which inclines us to them and not onely to pray against great transgressions and presumptuous sinnes but against the least motions and workings of sin whether in word or thought The Twentieth Psalme teacheth the duty of people towards their godly lawfull Magistrates and Governours and though it were penned upon a particular occasion probably when David went forth against the Ammonites 2 Sam. 10. yet it hath this Doctrine of generall concernment viz. That Godly Christian Rulers who are nursing fathers to the Church of God ought to be remembred in our prayers for a blessing upon their designes and endeavours for Gods people and against his and their enemies It teacheth likewise that it is Gods blessing alone that keeps the City as we have it in another Psalme Psal. 127. The 21. Psalme shews likewise that the safety of the Church and of all Christian States depends on God alone and gives us also occasion of admiring the glory of Christs Kingdome which is so great through Gods salvation seing David in his kingdome over Israel was a Type of Christ reigning in his Church and so also the passages in David's Psalmes that respect his rule and government have an aim at somewhat answerable to the Kingdome of Christ What more comfortable Consideration can any poor soul have than the subject matter of the 24th Psalm wherein the Question is resolved Whether God have any peculiar company divided from the rest of the world of which he is more especialiy tender and carefull and where this company is and what manner of men they are who as I may say are the fellows of this society Here we may learn that God hath a Church on earth call'd out of the world and distinguished from it that not hypocrites and formall Professors but hearty and upright Christians onely communicate in the spirituall and everlasting blessings which God poureth upon the Church and that all even the greatest are invited and called upon to enter into this societie of Gods people out of which there is no salvation The 25th Psalme was penned when David was in great distress and is an eminent testimony of his faith in God which he expresseth in his earnest prayer unto which he encourageth himself by the consideration of Gods faithfulness in his Promises and in all his wayes of Providence more especially in that he manifests himself to his people in the guidance and goverment of his good Spirit that they may not mistake and so miscarry in their Christian race Now what can be more sweet to any pious soul than the serious consideration of such gracious and mercifull dealing of God with his people Or how can such a soul chuse but be much inlarged towards the Lord when it meditates as it ought upon such things as these Would a Christian express his integritie and innocency and resolution to cleave close to God in wayes of holiness righteousness however he be defamed in the world or whatever else befalls him how pertinent is the 26th Psalme The 27th Psalme teacheth us wherein lieth a Christians safetie peace comfort and all viz. in Gods protection and gracious Providence over him It teacheth also what must be a Christians chiefest care in all estates and conditions viz. that he may continue and abide in the sincere Profession of the truth and the faithfull service of God according to his will and so to comfort himself and encourage his heart till God be pleased to come in with deliverance The 28th Psalme to say no more of it may teach us That God alone is to be prayed unto in all dangers and he alone to be praised for all deliverances And also that in all our addresses to God we are more especially to commend unto him the safetie and enlargement of his Church May we not sing the 29th Psalme with much comfort and spirituall benefit if we set our selves to meditate on the matter scope and drift of it which is to invite all to lay aside carnall confidence in wealth strength wisdome or any such like things and to submit themselves to the rule and government of God Almighty who doth wonderfull things in the world shews his glory in the thunder of his power to make all creatures even the dead and dumbe in a manner to stand in awe of him and by all these terrible doings of his teaches his own people the more to trust him who is so able to preserve them and destroy all his and their enemies with the least blast of the breath of his nostrills If we sing the Thirtieth Psalme we may see the frame of our own spirits in that of David's who was as much cast down in adversity as he was before lifted up in prosperity and how easie a matter it is for God to make sudden changes as to our outward estates so to our inward also and that whatsoever changes pass upon Gods people he can easily and suddenly change all their mourning into mirth and so give them matter of rejoycing in his salvation In the One and Thirtieth Psalme David teacheth us from his own experience that there is an inexhaustible store of all good laid up with God for all that trust in him yea and that notwithstanding our infirmitie and diffidence God of his meer faithfulness will deliver us in his appointed time There also we may learn that though Gods people be many times low in their own apprehensions by reason of many and great dangers yet so long as their eyes and their hearts are towards the Lord as David's were they may comfortably exspect a good issue at last and thereupon are to encourage themselves and pluck up their spirits as they are exhorted to do in the last Verse of that Psalme The 32d Psalme teacheth us wherein lieth true blessedness viz. in the pardon of sin and that we can never attain to assurance of that pardon and peace arising from it till we come freely off from sin and so are farre from guile in our spirits as David was at last after much adoe It teacheth us also in what way we must come to God and that is in a way of true humiliation and hearty confession of sin and that all such humble penitents have matter of rejoycing when impenitent and hardened rebells shall have sorrow enough How can we admire Gods gracious dispensations towards his Israel better than by an affectionate singing the Thirty third Thirty forth and Thirty seventh Psalmes which set forth in most ample manner the goodness of God towards his own and his just indignation against all his and their enemies though for the present it is not easie for us to apprehend the righteousness of God in his dealings with the one and the other And have not Gods people alwaies occasion from Gods dayly Providences to sing such Psalmes as those that so they may confirm their hearts in confidence on God and comfortable exspectations from him though for the present they are in heaviness through manifold temptations Thou mayest
miserable confusion of all Christs enemies and opposers and the blessed condition of such as submit themselves to him Now these Psalmes being merely doctrinall and having nothing but Instruction and Admonition in them and being sung as well as others to the ptaise of God hence I say one end of our singing them is to learn the Doctrine of them that it may be imprinted upon our spirits or a sweet meditation in our hearts upon that heavenly doctrine contained in those Psalmes to imprint it upon our mindes and memories that we may be the more affected with it Some Psalmes are mixed and but in part doctrinall as Psal. 33. and 34. The Angell of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him The Lions shall lack and suffer hunger but those that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing c. These are doctrines of Gods providence â—…d care over his people and one main work of our hearts and spirits in singing these and such like passages is to meditate upon those Doctrines and in so doing we give glory to God teaching and admonishing our selves in a Psalm Col. 3. 16. Object But we may as well read them and so meditate on them for our Instruction Therefore there is no necessity that we should sing Psalmes for that reason Sol. I deny not but we ought to read the Psalmes as any other Scriptures and in and after our reading to meditate upon them In commending of singing I do not cry down reading one good duty should not shut out another So because we read the Psalmes and meditate on them it doth not follow that therefore we should not sing the Psalmes and meditate on them 2. In singing there is a more distinct settled and fixed meditation of the heart than there can be in reading therefore David in the 104 Psalme insisting upon the power and Providences of God in making and governing the world he draws to a close of it in the 34 Verse professing his joy in the Lord from the consideration of Gods power and providence I will sing unto praise to my God while I have my being the Lord as long as I live I will sing Why Unto God that made me that made all the world that maintains my soul in life And then he adds My meditation of him shall be sweet and I will be glad in the Lord David would not onely speak of the works of Gods power and Providence but he would sing of them that his meditations might be sweet Therefore though we read the Psalmes yet we ought also to sing them sometimes because there is more sweetness of meditation in singing than in reading or the bare reciting of them In singing there is a dilating of the sound and a drawing out of the voice which gives us more time for the fixing of our hearts upon that which is sung in a more sweet meditation of the goodness or power of God or whatsoever the matter be Therefore the Mercies of the Lord and the great things that God hath done in the world have been commemorated with singing The people of God did not think it enough to say what God had done for them but they did sing it that they might meditate the more upon the goodness of God and be the more affected with it 3. It is not enough for us to meditate as David intimates in that place but we must have sweet meditations of him that we may be glad in the Lord I will be glad in the Lord When we sing there is a more than ordinary raising or lifting up of our soules and so farre more sweetness in meditation on what is sung than what is barely said The soule I say in singing is as it were elevated and raised and so comes to be more ravisht with admiration of what God hath done Let them who have had experience of communion with God in this duty speak whether they have not found a great raising of their hearts in it whether they have not been rapt and ravished as it were with the consideration of Gods goodness in his Promises and the works of his spirituall and gracious Providences I say not that meditation is all the end of singing Psalmes but this is one chief end Obj. Therefore if you say why may we not read and meditate without more ado Ans. I answer we may and must read But why not the other also since it is more usefull and helps to more sweetness in meditation A man may pray in his heart without moving his lips as Hanna did but thou shalt finde it a quickening in prayer if thou use thy tongue also the voice is a great matter to quicken us in prayer and to keep our hearts in order Therefore as I would have men pray in secret so were I to advise them I would have them use their voice too provided alwayes it be not to be heard of men onely So here also whereas men say we may read a Psalme as well as sing it I answer Singing will affect us more than reading as praying with the voice doth affect us more than when we pray and do not use our tongues you shall finde your hearts will be more apt to wander if you do not use your voice than they will be if you do Therefore as we should use our voice to help us in prayer so why should we not lift up the voyce in singing that we may be helped also in our meditation even with enlargement and ravishment of spirit Questionless the lifting up of the voyce is a great help to inlarge the heart when it is well affected Now when people complain and say their hearts are not suteable to such and such passages in the Psalmes nor those passages to their hearts I say That there is no passage in all David's Psalmes but thou mayest accommodate it if no otherwise yet in this way viz. by a sweet meditation upon it And I would fain know where that passage is that a gracious spirit may not have sweet meditation upon it surely thou hast a very ungracious heart if thou canst not do this If there be such a Psalm or such passage of a Psalm as thou thinkest thou canst no way bring it to thy condition yet I say thou maiest bring thy heart to that Psalm or to that passage by a sweet meditation upon it And I would fain know where that good Christian is that will deny it to be his duty to have sweet meditations upon David's Psalmes or any passage in them Is there think you any passage in David's Psalmes that a Christian may not meditate upon and so take comfort in God and his word And so you may be satisfied about the Historical Psalmes and those passages in them that have respect to other men and other times As near as I can I shall instance in some of all kindes some Psalmes are onely Doctrinall some are onely Historicall as the 78 Psalm the 105 and 106 Psalm c.
edification and by using them also as one saith well for and in the behalf of others that are of the same mysticall body with our selves that so we may rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with those that weep as saith he there is scarce any passage of the Psalmes but it either concerns our selves or some other of the Church of God who at this day are or may be in the same or in the like case and condition as David or the Church of God was then whom we are to remember as if we were in bonds with them or to bless God for as if we were in like prosperity with them He that reads the Scriptures or sings a Psalm or doth any duty without reverence attention good affection and some good use made of the same he takes Gods Name in vain This is granted But to say as some do that others ly in singing such Psalms as do not express their own conditions in every particular is as far as I understand a belying or slandering them and I wish they may well consider it for as I have said a wicked man lies as much in reading as in singing of a Psalm though indeed it be not lying but reporting or reciting what God hath revealed in his word for Admonition and Instruction to all men You have now seen one end and use of singing Psalmes and if there were no more I conceive it is well worth the while SERMON IV. Ephes. 5. 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs Singing c. I Have shewed it to be a Christians duty to sing David's Psalmes answering many objections by the way and acquainting you how a gracious spirit may apply and make use of every passage in them I shall now proceed to shew how Christians may apply some passages in particular to their own cases Onely let me first answer a scruple or two which some have in regard of some passages in David's Psalmes Obj. I cannot sing the 131 Psalm will some one say for I finde much pride and haughtiness in my heart how then should I sing Mine heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty Sol. 1. By the same reason thou canst not read it and say My heart is not baughty c. 2. If thou art a Christian indeed thy heart is not haughty as the heart of a naturall man is haughty 3. Say thine heart is more haughty than becomes a Christians heart to be I know no mans heart but is so there is a word of admonition and instruction to minde thee of that evill and humble thee for the pride of thy heart Obj. But thou hast a proud heart still Sol. So thou hast perhaps after much and earnest prayer to God against it and many admonitions from the Word preached David himself shewed pride or somewhat as bad when upon a false suggestion 2 Sam. 16. 4. he presently sequestred all Mephibosheth's estate before he heard what he had to say for himself Besides there 's a sweet close of that Psalm wherein David gives himself and others a seasonable admonition particularly and quietly to wait upon God Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever Obj. But how can we sing such passages of the Psalmes as are nothing but exhortations to singing This is giving to God his exhortations again say some and leaving the duty undone Take Gods words he speaks to us and speak them to God again Sol. I. By the same reason David did not praise God in singing those exhortations to praise him The 48 49. and 50th Psalmes are almost nothing else but exhortations to praise God shall we say that David or whosoever was the pen-man did not praise God in those Psalms And yet I think the Argument will hold as well for the one as for the other 2. There 's somewhat in those exhortations to admonish us of our dulness and what need we have to be stirred up to do that duty which all creatures owe and in a sort yield unto the Lord their Maker 3. As praying is the best preparation to prayer for then as Luther saith we set upon it in Gods strength and not in our own So singing these exhortations is an excellent means to prepare and raise our hearts and therefore David begins and concludes many Psalmes with such Exhortations as Psal. 136. c. 4. We may say of such exhortations as one saith of the 136 Psalm that it is Solemnis celebratio nominis Dei sub exhortationis forma 'T is an excellent way of praysing God to provoke and call upon our selves to praise him What if a man in prayer speak to his own heart and call upon himself to rouze and raise up his spirits as David Psal. 5. 7 8. Awake my glory c. may he not be well said to pray when he doth so And why may he not as well be said to praise God when he stirrs up himself to that duty But to speak as the thing is such forms are nothing but elegancies of expression in the use of which we do indeed praise the Lord and this if our opposites had understood we had never been put to the trouble of answering such an Objection And now I shall proceed to inform weak Christians how they may more especially improve some passages in David's Psalmes as they are more suteable to their particular respective conditions or affections and this is a second use to be made of singing viz. the exercise and improvement of the graces of God in us For instance perhaps thou art reported to say or do that which never entred into thy heart to conceive or think of what comfort is there to thy soul in singing the former part of the seventh Psalm and other like places wherein David complains of the same abuses Suppose all goes against thee and thon hast no visible means of relief how pertinently mayest thou sing the eleventh Psalms When there is no faith nor truth nor trust in men then I hope it is no hurt to sing the twelâ—…th Psalm Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth c. When wicked men flourish and the godly are afflicted how proper is it to sing the 37 Psalm and meditate and apply those precious promises to confirm thy faith and comfort thy self in a patient waiting upon God If thy afflictions and affections are the same as David's and other holy mens were thou mayest apply to thy self with much comfort such passages of the Psalmes as do particularly concern thee in thy condition whatsoever it be and so act the grace of God in thee If thou art a Christian shouldest thou not admire and adore the Attributes and Excellencies of God and his Christ and how canst thou do it better than in singing David's Psalmes Wouldst thou for instance admire the work of God in exalting Jesus Christ to be a Prince and a Saviour sing the 8 and 95 96 97 98 and 99th Psalmes Do the sufferings of Christ and
affects the soul so much be a man merry or sorry If he be merry it will provoke him to more mirth raise rouze his spirits more than they were before Therefore singing is very proper when we are joyed would praise the Lord with gladness of heart If a man be sad musick will set it on and make him more Melancholique than he was before so some understand Prov. 25. 20. As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather and as vinegar upon nitre so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart I conceive the meaning to be this If when a man is in heaviness one should come to him in a lightsome gamesome manner as if Job's friends had brought minstrells and Musick with them he would vex and distemper and increase his grief the more Certainly Musick as it may be ordered will provoke mourning hence the custome grew of solemnizing Funeralls with Musick So when the Rulers daughter was dead there were Minstrells among others and if any say That was to allay and not to increase their grief I desire them to look Jer. 9. 17 18. and there they may see that there were cunning women who profest an art of mournfull Ditties and were hired on purpose to enhance affections of that kinde in others So 2 Chron. 35. 25. The singing-men and women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations For certain a dolefull sad Ditty sadly sung will never make any laugh unless it be an errant fool So a fit Psalm a penitentiall Psalm you may call it if you please sung to a sad tune is as apt to melt and move our hearts upon a day of humiliation as any exercise we can use and an apt expression also of such affections as should be in us upon such an occasion Some have sung for sorrow as David penn'd and sang many Psalmes when his heart was as full of grief and anguish as it could hold and so he eas'd and breath'd his heart by pouring it out before the Lord in a dolefull Song lamenting his sad condition And why may not we as well lament our own and others sad conditions in singing of David's Psalmes some of which you know are sad complaints of his miseries and sufferings mixt with earnest prayers for deliverance Sure David was not very merry when he sang many of his Psalmes whence I gather we may sing even when we are sorry and so lament and bemoan our selves before the Lord Besides if our hearts be very sad indeed singing may revive them since all utterance is an ease to any grief So some conceive that Christ chose to sing a Psalm after supper thereby to chear up his own heart and his Disciples also Musick certainly will allay passions 1 Sam. 16. v. 14. An evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul ver. 20. And when David plaid on his harp the evil spirit departed from him Not that there is any efficacy in Musick to drive away devils but because in a naturall way it disposed and settled Saul for ease by raising up his heart and spirit out of his melancholy dumps tempering his rage and moderating his griefs and discontents by which the Devil took advantage to drive him into frenzy fits and furies If by spirit in that place we understand as some onely that which is called Motus animorum as a spirit of fear a spirit of jealousie c. then questionless the Musick had a naturall efficacy to recover Saul out of his melancholy moods 2 King 3. 15. The Prophet Elisha finding some distemper in his spirit occasioned by the presence of an idolatrous King and the present distress of Gods people called for a musician to chear and compose his spirits that he might be the better fitted for prophesie Some have conceived and said that the spirit of prophesie never came upon a sad soul How true that is I leave others to judge Nor shall I contend if any say there was somewhat extraordinary and supernaturall in those cases However this I think may be gathered from them That musick hath a vertue in it to compose and quiet and refresh and chear the spirit of a man when he is overgone with melancholy So Gods people in times of distress and danger when they feel themselves too much dejected and sadded may chear themselves up by singing a Psalm together As for our singing on fasting dayes which some are offended at we say as before 't is not so much to make our selves merry as to move and melt our hearts 'T is no absurdity nor impossibility neither for Christians to sing with tears in their eyes When a day of thanksgiving comes we sing to another tune in way of rejoicing exalting and triumphing in God our Saviour On Sabbath and Lecture dayes we sing partly to express our joy in God for giving us such opportunities and seasons of spirituall edification by the use of his Ordinances and partly to compose our spirits and so fit them for hearing the Word preached And this I conceive to be the reason why commonly we sing a Psalm before Sermon SERMON V. Ephes. 5. 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs Singing c. ONe end among others of our singing of Psalmes is as I shewed formerly a joyfull praising of God or expressing of our joy in the Lord as Gods servants were wont to do when God in his Providence gave them occasion and matter of rejoycing by deliverances victories or any other mercies I shall now adde to what hath been said That it becomes Gods people when they come before him in publick to serve the Lord with joy and an holy rejoycing and for this end they must sing Psalmes there being no exercise more proper to express our joy in the Lord God calls his people to rejoyce evermore 1 Thessalon 5. 16. and Phil. 4. 4. to rejoyce alway but more especially when they come before him in the use of his Ordinances Psal. 105. 3. Glory ye in his holy Name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Deut. 12. 12. Ye shall rejoyce before the Lord c. Deut. 14. 26. Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoyce Deut. 16. 10 11. Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks i. e. Pentecost with a tribute of a sree-will offering of thine hands and thou shalt rejoyce before the Lord thy God c. And Deut. 28. 47. there is a threatning of judgement for this that they served not the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart c. Not a filthy on fleshly rejoycing according to the â—…ourse of this world but an holy and heaâ—…enly such as when the very heart and soul is ravisht with a sense of Gods goodness And this as it doth very much help us in the duties we have to do so it is expresly required Psal. 100. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness come before his preseâ—…ce with singing Psa. 92. which is as the Title shews a Psalm for the
sing the 35th Psalme and consider what usage Gods people have in the world from wicked men and what course they must take to rid themselves of them viz. to complain to God and so engage all the power that is in heaven against them The 36th Psalme teacheth us to oppose and set the gracious dispensations of God towards his people who walke in the light of the Lord and are fed with the fatness of his house against the sense of wicked mens prosperitie that makes them not to fear God and puts them on to devise evill against his people because it is in the power of their hand to do it We may sing the 38th Psalme and consider what sufferings come upon Gods own people for sin and so help to move and cause our bowells of compassion towards the distressed Churches of God in the world We may also take occasion to consider that our sufferings are the fruits of our sins and so labour to quiet and patient our spirits as David did by faith and fervent prayer as you may see in the 15 21 and 22th Verses of that Psalme In singing the 39th Psalme we may learn that it is through infirmitie of the flesh that good men such as David are so apt to repine at the present dispensations of divine Providence That good men such as David may be overcome by such a temptation notwithstanding all their purposes and resolutions to the contrary and that good and godly men will bestirre themselves and strive to act faith in fervent prayers to God for deliverance out of their present troubles and for support under them The 40th Psalme acquaints us with David's experiences how God had answered him in his desires and wrought wonderfully for his deliverance It gives us also to understand how sensible he was of those many and great obligations which God had layed upon him by his loving-kindness and how resolved he was to give a reall testimimony as long as he lived of his thankfulness by declaring to others the goodness of God And because he knew that troubles and dangers did still abide him he commends himself by prayer to the direction and defence of God Almighty and that not only for his own safetie and preservation but that others might be confirmed in faith and so have occasion also to shew forth the praises of the Lord We have also in this Psalme an instruction concerning the true worship of God that it consisteth especially in sincere obedience to the will of God and besides all this applying some passsages out of the Sixth seventh and eight Verses to the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 10. the obedience of Christ in performing all the will of God for the reconciling of the world we may hence confirme our faith in assurance that the work of Redemption is perfectly accomplished according to the will and counsell of God who was not pleased with sacrifices but in the obedience of his well beloved Son Isa. 42. 1. Mat. 3. 17. The One and fourtieth Psalm instructeth us concerning the perfidious baseness of wicked and worldly men who are apt to insult over Gods servants when they lie under the afflicting hand of God It teacheth us also how to judge of good mens sufferings and not to conclude them therefore to be forsaken of God and utterly cast off and moreover we may hence learn when we finde most deceit and falshood in men to fix our hearts on God by faith exspecting deliverance according to his truth and faithfulness In the Two and fourtieth Psalme we may see how David is almost overwhelmed with many and great calamities that followed one upon another as the waves of the sea one no sooner past but another comes and yet how he bears himself up by acting faith to lay hold on God and checking himself for his distrust and dejection of spirit Now it concerns as I take it every Christian to make David's practice his Precedent in the same or in the like case Gods people have their fears and doubts as he had and may as truly and justly say many times as he did Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Sure I am there is no childe of God but is much affected with holy desires towards the house of God and accounts the want of publick Ordinances a great affliction especially when wicked men reproach them and insult over them for the loss of those opportunities which once they enjoyed The 43d Psalm was penned upon the same occasion and as it seems near about the same time and the scope of it is to beg of God that he may be again restored to the enjoyment of those former mercies and to incourage himself to a confident exspectation of them in Gods good time The 44th Psalme sets forth the condition of Gods people suffering many times for conscience sake and because they dare not defile themselves as the wicked world would have them It furnisheth us with many Arguments wherewith to plead with God in the behalf of his people when they are in such a sad and suffering condition I need say no more since no good Christian can chuse but see what use may be made of the Doctrine of this Psalme as long as God hath a people upon earth to serve him In the 45th Psalme we may behold the King Jesus Christ in his beauty and the Church his royall spouse most excellently adorned with those admirable perfections which he hath indowed her withall Sure there are most glorious things spoken both of Christ and the Church and therefore Christians may sing that Psalm in way of holy rejoycing and thanksgiving The 46th Psalme was pointed at in one of the Sermons before and thereupon I shall not so much as touch with it now When Gods people did so rejoyce because the glory of the Lord and his salvation should be revealed and made known amongst all nations have not we Christians more cause than ever they had to rejoyce in God upon this account and so to sing the 47th Psalme specially since we believe and exspect that God will e're long bring in the Nations to Jesus Christ so as hitherto he hath not brought them in The Fourty eighth Psalme being in a manner of the same argument with the Fourty sixth I need say nothing of it The Scope and drift of the Fourty nineth Psalme being the same with that of the 37th and 73d and many others I shall not say much of it Onely the Doctrine of it is of singular use to all Gods people that they may not be discouraged at the present flourishing condition of worldly and wicked men The Fiftieth Psalme disclaimes all the Ceremonious observances of false-hearted hypocrites and shews what is the onely acceptable way of serving God Now I need not tell any godly Christians what need the best of us have of such meditations and Instructions I suppose there are but few Christians who have not occasion to