the court of heaven which in infinite number he hath created to serve and honour him there and dignified with eminencie and proximitie to himself above all his creatures even to the numberless number of you his heavenly hosts do I speak who are ordained to do his commands that commands in chief over all created beings how excellent soever do you I say who ow it and are enabled to it above all joyn with the rest of your fellow creatures in this duty of praise your proper office to mend the musick 3 Also you inanimate creatures that possess the suburbs of those celestial mansions and in your kinds are glorious and excellently usefull endowed with singular proprieties and significant representations of the greatness and goodness of him that made you that you are and honoured you with the places you hold and the offices you perform even all the Lunaries of heaven great and small sun moon and stars that by day and night according to your appointments and capacities enlighten the earth and the inhabitants thereof act you your part in praising the Lord by doing his will and manifesting his power and glorie run your courses keep your orders do your offices that all times and seasons which are ruled by you that are ruled by him may exalt him 4 From the lowest to the highest of all those several spheres all which are above the firmament wherein are diversly situate first the fixed stars and then the moveable planets in their several and subordinate orbs and the ponderous clouds that weigh so heavy containing such oceans of waters in you and yet hang so high above the aerie regions all you excellent creatures of several natures in your gradual existences above in the heavens do you declare as indeed you do the praise-worthy work-manship of him that is above all that hath so orderly disposed you in that vast expanse such variety and infinite of created lights and clouds fire and water that do severally inhabite those upper lofts and chambers over our heads without confusion intermixtion and destruction of nature which else would follow 5 Do you and every of you jointly and severally according to that power wisdom and goodness that shines forth in you declare the glorious skill of such celestial arts to the praise of the Artificer in those admirable transcendent properties of his who was able to bring forth such things of such use and in such an order by his meer fiat he but bid them be and they were he made use of no other tools or instruments to build so great and strange a structure but his bare word of command which gave being to all those celestial altitudes with the stars and meteors that inhabite them 6 And as his word gave them a being at first so also did he command their perpetuity and orderly existence and influence to the last wherefore it is that they have continued all this while and must do so from one generation to another to the end of the world not by the power and efficacie of their own natures which in that regard are as all things else are reductive to a nothingness every moment but by his eternal decree and edict past upon them is it that these supernatural creatures are the same in existence that ever they were as also in their motions and operations which are guided by God his appointment and providence unalterably to those ends and effects for which he hath ordained them 7 8 So also all ye creatures though in inferiour situations who yet have the same Creatour and are the products of the self-same wisdom and power that the heavens and the things contained in them are whose habitations are in these lower parts terrestial or aerial do you also praise him Let the great God have glorie from all his
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
good Let them be strong in strength and with a mightie irresistable power prevail against all opposers as indeed they shall like as shall Christ by his word and spirit in the mouth of his Ministers to the setting up of his Kingdom all the world over Israel shall be prevalent over the heathen and Gentile nations round about that have so cruelly vexed and plagued them their turn is now come to be under and ours to be over to revenge and punish Gods dishonour and his peoples miseries upon them as the Church shall triumph over the wicked at the glorious appearing of Christs Kingdom 8 Yea as well Princes as people shall be brought into subjection Israel shall have dominion over all her enemies of what ranck so ever and shall lead captivitie captive under me as Christ and his Church shall do overcome at last their over-comers we shall have a resurrection out of our long endured miseries and be free-men when as ours and the Churches enemies how great soever shall have their declension and abasement no power on earth can hinder the powerful decree of heaven nor resist the execution thereof when the set time is come as now it is neither Kings nor nobles who then shall be but like other men easily vanquishable for all their power and authoritie as they shall be by Christ either brought into subjection and fealtie to him in his Kingdom of grace or led in triumph by him at his appearing in his Kingdom of glorie when his Church shall be triumphant 9 What the Lord hath promised in his peoples behalf and threatened to their enemies is now to be fulfilled even their destruction or subjection not by their own power but by the power of his word and promise who is faithful and almightie therefore shall it come to pass and in the faith thereof shall they prevail under me as shall the Church of Christ under him either ministerially to vanquish them or ultimately to triumph over them in a final and total destruction This glorious priviledge have the people of God his Israel which are or should be saints and his saints his really sanctified and adopted ones which are indeed his onely Israel thus by the power of his might the faithfulness of his never failing promise to overcome or overthrow all their rebellious opposers oppressours Therefore both one and other Israel now and Israel hereafter even all the people of God chew the cud upon this your happie condition through the mercie and grace of God in Christ and praise him for it The cl PSALM David never wearie of this theme presseth hard upon all principally the Church and people of God to praise the Lord and that both in and by his commanded worship as also by the book and borrowed helps of nature creation and providence and the glorious manifestations he makes of himsâ—â—f herein and this to be done with Heart and Art to the utmost of both He concludes that all flesh by nature is bound to do it and Israel by grace 1 YE that are the people of the Lord be much imployed in this singular service of praising and magnifying him that is so much yours above others and that have his peculiar residence amongst you in his sanctuarie the resemblance of heaven where is his proper residence such is the condiscention of his Divine greatness and Majestie to be worshipped as in heaven by glorified saints so also here by sanctified ones which be sure you neglect not that are his chosen priviledged people worhsip him here below with your minds above as you extend your voices so enlarge your graces eye him and reverence him in his heavenly sanctuarie when you draw nigh to praise him in his earthly where he principally resides in glorie and Majestie even above the firmament which so manifests his greatness and magnifies his power in the infinit extension of it and the varietie of excellent creatures that are in it to draw your soul upward though your bodies are prostrate and to give you to understand that it is the great God of heaven whose wonders shine in the firmament above that you are to magnifie in your sanctuarie-praises here beneath 2 Whose works of power are not onely in the firmament but extended like it every where upon the face of the whole earth for all which both above and below you ought to praise him and that with faith and reverence proportionable to such powerful efficatiousness that can bring forth such wonderful effects of creative and providential omnipotencie as every where he doeth especially for his people all which shews with what surpassing greatness he excelleth whose throne is so high above all and his power in and over all the glorie and reverence whereof as he expects it so we ought to render it with praisefull adoration that are the peculiar people of such a God 3 4 5 Muster up all your forces to this work and dutie Praise him in his sanctuarie with the utmost expression can be made tune all your stringed instruments and that unto the highest key and make your wind instruments speak out aloud Let nature Art and grace put forth themselves to the utmost with the highest affections and utmost expressions celebrate his praises on earth as in heaven who deserves it and whose deserts do far transcend it 6 Let all flesh breathing give glorie to God their Creatour and praise his name that is so praise-worthie in the eyes of all by the manifold manifestations of his infinite and superlative excellencies in their own particulars and in the whole creation so plainly appearing but most especially ye that are especially the Lords praise ye the Lord not onely for the generalitie of greatness and goodness that all the world partakes the knowledge and benefit of but be ye so ravished with the peculiaritie of the grace mercie and love of God to you respectively as to put forth your selves in a return of praise above nature suitable and acceptable magnifying grace with grace singing and making melodie in your hearts to the Lord your God FINIS 1 BLessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornfull 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper 4 The ungodly are not so but are like the chaft which the wind driveth away 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous 6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish Psalm 2. 1 WHy do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing 2 The
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
are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand up â—ight 9 Save Lord let the King hear us when we call Psalm xxi To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 THe King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce 2 Thou hast given him his hearts desire and hast not withholden the request of his lips Selâ—h 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head 4 He asked life thee and thou gavest it him even length of dayes for ever and ever 5 His glorie is great in thy salvation honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance 7 For the King trusteth in the Lord and through the mercie of the most high he shall not be moved 8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee 9 Thou shalt make them as a fierie oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them 10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth and their seed from among the children of men 11 For they intended evil against thee they imagined a mischievous device which they are not able to perform 12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them 13 Be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power Psalm xxii To the chief musician upon Aijeleth-Shahar A Psalm of David 1 MY God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring 2 O my God I crie in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent 3 But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel 4 Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them 5 They cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded 6 But I am a worm and no man a reproch of men and despised of the people 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying 8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breasts 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly 11 Be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help 12 Many buls have compassed me strong buls of Bashan have beset me round 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring Lion 14 I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joynt my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels 15 My strength is dried up like a pot-sheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws thou hast brought me into the dust of death 16 For dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet 17 I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me 18 They part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture 19 But be not thou far from me O Lord O â—â—y strength hast theâ— to help me 20 Deliver my soul from the sword my darling from the power of the dog 21 Save me from the Lions mouth for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns 22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee 23 Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye the seed of Jacob glorifie him and fear him all ye seed of Israel 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from him but when he cried unto him he heard 25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation I will pay my vows before them that fear him 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kinreds of the nations shall worship before thee 28 For the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour among the nations 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his own soul. 30 A seed shall serve him it shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation 31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousnes unto a people that shall be born that he hath done this Psalm xxiii A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord is my shepheard I shall not want 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me besides the still waters 3 He restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousnes for his names sake 4 Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oyl my cup runneth over 6 Surely goodnes and mercie shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Psalm xxiiii A Psalm of David 1 THe earth is the Lords and the fulnes thereof the world and they that dwell therein 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the flouds 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place 4 He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanitie nor sworn deceitfully 5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnes from the God of his salvation 6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob. Selah 7 Lift up your heads O ye gates â—â—d be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glorie shall come in 8 Who is this King of glorie the Lord strong and mightie the Lord mightie in battel 9 Lift up your heads O ye gates even lift them up ye everlasting doors and the King of glorie shall come in 10 Who is this King of glorie the Lord of hosts he is the King of glorie Selah Psalm xxxv A Psalm of David 1 UNto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. 2 O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let
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
enemy 10 As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me while they say dayly unto me where is thy God 11 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him Psalm xliii 1 JUdge me O God plead my cause against an ungodly nation O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man 2 For thou art the God of my strength why dost thou cast me off why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy 3 O send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles 4 Then will I go unto the altar of God unto God my exceeding joy yea upon the harp will I praise thee O God my God 5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Psalm xliv To the chief musician for the sonnes of Korah Maschil 1 WE have heard with our ears O God our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days in the times of old 2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand and plantedst them how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out 3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them 4 Thou art my King O God command deliverances for Jacob. 5 Through thee will we push down our enemies through thy name will we tread them undâ—r that rise up against us 6 For I will not trust in my bow neither shall my sword save me 7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies hast put them to shame that hated us 8 In God we boast all the day long and praise thy name for ever Selah 9 But thou hast cast off put us to shame and goest not forth with our armies 10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy they which hate us spoil for themselves 11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat and hast scattered us among the heathen 12 Thou sellest thy people for nought and dost not increase thy wealth by their price 13 Thou makest us a reproch to our neighbours a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us 14 Thou makest us a by-word among the heathen a shaking of the head among the people 15 My confusion is continually before me and the shame of my face hath covered me 16 For the voâ—â—e of him that reprocheth and blasphemeth by reason of the enemie and avenger 17 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy covenant 18 Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps deâ—lined from thy way 19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death 20 If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange God 21 Shall not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart 22 Yea for thy sake are we killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter 23 Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever 24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and our oppression 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth unto the earth 26 Arise for our help and redeem us for thy mercie sake The xlv Psalm To the chief musician upon Shoshannim for the sons of Korah Maschil A song of loves 1 MY heart is enditing a good matter I speak of the things which I have made touching the King my tongue is the pen of a ready writer 2 Thou art fairer than the children of men grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee for ever 3 Gird thy sword upon thy high O most mightie with thy glorie and thy majestie 4 And in thy majestie ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things 5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the Kings enâ—mies whereby the people fall under thee 6 Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the scepter of thy Kingdom is a right scepter 7 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath annointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows 8 All thy garments smell of myrrh and a loes and caslia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad 9 Kings daughters were among thy honourable women upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir 10 Hearken O daughter and consider and encline thine ear forget all thine own people and thy fathers house 11 So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him 12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour 13 The Kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold 14 She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle work the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee 15 With gladness and reâ—oycing shall they be brought they shall enter inâ—o the Kings place 16 In stead of thy fathers shall be thy children whom thou maiest make princes in all the earth 17 I will make thy name to be remembred in all Generations therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever Psalm xlvi To the chief musician for the sons of Korah A song upon Alamoth 1 GOd is our refuge strength a very present help in trouble 2 Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof Selah 4 There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the Citie of God the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high 5 God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early 6 The heathen raged the Kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice the earth melted 7 The Lord of hosts is with uâ— the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah 8 Come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth 9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear insunder he burneth the chariot in the fire 10 Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the heathen I will be exalted in the earth 11 The
thou hast broken it heal the breaches thereof for it shaketh 3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things thou hast made them to drink the wine of astonishment 4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee that it may be displayed because of the truth Selah 5 That thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand and hear me 6 God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce I will divide Shechem mete out the valley of Succoth 7 Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of mine head Judah is my Law-giver 8 Moab is my washpot over Edom will I cast my shoe Philistia triumph thou because of me 9 Who will bring me into the strong Citie who will lead me into Edom 10 Wilt not thou O God which hadst cast us off and thou O God which didst not go out with our armies 11 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man 12 Through God we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies Psalm lxi To the chief musician upon Neginoth A Psalm of David 1 HEar my cry O God attend unto my prayer 2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee when mine heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 For thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy 4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever I will trust in the cover of thy wings Selah 5 For thou O God hast heard my vows thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name 6 Thou wilt prolong the Kings life and his years as many generations 7 He shall abide before God for ever O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him 8 So will I sing praise unto thy name forever that I may daily perform my vows Psalm lxii To the chief musician to Seduthun A Psalm of David 1 TRuly my soul waiteth upon God from him cometh my salvation 2 He onely is my rock and my salvation he is my defence I shall not be greatly moved 3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man Ye shall he slain all of you as a bowing wall shall ye be and as a tottering fence 4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellencie they delight in lies they bless with their mouths but they curse inwardly 5 My soul wait thou onely upon God for mine expectation is from him 6 He onely is my rock and my salvation he is my defence I shall not be moved 7 In God is my salvation and my glory the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God 8 Trust in him at all times ye people pour out your hearts before him God is a refuge for us Selah 9 Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie to be laid in the ballance they are alltogether lighter than vanity 10 Trust not in oppression and becom not vain in robbery if riches increase set not your heart upon them 11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God 12 Also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every one according to his work Psalm lxiii A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah 1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth after thee my flesh longeth for thee in a a dry and thirsty land where no water is 2 To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary 3 Because thy loveing-kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee 4 Thus will I bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy name 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips 6 When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches 7 Because thou hast been my help therefore in the shaddow of thy wing will I rejoyce 8 My soul followeth hard after thee thy right hand upholdeth me 9 But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth 10 They shall fall by the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11 But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped Psalm lxiv. To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 HEar my voice O God in my prayer preserve my life from fear of the enemie 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked from the insurrection of the workers of iniquitie 3 Who whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bow to shoot their arrows even bitter words 4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect suddenly do they shoot at him and fear not 5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them 6 They search our iniquities they accomplish a diligent search both the inward thought of every one of them and the heart is deep 7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded 8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flie away 9 And all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely cnsider of his doing 10 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory Psalm lxv To the chief musitian A Psalm and Song of David 1 PRaise waiteth for thee O God in Sion and unto thee shall the vow be performed 2 O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come 3 Iniquitiâ—s prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away 4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple 5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are aâ—ar off upon the seas 6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains being girded with power 7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people 8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are affraid of thy tokens thou makest the out-goings of the morning and evening to rejoyce 9 Thou visitest the earth and waterest it thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water thoâ— preparest them câ—rn when thou hast so provided for it 10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly thou setlest the furrows thereof thou makest it soft with showers thou blessest the
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
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
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
the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore 5 Remember his marvelous works that he hath done his wonders and the judgements of his mouth 6 O ye seed of Abraham his Servant ye children of Jacob his chosen 7 He is the Lord our God his judgements are in all the earth 8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations 9 Which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac 10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and â—o Israel for aâ— everlasting covenant 11 Saying unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance 12 When they were but a few men in number yea very few and strangers in it 13 When they went from one nation to another from one Kingdom to another people 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakeâ— 15 Saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm 16 Moreover he called for a famin upon the land he brake the whole staff of bread 17 He sent a man before them evâ—n Joseph who was sold for a servant 18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in Iron 19 Until the time that his word came the word of the Lord tryed him 20 The King sent and loosed him even the ruler of the people and let him go free 21 He made â—im Lord of his house and ruler of all his substance 22 To bind his Princes at his pleasure and teach his senatours wisdom 23 Israel also came into Egypt and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And he increased his people greatly made them stronger than their enemies 25 He turned their heart to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants 26 He sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen 27 They shewed his signs among them and wonders in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness and made it dark and they rebelled not against his word 29 He turned their waters in o bloud and slew their fish 30 The land brought forth frogs in abundance in the chambers of their Kings 31 He spake and there came diverse sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts 32 He gave them hail for rain and flaming fire in their land 33 He smote their vines also and their fig-trees and brake the trees of their coasts 34 He spake the locusts came and cater-pillars and that without number 35 And did eat up all the hearbs in the land and devoured the fruit of their ground 36 He smote also all the first-born in their land the chief of all their strength 37 He brought them sorth also with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their Tribes 38 Egypt was glad when they departed for the fear of them fell upon them 39 He spread a cloud for a covering and a fire to give light in the night 40 The people asked and he broughâ— quailes and satisfied them with the breaâ— of heaven 41 He opened the rock and the waters gushed out they ran in the dry places like a river 42 For he remembred his holy promise and Abraham his servant 43 And he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the labour of the people 45 That they might observe his statutes keep his laws Praise ye the Lord. PRaise ye the Lord O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise 3 Blessed are they that keep judgement and he that doth righteousness at all times 4 Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation 5 That I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance 6 We have sinned with our fathers we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly 7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the sea even at the red sea 8 Nevertheless he saved them for his names sake that he might make his mighty power to be known 9 He rebuked the red sea also and it was dried up so he led them through the depths as through the wilderness 10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy 11 And the waters covered their enemies there was not one of them left 12 Then believed they his words they sang his praise 13 They soon forgat his works they waited not for his counsell 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert 15 And he gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul. 16 They envied Moses also in the 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram 18 And a fire was kindled in their company the flame burnt up the wicked 19 They made a calfâ— in Horeb and worshipped the molten image 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass 21 They forgat God their saviour which had done great things in Egypt 22 Wonderous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the red sea 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath least he should destroy them 24 Yea they despised the pleasant land they believed not his word 25 But murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. 26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness 27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations and to scatterâ— them in the lands 28 They joyned themselves also unto Baal-peor and ate the sacrifices of the dead 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the plague brake in upon them 30 Then stood up Phinehas and exe uted judgement and so the plague was stayed 31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore 32 They angred him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes 33 Because they provoked his spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips 34 They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them 35 But were mingled among the heathen and learned their works 36 And they served their idols which were a snare unto them 37 Yea they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils 38 And shed innocent bloud even the bloud of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan and the land was
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
young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy commandments 11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sinne against thee 12 Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy statutes 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgements of thy mouth 14 I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches 15 I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy wayes 16 I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy word Gimel 17 Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word 18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law 19 I am a stranger in the earth hide not thy commandments from me 20 My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgement at all times 21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed which do erre from thy commandments 22 Remove from me reproach and contempt â—or I have kept thy testimonies 23 Princes also did sit and speak against me but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes 24 Thy â—eâ—timonies also are my delight and my counsellours Daleth 25 My soul cleavetâ—â— unto the dust quicken thou me according to thy word I have declared my wayes and thou heardest me teach me thy statutes 27 Make me to unâ—derstand the way of thy precepts so shall I talk of thy wonderous works 28 My soul melteth for heaviness strengthen thou me according unto thy word 29 Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously 30 I have chosen the way of truth thy judgemâ—nts have I laid before me 31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies O Lord put me not to shame 32 I will run the wayes of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart He. 33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end 34 Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart 35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight 36 Encline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness 37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in thy way 38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear 39 Turn away my reproach which I fear for thy judgements are good 40 Behold I have longed after thy preceptsâ— quicken me in thy righteousness Vau. 41 Let thy mercies come also unto me O Lord even thy salvaâ—tion aâ—cording to thy word 42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me for I trust in thy word 43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth for I have hoped in thy judgements 44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts 46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed 47 And I will delight my self in thy commandments which I have loved 48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes Zain 49 Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope 50 This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me 51 The proud have had me greatly in derision yet have I not declined from thy law 52 I remembred thy judgements of old O Lord and have comforted my self 53 Horrour hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law 54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrim age 55 I have remembred thy name O Lord in the night and have kept thy law 56 This I had because I kept thy precepts Cheth 57 Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I would keep thy words 58 I intreated thy favour with my whole heart be merciful unto me according to thy word 59 I thought on my wayes and turned my feet into thy testimonies 60 I made hast and delayed not to keep thy commandments 61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me but I have not forgot thy Law 62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgements 63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts 64 The earth O Lord is full of thy mercie teach me thy statutes Teth. 65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant O Lord according unto thy word 66 Teach me good judgement and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word 68 Thou art good and doest good teach me thy statutes 69 The proud have forged a lie against me but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart 70 Their heart is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes 72 The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver Iod. 73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments 74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word 75 I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me 76 Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant 77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live for thy Law is my delight 78 Let the proud be ashamed for they dealt perversly with me without a cause but I will meditate in thy precepts 79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies 80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed Caph. 81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation but I hope in thy word 82 Mine eyes fail for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort me 83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke yet do I not forget thy statutes 84 How many are the dayes of thy servant when wilt thou execute judgement on them that persecute me 85 The proud have digged pits for me which are not after thy Law 86 All thy commandments are faithful they persecute me wrongfully help thou me 87 They had almost consumed me upon earth but I forsook not thy precepts 88 Quicken me after thy loving kindness so shall I keep the testimonie of thy mouth Lamed 89 For ever O Lord thy word is setled in heaven 90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations thou hast established the earth and it abideth 91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances for all are
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