vers 1. and the reason vers 2. 2. A double vow vers 3 4. with the reason The vow repeated vers 5. 3. The effects which were to follow vers 6 7. 1. The first part A prayer for 1. Mercy He first desires of God that he would so carry himself to his Church and people that it might appear that he hath a care of them that he loves them 1. Vers. 1 God be merciful to us favour us for his Mercy is the fountain of all our good 2. 2 A blessing Then Bless us Give whatsoever is good Temporal spiritual blessings 3. 3 The blessing of favour and grace Vers. 2 In particular Cause his face to shine upon us Clear up his countenance to us Every man desires a blessing the good man this blessing 4 That this blessing be extended to all people the blessing of the right-hand Let him openly shew that he favours us And for this he gives his reason viz. That the light may be communicative and the benefit pass over to others The second part even unto all men all Nations 1. In which he votes praise to God and desires that all may join with him That thy Way thy Will thy Word thy Works may be known on earth 2. Thy saving health not in Jury alone but among all Nations He desires that all men may come to the knowledge of the Truth and take notice of those wayes which he takes for the salvation of his people 2. And upon it he Votes honour to God for one will easily and naturally flow from the other Vers. 3 his mercy brings knowledge and his knowledge praise Let the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee This verse is Emphatical 1. Vers. 5 In respect of the Object Te. Thee Not other strange gods 2. Celebrent omnes All the people Not mutter thy praises but make them illustrious 3. And do it he artily And do it often Repeat them again and again as he doth this verse vers 5. 4. Vers. 4 And do it with a joyful and glad heart O let the Nations rejoice and sing for joy And of this also he gives his reason The reason the Acts that flow from Gods special providence his governing his moderating his directing his people 1. 1 Gods equity in judging His equity in judging Thou shalt judge the people righteously 2. 2 His wisdom in ordering His wisdom in governing Thou shalt govern lead and direct the Nations and that on earth that they know the way to eternal happiness Via gratia via gloriae 3. The third part The Consequences The effects of his blessing and our praise are expressed in the two last verses 1. Vers. 6 Then shall the earth yield her increase Which literally is an ample Harvest Spiritually 1 An increase the inhabitants of the earth shall increase in knowledge thanks c. 2. And God shall bless this increase for without his blessing 2 A blessing of that increase the increase will be to little purpose God even our God shall bless Which he ingeminates that it be not forgotten God shall bless Vers. 7 3. The last effect is 3 Gods worship that God shall be worshipped and honoured all the world over And all the ends of the earth shall fear him The Prayer collected out of the sixty seventh Psalm O God great in power but infinite in mercy acknowledge we do that thou art the Father of all gifts and the Fountain of all goodness Vers. 1 and from thy bounty and liberality it is that we receive whatsoever we can call ours and therefore we humbly beséech thée to be favourable and merciful to us to bless unto us whatsoever is good and make it openly and plainly appear that thou doest carry a serene aspect and a clear countenance towards us That so while we remain in this earth we may perfectly know that way that leads to thée and to our future happiness And this mercy we ask not for our selves alone but for all Nations Vers. 2 O happy day when not in Jury alone but all the world over thy wayes shall be made known when there shall be but one fold and one shepherd and thy saving health made evident and receiv'd by all Nations Bring to pass O God that many may come from the East and West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God Vers. 3 Thy name will be glorious thy honour enlarg'd when the Gentiles with the Jews and the Jews with the Gentiles shall with one heart and one voice sing hymns to thy name O then let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee Thou art a just God in equity judge for us thou art a wise God in wisdom govern and direct us Deliver thy people from the tyranny of men and from the rage and fury of Devils direct and govern our hearts in the way of thy Laws and in the works of thy Commandments so shall we appear in thy presence with joyful and glad hearts and sing merrily our songs of Zion to thy name Again and again I beg of thée O Lord that all men may come to the knowledge of thy truth and confess thy name O let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee Let them cast away their strange gods and fall low before thy foot-stool and adore thée alone the Maker of all things the Redéemer of all men for then the Lord will hear the heavens and the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyle and they shall hear Israel Out of thy mercy O God bestow upon us the light of thy countenance and grateful hearts that so all other things may be administred unto us bless our fields with increase and our houses with abundance and because all plenty is no better than poverty without thy blessing give thy blessing to that thou hast given so shall we fear thy name and adore thy Majesty and admire thy wise providence and in all reverence and humility set forth thy praise from generation to generation Amen PSAL. LXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DIverse conjectures there are of the occasion of the composure of this Psalm But the most probable is that it was composed by David when he brought up the Ark of God which was the Type of the Church and Symbol of Gods presence to Jerusalem This after it was sent home by the Philistines rested first in the obscure Lodge of Aminadab then for a while it stay'd with Obed-Edom near sixty years in both places It was Davids care to provide a fit room for it in the head of the Tribes even in his own City And to express his joy and honour the Solemnity David led the way dancing with all his might in a linnen Ephod and all the house of Israel followed with shouts and instruments of
that they may glorifie my Father which is in Heaven Thy praise I will sound forth thy Name I will magniffe confess I will that thou hast been to me a gracious God and merciful Father even in the Courts of the Lords house even in the midst of thee O jerusalem in which I know thou wilt alone accept of thanks and hear and grant the pelitions of thy servants that are offered unto thée through the merits and in the Name of thy Son Iesus Christ our Lord and Saviour PSAL. CXVII A Hymn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm is short and sweet it contains a Doxology to God for his mercy and truth and it is also Prophetical in reference to the calling of the Gentiles as it appears Rom. 15.11 Two parts there are of it 1. An Exhortation to all Nations to praise God The first part 1. A Doxology both Gentiles and Jewes 1. He speaks to the Gentiles Praise the Lord all ye Nations he means after they were converted and made sons of the Church For how shall they call on him in whom they have not believeâ—â— Rom. 10. 2. He speaks to the converted Jewes whom he notes under the name of people as they are call'd Psal 2.1 Acts 4.25 Praise the Lord all ye people Both now make but one Church and therefore both now ought to joyn together in the praise of God 2. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Reason give for it The second part 1. Because his merciful kindness is great nay confirmed toward us 2 The reason in sending his Son to be a Saviour both of Jewes and Gentiles His Church is built on a foundation against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail 2. Neither is his mercy only by this confirmed but the truth also of his promises fulfilled as he promised to send a Messias so he hath performed it and this his truth endures for ever for it shall never be challenged there is no other Messiah to be expected now for this Praise ye the Lord. The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and seventeenth Psalm O Omnipotent and gracious God when all Mankind walked according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the power of the Aire the spirit that works in the children of disobedience When they walked according to the lusts of the flesh and fulfilled the desires of the flesh and were by nature the children of wrath Thou who art rich in mercy for thy great love wherewith thou hast loved us wast pleased to send thy only begotten Son Jesus Christ and to deliver him to death for the salvation of the World This thy great mercy it pleased thée to make known to us by thy Apostles and to call us who were Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenant of Promise to be partakers of thy merciful kindness In Christ Jesus we who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ so great hath thy mercy béen even toward us therefore from us immortal thanks are due unto thée who find our selves saved not for our merits but by thy sole goodness We therefore beséech thée that thou wouldst so confirm our hearts by the Spirit of faith that without any doubt adhering to thy truth which endures for ever we may apprehend those good things which thou hast promised and offerest fréely to us O Lord have mercy upon all Iewes Turks Iufidels and Hereticks and take from them all ignorance hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord to thy flock that they may be saved among the remnant of thy true Israelites let us all méet in one Fold and have but one Shepherd that all Nations may praise the Lord and all people sing Hallelujah to thy holy Name through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. CXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DAVID being freed from many dangers and confirmed in his Kingdom according to Gods promise in this Psalm gives thanks The parts of this Psalm are 1. An Exhortation to praise God for his mercy from ver 1. to 5. 2. A perswasion to trust in God and that from his own example who call'd upon God in trouble and was deliver'd from ver 5. to 15. 3. The Exultation of the Church for it from ver 15. to 19. 4. A solemn Thanksgiving kept for it and in what manner it was celebrated from ver 19. to 28. 5. David invites to praise God The first part A short Doxology ver 28 29. 1. David invites all to praise God O give thanks unto the Lord and adds his Reasons 1. For he is good than which nothing could be said more briefly nothing more powerfully he is properly and absolutely good and therefore ought to be praised because there is nothing rightly worthy of praise but that which is good Ver. 1 Solum honestum laudabile 2. His reasons are 1. Good Good to us a mercifull God But secondly He is good and ever good to us a merciful God which flowes from his goodness and is then most conspicuous when it is imparted to those in misery Praise him because his mercy endureth for ever His mercy created us his mercy redeemed us his mercy protects us his mercy will crown us there is then no end of his mercy This his mercy extends especially to his people To his people and therefore he puts into the mouth of all his people this song of his mercy whom he distributes into three parts 1. Ver. 2 Let Israel now say the whole Nation that his mercy endureth for ever 2. Ver. 3 Let the house of Aaron that whole Tribe consecrated now to him say that his mercy endures for ever 3. Ver. 4 Let them now that fear the Lord Proselytes c. now say that his mercy endures for ever that is the burden of the Hymn so he begins so he ends ver 29. 2. The second part And so in general having given a Commendation of his mercy he desoends to that particular in which his mercy did consist The particulars of his mercy viz. A great deliverance of him when he was in a great strait which he could impute to no other cause than his mercy 1. Ver. 5 I was in distress And that 's the case of Gods people as well as Davids 2. I called upon the Lord I boasted not of my merits I complained not that I suffered unjustly but I fled to his mercy and invoked so did the Church in Peters case Of which he is an example Acts. 12.5 3. The issue was The Lord answered and set me in a large place and so it fell out to Peter Upon which experience David exults Shewing how God had been mercifull to him upon which he makes three Conclusions as the Church in the like case may so that all be still attributed to God and his mercy 1. The Lord is my helper And the first inference upon it
his coming injustice and iniquity prevailed in the world there were as many Religions as Nations for men walked in their own wayes Vers. 7 in his dayes it shall be otherwise O Lord therefore raise up thy power and come amongst us that all iniustice being put to flight righteousness may flourish and iniquity chased away holiness may take place and war and contention and strife and hatred being banish'd from among men there may be abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth It is the honour of thy Kingdom that it is established in equity and peace Oh that it might be increased and inlarged Vers. 8 It would be the very joy of our hearts to see thy dominion extended from Sea to Sea and from the river to the end of the earth that as all power is given unto thee in heaven and earth so all knees might bow unto thy name and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Let the people that dwell in the Wilderness bow before thee and those Vers. 9 who were formerly thy enemies and inhabit the farther parts of the earth Vers. 10 become homagers unto thee and in sign of obedience and subjection to thy power bow themselves at thy feet Vers. 11 and kiss the very ground on which thou treadest Let the Kings of Tarshish and those that remain in the Islands bring thee presents and let the deceiv'd Princes of Arabia and Saba in a reverent and humble manner offer thee honourable gifts O let all Kings fall down before thee and all Nations become thy voluntary Servants Neither shall it ever repent any man of this his profession and reverent submission to thy Scepter since as it is thy office so also thou wilt deliver the needy when he cryeth thou wilt spare the poor thou wilt save and redeem their souls from deceit and violence O Lord we are thy people poor and needy destitute of all true goodness weak and oppressed by the cruel power and impetuous tyranny of the enemy of man-kind the devil Vers. 13 among men there is none to help us among Angels there is not one who can deliver us Vers. 14 and save us an object we are fit for thy power and mercy out of meer compassion arise for us to thee we cry upon thes we call deliver these poor and needy souls of ours from slavery and bondage from the heavy and bitter yoke of this Oppressor Be not severe and harsh to us that are thy Subjects but out of thy clemency spare us pardon the errors of those who are of an humble spirit and pass by the transgressions of those who do acknowledge their own weaknesses and disabilities look unto thy people that are of a broken heart and save their souls from sin from death from the curse of the Law from all evil O thou Saviour of the world which didst purchase that name with the price of thy own precious blood redeem thy people from deceit and violence The deceits and baits of sin are many with which we are too often taken the allurements of the world more with which we are bewitch'd the violences and assaults of the Prince that rules in the air most powerful to whom we too too often yield our selves captive O thou Redéemer of man-kind redéem our souls we beséech thée from this tyranny and base slavery Let not sin reign in our mortal bodies that we obey it in the lusts thereof But as thou hast shed thy blood to redéem us from this vassalage so let us be no longer flaves to sin and Satan but deliver us from this bondage frée us from this tyranny and as we have fornierly serded our lusts so hereafter let us serve thée in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of our life Then shall we hope for prosperity in our wayes Vers. 16 and thy blessing upon our labours the handfulls of corn we sow upon the tops of the hills shall yield us a plentiful increase and the ears shall be sat thick and full like the plenty of Lebanon our Cities shall be full of people and our people flourish as the grass which clothes and covers the ground with a pleasing gréenness O blessed Saviour live for ever and of thy Kingdom let there be no end To thée and to the advancement of thy service and honour let men bring of the gold of Arabia never let them think any thing too rich too good for thée Let thy Temples be had in honour and thou alone honour'd in thy Temples There let men bow with reverence There let prayer and intercessions be made continually to thée And there let men offer the Sacrifice of praise and thanks And thou O King of Saints who sits at the right-hand of thy Father receive the hymns which are presented in thy name hear and hearken to and hearken to and grant those petitions which thy people shall offer for the prosperity of thy Kingdom and the good successes of thy Gospel O let thy name be praised and the praise thereof endure for ever and let thy Fathers name be honour'd in thée as long as the Sun shall rejoice as a Gyant to run his course And according to thy promise made unto Abraham in thée let all the Nations of the earth be blessed with spiritual and everlasting blessings Him O everlasting Father thou hast blessed and glorified and in him and for him bless and glorifie us Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel for he alone by his own power hath done these wonderful things for us He is our King and he saves and he delivers and he redéems and he spares his people pardoning our offences and passing by our iniquities right precious in his sight is the blood of his Saints Let his name be praised and had in perpetual remembrance and let the Majesty of his power the greatness of his mercy and the mercy of his righteousness be glorious for ever and ever and let the whole earth be fill'd with his Glory Amen Amen The end of the second book of the Psalms according to the Hebrews PSAL. LXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Prophet shews the grief that good men sustain at the prosperity of the wicked and at the pressures of the godly and how bitter a tentation this is but at last consulting the Will of God he finds and acknowledgeth that the felicity of wicked men ends in infelicity and the crosses of the godly are the way to happiness with which consideration he quiets his troubled soul Let then the Question be Who is the happy man whether the godly or ungodly he that serves God with a pure heart or he that serves his belly and lusts And the parts of the Psalm will be in general Are these 1. The Arguments produced for the happiness of the wicked from ver 1. to 10. 2. The impression these Arguments make too often in a carnal mind ver 2 3 10 11 12 13 14. 3. The Rejection of
not submit to his Laws and wayes But they escaped not unpunished vengeance as God had sworn overtook them and their carcasses fell in the Wilderness nor above two of six hundred thousand souls entred into that rest promised them the land of Canaan I read and tremble I tremble and pray Lord kéep me from this disobedience this obstinacy this hardness of heart melt my soul with the fire of thy Spirit and soften it with the oyle of thy grace that when thou speakest I may answer and at the sound of thy voyce I may be obedient so that shewing not the least reluctation to thy commands and never murmuring at thy doings I may obtain by thy infinite goodness after the manifold errors and furious storms of this life that secute Port of Heaven where there remains a perpetual rest to the people of God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. XCVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ALthough this Psalm was composed by David at the bringing back of the Ark 1 Chr. 16.23 yet with one voyce all Christian Expositors acknowledge it a Prophesie of Christs Kingdom and Church to be enlarged by the access of all Nations and of his coming to judgment Two parts of the Psalm 1. A general Exhortation both to Jewes and Gentiles to praise God 2. A Prophesie of Christs Kingdom described by the Greatness ver 4 5. the Honour and Majesty verse 6. of the Majesty of the King verse 6 7 8. 2. The amplitude of it ver 10. 3. His judicature in it from ver 10. to the end 1. The first part An invitation to praise God The first three verses contain a general Exhortation to set forth Gods praises for the benefits exhibited to the whole earth by Christ 1. First That the praise be full he thrice repeats Cantate O sing sing sing to the honour of the Trinity Ver. 1 saith Bellarmine obscurely insinuated in the Old but plainly to be preached in the New Testament 2. Ver. 2 Shew forth Benedicite i. e. Cantando laudate or gratias agite 3. Ver. 3 Declare Hashern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carry good news a fit word for the Gospel Ver. 1 which is Evangelium glad-tydings 2. The Song that was to be sung was to be a new Song Sing unto the Lord a new Song New for a new benefit New to be sung by a new people 3. It was to be sung by the whole Earth by new men and all men all the World over for God was not now to be known in Judaea only but to all Nations Ver. 2 4. It must be continually sung from day to day without cessation or intermission for as one day succeeds another so should there be a continual succession in this praise After he expresseth the benefit or matter that all the earth is to praise him for For the redemption of the World by his Son which in one word is the Redemption of the World by his Son 1. Shew forth his salvation which he hath conferred on Mankind by Christ Ver. 2 2. Ver. 3 Declare his glory among the Heathen his wonders among all people His glory and wonders which is the self-same with salvation which was a glorious work and full of wonders and this now was to be Evangelized as before to the Jewes by the Prophets so now to all people by the Apostles 2. The second part To this end he presents God as a great King And that his Exhortation might seem more reasonable he presents God as a King and sets down the Greatness the Amplitude and Equity of his Kingdom 1. Sing to the Lord all the Earth for he is Lord of the whole Earth 1. The Lord is great great in power great in wisdom great in goodness great in mercy great in dominion and riches great every way that any thing can be great 2. 2 Worthy of all praise He is greatly to be praised or worthy of all praise for his innumerable benefits he bestows spiritual temporal his Creation Redemption Preservation of the world What can be found praise worthy in any King may be found superlatively in him 3 To be feared above all gods Moller Quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non dii Bellarm. Muscul Supreme not so any of those gods They Deastri 3. He is to be feared above all gods For he can cast body and soul into hell They though call'd gods can do nor good nor hurt The devils that set them up do believe him to be above them and tremble Jam. 2. Sing to him then and not to them for the Supremacy is his He is Super omnes Deos. Gods did I call them alas they are nothing less they are all of them Elilim Deiculi petite gods or Deastri ridiculous gods or Elilim Vanities Idols no gods If they be Gods shew their works produce the heavens they made or the earth they framed whereas our God made the heavens and all things that â—â—e in it and under it Ver. 5 He then to be feared and not they In which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prophet doth elegantly deride the heathenish gods Especially the gods of the heathen and the heathen for fearing such gods 1. For the multitude of them For they were many which is contrary to the nature of God who must be but one in reason there can be but one Supreme 2. For their division one of the Ammonites another of the Moabites one of the Philistines many of the Assyrians Egyptians Greeks Romanes according to the number of the Cities were there gods three hundred Jupiters thirty thousand of these Deities 3. They were Elilim petite gods Moloch had the rule of the Sun Astarte of the Moon Ceres over Corn Pluto his dominion in heaven Neptune in the Sea c. Their power was not universal as the power of God ought to be 4. For their Vanity they could not help If Baal be a god let him plead for himself Judg. 6. Bell boweth down Nebo stoops c. they could not deliver the burden they themselves are gone into captivity Isa 46.1 2. For an Idol is nothing in nothing in the world 1 Cor. 8. 4. Lastly in the opposition They Dii facti he Factor which lively shews the difference betwixt God and Idols It was man that first made them gods and made Idols for them They then are at best but works of mens hands But our God is Factor a Maker a Creator He made the Heavens those great and beautiful bodies and all that is contain'd in and under those Orbs. He then is terrible he to be feared and not those diminutive those vain those unprofitable gods of the Nations and their Idols 2. And so having removed out of his way all the gods of the Nations he returns to the description of our God and King He said he was great greatly to be praised to be feared above all gods and now he adds that which makes farther for his honour For he presents God
They part my goods among them and cast lots upon mine inheritance But O thou God of Israel thou continuest propitious and benevolous Vers. 3 why then doest thou stop thine ears at my prayers Thou hast perform'd thine Oath to out fore-fathers they trusted in thée in the depth of their calamities and thou didst comfort or deliver them They cryed in their afflictions and thou sentest them help they hoped in thée and were not ashamed or frustrated of their hope But me who have alwayes call'd upon thée who have alwayes hoped in thée thou hast deserted and forsaken exposed as the vilest and most contemptible worm to be trampled upon by every foot and insulted over by my cruel enemy Yet O Lord I am thy creature and thy hands have fashioned me in my mothers womb and being fashioned thou art he that brought'st me into this light upon thée have I fastned all my hope even from my infancy even from that time to this very hour thou hast shew'd thy self a merciful God in nourishing governing and preserving me from all evil Do not thou therefore who hitherto hast béen present with me whom I have acknowledged whom I have honour'd in whom I have hoped Do not O do not thou depart be not farre from me for most grievous trouble is near and there is none besides to help me none to mitigate the pressnre of my calamities with any comfort But O thou Father of Mercies deferre no longer but haste thee to help me O Lord my strength deliver my soul from the Sword my soul I say which is only dear to me from the power of the Dogg Save me from the Lyons mouth from my Adversary the Devil that goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour and hear me and frée me from the hands of Tyrants This if thou shalt do for me Vers. 22 as I certainly believe thou wilt then I will appear before thee in the great Congregation then I will declare thy Name thy Power thy Goodness to all my brethren to those who are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh to all those who are partakers of the same Covenant and of the same spirit with me I will fréely and openly profess and praise thée Before thée and of thée shall I make my boast in the most frequent Assemblies of thy Servants Thy praise shall ever be in my mouth and those sacrifices of thanksgiving which I have vowed these I will pay in the presence of all thy people And I will call to my brethren to ioyn with me saying O ye of the seed of Jacob that fear the Lord and O all ye of the seed of Israel that imitate his faith and piety praise the Lord glorifie my and your God fall low before him adore and worship him for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of me a poor afflicted despised wretch neither hath he hid his face from me but when I cryed unto him he heard me O Lord thou heardst thy Son when he pray'd for himself hear him we beséech thée Vers. 16 when he prayes for us And look nor upon us as we are in our selves wretched polluted creatures but look upon the face of thine anointed behold his hands and his féet digg'd through with nayls for our sake behold his blood poured out like water and all his sinews stretched upon the Cross and his bones put out of joint consider his bitter Agony in which as if he had béen near some furnace he fell into a sweat and melted into drops of blood when thou hidd'st thy face affordest him no comfort when in bitterness of soul being forsaken by thee he complain'd and cryed My God my God Remember how for us he became the reproach of men Vers. 1 and the out-cast of the people Vers. 7 how they laugh'd him to scorn and shak'd their heads at him forget not those Bulls those Lyons those Doggs that came about him to devour him and when they had brought him to the dust of death they parted his garments among them and cast lots upon his vesture O let not this blood be spilt in vain but for these sufferings unknown to us but felt by him have pity upon us and save us Since he hath given his soul a Sacrifice for sin Isa 53. divide him a portion with the great and let him divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul to death and was numbred with the transgressours and bare the sins of many let him see his seed let him prolong his dayes and let the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand Since he hath borne our iniquities and made intercession for the transgressours let him see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied and let this thy righteous Servant justifie many Let all the ends of the world remember themselves Vers. 27 mourn and deplore their former estate lament for their impiety and forsaking their lewd conversation be turned unto the Lord and let all the kindreds of the Nations instead of the creature worship the Creatour For thine O Christ is the Kingdom and Power and Glory and thou by the meritorious Death and Passion Vers. 28 hast merited to be the governour among the Nations A seed even of the Gentiles shall serve thee they shall be counted to the Lord for a generation Vers. 26 These are the méek upon earth these are the poor in spirit these are the contrite and broken-hearted To these thou hast sent the glad tidings of the Gospel for these thou hast prepared a banquet of thine own flesh and blood Oh give us grace so to eat thy flesh and drink thy blood that we may eat and be satisfied and being fill'd with joy of heart we may praise thée that we séek to thée and please thée and our consciences being quieted and secured by this repast we may acquiesce and live in the perswasion of thy peace and reconciliation for ever O let the fat on earth the greatest the richest the mightyest Princes and Potentates on earth long after this food and in testimony of their faith and Religion eat adore and worship These even these must go down to the dust for no man can keep alive his own soul Let these then together with all other Mortals bow their knées at the Name of Iesus and come and eat this spiritual meat that they may live for ever Thou O Iehovah art our righteousness this will we declare to a people that shall be born our childrens children shall know that thou alone hast done this for us that thou hast redéemed us that thou alone art the Authour and Finisher of our justice and salvation that thou doest justifie thou doest sanctifie thy people and wilt save them by the meritorious Death and Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ And therefore for this we will declare thy Name unto our brethren we will praise thee we will glorifie thee we will fear adore and worship thee Our
be brought to thee i. e. the Church 2. Ver. 15 They shall be brought with joy and gladness and enter into the Kings Palace Ver. 16 gladly and willingly they shall enter into his Courts on earth and after be received to a Mansion in Heaven 5. For her fruitfulness Barren she shall not be for she shall have many children The Churches gratitude good children and great for the Fathers the Patriarchs Prophets Priests in the old Law Apostles Evangelists and their Successors in the New that may be made Princes in all Lands her Officers are not contemptible 3. The third part The conclusion which is gratulatory for for this honour the Church would 1. Erect as it were a statue I will make thy Name to be remembred in all Generations 2. Ver. 17 The praise shall be perpetuated Therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever The Prayer collected out of the forty fifth Psalm LET the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be alwayes acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redéemer Ver. 1 grant that my heart may endite a good matter and make my tongue a ready instrument of thy Spirit nimbly and aptly and solely to express what thou shalt dictate to me of the King of glory O thou wonderful God and Man the Messiah and Saviour of the World Ver. 2 Thou wert fairer in thy conception and more beautiful in thy birth than all the sons of men born we were all in iniquity and in sin our mother conceived us but thou wert holy in and from the womb being fréed and purified by the Holy Ghost from the stain and spots of our original corruption and when thou wast pleased to manifest thy self to the World thy lips were full of grace thy words drop'◠as the honey-comb never man spake like thée never was there such discourses of mercy such calls and offers of love by which thou didst encourage the weary and heavy-laden to come unto thée and we miserable sinners to be reconciled to God for which God hath blessed thee for ever and given thée all power in Heaven and Earth for which we bless thée for ever on Earth and hope to do it in Heaven Now since thou art the Lord of power Gird thy Sword I pray thee Ver. 3 upon thy Thigh O most Mighty conquer and subdue thy enemies whether impious Devils or devilish men take from the one that dominion which they usurp over thy people and bring the other readily and willingly to submit unto thée this will increase thy glory this will improve thy Majesty and Renown Ver. 4 and in thy power prosper and ride on that Truth and Meekness and Righteousness may flourish in thy Kingdom which is easie for thée to do because the right hand of thy power and Divine Omnipotence shall wonderfully teach and direct thée in this work causing thée to the admiration of all not to desist till thou hast obtained an absolute victory and lead in triumph thy enemies Let the words of thy Gospel be sharper than arrows Ver. 5 with a wonderful quickness let them pierce the hearts of many Nations that whereas now they are rebellious and enemies to thy Kingdom they may be wounded to their good that they may fall under thée even at thy foot-stool yield to thy command and be ready to do thy will whose Throne is for ever and ever Ver. 6 and the Scepter of whose Kingdom is a right Scepter Cause them to love that which thou lovest and hate that which thou hatest Thou lovest righteousness make them then in love with equity Ver. 7 thou hatest iniquity cause them to hate all injustice and since thou wast anointed with the oyle of gladness above thy fellows yet for thy fellows anoint also all those that thou hast taken into this fellowship with a fragrant portion of this thy holy oyle that they rejoyce to do thy will Let Kings Daughters noble and princely souls Ver. 9 stand among those thy Saints whom thou hast honoured and brought to thy obedience O let the Queen thy Church whom in mercy and loving-kindness in judgment and justice thou hast espoused to thée stand on thy right hand cloathed in a golden Robe of thy Righteousness O let the smell of their garments be as a Field that the Lord hath blessed Ver. 8 and the swéet of their vertues and graces more odoriferous in thy Nostrils than the perfumes of Myrrhe Cinnamon and Cassia compounded by the skilfullest art of the Apothicary And thou O Daughter so peculiarly beloved and elected by the Messiah consider and encline thine ear attend and give diligent héed what the King shall teach thée concerning the true God and his Service Our eyes are heavy and we cannot sée our ears are deaf and we cannot hear Lord open our eyes that we may sée and say thou Ephatha to our ears that we may hearken and soften our hearts that we may consider of the great honour thou hast done us Teach us to leave father and mother and house and land for thy sake to forget our own people and our fathers house and all that is most dear unto us the bewitching lusts of our own wills and the vanities of our former lewd conversation Enrich our hearts with thy gifts of Grace so shall the King have pleasure in our beauty and we shall acknowledge him for the Lord our God adore fear reverence and worship him Kéep our hearts O Lord in thy fear for then the Nations round about us shall séek and sue to us the Princes of Tyre shall come and bow to us and offer us gifts the rich also among the people shall intreat our favour and desire they may be united to our Communion Adorn us O Lord inwardly with thy Graces and outwardly with an orderly worship and discipline Let our chief glory be that which is within the hid man of the heart and then make us beautiful without in all the ornaments of true Religion vertuous works and Christian lives and over and above in the vestments of outward Ceremonies which are as it were the needle-work and embroydery of Holiness By all which the Virgin-souls of the people may be brought unto thee and accompany us to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven This may move them to enter into the unity of the Church with joy and gladness which is the door of those mansions which thou hast prepared for them in Heaven where they shall enjoy thy sight and thy presence for ever Raise up O Lord our King instead of the fathers of our profession the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Apostclical men Bishops Pastours and lawful Ministers of thy Word whom thou may'st make Princes to féed and guide to govern and teach thy Church in all lands O Lord thy Mercies are so great and manifold to thy Church that I will make thy name to be remembred in all Generations O let the people praise thee and sing of thy honour for
2. Their treachery this The Mighty men are gathered against me They run and prepare themselves 3. They are diligent about it They return at Evening 2. Mad and set to do it they make a noise like a Dog and threaten boldly 3. Unwearied and obstinate in their purpose They go round about the City 4. Impudent and brag what they will do to me Behold they belch out with their mouth 5. And their words are bloody Swords are in their lips 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. And the cause of this is that they are proud and atheistical Who say they doth hear Secure they think themselves supposing they may contemn God and man neither regard what 's done or what becomes of poor David Ver. 3 4. 5. In the mid'st of which aggravations he inserts his own innocency Expresseth his own innocency They gather themselves together not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord they run and prepare themselves without my fault And upon this he renews his Petition Ver. 4 1. Awake to help me and behold He renews his Petition 1. Thou therefore the Lord God of Hosts the God of Israel the Lord God of Hosts therefore powerful 2. The God of Israel therefore merciful 2. Awake to visit all the Heathen i.e. Punish the Heathen and the Israelites in this no better 3. And be not merciful to any wicked Transgressors i. e. malicious obstinate To this rage and implacable hatred of his enemies The third part Comforts himself in Gods promises he now begins to oppose the comfort he had upon the assurance of Gods promises this I know 1. Thou O Lord shalt laugh at them as it were in sport destroy them be their power never so great yet thou wilt laugh them to scorn 2. Them and all that are like them Thou shalt have all the Heathen in derision 3. I confess that Saul's strength is great but my Protector greater Because of his strength I will wait upon thee for God is my defence 4. This I am assured also That the God of my mercy that hath hitherto shewed me mercy shall prevent me come in feason to my help 2. Expresseth his desire about his enemies And God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies And to the 16th verse he expresseth what his desires were 1. Negatively He would not have them slain and eradicated He would not have them slain and be gives his Reason for it Slay them not lest my people forget for a dead man is quickly out of mind and his punishment out of mind and so few are the better for it 2. Positively The first degree of which is dispersion But 1. Sâ—attered vagrancy and banishment Scatter them which how heavy a judgment it is let the Jewes be witness 2. The second degree is Humiliation Bring them down O Lord our shield 2 Humbled Bring them from their power command honour to a low degree which is no small heart-breaking to a great spirit Fuimus Troes is never remembred without a groan And now he assigns the cause why he would have them scattered and brought low The causes that their blasphemies and lies may never be forgotten but they stand as a terrour to all lyars and blasphemers 1. For the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips 1 Taken in their own snaâ—e let them be taken in their pride The Jewes cryed Beelzebub Nolumus hum and taken they were 2. And for cursing and lying which they speak They cursed themselves his blood be upon us and upon them it is with a witness 3. He goes on in his desires Consume them O Lord emphatically consume them in wrath that they may not be which at first sight seems contrary to his first desire Slay them not But it is not so 4 Consumed for he speaks not of their life as if he would have them so consumed that they should not remain alive but he desires only a consumption of their power royalty command c. And so these words are a farther explication of his second desire Bring them down He would have them so brought down and consumed in their strength dignity command wealth riches that made them proud that they never be able any more to oppose God hurt his people trample upon Religion and his Church he would have them live 4. The final cause to deter others And shews the end why he would have them live and remain still it is ut cognoscant that they might know by their calamities and miseries That it is God that ruleth in Jacob and unto the ends of the Earth that he doth wonderfully govern and preserve his Church that is scattered over all the Earth 5. His insultation over them by a Sarcasm And now by a bitter Epitrope or Synchoresis rather he insults over them before at the 6th verse he shewed their double diligence threats malice to do mischief 1. They return at Evening Well esto be it so And at Evening let them return 2. They make a noise like a Dog Well Let them make a noise like a Dog 3. They go round about the City Well Let them go round about the City So withall they know that they shall be but in a miserable poor mean condition 1. Let them wander up and down for meat Let them find no setled habitation but wander among strange Nations to seek for necessary food 2. And grudge if they be not satisfied Let them be famelici so hunger-bit that is nor little that will satisfie them let them be alwayes grudging if they have not content so that if they be not satisfied they will stay all night be importunate and unmannerly Beggars vexed with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. The fourth part The Doxology The Conclusion is a Doxology and contains Davids thanks in which he acknowledgeth That God is his defence his refuge his strength of him therefore he would make his song 1. But I will sing of thy power 2. I will sing of thy mercy 1. Aloud 2. In the morning 3. The Reason he gives For thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble Both he repeats again 1. Vnto thee O my strength will I sing 2. The Reason The Reason For God is my defence and the God of my mercy And he joyns these two Attributes strength and mercy very well for take away strength from him and he cannot remove morcy and he will not protect both must go together in any one that will defend Power that he can mercy that he will otherwise 't is but in vain to hope for help from him David found God to be both and for both he extolls him The Prayer collected out of the fifty ninth Psalm OMy God Ver. 1 whom only I serve on whom alone I do depend deliver me I beséech thée from the hands of my enemies defend me from the malice of those that rise up against me
every man according to his works call these tyrants to an account for the male-administration of thy Laws Render them O Lord seven-fold into their bosomes So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture shall give thee thanks for ever PSAL. LXXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 TO resolve this Psalm there is no difficulty For it branches it self into These parts 1. A short Ejaculation or Prayer vers 1. 2. A Complaint of the enemies of Gods Church which is the reason of his Prayer from vers 2. to 11. 3. A fearful Imprecation against them from vers 11. to the end 1. The first part An ardent Ejaculation The Prophet out of a holy impatience at the patience and long-suffering of God calls ardently and earnestly upon him as appears by the ingemination of the words that he would be no longer patient at the affronts and insultations of the Churches enemies The cause was his own not to be endured then longer Keep not thou silence Vers. 1 O God hold not thy peace be not still O God 2. The second part His complaint of enemies And next he begins to Complain which was the reason of his Petition These were enemies 1. To the people of God 2. To God himself vers 5. And then he tells us who they were from vers 6. to 9. 1. Vers. 2 He describes the enemies of the Church The Characters of which are Their Characters 1. They were Souldiers They make a tumult Their warlike fierceness is signified by it As Lions Bears 2. They were arrogant and proud They that hate thee life up their head And wilt thou then be silent 3. They are subtle men They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones those whom thou hidest under the shadow of thy wings Thy peculâ—â—r Exod. 19.5 4. Their intent Their counsel broke out into action and they encouraged one another in mischief even to the total and final destruction of the Church Come say they let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance 2. Which Confederacy and Conspiracy was not only against the people of God but against God himself For they have consulted together with one consent nemine dissentiente The Conspirators and are confederate against thee 3. He gives us in a Catalogue of these Conspirators All the world against God and his Church The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ismaelites of Moab Vers. 6 and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tire Ashur also is join'd with them they have holpen the children of Lor. Selah 3. And having discovered the men and their attempts The third part He prayes to God to take revenge on them he prayes to God for revenge which consisted in four particulars 1. Their fall and ruine 2. Their persecution 3. Their terrour 4. And their disgrace Which he illustrates by divers similitudes 1. Of a wheel that easily runs down a hill 2. Of stubble driven away by the wind 3. As wood burnt up by the fire 4. Of a flame that consumes the Mountains 5. Of a tempest that throws down all things before it 1. Their ruine and fall he would have it total and exemplary That their ruine be total Do unto them as unto the Medianites as to Sisera as to Jabin at the brook of Kison Which perished at Endor and became as the dung of the earth Make them and their Princes like Oreb and Zeb yea all their Princes as Zeba and as Zalmunna Of which he interserts a reason Who have said Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession 2. And this their ruine he would have sudden and violent 2 Sudden and violent as appears by the similitudes 1. Precipitate them whirl them down O my God make them like a wheel or unquiet in mind 2. Remove them as light things are blown away by the wind Make them as stubble before the wind 3 Terrible and shameful 3. Burn them as speedily as the fire burns the wood Or as the flame sets furs on fire on the Mountains 3. Persecute them with thy tempest 4. Make them afraid with thy storm 5. Fill their faces with shame These three parts of their punishment 1. Flight 2. Fear Terrour 3. Shame and Ignominy The ends of his prayer And that the Prophet might not seem uncharitable in this bitter imprecation he now shews the ends why he thus prayed These were two 1. The first That they might seek after God in effect be converted 1 That converted Do this to them that they may seek thy name O Lord. 2 Or confounded Or as others conceive Seek thy name meerly out of a servile fear of Gods vengeance and contain their fury not daring any further to attempt any thing against the Church Which the next verse confirms Let them be confounded and troubled for ever yea let them be put to shame and perish i. e. brought to utter destruction or at least so enfeebled that they may be said to perish 2. The second That thereby Gods glory may be the more exalted 3 And Gods name glorified viz. That men may know that thou whose name is Jehovah art the most High over all the earth i. e. not Lord of the Jews only but the Gentiles also Vt cognoscatur Junius That thy Eternity Majesty Power may be acknowledg'd by all men The Prayer collected out of the eighty third Psalm O Omnipotent God Vers. 2 so great is the hatred so many the conspiracies so secret and malicious are the counsels of our enemies against thee and thy people that were it not for the promises which thou hast made unto thy people we should despair and faint They have appeared in Arms and headed the iumultnous many against us They who by their impiety shew they hate thee have lift up in pride their head they have taken crafty counsel against they people and consulted against those whom thou hast taken under the shadow of thy wings So great is their malice and hatred to us that they have said in their hearts and encouraged each other in this mischief Come say they let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance yea their consultations and confederacies their Leagues and Covenant is not so much against us as against thy honour thy service thy truth which we endeavour to maintain They have consulted together with one consent and are confederate against thee yea so far they have prevailed that they have taken to themselves and their own use all the houses of God in possession Wherefore Vers. 1 O Lord we beseech thee keep no longer silence hold not thy peace be not still since thy enemies lift up their heads against thee awake and lift up thy head against them and thou who for thy people Israels safety didst shew thy
Zion and make choice of it for thy peculiar habitation more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Thou séest Lord with what winds with what storms this thy holy City is assaulted there be who are ready and bent to raze it oven to the foundations Have mercy therefore upon the inhabitants of this City O Lord and thou who hast promised to protect these Walls give the glory to thine own name And suffer not those thy enemies who have not known thée or do envy thy glory Vers. 5 continualiy to reproach thy name and triumph over thy people though they cry Down with it down with it to the ground yet do thou who art the most High establish and confirm it and never suffer the gates of Hell to prevail against it Many Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God The Gates are of pearls the stréets of gold the light in it beyond that of the Sun so that the glory of it was far to excéed the old Temple The glory of any City is in the multitude of the inhabitants bring in hither all Nations and let them walk in the light of this City that they may be saved let the Kings of the Nations bring their glory and honour unto it Day and night let these gates stand open and let those of Rahab and Babylon enter by them and those who were born in Philistia and Tire with Ethiopia be regenerated and born again in her of water and of the Holy Ghost When thou shalt enrole and write up the names of thy Citizens in the book of life set it down in fair Characters that this Alien this Stranger from the Common-wealth of Israel was born in thy house And declare it to the whole world at the day of judgement that his portion shall be with thy natural children In the mean time establish unity and concord betwixt all Nations and let us live in such love and peace that there be no dissonancy no jarres no tumults among us but such an Harmony as is among those who with joyful hearts who with Songs and Musical Instruments sound forth thy praises In Zion are the Springs of living water In Zion are to be found the hid treasures of all knowledge In Zion alone are the cléer fountains of all content all joy Lord evermore refresh our thirsty souls with this water enrich out souls with this treasure Affect us with some degrée of this joy while we remain in this City below and give us full draughts of it when we shall be translated into that heavenly Jerusalem which is above through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. LXXXVIII THIS present Psalm expresseth to the life the sad case of an afflicted and a troubled soul complaining to God upon the vehemence of the disease and sense of death that he could feel no comfort Four parts of this Psalm 1. A Petition vers 1 2. 2. The cause of this Petition the misery he was in which he describes from vers 3. to 9. 3. The effect which this his miserable condition wrought upon him which was 1. A special Prayer vers 9 13. 2. An expostulation with God for deliverance vers 10 11 12. 4. A grievous Complaint from vers 14. to 18. 1. The first part His Petition grounded on four Arguments The Prophet offers his Petition but before he commenceth it he premiseth four Arguments that may perswade the admittance of it 1. His confidence and reliance on God O Lord God of my salvation Vers. 1 2. His earnestness to speed I have cryed 3. His assiduity in it Day and night 4. Yea and that sincerely Before thee And then he tenders his request for audience Let my prayer come before thee Vers. 2 encline thine ear unto my cry 2. And then next he sets forth the pitiful condition he was in The second part that thereby he might move God to take compassion which he amplifies divers wayes The sad condition he was in 1. From the weight and variety of his troubles many they were and press'd him to death For my soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave Vers. 3 2. From the danger of death in which he was which is illustrated by three degrees 1. That he was Moribundus no hope of life in him even by the estimate of all men I am counted with them that go down to the pit I am as a man that hath no strength 2. That he was planè mortuus but as a dead man Free among the dead Freed from all the business of this life as far seperate from them as a dead man 3. Yea dead and buried Like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more i.e. to care for in this life and they are cut off from thy hand i.e. thy providence thy custody as touching matters of this life 3. And yet he farther amplifies his sad condition by two Similitudes Which he amplifies by two Similitudes 1. Of a man in some deep dark Dungeon Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the deeps As was Jeremiah Cap. 37. 2. Of a man in a Wrack at Sea that is compassed with the waves to which he compares Gods anger Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves Vndaque impellitur unda The recourse of his troubles was perpetual one no sooner gone but another succeeded 2. And to add to this his sorrow his friends And over and above his friends afforded him no comfort Which he amplifies by an Auxesis whose visits in extremity use to alleviate the grief of a troubled soul even these proved perfidious and came not at him He had no comfort from them Which was Gods doing too the more was his grief The auxesis is here very elegant 1. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me Thou 2. Thou hast made me an abomination to them No less an abomination 3. I am shut up I cannot come forth As a man in prison I cannot come at them and they will not come to me 3. The effect of which grievous affliction was threefold 1. The third part The effects this wrought on him An internal grief and wasting of the body 2. An ardent affection in prayer And 3. An expostulation with his God 1. My eye mourns by reason of affliction An evidence it is that I am troubled and grieved to the heart 1 A wasting of the body that my eye droops and fails For when the animal and vital spirits suffer a decay the eye will quickly by her dimness deadness and dulness discover it 2. It produced an ardent affection a continuance 2 A fervency in prayer and assiduity in prayer which is here made evident by the adjuncts 1. His voice I have call'd dayly upon thee It was 1. Clamor 2. Assiduns 2. By the extension of his hands I have stretch'd out my hands to thee Men use to do so when they expect
And to this day in the Turkish Empire they are used as Spunges suffer'd to gather riches as the Spunge sucks in water for no other end but to be squeezed 7. 8 No pity shew'd to his children But the Prophet again returns to his Children and layes yet other curses upon them 1. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him neither let there be any to favour his fatherless Children To beg to want is a misery but there is some comfort in it when the Beggar meets with some one that will pity and relieve him This our Prophet votes against Let there be none to pity him and his and probatum est upon Judas for he found no pity from the High Priests What is that to us say they look thou to it And the posterity of those Murders did have do find as little for who pities a Jew 2. Men because they must dye themselves desire they do to be immortal if possible 9 His posterity quickly cut off in their issue they would have their houses to continue for ever That such a happiness befall not these Reprobates David prayes Let his posterity be cut off and in the Generation following let their name be blotted out He would have a quick dispatch of them 'T is acutely observed by Bellarmine That Judas in the place he was in his Bishops had no seed for Matthias that came into his place derived not his Office from him And for the Jewes though a posterity of them yet remain after the flesh yet in the very next Generation their Ecclesiastical and Civil Policy was at an end and since their dispersion they sit without King without Priest without Sacrifice without Altar without Ephod without Teraphim as it was foretold by Hosee 3. Yet farther the Prophet continues his Imprecation against the posterity of these Reprobates 10 The sin of the father revenged on the child Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembred before the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out This Imprecation answers Gods threat in the Commandment I will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the Jewes have found this curse to come upon them to the uttermost they devoted themselves and their posterity Let his blood be upon us and our children And 't is known to the whole World that it hath taken its effect to the full The guilt of his blood is yet upon them the iniquity of their fathers is remembred and the sin of their mother the Synagogue is not yet done away 4. And he repeats again what he mentioned of the iniquity of their fathers and the indelible Character of the Synagogues sin for this verse is but the expolition of the former 1. Let them be before the Lord continually As if he had said Let the memory of their father and mothers sin live for ever never let God cast it behind his back 2. That he may cut off the memory of them from the Earth Never let there be any memory of them except it be in contempt which that ungrateful Nation hath found true And so the Prophet having ended his Execrations acquaints us with the causes of this bitterness 2. And then prayes that they pierce far and work effectually upon them The causes of these Imprecations The causes he assigns are these 1. The first was their want of pity toward men in distresse Hard-hearted men they were without any bowels of compassion 1 Their want of compassion By the Prophet Jeremy this is complained on Lam. 1.12 Have ye no regard all ye that pass by Never was there sorrow like my sorrow and yet nor Judas Ver. 16 nor the Jewes considered it 'T is but just then That they find judgment without mercy that would shew no mercy Jam. 2 Let his memory be cut off c. Because he remembred not to shew mercy 2. So far from that That he persecuted the poor and needy man 2 They persecuted the afflicted i.e. Christ who was that he might even slay the broken in heart which is the second cause the inhumanity and cruelty of Judas and the Jewes against Christ who is here call'd 1. Poor because when he was rich yet for our sakes became poor 1 Poor that we through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 9. 2. The needy man For the Foxes have Holes 2 Needy and he Birds of the Aire Nests but the Son of man hath not whereon to lay his head Luk. 9.58 3. The broken in heart For he was in an agony and his soul was troubled 3 Broken in heart and besieged with sorrowes when he sweat drops of blood when he cryed My God my God but not with Compunction or Contrition for any fault he had committed but out of the sense of pain and anxiety and sollicitude which he bore in his heart continually for the salvation of Mankind In this verse then there is noted the extream cruelty and inhumanity of the Jewes for they that persecute a man for his life have some reasons that move them unto it Either they are incens'd to do it by anger for some injury receiv'd or mov'd by hope of gain by spoiling some rich man or else through envy that grudgeth at anothers felicity But Christ was humble and low in heart a poor man that never did any man wrong He contemn'd the World was needy and had not what should provoke the eye of any covetous wretch Lastly he was broken in heart and wept for other mens sins not in so happy a condition that any man should envy him It then aggravates their sin that they should persecute him and because they did it they are justly accursed 3. And yet there is a third cause behind He loved cursing 3 He loved cursing and then 't is but reason that he have what he loved he delighted not in blessing why then should any man delight to bless him As he loved cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing so let it be far from him No man can love a curse or hate a blessing if it be proposed to the will under the form of cursing and blessing But a man is then said to love a curse and hate a blessing when he is the cause by his own choice of a wicked course that he be cursed and not blessed This Judas and the Jewes did Judas by loving money more than his Master love a curse he forsook Christ and would not be blessed The Jewes refused him and would have his blood upon them as they loved then so let them have as they delighted not in blessing so let it be far from them Neque enim lex justior ulla est c. Yea Let this then sit close to him and let this curse as our Prophet adds farther come with effect upon them sit as close to him as the garment about him let it be converted into his very substance
thy praise Smite Lord our flinty hearts as hard as the nether milstone with the hammer of thy Word and mollifie them also with the brops of thy mercies and dew of thy Spirit make them humble fleshy flexible circumcised soft obedient new clean broken for we know That a broken and contrite heart thou wilt not despise O Lord our God give us grace from the very bottom of our heart to desire thée in desiring to seek thée in séeking to find thée in finding to love thée in loving thée utterly to loath our former wickedness never let us return in our hearts back again into Aegypt never let us long after the Léeks and Onions and Garlick thereof But being by thy mercy delivered and brought from thence and from the slavery of sin and Satan let it be our whole endeavour to walk humbly and obediently before our God that living in thy fear and dying in thy favour when we have passed through the Wilderness of this World we may possess that heavenly Canaan and happy land of promise prepared for all such as love thy coming even for every Christian soul and who is thy Dominion and Sanctuary Grant this O gracious God in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ who lives and reigns with thée and the Holy Spirit one God World without end Amen PSAL. CXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Prophet being zealous of Gods Honour which the Heathens went about to take from him and attribute to their Idols is earnest with God that it might be manifest that Honour did belong to him alone and might not be given to another There be four parts of this Psalm 1. His Vote and Petition for Gods Honour ver 1. that did not belong to any Idols because of their vanity from ver 3. to 9. 2. An Exhortation to praise God and hope in him from ver 10. to 12. 3. The Benefit that will accrue from it a blessing from ver 12. to 16. 4. A Profession that for the blessing they will bless God ver 17 18. 1. The first part His zeal for Gods honour Some joyn this Psalm to the former conceiving that the Prophet having expressed the goodness of God in the deliverance of his people from Aegypt would not have any part of the Glory attributed to Moses Aaron or any merits in them but wholly ascribed unto God himself And therefore he thus begins 1. Ver. 1 Not unto us not unto us nor any Leader amongst us 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to thy Name give the praise Which he desires to assume for three Reasons But unto thy Name give glory We seek it not take it wholly to thy self And this he desires he would alwayes shew in the protection of his people for three Reasons 1. For manifestation of his mercy Give glory to thy Name for thy mercy 2. Ver. 2 For declaration of his faithfulness in keeping his promise Do it for thy Truths sake Of which the last is that the Heathen do not blaspheme 3. That there might not be given an occasion to the Heathen to blaspheme as if they his people should be forsaken and destitute of help Wherefore should the Heathen say Where is now their God Well say it so fall out that the Heathen impiously ask the question Vbieorum Deus We have in a readiness what to answer them To the glory of our God but to the dishonour of their Idols Be it they do yet the answer is our God is in Heaven which he proves by an elegant Antithesis 1. As for our God he is in the Heavens and his miracles wrought for his people testifie as much Ver. 3 for he hath done whatsoever pleaseth him He hath and can deliver his people when he pleaseth Their gods are all Idols as appears and if it be his pleasure they must suffer also 2. But now I may better ask Where are their gods gods did I call them nay nay they are but Idols they deserve not the name of gods as is evident by the matter 1 By their matter whereof they are 2. the Makers of them 3. Their vanity and inutility 1. Their Idols are silver and gold at the best of no more precious stuffe Ver. 4 and yet though such from the Earth they fetch their Original 2. 2 Their makers The work of mens hands Works they are and not Masters of the work they made not themselves but were made and therefore baser than the basest Smith that made them 3. Of no use of no power at all 3 Their uselessness of no power for they can make no use at all of those parts which they seem to have for having the shape of men they can do nothing as men Ver. 5 For they have mouths but they speak not eyes they have Ver. 6 but they see not They have ears but they hear not noses they have but they smell not They have hands but they handle not feet they have but they walk not neither speak they through their throat They cannot do that which Beasts can send out of their mouths an inarticulate voyce or found so far they are from speaking 4. And thus the Prophet having derided their Idols he goes on 4 He derides the Idol-makers and derides 1. The Idol-makers They that make them are like to them a sensless people that think to make a god out of gold silver wood and stone 2. The Idol-worshippers So is every one that puts their trust in them And Idolaters trust and relies on that which cannot help In this life they are like to them for they seem neither to see and hear than hear and see indeed when they will not hear and see what belongs to their good and the Truth whence Christ saith out of the Prophet of such Having eyes they see not and ears but they hear not Mark 8. 2. And so the Prophet having passed this Sarcasme upon the Idols The second part and Idolaters he leaves them and turns his speech to the Israelites whom he exhorts to trust in God He exhorts Israel to trust in God 1. In general the whole Nation O Israel trust thou in the Lord Let the Heathen trust in their Idols but you are Gods servants trust you then in that Lord you serve And to encourage them he adds his Reason 1 In general all Israel He is their help and their shield the Lord Protector of the whole Nation 2. In particular the Tribe of Levi O house of Aaron trust in the Lord 2 In particular the Levites You are the Leaders and Guides in Religion and God is your portion and therefore you ought to trust especially in him He is their help 3 All that fear the Lord. and their shield a shield you need and he will be the Lord Protector of your Tribe 3. In a word Ye that fear the Lord Jewes or Proselytes in what Nation
defence of Zion his Church for God is among them as in Sinai in the holy place In glory and Majesty there in Sinai and in glory and Majesty here in Zion And yet he hath not done with his Arguments to perswade us to praise God Two Arguments more to praise God 1. The Arks ascension which was a Type of our Saviours Two there are yet behind 1. His strange and wonderful works 2. And the performance of his promises Now among his great works there was none so glorious as was the Ascension of our Saviour of which the Arks ascension to Jerusalem at this time was a type and therefore he instanceth in that 1. Before which it may well be thought that David and the people used these words of Acclamation Ascendisti in altum Thou hast ascended up on high Vers. 18 i. e. Thou O God whose presence is shadow'd out by the Ark hast ascended from an obscure house to a Kingly Palace Zion 2. Thou hast led captivity captive those that led us captives being captives themselves and now led in Triumph 3. Thou hast received gifts for men i. e. spoils and gifts from the Kings that be conquered or who now became homagers unto him and redeemed their peace 4. Yea for the rebellious also formerly so but now Tributaries 5. That the Lord God might dwell among them Might have a certain place to dwell in and the Ark not carried from place to place as before This is the literal sense but the Mystical is other and must be referr'd to our Saviours Ascension the Apostle being our Author for it Eph. 4. 1. Ascendisti in altum When the cloud carried him from earth to heaven 2. Then he led captivity i. e. Those which captiv'd us captive viz. Death the Devil Sin the power of Hell the curse of the Law 3. He receiv'd and gave gifts to men 1. The Apostles Evangelists Prophets Doctors and Teachers were those gifts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graces Gists of the Spirit 4. Yea for the rebellious also Paul a persecutor call'd Austin a Manachaean c. 5. That he might dwell among them for to that end St. Paul saith these gifts were given to the work of the Ministry to the edification of the Church to the building up the body of Christ Ephes 4. Of Christs ascension two effects The two effects then of this Ascension were One toward his enemies the other for his friends When thou ascendest up on high 1. 1 To his enemies Thou ledst captivity captive That was the consequent on his enemies 2. Thou receivedst and gavest gifts That 's for his friends 2 To his friends for which he sings a Benedictus Blessed be God for he comes over both these again but by an Epanodos speaking of the last first Ver. 19 1. The gifts to his friends Blessed be God which loadeth us with benefits Ver. 20 even the God of our salvation He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death he knows many wayes to deliver even in ipsa morte when there is no hope 2. The conquest of his enemies for such he counts obstinate impenitent and malicious sinners those he will destroy even the highest the heads of them God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his wickedness 2. His last Argument is 2 The salvation of his people Gods performance of his promise to his to save them as if he had said Although you should be in so great straits as you were in the Wilderness when you fought with Og King of Basan or at the red Sea yet I will fetch you out and deliver you as I did them his word is past for it The Lord said Ver. 22 1. I will bring again from Basan from dangers as great as that was 2. I will bring my people again from the depth of the Sea Ver. 23 when there is no hope 3. And for thy enemies they shall be destroyed by a great effusion of blood That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies The pomp at the ascent of the Ark. The fourth part and the tongue of thy Dogs in the same Thou shalt waste and be glutted with their blood 4. And now he descends by an elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set before our eyes the pomp and shew which was used in the Ascent and deduction of the Ark and the proceeding of it 1. The people were all present to see the pomp They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my God my King in the Sanctuary 2. The manner used in the pomp The Singers go before the Players on Instruments followed after amongst them were the Damsels playing with Timbrels 3. In the pomp they were not silent and that they be not he exhorts them Bless ye the Lord in the Congregations ye that are of the Fountain of Israel i. e. Jacobs posterity 4. And he gives in the Catalogue of the Tribes that were present all but these especially 1. There is little Benjamin Jacobs youngest son or now the least wasted with War with their Ruler the chief Prince of their Tribe 2. The Princes of Judah and their Counsel 3. The Princes of Zebulun and Princes of Napthali the farthest Tribes therefore the nearest To the pomp he annexeth a prayer 5. And in the midst of the pomp he interserts a prayer which hath three Votes before which he prefixeth this ingenuous acknowledgment that all the power and strength of the Kingdom of Israel was from God Thy God hath commanded thy strength and then he prays Ver. 28 1. For the confirmation establishment continuance of this strength 1 For confirmation of the Kingdom Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought in us and let this be evidenced by the Kings and Tributaries that shall bring gifts Because of thy Temple at Jerusalem shall Kings bring presents to thee 2. For the conquest and subduing of the enemy 2 For conquest of the enemies untill they become Tributaries and do their Homage Rebuke the company of Spear-men the multitude of the Bulls and Calves of the people i. e. Kings Princes and their potent Subjects For increase of the Kingdom till every one submit himself with pieces of silver scatter thou the people that delight in War 3. For the increase of Christs Kingdom of which Davids was but a Type by the access of the Gentiles Princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God These by a Synecdoche put for all Nations 5. The fifth part He renews his invitation to praise God This excellent Psalm draws now toward a Conclusion and it is a resumption of that he principally intended viz. that God be blessed honoured praised to which he first exhorts and then shews new Reasons for it 1. He exhorts all Nations to perform this Duty
before the Jewes but now all universally Sing unto God ye Kingdoms of the Earth O sing praises to the Lord. Selah And that all Nations do it His Reasons 2. His Reasons to perswade it 1. The Majesty of God testified 1. 1 The Majesty of God By his works To him that rides upon the Heaven of Heavens which were of old 2. 2 His protection His power in his Thunder in his Word He doth send forth his voyce and that a mighty voyce 2. His wise protection and providence to his people Ascribe ye the power to God his excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the Cloud 3. 3 His goodness to his Church His communication of himself to his Church in particular 1. O Lord thou art terrible out of thy holy places 2. The God of Israel is he that gives strength and power to his people 3. Blessed be God with that Epiphonema he concludes The Prayer collected out of the sixty eight Psalm O God in Majesty terrible in thy protection of thy people most merciful since thy power is so great thy presence so powerful that at the blasting of the breath of thy Nostrils thy enemies vanish as a vapour when it is raised to the highest and those that hate thée haste from thy presence Why art thou absent from us why sléepest thou in this néedful time of trouble O Lord awake and arise for us and scatter our nay thy enemies they hate not us Ver. 1 but thée and thy Law and Ordinances make them to flie from thy face drive them away as smoke as wax consumes and melts before the fire Ver. 2 so let the wicked perish at thy presence O God so shall the righteous have just occasion to rejoyce Ver. 3 they shall rejoyce before thee their God they shall be exceedingly joyful O God Thou art infinite in thy Essence wonderful in thy works most merciful in thy wayes to the sons of men Thou ridest above upon the Heavens when we crawle upon this Dunghill of Earth Thou art Jehovah and hast a being in thy self a time there was when we were not and the time will come when we shall not be and what we are at present we have from thée O let us live then and we will praise thée Turn away thy wrath from us and we will rejoyce before thee and sing praises to thy Name As Orphans we are in this World be thou our Father as Widows be thou our Husband Ver. 5 destitute we are without any humane help left alone and solitary O gather us into Families and Societies for our rebellions against thée bound we are with Chains and brought into a dry Land hear the groans and sighs we send up unto thée and out of thy holy habitation make it appear that thou art present with us look upon the humble consider thy dispersed and distracted people have pity on the Widows and Orphans and let us dwell once more together in peace unity and plenty O God Ver. 7 when thou wentest before thy people Israel when thou didst lead them through the Wilderness then thou didst march before them in a cool Cloud by day and in a Pillar of fire by night the dull and heavy earth was moved at thy presence the Heavens drop't Manna the Clouds shot forth lightnings even Sinai it self trembled when thou gavest thy Law unto thy people and after thou brought'st them into a wealthy Land O Lord thy power is yet the same and thy goodness immutable go out before us a sinful Nation and yet thy people as thou didst rain down Manna for them so also we beg of thée to send us necessaries from above and let this our Land that hath béen long afflicted with many evils enjoy a quiet peace and her inhabitants the fruits of peace confirm us Lord in that inheritance which thou hast given us let thy Congregation dwell therein and of thy goodness not for our merits prepare and provide meat and rayment for thy people that hath béen long oppressed by Tyrants We have heard with our ears O God and our Fathers have told us what thou hast done in their time of old great is the company that have published in our hearing that by thy mighty power Kings with their Armies did flie and haste away and that thou hast given the spoil to be divided among thy Houshold-servants This puts us in hope that we even we that have béen for a long time cast aside as the off-scouring of all things and black and inglorious by many pressures shall yet be called for again and set in our inheritances our Dove-like and innocent faces shine as silver and glister as gold the Snow upon the top of Salmon shall not be so white as shall our innocence when thou by these afflictions hast purged away out dross and melted away our tin Such a mercy we cannot expect for our own sakes for we are a sinful people but Lord remember Zion and be gracious to Jerusalem This is the Hill of God in this thou desirest to dwell this thou hast chosen to dwell in for ever Shall then the other Hills insult over it shall the Kings of the Nations and pride of Tyrants trample it to the dust Thy Chariots O God are twenty thousands even thousands of Angels and thou Lord art among them as in Sinai Now Lord shew thy self in glory ascend on High get the victory and triumph over the enemies of thy-Church lead them Captives that have captiv'd us and make them bring and offer thee gifts that have robbed thy Temples and so change the hearts of the rebellious That thou Lord may'st dwell among them and be acknowledged and worshipped by them Bring thy people O Lord out of their troubles as thou of old didst deliver thy chosen from the fury of Og the King of Bashan or thy people Israel from the hands of Pharoah that pursued them to the depths of the red Sea Wound the head of thy enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his wickedness let thy Beloved wash their feet in the blood of their enemies and let the very Dogs lick their blood wisely they wrought against us conceiving they had inclosed us but thou art our God the God of our Salvation to thée belongs and thou hast shewed that there be in thy power many issues from death for where the help of man hath failed Thou hast reached forth thy hand and delivered us from the jaw of the Lyon and the paw of the Boar Blessed then be the Lord which daily loads us with benefits even the God of our salvation Make thy Word perfect O our God rebuke the multitude of the Spear-men restrain the fury of those whose rage and anger against us is no less than that of enraged Bulls still the tumults of the people scatter all those that delight in War for thy Temples sake at Jerusalem be propitious unto us and strengthen that O God which