Lord. Vers. 7 The administration of his Kingdom is 1. Eternal The Lord shall endure for ever Vers. 8 2. His Office to be Judge He hath prepared his Throne for judgement 3. He is an universal Judge He shall judge the whole world 4. He is a just Judge He shall judge in righteousness Which begets a confidence in his people he shall minister judgement to the people in uprightness 5. He is a merciful Judge to his people Vers. 9 For the Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble 5. The effect or consequent upon this his execution of justice which is the confidence thence arising in the hearts of his people which are here describ'd by their knowledge of God 2. Seeking him Vers. 10 They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee 2. An Exhortation to others to praise God 2 He exhorts others to praise God Sing praises to the Lord that dwells in Zion that is in the midst of his people and Church to defend them Declare among the people his doings The second part Of which he assigns the reason that he is a just God and will require their blood at the hands of those that oppressed and slew them Vers. 11 An inquisition for blood he will make And when he makes inquisition for blood For his justice he remembreth them the innocent unjustly oppressed and slain Vers. 12 and forgets not the cry of the humble The cry of their blood shall be heard 3. A Petition for himself that God would shew him mercy 3 He Petitions for favour and look upon his affliction Have mercy upon me O Lord The third part consider the trouble of them that hate me thou that lifts me up from the gates that is the power of death Vers. 13 As if he had said Do by me now as thou hast done heretofore And the Reason or Argument by which he perswades God to hear him and shew mercy is drawn from the final cause Vers. 14 he looks not so much upon himself as Gods honour it is That he may have just cause to praise God which he vows That I may shew thy praise 2. All thy praise 3. In thy Church in the gates of the daughter of Zion 4. That I may do it with joyful lips 5. Which I will do I will rejoice in thy salvation 4. And then as if he were shewing forth this praise in the Congregation The fourth part he sings forth his Song of Triumph his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over his enemies in Metaphors And performs in a Song of Triumph 1. The heathen are sunk down into the pit that they made 2. In the net which they hid is their own foot taken 3. This is the Lords doing Vers. 15 Therefore though wicked men did doubt before of his providence and justice yet Vers. 16 now the Lord is known by the judgement he executes For 4. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Which is a thing exceedingly to be meditated on and not forgotten 5. The wicked shall be turn'd to hell and all the people that forget God Vers. 17 their breath is in their nostrils and dye they must which is some comfort to those they oppress and if they repent not Vers. 18 suffer eternal punishment 2. But the chief comfort is The fifth part is A Petition and proceeds from Gods justice and his goodness toward the innocent unjustly oppressed For the needy shall not alway be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever Their hope shall not be frustrate Vers 19 5. The Conclusion is Petitory Arise O Lord. Against the enemies of the Church 1. Let not man prevail over thy people 2. Let the heathen be judg'd in thy sight Vers. 20 3. Put them in fear O Lord now they fear nothing That they may fear being in their height and prosperity they are insolent and proud manifest thy divine presence to their terrour For then 4. And know themselves to be but men They will know themselves to be but men infirm and mortal creatures and not insult over thy people and glory upon their own strength and prosperity The Prayer and Hymn out of the ninth Psalm for the Church in affliction persecuted and oppressed by enemies I Will praise thee Vers. 1 O Lord with my whole heart and I will make known to others as much as in me lies those wonderful works which thou hast done for thy people in all ages Vers. 2 I will not be glad and rejoice so much in the vain and empty things of this life as in thée the giver of them and for that I will sing praise to thy name O thou most high higher than all things in this world and far beyond all praise that I can give For thou Vers. 7 Lord who art from all eternity and shall continue the same for ever Vers. 8 hast prepared thy seat to judge the world on which being ascended thou wilt judge the world in righteousness rewarding every man according to his deserts repaying good things to those who know thy name and séek thée but heavy judgements to those who dishonour thée and oppress thy people Have mercy upon me Vers. 13 O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me Vers. 4 O thou that sittest in the Throne and judgest right maintain my right and my cause Vers. 16 and lift me up from the power of death Make thy self known by executing judgement for me Vers. 3 O let my enemies be turn'd back and perish at thy presence Vers. 18 Forget not the cry of the needy and let not the expectation of the poor perish for ever Vers. 12 Make inquisition for that innocent blood of thy servants which they have poured out like water that cannot be gathered up again and forget not the voice of Abels blood that yet from the earth cryes unto thée O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their dayes and in the old time before them Vers. 5 how thou hast destroy'd the wicked and rebuked the heathen and put out their name for ever and ever Vers. 9 Arise therefore O Lord be a refuge to the oppressed Vers. 19 a refuge in this needful time of trouble let not man prevail and let thy enemies be judged in thy sight Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves that they are not God but weak infirm and mortal men Now they are proud of their victories and puff'd up with their successes O break the hardness of their heart with some calamities and fearful disasters that being brought to consider their own frail condition and intolerable insolence they may cease to pride it against thée and thy Church O thou enemy Vers. 6 thou breathest nothing but
chief Ruler as 2 Sam. 8.18 1 Chron. 18.17 and so it may have reference to Moses a chief Prince but in the proper sense to Aaron for he was the chief Priest Samuel 2. And Samuel no Priest but a Levite yet chief Judge among those call'd on his name 3. They called upon the Lord for themselves and the people and he answered them Of Moses the story is extant Exod. 32.31 Of Aaron Numb 16. 46 47 48. Of Samuel 1 Sam. 7.5 9 10. 4. Vers. 7 He spake unto them that is to Moses Exod. 33.8 9 11. and unto Aaron Numb 12. from 5. to 8. But unto Samuel we read not that he spake in the cloudy Pillar And now he aptly adds the reason why God so readily heard these three Why he heard them it was because they were his servants and obey'd the commands of their King For as Christ saith He that loves me will keep my Commandments He then that will be heard in his prayers Because they were obedient servants ought to hear God in his Commands So did they 1. They kept his Testimonies those Precepts that were common to all others 2. And the Ordinances he gave them as Publick persons who were to rule in Church and State And that this was a great mercy and favour to them and the people the Prophet acknowledgeth by his Apostrophe to God in the next verse 1. 1 He answered them Thou answeredst them O Lord our God Which the Story confirms Vers. 8 2. 2 He forgave them Thou wast a God that forgavest them that is the people for whom Moses and Aaron and Samuel pray'd For as Moller observes in Hebrew the Relative is often put without an Antecedent 3. 3 Even when he punished the people Though thou takest vengeance on their inventions The Calf was broken Exod. 32. and the false gods put away 1 Sam. 7. Though their sin was remitted yet a temporal and corporal punishment follow'd them Numb 14.23 30. Numb 20.12 2. The second part The Prophet concludes the Psalm Carmine Ambaebaeo with the repetition of the fifth verse The Conclusion of all That we only what he calls there Gods footstool he here calls Mount Zion And in the verse is contained the full scope and intent of the whole which is That we exalt our King and adore him 1. Exalt the Lord our God not that we can do it Vers. 9 or make him higher but we must contribute what we can to his exaltation 1 Exalt God which is then done when we gratefully acknowledge his Power in defence of his Church and his Clemency in hearing our prayers and the Intercessions of his servants for us 2. Worship at his Holy Hill 2 Adore which literally is to be understood of Zion the place which he had chosen for his worship where now the Tabernacle was and after the Temple was built But concerns us also that live in the Catholique Church to serve him in unity meeting together in such holy places which are set apart for his worship 3. For the Lord our God is holy which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reason For he is Holy why Zion was Holy and many other persons and things in relation to him A consideration very necessary as Musoulus well observes for this profane age The Prayer collected out of the ninty ninth Psalm O Omnipotent Lord who reignest sitting above she Cherubims and governest the whole world by thy wisdom Vers. 1 though the enemies of thy Church be many yet will we not fear though the whole earth be moved yet will we not be afraid For the Lord is great in Zion and high above all people Vers. 2 Yet because the united force of our enemies is great and their iniquity twisted together for the ruine of thy Church Vers. 3 that they be not alwayes prided with their success and thy people over-much disheartned arise O Lord and make them know that thy name is great terrible and holy so great that thou canst and so holy that thou wilt and so terrible that thou wilt in fury take vengeance upon pride and iniquity We are assured O Lord Vers. 4 that thy authority and Kingly power loves equity that thou doest establish equal Laws and doest execute judgement and righteousness in thy Church by punishing the wicked and rewarding the just Arise up for us therefore in the judgement that thou hast commanded and reward the just according to the integrity of their hearts stir up thy strength and come amongst us and help us for thy Name-sake O God our King and Saviour And if at any time our wickedness go over our heads to provoke thy wrath against us then turn thy face from us upon thy dear Son our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ whose intercession is far more powerfully with thée than that of Moses or Aaron and Samuel could be for thy people He is our High Priest be mindful of his invocation his Sacrifice his Blood his tears his cryes which he offered upon the Altar of the Cross for us His blood speaks better things than that of Abel That of Abel shed by us cryes aloud for vengeance against us and what we suffer are the effects of that cry the revenge of that blood O blessed Saviour still the cry of that blood with thy blood wash the stains of it away with those streams which issued from thy bloody side and for the merit of that blood hear the prayers of Moses Aaron and Samuel who had no hand in that blood but kept and do yet keep thy Testimonies and the Ordinance thou gavest them that offer unto thee for themselves and for thy people They dayly call upon thée hear them O Lord our God and answer them though the sin of this people be great yet forgive them though thou takest vengeance according to their inventions So shall we praise thy great and terrible Name for it is Holy So shall we exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is Holy We will exalt the Lord that reigneth over us our God that delivers us and hears our prayers and worship at thy Holy hill and chant with a loud voice that the Lord our God is holy for evermore PSAL. C. A Psalm of Praise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Title shews the Scope that it was composed for a form to praise God yea and in the publique Congregation and therefore is well chosen to be a part of our Liturgy There be two parts of this Psalm 1. An Exhortation to praise God vers 1 2 4. And the manner how to be done 2. The reasons that perswade to it vers 3 5. 1. He exhorts to praise God In his Exhortation to praise God required it is 1. The first part That the praise be Universal none exempted from it All ye lands or all the earth Vers. 1 2. That it be hearty full and performed with a cheerful soul Make a
to make intercession for Kings and all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Hear the prayers of thy Church which we send up unto thée for our King now in the day of his trouble Ver. 2 let the power of that God who defended Jacob from the fury of his brother Esau protect him and set him on high in a safe place Send him help from thy Sanctuary thy Throne in Heaven strengthen and support him by those prayers that are offered out of Zion for him Remember O Lord those fervent supplications and intercessions that are daily offered at thy Throne of grace in his behalf and accept the vowes and sighs and groans sent up unto thée by thy afflicted people for his restitution Grant unto him according to his own hearts desire and fulfil and give good success to all his counsel and whatsoever he for the advance of thy glory piety justice and the good of his people shall request that be pleased to hear and deny him not the request of his lips Our enemies put their trust in their Arms and Ammunition and suppose that their strength of Horse and arm of flesh shall hold them up and kéep them safe in that power which they have got by violence blood perjury and hypocrisie But we will remember the Name of the Lord our God being assured that a Horse is but a vain thing to save a man neither shall he deliver any man by his great strength it is not these humane helps we put our trust in but in thy Name alone Truly when thou shalt perform this for us as we trust thou wilt then will we rejoyce in thy salvation and in the Name of our God will we set up our Trophies of victory O let his enemies be brought down Ver. 8 and fall flat before him and let all those who with a sincere heart séek to advance his cause and right thy Church and thy sincere worship Ver. 6 rise and stand upright Make it known That the Lord will save his Anointed that he hath heard him and the prayers that have béen offered for him from his holy heaven and that he hath restored him by the saving strength of his right hand Save Lord save the King the Church and thy People Let the King of Heaven thy Christ our Iesus whom thou hast exalted to be Lord and King hear us when we call Amen PSAL. XXI The Peoples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Carmen Triumphale THIS Psalm is the Peoples Thanksgiving after the Victory In the former Psalm they pray'd for David when he went out to War in this they praise God for the Conquest God gave him over his enemies and the singular mercies God bestowed on him Three parts there are of it 1. A general Proposition in ver 1. 2. A Narration which is twofold from ver 1. to 4. 1. An enumeration of the particular blessings bestowed on David from ver 1. to 6. 2. An account how God would deal with his enemies from ver 6. to 13. 3. A Vow or Acclamation ver 14. The Sum of the Psalm is contained in the first verse The King shall joy The first part the King shall be exceeding glad Ver. 1 Joy then is the affection that King and People were transported with for all that follows shew but the rise and causes of it The joy of the King in Gods salvation 1. The rise or object of it The strength of God the salvation of God 1. His strength by which he did subdue his enemies contemn dangers 2. His salvation by which he escaped dangers fell not in battle 2. The second part Then they make a large Narration of the goodness of God to Davids person in particular of which the severals are these following 1. God granted to the King what he ask'd with his heart and mouth Gods goodness to David Thou hast given his hearts desire and hast not witholden the requests of his lips 2. He granted unto him more than he asked was more ready to give Ver. 2 than David to pray Thou preventedst him with the blessings of goodness Ver. 3 3. He chose him to be King Thou hast set a Crown of pure gold upon his head in which God prevented him chosen him when he thought not of it 4. When he went to War He asked his life Ver. 4 and thou gavest him even length of dayes for ever and ever which is most true in Christ who was the Son of David in him his life and Kingdom is immortal 5. A great accession of Glory Honour Majesty he was no poor obscure King now as at first nor contemptible in the eyes of the people Ver. 5 but greater than Saul or any King of Israel that followed of which yet he was not to boast not in his power not in his riches wisdom but in Gods goodness His glory is great but in thy salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him All which are sum'd up under the word Blessing in the next verse Ver. 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever And added this to the blessing that thou hast given him a heart to rejoyce in it Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance 6. The continuance of these blessings which is another favour Ver. 7 with the cause of it Davids confidence in God The cause his trust in God For the King trusteth in the Lord and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved 2. Hitherto is the first part of the Narrative that concerned Davids person in particular now follows the effects of Gods goodness to him ab extra and the whole Kingdom in the overthrow of his enemies The overthrow of his enemies by God and necessary it was to add this since no Kingdom though abounding with good Laws Wealth Subjects prudently governed can be happy except it be defended and safe from enemies abroad Now here their ruine and destruction is described and the cause 1. God by Davids hand would do it Thine hand the Sword of God and Gideon 2. He would certainly do it Ver. 8 for he should find them out wherever they were Thy hand shall find out all thy enemies and thy right hand shall find out all that hate thee 3. Ver. 9 This was easie to do as easie as for fire to consume the stubble Thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thy wrath the Lord shall swallow them c. 4. Ver. 10 This destruction should be universal it should reach to them and their posterity Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the Earth and their seed from among the children of men 5. Ver. 12 Their judgment fearful and unavoidable God would set them up as a Mark to shoot at that should turn their back and yet they should not so escape because when they fled God would overtake them with a bended Bow and shoot his Arrows upon them
being this I will be thy God and the God of thy seed upon which follows Walk before me and be thou perfect 4. Upon the confidence of which Promise and Covenant David repeats his prayer Upon which he repeats his prayer For thy Name sake O Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great Multa magna And yet David proceeds in the consideration of Gods Nature his Goodness his Truth and Mercy to those that keep his Covenant And admires the happiness of him that trusts in God and by way of admiration asks Quis i. e. Quantus qualis O how happy how blessed is the man that fears the Lord worships God loves his Word and casts not away his hope and faith in the day of trouble and tentation Ver. 12 which happiness he sets forth by the fruits that follow his piety 1. The first fruit and benefit that he shall reap is instruction and direction in his Vocation and private life For God shall direct him Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 2. Ver. 13 The second is that his happiness shall not be momentary but firm and lasting 2 He shall dwell at ease not molested but quiet His soul shall dwell at ease 3. 3 Happy in his seed A third is that he shall be happy in his children and posterity His seed shall inherit the land 4. The fourth is that Redemption of Mankind by the blood of Christ and all the effects of it Remission Reconciliation c. which is a secret unknown to flesh and blood shall be revealed and applied to him Ver. 14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him 4 Gods Covenant applied to him and he will shew them his Covenant Being confirmed with these promises and cheered with these fruits he The fourth part 1. Testifies his acquiescence and faith in God for deliverance My eye◠are ever towards the Lord he shall pluck my feet out of the Net In this he acquiesceth 2. And then returns to his Prayer again being in effect the very self-same that he began with which he offereth in several Clauses 1. Turn thee unto me He renews his former prayer 2. Have mercy upon me 3. O bring thou me out of my distresses 4. Look upon my affliction and trouble and forgive me all my sins 5. Consider mine enemies 6. O keep my soul and deliver me 7. Let me not be ashamed 8. Let integrity and uprightness wait upon me Petitioners and men in misery think that they can never say enough this makes him so earnest and so often repeat the same thing in which longing there is yet an incrementum The sum is That God would hear and grant him defence and deliverance in his dangers remission of sins which caused them and protect direct and govern him in his troubles Now that he might prevail in his Suit as an excellent Orator And useth many Arguments that God be propitious to him he useth many Arguments to induce God to be propitious to him 1. His faith and trust in his promises Min◠eyes are ever towards the Lord. 2. The danger he was now in His feet were in the Net Ver. 15 3. He was oppressed and alone had none to help him I am desolate and afflicted Ver. 16 4. His inward afflictions and pain was grievous Ver. 17. 18. The troubles of my heart are enlarged by which he was distressed in pain in sorrow 5. And without his enemies powerful many merciless cruel Ver. 19 My enemies are many and they hate me with cruel hatred Ver. 21 6. And yet I am an Innocent and desire to be so thy servant Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait upon thee And thus David having through the whole Psalm pray'd for himself He prayes for the Church The fifth part at last in the close he offers up a short but earnest Petition for all the People and for the whole Church which proceeded from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 22 which ought to be among the Saints Redeem Israel O God out of all their troubles The Prayer collected out of the twenty fifth Psalm UNTO thée O Lord I do lift up not only my eyes and hands Ver. 1 but my very soul and heart early in the Morning will I direct my prayer unto thée and will look up O Lord I am not ignorant how uncapable I have made my self of thy favour by my transgressions multiplied against thée but O Lord Ver. 6 declare thy self mindful of thy pity and mercy which thou hast shewed to Mankind from the beginning of the World and according to the multitude of thy mercies deal with me My sin is very great more in number than the sand heavier in weight than the greatest burden O pardon my iniquity for thy Name sake The offences of my younger years are over-many Ver. 11 into which the boyling of concupiscence inconsideration and my youthful heat and imprudence hath cast me head-long but O good God I beséech thée Remember not the sins of my youth nor the transgressions of my unruly and unbrideled Age but according to thy mercy think thou upon me blot out of thy remembrance my abominations and remit my crying exorbitances for thy goodness sake O Lord. O Lord Ver. 8 Thou art good and upright all thy paths are Mercy and Truth Thy Goodness and Mercy is shewed in admitting sinners to Repentance and thy Vprightness and Truth in pardoning them and making good thy Promises admit me then among the number of thy Penitents and seal my pardon as thou hast promised to penitent and believing sinners Thou art the God of my salvation Ver. 5 on thee do I wait all my life long from thy Mercy I look for my Instruction Ver. 4 from thée my Direction Shew me thy wayes and reach me thy paths and lead me in thy Truth I am a man of a broken and contrite spirit guide me in the day of Iudgment and suffer me not to be tempted above my strength and whatever way I choose be thou my Teacher and Monitor that I slip not and fall not in it I desire O Lord to kéep thy Covenant and Testimonies let therefore that great secret of Mans Redemption by the blood of thy dear Son be made known to me and the mercies of thy Covenant assur'd to my soul by which alone my heart shall dwell at ease and my Conscience be quieted from the guilt of sinne and sense of thy wrath These my sins have procured me many enemies and thou hast justly raised up these Rebels to revenge my Rebellions against thée with these I am so compassed that I know not what to do But mine eyes are toward thee O Lord and except thou pluck my séet out of the Net I must néeds perish in the snares that they have privily laid for me Turn thee then unto me and have mercy upon me for I am destitute of all humane help left
alone by my friends and afflicted by my enemies The sorrows of my heart are multiplied my sins are represented to me in the largest manner my distresses are instant my pain grievous O look upon my affliction bring me out of my troubles and forgive me all my sin for which I openly confess I have justly deserved to suffer what I now féel and complain of Make it known gracious God that thou dost see and confider the multitude of my enemies who hate me with cruel hatred and persecute me without any just cause for though I have justly deserved at thy hand those things which I suffer yet to them I have done no wrong neither do they pursue me in revenge of my sin but méerly out of malice and envy serving and gratifying their own lusts not any way intending thy Glory O keep then my soul which they séek to destroy and deliver me from their multitude and injustice I wait on and put my trust in thee let me not nor any that trust in thee be ashamed of their hope For it will derogate from thy glory that any that trust in thée be frustrated of their expectation but frustrate their counsels and let them be ashamed of their undertakings who without any just cause given them Ver. 21 do plot the ruine of thy people who endeavour to serve thée with an entire and upright heart Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles Israel is thy people that thou hast chosen Israel the people that thou hast bought and purchased with thy own blood many troubles and enemies they have for them I pray and not for my self alone O Lord deliver them for thy Names sake and for thy Sons sake out of all their afflictions and pressures Amen PSAL. XXVI Davids Appeal to God to vindicate his Innocence THE parts of the Psalm are 1. An Appeal of David to God to be his Judge ver 1 2. 2. The causes that induced him to it his integrity especially 3. A Petition ver 9 11. 4. His Gratitude ver 12. He begins with his Appeal to God David appeals to God to be his Judge whom he knew to be a just Judge and therefore desires to be dealt withal in forma juris Judge me O Lord examine me O Lord and prove me try out my reins and my heart Ver. 1 2. Then he assigns two causes of it his integrity and his faith Ver. 2 1. His faith and confidence was such in God Upon his 1. Faith that he knew that the Judge of all the World would do him right I have trusted in the Lord Ver. 1 therefore I shall not slide I change not my Religion to which I am tempted 2 Integrity 2. His integrity for I have walked in my integrity Ver. 1 of which he assigns the cause for thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes Ver. 3 and I have walked in thy Truth I follow thy Word and the Truth therein The second part This he demonstrates Next he sets down his integrity by an injunction of parts which were two How he carried himself to men 2. How to God 1. He abstained from all society confederacy counsels 1 By his carriage to man and intimacy with wicked men nay he did abominate and hate their wayes I have not sate viz. in counsel with vain persons Ver. 4 neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of wicked doers Ver. 5 and will not sit with the wicked 2. The other degree of his integrity was his piety which he here professeth 2 To God I will wash my hands in innocency and so will compass thine Altar O Lord Ver. 6 i. e. 1 To his worship I will worship thee for that end in the next verse he would keep his hands from blood oppression innocent pure it was Ut Ver. 7 That I may publish with the voyce of Thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works Non est speciosa laus in ore precatoris therefore he would be innocent And then he professeth a second act of his piety his love to Cods house Ver. 8 and the Service done in it O Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House 2 To his house The third part Therefore he prayes and the place where thine honour dwelleth Upon which conscientiousness of his integrity he falls to prayer That God would not suffer him to be polluted with the conversation of wicked men Ver. 9 nor involved in their punishments Gather not my soul with sinners Ver. 10 nor my life with the blood-thirsty in whose hands is mischief And describes wicked men with whom he would not converse and their right hand is full of bribes But by the way observe the many Titles he gives here to wicked men 1. They are vain persons void and empty of the fear of God irreligious 2. Deep men occulti absconditi versuti dissemblers aliud ore aliud corde 3. Caetus Malignorum Malignants doing all for their own ends 4. Impious Turbones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. Peccatores sinners 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Workers of iniquity 6. Blood-thirsty men cruel and revengeful 7. Mischievous ready to execute with their hands what they plotted in heart 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That will do any thing for a bribe Now from some such kind David blesseth himself he will have nothing to do with them As for me I will walk in my integrity Redeem me Lord from such people and be merciful to me Lastly The fourth part His gratitude He shewes his gratitude My foot standeth right hitherto I am sure I am in a good way I will therefore praise the Lord in the Congregations not only privately but publickly The Prayer collected out of the twenty sixth Psalm MANY O Lord very many are those temptations to allurements which the World the Divel and Mon have laid before me to withdraw me from the profession of thy Truth and a religious course of life but because I have continued constant in my integrity they load me with slanders and pursue me with violence séeking to take away my life as they have already taken my inheritance But Lord I commit my cause to thée by whose power I have hitherto persisted in my uprightness Judge Ver. 1 and discern my Cause O Lord They impute folly errour and stubborness to me but my heart tells me That I have walked innocently They lay to my charge things that I knew not but thou art the searcher of all hearts Ver. 2 Examine me therefore and prove me try out therefore as gold in thy fire the secrets of my reins and the inmost cogitations of my heart explore what they are and whether they be worthy of that despite and ill usage which I have received from these men of blood Thou knowest Lord that I have gone on in that right way of piety which thou hast proposed and prescribed in thy Word nor profit hath allured me nor threats have
full of Power and Majesty powerful for the conversion of many people and so full of Majesty that all the Potentates and wife men of the World fall low and worship thée make it of that strength that they be never able to resist it and of that efficacy that hey be willing to yield to it As for those tall and proud Cedars which obstinately and maliciously refuse to give thée the Honour due to thy Name break them in pieces and let them féel thy hand But for those who are moved by this thy voyce divide unto them the flames of thy spiritual fire that may illuminate and melt and purisse their blind hard and polluted cold hearts distribute and divide unto them the gifts of thy Spirit subdue their vices by thy Grace Let them méet in thy Temple and alwayes praise thée in the beauty of holiness Bless them with peace of conscience while they are in this vally of tears and trouble and receive them at last to an eternal peace in the life to come Amen PSAL. XXX The occasion of this Psalm was some grievous sickness or danger from which David was delivered TWO parts there are of it 1. The Rendition of praise and thanks ver 1 2 3. 2. An Exhortation to others to do it by his example and Gods dealing with him from ver 4. to the last He beings with his profession of praise The first part He praiseth God I will extoll thee O Lord and adds the causes 1. Ver. 1 For thou hast lifted me up as a man out of a dark deep pit 2. And adds the causes Thou hast not made my Foes to rejoyce over me but turned their mirth to sadness 3. Thou hast healed me in body and mind 4. Brought my soul from the Grave c. Lent me life when I was dying Of all which effects he conceals not the means by which he procured them O Lord my God I cryed unto thee Ver. 2 and thou didst all I have mentioned for me 2. The second part And exhorts the Church to praise him After he had given Thanks he speaks to the whole Church and exhorts by his example to acknowledge and celebrate the goodness of God in defending and delivering those which are his Sing unto the Lord O ye his Saints and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Ver. 4 And to perswade them he gives the instance in himself in which he declares Lest they have experience of Gods anger as he had That God was justly angry with him but soon appeased 1. Angry he was but his anger endureth but for a moment but life and continuance of life is from his favour There may be heaviness for a night but joy cometh in the morning 2. And justly angry he was for my sin my carnal security In prosperity I was and in my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong 3. And the effect of his anger was my Trouble Thou didst turn away thy face and I was troubled This is the example he sets the Saints that they be not secure when the World goes well with them lest they have experience of Gods anger as he had Next he shewes how he behaved himself to avert Gods wrath How he averted Gods anger which also he proposeth as a pattern for them to follow in the like cause 1. Viz. By prayer He betook himself to prayer 2. And sets down the Form he used 1. He that is ill calls for the Physitian so did I this was the fruit of my chastisement I cryed to thee O Lord and unto the Lord I made my supplication 2. The Form he used And the Form I used was this thus pathetically I pleaded with God 1. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit 2. Shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy Truth Can a dead man praise thee or canst thou make good thy promises to the dead 3. To which I added Hear O Lord and have mercy upon me O Lord be thou my Helper 3. And then shewes the effect of his prayer that it was turned And the consequent of it was he was relieved Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing Thou hast put off my sack-cloth and girded me with gladness 4. This God did for me and he did it for this end That my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks to thee for ever Now O ye Saints ye see my case For which he gives thanks you see what course I took you see the effect and the end why God was so good to me it was That I should praise him and therefore I propose my example to you to imitate Betake you to God in your necessities and having obtained deliverance by your prayers remember to sing praises to God The Prayer collected out of the thirtieth Psalm INTO thy hands O Lord I commend my body my soul my thoughts my affections my goods whatsoever is mine I dedicate to thée beséeching thée to dwell with me for then no uncleanspirits shall have power over me nor heinous transgressions shall pollute and profane what thou hast bestowed upon me sanctiffe to my use and to thy honour all thy Creatures Thou Lord hast béen a bountiful God unto me and bestowed upon me many blessings which thou hast denied to many of thy better servants but I have béen an ungrateful wretch and in my prosperity forgot thée my God I forgot mine own condition and was so secure of thy favour that I began to be proud and puff'd up upon the conceit of mine own wisdom and strength Ver. 6 I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved I thought thou hadst made my hill so strong that I could not be shaken or overthrown by the force or practise of any enemy But now this sottish pride and presumption is shaked off from me experience I have that it is thy favour and goodness alone that must kéep me safe for thou didst only hide thy face from me and I was troubled Troubled in my body troubled in my house troubled in my estate I saw my self frustrate in my expectation Great trouble Lord is now upon me and thy wrathful displeasure doth now for my security and pride go over me But now O Lord take away thy hand from me for I am even consumed by thy heavy hand What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit How shall my life be beneficial to thy honour or to men if being taken away by an untimely death I be laid up in the Grave and my body rot in the Earth Shall the dust praise thee or shall it declare thy Truth Shall a dead man resolved into ashes sing praises to thy honour among men or make boast of thy faithfulness in performing what thou hast promised 'T is for thine honour then to
what they can yet I know He comforts himself in God except thou permit them they are not able to do it Thou art my God in thee I trust For my time is in thy hand not in theirs i. e. My life And then he falls to prayer again which consists of three parts 1. A Deprecation 2. A Supplication 3. And an Imprecation He prayes yet againn 1. A Deprecation for he prayes that he come not into their power 1 He deprecates Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me 2. A Supplication Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for thy mercies sake Let me not be asham'd for I have call'd upon thee 2 Supplicate◠O Lord. 3. An Imprecation Let the wicked be ashamed and be silent in the grave as we usually say silent leges inter arma when they are of no force 3 Imprecates against the wicked So let the wicked dye be silent and have no power 2. Let the lying lips be put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous In which there be so many Arguments to quicken the grant of his Imprecation 1. The quality of their persons They are wicked impious men Whose qualities he sets forth 2. There is no truth in them they have lying lips Their words are false 3. And their actions worse they speak grievous things and that against the righteous 4. Then their intention is worst of all for they do it proudly contemptuously disdainfully despitefully It proceeds ex malo habitu In the fifth part he sets out the abundant goodness of the Lord to his people The fifth part and He admires Gods goodness to his people as it were a little carried beyond himself by a divine rapture or extasie in a holy admiration he exclaims O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up Vers. 19 which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men This goodness of God is often laid up and hid as it was to the Israelites in Egypt not seen for many years but after a long time it was brought forth and wrought even before the sons of men But then observe this goodness is laid up for none nor wrought for none but such as fear him 2. Put their trust in him expect and believe his promises Vers. 20 And the Acts and Works of his goodness are here specified 1. The specialties of it Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man 2. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a Pavilion from the strife of tongues Upon which consideration in gratitude he breaks out into a Benedictus 1. Blessed be the Lord for he hath shew'd me his marvellous kindness c. 2. For which he blesseth God And corrects his errour and former mistake I said in my haste tashly imprudently I am cut off from before thine eyes Such was his rash judgement But he confesseth and amends this his folly And corrects his errour Nevertheless thou heardst the voice of my supplication when I cryed unto thee 6. The sixth part He exhorts the Saints to And so he falls upon the last part which is an Exhortation to the Saints 1. That they love God 2. That they be of good courage for it was the same God still and he would be as good to others as he was to him 1. That they love for two reasons 1. For that the Lord preserveth the faithful 1 Love God 2. That he plentifully rewardeth the proud doer That was his Mercy this his Justice 2. 2 That they be couragious That they be of good courage For then he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord. They despair not but keep their heart fix'd and firm to the profession of truth which would be a seal of their hope The Prayer collected out of the 31. Psalm O Merciful Father who art wont to take pity on those who are distressed have mercy on me a poor wretch Vers. 9 who am in trouble and great misery So many and so great are the sorrows of my heart that my eye is grown dim and consumed with grief my soul pines away and the activest parts of my whole body are dryed up and become unserviceable The best part of my life is spent in heaviness Vers. 10 and my years are unpleasant for mourning my iniquity and transgression against thée is so great that when I sadly think thereupon my vital spirits and strength fails me and the solidity and firmness of my bones is wasted with a consumption Yea though my affliction be so great and urgent yet among men I found not any to comfort me To my enemies I am become a proverb of reproach and to the many a scorn and derision they load me so thick with slanderous reports that fear is on every side they take counsel together to take away my life But these were enemies and I expected no other from them that which most déeply pierceth my heart is that all my friends should become miserable comforters these even these when they saw me destitute of thy help have forsaken me conveyed themselves away and fled from me there 's not a Neighbour that doth not scorn me not any of my acquaintance who is not afraid to own me I am forgotten as a dead man of whom being laid in the grave there is no remembrance I am of no more accompt than a broken vessel of which there is no estéem because of no use but is cast to the Dunghill Yet though I am brought to this pitiful condition I do not despair in thee O Lord I do put my trust I have said Thou art my God Suffer me not to be ashamed of my hope and expectation Vers. 2 Bow down thine ear to my complaint and deliver me for thy righteousness sake save me speedily from the hands of my enemies and from them that persecute me Make thy gracious countenance to shine upon thy servant and save me for thy meer Mercy It is only to thy hands to thy power and care I commend my spirit and life which they go about to take from me This at other times Vers. 5 thou hast redeem'd from their fury be then a good God now unto me and trus in thy promises and deliver me now They have laid a net and snare to take me at unawares but do thou pull me out of it Be my house and defence to save me my strength to confirm me my Rock to uphold me my light to lead and guide me They lie in wait for my blood but my time is in thy hand who art the Lord of life and death thou givest thou takest away O then shut me not up in the hand of the enemy set my feet in a large room and let me enjoy my liberty O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them
and derision to them that are round about us and this he amplifies Ver. 14 1. From the circumstances 1. That they were a Proverb of reproach The Aggravation by an excellent incrementum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen 2. That in scorn any one that would used a scornful gesture toward them We are become a shaking of the head among the people 3. That this insultation is continual My confusion is daily before me Ver. 15 4. It is superlative shame so great that he had not what to say to it The shame of my face hath covered me Ver. 16 5. It is publick their words and gestures are not concealed they speak out what they please Asham'd I am for the voyce of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth for the enemy and avenger Thirdly And yet he useth a third Argument The third Argument from the constancy of the Church under the Cross that the Petition may be the more grateful and more easily granted drawn it is from the constancy and perseverance of Gods people in the profession of the Truth notwithstanding this heavy cross persecution and affliction All this is come upon us Thus we are oppressed devoured banished sold Ver. 17 derided Yet we continue to be thy servants still we retain our faith hope service 1. We have not forgotten thee not forgotten that thou art our God 2. We have not dealt falsly in thy Covenant we have not bogled and jugled in thy Service daubing with any side for our advantage renouncing our integrity Ver. 18 3. Our heart is not turned back our heart is upright not turned back to the Idols our Fathers worshipped 4. Our steps are not gone out of thy way Slip we may but not revolt no not though great calamities are come upon us 1. Broken 2. Ver. 19 Broken in the place of Dragons i. e. enemies fierce as Dragons 3. Their appeal Though covered with the shadow of death Now that all this is true we call thee our God to witness Ver. 20 who knowest the very secrets of the heart and art able to revenge it If we have forgotten the Name of our God or stretched out our hands to c. Ver. 21 Shall not God search it out for he knows the very secret of the heart Fourthly But the last Argument is more pressing than the other three The fourth Argument from their profession of truth it is not for any wrong we have done those who thus oppress us that we are thus persecuted by them it is for thee it is because we profess thy Name and rise up in defence of thy Truth Yea for thy sake are we killed all the day long Ver. 22 for thy sake are we counted as sheep for the slaughter The sum then is since thou hast been a good God to our Fathers since we suffer so great things under bitter Tyrants since notwithstanding all our sufferings we are constant to thy Truth since these our sufferings are for thee for thy sake His Petition thy truth therefore awake arise help us for upon these grounds he commenceth his Petition The second part This is the second part of the Psalm which begins ver 23. and continues to the end in which Petition there be these degrees 1. That God Ver. 23 who to flesh and blood in the calamities of his Church seems to sleep would awake and set a stop to their trouble Awake why sleepest thou O Lord ver 23. 2. That he would arise and judge their cause and not seem to neglect them as abjects Arise cast us not off for ever ver 23. 3. That he would shew them some favour Ver. 24 and not seem to forget their miseries Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression 4. Lastly That he would be their Helper and actually deliver them Arise for our help Ver. 26 and redeem us for thy mercies sake Which Petition that it might be the sooner and easier granted he briefly repeats the second Argument Ver. 25 ver 25. For our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the Earth brought we are as low as low may be even to the dust to death to the grave The Prayer collected out of the forty fourth Psalm O God the Father of mercy Ver. 1 Thou hast called those thy people which were not a people and chosen them to be thy children who were aliens and strangers to thy Covenant Ver. 2 We have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us That thou hast gathered thy Church out of all Nations that thou hast driven out thine own people the Jewes and planted us Gentiles in their room Thou hast called us by thy Gospel redéemed us by thy Blood purified us by thy Spirit and that not for any merit that was in us or goodness or power Ver. 3 to which we could lay claim For we got not a possession in thy Church by our own Sword neither was it out own arm that could save us but it was thy right hand and thy arm and the light and favour of thy countenance no other reason can be given of this wonderful kindness but because thou hadst a favour and borest a good will unto us But now O Lord Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame Thou hast not gone forth with our Armies Ver. 9 Thou hast made us turn our backs upon our enemies and they that hate us spoile us our habitations our goods and thy Temples at their pleasure deslined we are like simple and harmless shéep to be slaughtered and devoured by these gréedy woldes scattered and dispersed whether they please and forced out of our Countrey to dwell among another people As slaves they have made merchandize of us and sold us at so base a rate as if we were of no value as if the most contemptible thing were price good enough for us To our neighbours we are become a reproach to those round about us a scorn a derision a proverb our misery is their mirth and at the sight of us in a scoff they shake their heads every day we méet with what doth amaze and confound us and for shame in every place we come we hide and cover our faces for our enemies lift up their voyces and revile us petulant they are and take their revenge by reproaches and blasphemies Thou Lord knowest the secret of the heart Thou Lord knowest that 't is for thy sake we are killed all day long and accounted no better than sheep appointed to be slain Ver. 21 All this is come upon us for thee these scorns and calamities we suffer for the profession of thy Truth and yet we are patient under the Cross Yet we have not forgotten thee thy Worship thy Service nor dealt falsly and hypocritically in thy Covenant our heart is yet sincere and upright we have not turned our backs upon thee Ver. 17 neither have our steps gone out of
for dye we must but from the hand the power the dominion of death Death shall not reign over them 3. And the reason is Because he shall receive me with favour adopt me and make me capable of all the promises made over to me by Covenant 3. The third part The advice to good men Upon these considerations viz. The different conditions of good and bad men he gives forth his prohibition and admonisheth the good that they be not troubled at the prosperity of the wicked Ne trineas Be not afraid Let not your heart betroubled 1. That they be not troubled at the prosperity of the wicked Not at the great wealth of the rich Be not thou afraid when one is made rich 2. Not at the glory and honour of the mighty Nor when the glory of his house is increased And he repeats the former reason For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away His glory shall not descend after him Their happiness was then but Momentary This he amplifies by a bitter Epitrope Esto Be it they flatter themselves and are flatter'd by others 1. Though while he liv'd he blessed his soul Soul thou hast many goods for many years 2. Though men will praise thee and sound in thy ears Euge bene Vers. 18 rectè so long as thou doest well to thy self i. e. providest for me heapest up Riches and gapest after Honour Think to be Semi-deum 1. A mortal thou art short-liv'd as all that went before thee were Vers. 19 Thy life no longer dated than theirs He shall go to the generation of his fathers And 2. If wicked be cast into utter darkness They shall never see light 3. Surely any man how rich soever how great soever who understands not thus much beasts himself Vers. 20 For with this Epiphonema he concludes the Psalm which is doubled that it may be remembred Man being in honour and understands not is like the beasts that perish Even while he lives he is but like a beast The Prayer collected out of the forty ninth Psalm O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy who hast created man through wisdom according to thy likeness giving him a capacity to know and a will to chuse the true way to Happiness Give me Wisdom that sits by thy Throne and reject me not from among thy children Vers. 20 never let me so farre forfeit my understanding being depressed by want or enticed by abundance or affected with the glory of the world that I become like a beast that perisheth But grant that in what condition soever I am whether high or low rich or poor I may give ear and hearken to the instruction of thy Holy Spirit O let my mouth alwayes speak of wisdom and let the meditation of my heart be of such things which may make me judge prudently and govern my self wisely in this present life Bore my ear and make it incline to what thou shalt teach and teach me with an eloquent tongue to declare to others the Mysteries the Parables the dark and abstruse Mysteries of thy Law Then Lord lo I will not refrain my lips and that thou knowest Taught us thou hast in thy Divine Oracles that we should not place our confidence in the vain and fading things of this life But with shame and confusion of face confess we must that we have made the World our God and the wedge of gold our stay that we are in the number of those who have trusted in their wealth and boasted in the multitude of their riches Our inward thought hath been to add house to house and land to land perswading our selves that our houses shall continue for ever and our dwelling places to all generations We labour to be immortal here on earth and to that purpose we call the land after our own names We bless our selves in our abundance and say to our souls Eat drink and be merry Soul thou hast goods laid up for many years This is our vanity this is our way our folly and yet our posterity approve and applaud these our sayings and doings for when we do thus well unto our selves they stand by flatter and praise us O good God keep under and subdue these immoderate affections and teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdom let it never slip out of our memories that we are mortal and all the things of the world momentary vain fading Dayly experience we have before our eyes that wise men dye and the fool and bruitish person perish Every man is but short-lived and must follow the generation of his fathers and when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away with him and his glory shall not continue and descend after him All like sheep fatted for the slaughter are laid in the grave Our wealth in that evil day will not profit us our glory will no way avail us What wealth what strength what splendour what dignity soever any man may have will not ransome or redeem any mans life nor at a mans own hand nor at a mans brothers will God receive a recompence that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Make us wise O Lord to consider these things and alwayes to remember our latter end To the house of death we must be brought but that is not our latter end Of an immortal soul we do consist as well as of a mortal body And will wealth or power be able to deliver that either from the wrath of God or the torments of hell Vers. 8 O no! It cost more to redeem a soul so that he must that alone for ever The redemption was a precious price bought we were not with gold or silver but with the precious blood of the Son or God While worldlings are bussed then in increasing of riches and thirsting after honours let us be studious to save this so that that precious blood be not spilt nor that ransome paid in vain The wicked shall be turn'd into Hell and all the people that forget God but thou O Lord wilt redeem my soul from the power of the grave for I verily believe to set God in the land of the living Why then should I fear in the dayes of evil why when the wickedness of my heels compasseth round about Surely there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth Men that are in honour and understand not are like the beasts that perish Vers. 20 but the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God he shall receive them and no torment shall touch them They the wicked shall never see light whereas the righteous shall shine like the Sun Death eternal death and the fire that never shall be quench'd shall feed on them whereas the righteous shall enjoy everlasting life At the general resurrection those goats shall be set on the left-hand and the other sheep honoured with the right While they liv'd they trampled upon and oppressed
his and so are the Cattle upon a thousand Hills will he eat Bulls flesh or drink the blood of Goats To what purpose are the multitude of sacrifices and the fat of fed Beasts these thou delightest not in incense is an abomination unto thee the calling of Assemblies the new Moons the Sabbaths all external worship is hateful and a trouble unto thée so long as the persons of those who observe them are not accepted so long as the men are Formalists Hypocrites and have their hands full of blood 't is the penitent soul to which thou wilt look the sincere heart which thou wilt regard Cleanse me therefore O Lord and wash my heart give me power to put away the evil of my doings let me cease to do evil and learn to do well that so my person being pleasing in thy sight thou may'st hear my prayers and accept my thanks It is now a day of trouble and as thou hast commanded I call unto thee for help Ver. 15 Lord hear my prayers and deliver me as thou hast promised so shall I glorifie thy Name be obliged to offer thee Thanksgiving and pay my vows to the most High Remit Lord and pardon the sins of thy people put our present sufferings and extream afflictions before thy eyes and return to us who return to thée with fasting wéeping and mourning so shall we have just occasion to offer thée praise and glorifie thée for this great mercy and deliverance for ever and ever thy statutes shall be our song in the house of our pilgrimage and we will run the way of thy Commandments all the dayes of our life PSAL. LI. One and a chief of the Penitentials THE occasion of this Psalm was the message that David received from God by Nathan the Prophet for the murder of Vriah and his Adultery in defiling Bathsheba this put him into the state of a Penitent and to petition to God for mercy for pardon for grace for peace of conscience for renovation of his heart It in general contains Davids prayer 1. For himself ver 1. to 13. 2. And three vows or promises ver 13. to 18. 3. For the Church from ver 18. to the end David being in a perplexed estate conceived he could have no comfort The first part but in Gods mercy and therefore he first in general prayes for that Have mercy on me Ver. 1 O Lord not on David the King thine Anointed but on me The general Petition for mercy that am not worthy to be called thy servant thy son and the motive he useth to gain that is not any plea or merit of his own but 1. The kindness of God Have mercy on me according to thy loving-kindness 2. The compassion of God According to the multitude of thy compassions The general Petition for mercy being offered next he tenders three particular Petitions 1. His first particular Petition is for forgiveness of his sins the fact was past The first Petition for forgiveness but the guilt remained he therefore earnestly petitions Put away mine iniquities and upon this he insists and in other terms comes over it for a soul that is truly sensible of sin is never at rest and satisfied with one deprecation for sin is a spot a deep stain Therefore wash me throughly wash me from mine iniquities Ver. 2 and cleanse me from my sin Amplius lava as if one washing were too little for a double sin for two such sins To this Petition for mercy he subjoins a confession of his sin knowing well To this he subjoins a confession that this was the readiest way to obtain it for he that confesseth and forsakes his sin shall find mercy in which we may learn many excellent conditions requisite in a true Confessionist 1. He enters into a serious consideration of the nature of sin he feels the weight the burden of it feels the anguish and abhors it I excuse it not 1. I know my iniquity I know it now to abhor to reform it Ver. 3 2. It is ever before me not to please me but to trouble and grieve me 3. He aggravates it with divers names iniquity sin transgression it is Pasteanos rebellion it is Greavah crooked dealing Chatta errour and wandring 2. And so he falls upon an open and plain confession Peccavi I have sinned Ver. 4 and this he first aggravates by two circumstances He aggravates his sins 1. From the person 1. Of the person It is against thee against thee I say a good gracious God that from a Shepherd hast made me a King a great and terrible God that art able and hast threatned to punish there was neither grace nor fear in me that I durst sin against thee against thee the Epizeuxis is emphatical yea against thee only have I sinned In maxima fortuna minima licentia So highly thou hast advanced me that I need to fear none but thee but this hath not kept me from this sin in this was unthankfulness Vriah was my Souldier I need not fear him the People my Subjects they cannot judge me it is to thee I am to answer for breach of thy Law I esteem therefore my sin to be against thee only for I had not known this sin to be a sin hadst not thou forbidden it nor need not fear any wouldst not thou punish it 2. Of the manner it was an impudent sin done in thy sight 2 The manner before thy eyes thou being by and looking on and so done without any reverence of thy Majesty as it were in contempt I have done this evil in thy sight So that I confess that in reproving and threatning me by Nathan thou art a just God and to be justified in thy sayings and clear in the judgment of any who with an impartial eye shall examine my offence and thy proceeding for I have deserved whatsoever thou hast threatned and given thee just cause to speak and judge as thou hast done Vt is not here causal but consequential for it is not his meaning that he sinned for that end that God should be justified but that this would follow upon it whensoever he was brought to confess his sin then God would be justified in his proceeding against him Ver. 5 3. He proceeds in the Amplification and Exaggeration of his sin He yet aggravates his sin 1. That it proceeded from original sin in him and declares from what root this his actual sin sprang even from his original Behold I was born in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceived me This very sin that I have committed gives me occasion to enquire into my state and I find and confess upon a diligent inquisition that I am universally corrupted even from my mothers womb and that I carry about me the seeds of all sin 4. Ver. 6 Another aggravation of his sin is that in himself he found not that which God loves 2 From an insincere heart Thou requirest truth in the inward parts
transgressions of them with a pen of Iron and point of a Diamond with whom thou mindest to enter into judgment let not me O Lord be of that number let not my debt stand registred in that Book but of thy mercy and not my merit put it away and blot it out for if my sin stand upon thy account I am but a dead man Lord quicken me Lord forgive me my trespass and put away the hand-writing of thy Ordinance that is against me O Lord if thou wash me not I shall have no part with thée spots I have Ver. 2 that are not the spots of a son pollutions that are of a scarlet dye wash me then by thy vower from iniquity and cleanse me by thy Spirit from my sin or else as an Aethiop I shall never change my spots O Lord lest my uncleanness banish me from my fellowship with thée wash I beséech thée not my féet only but my hands and my head also Wash my féet that is my unclean affections wash my hands that is my unclean actions and wash my head that is my unclean imaginations cleanse me in all that the pollution of any do not cast me from thy presence O Lord I do not hide and conceal the iniquity of my bosom Ver. 3 I séek not to cover it as hitherto I have done but behold now I know it I acknowledge it I confess it to thée against my self therefore shew Lord some pity and compassion upon a miserable sinner and forgive it my sin is ever before me do thou therefore cast it behind thy back My sin is so secret to the eye of the World that no eye beholds it Ver. 4 to them I séem to be what I am not from them I find no trouble but thou O Lord art he to whom all creatures must render an account against thee then against thee I confess that I have grievously offended and done evil in thy sight and therefore it is not O Lord without cause that I suffer these heavy things from thy hands I have deserved them all and given thée just Reason to procéed against me as thou hast done and now I here acknowledge it before the world that thou mayest be justified and have the praise of righteousness even in those things which by the hands of men thou hast brought upon me Righteous art thou O Lord and just in thy judgments I know that in me that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing it is not one Fact only in which I am culpable Behold I was born in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceived me A Transgressor I have béen from the womb for that bitter root of sin ingraffed in my nature hath gathered strength and shot forth new branches my understanding is darkned my will perverted and my affections bent to evil so that I am truly abominable in thy sight and ashamed of my self especially being conscious to those foul and enormous actual sins that grow from this polluted féed Behold Thou lovest Truth in the inward affections but wo is me I am a man of a double heart Thou hast often instructed my conscience by many secret motions of thy holy Spirit and taught me the way of wisdom but I foolishly have given a check to those inspirations and strayed like a lost shéep in the wayes of folly the light of my conscience I have put out and against my own knowledge I have transgressed Miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin I thank God through Iesus Christ my Lord he hath shed his blood for me he alone is my Iesus Purge me then O Lord not with hyssop but with his blood nor Sope nor Niter nor Fullers Sope can make me clean but that stream which issued out of his wounds and side Purge me then with this blood and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow though my sins were as scarlet yet I shall be whiter than wool though they be red like crimson yet 〈◊〉 shall be white as the driven snow O Lord I hear within me the accusing voyce of a disquiet conscience which pursues accuseth and terrifies me O Lord let me hear the voyce of joy and gladness send down from above the Comforter who alone can speak peace to my soul and then my body which pineth away under this anguish and my bones which séem to be broken through my disconsolate condition shall again recover their wonted strength and my flesh upon me shall rejoyce If then Lord mark what is amiss who can abide it even thy dear Son when he endured the looks of thy angry face fell into agony his soul was heavy his flesh in such pain that he sweat thick clotts of blood how miserable then am I so long as thou shalt look upon me with an angry brow Hide O hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my misdeeds Turn thy angry look from me and look upon the face of thy Anointed that so thy anger when it reacheth me may as the Sun-beams passing through some thick cloud be refracted and mitigated O Lord by my sin I have grieved thy holy Spirit and forced thée who art properly my heart and life of my heart to forsake me come again Lord and restore life unto me without thée I am dead in trespasses and sins I have lost my life Ver. 10 and like a man wanting his quickning spirit when thou wentest away my life went away Return O Lord and come again and create a new heart within me Of my self I have fallen by thy assistance I must rise lend me then the helping hand of thy grace that may lift me up And being fallen my heart is foul Ver. 11 polluted and unclean and who is able to bring a clean thing out of an unclean This is a work much like the producing the first World out of the Tohu and Bohu set O Lord Almighty thy power to work again and create in me a clean heart Fallen I am into the old age of sin begin with me again and make me young and lusty as an Eagle Ver. 12 Cast me not away and forsake me not in my old age of iniquity as a dead man out of mind but let thy presence yet be with me and restore me to the joy of thy salvation O take not from me the graces and assistances of thy Spirit thy right Spirit thy holy Spirit thy frée Spirit A perverse spirit I find in my self thy Spirit will rectifie it and teach me to go the right way an unclean spirit I am possessed with thy Spirit will sanctifie it and purge it from pollution 't is the spirit of bondage to which I am subject thy Spirit can set it at liberty and make it frée impart therefore some nay a liberal portion of this thy Spirit that may teach me the right way that may set me in a holy course that may kéep preserve uphold and confirm me in it that
and devotes them to Gods judgments he prayes in general for their ruine esteeming them no better than Lyons Saul the old Lyon and his counsel Lyons whelps 1. To God he turns his speech and he prayes against their means to hurt whether near at hand or afar off 2. And then against their persons O God break their teeth in their mouth breakout the great teeth of the Lyons O Lord remove their strength their nearest instruments to hurt to destroy O God when they purpose to harm us eminus afar off let it be in vain when he bends his Bowe to shoot his arrows let them be as cut in pieces Thus let it fall to their arms and offensive weapons but as for their persons 2 Their persons that they may be as waters a Snail an Abortive as a fire of chorns 1. Let them melt away as waters great Brooks that run with a violent force from the Mountains and over-run for a little while the Vallies but quickly are received in the Channels and run continually to the Sea and so swallowed 2. Let them be as a Snail that melts in her passage and leaves a slimy filth behind which yet quickly passeth away so let them or else like a Snail whose shell being taken off growes cold and dyes 3. Lâ—t them be as an Abortive like the untimely fruit of a woman that they may not see the Sun 4. Before your pots can feel the thorns ere they can do much mischief The benefits that thereby would redound to the Church he shall take them away as with a whirle-wind both living and in his wrath 3. The benefit that from this judgment upon the wicked should redound to the Church The third part 1. Joyfulness The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance 2. Amendment being warned by their harms he shall wash his foot-steps in their blood 3. Confirmation of their faith and giving glory to God So that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the Earth The Prayer collected out of the fifty eighth Psalm O Merciful Lord God who saidst to Moses I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows and camest down to deliver them behold we beséech thée our sorrows and afflictions hear our cries and come down and deliver us for of a truth at this time both Pharoah and his Host are gathered against thy people to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel hath determined before to be done A Counsel under pretence of Religion and Piety they have established Ver. 1 a Court under the colour of justice they have erected whence they weigh to us the violence of their hands and turn judgment into gall and justice into wormwood they speak not righteousness they judge not uprightly in their heart they work wickedness and their hands deal with violence From the very womb they brought evil into the World with them and ever since they are gone astray and yet continue to speak lies Their nature is corrupt and full of poyson no Adder more venemous no Serpent more bent on revenge and though thou hast given thy Word to charm them and put it into the mouths of thy servants the Prophets to reclaim them yet They are like the deaf Adder that stops her ear they refuse to hear the voyce of thy Charmers charm they never so wisely O God to whom should we make our moan but to thée to whom should we appeal and flie except to thée either thou must deliver us or our condition is miserable thou must save us or we must perish for our soul is among Lyons Break thou the teeth of the old Lyon O Lord in his mouth break out the teeth of the Lyons whelps O Lord make all their instruments of danger to us of no strength and the means they trust in to harm us of no efficacy Let their Arrows they shoot against us be cut to pieces and their Bowe broken As for their persons let them be as a violent Torrent that suddenly swells and falls even as water that runs apace and returns no more Pull them out of their houses and habitations and make their end like that of a Snail which being outed of his shell quickly shainks and dies or else let them and their endeavours be as the untimely fruit of a woman that never sees the Sun A noise they have kept and a blaze they have made like as the flash of thorns about a Pot but thou O Lord take them away as with a whirlewins while they séem most living and flaming extinguish them as in thy wrath When righteous men shall sée the vengeance thou takest on them they will rejâ—yce not so much at their overthrow as for that thou hast exalted thy justice and avenged thine own cause and pleaded for thy people And we also which are thy people and shéep of thy pasture shall learn by their example by our wicked wayes not to provoke thy indignation Good God give us the grace to wash our foot-steps in the blood of the ungodly and that we may be warned by their harms Ver. 1 not to work wickedness in our hearts nor to weigh out violence with our hands but rather to speak righteousness and to judge uprightly For verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that now judgeth the earth and will at the last day come to judge both the quick and the dead even so come Lord Jesus PSAL. LIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Argument of this Psalm is the same with some of those before but the occasion particular Saul's purpose to kill him in his house against whose treachery and cruelty he here complains and prayes The Contents of this Psalm are four 1. His prayer for deliverance ver 1 2. and against them ver 5. 2. He complains of and expresseth his enemies cruelty and improbity from ver 3. to 8. 3. He comforts himself being confident of his own preservation from ver 8. to 10. 1. And of their punishment for which he prayes from ver 11. to 14. 2. And of their vain endeavours for which he insults ver 14 15. 4. He concludes with thanks ver 16 17. 1. He begins with a Petition for deliverance defence salvation and perswades it from the qualities of his enemies The first part His Petition for defence 1. Deliver me defend me save me from 2. Ver. 1 Mine enemies 1. Them that rise up against me 2. From the workers of iniquity 3. From bloody men These considerations made him pray O my God deliver c. 2. He aggravates his enemies cruelty c. The second part And yet more particularly he expresseth their cruelty and treachery to aggravate which he pleads his own innocency in respect of them 1. Their cruelty was Lo they lie in wait for my soul
2. Their treachery this The Mighty men are gathered against me They run and prepare themselves 3. They are diligent about it They return at Evening 2. Mad and set to do it they make a noise like a Dog and threaten boldly 3. Unwearied and obstinate in their purpose They go round about the City 4. Impudent and brag what they will do to me Behold they belch out with their mouth 5. And their words are bloody Swords are in their lips 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. And the cause of this is that they are proud and atheistical Who say they doth hear Secure they think themselves supposing they may contemn God and man neither regard what 's done or what becomes of poor David Ver. 3 4. 5. In the mid'st of which aggravations he inserts his own innocency Expresseth his own innocency They gather themselves together not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord they run and prepare themselves without my fault And upon this he renews his Petition Ver. 4 1. Awake to help me and behold He renews his Petition 1. Thou therefore the Lord God of Hosts the God of Israel the Lord God of Hosts therefore powerful 2. The God of Israel therefore merciful 2. Awake to visit all the Heathen i.e. Punish the Heathen and the Israelites in this no better 3. And be not merciful to any wicked Transgressors i. e. malicious obstinate To this rage and implacable hatred of his enemies The third part Comforts himself in Gods promises he now begins to oppose the comfort he had upon the assurance of Gods promises this I know 1. Thou O Lord shalt laugh at them as it were in sport destroy them be their power never so great yet thou wilt laugh them to scorn 2. Them and all that are like them Thou shalt have all the Heathen in derision 3. I confess that Saul's strength is great but my Protector greater Because of his strength I will wait upon thee for God is my defence 4. This I am assured also That the God of my mercy that hath hitherto shewed me mercy shall prevent me come in feason to my help 2. Expresseth his desire about his enemies And God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies And to the 16th verse he expresseth what his desires were 1. Negatively He would not have them slain and eradicated He would not have them slain and be gives his Reason for it Slay them not lest my people forget for a dead man is quickly out of mind and his punishment out of mind and so few are the better for it 2. Positively The first degree of which is dispersion But 1. Sâ—attered vagrancy and banishment Scatter them which how heavy a judgment it is let the Jewes be witness 2. The second degree is Humiliation Bring them down O Lord our shield 2 Humbled Bring them from their power command honour to a low degree which is no small heart-breaking to a great spirit Fuimus Troes is never remembred without a groan And now he assigns the cause why he would have them scattered and brought low The causes that their blasphemies and lies may never be forgotten but they stand as a terrour to all lyars and blasphemers 1. For the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips 1 Taken in their own snaâ—e let them be taken in their pride The Jewes cryed Beelzebub Nolumus hum and taken they were 2. And for cursing and lying which they speak They cursed themselves his blood be upon us and upon them it is with a witness 3. He goes on in his desires Consume them O Lord emphatically consume them in wrath that they may not be which at first sight seems contrary to his first desire Slay them not But it is not so 4 Consumed for he speaks not of their life as if he would have them so consumed that they should not remain alive but he desires only a consumption of their power royalty command c. And so these words are a farther explication of his second desire Bring them down He would have them so brought down and consumed in their strength dignity command wealth riches that made them proud that they never be able any more to oppose God hurt his people trample upon Religion and his Church he would have them live 4. The final cause to deter others And shews the end why he would have them live and remain still it is ut cognoscant that they might know by their calamities and miseries That it is God that ruleth in Jacob and unto the ends of the Earth that he doth wonderfully govern and preserve his Church that is scattered over all the Earth 5. His insultation over them by a Sarcasm And now by a bitter Epitrope or Synchoresis rather he insults over them before at the 6th verse he shewed their double diligence threats malice to do mischief 1. They return at Evening Well esto be it so And at Evening let them return 2. They make a noise like a Dog Well Let them make a noise like a Dog 3. They go round about the City Well Let them go round about the City So withall they know that they shall be but in a miserable poor mean condition 1. Let them wander up and down for meat Let them find no setled habitation but wander among strange Nations to seek for necessary food 2. And grudge if they be not satisfied Let them be famelici so hunger-bit that is nor little that will satisfie them let them be alwayes grudging if they have not content so that if they be not satisfied they will stay all night be importunate and unmannerly Beggars vexed with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. The fourth part The Doxology The Conclusion is a Doxology and contains Davids thanks in which he acknowledgeth That God is his defence his refuge his strength of him therefore he would make his song 1. But I will sing of thy power 2. I will sing of thy mercy 1. Aloud 2. In the morning 3. The Reason he gives For thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble Both he repeats again 1. Vnto thee O my strength will I sing 2. The Reason The Reason For God is my defence and the God of my mercy And he joyns these two Attributes strength and mercy very well for take away strength from him and he cannot remove morcy and he will not protect both must go together in any one that will defend Power that he can mercy that he will otherwise 't is but in vain to hope for help from him David found God to be both and for both he extolls him The Prayer collected out of the fifty ninth Psalm OMy God Ver. 1 whom only I serve on whom alone I do depend deliver me I beséech thée from the hands of my enemies defend me from the malice of those that rise up against me
curses perjuries shall be stopped shamed he shall be and confounded The Prayer collected out of the sixty third Psalm O God Ver. 1 thou art my God the God whom I only serve that God whom I have alwayes found propitious unto me therefore even before the morning light I will awake and séek thée I am at this time banished and forced to dwell in a dry and thirsty land where no water is yet the want of necessary relief doth not so much afflict me as the want of thy presence after thée therefore I thirst to thée I sigh of thée I more attentively meditate than of any bodily sustenance It is the grief of my heart that I cannot be present to hear thy holy Word to offer up my supplications before thée Ver. 2 to receive the Seals of thy love and my salvation in the Assemblies of thy Saints there I was wont to behold thy power in thy Sanctuary Ver. 5 I did contemplate thy glory and my mouth shall be satisfied as it were with marrow and fatness even with the chiefest delights might I be again restored to those spiritual comforts in thy house My life is not so dear unto me as is thy loving-kindness that kindness which I was wont to enjoy in thy presence Ver. 3 bring me then back again to thy Sanctuary Ver. 5 and my lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thée whil'st I live and with the invocation of thy Name in prayer I will lift up my hands unto thée begging help and grace of none but thée who art my Gracious Merciful and Almighty God This I account the joy of my heart and for this my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips And yet being where I am in a desolate Wilderness in a thirsty and dry land I will remember thee in my Bed Morning and in the Night-season I will meditate upon thee and not without great reason for thou alwayes hast béen my help Thou hast protected me as the Hen doth her Chickens under her feathers and therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce My soul out of the consideration of thy power and goodness shall cleave unto thée and follow hard after thee and I am perswaded that I shall not be frustrate of my hope for in all my dangers hitherto thy right hand hath upholden me This is my hope this is my confidence I doubt not therefore but that all those that seek after my life to destroy it shall quickly perish and be brought to the power of death or to the lower parts of the earth And many of them as they have sought to shed my blood have their own blood let out by the edge of the Sword and their bodies being unburied torn and devoured by Birds of prey and Beasts of rapine and cruelty O Lord let the King séeing the vengeance which thou wilt take of his enemies rejoyce in thee in thy help in thy salvation And let all those who religiously serve thée and truly fear an Oath glory in thee and make their boast of thée especially when they shall sée That the mouth of all those that have spoken lyes against thy people and by perjury oppressed and undone them shall be stopped by an immature death and made an example to others that they do no more so wickedly nor any more calumniate thy people that serve thée with an honest and sincere heart Amen PSAL. LXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Subject of this Psalm is the same with many that went before for in this Psalm 1. David being in danger by Saul and his Courtiers commends his cause to God ver 1 2. 2. Complains of his enemies of whose qualities he gives a a very lively description from ver 3. to 7. 3. He foretels their ruine from ver 7. and the event to 10. 1. He prayes in general Hear my voyce O God in my prayer The first part He prayes 2. Then in special That his life may be safe Preserve my life from fear of the enemy Ver. 1 3. As also to be hid from their counsels and practises Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked and from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity Thus in general he speaks of them 1. That they were a sort of wicked men 2. That they were workers of iniquity 3. That they took secret counsel against him 4. That their counsels broke out into act and therefore he desires to be hid as it were in some secret place where he might decline the danger and their attempts 2. And so having set a general character of iniquity upon them The second part The qualities of his enemies as a Reason to perswade God to hear him he descends in particular to describe their villany 1. They were great Calumniators and false Accusers of him Ver. 3 no Sword sharper than their tongue no Arrow swifter than their false aspersions 1 Calumniators with this they were nimble to wound his credit and reputation which he aggravates by two circumstances 1. That it was in secret 2. That it was against him who was innocent and upright They whet their tongue like a Sword and bend their Bowes to shoot their arrows bitter words That they may shoot in the secret at the perfect 2 Obstinate suddenly do they shoot at him and fear not 2. They were obstinate and confirmed in mischief no counsel no perswasion could call them from it so obdurate and hardned in it That they incourage themselves in an evil matter 2. They commune and lay their heads together of laying of snares privily where the Lyons Paw will not reach they take the Foxes Tail 3. Atheistical and impudent they are secure and proud contemners of divine justice 3 Atheistical They say Who shall see them 4. Indefatigable they were and carried on with an earnest desire to do mischief 4 Crafty and indefatigable They search out iniquities they accomplish a diligent search They invent all crafty wayes to circumvent me 5. And all this is done subtilly craftily heartily both the inward thought and the heart of every one of them is deep 't is no easie thing to find their intent 3. The third part Their punishment And now he foretels their punishment 2. And the event 1. Their punishment was like to be hasty sharp deadly and very just 1. 1 Speedy God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly they shall be wounded 2. Most just For they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves verifying our Saviours words 2 Just With what measure you mete with the same it shall be measured By their tongues they did the mischief by their tongues they should fall The consequence 2. 1 On them desertion The event should be double 1. In general to all 2. In particular to the righteous 1. Universally All that see them should flee away fear desert forsake them 2. 2 On all fear And all men
the Rites Ceremonies New Moons Sabbaths Sacrifice Circumcision Pasch c. 4. Vers. 31 And keep not my Commandments i. e. The Decalogue and Moral Law In a word if they become vitious in their Morals and profane and Rebels in my Worship and Religion This then shall happen unto them Resp They shall smart for it escape they shall not but shall soundly smart for it they shall feel 1. Virgam 2. And Verbera The Rod the Whip Then 1. I will visit i. e. punish their transgression with the Rod. 2. And their iniquity with stripes Which was often done By the Babylon Antiochus c. And yet in judgement I will remember mercy But in judgement God will remember mercy I will remember my Covenant my Promise my Word my Oath and will make that good totally I will not cast off Davids seed which I mean not after the flesh for that is long since cast off but after the Spirit Christ which was of the seed of David and those which are his seed viz. the Church shall enjoy the benefit of my Covenant and Oath for ever Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing gone out of my lips And that there be no doubt of this For the Covenant is immutable he brings in God repeating his Oath and Covenant 1. His Oath Once have I sworn by my holiness that is by my self who am Holy 2. His Covenant That I will not lye unto David For His seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before me It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful witness in heaven As the Sun and Moon are not obnoxious to mutations no more is this Covenant they must endure to the end of the world and so must this Covenant They are faithful Witnesses in heaven and so we are to seek for the performance of this Covenant in heaven not in earth the Covenant being about a heavenly Kingdom not an earthly It being evident that the Kingdom of David on earth hath failed many ages since But that of Christ shall never fail 7. The seventh part And that God did punish Davids seed for their rebellion is evident So that he was tempted to charge God for breach of promise Now that Davids Kingdom did fail or at least was brought to a low ebb is the complaint in the following words which flesh and blood considering gave a wrong judgement upon it as if God did nothing less than perform his Oath and Covenant This is it which the Prophet layes to Gods charge But thou hast cast off and abhorred thou hast been wroth with thy anointed Both King and people are cast aside Than which nothing seems more contrary to thy Covenant Thou hast made void the Covenant of thy servant thou hast profaned his Crown Of which there be many lamentable consequences 1. His Crown is cast to the ground The glory of his Kingdom trampled upon 2. The instances in which they suffered His hedges broken down his strong holds brought to ruine 3. All that pass by the way spoile him Exposed he is to all Rapine and Plunder 4. He is a reproach to his neighbours Exposed to all contumely and disgrace 5. Thou hast set up the right-hand of his enemies and made all his adversaries to rejoice Thou seemest to take part with the enemy against him and makest him exult and rejoice in oppressing him 6. Thou hast also turn'd the edge of his sword blunted his sword that was wont to slay and hast not made him to stand in the battle but to fly and turn his back Vers. 44 7. Thou hast made his glory The glory dignity authority of his Kingdom to cease and cast his Crown to the ground 8. The dayes of his youth thou hast shortned cut him off in the prime and strength of his years Thou hast covered him with shame made his opulent glorious Kingdom ignominious which was true in divers of Davids posterity especially Jehoiakim These were the sad complaints which the Prophet poures out as despairing so far as sense and reason could direct him of the performance of what God had promised But he recovers and prayes The eighth part But he quickly recovers and recalls his thoughts and that he may move God to help he falls to prayer which is very pathetical 8. He considers the nature of God as kind loving merciful slow to anger and asks 1. Usque quo How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever Hide thy favour 2. Shall thy wrath burn like fire An element that hath no mercy Pathetically moves God to pity Then he useth other Arguments pathetically expressed to move God to pity 1. Drawn from the brevity of mans life Remember how short my time is Upon divers Arguments 2. From the end that man was created not in vain but to be an object of Gods goodness and favour which if he enjoins not he shall seem to be born to no purpose therefore he asks Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain 3. From the weakness and disability of man His life is short and can he lengthen it What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Yea though he live long yet he is a mortal creature Shall he deliver his soul from the grave 4. From the Covenant of which he puts God in mind Lord where are thy former loving-kindnesses which thou swarest to David in thy Truth 5. From the ignominy scorns sarcasms by enemies cast upon them which he desires God to look upon 1. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servant 2. And how I do bear in my bosome not spoken afar off but in my hearing and to my face as if poured and emptyed into my bosome the rebukes not of this or that man but many people 6. And lastly That these reproaches in effect fall upon God For they who reproach Gods Servants are his enemies Remember the reproaches 1. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached O Lord. 2. Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed i. e. Either whatsoever he sayes or does Quocunque se vertat 2. Or else by footsteps is to be understood the latter end of Davids Kingdom which was indeed subject to reproach 3. But the Chaldee Paraphrast by footsteps understands the coming of the Messiah in the flesh which because it was long promised and men saw not performed they derided mocked at and reproached as vain 9. The close of this long Psalm is a Benedictus by which the Prophet The last part The Doxology after his Combate with Flesh and Blood about the performance of the Covenant doth compose his troubled soul and acquiesce in God blessing him for whatsoever falls out no otherwise than Job did breaking forth into this Epiphonema 1. Vers. 52 Blessed be the Lord for evermore Blessed be his Name who doth and orders all
not the interposition of our sin so it be repented and left that can hinder his Grace to shine upon us and remove it 3. He is slow to anger and he hath this of a Father also 3 Slow to anger For no men more patient than Fathers in tolerating the infirmities and childishness of their Children this in him also For like as a Father pieth his Children Ver. 13 so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 4. Plenteous in mercy 4 Plenteous in mercy He takes into his consideration what frail Creatures we are and fading For he knoweth our frame he remembreth we are dust Ver. 14 As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the Field so he flourisheth for the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more And this fragility and instability of our's causeth him to be exceeding merciful to us which David expresseth in the next verse by way of Antithesis But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting ab aeterno in aeternum from the Eternity of our Predestination to the Eternity of our Glorification yet not bestowed hand over head it is with thy Restriction and Limitation But to those that fear him and keep his Covenant 1. Upon them that fear him 2. And his righteousness that is veracity and faithfulness in performing his Covenant not to the Fathers alone but to Childrens children 3. To such as keep his Covenant Yea and are obedient observe the conditions of Faith and Repentance 4. Yea and of obedience also That remember his Commandments to do them These Benefits are many and wonderful and the mercy from which they proceed infinite but that no man doubt of the performance of it Ver. 19 that God will do for those That fear him and keep his Commandments This mercy God is able to make good what he hath promised and in the Close of this Part the Prophet puts us in mind of his Power 1. He is Dominus in Coelo not like our Lords on Earth his power is no where circumscribed 2. He hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens there he fits pro Tribunali can see and judge the World 3. And that we suspect him not to be some under-Judge set over us and appointed by another David tells us His Kingdom ruleth over all The Supremacy is his he is the Supreme Monarch 3. The third part For these Benefits he invites all Creatures to praise God And thus the Prophet having particularly remembred Gods Goodness and Benefits to his People as being not able to return sufficient thanks alone he invites all the Creatures to joyn with him in his praise and first the Angels Bless the Lord ye his Angels whom he describes 1. 1 Angels From their excellency Ye that excel in strength 2. From their obedience And do his Commandments 3. From their celerity readiness and chearfulness in it That hearken to the voyce of his words that you may shew you selves faithful Ministers and Servants 2. 2 Armies of God He invites all the Armies of God to joyn with him by which Bellarmine understands all the Superiour Order Archangels Principalities Dominations and Powers which is the Militia of Heaven Luke 2. together with the Angels before-named Bless the Lord all his Hosts ye who how glorious soever yet are but Ministers of his that do his pleasure faithfully receive your charge and do it diligently and daily execute it 3. 3 All his works He invites all the Creatures of God to joyn with him also as if they had sense 3 All his works and understood him Bless the Lord all his works All for that no man should think that he meant only rational Creatures in Heaven and Earth 2. He adds in all places of his Dominion which extends over the whole world All Creatures then without exception and all in all places he desires would do it and good Reason for he made all and rules over all and is in all places with all and fills all and preserves all and moves all and in their kinds they have done it the Water at the Flood the Fire at Babylon the Crowes in feeding Eliah the Lyons in sparing Daniel c. And they do it when all keep their own stations and work according to that Law of Nature which God hath put upon them 4. 4 Himself Lastly That no man should imagine that he that called on others would be backward in performing the Duty himself as he began so he concludes this excellent Psalm Bless the Lord O my Soul At all times let his praise be in thy mouth The Prayer collected out of the one hundred and third Psalm BOund I am Ver. 1 O Omnipotent God and most merciful Father for thy great favours unto me with heart with soul with all powers of my mind and all strength of my body perpetually to acknowledge thee to praise thee and laud thy holy Name Wherefore O my Soul Bless thou the Lord and all faculties within me and parts about me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all or any one of his Benefits My actual sins are many and grievous but thou O Lord in mercy hast forgiven my iniquities Thou hast justified me by the death of thy Son cleansed me by his blood of an unjust person made me just of an enemy a friend of a slave a san I consess O Lord that the bitter root of sin is so graffed in my nature that I carry it about me in my mortal body and I lament yet I give thanks to thy grace which hath so healed my infirmities and so subdued them by the power of thy Spirit that I féel it daily dying and the strength thereof so decayed that it cannot reign rule and command within me And this gives me assurance Ver. 4 That thou hast redeemed my life from death hell and destruction and that at last out of thy loving-kindness and tender mercies I shall be Crowned with a Crown of Glory Lord what was I or what could I deserve that thou shouldst bestow these wonderful Benefits upon me when I think upon them I am not able to comprehend them and when I comprehend them I should be never able to believe them had'st thou not revealed them and assured them to my foul by thy boly Spirit O my Soul then bless the Lord bless his holy Name and forget not all his Benefits But as if all these high favours had been too little Thou hast over and above added many temporal blessings I enjoy by thy bounty food and rayment Ver. 5 which are good things so long as well used with these thou hast satisfied my mouth and given me health and strength to make use of them So that my youth is renewed as the Eagles in this my old age I find my body healthful my senses not altogether impaired my
in misery He repented according to the multitude of his mercies And the effect which all these Causes had was beneficial to them even in the time of their bondage and captivity for even their very enemies hearts were often turn'd to do them good as is evident in Jeremiah David Daniel Ezra Zerubbabel Mordecai and indeed the whole Nation under the Babylonian Philistian Aegyptian Persian Kings which the Prophet hath set down ver 46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them Captives So this is that of the wise man When a mans wayes please God And caused their Oppressors to pity them he will make his very enemies at peace with him Prov. 16.7 But it seems this verse may be read otherwise and it is by the Vulgar Moller Musculus Dedit eos in misericordias or miserationes in conspectu omnium quo caeperant eos so that the sense is not as if all of them had from all that carried them away captive received mercy but that God in their afflictions put them into the bosom of his mercy even they seeing and wondring at it whose Bond-slaves they were for beyond all hope he freed his people from Aegypt the Ammonites Philistines c. so that they under whose Captivity they were must needs confess that God in mercy did defend and fight for them And this sense Bellarmine receives as more probable nor yet utterly rejecting the other 4. And this sense makes the way plainer to what followes the Petition The fourth part This consideration moves them and the Doxology for if God shew'd himself merciful in the time of his anger and made it apparent even to the very view of their enemies encouragement they might have 1. First To pray Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the Heathen to give thanks in thy holy Name 1 To pray and to triumph in thy Praise 2. Then to give thanks 1. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel 2 To give thanks from Generation to Generation 2. And for it let the people do their Duty viz. the solemn and necessary Formes Let all the people say Amen Allelujah The Prayer out of the One hundred and sixth Psalm O Lord God which art great and fearful Ver. 45 Who keepest Covenant and Mercy toward them that love thee and keep thy Commandments we have sinned with our Fathers we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly The children of Israel were not more rebellious at the red Sea in the Wilderness after thou hadst brought them into the Land than we have béen unto thée We have forgotten thy wonders and provoked thée when beset with a Sea of troubles for we have soon forgot thy works and not waited for thy counsels We have envied nay murdered Moses in the Camp and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. A Calf indéed we have not made in Horeb nor worshipped the molten Image But we worshipped the Calf of our own brains and fall'n down to our own imaginations in Maozim we have put our trust and to this Idol of power we have cryed Thou art our god and thou shalt save us Thou hast promised to bring us to the celestial Canaan but we have despised that pleasant land and as if we did not believe thy Word we have murmured and in our hearts turned back again into Aegypt and set our affections on the Léeks and Onions and Garlick thereof though we vowed and professed to honour thée yet we have made it apparent that Mammon is our God and his Command is hearkned unto and not thy voyce We have provoked thée to anger with our inventions we have learned the works of the Heathen Ver. 38 and out-done them We have shed innocent blood even the blood of thy sons and daughters whom we sacrificed to our ambition and cruelty so that the Land is polluted with blood O Lord we confess that we have done wickedly and fouly and unthankfully have revolted from thée our Lord and God as was the mother so is the daughter we are our mothers daughter that hath loathed her husband and committed fornication in the sight of our God yet we will not despair when we consider thy great mercy which thou shewedst to a stiffe-necked people whom though enriched by thée with many Benefits and yet unmindful and ungrateful as they were set thée by and worshipped stocks and stones and the inventions of their own brains Thou yet didst not destroy them but after a fatherly correction didst restore to thy favour and didst condescend to be reconciled to them Then thou wert pacified with the intercession of Moses and the atonement of Aaron and when Phineas arose and executed judgment thy plague was stayed There be yet lest among thy people those who are zealous for thy Name who day and night intercede for pardon and mercy O Lord hear their prayers and let their cryes come unto thee and spare thy people whom thou hast redéemed with thy precious blood Though they have provoked thée with their Counsels and are brought low for their iniquity Nevertheless regard their affliction and hear their cryes that they send up unto thee Remember for them thy Covenant and repent according to the multitude of thy mercies And so soften and mollifie the hearts of those who have led us into Captivity that for cruelty even from them we may find pity and for the heavy burdens they have laid upon us some ease and relaxation O merciful Lord let not thy wrath for ever be kindled against thy people neither let it procéed so far That thou abhor thine inheritance We confess That it hath gone ill with Moses for our sakes insomuch that he is denied an entrance into the land of Canaan the lot of his inheritance But remember him O Lord and his Exiles with the favour thou bearest unto thy people O visit him with thy salvation that he may see the good of thy chosen that he may rejoyce in the gladness of thy Nation that he may glory in thee and glorifie thee with thine inheritance Our Fathers have sinn'd even from the first time of their Vocation to the clearer and purer knowledge of the Gospel and thou didst oftentimes sharply rebuke them and yet in the sharpest of those Visitations Thou remembring mercy Ver. 10 and thy promise didst mitigate their punishments and sentest them deliverance Thou savedst them from the hand of them that hated them and redeemedst them from the hand of the enemy Therefore now also although we know and confess that we have grievously offended thée with our sins and provoked thée to bring these heavy judgments upon us for our rebellions yet make us examples of thy mercy as thou hast done our forefathers Save us O Lord our God and gather us from all lands whether we are dispersed which we earnestly beg at thy merciful hands not that we are brought from a troublesom to a quiet from a miserable to an easie from a poor and
I have sought thy precepts I am thine because I sought nothing but that which is thine and how I might please thee O how few can say this and upon this account cry to God O save me 4. Which to do David had very great reason at this time This he had reason to do having many enemies and those for he had bitter enemies from whom he could not be safe except God saved him two things he notes in them 1. Diligence Te wicked have waited for me waited for an opportunity 2. Cruelty Waited to destroy me Their malice was so great Ver. 7 that no less would satisfie them 1 Diligent in mischief 3. And here now in such an extremity 2 Cruel Amidst which Gods promise sustained him the comfort of Gods Word is very seasonable the consideration of that is able to stay a fainting soul Psal 124. with which David comforts himself here But I will consider thy Testimonies that thou hast testified that thou art able and wilt deliver those that trust to thy Word Dan. 6.16 22. 5. He hath shewed the perfection of Gods Word in establishing and upholding the frame of the World 2. And then the excellency thereof in bringing joy comfort help to an afflicted soul but in the close of this Section he compares it with all other things which we esteem as excellent and perfect be they Riches Honours Scepters Crowns Kingdoms c. among which the Word of God hath still the preheminence they fail but Gods Word endures 1. I have seen an end of all perfection Ver. 8 Jonah 's Gourd is smitten with a worm the golden head had feet of clay c. 3 The preheminence of Gods Word the fairest day is enter'd at night 2. But thy Commandment is exceeding broad Exceeding broad indeed for in it are contain'd all other National and Municipal Lawes they being nothing else if just but extracts of it or exceeding broad because all Lawes of a good life and the rewards of those that keep the Law and on the contrary the prohibitions of all vices and the punishments of Transgressors are contained in it Or exceeding broad because it is the Commandment of love which extends to God Angels men enemies Or exceeding broad which is nearer Davids purpose because it extends to and refresheth all that are in distress and affliction it abides by them in tentations while they live and forsakes them not in their death but conveyes them into their grave in peace and the comfort of it abides with them for ever when they are dissolved The Prayer O Omnipotent God Thou hast given us assurance of thy Faithfulness and Truth in the performance of thy Word and Promise made unto thy servants even by that constant order and continuance which we behold in thy creatures For why is it that those orbs above have béen so long-liv'd why are they not corrupted why do they continue in that excellent beauty Ver. 1 and perpetual motion but that thy Word is setled in Heaven Why is it that the foundations of earth do not decay and shake Ver. 2 but that thy faithfulness is to all generations they continue this day according to thy Ordinance for they are thy creatures Thou their Lord Ver. 3 and they must serve and do their homage to thée We alone are thy disobedient creatures and for this thou bringest us justly into trouble and under these we should have fainted and utterly perished had it not béen from the comforts that we receive from thy Word Ver. 4 it delights our souls and confirms our hearts even in the extremities of our sorrowes when we find in it thy Word many gracious promises made unto thy servants I will never therefore forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickned me Ver. 5 I was ready even to expire and dye till I meditated on and called to mind thy Law which by the power of thy Spirit hath encreased grace in me and by the promise of glory brought me again to life Ver. 6 For which promise I am thine and I vow my self to be thine I will no more be a servant to the Devil the World and the flesh I renounce them all I forsake them and betake my self wholly to thy service And since I have given my self wholly unto thée let me be thy care Ver. 7 O save me save me O my God for I am invironed with malicious and cruel enemies whom nothing can satisfie but my blood they are diligent and wait for an opportunity to destroy me and take away my life but thou O Lord hast testified that thou wilt deliver those that trust in thée and therefore I will consider in my troubles these thy testimonies I sée an end of all perfection Riches Honours Crowns Kings Friends fade and fail Ver. 8 and are but miserable comforters but thy Commandment is exceeding broad it extends to and refresheth all that are in affliction it abides by them in tentations while they live and forsakes them not in their death in life and death therefore I will adhere to this Take not then the comfort of thy Word out of my mouth while I live and never let it leave me till it hath brought me to eternal happiness through Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour Amen 13. MEM. DAVID in this Section shewes his great affection to the Law of God The Contents Davids affection to Gods Word 2. And the many benefits and fruits he reaped from it 1. His affection is declared in the first verse which he pathetically expresseth 1. Ver. 1 O how I love thy Law wherein he calls God himself to be Judge of his love witnessing thereby that it was no counterfeit love but compleat and sincere 2. And he proves that which he sayes The nature of true love is to converse with and think on the thing beloved and it useth all means to obtain it So David here proves his love to God by the love he bears to his Law and his love to his Word by the thoughts he had on it All the day long is my meditation in it I think speak or do little else all the day 2. 2 The Encomium of it first And now he enters upon his Encomium or praise of Gods Word from the admirable effects that it might have in them who will meditate in it of which he makes himself the instance This he amplifies by comparing himself with three kinds of men his Enemies his Teachers the Ancients than all which he grew wiser by this meditation 1. Ver. 2 Thou through thy Commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies The Law of God being well thought on 1 It made him wiser than his enemies teacheth a man what how where and when to speak or to be silent to act or desist which wisdom Davids enemies wanted he was then wiser than they A great controversie there is who is the wise man the godly man or the Machivilian Gods Word will easily
expresseth these three things 1. Her confidence and hope in God for to him she flies ver 1. illustrated by two similitudes ver 2. 2. Her prayer for mercy ver 3. 3. A short Recapitulation of her distress ver 4. 1. The first part The Church flies to God The Church shewes her trust in God and in it directs us to whom to flie in distress 1. Vnto thee lift I up mine eyes To thee no other and from thee I look for help Ver. 1 succour defence 2. And depends on him as servants to their Masters O thou that dwellest in the Heavens by which words she acknowledgeth his inspection and power Out of Heaven the Lord beholds the Earth and by his wisdom goodness power governs all things Thou canst take me out of the hand of the wicked and mighty therefore to thee I lift mine eyes And this the Prophet illustrates by a double similitude of servants and handmaids I look upon thy hand now heavy upon me and beating me by wicked men Behold 1. As the eyes of servants look unto the hands of their Masters i.e. Men-servants Ver. 2 2. And as the eye of a Maiden to the hand of her Mistress Both of both kinds may be beaten Now as they are whip't they cast back their eyes and look to the hand that strikes them begging even with their very heart some favour and an abatement of stripes 3. When beaten by them So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God Gods children alwayes are expectants 4. Until he have mercy upon us Abate his stripes and take off his hand 2. The second part For which the Church prayes in the next verse and in ardency of spirit ingeminates it Have mercy upon us And desires God to take off his hand O Lord have mercy upon us before she lifts the eyes but now cryes 3. Ver. 3 Of which clamour in few words she yields a Reason the great contempt she was fallen to The third part 1. Ver. 4 For we are exceedingly fill'd with contempt And again Our soul is fill'd To suffer contempt is much Because she was in contempt And fill'd with it to be fill'd with it more it argues that she was long under it but to be exceedingly fill'd intolerable especially when it comes to scorn as here 2. Our soul is exceedingly fill'd with the scorning Subsannatione geering derision which to a generous spirit is very heavy it wounds his very soul of which Beasts and Fools have little or no sense despised they may be but of reproach they are not capable And this the Prophet amplifies by the circumstances of the persons that â—â—ntemned and scorned 1. And that by Epicures They were such as were at ease in Zion law no Changes had all things â—â—â—ceeding ex voto as they would have it and no greater contemners and scorners of men in misery than such 2. And proud men And with the contempt of the proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satiety breeds pride and pride makes men injurious apt to heap up contumelies disgraces scoffs scorns and geers upon that man which is brought to a low 〈◊〉 Again proud men are for the â—â—â—part empty 〈◊〉 pâ—ted men and contempt and scorn from such wounds very deep especially if they rise as they often do from the Dunghil The Prayer out of the One hundred and twenty third Psalm O Lord it hath pleased thée to suffer thy people to be brought to great distress and their condition is so deplorable that there is no comfort or help to be expected Ver. 1 but from above therefore unto thée we lift up our eyes expecting salvation from thée alone Thou sittest in the highest Heavens and â—â—est all things Thou sittest in the highest Heavens and over-rulest all things to whom then should we flée for succour but to thée since thou hast ereated and redéemed us by right we are thy servants and never did servants more look to the hands of their Masters in expectation of favour from them than our eyes are intent upon thée our Lord and our God till thou remit off thy stripes and have mercy upon us Withdraw good Lord thy severe hand from us and chastise us not to destruction say unto thy destroying Angel It is enough it is enough spare thy people whom thou hast redéemed with thy precious blood Ver. 3 and be not angry with us for ever Have mercy upon us O Lord have mercy upon us Ver. 4 for except thou be merciful unto us we must perish since we can expect no mercy from men It is not unknown unto thée with what contempt and scorn we are loaded we are excéedingly fill'd with contempt our soul is pierced with the scoffs of proud insolent men and such who for the abundance of spoil now live at ease Good Lord let not the pride and contempt of these rebellious and treacherous wretches procéed any farther who by their successes are so pust'd up that they think they cannot be repressed by humane power O Lord look not upon our unworthiness but consider the dishonour and contumely that in us is cast upon thy Name for while they insult over us the injury redounds to thée while with arms and cruelty they Lord it over us they barbarously do suppress thy Worship thy Religion thy Truth thy Word We thy servants by them thus oppressed contemned derided and scorned have none to flie to but to thée alone O merciful Lord do thou set an end to these contumelies and injuries we séek not our solves in this but thee the desire of our soul is That thou wouldst vindicate the honour of thy Name and glory of thy Gospel which these Miscreants have in contempt O God bring it so to pass that at last these enemies of thy Truth may seel and consess the Truth of thy Word and will they nill they acknowledge thée to be the only God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. CXXIV THE people of God newly escaped from some great danger The Sum. both acknowledge it and that God only was the Authour of their safety and victory for which they thank him 1. The Prophet begins abruptly The Prophet gives the glory to God alone for their deliverance as is usual to do in pathetical expressions with much joy he expresseth Gods protection over his people and how by his hand meerly they were delivered by some unexpected way and he desires the people to acknowledge it with him 1. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side that had stood and fought for us so that it was not our Swords but his hand that delivered us Nam qui supponit ponit 2. Now may Israel say Now after the victory after the deliverance and his intent is That they thankfully acknowledge it with him 3. On our side when men rose
it rase it even to the foundations And thou O Babylon which hast done the work as I doubt not but as my God hath begun and will in his good time take a condign punishment upon the Edomites so also he will bring thée down Thou art miserable and thou shalt be miserable Happy shall that King and people be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones O merciful God whatever wrath and indignation is due unto us for the breach of thy Commandments and dishonouring thée in thy Service remove it O Lord from thy people and transfer it upon them that with an implacable malice pursue thy people and séek by all means to corrupt and waste thine inheritance which was purchased by the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ PSAL. CXXXVIII DAVID delivered from his enemies and troubles and advanced to the Kingdom gives thanks to God acknowledgeth Gods goodnesse in hearing his prayers foretels the conversion of Kings shews that God regards the humble rejects the proud puts his trust in God for the future and prayes that God would continue and enlarge his mercy to him More briefly 1. In the three first verses he promiseth a grateful heart and to sing forth the praises of God because God heard his cryes and prayers and in tribulations sent him comfort 2. In the three next he shews what after Kings would do when the works and truth of God should be made known to them 3. In the two last verses he professeth his confidence in God shews what he hopes for from him and in assurance that God will perfect his work prayes him not to desert and forsake him David shews his thankfulness 1. First David shews his thankfulness which he illustrates and amplifies 1. The first part And illustrates it that From the manner of the doing of it done it should be cordially sincerely ardently totally I will praise thee with my whole heart 2. From the witnesses before whom it should be done Before the Gods will I sing praise Ver. 1 Coram Elohim Not only privately but publickly before the Potentates 1 He would do it heartily 2 Before all men whether Angels or Kings of the earth Psal 111.1 Psal 107.32 3. From the place the Temple then the Tabernacle a symbol of Gods presence with his people Ver. 2 It was as it were Gods Palace and there he ruled as a King 3 In the Temple and therefore he would fall low bow worship I will worship toward thy Holy Temple Which the Jews did when absent from Jerusalem Dan. 6. 4. 4 The causes inducing him to it From the causes inwardly inducing him to it I will praise thy Name for thy loving kindnesse and for thy truth 1. 1 Gods calling him to be King For thy loving kindnesse in calling me from the sheepfold to the Kingdom 2. 2 Performing his word And for thy Truth in performing thy promise In performing which 5. Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name This clause is diversly read Thou hast magnified thy Name in thy Word that is in performing thy Word above all things Or Thou hast-magnified thy Name and thy Word above all things Or Magnificas cum toâ—o nomine tuo sermonem tuum Jun. All these have the same sense But the vulgar reads it thus Quoniam magnificasti super omne nomen sanctum tuum And Bellarmine by Sanctum tuum understands Christ who Luc. 1. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom he gave a Name above every Name I suppose our English Translation should be pointed thus Thus hast thou magnified thy Word above all thy Name or and above all thy Name For Musculus by and joyns the Substantives 3 For hearing and granting his petitions Magnificasti super omnia nomen tuum eloquium 6. From Gods facility in hearing and granting his petitions which he presented to his God in the time of his banishment and affliction Ver. 3 In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul Infirme creatures we are and in temptations and afflictions must faint except God strengthen us Out of all these motives David would praise God 2. David having set down what God had done for him The second part in mercy call'd him from following the Ewes great with young ones anointed him to be a King heard his prayers strengthned him in his affliction and in truth performed his promises conceives it impossible but that either the Neighbour or future Kings should take this when they heard of it into their consideration and â—cknowledge the miracle and praise God for it This certainly is the literal sense This mercy to David was like to move other Kings to magnifie God though it may have an eye to the conversion of Kings in future to the faith 1. All the Kings of the earth Hiram Toe c. or the future Kings of Israel Judah shall praise thee when they hear the words of thy mouth what thou hast said of me David and of my seed Ver. 5 2. Yea They shall sing in the wayes of the Lord that is of the wayes of the Lord Muscul of his mercy truth clemency For great is the glory of the Lord he is very glorious in all his wayes his works his proceedings 3. Of which this is one Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect to the lowly of which I David may be an instanÌ„ce But the proud he beholds afar off He removes far from him he will not have to do with them they are in remotis agendis of which Saul may be an example and the Devil 3. Because God who is high looks upon the lowly The third part With it so mov'd he was that he puts his affiance in God therefore David being conscious to himself of his own humility promiseth himself help from God in all his tribulation even for the time to come 1. If I walk in the midst of trouble that is on all sides exposed to trouble Ver. 7 2. Thou wilt revive me make me live and preserve me safe and untouch't 3. Thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies Thou by thy power shalt restrain their fury that would devour me and hinder their endeavours and enterprises 4. And thy right hand shall save me Thy power thy virtue thy Christ who in Isa 53. is call'd the arm of the Lord shall do it The last verse depends on the former because he knew And that that God who had would yet deliver him that as yet many troubles and afflictions remained to be undergone therefore he was confident that the same God who had hitherto delivered him would be a good God to him for the future and deliver him in time to come and so make his work perfect 1. The Lord will perfect that which concernt me not for any