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
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
for Phinehas his wife giving up the ghost at the dolour of it her last words were The glorie is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken forgetting her husband 65 The Lord himself was amazed at what was done to see himself as it were taken prisoner his strength gone like Sampsons and as it were a binding by the Philistines to be made their pastime and reproch as he was whereupon the Lord whom the Philistines thought they had vanquished as well as his people having the Ark their prisoner or that he had quite cast off care either of it or them on a sudden he alone fell foul upon the Philistines by his own immediate power in their own countrey he took them to task for the rescue of his Ark and vindicating his honour from their insolencies and laid about him like Sampson awakened out of his sleep when his strength was upon him or as some mightie Giant enraged and transported with wine and passion dealing judgements on all hands to every Town and people Lords and Commons where the Ark came at Ashdod Gath and Ekron destroying them with deadly destruction so that their crie went up to heaven 66 For the plague he sent amonst them made them die a pace tormented with grievous pain and horrour the disease being sore Emerods in their secret hinder parts Neither could their God Dagon stand before it but paid his head in homage to it when it came into his house so that the Ark made such destruction wheresoever it came of them and their Gods that these great conquerours made no brags of their booty but sent it home again and glad they were to be rid of it accompanied with the Images and representations of those so shameful Emerods in their secret parts by the advice of their priests sent as a trespass-offering but ordered by providence to be indeed a perpetual monument and memorial among the Israelites of that disgraceful punishment and ignominious disease God inflicted on them to whom they to their own shame were thus enforced to give glorie even to the God of Israel and ask him pardon whom they thought they had overcome and taken prisoner when they had his Ark captive 67 But though God thus plagued his enemies and rescued his Ark out of their hands and brought it home to Israel yet to shew his displeasure against them too he abandoned Shilo quite and would not suffer that testimonie of his presence to return any more thither whence it was taken captive for their sins but refused to reside and be worshipped any longer in the tribe of Ephraim the sons of Joseph behaved themselves so ill within whose lotment Shiloh was where his Ark had so long sojourned and he had been so much neglected 68 But instead thereof chose Jerusalem mount Sion there which he preferred to all the earth to be the place for his Ark to reside on there in the tribe of Judah did he chuse to fix his presence appoint his worship where he knew he should be faithfully served to his content and established the Kingdom there also which both Kingdom and Priest-hood in the tribe of Judah shall continue and be preserved when as Ephraim and that opposit Kingdom of the ten tribes with their Idolatrous service shall be quite extinct and led away captive 69 There did he build himself a glorious Temple in the glorious flourishing times of Solomon for his Ark to abide in immoveably and with it his presence beautified and enriched with all the ornaments and precious things that nature or Art could contribute to it raised upon a mount exceeding sightly for scituation and it self stately for building and Architecture there to flourish and abide firm as the earth by the mightie power of God protecting that as he supports this for so shall his Church spiritual which Christ shall build and beautifie figured by the Temple be established upon the earth as the earth and in heaven for ever 70 And as that tribe and place was honoured with the temple sacred service also so with the Kingdom and that eminent servant and Kingly type of the Messiah David who was chosen thence to rule his people whom he advanced thereunto from a mean condition even from keeping his fathers sheep in token of Christs abasement before his glorious and sovereign advancement over his Church and Kingdom 71 From taking care of his fathers flock the yeanning ewes and tender lambs did the Lord raise him to be the Kingly shepheard of his own espoused people that have been his inheritance ever since they were Jacobs posteritie that he might yield protection to these and deliver them from their enemies as he did those from the Lion and the Bear and in tender love and care administer mercie and justice to them instructing them in the fear of the Lord as Christ shall do his Church 72 And David did not fail of his dutie no more shall Christ of his but with an upright honest heart both towards God above him and those under him did he discharge his place providing for them protecting of them and administring to them and indeed throughout his reign ruled them very prosperously with much sagacitie of wisdom and happie success in all his great undertakings The spirit of God being with him as he shall be with Christ. The lxxix PSALM The Psalmist sadly relates to God the condition of his people the land the holy Citie the Temple under either the Assyrian or Antiochus what cruelty and devastation was every where executed what reproch he and they were fallen into by it and prayeth for redress and remarkable judgement upon their cruel oppressours and the blasphemers of his name promising everlasting remembrance of his mercie and praise for it if vouchsafed A Psalm made either by Asaph himself in a prophetical prediction of Jerusalems calamities or committed to his successours bearing his name by some man of God that made it after they fell out 1 O God that didst chuse and set apart this land of Canaan specially Judea for thy self and Church to inhabit and to worship thee in and didst drive out them that were not thy people and tookest and keptst possession of it hitherto till now that the heathen no whit related to thee have re-assumed it broken in with rage and cruelty and dispossessed both thee and thy people for now Jerusalem which thou hast formerly so wonderfully preserved from them and the Temple there that place of thy special presence and sacred worship have they also mastered as well as the rest of the land of Israel and Judah the one of them they have done all manner of spight to for thy sake defiled that sacred place with the bloud of thine own people that were wont there to worship thee and introduced their prophane Idolatries into it The other they have devastated the walls and houses are demolished inhabitants slaughtred all ruinated 2 It
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
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
saw me so changed glad to forsake Jerusalem and flie for my life did in like manner flie from me and save themselves 12 Upon mine alteration I am become of no request but given for lost and undone without all hope of recoverie counted as a cast-away and contemptible man in an irreparable condition 13 Yea manifold slaunders and disgraceful injuries have come to mine ears which by mine enemies are heaped upon me to bring me into hatred and procure my destruction so that every way I am beset with fears and dangers by false rumors and secret plots and conspiracies devising to deprive me of my life and Kingdom 14 But in my deepest distress my faith failed me not but that still I trusted firmly in thee believing and encouraging my self still with this That by proof and promise I can say thou art my God in near relation and dear affection what ever befall me 15 And besides I know my self and fortune are wholly in thine hands and that nothing can befall me but by thy providence notwithstanding the malicious hatred of mine enemies thou canst preserve me from them that go about to destroy me be they never so potent or politick they cannot have their wills upon me to hurt me except thou permit it which I pray thee do not but deliver me 16 I have long and grievously undergone thy displeasure both inwardly and outwardly I have felt thine ire and the smart of my sin which hath brought me near to ruin now therefore Lord at last in tender mercie pittie me and shew me some sign of favour to refresh my spirit withal and give me some hopes of escape and recoverie who though a sinner yet am thy servant that thereby all men may see thy loving-kindness towards me by thy delivering me out of this danger also and restoring me to my former happie condition which how ever my sin deserves the contrarie yet for thy mercie sake vouchsafe it 17 Let not O Lord the misfortune which mine enemies hope to bring upon me ever befal me to the disappointing of my hope for I have trusted in thee and prayed unto thee which my wicked enemies have not done therefore let them miscarrie and let their hopes be frustrate yea let their vexatious courses receive an end by themselves doing so cut them off in thy displeasure for nothing but their deaths will secure my life in peace and quietnes and my name from opprobrie so restless are they in mischievous devices against me both by word and deed 18 Let the slaunderous mouths of my wicked adversaries be stopt after that sort they that through pride and malice lay mine honour in the dust through lies and contumelies in thy justice Lord lay them there for thou knowest me guiltless of their false aspersions and innocent of that they accuse me 19 O Lord for all mine afflictions yet mine heart is much comforted in the faithful confidence of thy great goodness and mercie which thou hast in store for such as are thine and walk holily as thine being careful to please and fearful to offend thee as I am and also because of the great manifestation thou hast ever made of it in admirable preservations and deliverances both of me and others that have relied upon thee in spite and sight of all our enemies 20 Such shalt thou by special and extraordinary providence keep as safe as if they were in heaven from the power of man be he never so potent and proud withall Yea all that they enmiously give out against them in brags and threats and slanderous suggestions shall have no issue but shall be as wind so safe shalt thou keep them from all harm 21 What I say I know by experience to be true Blessed and magnified be the Lord for it for as poor and destitute as I was left so much the more marvellous hath his loving kindness appeared that by his goodness and providence hath preserved me safe from the power and malice of mine enemie so that no fortress though never so fortified could have better secured me 22 For so great was my trouble and desolate my condition that upon the surprize before I well bethought me of thy goodness and power I apprehended my self as given up by thee into mine enemies hands inevitably to be destroyed Yet I had so much faith left as to pray for preservation though I could scarce hope it and though my faith was weak in regard of deliverance Yet in fervencie and supplication it was strong and thou wast pleased in mercie to pass by mine infirmitie and was intreated of me in my miserie and effectually didst hear me when in the anguish of my spirit I powred out my soul before thee 23 Be you provoked by mine exhortation and example O all ye Godly faithful ones to take heed of hastie discontent and unbelief let your condition be what it will be still bear up in faith have good thoughts of God who however he seems otherways yet is firm in his affections towards you and be you confident that he both can and will preserve you if you dare relie upon him and will wait for him the power and pride of your enemies he will bring down and in his own good time will make them plentifully taste the fruit of their evil ways by powring upon them his heavie and just displeasure 24 Be but stedfast and stout in faith when trials are upon you do but then hold out in undaunted believing and he shall give you inwardly by his spirit and outwardly by his providence great stay and comfort of heart even thus shall he do to all that chuse him and onely him to hope and trust in for protection Take it upon my word that speak it both by prophesie and experience The xxxii PSALM David sheweth what makes a man blessed to wit the justifying pardoning and sanctifying grace of God which he affirms feelingly in the sense of his own miserie the whilest it was suspended from him and the happiness he had when God renewed it in him whence he takes occasion to animate himself and all that are Godly in the faith of Gods goodness and from his own experience perswades from stubbornness in sin to yieldableness in piety for that produceth nothing but miserie but faith and holiness brings true joy and happiness A Psalm made by David upon the experimental miserie of the guilt of sin instructing all men wherein true happiness onely consists 1 ALl men would be happie and blessed but all men are not so whatever they think by themselves no no one are abound they never so in worldly felicitie saving he and he onely who by a lively faith laying hold of mercie in the vertue of a promise is sensible of the free pardon of all his transgressions and of his being clothed upon with the imputed righteousness of his redeemer 2 Blessed yea I say again onely blessed and
away without any dispensation of his grace and compassion hath he conceived such displeasure against me as forever to shut the doore of mercy upon me yea shall he who is a God of bowels and those bowels full of earnings towards his people in distress shall he suffer himself to be inexorably transported with anger against me Surely it cannot be I thought so with my self 10 And replied to all these my expostulatory interrogations that it was my frailty and folly thus to question the nature and faithfulness of God and to live by sense more than by faith and suffer my self to be transported by affliction into doubts and discomforts and thereupon set my self to work in another way resolved to take out a new lesson and not onely by contemplation but by faith and application to recall to mind for the chearing of my heart and the stirring up my hope what powerfull grace and great deliverances the pledges of his future favours in like sort God hath heretofore wrought and exhibited in his peoples behalf when they were in extremity not suffering them to sink under them 11 I will effectually recollect and consider what God hath done of that kind heretofore yea how his peoples extremities were still his opportunities to give them wonderfull deliverance and gain himself glory and honour and so it shall be with me I doubt not 12 I will more advisedly than ever I have done consider of thine infinite power and support my self by it not onely as it appears in acts of providence of auncient and later dispensations which is admirable but in the creation also which thou deducedst out of nothing and so thou canst any raise me up though I were lower than I am I will no more uncomfortably muse of thee and thy doings and make a wrong use of them that because heretofore thou hast done thus and thus and dost not so now and therefore thou never wilt but that I shall surely sink and die in this distress no but I will both meditate and speak of them with chearfull apprehensions and comfortable conclusions to my self that because thus and thus it hath been with thy people and so and so thou hast done for them that these are pledges and assurances of thine unchangeable goodness and patterns of thy power and that therefore so it shall be and so thou wilt do for me also in like manner 13 O Lord much debate I have had and reasonings about thee and thy proceedings but thy ways and the reasons of them I find are too profound for me I confess my self too shallow to fathom thy dimensions it is not reason but prayer nor my wisdom but thine that must quiet my mind and inform me aright for how can I that am an earth-worm here below comprehend thy counsels and judgements that are transacted above in the heavens inaccessible as was thy sanctuary or holy of holies by thee who art an incomparable God indeed the onely God that doest whatsoever thou wilt both in heaven and earth and who hast in nothing manifested thy greatness more than in thy goodness to and powerfull preservation and deliverance of us thy people 14 For whom thou doest not exercise common and ordinary providences but doest wonders and workest miracles thy power hath gloriously appeared more than once by remarkable and astonishing atchivements in thy peoples behalf upon their enemies witness those mighty signs and wonders wherewith thou plaguest the Gentiles for their sakes sundry ways and at sundry times 15 With what power didst thou specially bring Israel out of Egypt thou sentest Jacob and his sons thither in time of famin to be preserved by Joseph whom thou there advancedst but when Joseph was forgotten his and his father Jacobs posterity ill intreated by cruell taskmasters there how with the lives of the Egyptians and the destruction of Egypt didst thou redeem and deliver thy people thence A mercy for ever to be recorded in the hearts of thy servants 16 When as the waters of the red sea were so sensible of thy divine presence and power O God that as if they had been afraid of thee and of harming thy people whom thou then conductedst they ran away and divided themselves hither and thither as it were to stand still and with admiration to look on that marvellous passage of thy people through them yea not onely the superficies of the water was thus moved but from the top to the very bottom was that great Abbiss removed at thy presence and made way for the seed of Jacob and Joseph to pass on dry land 17 What an amazement didst thou then put the Egyptians into on a sudden when as in the morning-watch thou lookedst into the host through the pillar of fire and cloud and didst arm the whole host of heaven against them tempestuously pouring forth rain and emptying the clouds upon them thundering also over their heads and flashing forth streams of lightning in their faces as if it had been a shour of darts or arrows sent from heaven to destroy them 18 It is not to be expressed the terrour and trouble of that day which made them say Let us flie for God fights for Israel against the Egyptians What fearfull thunder-claps were in the skies and flakes of fire with flashes of lightning that darkned the sun and made the whole heavens seem to be of a light fire the earth by its trembling and quaking seemed to think the day of judgement was at hand and that it was then to be consumed and return to its nonensity Every way and by every thing didst thou declare thy power to preserve thy people to deliver them with the destruction of their enemies the Egyptians whom thou troubledst thus from above and from beneath retarding their flight till the sea overwhelmed them 19 A memorable deliverance forever to be had in remembrance of thy people Israel whether in letter or in spirit the presence and power that there was manifested in their behalfs conducting them safe through a way of thine own miraculous making that never was gone before through the sea it self and after through Jordan in like sort when it quite overflowed his banks Submission and not disputation best becomes us mortalls in all conditions that know not the ways of Gods providence nor the reasons of them now no more than the Israelites knew then why he led them to the sea side to bring them into Canaan nor do we know how thou wilt bring us out of our distresses which thou bringest us into no more than they knew how thou wouldst deliver them in that their danger when unknown to them thou openedst the sea for their passage 20 And ledst them through it by the conduct of Moses and Aaron whom thou settest over them and appointedst to be unto them as shepherds to a flock with care and tenderness to lead them provide for them and transact betwixt thee and
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
thou art bound no never to forget neither all nor any of them but to sum them up in thank-ful praises to his name 3 Who hath called thee to be faithfull and of his onely good grace hath freely in the merits of his son forgiven thee all thy sins justified thee from their guilt and pardoned their punishment so that from an heir of hell thou art translated to be an heir of heaven And hath also enabled thee by the spirit of regeneration to walk worthie so rich grace in mortifying thy lusts and raising thee to newness of life and conversation by his sanctifying quickening graces bestowed upon thee 4 Who to save thy life lost his own gave it a price for thee the virtue whereof hath influence every day and hour upon thee O my soul for every trespass thou committest dying virtually as oft as thou sinnest whereby thou art kept from perishing everlastingly as else thou hadst done and wouldst do continually and though the bodie wherein thou doest officiate do die a temporal death and lie down in the grave as all men must yet at that instant shalt thou be translated to live with him in Heaven that died for thee on earth instead of being sent to Hell according to thy demerits and at the resurrection shalt have a happie re-union with a glorified incorruptible bodie having honoured and enriched thee here with the first fruits of glorie pardoning protecting regenerating justifying graces more than I can enumerate because of his love and mercie to thee and for no cause else 5 Who feasts thee with Spiritual and Heavenly dainties suting thy tast and appetite answers all thy prayers touching requisit graces and comforts so that whensoever thy stock of either seems to be spent thy graces enfeebled and thy comforts exhausted then at thy request comes God with sweet and seasonable supplies and maketh them and so thee that wast a dying to live again vigorous and active like an eagle that by casting her beak and feathers and new-ones coming in their stead resumes her former agilitie and strength till then disabled so is thy regenerate part and sanctified habits by fresh auxiliaries and immediate breathings revived when at a loss 6 And not onely in spiritual soul-desertions but also in external bodily afflictions does the Lord appear seasonably for when I was oppressed and opened my case to God pleading mine innocencie and mine enemies injurie how did he judge my cause against them and upon them and so will he do for all his faithful upright innocent people in their wrongful pressures in a season most comfortable and profitable he will deliver them and judge their oppressours 7 Witness his wonderful works of old in the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt he did foretel to Moses what powerful and terrible judgements he would bring upon the Egyptians and how wonderfully in truth and righteousness he would enfranchise his people and what he said he did all he told to Moses by promise he made it good by experience in the sight of all the twelve tribes Israels posteritie he faild not in a tittle nor shall his Covenant of grace made with our redeemer Christ touching his redeemed 8 And as the Lord betwixt man and man is pitiful to the oppressed especially to his Church and terrible to their enemies So is he also betwixt himself and them a very graciously disposed God in respect of the sins and deserved punishments of his people as Israel well experimented all along the wilderness exceeding readie to shew mercie and to pardon sin and punishment when it is petitioned for not easily provoked nor apt to anger as they found and extream readie to grant forgiveness of one sin after another if the sinner pray it uprightly God will grant it willingly even the pardon of all our sins though both many and great as theirs were 9 And when he does visit our sins upon us for he will not alwayes bear with us so nor then will he be alwayes wroth against us punish us he may destroy us he never will no nor yet be alwayes angrie at us or frown upon us his face shall clear up and his favour shine forth after a while faithful prayer will scatter those clouds 10 We of all the World have cause to acknowledge him such an one he hath not done by us as we have deserved our experiences from time to time have made good all his gracious properties of grace long-suffering and plenteous mercie having ever been a God exceedingly bearing with us and forbearing of us though a provoking ungreatful people towards him 11 For the immensity of his mercie is superlative to any natural comparison no dimensions can proportion it the height of heaven above the earth does not resemble it to us such and beyond it is his mercie in preterition and pardon to his people that unfeinedly repent them of their sins and with full purpose of heart Covenant to fear and serve him 12 Consider the heavens either for height or wideness and which you think is the greater for the help of your faith conclude that so great and greater is the mercie of God towards such as turn to him and walk with him sincerely The East and West shall as soon come together as the sins of such shall be laid to their charge how grievous so ever they have been for at a greater distance and disproportion hath God sundred a penitent sinner and his sins even as far as infinite is from finite Christ himself who is God having taken them off of him upon himself 13 You that are earthly parents know what are the bowels of a father to a child when with tears and prayers it begs pardon for its offences such for such comparisons we are fain to use for the help of our natural apprehensions and far greater are the earnings of God and his compassions towards those that in the faith of his mercie repent of their transgressions beg pardon of their punishments and promise and perform upright obedience 14 For the Lord knoweth of what brickle matter we are made he remembers how transitorie our natures are so that should he deal with us after our sins and would punish us according to our provocations he would have no people left on earth to serve him or to carrie on the existence and being of a Church so that our frailtie moved him to mercie and not to do as sin would have him cut our short lives shorter 15 Man being no better than grass both sprung out of the earth hath a little time of Being alotted him here wherein he takes some contentment during part of that little in his youthful season as a flower that hath its moneth to spring flourish and decay in so at best is mans condition by course of nature but besides that naturally he is so frail and momentany he is subject to be cut off by infinite accidents that
joyfull fruitfulness making her dry breasts give suck and she to be mother and nurse of many children Take ye notice of these his greatness goodness and wonderfull dispensations to praise him for them and the excellencies that shine forth in them The cxiv PSALM The Psalmist records a narrative of the revâ—rend apprehension which the senseless elements of earth and water had at the Majesty and presence of the Lord when he went along with his people Israel from Egypt to Canaan to instruct them much more to do so and wisheth the earth it self would still convince them of their duty when they neglect it and are mindless of his fore-past wondrous providences 1 WHen by the wonderfull working of God the children of Israel went out of Egypt entirely the whole twelve Tribes according to the families of Jacobs sonns when they I say were so marvellously rescued out of their long and grievous captivity under the Egyptians a people that ruled over them as men rule over beasts rather by blowes than words being of strange language and estranged affections pitiless towards them 2 The posterity of Israel were then the people of all the world he made choice of declaratively by signs and wonders to be their God and King and that his presence was as really and eminently amongst them as ever after it was in the most glorious times of the Church when his sanctuary the token of his residence was situate in Jerusalem Judahs lot and the thrones of David and Salomon were there erected 3 The red sea above its nature was made sensible of the power and presence of the Lord with his people insomuch as it reverently and submittingly withdrew it self out of its place to make way for him and them to pass through so likewise did Jordan at their enterance into Canaan stop his course and divide his waves for the Ark the pledge of God and his people to pass through his Chanell 4 The famous mountain Sinai in the wilderness when God to give his Law to his people descended down upon it the whole mount as great and ponderous as it was quaked greatly and all those contiguous hills bordering upon it did the like so that by their motion they seemed rather to be sensible and living creatures than clods of earth 5 6 O ye elements of earth and water that by nature are without sence and motion saving to your center what therefore was the cause that at those times the sea and Jordan of themselves against nature and no Art of man concurring did so withdraw And that mount Sinai with the adjacent hills so strangely moved and stirred like living creatures was it naturall or supernaturall Why the God of nature appeared and inspired them above their natures to teach his people the reverence and fear they should conceive when they draw nigh to him as he then did to them 7 O the Majesty and terrour of the Lord our God whose sanctuary and presence is among us how ought it to affect us that thus affected the senceless elements still O earth do thou instruct us shew us that holy fear and reverence we that are Israels off-spring ought to perform to Jacobs God when we forget it by trembling now as then at the representation and manifestation of himself 8 Mind us of those miracles he wrought for our forefathers in the wilderness the faith and usefulness whereof ought not to be let slip with what Almighty power he provided for them in their need causing the dry and hard rocks miraculously to supply so many hundred thousand men and cattell with plenty of water The cxv PSALM In some extremity or captivity by or under the heathen as that of Babylon or Antiochus c. This Psalm was made wherein the Psalmist by an argument of concession taking their deliverance for granted first makes his onset upon God and then by interrogation enforced from the heathen blasphemy and his peoples fidelity in him and scorn of all Gods besides him and God-makers Then comes to exhort Israel though low brought to trust firmly in God for better which be enforceth by an argument of Gods unchangeableness to his Church and the absolute necessity thereof for if his Church perish his praise perisheth and then all things come to nothing 1 O Lord when thou shalt as we know thou wilt have delivered us out of this miserable condition we promise before hand we will not rob thee of thy glory it shall be no merit nor motive out of thy self that shall cause it thy power and goodness thy mercy and faithfulness must be it must do it and when it is done they alone shall wear it we will acknowledge and ascribe it to nothing else but thee our great and gracious redeemer 2 What ever our demerits are yet be more mindfull of thine own honour than by our destruction and captivation that declaratively are thy people above all the world and so taken notice of by the heathen to expose thy self to their scorn and obloquy and to give them thereby occasion to insult blasphemously over thy power and faithfulness our trust and confidence as if our profession and thy promises were mere delusions and that thou canst not help us or hast quite rejected us 3 This Lord as to them will be the issue though neither their Blasphemy nor our misery shall abate of our faith and acknowledgement of thee both to be our God in covenant and adoption and the sole God that in heaven art glorious and from thence rulest all things and orderest all dispensations here on earth so that nothing befalls us thy people by any humane power that thou couldst not have hindered if thou wouldest it is thou that hast set them on work thus to do by us in justice for our sinns else a hair of our heads could not have perished by them 4 It is not their Gods but our own God that is able to do us harm for they are but Idols at the best made of Gold and Silver nor are they so much as their own makers but have their being from men that have their being from thee they make them that made not themselves and therefore must they needs be goodly Gods 5 That are utterly liveless bare Statues and resemblances for mans workmanship can go no further he cannot give life and consequently neither sence nor motion and therefore though they have the fashion of a mouth yet are they speechless having neither Soul nor Organs to animate and inable them and so they have the fashion of eyes as well as man can imitate but are as blind as Beetles 6 Likewise they have the similitude of ears but are as deafe as doore-nails and of noses but smell neither sweet nor sour 7 They have very artificiall hands but can do nothing with them and fashionable feet but can neither go nor stand but as they are otherwayes upheld and
at the right hand of his Father in the heavenly Jerusalem whose blessed exaltation unto the execution of those offices there is the desire and delight of his soul as being onely well pleased in him and reconciled by him therefore so is Sion here which is the representation of him and them 15 I will multiply blessings for so thou hast said upon the whole land for Sions sake that she may be provided with all manner of store for holy services Let not the poor Israelite fear to bring his offerings and disfurnish himself to worship me as I have appointed for if the service of my sanctuarie lessen his store if there he seek me faithfully he shall carrie such a blessing home with him as he shall have no cause to repent him for I will both bless him with lively-hood let him not fear it and bless it to him 16 The Priests that there officiate in consecrated garments shall be in like manner clothed upon with the saving and sanctifying righteousness of the Messiah which in their zeal and faithful discharge of their places they shall hold forth to the example and edification of their brethren who in the sinceritie of their hearts shall bless the Lord for such happie times wherein so much of God his grace and favour appears in blessing them with a holy Priest-hood and Divine worship and powerfully protecting both it and them 17 I will bless Sion and there shall David my servant be blessed not onely in himself during the time of his regencie but after him his successour and Gods anointed King Solomon shall far exceed him in power and glorie whose wisdom which I shall give him to govern by shall shine with that brightness as shall wonderfully increase his fame and dignitie the world over who shall be a lively pattern of the anointed Messiah that also shall spring out of the stock of David that spiritual Solomon the Prince of peace and mightie counsellour 18 And his enemies that would not he should rule over them but oppose his advancement or disturb his Government I will shamefully cut off both them and their enterprises but him will I bless with a flourishing reign of glorie and affluence at home and abroad resembling Christ both in his own happiness and his enemies confusion The cxxxiii PSALM David being received of all Israel for their King by common and joynt consent after much disagreement and war among the tribes some being for and some against him He shews the happie condition they were now in upon the change how amiable and acceptable unitie had rendered them to God what a flourishing Church and Common-wealth they had and should have by it and that nothing can be a greater blessing to them nor shall be to the Church and people of God in all ages than for them to honour their father and head in heaven by living in brother-hood here on earth See the title of the 120 Psalm the Authors name superadded here 1 COnsider well the singular mercie of God in uniting all the tribes sons of the same father both by nature and adoption that were so far asunder at deadly feud and open war among themselves to the hazard of the whole had not God graciously over-ruled them to peace and unitie under one head and to be all of one heart And as the mercie so the good and benefit of this union is worthie your consideration to move you to cherish and nourish it all you can for besides that Harmonie of hearts is it self an unestimable Jewel and beautiful ornament in the Church and among the people of God a very resemblance of that concord and consort which shall be in heaven the commodities also that issue thence to the publick and every mans particular weal is very considerable and impulsive how thereby all things go well and happily forward in Church and Common-wealth the worship and service of God that flourisheth the re-publick that does the like things are now orderly constituted magistracie maintained people protected justice administred and whereas before we weakened our selves by civil wars now we are strong to defend our selves and offend our enemies round about us In breef it renders us acceptable to God comfortable to our selves and an astonishment to our adversaries both profit and pleasure yea all manner of good that can be named is complicate in and productive from this one comprehensive mercie of concord we for our parts find the sweet of it and so shall the Church of God allwayes especially after such sowr dissentious as we have waded through 2 If I would compare this brotherly union of us so of the people of God in all ages in the pleasurable delectable part of it to any thing it must be to a non-such for such it is I cannot liken it to any thing that in all points better resembleth it than that rich sacred odoriferous ointment made by the special appointment of God himself for so is peace unitie in his Church for the consecration of Aaron and his sons to their holy office and service which being plentifully poured upon the High-priests head did diffuse it self down to his beard and so from thence to the holy vestments from top to toe such in perfect analogie is this general amity wrought by God among us in the sweet savour and blessed effects of it God by me your King and head consecrated as it were to mine office by this your unanimous consent and election as with an holy unction as well as by Gods immediate designation conveighing the benefit and sweetness thereof through the blessing and mediation of the Priestly office and service as by Aarons beard down to you again and so you made happie in the sweet and comfortable benefits and blessings of both by means of amitie and unitie with them and among your selves like as the Church mystical united to her head Christ at Gods right hand in glorie and at brotherly love and amitie in it self shall be unspeakably blessed with those Divine influences of grace and spirit derived from her King and Priest Christ Jesus by the mediation and ministration of his Evangelists and Gospel-ministers down to all the members of his bodie partakers of the sweet fruits and benefits of all his offices and thereby consecrated a sweet savour even Kings and Priests to God with the self-same spirit or holy unction to their infinite honour and consolation 3 And as brotherly love and concord is a pleasant and amiable thing in it self and sweet and acceptable with God so also it is exceeding profitable and brings with it abundance of blessings peace God is wont to bless with plentie whereas wars and discord are accompanied with curses and scarcitie Look how the fruitful dew that falls upon and from mount Hermon that fertil hill down into the fields of Bashan and so abundantly enricheth them to the owners benefit or look which is indeed a properer
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
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