tongue is made apt to utter them with a ready dexteritie 2 As God hath advanced thee O Solomon with honour to be King over Israel as Christ shall be over his Church so hath he beautified thee above the ordinarie ranck of men and adorned thee with excellent Divine wisdom and utterance worthie thy place of regiment like as he will do Christ the blessed King and bridegroom of his Church with all the excellent inward ornaments of grace and spirit wherein he shall exceed all and of which his excellencies he shall participate to all his people by his powerful and saving word of grace which is an infallible argument of the never failing love and favour God hath to thee and will ever bear thee the type as to Christ the antitype and the blessings that shall accompany it 3 Whensoever thou preparest for war prepare for victorie O thou that art mightily blessed and aided by the Almighty God of heaven and made the King of most renown and majestie in all the world as Christ shall be the most powerful and victorious Saviour of his Church and mightiest potentate to whom all power shall be given both in heaven and earth 4 And in the majestick power that God hath given thee prosperously proceed to aw and conquer all thine enemies not by falshood pride and injustice as do other Kings that move upon earthly principles but in Gods way by the exercise of his graces of faithfulness meekness and justice as shall do Christ by his Kingly office in behalf of his Church prevailing and conquering by the saving truth of his word patient long-suffering and righteous performing of his promises ruling and walking in this manner thou shalt be able to work wonders and shalt strike terrour into thine enemies and reverence into thy people as shall Christ into his 5 Those that shall oppose thy Sovereign rule and government will have but bad success for thou art as Christ shall be of power to quell them whereby whole nations of the Gentils shall be subdued to thy subjection and obedience as they shall to his 6 Thy dominion and sovereigntie O Solomon the type of Christ the son of God is not like meer earthly Kings that perish but it shall in him who is God and our Divine mediator be extended over all and to all eternity Thou hast right to rule for God himself hath given thee dominion over Jews and Gentils as he hath done to Christ over all the world a just and righteous government shalt thou the type execute in him the antitype who is the just and holy God not subject to the corruptions of earthly Princes 7 For he whom thou resemblest perfectly loves and obeys the holy and righteous will of God and as perfectly hateth both sin and sinners for which cause that he may be Gods high officer and King over his Church chosen peculiarly to that place and honour before all mankind and Gods own people too as David was before all Israel and both he and thou before the rest of your brethren therefore is he inabled and enriched from God whose son even by nature he is and whose love most especially he hath with the spirit of consolation and all his Divine graces in his humane nature even without measure whereof the adopted sons of God and fellow-members of Christ that are partakers with him of the Divine nature as he is with them of the humane do share but in measure short of him receiving grace for grace from him 8 All thy royall robes O Solomon are richly and odoriferously perfumed with the most costly aromatick spices when as thou shewest thy self to thy people from out thy stately palaces who at the sight and smell of thee are rejoyced and refreshed and reciprocally return their joyfull and loyal acclamations to thee again to thy great contentment as well as theirs Like as Christ shall come from heaven furnished in his humane nature with all excellent graces and perfections befitting his high office to the infinit joy of his people who enjoy the sweet and benefit thereof which they return again unto him in love honour and service to his good content 9 Thou art honoured with many wives and concubines of high birth even Kings daughters are in the number of them but especially and of most account with thee is Pharaohs daughter who is Queen above all the rest and more gloriously attired than any Like as Christ shall have the attendance and company of many noble and famous congregations that will profess him and worship him externally in his ordinances But his onely and principal spouse is the holy Catholick Church consisting principally of the elect Gentils whom he shall cloth like himself in his own righteousness and adorn her with the Divine nature and the graces of his spirit and prefer her to special favour here and glorie with him hereafter in heaven 10 O daughter of Aegypt whom God hath made so happie as to bring thee thence and to marrie thee to King Solomon the type of Christ be thou also the resemblance of his spouse the Church specially of the Gentils by hearkening unto and embracing the true and saving knowledge of the onely true God and be converted by it as she shall be and turn from the errours wherein thou wast bred and born inheriting them by education and birth-right as do even the elect of God their sinful and corrupt nature till they be married to Christ by a new nature and forsake all for him 11 So shall King Solomon far more entirely love thee and delight in thee thy beautie being much increased thereby and thou made glorious within as well as without who is thy Lord and husband and therefore one whom thou oughtest to obey and desire to please Like as shall the Church be infinitly pleasing to Christ when she hath given herself to him and is endowed with his graces whose Lord and husband he is and whom she ought to serve and honour 12 Nor shalt thou lose thereby but God will greatly increase thine honour and esteem far more than being the daughter of Pharaoah comes to for so shalt thou in conjugal participation gain the homage and subjection of great and rich nations the most mightie and powerful people of all the world shall be brought under and made glad of thy favour through the favour and blessing of God upon thee Like as it shall be with the Church which worships Christ in puritie and sinceritie she shall be so blessed by him as that no enemy shall stand before her but by the assistance of the power and grace of Christ her Lord and husband she shall be Ladie and Mistresse of the whole world sought unto of all nations for the knowledge of her saving truth and participation of her graces with the renouncing of their false confidences to share with her in Christ. 13 Thou the daughter of King Pharaoh art not gloriously
there to this day maugre all their enemies Thou hast provided for and protected of thy meer grace this thy little poor handful of people maliced and opposed by all the world 11 The Lord in exigencies gave his people many wonderful deliverances and victories and so administred occasion of praise ever and anon to them which in an instant was rumored over all the land and in every ones mouth the good news of thine almighty assistance still as thou didst vouchsafe it passed from one to another like the word in an armie with joyful acclamations and praises 12 Many potent Princes with powerful armies that came against Israel were by miracle defeated and made both they and their armies to flie for their lives leaving behind them rich bootie and such plentie of it that the very women who with fearful mindes abode at home doubting the issue when they heard the news with joy made hast to congratulate the victorie and share in the spoil 13 Though in Aegypt your fathers were in woful slavish condition conversant in brick and pot-kils doing all the base work and being as basely used and though since their deliverance thence you their posteritie have even in this good land for your evil wayes endured much affliction and undergone great hardship by tyrannous usages of insulting enemies yet be confident of this the time is come wherein God will be as propitious to you for his grace sake as ever he hath been severe against you for your sins you shall now be a rich and flourishing nation blessed with grace and peace and admired for your glorie and beautie 14 You know when first God brought his people into this land which then lay wholly in the darkness of Idolatrie and destroyed the Kings thereof one after another for their sake how famous was this nation then upon that glorious change and how resplendent in the eyes of God and men by the establishment of Gods pure worship and the admirable and clear wonders wrought by God here why such now shall be again though it hath been long in infelicitie and deformitie since those dayes by our sins and Gods just judgements 15 Sion the mount whereon God hath chosen now to pitch his tabernacle and in it the Ark of his presence and there and there onely to be worshipped in solemn and more than ordinarie manner it is by this become more famous for this Soul-fatning and spiritual repast that is there in such plentie to be had than that ledge of hills called the hill of Bashan scituate beyond Jordan is for its extraordinarie fruitfulness and fatning of cattel it is raised by this divine prerogative to a height of eminencie and note equal and beyond the height and greatness of Bashans hills exceeding it both in profit and pleasure 16 Why do you the tall and fruitful hills in several parts of the World seem to carrie it so high to joy and pride your selves in your priviledges of nature so far above this of Sion whereas this one supernatural priviledge of Gods residence and worship here is more worth than you and all yours put together for all your priviledges of nature richness of soil and high towring tops yet hath God past you by and chosen this to be his place of residence on earth and the very type of heaven nor will he change it or alter his mind to transplant himself and his worship from thence unto any of you but hath set down his staff here his promise is passed to it which he will not revoke And what is true of Sion above all other hills is as true of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ typified in me and my Government which for that reason is transcendent to all the Kingdoms nay the empires of the whole world â—7 And let not this residence and presence of God we so much magnifie our selves in be judged of by carnal apprehensions nor the strength of Sion by outward appearance as if the one nor the other afforded no more protection and help to Gods people than we see with our eyes Our faith is it that must instruct us in this matter to which onely God appears aright in his power and majestie excelling all earthly might The potentates of the World esteem their strength by the number of men horses and chariots that they can arm and muster But what say you to Angels one whereof is able to destroy thousands whole armies of such nay what say you to thousands and millions of such Angels these are they though invisible wherewith God appears in the behalf of his Church fights for and defends the Kingdom of Christ and so shall mine and yet if we doubt that men may be too hard for Angels know that God even the irresistable Almighty God is commander in chief over and amongst these his heavenly host who alone is sufficient without auxiliaries either of men or Angels to safe-guard his people and place of worship and presence where he is as really though not so visibly and in as great majestie strength and grace as he appeared on mount Sinai in power and terrour I hope we remember that and so should our faith represent him to us now when we come thither to worship him and seek unto him in any strait 18 As I am raised from a low estate to this height of dignitie and office to be King over Israel and so made able to overcome those that overcame them and to enrich them with the spoils of their enemies and the presents of forrain nations that seek to me for friendship which I am readie for thou hast put me into a capacitie to stand mine enemies in steed to extend to friend and so be they never so opposit thereby to make way for and hold forth in type thy willingness O blessed Saviour to do the like to Jew and Gentil who shalt draw all men to thee when as thou art lifted up and raised from thy low estate of humiliation and death by a glorious resurrection and ascention which is as sure to be as if it were and indeed virtually and energetically as also typically and in figure is already done for so even now as I upon the throne so dost thou sit at Gods right hand having conquered all spirituall powers and enemies to thy Kingdom as the world flesh sin death and Sathan who but for thy conquest of them whom by thine ascension thou art victorious over had absolute dominion over thy people who thereby are set at liberty to serve thee that art enriched in thy humane nature with all the glorious graces and excellencies that heaven and the divine nature can afford thee that thou maiest be the bounteous and gracious dispenser of them to thy body mysticall thy spirituall Israel that are a willing people to thee as also empowered and put into capacity to vanquish and over-power the most ignorant and gainsaying that the power of thy spirit and grace may be glorified
that never rests in a place but by every blast of wind is driven to and fro 24 My sorrows are so great perils so many and mind so restless that through voluntarie abstinence and involuntarie faintness and decay of nature I am become stomackless and strengthless my joints enfeebled and my flesh macerated 25 And this my misery was so far from moving mercie or pitie in my persecutours that they rejoyced to see it and mocked at me yea and at thee too for it reviling me with taunting tearms saying in derision Is this the man that must be King of Israel and in disdainfull diffidence of any such matter wagging their heads at me by that reproachfull gesture scornfully concluding the contrarie like as they shall demean themselves to Christ hanging upon the Cross pass by him look upon him and in that dolorous posture afford him no other pitie then scornfull nods and bitter mocks 26 I am in a condition so desperate hopeless and friendless that none but thy self can or will stand me in any stead But though it be so with me yea if it were worse if worse could be I would not doubt either thy power or mercie nor shall the badness of my condition overthrow my faith of relation but I still believe thee to be as my God in Christ so as able and gracious to deliver me as powerfull and faithfull to raise him which I pray thee to do for thy mercies sake in him 27 That my wicked and ungodly enemies may by experience of thy just judgements upon themselves and evident signes of favour unto me know thou hast done it for me because none but an Almighty power and goodness could have effected it as shall appear to be in Christ his resurrection and Jews dispersion 28 Their cursed wishes false slanders and wicked devices Lord frustrate them nay let them bring forth quite contrary effects the more ill they intend me let the greater good befall me and let the evil befall themselves let them do nothing that they may have cause to brag of in the issue when they are most confident let them be least successfull in what they unjustly attempt but let me have cause to make my boasts of thee and rejoice when as they hang their heads for sorrow and shame 29 Let mine adversaries have no cause of insulting over me but be ashamed of all they have done when they see that it is not against me but thee they did it by the event let them see what a fair thread they have spun that ends in nothing but shame and confusion that that is the web they have taken so much pains to weave for themselves all this while 30 When thou shalt have so done whereof I am most sure and certain then will I publish thy praises and magnifie thy mercies in the sight and hearing of all thy people by Sacrifices and Psalms 31 For all my sad condition and the grievous plight I am in yet it shall appear God is not so far from me as they think for but that he is at hand to help when his mine and their time is come spight of what they can do to hinder and notwithstanding their confidence because of their power and my povertie yet he can and will save me from those that in their own thoughts have adjudged and concluded me to death The cx PSALM David that Kingly Prophet and sweet singer in this Psalm shews the glorious exaltation of Christ in our nature at Gods right hand there to rule as sole sovereign whence it shall come to pass that by his divine spiritual omnipotencie his Gospel shall be effectual to the creating this King a Kingdom of loving loyal subjects maugre all his and their enemies and opposers speciallie upon his first inthronization and royal nuptials his Church shall get ground spight of the divel and all those earthly Potentates he sâ—ts on work to hinder it Such power hath he by virtue of his Kingly office to protect his people against men and divels and of such â—fficacie is his Priesthood with God able to save his Church to the uttermost ever living to make propitiatorie intercession for them in the heavens And he concludes with rendering the reason of all this his high esteem and powerfull prevailancie with God and power over angels and men even because for the effecting of this his Mediatourship and mans redemption he shall drink of a full cup the bitter waters of affliction shall be poured out upon him and wrung out to him with an Almightie hand A Psalm which David made in the spirit of Prophecie 1 GOd the Father in his eternal councel and covenant said to his son who is God and man my Lord and Saviour whose resurrection ascention and sitting at Gods right hand in dominion and power I shadow out in mine advancement from my low and troublelous state to the throne and scepter of Israel for that thou who art my fellow in the God-head hast undertaken to do my whole will in the Redemption of man and condescended to take his nature the better to effect it and therein hath effectually wrought it by dying for sin but being without sin hath conquered death which could not hold thee and art risen and ascended into heaven I give thee therefore there all power and authority in that very nature to rule and exercise sovereign and supream Jurisdiction over the Church which thou hast purchased by thy bloud together with the empire and absolute dominion of all things else for the Churches sake whose King and sole Mediatour thou art and this thy government I give thee to execute in a throne of majestie equal with my self in the highest heavens thence in thy humane nature with divine power to dispense and transact all things belonging to this thy Kingdom whilest there is any Church or that I have any people on earth to be governed officiated for by thee even until I who am as solicitous of thine honour as thou art of mine by my power dispenced by thy self shall have subdued unto that thy humane nature once so contemptible all thine enemies whether divels men or things Jews or Gentiles that shall oppose or not submit to thy regiment yea death it self or whatsoever shall impede the compleating of that glorious Kingdom of thy Mediatourship in for and over the Church bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh until thou hast fulfilled her number and safely brought the last man and member of that thy mystical bodie to heaven there in body and soul to be glorified with thee till then I say shall this royal office of thine continue whereof having then given me a just account according to thy undertaking and my covenant thou shalt deliver up the regal state and Kingdom of that thy Mediatour-ship in the humane nature into my hands as God alone for ever after of my self in the divine nature onely to govern that glorified
Covenant and mercy-seat signs of thy favour to us and presence with us which did much incourage us to seek unto thee and there to mind thee as of those speciall relations and ingagements so of all thy former acts of love and kindness which when we called to mind exceedingly upheld our hearts in the midst of our greatest dangers and gave us argument of prayer unto thee and faith in thee for the like grace in the like occasion to be shewn again and again as oft as thy people and this place stands in need 10 According to the greatness of our deliverances which thou hast wrought whereby the fame of thy grace and power to us-ward is spread throughout all the earth such is the increase of thine honour and renown amongst those people far and near And whilst others behold thee onely in thy power and goodness to us and admire thee for it we have reason to see farther and to acknowledg more of thee than so even thy faithfulness also according to what thou hast promised in all these wonderfull works of deliverance which thou hast wrought for us with an out-stretched arm of power and strength for all the world to take notice of 11 And though thy works do challenge the honour and praise that is due unto thee for them from all Nations where the fame of them is spread yet chiefly from us that experiment the good of them and the goodness of thee to us that dost so great things for us and for thy holy mountain the figure of thy Church in all ages situate amongst us whereby thou givest cause of joy and gladness not onely to it but to all thy people round about it that are so secured and safeguarded by it from all their enemies which for the preservation of it and them thou hast destroyed with such remarkable manifestation of thy judgements upon them and favour unto it and us 12 The better to stirre you up to praise and rejoycing and confidence in God take an exact view and advisedly consider the beauty and strength that he hath bestowed upon this place the type of heaven it self above all places in the world how though it hath been so often and so mightily attempted by enemies yet how fruitlesly on their behalf that have not been able to deface the least beauty nor to weaken the least strength belonging to it but that round about on all sides God hath defended it as Christ shall his Church every where that nothing is diminished though surrounded with armies of enemies on every side The walls and towers as you may see are still the same they were 13 Her fortifications not one jot demolished her beautifull Temple and palaces no whit impaired O wonderfull deliverance O infinite grace consider it again and again what God hath done to and for his people and peculiar place of residence that you may declare it to your children and they to theirs to strengthen their faith in God and to gain him the praises of after ages who as well as we will tast the sweet of these past and present mercies and which are a pledge of future favours unto them 14 For this God whom we worship in Jerusalem and who hath wrought such deliverances for it is one and the same his power and goodness unchangeable to his own faithfull people and servants in one age as well as in another and shall be made so to appear even to the end of the world and though he be always theirs yet then chiefly shall he shew himself their God and guid when they have most need of him and are in greatest danger xlix PSALM The Psalmist that what he should say might be more effectuall and take the better impression with all sorts and conditions of men good and bad high and low it being matter both of weight and difficulty he therefore doth introduce it with a serious preamble Of weight both for the godly to understand thereby to frame themselves to a patient enduring of afflictions from the wicked in this life with assured hope of reward and deliverance in the life to come when as their enemies shall perish and also for the great ones of the world to know that they may learn not to put their confidence and felicity in riches and honour which are transiunt and shall perish with themselves to the neglect of true happiness Of difficulty to be practised and submitted to both of the one and the other the godly being too apt to fear dissidence and impatitiency by reason of their present sufferings and they that enjoy the affluence of the world to abuse it to their own destruction A Psalm committed to Heman the chief musician of the family of the Korathites for him and them to sing 1 THat which I am about to speak in this ensuing Psalm is of that weight and universall concernment that I wish it may come to the knowledge of all men that live upon the face of the whole earth now or hereafter and so many as it does I wish them to be heedfull of it 2 Let none exempt themselves for every man let his condition be what it will good or bad is concerned one as well as another in what by the spirit of God I shall teach them 3 It is no vain or needless thing that I am about to utter that which I shall speak is that wisdom which God himself hath taught me not any thing hatched in mine own brain nor phancy but such understanding as God hath revealed to that end therefore shall I from mine heart declare it to you 4 I for my part confess my self a learner in such things as I shall teach you from God and therefore though I am used as Gods instrument to declare them yet will I consider them with the uttermost care and diligence I can for my self as I would have you to do for your selves And what I shall speak shall be by way of Psalm sung to the Harp the better to affect both my self and you with it which being of so divine a nature is not easily understood by men that in whole or in part are flesh and bloud as we all are and therefore need to be the better heeded 5 Why should I or any child of God distrustfully lay to heart mine afflictions by wicked worldly men yea though God himâ—elf set them on work to punish me and deservedly too for my sinfull wayes and that in such a manner as there seems to speak humanely no way to escape the danger but to perish under it 6 For what are they that I am afraid of but vain and foolish men that trust not in God but in deceiveable riches which is all they have to glory in knowing no other happiness 7 Which yet stands them in no stead as to free them from death temporall or to the obtaining life eternall as to these they have no priviledg
never to live again Lord think other thoughts towards us bring us again into a comfortable condition and raise us up in joy as much as thou hast cast us down in sorrow by the return of thy reconciled favour to us which will infinitely rejoyce us 7 Let us be so happy as to see and feel the sweet effects of thy pardoning grace O good God by granting us a powerfull deliverance from under this misery and bondage 8 As pray so I will also expect an answer my faith shall listen diligently to the promise of God what it sayes as also to his providence what it will speak effectually by way of performance for his promises are then words he will do as he sayes and therefore I am confident how ever Gods time is now of punishing us so it will be of pardoning us his people shall have rest from these their troubles for his Saints the invisible Church sake that are amongst them but let them take heed of abusing such goodness by provoking the Lord again to wrath with back-sliding ingratitude lest he never take their words more 9 Surely deliverance from the Lord will make haste for the enfranchizing of all those that faithfully wait for it and will heartily imbrace it when it comes to the promoting and re-establishing his worship and service again in that land of his and ours though we are wrongfully disseiz'd of it and restoring it to its former glorie and splendour 10 Our return as it shall doubtless be so it shall be exceeding happie the very embleme of the salvation that comes by the Messiah to the Church and the glorious effects thereof for in our restauration there shall be an admirable commixtion of the mercie and truth of God thereby graciously fulfilling his promise touching the well-fare of his Church and freedom from her enemies together with a righteous obediential walking of his people with him in peace and tranquillitie Like as in Christ and in the restauration that he shall make of poor distressed sinners to a spiritual Libertie from their ghostly enemies sin and Satan there shall be a glorious reconciliation of those cross pleading attributes and properties in Gods divine nature and in the soul of every justified regenerate member of the Church for according to truth and righteousness Man that sinned hath died Christ being made a sacrifice and according to mercie and peace Man that hath sinned is saved and God he are reconciled and at one in the propitiation of his son so that in him the Laws threatnings and Gospels promises are agreed the rigour of Gods justice is fully satisfied all things in God peaceably accorded and God and man sweetly reconciled and man in his own conscience by the faith of all these comfortably quieted 11 We shall serve and obey God in truth and uprightness such sweet fruit shall Judea yield upon our restitution and God shall take pleasure in us and from heaven pour forth his righteous blessings upon us in grace and favour to us as it shall be with the Church when the Messiah that Truth of God shall be born in our nature of earthly parents with what satisfactorie content shall God then behold him and those justified sanctified members of his here below aswell as those glorified ones in heaven above and how shall he bless them 12 Yea the Lord shall be so reconciled to us that our evils shall be turned into their contrarie blessings he shall be our friend and make every thing else befriend us for good the creature shall be reconciled aswell as the creator and the land that our sins have made barren and fruitless shall by the blessing of God upon it be restored to that fertilitie it had heretofore when God was better served and it was better blessed and made to resemble the plenteous spiritual blessings that Christs enfranchized Church shall abound with here 13 God himself shall plentifully vouchsafe his graces and make us walk to his well-pleasing in holiness and righteousness as Christ shall his Church and set us in the right way which we have so miserably strayed from and enable us to walk it even the path of his precepts The lxxxvi PSALM David in this Psalm made probably either during Sauls persecution of him or after in mindfulness of that his estate personating himself as then it was with him praies for audience and deliverance because of his incessant intercessions and Gods innate goodness and promises himself what he praies for he extols God and prophesies all the World shall do so too prayeth for direction and establishment under his pressures promiseth praise for what God hath done for him and relates what manner of enemies his are as bad as bad can be but comforts himself in Gods opposit grace and goodness which he praies for a sensible sight and taste of by some remarkable act of providence and power for him against them to their shame and confusion and to his corroboration and consolation A praier that David made in the time of his grievous affliction recorded as a pattern and for the use of every faithful afflicted member of the Church 1 THou Lord that hast an ear for men in my case and heart too Let me I pray thee prevail for a gracious audience and though thou beest of so immense greatness and inhabitest heavens in unaccessable glorie yet Lord have regard to a poor worm on earth in this my deplorable helpless condition 2 That my life Lord is in danger thou knowest it and that my heart is upright towards thee and innocent towards man even to my very enemies thou Lord art not ignorant of it Therefore in righteousness deliver me out of their hands and save my life which they would destroy O Lord that art my God both in near relation and dear affection save me that thou knowest am entirely thine in loving obedience and faithful dependance and reliance 3 Let thy goodness and my miserie move thee to have mercie on me O Almightie Lord and to vouchsafe me deliverance for as I have cause my pressures being exceeding great and incessant so are my cries unto thee vehement and quotidian because my faith and hope is in thee 4 Set me free from my troubles and these despondencies of spirit that accompany them that I may with a joyful and thankful heart apprehend thy grace and mercie to me for Lord thou knowest my trust and confidence is in none besides thee as thou mayest perceive by my faithful and fervent addresses 5 For I know both from thine own word which I believe and mine own experience that thou art of a gracious compassionate nature to poor distressed suppliants and though just to punish sinners yet as ready to pardon penitents and to shew mercie of every kind both of forgiveness to humbled sinners and of deliverance to distressed innocents that in the faith thereof pray earnestly unto thee 6 And
thine own appointed time didst make known thy mind by special revelation to thy holy prophet Samuel that thou hadst ordained one to be a singular type of Christ to give deliverance and yield protection to thy people against their enemies over whom thou wouldst make him victorious who should be chosen from amongst his brethren by thee above and before all others to be exalted from a mean condition to be King and ruler over them as Christ in our nature shall be exalted from the Cross to the Crown and Empire of his Church 20 I the Lord have by especial appointment set apart David he is the man and caused Samuel to go seek and find him out in the obscure condition place where he lived and from amongst all his brethren more likely men than He in Samuels own eyes to take and anoint him with oyl I bid him take with him for that purpose to that Kingly office and typical dignity over my people 21 I will set the Crown upon his head my power shall protect him and carrie him through all oppositions and maugre all his enemies he shall be King and the Kingdom established upon him by my might shall he overcome all his adversaries both before and after his inthronization 22 Enemies he shall have good store but they shall never have their will of him he shall make them tributarie but so shall not they him nor shall any wicked malicious opposer of his be able to suppress him but he shall prevail to be King and to flourish in his Kingdom spite of all gain-sayers 23 I will make it appear how much I love him by the great things I will do for him no enemy shall be able to stand before him all his foes secret and open that oppose or stand in the way of his advancement I will lay them low enough yea they that do but in their hearts malign him though they do not openly oppose him shall smart for it 24 But as for him I will make good all I have promised his sins and infirmities shall not hinder me for though I may punish them yet will I have a merciful respect and consideration of him from first to last shall my grace and truth be stedfast with him as it shall be with my Church to the end and by my might and power shall he and his Kingdom flourish with great glorie 25 And be extended far and near from the red-sea to the river Euphrates his dominion shall be enlarged without the limits of the land of Canaan very far several wayes 26 As a dear child and onely son as is the Messiah so shall he be unto me and as a tender Father so will I be to him and such shall he acknowledge me by the experience he shall have of my love and care and by the great deliverances and victories that I will give him and as to his onely God and Saviour shall he make his applications to me 27 As my son the Messiah is the first born of every creature and in all things hath the preheminence so shall my servant David that figures him be advanced to the honour of being the highest Prince on earth blessed and accepted by me far beyond them all 28 My mercy and truth shall be sure to keep touch with him I will never forget to be gracious though I may seem severe I will not fail of what I have promised him but as in grace I made my covenant so in mercie and faithfulness I will make it good nothing shall hinder 29 His posteritie shall continue and possess the throne till they transmit it to the Messiah in whom it shall be eternized and in those that shall be begotten to God by the sanctification of the spirit the blessed of-spring of Christ the son of David every of which shall reign as Kings both on earth and in heaven for evermore in grace and glorie 30 31 If his children and childrens children that succeed him in the throne rule not righteously nor order their conversation aright but sin against me and keep not my commandments 32 Then will I aswell as I loved their Father David and them for his sake be sure to let them know I am sensible of their sins by making them sensible of my corrections neither their impietie nor injustice shall go unpunished 33 34 Nevertheless I will not quite cast off the sinner for his sin because of David my servant but will remember my love to him and covenant with him so that I will pardon aswell as punish and be faithful aswell as just they shall not frustrate my covenant no not by their sins because it was of grace no more than shall mine elect regenerate people for my sons sake with whom I have covenanted and for whose sake I will perform it to his seed and mine adopted ones throughout all generations 35 I have once for all irrevocably bound my self by as deep an oath as I know how to take even by the most sacred attribute and propertie that is in all my divine nature that gives a verdure to all the rest mine Holiness which is indeed my whole self the greatest pledge I can lay to stake the resemblance whereof my sanctuarie you have amongst you that I will for no cause whatsoever falsifie with David nor fail of what I promised 36 That his seed Christ the son of David and the faithful that are begotten by the incorruptible seed of the word shall last as long as time lasteth He shall reign in and over his Church by special commission and favour as my vicegerent and fellow in Government as long as the sun abides in the firmament till all things be no more and he give up the Kingdom into the Fathers hands 37 Till then it shall be established even so long as Sun and Moon endures those never-failing witnesses of my grace and providence as a faithful creator to the children of men for all their iniquities notwithstanding which these have afforded their light and influence from the very beginning both to the just and unjust shall do to the end As the sins of the wicked because my grace super-abounded hath not annihilated these mercies of mankind so nor shall the sins of the Godly the sons of Christ the son of David make void my Covenant of grace peculiar to my son and his seed figured by David and his posteritie no not for ever 38 But Lord what consonancie is there betwixt this thy Covenant with David and the state of the Kingdom as now it stands instead of loving kindness establishment and mercie here is nothing but utter dereliction and rejection of his posteritie and people with abhorrencie How couldst thou well be angrier with the seed of thine anointed servant than thou art to whom for his sake thy covenant reacheth and is to be fulfilled 39 Truly Lord to the eye of sense
people have cause to remember and acknowledge and with joyfull hearts to praise thee for especially for that transcendent work of mercy in chosing us from out all the world to be thine which together with those concomitant powerfull dispensations and manifestations of thy self in our behalfes from time to time gives cause to me and them to triumph and glory in faith and hope 5 O Lord how unconceivable is thy power and wisdom in all thy decrees counsels and dispensations towards both thy Church and the enemies thereof in thy strange providences and marvellous judgements 6 Which yet are little taken notice of by most men so worldly minded and sensually disposed are people ordinarily that God is not in all their thoughts spending their time more like beasts than men of reason minding the creature more than the Creatour who is never so much as owned much less honoured by the earthly minded and wicked Athiesticall persons of the world in any thing he doth though never so remarkable 7 Neither the hazardous condition that they themselves are in in this their earthly felicity which they take to be a speciall note of Gods peculiar favour to them that they can sin and yet prosper when others that are holy and strict in their wayes are at an ebb-water in poverty and misery not considering that God gives wicked men their hearts desire here le ts them swim in plenty and pleasure for a while during a short life that they may compleat their sins to the sum totall and he his judgements even unto everlasting destruction in endless pains never to enter into his rest 8 They neither understand themselves nor thee O Lord God never imagining that thou rulest in the highest heavens and thence judgest of all men and their actions here below But whatever their vain thoughts are thou art the everlasting King of thy Church and people and the righteous judge of thine and their enemies and so they shall find thee to be to the worlds end 9 For as sure as Gods in heaven so sure shall the wicked of the earth however they prosper and whatever they may think of themselves compared with other men come to ruine and utter destruction for though they think God their friend yet doth he know and reckon them for his enemies and as such shall his proceedings be towards them for all evil doers though they be many and the godly few in all ages and places they shall be weeded out and consume away by the hand of God upon them they and their felicity shall part and be everlastingly seperated 10 But as despicable as the godly are in the eyes of worldlings they shall have their turn I and other thy faithfull servants shall see better dayes when they shall see worse principally in heaven that everlasting sabbatism when our turn comes to rise then they shall fall and there is no doubt but that day will come when we shall be made able by thee whose faithfulness is engaged for it to lift up our heads and enjoy those everlasting consolations hoped for and those divine honours of being Kings and Priests unto thee 11 The faithfull shall not fail of the grace promised them and the justice to be executed upon their enemies but they shall undoubtedly be both eye and ear-witnesses of the righteous judgements of God upon the wicked of the world that hate and persecute them 12 The righteous however they be decried and depressed by wicked worldlings yet shall God so bless them that they shall out-grow their miseries and over-top their enemies Gods Church and his people of whom it consists shall grow in grace untill they arrive in glory 13 Those that are Israelites indeed which by the spirit and faith are made members and have taken rooting in the family and Church of God shall thrive and come on prosperously in spirituall graces by use of holy means in frequenting his sanctuary and sanctifying his Sabbath to Gods glory their own assurance and unspeakable rejoycing They that are rooted here in grace shall grow up from grace to grace and be crowned at last with eternall life in the heavens 14 These trees and plants of Gods own planting by a divine supernaturall supply of spirituall sap and nourishment contrary to the course of nature the elder they grow the better they shall flourish and fructifie both on earth and to all eternity in heaven 15 Thus shall both the wicked perish and the godly flourish to shew that however by outward appearance of providences and weakness of faith the Lord seems oft-times to us to go against himself and break his word yet it s nothing so the Lord for all that is faithfull true of his promise a never failing refuge to every true believer and there is no such thing as our sinfull imagination and unbelief-fancy of him not the least uâ—righteousness in word or deed The xciii PSALM The Psalmist goes about to settle the faith of the Church in the Empire and omnipotency of the Lord her God together with his faithfull engagements the holy performances whereof she is bound to believe and relie upon for ever 1 THe Church and people of God ought to know and believe this for an infallible maxim in practicall as well as dogmaticall divinitie that The Lord reigneth He that is their God is God and King of all and over all the empire and regalitie of the whole world is his the resplendent majestie whereof appears in all created Beings in heaven and earth and in that power which he so effectually and dexterously manifests for his Churches preservation and their enemies confusion whereby the world also is centred so firm as upon a basis so that though it hang like a ball in the air yet it is as firm and immoveable as the fixed mountains 2 This dominion of thine O Lord glorious in its administrations of protection and government hath ever been never was there any vacation of it and as it hath been so it shall be from everlasting to everlasting as thou thy self art 3 As in nature thou Lord hast ordained in the waterie element thereof vâ—â—y formidable and dreadfull agitations as in the tempestuous ragings of the sea the over-flowing of great waters making a hideous noise such storms and concussions are raised on land too even all the earth over against thy Church tossed as a ship at sea and boistrously handled by wicked and unreasonable men that rage against her readie to be swallowed up and devoured by them 4 But as high as these waves and tempests of danger and destruction to thy Church do mount yet is the Lord in heaven both higher and mightier than they be they never so terrible for noise and number he can allay and quiet them at his pleasure yea though the Church be as a boat in a storm at sea in the midst of gusts and surges God can preserve
their unthankfull provocations yet would he not take vengeance on them nor let those enemies triumph in their destruction from under whose power he had newly delivered them but for the honour of his own name that was named upon them they being now noted more than ever for his peculiar people and for the further glorifying of his power and grace in their behalves he brought them safe out of that inextricable strait by an Almighty hand for ever to be had in thankfull remembrance 9 For rather than he would there let them perish and dishonour himself though they deserved it he wrought a Miracle beyond any the rest contrary to the course of nature commanded the very Sea to give place and divide it self to make them way and for all its propensity to return into its course God conjured it to abide as a Wall on their right hand and on their left which it did and could do no other untill they were quite passed through the bottom of it upon the dry land as if it had been part of that Wilderness which afterward they travelled 10 And thus with infinite long suffering and glorious power did he save them because they were his chosen people out of the hands of Pharaoh that perfect enemy of theirs that pursued them with a deadly design either to have reduced them into bondage or slain them all upon the place 11 And these waters that thus gave way to preserve our fathers so soon as they were all passed over and God had revoked his word of command they presently returned into their Chanell and closed again upon the whole Host of the Egyptians all which were drowned therewith so that not a man of them escaped 12 The gladsomness of that deliverance by such a Miracle made them for all their hard hearts at present whilest the sense and memory of it was warm which lasted but a while to credit what God spake by Moses touching his good will to them and his safe and certain bringing them into the land of promise and for a flash they were as full of faith as a bladder full of wind and sang the praise of his rich mercy goodness and power manifested in that their so late and great salvation with abundance of joy and delight in God 13 But alas neither this faith nor praise was out of any well grounded principle towards God but out of the present sense which self-love had of the present good-turn he did them for they had not travelled above three dayes from the red-sea to the waters of Pharaoh but there they were at old ward falling into unbelief and discontent against God and Moses and forgat all that was past as if it had never been even all those wonders within and without Egypt that God wrought for them to have gained their hearts to believe in him and relie on him but it would not be all was one they were in cold bloud the self-same men at one time as at another whensoever God tried them and would never in an humble gratuitous belief of him make their addresses to him and enquire of him in this or that strait but streight-way fell foul ready to flie in Moses his face and consequently in Gods so soon as ever they at any time suffered they had not patience nor piety in the faith of his former transactions which they had experimentally seen managed to the best of advantage and opportunity to wait upon such his wise and seasonable dispensations as might accordingly in the issue still most evince his glory and conduce to their spirituall benefit and edification as his precedent acts had done 14 But they were a carnall-minded people nothing spiritualized nor bettered towards God by all heâ— did for them but made their belly their God settting light by Angels food for they saw nothing Angelicall or Divine in it being mere sensualists inordinately lusting after belly-chear and variety of acates in the very Wilderness where they saw and knew that by course of nature nothing could be had they must either be supernaturally maintained or starve yet in that barren place where God notwithstanding had so long and often miraculously supplied them with all needfull things they were not therewith content but murmured for superfluities questioning the power and not submitting to the will of God as if what they wanted and had not as they desired was because he had not power to give it them 15 But the Lord to vindicate his power which they had impeached saying who shall give us flesh to eat or can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness and to let them see the unprofitableness of creature-contentment though in never so great abundance if not sanctified by the word of God and prayer sent them their desire even plenty of Quails-flesh to their bread but they had better have been without it than to have had it given them in anger accompanied with judgement as it was not onely bodily so many perishing at Kibroth Hataavah with meat in their mouthes and so destroying instead of nourishing them for being obtained but not in Gods way though it was his gift yet it wanted his grace was empty of blessing being no act of favour and therefore pleased the sense but edified not the soul the proper tendency of all he bestowes and the best effect even of temporall benefits which else are a shell without a kernell blessings accursed and so was this to them feeding on it a moneth together gluttonously without fear or spirituall descerning till at last it wrought their overthrow by surfetting instead of nourishing for God gave them up to wear it as they won it spend it as they got it to wit lustfully which excess and carnall mindedness he severely plagued both in body and soul. 16 They gave themselves up to studied provocations not onely murmuring upon emergentcases but by combination conspiring among themselves against Moses and Aaron those approved holy men and speciall servants of the Lord one whereof to wit Aaron was his declared High-Priest officiating in speciall before him for their good in expiating their sins and diverting Christ-like Gods judgements yet no relation of them to God nor of advantage to themselves could perswade but these men whom God had substituted in those places of conduct and Priest-hood and set so many seals upon must at their pleasure be removed suspected after so long experience to be Impostors and another government and Preist-hood agitated by other men must be erected and this which God had ordained demolished 17 And it is never to be forgotten what fearfull vengeance God executed upon the chief ringleaders of that conspiracy and with what a fearfull death he visited them causing the earth to open and swallow up Korah Dathan and Abiram those chieftains with all that belonged to them and to close upon them in the sight and to the amazement of all Israel so that with a fearfull cry they
escaped God hath alwayes preserved me and in stead of mine enemies destroying me he hath destroyed them I am confident I must and shall ever do so God inabling me as he hath done I have been as hard beset as a man that hath a swarm of bees about his ears not knowing 'i th world how to avoid them ready to fall upon me on every hand with deadly devouring hatred which though it was very terrible for the time yet the Lord put an end to it made their malice to me the destruction of themselves like thorns consumed in their own flame and so shall he ever inable me against all mine enemies I am confident and that they shall never have better success 13 Mine utter ruin as an obstruction to this preferment hath been strongly endeavoured by him that had no small power in his hands nor small malice towards me but God hath both preserved me and advanced me maugre all that Saul could do and all his complices 14 The Lord alone was my defence and the ruiner of mine enemies who else had ruined me a thousand times over the glorie and praise belongs to him and he shall have it who hath perfected his promise given me final deliverance from all those troubles and seated me above the reach of those mine enemies 15 What cause of rejoycing hath God given to the families in Israel that fear the Lord how glad are they to see this day and such a change of things I and they so preserved and delivered from the malice of those that hated and sought the ruin of goodness and good-men and now to see them conquered and quite subdued and that by so apparent providence and Almighty power must needs rejoyce them greatly 16 It is he that deserves and I hope shall accordingly have the honour of it who by his sole power and victorious providence hath mightily effected it 17 As near as I have been to destruction many and many a time and as hopeful as mine enemies were of it so that both they and I my self have given me for a gone man yet God hath purposed otherwayes die I must not and therefore die I did not but am alive at this day and in a good condition preserved purposely of God by example and acknowledgement to manifest and magnifie what he hath done for me and what he can and will do for his Church whose person I bare and represented in all my troubles and enfranchisements 18 The Lord gave mine enemies much power over me so that I under-went sore trials and sad chastisements to teach me to know my self and sin but though he gave them liberty to afflict me yet not to destroy me as they hoped to have done but maugre their malice hath preserved my life though often endangered 19 O ye that are the porters and door-keepers of the Lords holy sanctuarie a place of late years disfrequented and sequestred from good and righteous men that properly have onely right and title to it Now by Gods good providence the case is well altered I and other such as I am that with upright hearts desire to serve the Lord have liberty and opportunity to do it therefore set the doors of the courts of the Tabernacle wide open for us that I and they may comfortably come and worship the righteous Lord there specially present and give him the due praises of all his faithful performances of those his gracious promises touching me and his Church in my time 20 I mean I say the gate of the Lords own Tabernacle where he is so peculiarly resident and will therefore there be especially worshipped set that open for me and all my fellow-saints and servants of God who as of right they ought so now I have power they shall have free access unto it having been too long secluded 21 Lord my heart is full and there I am purposed to empty it upon thee in most affectionate thanks and praises for thine often audiences gracious and effectual answers and principally for this complement of all thy promises in saving me from mine enemies and advancing me to the Kingdom so far above their power to hurt me 22 Insomuch as now I who heretofore was by Saul and his Grandees those great Artificers of State hatefully persecuted and disdainfully rejected as unworthy and unfit for this preferment like a refuse stone that is broken and cast out of the way by master-workmen as altogether useless and unserviceable for building and as the Messiah whom I prefigure shall be by Cajaphas with his confederates the chief Priests and Scribes those ring-leaders of the Jews who shall despightfully use him and cruelly crucifie him I say I that was thus refused am advanced from this my despicable condition to fit in the throne and wield the Scepter of Israel upon whom under God the Government and wellfare of Church and Common-wealth principally depends even as it shall be with Christ whom both in weal and woe I typifie he shall rise again from the dead and be gloriously advanced even in his humane nature so much contemned and hardly used to be Saviour Mediatour and King of and over the Church consisting then of Jews and Gentiles united in him and supported by him maugre her enemies as the sides and weight of a building are by a principal binding corner stone against all blasts 23 This strange transversion of a persecuted abject to become a King and a contemned condemned crucified man to be the sole Saviour and Monarch of the world is by the holy and wise ordination and effectual operation of God brought to pass both which are worth our wonder and admiration to see persecution produce dignitie and death life and glorie 24 This day of mine inthronization resembling that of Christs resurrection and glorious exaltation at his fathers right hand is the time and means whereby God hath and will make good all his promises of grace and happiness to his Church who lives therefore that hath the faith and acknowledge of these things and joyes not that he hath lived to so happie an hour as to see them thus fulfilled 25 O Lord it s a day indeed that thy Church hath cause to be glad of and so she is and prayes thee to add to her joyes and that now from henceforth all those blessed promises of happiness to thy King and people may be effectual and they prosperous 26 As Christ himself who is the Messiah and sent of God for the good and salvation of his people is blessed and diffuseth blessings to his people whom they again that are his Priests and the living Temples of the living God do gratifie with the return of blessings in behalf of his Kingdom praying the increase and consummation of it and offering the sacrifice of praise to him that by Gods gracious emission came to offer himself in sacrifice for them So let David the anointed of the Lord
not found thy grace or truth to fail me but as I have endeavoured to approve my self a good servant so O Lord have I found thee a good master true of thy promise and as good as thy word 66 Lord give me a right understanding of things that differ let me not mistake falshood for truth nor evil for good but teach me to know the thing that good is and dispose mine heart and affections practically thereunto for so far as I have been taught by thy spirit I have gladly imbraced and conscionably obeyed and not refused either belief or subjection to any thy commandments 67 My very afflictions through thy grace and faithfulness are become wholsom physick and good documents to me for I was apt to wander out of thy way until I smarted for my folly but now I have learned another lesson and have ever since run another course kept close to thy will revealed in thy word without hearkening to the dictates of corrupt reason tending to self-pleasing or self-saving which before were too prevailing 68 Goodness of all kinds O Lord is natural to thee so it is not to us in any kind for there is none good but God and flows plentifully from thee as all creatures but man especially can witness of whose bountie they have their beings and those beings their subsistencies all the world over but Lord it is thy saving goodness that I pray to partake of my soul is more to me than my bodie and grace than nature therefore do I beg special and supernatural grace and wisdom to know and do thy will which I prefer before common and natural benefits the pleasing of thee before either profit or pleasure to my self of thy goodness grant me this which is part of the divine nature and onely makes man like to God in being and doing good which I would both be and do 69 My proud disdainful enemies that fear not God nor care not what wickedness they commit in word or deed to discredit me have falsly aspersed me for a traiterous conspiratour and that it is my ambition not thy determination that puts me upon expectancie of the Kingdom but I am resolved this slaunder shall not stagger me but in confidence of thy truth and mine own integritie I will persist to serve thee in sinceritie of heart who I know wilt vindicate mine innocencie and make appear their forgerie 70 Their worldly pomp and plentie hath made their hearts so gross and carnal as that their consciences are benummed and sensless and their minds puft up with pride and arrogance they sin without restraint and scoffe at pietie as pusillanimitie but thy Law is my delight though not theirs I am troubled when I break it and glad at heart when I do and can keep it through thy gracious enablement 71 Yea such is my love to holiness that I never think it a dear purchase whatsoever it cost me and therefore value mine afflictions which in mercie thou sentest to beget in me a teachable and tractable heart to thy commandments above their prosperitie that hardeneth their hearts in ignorance and carnallitie 72 Thy word and Law written in my heart effectually taught and wrought there by thy spirit however it is counter to my corruptions yet because as it is thine so pliable hast thou made my will to thy will even therefore do I praise it and apprehend my self more enriched with my knowledge of it and love to it than if I had the wealth the world so dotes on in never so great abundance Iod. The tenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the tenth part 73 Thou Lord that madest me was pleased to difference me from other creatures by endowing me with natural capacities above them so that though I have lost my created perfections of righteousness and holiness yet not my created and passive capacities of thy renewing them again in me my soul hath the same faculties and my bodie the same parts and Organs thou gavest me at the first in and upon which thou art able to re-imprint thine image vouchsafe me I pray thee thy renewing grace more and more powerfully enlighten my dark understanding encline my whole man O Lord to the loving and obeying of thy whole will I am still thy creature renew thy likeness 74 If Lord thou wilt strengthen thy graces in me and enable me to hold out stedfast in faith and holy obedience to the end and then reward thine own graces in me with a happie issue and close of things how will it rejoyce the hearts of thy servants that fear thee and hope in thee when they shall see me have overcome all my miseries and be possessed of my hopes and thy promises because of thy gracious enabling me to hold out in affiance of thy word it will affect them greatly 75 I know O Lord that thou art righteous in what thou sayest and doest thy word and thy works are consentaneous thy faithfulness is fulfilled in my very afflictions though seemingly otherwayes thy judgements and mercies and shall conduce to bring about thy promises made to me 76 Let I pray thee thy mercie of favour and grace long since promised me be in the faith of it a continual comfort to me yea Lord comfort me thy servant chosen and called with the accomplishment of it according to thy word 77 Make me inwardly sensible of those tender affections which thou bearest me that they may help to revive me in this comfortless condition whilest it lasts and express them also in outward manifestations let me see thy pitie and compassion in a comfortable deliverance and conclusion that I may live free from these troubles which makes my life a very death for how ever by frailtie I have and cannot but offend thee yet thou knowest thou hast mine heart and good will in all things to serve and obey thee that is my desire and in that I delight 78 Let not me therefore miscarrie by the hands of proud men and evil doers that are lawless and scorn subjection Lord let them miscarrie in their designs and evil purposes for thou knowest how contrarie to their consciences they have persecuted me as nocent when as they know me to be an innocent person but their dealing shall not make me forget my dutie I will keep mine eye still fixed upon that and walk stedfastly in the way of thy precepts in confidence of my reward and their punishment 79 Give me such remarkable deliverance and so change the scene that those of thy people that truly fear thee and have been savingly enlightened by thee whom my afflictions have staggered or that have been misled by delusions and false reports may see convincing signs of thy special favour to me and purposes concerning me and thereby be encouraged and invited in the faith of thy promises and my innocent cause to take part and joyn with me against mine
And surely Lord so ill do I like their manners that I love thy commandments the better for it because they are so contrarie to them the less they set by them and the more they value the wealth of the world the more I value them and the less I set by it for swine know not the worth of pearls no treasure under heaven is so precious and profitable in mine eye nor indeed in it self or to the possessour as thy Law and Commandments are to the sincere professour and practiser of them the holy dictates of a holy God making both holy and happie them that know and do them which I desire and good Lord grant me to do above all things as alone sufficient to make me both rich and happie to my hearts content 128 As black sets forth white and a crooked line a streight one so doth mine enemies wayes thy commandments in their puritie and rectitude their deformed and crooked courses of impietie and iniquitie makes the line of thy precepts much more streight and right in mine eyes yea those that carnal sence and corrupt reason can worst approve of to me through thy grace they are most precious and desireable as tending to nearest perfection and likeness with thy self and on the contrarie as I love thy Law which they hate and make void so do I hate what they love sinful deviations and prevarications Pe. The seventeenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the seventeenth part 129 Mans reason and understanding is both contrarie to and infinitly short of comprehending the holy and high mysteries of salvation and Godliness revealed in thy word which nature could never have known nor taught us had they not been supernaturally revealed being the hidden uncreated wisdom of God taught and wrought in the souls of thy servants by extraordinarie illumination and of special grace and favour therefore for their Divine nature and worths sake which in mercie thou hast opened mine eyes to see though others do not do I love and delight in them meditate and obey them even lay out my whole strength upon them 130 In whomsoever and at what time soever thy word by the efficatious working of thy spirit first takes saving and sanctifying impression there and then and never till then the sun of righteousness rises with light and healing to the expulsion and dispersion of that deadly darkness that naturally benighteth every soul man though otherwise never so worldly wise is but a very fool vain and ignorant both of truth and goodness till thou write thy Law in his heart that and onely that is true wisdom and they and onely they have true understanding though otherwise never so foolish 131 I for my part never longed more after meat and drink in my greatest extremitie of hunger and thirst nor any creature living than I did for the incomming of thy word with power into my soul when it was under the guilt and dominion of sin O the sighs and groans that I incessantly breathed forth after my transforming and thine inabling grace to believe and obey 132 Thou Lord knowest how I longed and still do to serve thee out of a sincere and hearty love to thee Let therefore thine eye of grace and compassion be upon me mercifully to keep me from falling into sin or by sin into thy displeasure as thou hast promised and in thy goodness art accustomed to do to such as thou knowest I am a lover of and hoper in thy grace truth and mercie 133 Let my whole conversation course of life by thy spirit according to thy word the rule of holiness and righteousness be powerfully over-ruled ordered in all things and let not my innate pravity by force or subtility of temptation in no case overmaster thy grace and make me sin against thee whom I desire to serve 134 My greatest temptation and fear is the unjust violence and cruel persecution of mine enemies thou that art the Almighty and gracious Lord God set me free and deliver me from the injuries of proud malicious minded men so shall I be ingaged and inabled when set at liberty thankfully and chearfully to serve and please thee 135 Bring me out of this comfortless darksom condition threatening thy displeasure whereby I have nothing but troubles without and sorrows within let me by deliverance see the skie clear up upon me let thy favourable aspect break forth from under this cloud and Lord it is as well the light of grace as comfort of sanctification as deliverance that I beg of thee the one without the other will but little profit nor please me 136 So deeply am I affected with the opprobries and contempt that thou undergoest by the wicked of the world specially mine enemies who turn grace into wantonness and make thy impunity their immunity to sin that it is a greater trouble and grief of heart to me than any I undergo in mine own behalf and costs me as many sighs and tears the injuring of thee in thine honour as my self in my peace and innocencie which I should be as glad were vindicated and they punished as I delivered Tsaddi The eighteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the eighteenth part 137 Let other men that love to live in sin think as contemptuously as they will of thee and thy Laws yet art thou and they righteous and so they shall find when according to those Laws thou passest a just and righteous sentence upon them for their wicked disobedience 138 What thou hast testified to be thy will in thy word by commanding it to be done is just and righteous in it self and tends to make men so if rightly performed yea happie also thy commands having their rewards which to the faithful shall be faithfully performed 139 I sustain no small grief by my persecutours in mine own person but if I know mine own heart it is far short of what I undergo for thy sake the contemptuous neglect and slight esteem which my proud enemies have of thy commandments making a trade of sinning hath so affected me to see thee thus dishonoured and thy Law unregarded that mine ardent apprehension of it in fervour and affection to thee and holy impatience against them hath meagred and impaired me much 140 That for which others dislike and refuse thy word is because it is in its own nature pure and tends to the refining their natures and corrupt manners which wicked worldlings cannot abide And for this very reason sake do I love it and delight in it because it is such and hath that gracious operation with it for that I am thy servant and do long more and more to be so in all manner of holiness and righteousness whereof it is the perfect rule and pattern 141 I have temptations of poverty persecution scorn and what not that put me to it yet I swerve not nor cast not off thy yoak though
not cancel them but day by day will I recount and recal them and afresh magnifie thee for them and bless thee that blesseth me yea live I never so long they shall never die but all that I am or shall ever be I will be it of thee and acknowledge it to thee thy praise and glorie 3 In Majestie power and grace transcendent is the Lord the worlds sole Sovereign and how ought his praises to be suitably superlative whose greatness in glorie and every other excellencie is infinite and incomprehensible rather to be admired than understood by men of finite and shallow capacities as his works declare 4 The world shall never be without matter of praise that shall set forth the immensity of thee the Lord whose praise-worthy works of power justice mercie shall be renewed upon the face of the earth continually every generation shall have a succession of them which shall accordingly by thy people be observed and transferred in their gratulatorie memorials from one to another the fathers shall tell and teach what their forefathers taught and told them and the additions thou hast made in their time of works of wonder and acts of power and grace to their posterities and they to theirs to the worlds end 5 I for my part will extol thee in the age that I live in and leave a copie for after-ages to write by and do the like in exalting thy supream superlative honour and glorie that is essential to thee the Sovereign Majestie of heaven and earth and in magnifying thine Almightie power so wonderfully specified in the works of creation preservation and destruction acted and evident in the world respectively to good and bad 6 Those that give themselves to observation as I do shall have cause enough whilest the world endures to extol thy powerful justice upon thine and thy Churches enemies in the terrible execution of it by formidable judgements such as former ages have been full of and after-ages shall not be wanting in and I will be sure to do my part towards it in preaching thy Sovereign justice and power how able thou art to confound them and how terribly thy displeasure shall be executed upon evil doers wicked despisers of God and oppressours of his people 7 Such faithful observers shall also have abundant matter stored up in memorie of thy goodness and mercie yea manifold and remarkable mercies to thy Church and people which they themselves shall bless and praise thee for and teach them to others even to succeeding generations to be remembred of them in like sort and shall rejoyce exceedingly in their own and the Churches constant experience of thy faithfull performances of thy gracious promises freely made and in righteousness made good touching thy blessings to them and thy judgements upon their enemies 8 They shall have cause to magnifie Gods manifold gracious properties by manifold sweet experiences and to say of him as he by Moses sayeth of himself That he is as good as great Gracious in promising and performing Compassionate over his people in their afflictions though afflicted for their sins which he is slow to punish and very forbearing to execute his just displeasure where and when or as oft as it is deserved and as ready mercifully to forgive their sin when committed and remove his judgements when inflicted upon their repentance as they themselves can wish be their sins what they will never so great he can and will forgive them upon conversion and repent of his punishing when they repent of their provoking 9 And though covenant-grace and pardoning mercie be the portion of his own peculiar yet to those that are not so but strangers yea enemies to him he is beneficial even to all good and bad God is good and declares it by large dispensations of manifold good things creative and providential Though sin hath brought an over-flowing deluge of displeasure into the world and shut up the whole creation man and all things that were made for his use under a curse and Divine severity yet cannot this hinder on Gods part his being merciful who freely extends his liberal beneficence to every creature supplying their wants maintaining and taking care for their subsistencies from the least to the greatest 10 There is nothing in the whole world in that its kind and nature sets not forth thy praise-worrhy goodness and greatness O thou Sovereign and sole Lord thereof and above all thy peculiar people chosen and called have cause not onely for common mercies whereof together with the rest of the world they liberally partake to praise thee but for special love-tokens of grace and favour which the world knows not what belongs to wherewith thou peculiarly blessest them shall they actively bless and magnifie thee in love and thankfulness 11 Thy saints they shall not by bare instinct or meer necessitie of nature passively praise thee as others do that are subjects at large of the Kingdom of thy power onely but as those that are received into grace shall they magnifie the glorious excellencie of that thy Kingdom of grace as well as of power whereof more especially they are subjects and knowingly in the comfortable experience of their own hearts declare the happiness of that estate transcendent to any worldly one both for dignity and security the King of saints being the onely Lord God glorious in Majestie and omnipotent in power as his acts declare 12 From the enlargements of their hearts in the love and admiration of thee they shall publish to the world that so best understands thee the memorable atchievements which thou hast in sundry ages brought to pass thereby to spread thy fame and gain thee the glorie of thine omnipotencie and sole Sovereigntie over the world the pomp and power thereof as sundry times and wayes upon sundry nations and mightie potentates thou hast made it manifest by demonstrative evidence in thy Churches and peoples behalf 13 Yea all the excellent prerogatives and properties of thy Kingdom and empire shall they preach and promulgate to gain thee the precedencie of worldly honour which though never so great yet is transient and momentanie on top of the wheel to day and under it to morrow whereas thy dominion and Sovereigntie as it excels in power and dignitie so in permanence and perpetuitie thou canst crush earthly Kingdoms their Princes and people but they with all their might and malice can neither crush thee nor thine neither weaken thy power lessen thy glorie nor extirpate thy Church but as thou so it maugre all the world is of an infinite date no period can be put to either for both shall everlastingly endure and every age shall make it appear so by the admirable works of governance and powerful preservation of thy Church and Kingdom founded upon an everlasting covenant 14 Otherwise his Church had been extirpated many a day ago every age lifting at it so that it hath