promoting of Gods cause all is reckoned up unto them as parts of service which God will not forget to follow with mercy to them and to theirs after them Lord remember David and all his afflictions Ver. 2. How he sware unto the LORD and vowed unto the mighty God of Iacob 3. Surely I will not come into the Tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed 4. I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eye-lids 5. Vntil I finde out a place for the LORD an habitation for the mighty God of Iacob In the second place is set down the care which David had to settle the worship of God in the land what time this Vow and Oath was made by David it is not specified in any other place of Scripture neither is it needful for us to be curious about the time or forme of words for the meaning is not as if David on a certain day being ignorant of the place of setling of Gods Ark and building the Temple did limit God to reveal it unto him ere night came but the meaning is that David swore to have a care of the setling of Gods Ark before he setled his own house and that he would not enjoy the commodities which his royal Palace not as yet builded might yield unto him before he saw the Ark setled in the place where the Temple should be built Whence learn 1. It is lawful to tie our selves by an Oath unto that duty whereunto we were absolutely tied by law before yea and it may sometimes be expedient to tie our selves unto a duty by swearing for evidencing our hearty purpose to follow that duty cheerfully and for stirring up of our selves so much the more to follow it as we are conscious of our slacknesse unto it or feeblenesse to resist temptations for here David sware unto the Lord that he would discharge such a duty 2. A lawful Vow is a part of divine worship due to be made to God alone for David offered this religious worship to God only He vowed unto the mighty God of Iacob 3. The Omnipotency of God is the treasure of the Churches strength wherein every believer hath an interest He is that mighty one of Iacob 4. The care of Gods publick worship and establishing of Religion where we have place and power should be more earnest and greater in every true subject of Gods Kingdom then the care of his own private affaires and in the case of competition and comparison the setling of Gods worship should be preferred before our setling in any worldly commodity as the example of David here doth teach us Vers. 6. Lo we heard of it at Ephrata we found it in the fields of the wood In the third place the Church speaketh and compareth the setled condition of the Ark now with the fleeted condition wherein it was before for it was sometime in Shiloh in the tribe of Ephraim and now say they Lo we heard of it at Ephrata and when it was in a manner lost being taken by the Philistines they say they found as a thing once lost the Ark in Kiriath-jearim or City of the woods We found it in the fields of the wood and now it is setled will they say we know where to finde it established for this to be the Churches meaning is given us to understand in the next verse wherein they say We will go up into his tabernacles Whence learn 1. The presence of the Lord in his Ordinances was never so fixed in any place but that mercy may be turned into a story of It was or hath been if it be abused as what the Lord did to his house in Shiloh was a history in the dayes of the Kings Lo we have heard of it that is of the Ark of the Covenant at Ephrata 2. When once the Lord hath fleeted the tokens of his presence far out of a land it is a rare mercy and unexpected and no lesse then is the finding of a treasure or of a lost jewel to see the restoring of his Ordinances again as was to be seen when God brought back the Ark from the Philistines to Kiriath-jearim which mercy the Church here acknowledgeth We found it in the fields of the wood 3. The way of God about the shewing of his presence in his holy Ordinances in any place is not as men may expect but as God seeth good to dispose as the Churches speech giveth us to understand We found the Ark in the fields of the wood Ver. 7. We will go into his Tabernacles we will worship at his footstool 8. Arise O LORD into thy rest thou and the Ark of thy strength In the fourth place the Church stirreth up her self to worship God in Sion where the Ark representing Christ was placed praying now for the benefit of Gods presence as Moses prayed at the marching and setling of the Ark. Whence learn 1. When God hath revealed his will in any point of Religion we should without delay or dispute go follow his direction as the Church doth here when the Ark is setled in Sion We will go into his Tabernacles 2. Where the Lord hath promised to be found there must we come and keep trust with him and worship him We will go into his tabernacles we will worship at his footstool 3. The true worshipper must lift his minde above every external and visible Ordinance of God and seek him in heaven where his glory shineth most counting all things on the earth no more but as his footstool for so was the Church of old directed to do when they had the Lord most sensibly manifesting himself in his Tabernacle and Temple We will worship at his footstool 4. The Church in after-ages may call for and expect the like benefit of Gods presence with his Ordinances which his Church in former ages hath found as the prayer of the Church here being one with the prayer of the Church in the wildernesse doth teach us Arise O Lord as Moses said when the Ark did remove 3. The Ark of the Covenant was the figure of God incarnate the type of Christ in whom the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth bodily and therefore after the manner of Sacraments the signe receiveth the name of the thing signified Arise O Lord thou and the Ark of thy strength Vers. 9. Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousnesse and let thy Saints shout for joy Now he closeth the first petition with a prayer for Gods blessing of his Ministers and of their Ministery among the people Whence learn 1. Where the Lord is received he must have Ministers men set apart for his publick worship and service as the Prayer for the Priests doth presuppose 2 The chief badge and cognizance of the Lords Minister is the true doctrine of justification and obedience of faith in a holy conversation Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousnesse 3. People have reason to rejoyre who have the benefit of such approved Ministers and
help for therefore is it repeated and laid down here for the last part of pouring out his soul My dayes are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grasse Ver. 12. But thou O LORD shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations In the second part of the Psalme he striveth to comfort himself in the hope of grace to be shewn to the Church by seven arguments The first is because God hath purposed to perpetuate the memorial of himself unto all generations and endureth for ever to see it done Whence learn 1. There is ground of hope to believers in the saddest condition of the Church for albeit beleevers be mortal yet God in whom their life is hid is eternal But thou O LORD shalt endure for ever 2. Because God will have his Name known in all generations and will have his Word and Ordinances of Religion made use of among men for preserving the memory of his attributes works and will therefore the Church must continue from age to age Thou shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations Ver. 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come The second argument of his hope that God will shortly have mercy on his Church is because the time of the seventy years set for their captivity was now almost expired Whence learn 1. It is good reasoning from Gods unchangeablenesse to conclude a change of the sad condition of the Church afflicted from a worse unto a better Thou shalt endure for ever and therefore thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion 2. As the Lord hath set times for exercising his people with affliction so also set times for comforting of them again which time when it is come God will have mercy on them whom he hath afflicted Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the set time to favour her for the set time is come Ver. 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof The third argument is because the Lords people had a great affection to re-edifie the Temple lying now ruined Whence learn 1. It is no new thing to see the outward face of Religion and holy Ordinances defaced for the Temple of Ierusalem is here lying in the dust of a ruinous heap 2. The Ordinances of Religion shall not be utterly abolished but so much thereof shall be preserved as may serve for the furtherance of Reformation and re-edification of his Church in Gods appointed time as here the Temple is ruined but there are stones reserved for a new building 3. When the ordinances of God are at the lowest and most deformed in the eyes of the world they are and should be most lovely and looked upon with most estimation and affection of Gods people Thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof 4. It is a good ground of hope that God will shortly repaire the ruines of Religion when he provides builders and doth put into their hearts a love to set upon the work of reformation as the Psalmist reasoning here doth teach us Ver. 15. So the Heathen shall feare the Name of the LORD and all the Kings of the earth thy glory The fourth argument of hope is from the promised Conversion of the Gentiles to whom the true Religion was to be transmitted in Gods own time by the means of restoring of the Church of the Jewes unto their wonted priviledge Whence learn 1. The enlargement of the knowledge and fear of God among them that know him not should be the aime and encouragement of zealous Reformers to use all means which may conduce for Reformation for so much we are taught in the Psalmâ—sts example desiring the restauration of the Church of the Jewes that the Gentiles might be brought in and by hope of the Conversion of the Gentiles giving hope of restauration unto the scattered Church of the Jewes for So the Heathen shall feare thy Name is the reasoning of the Psalmist 2. When the Lord is pleased to arise for restoring of his afflicted people unto comfort and of Religion unto its own beautie he can work so as Kings shall feare and tremble to see Gods care of his own despised people for so saith he The Heathen shall feare thy Name and all the Kings of the earth thy glory Ver. 16. When the LORD shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory The fifth argument of his hope is from the glory which God should have in restoring of his Church Whence learn 1. Whatsoever instruments the Lord useth in the gathering of his Church he will have himself seen to be the builder thereof for it is the Lord here that shall build up Sion 2. As the glory of the Lord is obscured when his Church is scattered so when he sets up his own ordinances again his glory doth appear yea and that more then if his Church had not been scattered When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in glory 3. The connexion of Gods glory with the salvation of his Church is a comfortable ground of hope that howsoever the Church be demolished yet it shall be restored and repaired again for When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in glory importeth so much Ver. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer The sixth argument of hope is from the Lords respect to the prayers of his people Whence learn 1. The Lords people do reckon themselves destitute and desolate when they have not the face of a Church and do want the publick Ordinances of Religion which are the tokens of the Lords presence among them for especially in relation to their scattering from Ieruâ—alem and the Temple doth the Psalmist here call them destitute or desolate 2. When the Lords people are scattered one from another they can trust one another and meet together at the throne of grace by their prayer presented before God as here the faithful scattered in captivity do meet in a joynt Petition for the building up of Sion the destitute have their prayer put up in Gods hearing He will regard the prayer of the destitute 3. Albeit the Lords people be desolate and destitute of all earthly comfort and help and be despised by the world yet their persons and prayer are in estimation with God He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer Ver. 18. This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD 19. For he hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary from Heaven did the LORD behold the earth 20. To heare the groaning of the Prisoners to loose those that are appointed to death 21. To declare the Name of the LORD in Zion and his praise in Ierusalem 22. When the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the
give heaven and all spiritual graces unto eternal life in heaven to his own people by an everlasting Covenant of which heaven and heavenly mercies he is God O give thanks unto the God of heaven 3. As mercy hath intituled heaven unto the Saints so doth mercy preserve them in their right and will preserve them in the possession thereof for ever For his mercy endureth for ever PSALME CXXXVII THis Psalme may be divided into three parts In the first is set down the lamentable condition wherein the Lords people were in their captivity in Babylon ver 1.2 3. In the next is their constancy in Religion ver 4 5 6. In the third is their denouncing of judgement by way of imprecation against the instruments and chief authors of their calamity ver 7 8 9. Ver. 1. BY the rivers of Babylon there we sate down yea we wept when we remembred Zion In the first part wherein the sorrowful condition of the captive Church of God is set down Learn 1. The people of God by their sins may procure the taking away of the face of a visible Church from them and the taking away of their civil liberties also and may procure banishment from their own countrey among idolaters as the captivity of the Jewes in Babylon doth shew 2. When men do not make use of the priviledges of Gods publick worship it is righteousnesse with God to remove these abused favours and to cast the abusers thereof out among idolaters as here the Jewes were who because they made not use of Ierusalem the vision of peace they are thrust out into Babâ—lon a place of all confusion 3. When the Lords people provoke God against them the wickedest wretches and vilest idolaters in the world may overcome them in a battel and rule over them as over slaves as the experience of the Jewes doth prove 4. When desolation is brought upon Gods people no wonder to see them remain in that condition for a time and not to be delivered immediately out of it By the rivers of Babylon there we sate down 5. The publick miseries of the Church are causes of heavinesse unto the true members thereof and motives of mourning There we sate yea we wept 6. Comparison of a prosperous condition by-past with adversity present doth augaugment misery and increaseth grief especially when by-past mercies abused are compared with just judgments inflicted in the palce thereof We wept when we remembred Sion 7. They who will not esteem of the priviledges of Sion when they have them will be forced to acknowledge the worth thereof with sorrow when they want them We wept when we remembred Sion Vers. 2. We hanged our harps upon the willowes in the midst thereof The Lords people carried with them into their captivity their harps first as meanes of stirring up their affections in their private worship of God Secondly in hope to have some use of them afterward in the Lords worship in their own land And thirdly that thereby they might make profession before their oppressors of their Religion and of their hope of restitution in Gods appointed time albeit they could not frame their heart for the present to rejoyce as they were wont to do Whence learn 1. Means to help in private devotion must be the more made use of that publick meanes are wanting for the Jewes debarred from the Temple do carry their harps with them into their scattering and captivity 2. In the midst of our calamity we ought both to have hope of deliverance out of our trouble and to professe it before those that have us under their power for so did the captive Jewes in their captivity they carried their harps into Babylon 3. There are times when the signes of our joy may be suppressed and the signes of our sorrow expressed We hanged our harps on the willowes 4. The most lawfull and commendable sorrow is that which is taken for the dishonour of God and the desolation of the Church When we remembered Sion we hanged our harps 5. No natural comfort nor invitation unto carnall joy can counterbalance the causes of spiritual grief neither rivers nor shadow of willowes nor any thing else can stay the godly grief of Gods captived people We hanged our harps upon the willowes in the midst thereof Ver. 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying Sing us one of the songs of Sion Their affliction was augmented by the insulting of the Babylonians over them calling for a song from the Jewes to feed their godlesse mirth Whence learn 1 Oft-times sorrowes do not go single and alone but one grief is joyned to another one deâ—p calleth to another as here insultation of the Babylonians is joyned with the bondage and captivity of Gods people 2. As the sorrow of the godly is the matter of the laughter and joy of their enemies and no sport to the wicked is so relishing as a jest broken upon the true Religion so no affliction unto the godly is so heavy as to finde their own sinnes to draw not only misery on themselves but also dishonour upon their Religion as here we see the Jewes hanged up their harps and why For they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying Sing us one of the songs of Sion 3 Corrupt nature maketh no other use of spirituall things then thereby to satisfie their sensual desires as here it is mirth and singing only for which the Babylonians do seek to hear a Psalme sung Sing us one of the songs of Sion Vers. 4. How shall we sing the LORDS song in a strange land 5. If I forget thee O Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning 6. If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth if I preferre not Ierusalem above my chiefe joy In the second place wherein the Jewes constant profession of their Religion is set down and their refusing to satisfie their enemies desire in prostituting the Lords worship to their caâ—nal pleasure Learn 1. Albeit we be under the feet of our enemies and albeit we have drawn on our misery by our sinning yet must we neither deny our Religion nor any part thereof for fear of man nor subject our Religion to mens pleasure as men think good to direct us in it whatsoever may be the danger for so doth the example of the captive people of God teach us refusing to sing Psalmes at the desire of the Babylonians How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land 2. The place where God is not worshipped should be a strang land unto us his people and no place kindely or comfortable unto us but where the Lords people may enjoy the liberty of Gods publick worship and of the communion of Saints How shall we sing the Lords Song in a strange land 3. Whatsoever be our own private