our enemies Vers 10. According to thy Name O God so is thy praise i. e. It is infinite and inexpressible Psal 148.1 Psal 145.3 Gods Name is exalted above all blessing and praise as those holy Levites acknowledge Noh 9.5 The distance betwixt God and us is infinite and we should labour to fill up that distance if possible with our praises Thy right hand is full of righteousuess i. e. of noble Acts which thou hast done for us according to thy promise Psal 25.10 Vers 11. Let. mount-Mount-Zion rejoyce let the Daughters c. Let the Church Catholick and each particular Member thereof give God the glory of his Justice and see that their joy be spirituall Vers 12. Walk about Sion and tell the Towers thereof q.d. Are they not still the same and as many as they were before the approach of the enemy is any thing diminished or defaced by the late siege or assault Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria He shall not come into this City nor shoot an arrow there c. Isa 37.33 Vers 13. Mark ye well her Bulwarks Not at all impaired The great Turk could never have gotten the Rhodes but by treachery notwithstanding his long and mighty batteries made upon that place day and night How he raged at the last assault of Scodra and blasphemed see Turk hist page four hundred twenty three Geneva Hanc urbem non nisi miraculose stetisse stare per multos â—â—nos res ipsa clamst Anton Fayus is invironed with enemies French Spanish Savoy Pope and barred out from all aid of neighbour Cities and Churches yet is upheld as it were by an immediate hand of Heaven as Beza hath set forth in an elegant Emblem Vers 14. For this God is our God To draw them up to this consideration it was that the Propher so calls upon people to view Sion c. and to take notice that she might well have written upon her gates as that City Hippocrates writeth of had Intacta manet the Daughter of Sion is a Maid still through the prowesse of her Champion Even unto death And after too for this is not to be taken exclusive He will never leave us nor forsake us PSAL. XLIX VErs 1. Hear this all ye people This that is of so great consequence and universall concernment viz. that the Saints should not be frighted nor perplexed at the present prosperity of gracelesse persons but consider that death at utmost shall render them extreamly miserable and at the day of Judgement men shall retutn and discern a manifest difference betwixt the Righteous and the Wicked betwixt him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Mal. 3. ult Give ear all ye Inhabitants of the World Hear and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it Jer. 13.15 The Inhabitants of the World Heb. of the transitory World are like men in a Mill through hurry of businesse or as one that is running a race to whom though never so good counsell be given he cannot stay to hear it Of such we use to say that they hear with their harvest-ears harvest it is a time of great pleasure and of great businesse and hence it is that we have so ill a feed-time for the Word Wee had need to wish as Harding once did that wee could cry out against sin as loud as the bells of Oseney yea as those Catholick Preachers whose voice is heard in all speeches and languages Psal 19.3 Vers 2. Both low and high rich and poor together Heb. Both sons of Adam or earthy-man and sons of Ish or noble-man quorum Exmeliore lute finxit pracordia Titan. Diogenes once made a like out-cry at Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear Oyemen and when a company came about him expecting what he would say to them he looked upon them and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I called for men and not for Varlets Vers 3. My mouth shall speak and wisdome Heb. Wisdomes and understandings and yet the matter of this Psalm was nothing extraordinary for the main of it so that a profane person would have come out with his Quid dignum tanto tulit hic promissor hiatu But good points are not therefore to be â—â—ighted because commonly handled but therefore the better to be heeded and proof to be made by practice what that good and holy and acceptable will of God is that is so much pressed upon as Rom. 12.2 Vers 4. I will incline mine ear to a parable q. d. I desire you to do no more than I will do my self I 〈◊〉 therefore have I spoken I have wrought my Doctrin upon mine own affections first and shalt digge it out of mine own bosome for your benefit It is a Parable I must tell you or a Master-sentence yea it is a Mystery a Riddle as the other word here signifieth I will open my dark sayings The doctrine of Life Eternal and the Judgement to come here more clearly deliy ered than any where else almost in the Old Testament is a mystery Vers 5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil All the days of the afflicted are evil Prov. 15.15 But why should either â— or any other afflicted Servant of God be over-muchtroubled as if some strange thing had befaln us or staggered at the better condition of worse men all things considered When the iniquity of my heels Or of my Supplanters mine enemies those naughty men called here iniquity in the abstract who seek to trip up my heels and do surround me with their snares for that purpose See Psal 56.7 Or thus When the iniquity of my heels c. That is as some will have it when my sins come to my remembrance or are chastened upon me Every mans heel hath some iniquity As we shall have some dirt cleaving to our heels whiles we walk in a dirty world so there is some defilement upon all our actions which wee may call the iniquity of ourheels He that is washed saith our Saviour to Peter needeth not save to wash his feet but is clean every whit Joh. 13.10 The comparison seems to be taken from those that wash in Bathes for although their whole bodies are thereby made clean yet going forth they touch the earth with their feet and so are fain to wash again semblably the Saints though bathed in that blessed Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13.1 and thereby freed from the stain and reign of sin yet their feet or heels have some filth on them some reliques of corruption do still cleave to them and cause them some sorrow yet ought they not to fear or be dismayed but by the practice of mortification purge themselves daily from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Vers 6. They that trust in their wealth which was never yet true to those that trusted in it And yet it is wondrous hard to have wealth and not in some
they be yet they must not look to be yokelesse lawlesse awlesse but to serve God with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 As it is written in the book of Moses Moses then was the Pen-man of the Pentateuch and not Ezra as some have said grounding upon that Apocryphal Esdras Verse 19. And the children of the captivity So the returned captives are called First to keep still afoot the remembrance of their late misery lest they should despise the chastening of the Lord Heb. 12.5 Secondly to inmind them of that signal mercy of their returne to their owne Countrey Hence doth the Evangelist Matthew so oft mention their transportation to Babylon and rings it in the eares of his ungrateful Countrey-men Mat. 1.11 12 17. Kept the Passeover In remembrance that the punishing Angel passed over their Ancestours in Egypt Exod. 12. and for confirmation of their faith in Christ the true Paschal Lamb. Hast thou escaped a danger offer a Passeover Hath Christ delivered thee from the wrath to come keep the Feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5.8 Vpon the fourteenth day of the first moneth See Exod. 12.2 with the Note Verse 20. Were purified together Misery had framed them to unanimity See 2 Chron. 29.34 All of them were pure Ritually at least if not really And killed the Passeover i. e. The Paschal Lamb whereof see Exod. 12. with the Notes For all the children See the Note one verse 19. And for themselves For they also were sinners and needed a Saviour Heb. 7.27 That Popish Postiller was utterly out when from Exod. 30.31 32. he will needs inferre that Priests when once anointed with the holy oile were thenceforth Angels Spirits not having humane flesh or infirmities Verse 21. And the children of Israel The whole community of what Tribe soever And all such as had separated themselves Who were the better to like because not Prosperity-proselytes such as came in not a few in Solomons time but the Jewes were very careful how they received them as Josephus relateth From the filthinesse of the heathen Who had filled the Land from one end to the other with their uncleannesses Ezra 9.11 Great sins do greatly pollute To seek the Lord God of Israel To seek not his omnipresence for that none need to do sith he is not farre from any one of us Acts 17. but his gracious presence And such a seeker is every good soul Psal 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face that is Jacob. Did eate Edebant id est credebant for even Christ their Passeover was sacrificed for them 1 Cor. 5.7 Verse 22. And kept the feast of unleavened bread See 1 Cor. 7.8 and Exod. 12.35 with the Notes Seven dayes This began on the fifteenth day and lasted till the one and twentieth day Num. 28.16 17. Exod. 34.25 With joy See the Note on verse 16. For the Lord had made them joyful Given them cause of joy and an heart enlarged accordingly a mind right set for the purpose Saint James his word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 5.13 shewes that all true mirth is from the rectitude of a mans minde which God onely giveth And turned the heart of the King c. It is He alone that gives favour that frameth mens opinions and affections that maketh a good mans enemies to be at peace with him To strengthen their hands As verse 8. And this did more ennoble him then all his warlike atchievements CHAP. VII Verse 1. Now after these things AFter that Zerubbabel had done his devoir in building the Altar and Temple Ezra according to the notation of his name began his and became a singular helper of the afflicted Church of God as appeareth in this Chapter and those that follow In the reigne of Artaxerxes sc Longimanus Esters sonne and the same that thirteene years after sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem Nehem. 2. whilest Ezra was yet alive Nehem. 8.1 Ezra the sonne of Seraiah That is the grand-sonne for Seraiah was slaine when Jerusalem was last taken 2 Kings 25.18 21. Verse 2. The sonne of Shallum See 1 Chron. 6.7 8 9 10. Of those two books of Chronicles this same Ezra is held to be the Pen-man and it is not improbable Verse 3. The sonne of Meraioth Here 's a great heap six of Ezra's ancestours likely for brevity sake being overskipped Verse 4. The sonne of Zeraiah c. These might be as one saith of Jesse the father of David Viri boni honesti minùs tamen clari good men but obscure Verse 5. The sonne of Aaron the chief Priest Ezra then was ex genere pontificio as those Acts 4.5 non tamen pontifex The title of chief Priest is never given unto him Verse 6. This Ezra went up from Babylon Together with many others who were moved thereunto by his example and authority He was as one saith of Tiberius imperio magnus exemplo major Paterc Great men are Looking-glasses according to which most men dresse themselves let them look to it therefore and shine as Lamps And he was a ready Scribe Or a nimble Text-man his office was to write out copies of the Law and to interpret it He wrote say some the Hebrew Bible out in Chaldee letters the same that we now call Hebrew the ancient Hebrew characters remained with the Samaritans for the use of his Countrey-men returned out of Chaldea He first ordained say others the Vowels Accents and Masoreth A great Scholar he was and excellently well seene in Scripture-learning to which all other skill is but straminea candela a rush-candle a small light that serveth but to light men into utter darknesse Be wise be learned saith the Psalmist but withall Serve the Lord with feare Kisse the Sonne c. Psal 2. Balt. Exner. Otherwise ye may be as learned as Varro that general Scholar as Albertus magnus quem nihil penitùs fugit omnia perfectè novit who knew whatsoever was knowable Bonosius as one saith of him or as Tostatus otherwise called Abulensis qui omnium scientiarum doctrinarumque arca fuit emporium saith he that writeth his life who was a living library and yet ye may perish everlastingly The Jewes called their learned men Scribes as the Persians did theirs Magi the French Druides the Indians Brachmanni c. But he that is not a Scribe instructed and instructing others to the Kingdome of heaven Matth. 13.52 shall hear Where is the wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of this world Sapientes sapientèr in infernum descendent 1 Cor. 1.20 Aug. Which the Lord God of Israel had given The Moral Law with his owne immediate mouth so that he might say with Joseph Gen. 45.12 Behold your eyes see that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you the other Lawes he ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediatour i. e. of Moses Gal. 3.19 Hence Josephus calleth the Jewish politie a Theocratie and
Historians had their work done to their hands He wrote with the same spirit he fought saith Quintilian Eodem aâ—imo dixit quo bellavit lib. 10. And it came to passe This Book then is a continuation of the former Nehemiah being a third instrument of procuring this peoples good after Zerubbabel and Ezra and deservedly counted and called a Third Founder of that Common-wealth after Joshuah David In the moneth Chisleu In the deep of Winter then it was that Hanani and his brethren undertook their journey into Persia for the good of the Church In the twentieth year Sc. of Artaxerxes Longimanus thirteen yeares after Ezra and his company first came to Jerusalem Ezra 7.8 with Nehem. 2.1 I was in Shushan the palace Id est In the palace of the City Susan this Susan signifieth a Lily and was so called likely for the beauty and delectable site Now it is called Vahdac of the poverty of the place Here was Nehemiah waiting upon his office and promoting the good of his people Nomine tu quiu sis natur â Gratius ac te Gratius hoc Christi gratia praestet Amen Strabo and others say that the Inhabitants of Susia were quiet and perceable and were therefore the better beloved by the Kings of Persia Cyrus being the first that made his chief abode there in Winter especially and that this City was long and in Compasse 15 miles about Verse 2. That Hanani A gracious man according to his Name and zealous for his Countrey which indeed is a mans self and therefore when our Saviour used that proverb Physician heal thy self the sense is heal thy Countrey Luk. 4.23 Out of my brethren Not by race perhaps but surely by grace and place a Jew and that inwardly and therefore entrusted after this by Nehemiah with a great charge Neh 7. ver 2. Came he and certain men of Judah Upon some great suit likely for their Countrey because they took so long and troublesome a journey in the Winter not without that Roman resolution of Pompey in like case Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam Whatever their businesse was these men had better successe then afterwards Philo the Jew and his Colleagues had in their Embassy to Cajus the Emperour who cast them out with contempt and would not hear their apology against Appion of Alexandria their deadly Enemy And I asked them concerning the Jewes The Church was his care neither could he enjoy ought so long as it went ill with Zion He was even sick of the affliction of Joseph and glad he had got any of whom to enquire he asked them not out of an itch after newes but of an earnest desire to know how it fared with Gods poor people that he might cum singulis pectus suum copulare as Cyprian speaketh rejoyce with them that rejoyced and weep with those that wept Rom. 12.15 a sure signe of a sound member Which were left of the captivity One of whom he well knew to be more worth then a rabble of Rebels a World of wicked persons As the Jews use to say of those seventy souls that went down with Jacob into Egypt that they were better worth then all the seventy Nations of the World besides Verse 3. Are in great affliction and reproach The Church is heir of the Crosse saith Luther and it was ever the portion of Gods people to be reproached Ecclesia est hae res crucis as David was by Doeg with devouring words Psal 52. Their breath as fire shall devour you Esay 33.10 The Wall of Jerusalem also is broken down So that theeves and murtherers came in in the Night saith Comestor here and slue many of them And the gates thereof are burnt with fire They were burnt by the Chaldeans and never yet repaired And to keep a continual great watch was too great a charge and trouble Verse 4. And it came to passe when I heard It was not without a special providence that these good men thus met and by mutual conference kindle one another and that thereby God provided a remedy Things fall not out by hap-hazard but by Gods most wise dispose and appointment That I sate down and wept He was even pressed down with the greatnesse of his grief Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor Ovid. whereto he gave vent by his eyes Zeph. 3.17 18. God promises much mercy to such to whom the reproach of the solemn assemblies was a burden Nehemiah cannot stand under it but sits down and weeps And mourned certaine dayes Viz. For three moneths space for so long he was preparing himself to petition the King chap. 2. And fasted and prayed This was a sure course and never miscarried as hath been noted Ezra 9. Before the God of heaven With face turned toward his holy Temple 1 Kings 8.44 48. with heart lifted up to the highest heavens those hills whence should come his help Verse 5. I beseech thee O Lord Annah Jehovah An insinuating preface whereby he seeketh first to get in with God speaking him faire as doth likewise David in a real and heavenly complement Psal 116.16 Obsecro Jehova I beseech O Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant the sonne of thy handmaid break thou my bands So the Church Esay 64.9 Behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people The great and terrible God A great King above all gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 15.11 saith a Greek Father glorious in holinesse fearful in prayses doing wonders saith Moses in one place as in another The Lord our God is God of gods and Lord of lords a great God a mighty and a terrible Verè verendus venerandus Deut. 10.17 Thus Nehemiah begins his prayer and counts it a great mercy that he may creep in at a corner and present himself before this most Majestick Monarch of the world with greatest self-abasement That keepeth covenant and mercy That he may at once both tremble before him and trust upon Him he describeth God by his Goodnes as well as by Greatnes and so helpeth his own faith by contemplating Gods faithfulnesse and loving-kindnesse God hath hitherto kept Covenant with heaven and earth with nights and days Jer. 33.20 25. that one shall succeed the other and shall he break with his people No verily Be sure to keep faith in heart or you will pray but poorly And for this learn in the preface to your prayers to propound God to your selves in such notions and under such tearms and titles as may most conduce thereunto pleading the Covenant That love him and observe his Commandments That love to be his servants Esay 56.6 that wait for his Law Isa 42.4 that think upon his Commandments to do them Psal 103.18 Verse 6. Let thine eares now be attentive and thine eyes open Should not God see as well as hear saith a Divine his children should want many things We apprehend not all our wants and so cannot pray for relief
they could suffer So here Verse 14. And madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath Not then first known to the Church but of old observed even from the beginning Gen. 2.3 about 2544. years before it was made known in such a solemne sort at Sinai as having been much neglected and forgotten during the Egyptian servitude So it was by the German Churches till God awakened them by the losse of Prague that first blow given them and that upon the Sabbath day which they kept no otherwise then if it had been Dies daemoniacus and not dominicus as their countrey-man Alsted complaineth and as if it had been called Sabbath from Sabbos a name of Bacchus as Plutarch dreamed And commandedst them precepts See the Note on verse 13. Verse 15. And gavest them bread from heaven Pluviam escatilem petrum aquatilem as Tertullian phraseth it God rained down Angels food and set the flint a broach and this he did for their hunger for their thirst fitting his favours ad cardinem desiderii according to their need and request Besides that their bread was sacramental whereof they communicated every day Their drink also was sacramental that this ancient Church might give no warrant of a dry Communion for they did all eate of the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink the same that we do at the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 10.3 4. And promisedst them that they should go in c. And the like promise he hath made of heaven to all his people Let us therefore fear c. Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore cleanse our selves c. 2 Cor. 6.1 Let us haste away in our affections Col. 3.2 Which thou hast sworne So he hath to give us heaven because he knowes how backward we are to beleeve him without such a pawne that by two immutable things Gods Word and Gods Oath which maketh his Word not more true but yet more credible we might have strong consolation Heb. 6.18 and more abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.11 Verse 16. But they and our fathers Gods mercies have been hitherto mentioned that their sinnes might thereby be aggravated For good turnes aggravate unkindnesses and mens sinnes are much increased by their obligations It is charged upon Solomon as a foul fault that he departed from the Lord who had appeared unto him twice 1 Kings 11.9 Dealt proudly Pride is the Master-pock of the soul and the root of rebellion against God Psal 119.21 And hardened their necks As unruly beasts that will not bear the yoke lawlesse and awlesse persons that refuse to be reformed hate to be healed And hearkened not to thy Commandments But rather to the Devils whistle calling them off from better practises Verse 17. And refused to obey Heb To hearken They not onely not hearkened but refused to hear reasons why they should as having made their conclusion and being as good as ever they meant to be This is to adde rebellion to sinne this is that stubbornnesse that Ahaz is taxed of and branded for 2 Chron. 28.25 Neither were mindful of the wonders These soone grew stale to them as the Psalmist proves by their wicked practises Psal 106.13 And truly who that looketh upon our lives would ever think that God had done any wonders for us of this Nation either by sea or land either against fire-works or water-works formerly or against a viperous brood amongst our selves here alate Num. 14.4 And in their rebellion appointed a Captaine They once talked in their mad mood of doing such a thing and therefore they are here said to have done it Like as Josh 24.9 it is said that Balac arose and fought with Israel and yet the story saith no such matter But if he did not yet because he thought and talked of such a matter it was a done thing before the Lord But thou art a God ready to pardon Heb. A God of pardons One that hast set up a pardon-office where pardons for penitents lie ready sealed that the sinner may not be to seek that he may not perish in his sinnes while the plaister is in providing It is our comfort that we have to do with a forgiving sinne-pardoning God that doth it naturally Exod. 34.6 plentifully Is 55.7 constantly Ps 130.4 This should be as a perpetual picture in our hearts Gracious Doing all for us gratis ex mero motu out of his free and unexcited love And merciful All-bowels whereby he is inclined to succour them that are in misery notwithstanding their sinnes See his Non-obstante Psal 106.8 Long-suffering Heb. Long of anger that is Long ere he will be angry not hasty of spirit as Prov. 14.17 29. but wondrous patient amidst a world of provocations And of great kindnesse Exceeding propense to communicate good The Hebrew word signifies a large quantity either continued that is magnitude or greatnesse Psal 48.2 Or discrete that is multitude Psal 3.1 2. And forsookest them not That is not utterly as David prayeth Psal 119.8 and after him Solomon 1 Kings 8.57 When God forsaketh a people or person woe be to them Hos 9.12 What a terrible text is that Ezek. 22.20 I will gather you in mine anger and my fury and I will leave you there and that other Jer. 16.13 I will cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not where I will not shew you favour This last was worse then all the rest This the Prophet well knew and therefore cryed out Lord leave us not Jer. 17.17 Extingui lucem ne patiare tuam Or if thou desert us for a time yet do not disinherit us for ever If thy dereliction of us be penal Mâ—s Gerundin yet let it not be Perpetual Verse 18. Yea when they had made them a Golden Calf An ounce whereof the Jews say is still to this day in all the punishments that befall them though some of their Rabbines have the face to excuse this grosse Idolatry of their fore-fathers See Act. 7.41 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piscat Vitulificarunt And said this is thy God Exod. 32.4 These be thy Gods It was the Serpents Grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plurall number Ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3. That brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Some of them then did mean to worship the true God in this false manner hence Exod. 32.5 there is proclaimed a feast not to the Golden Calf but to Jehovah Here then falls to the ground the Papists plea for their image-worship And had wrought great provocations Or Blasphemies 2 King 19.3 Idolatry is no better Hierome as oft as he meeteth with this Hebrew word in the book of Psalmes and that is five severall times he translateth it to balspheme Verse 19. Yet thou in thy manifold mercies Nothing else could have kept him from turning them off and saying to them as once Jephta did Judg. 11. Behold ye have
subjection and obedience but that he never had nor any other that took the like course Those husbands that will be honoured indeed by their wives must give honour to them as to the weaker vessels as being heirs together of the grace of life 1 Pet. 3.7 Verse 21. And the saying pleased the King Pity but itching ears should have clawing Counsellors Memucan was a fit helve for such an hatchet and his advise fit lettice for such lips What marvel that such a smooth Counsellour pleased the King when as he had before given place to two such bad Counsellours Wine and Anger And the Princes Who perceived very likely by the Kings looks and gestures that he was much taken and tickled with Memucans counsel which they therefore second and subscribe to How rare a jewel in a Princes care is a faithful counsellour that will deliver himself freely non ad gratiam sed ad veritatem not to please but to profit Such a one was Agrippa to Augustus Polybius to Scipio Latimer to Edward the sixth c. There is safety in the multitude of Counsellours modò andeant quae sentiant as the Oratour saith so they dare speak out and will not spare to do it Cic. pro Milone And the King did according to the word of Memucan Dicto citiùs it was forthwith done Vasthi is all on the sudden divorced and the foolish King publikely shamed But all this was of the Lord that Esther might be advanced and the Church relieved So there was a wheele within a wheele which the wicked discerne not nor the Saints consider of God oft wraps himself in a cloud and will not be seene till afterwards All Gods dealings will appear beautiful in their seasons though for the present we see not the contiguity and concatenation of one thing with anâ—â—her Verse 22. That every man should beare rule in his own house Aequum sanè edictum modò moderatum A righteous Decree had it been but rightly made use of and not abused to tyranny and rough-dealing Aristotle saith that the husband ought to have a civil power over his wife as being her better in honour speech gravity and dignity Menander and Euripides say the same holding it unfit that the hen should crow that the woman should usurp authority over the man this Nature and Scripture do both condemne But why should these Persian Princes at this time send forth such an Edict as this was it because this good Law of Nature began to be depraved and obliterated among them as it was among the Egyptians where the Queen is more honoured then the King and in private houses the wife then the husband as Diodorus Siculus reporteth Lib. 2. Bibl. c. 2. Or had they a minde to divulge their own shame and to tell the world that they were least masters at home and must therefore have a law made to force obedience Or was it not lastly to countenance the Kings rash and unlawful putting away of his wife for so light a cause like as Cambyses their late King having a minde to marry his own sister made a Law that any man should have liberty to do the like Whatever it was that moved them to send forth this Decree surely there was little need to excite men to use their authority over their wives sith they are apt enough to do so without bidding Therefore Saint Paul after wives submit your selves unto your own husbands doth not say Col. 3.19 and subjoyne husbands rule over your wivess but husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them And that it should be published according to the language of every people That so being particularly understood it might appear more authentical and weighty and so take away the hatred from the Law-givers for the wrong they had done the Queen Some render it thus that he should speak according to the language of his own people that is say they that each man should keep and observe the liberty of his own Nation by commanding his people and governing his own family without any contradiction CHAP. II Verse 1. After these things AFter the wine was out the fuell of his anger spent and the lust thereof satisfied When the wrath of King Ahashuerus was appeased There is nothing that a man is more ready to keep then his wrath therefore the Hebrews put servare for servare iram to keep for to keep his anger as Jer. 3.5 Psal 103.9 Levit. 19.18 Ahashuerus by invading Greece had so incensed them that their wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unappeasable for they thenceforth hated all Barbarians for the Persians sake and forbade them their sacrifices as they used to do murtheres But Ahashuerus his wrath against Vasthi was after a time asswaged He remembred Vasthi Not without some remorse but without all true repentance He forsook not his rash anger as a sinne but regrated it for a time and laid it asleep to be raked up again upon as slight an occasion In gracelesse perso ns vitia raduntur non eradicantur absconduntur saepius non exscinduntur vices may be barbed or benumbed not mastered and mortified A Merchant may part with his goods and yet not hate them A man may part with his sinnes for self-respects and yet retaine his affection to them as Phaltiel did to Michal when he went weeping after her afarre off He may remember his Vasthi his bosome-sinnes from which he seemeth divorced and by such a sinful remembring of them recommit them See Ezek. 23.21 compared with verse 8. And what was decreed against her But whose fault was that Wine and anger are the worst of all counsellours say the Ancients and Ahasuerus found it so as did also Alexander the great Plutarch and many others but all too late Hence they came in afterwards with their Non putâram Had I wist which Scipio said should never be heard out of a great mans mouth Augustus also was wont to say that nothing doth so ill become a Commander Sueton. as hastinesse and rashnesse Tully taxeth him for a foole qui cundem laedit laudat who first wrongeth a man and then commendeth him Verse 2. Then said the Kings servaâ—â—s His friends saith Josephus to whom he had opened his mind the young Courtiers say others green wood is ever shrinking and warping but most probably those seven chief Counsellours chap. 1.14 who had perswaded him to cast off Vasthi and now feared left if not some way diverted he should fall as foul upon them as his predecessour Darius did upon those claw-backs Dan. 6.24 or as the Athenians did upon Timagoras Densagoras and Euagoras whom they condemned to die for flattering Darius Hystaspes the father of this Ahasuerus Let there be fair young Virgins sought for the King They knew him to be a sensualist and effeminate they therefore agree to feed his humour to drown him againe in pleasure so to drive away his melancholy Such miserable comforts are carnal Physicians so
at once his wicked dayes and desires The Pope to honour and encourage the Leaguers in France sent them consecrated pictures and medals promising them thereby good successe against the Huguenots but God confuted and defeated them all as he did likewise Tyrone in Ireland to whom Cárlt Rem among other trinkets the Pope had sent a Plume of Phoenix feathers a meer collusion When the Kings commandment and decree drew near c. Both that for the Jewes and the other against them This latter was not reversed though the former were published The King it seemeth greatly cared not for the lives of his subjects sith he would not so much as privately hint to them to be quiet and to let the Jewes alone Such an intimation as this might have saved the lives of seventy five thousand of them But God had an holy hand in it for the just punishment of those blood-thirsty Persians confident in the good successe of their sorceries having made hell their refuge but it failed them In thi day that the enemies of the Jewes hoped c. But their hope ran astope as they say their lucky day deceived them Wicked mens hope when they most need it will be as the giving up of the ghost and that 's but cold comfort Job 11. ult and as the spiders web Job 18.13 14. who gets to the top of the window as high as she can and then when she falls she falls to the bottom for nothing stayes her From such high hopes fell our English Papists first Act. Mon. fol. 1871 when Queen Mary died You hope and hope said Dale the Promoter to Julian Lining whom he had apprehended but your hope shall end in a rope for though the Queen faile she that you hope for shall never come at it for there is my Lord Cardinals grace and many more between her and it Secondly at Queen Elizabeths death that long-look'd-for day as they called it triumphing before the victory and selling the hide before they had taken the beast This they had done before in eighty eight when in assurance of victory they had stiled their forces the Invincible Armado and also afterwards at the Powder-plot when they had presumptuously disposed of the chief offices holds and revenues of the land like as before the Pharsalian field was fought the Pompeians were in such miserable security that some of them contended for the Priesthood which was Caesars office Heyl. Geoâ— 407. others disposed of the Consulships and Offices in Rome So at the batteâ— of Aginâ—court in France where our Henry the fifth won the day the French were so confident of a victory that they sent to King Henry Speed 745. to know what ransome he would give A presumptuous confidence goes commonly bleeding home when an humble fear returnes in triumph Though it was turned to the contrary By a sweet and gracious Providence of God whose glory it is to help at a pinch to alter the Scene all on the sudden to begin where we have given over and to cause a strange turne of things according to that of the Psalmist God shall send from heaven and save me when it might seem to some that salvation it self could not save me he shall send forth his mercy and his truth Psal 57.3 and then what should hinder the Churches happinesse That the Jewes had rule over them that hated them They dominered over their enemies as so many Sultans So true is that of the Preacher Man knoweth not his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sonnes of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Eccl. 9.12 Security is the certain usher of destruction and God delighteth by turning the scale to retaliate as he did upon the Egyptians at the red sea the Philistines at Mizpeh these Hamanists and our powder-Papists See Psal 7.16 Verse 2. The Jewes gathered themselves together They were laeti in Domino sed non securi as Bernard hath it They had prayed but yet provided for the thirteenth of Adar which by many was meant still to be a bloody day notwithstanding the knowen favour of the King and the patronage of Mordecai The Hamanists would joyn together to perform that sentence whereof the Authour repented and had rued it That old enmity Gen. 3.15 will never out of the Serpents seed the Jewes therefore well and wisely get together and unite their forces that they may make a powerful resistance They are noted by Tacitus to be a nation at great unity amongst themselves and to hate all others On of the main scandals they do at this day take from Christians is their dissension Camer med histor cent 2. c. 23. that mother of dissolution as Nazianzen calleth it The Turks pray to God to keep us still at variance and say that their fingers shall sooner be all of one length then we be of one minde What a shame 's this If nothing else will yet our common misery and the hatred of our enemies should unite us as it did these exiles and it was foretold by Jeremy chap. 50.4 that Judah and Israel that could not agree at other times yet when they should be both in a weeping condition they should better agree So did Basil and Eusebius against the Arrians Ridley and Hooper against the Papists c. And it is high time for us now to set aside our private emulatâ—ons and exceptions as the creatures in the Ark laid by their Antipathies within because of the common danger of an inundation without To lay hand on such as sought their hurt To repel force with force to kill and spoil those that sought to do so to them This nature prompted them to as was forenoted and they had also the Kings warrant for it and they kept themselves within compasse thereof by not medling with any but only those that molested them See chap. 8.11 And no man could withstand them Tantum potest bona causa bonis usa consiliis mediis saith an Interpreter here A good cause a good conscience and a good courage what cannot these three do where they meet How should any stand before those who are Deo armati Eph. 610. strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Pilates wife could warne him of medling with such and Hamans wife could tell him that a Jew might fall before a Persian and get up again and prevaile But if a Persian or whosoever of the Gentiles begin to fall before a Jew he can neither stand nor rise chap. 6.13 There is an invisible hand af Omnipotency that striketh in for his owne and confounds their opposites For the fear of them fell upon all the people This was the work not of some Pan Deus Arcadiae as the Heathens fancied but of God the sole giver of victory who when he pleaseth affrighteth the Churches
the Septuagint there render it but the name of the wicked shall rot as doth now the name of the Powder-plotters of Bonner Gardiner and other Popish Persecutors Should return upon his own head According to Psal 7.17 and haply not without allusion to those Piaculares Obominales among the Grecians which were certain condemned persons on whose heads they put the publick guilt and then tumbled them into the sea or else to those expiatory sacrifices amongst the Egyptians which were first cursed by them and then cast into the river or sold to the Grecian Merchants in an apish imitation of the Hebrews scape-goat and day of Atonement Vers 26. Wherefore they called these days Purim Thereby to perpetuate the memory of that mercy worthy to be engraven in pillars of marble This was a notable name for it served to in-minde the Jewes of all that God had done for them at this bout As there is edification in the choice of fit Psalmes 1 Cor. 14.26 so in the imposing of fit names upon persons things and times As the Christian Sabbath is to good purpose called the Lords day and those festivities of Easter and Whitsontide were not so fitly called Pasch and Pentecost as the Feast of the Lords Resurrection and of the sending of the Holy Ghost It should certainly be the constant care of us all to set up marks and monuments of Gods great mercies so to preserve the memory of them which else will be moth-eaten Such as were Abrahams Jehovah Iireh Jacobs stone at Bethel Moses his Jehovah Nissi Aarons rod and pot of Manna Heb. 9.4 the twelve stones pitcht up in Jordan the names of Gilgal Ramath-Lehi Aben-Ezer those plates nailed on the Altar Numb 16.40 Hereby God shall be glorified the Churches enemies convinced our faith strengthened our joy in the Lord heightened our posterity helped and Satan prevented who seeketh to obliterate Gods works of wonder or at least to alienate them and translate them upon himself as he endeavoured to do that famous execution of divine justice upon Sennacheribs army Herod l. 2. by setting Herodotus a work to tell the world in print that it was Sethon King of Egypt and Priest of Vulcan who obtained of his god that Sennacheribs army coming against Egypt should be totally routed by reason of an innumerable company of rats sent by Vulcan which gnawed in pieces their bowe-strings quivers bucklers c. and so made way for the Egyptians to vanquish them Herodotus addeth also that in his time there was to be seen the statue of Sennacherib holding a rat in his hand in Vulcans Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and uttering these words Let him that beholdeth me learne to feare God Lo the god of this world hath his trophies erected and shall the God of heaven and earth go without Oh let us who have lived in an age of miracles and seen the out-goings of God for our good more then ever did any Nation offer unto him the ransome of our lives as they did Exod. 21.30 and 30.12 in token that they had and held all in meer courtesie from God Let us leave some seale some pawn of thankfulnesse for deliverance from so many deaths and dangers Otherwise Heathens will rise up and condemn us They after a shipwrack would offer something after a fit of sicknesse consecrate something to their gods after a victory set up trophies of triumph as the Philistines did to their Dagon the Romanes to their Jupiter Capitolinus c. Therefore for all the words of this letter In obedience to Mordecai their godly Magistrate And of that which they had seen concerning this matter And especially of God made visible all along in it yea palpable so that they might feele him and finde him Act. 17.27 though his name be not found in all this book And which had come unto them Scil. by report and hear-say but from such hands as that they were fully satisfied thereof as Hamans lot-casting Esthers supplicating the Kings reading the Chronicles c. Verse 27. The Jewes ordained and took upon them and upon their seed See ver 23. Here we have a repetition of what was before recited and this is usual in holy Scripture as Gen. 2.1 Exod. 15.19 that things of moment may take the deeper impression That of Austin is here to be remembred Verba toties inculcata viva sunt vera sunt plana sunt sana sunt Let Preachers do thus and hearers be content to have it so Nunquam satìs dicitur quod nunquam satìs discitur To write to you the same things to me is not grievous and for you it is safe saith that great Apostle Phil. 3.1 And upon all such as should joyne themselves unto them Those Proselytes chap 8 17. or whatever hang-bies So as it should not faile But stand as a law inviolable And yet that Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus and that never to be forgotten fifth of November are with us almost antiquated little would oue think that God had ever done anything for us either by land or by sea against either fire-works or water-works Vae corpori nostro That they would keep these two dayes Keep them as before by consecrating a rest and feasting before the Lord not by gourmandizing and profane sports nor by running up and down from house to house as whifflers and wassailers Lâ—deâ—cerem Iud. as at this day the Jewes manner is witnesse Antonius Margarita a baptized Jew According to their writing i.e. Mordecai's order by themselves subscribed and ratified Verse 28. And that these dayes should be remembred That the memory of them might be kept a foot in the Church to all perpetuity Nothing is sooner forgotten then a good turn received David found himself faulty this way and therefore sets the thorn to the breast Psal 103.2 Other holy men kept catalogues see one of Gods own making Judg. 10.11 12. They also had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Memorials as is before noted The very Heathens had their triumphal Arches Pillars Trophies Tables Histories Annals Ephemerides c. A soule shame for us to fall short of them and not to wish as Job in another case Iob. 19.23 24. Oh that Gods works of wonder for us were now written Oh that they were printed in a book That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever That famous fifth of November especially Ier. 23.7 This wás written Nov. 5. 1653. which drownes in a manner the memory of all former deliverances as the return out of Babylon did the departure out of Egypt This happy day too too much slighted alas in many places already should never be put out of the English Kalendar whiles the Sun courseth about the earth but be registred for the generation to come that the people which shall be created may praise the Lord Psal 102.8 Every family every Province and every City They should all recognize their late danger and thereby
poor comfort to our Henry 8. to bee told upon his Death-bed That he was now going to the place of Kings Some such there have been as proved nursing Fathers to the Church and propagated the Kingdom of Christ in their Generations Esa 49.33 but what a vain vaunt was that of those bloudy Tyrants in the Primitive times who sounded the Triumph before-hand and thus engraved the Victory upon pillars of Marble Nomine Christianorum deleto qui Remp. evertebant What was all this but a blaze before their last Light went out or like some bulging wall that was swoln immediatly before it fell have any ever yet waxed fierce against Christ and prospered Job 9.4 And the Rulers take counsel together Or have laid their foundation for counsel is to action Syncretismâ—m incunt quasi se fundaâ—t consiliis suis c. saith Aben-Ezra here the same that the foundation is to a building The Chaldee hath it they consociate to rebel before the Lord and to fight against his Annoynted But with what success see Isa 8.9 10. Immanuel will over-match them Vers 3. Let us break their bands asunder c. Here these Rebels are brought in proclaming their treasonable Decrees against Christ and his adherents who seek to promote his Kingdom Resolved they were to run riot as lawless and awless and therefore they slander the sweet Laws of Christs Kingdom as bonds and thick cords those signs of slavery Jer. 27.2 6 7. as burdens and grievances Melch. Adam in vit Bucer So the Popish Clergy of Collen told their good Arch-Bishop Albert who had made use of Bucer and Melancthon to bring things into better order that they had rather live under the Turkish Government than under such a Reformation But what saith our Saviour My yoke is easie and my burthen light No more burthen it is to a regenerate person than the wings are to the Bird. He delighteth in the Law of God after the inward man Rom. 7. It is not to him now as once bands and cords but as Girdles and Garters which gird up his loyns and expedite his course the better It confineth him to live in that element where he would live as if one should be confined to Paradise where he would be though there were no such Law Vers 4. He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh at them Videt ridet He seeth and smileth he looketh and laugheth at these Giants Hee sitteth in Heaven far above their reach neither doth he much trouble himself about the matter No more should we but trust in him and know that there is a Council in Heaven that will dash the mould of all contrary Counsels upon Earth as the stone cut out of the Mountain did the Four great Monarchies Dan. 2.34 See an instance hereof in latter times Luther that Heroical Reformer was Excommunicated by the Pope proscribed by the Emperour hated and cursed all Christendom over almost yet he prospered and the Work of Christ went on in his hands And when the Elector of Saxony his only Patron was much afraid what would become of him and of the business of Religion Luther out of his Pathmus as he called it where he lay hid writeth him a rousing Letter wherein is read this among many other brave passages Sciat Celsitudo tua nihil dubitet longè alitèr in coelo quà m Noribergae de hoc negotio conclusum est Let your Highness rest well assured of this that things are far otherwise carried and concluded of in Heaven than they are at the Imperial Diet held at Norinberg After this in the year of Grace one thousand five hundred twenty six there conspired against the Gospel and the Professors thereof the Emperour and his Prisoner in Spain the French King the Princes also and Bishops in Germany stirred up by the Pope The French King was set at liberty upon condition to joyn with the Emperour to root out Lutheranism that is true Religion This was the agreement but God brake it for the French King was no sooner come home but he made a League with the Pope and the Venetians against the Emperour The Pope excuseth his falling off from Caesar by a petulant and malapert Epistle Caesar by another Letter â—ays open to the World the Popes perfidy exhorting him to peace and concluding that they had more need to unite their Forces for the extirpation of Lutheran Heresie c. By this means the Church had an happy Halcyon whiles these great ones were out and at it The Lord will have them in derision Adonai that is the sustainer and upholder of all Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 Lords and Losels are all his vassals and underlings as Constantine Theodosius and Valentine those great Emperours called themselves This Name or Stile Christ hath written on his Vesture that all may see it and on his Thigh where hangs his Sword to shew his absolute Dominion his illimited Empire got and held out of the hands of his enemies with his Sword and with his Bow as Gen. 48.22 And when he is said to deride them this is more than to laugh at them as the following effects shew Vers 5. Then shall he speak unto them c. Hep. He shall tell them viz. a peece of his minde to their small comfort As a great Prince sitting on a lofty Throne rateth his Rebels when once he hath brought them before him and pronounceth sentence upon them in fierce wrath See Jer. 52.9 so will the King of Heaven do by his sturdy refractories Whether he will speak unto them by his words or by his rods Job 33.14 19 20 21. and when he will do it he hath reserved in his own power and pleasure Acts 1.7 but sooner or later he will not fail to do it and Poena venit gravior quò magè seravenit And vex them Or trouble them as he did the Babel-builders Pharaoh Sennacherib others Either by horror of Conscience or corporal Plagues one way or other he will have his penny-worths of them as he had of the old and late Persecutors of his people Vers 6. Yet have I set my King Heb. And I have set Heb. I have anointed where the sign of his inauguration or entrance into his Kingdom is put for the possession and injoying thereof David was anointed by Gods appointment Christ was also anhoâ—â—ted and appointed by his Father to the Office and work of a Mediator and is therefore here called his King And is here a sign of indignation stirred Vpon mine holy hill of Zion Davids strong Hold and a Figure of the Church Heb. 12.22 Rev. 14.1 Isa 60.14 as being the Seat of the Kingdom and Sanctuary Out of Zion also went forth the Law and the Word of the Lord out of Jerusalem Isa 2.3 it signifieth a Watch-tower In the Church Christ Angels Ministers common Christians watch against enemies visible and invisible Vers 7. I will declare the decree that irrevocable decree of the
Vers 10. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee They can do no otherwise that savingly know Gods sweet Attributes and noble Acts for his people We never trust a man till we know him and bad men are better known than trusted Not so the Lord for where his name is poured out as an oyntment there the Virgins love him fear him rejoyce in him repose upon him Them that seek thee So they do it seriously seasonably constantly Vers 11. Sing praises to the Lord c. This is the guise of godly people to provoke others to praise God as being unsatisfiable in their desires of doing him that service and as deeming that others see him as they do totum totum desiderabilem worthy to bee praised Psal 18.3 highly to be admired vers 1. of this Psalm Vers 12. When he maketh inquisition for bloud for innocent bloud unjustly spilled as he did for the bloud of Abel Gen. 4.10 of Naboth 1 King 9.26 surely I have seen yesterday the bloud of Naboth Murther ever bleeds fresh in the eyes of God of Zechariah the Son of Barachiah 2 Chron. 24.22 those ungrateful Guests who slew those that came to call them And when the King heard it for Bloud cryes aloud he was wroth and destroyed those Murtherers Matth. 22.6 7. These shall have bloud to drink for they are worthy Revel 16.6 God draws Articles of enquiry in this case as strict and as critical as ever the Inquisition of Spain doth the proceedings whereof are with greatest secrecy and severity He forgetteth not the cry of the Humble Heb. of the poor lowly meek afflicted Humility and Meekness are Collactancae twin-sisters as Bernard hath it Vers 13. Have mercy upon me O Lord c. These are the words say some of those humble ones whom God forgetteth not they were Gods remembrancers See Isa 62.6 or it is a prayer of David for further deliverances according to that I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised Psal 18.3 Betwixt praysing and praying he divided his time and drove an holy trade between Heaven and Earth Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death i.e. Ex praesentissimo certissimo interitu from desperate and deadly dangers such as threaten present destruction and shew a man the Grave even gaping for him David was oft at this pass and God delivered Paul from so great a death 2 Cor. 1.10 he commonly reserveth his hand for a dead lift and rescueth those who were even talking of their Graves Vers 14. That I may shew forth all thy praises i.e. All that I can compass or attain unto Alitèr omnes laudes Dei dici non possunt quia plures ignorat home quà m novit saith R. David here for all the praises of God cannot be shewn forth sith those wee know not are more than those we know In the gates of the daughter of Zion These are opposed to the Gates of Death as Aben-Ezra here noteth and betoken the most publick places and best frequented Vers 15. The Heathen are sunk down c. Hoc est initium cantici Sanctorum saith Aben-Ezra This is the beginning of the Saints Song knit to the former verse thus saying The Heathen c. In the Net which they bid c. To Hunters they are compared for cruelty and to Fowlers for craft But see their success they are sunk down in their own pit caught in their own Net Thus it befell Pharaoh Exod. 15.9 10. Jabin and Sicera Judg 4. Sennacherib 2 Chron. 32. Antiochus Epiphanes Maxentius the Tyrant Euseb lib. cap. 9 who fell into the river Tiber from his own false Bridge laid for Constantine The Spanish Armado our Powder-Papists c. See the Note on Psal 7.15 Vers 16. The Lord is known by the judgement c. The Heathen Historian observed that the ruine of Troy served to teach men Herod that God punisheth great sinners with heavie plagues Go up to Shiloh c. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Heb. Palms hollows noting the close conveyance of his wicked plots and practises but for his own mischief Higgaion Selah Ainsworth rendreth it Meditation Selah meaning that this is a matter of deep meditation worthy to be well-minded and spoken or sung with earnest consideration always The word is found only here and Psal 92.3 where also the wonderful works of God are discoursed R. Solomons Note here is Ultimum judicium debet esse continua meditatio The last Judgement should be continually thought upon Vers 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell Heb. into into Hell twice that is into the nethermost Hell the lowest Dungeon of Hell The word Lâ—shâ—â—lah hath a vehement inforcement from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 locall as Grammarians call it and importeth that they shall be cast into outer darkness August In tenebras ex tenebris infelicitèr exclusi infelicius excludenâ—â— R. Solomons Note here is They shall be carried away from Hell to Judgement and from Judgement they shall be returned to the deepest Pit of Hell This if men did but beleeve they durst not do as they do as once Cato said to Cesar And all the Nations The wicked be they never so many of them they may not think to escape for their multitudes as amongst Mutineers in an Army the tenth man sometimes is punished the rest go free Vers 18. For the needy shall not always be forgotten Because he that shall come will come and will not tarry The Lord is at hand to help those that are forsaken of their hopes Julian Lining was apprehended by Dale the Promooter in Queen Maries days who said unto him You hope and hope but your hope shall be aslope For though the Queen fail she that you hope for shall never come at it for there is my Lord Cardinals Grace Act. Mon. 1871. and many others between her and it c. But the Cardinal dyed soon after the Queen and according to Father Latimers prayer Elizabeth was crowned and England yet once more looked upon Vers 19. Luther Arise O Lord let not man prevail Prayers are the Churches Weapons her Bombards instrumenta bellica whereby she is terrible as an Army with Banners she prays down her enemies Vers 20. Put them in fear O Lord strike them with a panick terrour as once the Canaanites Philistines 2 Sam. 5. Syrians 2 King 7. Germans in the War against the Hussites c. Some read it Put a Law upon them bridle them bound them as thou hast done the Sea Job 38.11 The Greek and Syriack favour this reading That the Nations may know themselves to be but men And not gods as that proud Prince of Tyrus Ezek. 27. and Antiochus who would needs be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such an height of pride will Persecutors grow if they prosper and be not taken a link lower as we say Home id est fracti saith R. Obad.
of Socrates Aristides Scipio Atticus Cato and other honest Heathens they were no better than splendida peccata glistering sins because they failed 1 Quoad fontem they did not out of the good treasure of their hearts bring forth those good things they were strangers to the Life of God to the new Nature 2 Quoad finem they brought forth fruit to themselves Hof 10.1 they had not good aims in their good actions Now Bonum non fit nisi ex integra causa malum ex quolibet defectu say the Schools No not one Vsque ad unum i. c. ad Christum saith Austin not considering the force of the Hebrew phrase which importeth an utter denial of any meer man that of himself doeth good Vers 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge No not so much as Pilates Wife had in a Dream for else they would take heed of having any thing to do with those justmen But they are workers of iniquity habituated and hardned in cruelty fleshed in bloud and having an hoof upon their hearts so that they are Masters of their Consciences and have taken a course with them In this question here asked the Psalmist doth not so much quaerere as queri ask as chide and complain Who eat up my people as they eat bread That is quotid'e daily saith Austin as duly as they eat bread or with the same eagerness and voracity These man-caters these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cruel Cannibals make no more conscience to undoe a poor man than to eat a good meal when they are hungty Like Pickerels in a Pond or Sharks in the Sea they devour the poorer as those do the lesser Fishes and that many times with a plausible invisible consumption as the Usurer who like the Ostrich can digest any metal but especially mony They call not upon the Lord viz. for a blessing upon that their bread as some sense it how should they sith God abhorreth them Psal 10.3 But better take it for neglect of the duty of Prayer they rob God of his inward and outward Worship and so deal worse with him than Idolaters do with their Dunghil-deities whom they cease not to call upon These will commit no Solecism in Gods Service and be sure that their prayer like that of Hamaus Esth 7.7 shall never be turned into sin If they pray in extreamity as then a Joah will lay hold on the Horns of the Altar it is but as blinde Beggers are forced to ask though they know not of whom Vers 5. There were they in great fear â— There and they and in great fear where and who and what kind of fear was it they were in For answer There that is in the generation of the righteous in the assemblies of the Saints according to that Psal 76.3 There brake he the arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword and the Battel Selah There that is in Salem where is Gods Tabernacle and in Sion where is his dwelling place vers 2. in the Congregation where the Saints were praying Or There that is in the very place where they oppressed and devoured the poor they were surprised with a sudden horrour even there where they had said In locoubi opprimuâ—â— R. David peace and safety c. and where no fear was Psal 53.5 no apparent cause of such an amazement Isa 13.8 A panick terrour fell upon them they feared a fear as the Hebrew hath it but could not tell why The Hornet within stings them and they have many a secret twinge that the World is never aware of Saul was afraid of David and Catiline trembled upon the least noyse made For God is in the generation of the righteous And natural Conscience cannot but do homage to the Image of God stamped upon the natures and works of the godly See it in the carriage of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius toward Daniel sticking stoutly to his Principles The piety patience mercy goodness exprest by the righteous when oppressed makes the hearts of wicked men ake within them and they are sore afraid of the Name of God called upon by them Deut. 38.10 Or God is in the generation of the righteous scil Ad juvandum eum saith Aben-Ezra to support and succour them and that strangely many times the enemies themselves being Judges to their great astonishment Vers 6. You have shamed the counsel of the poor And thought to mock him out of his confidence as Sennacherib did by Hezekiah and the Jews by our Saviour Religion was long since grown as it is also at this day among many not more a matter of form than of scorn In our wretched days as the Turks count all fools to be Saints so many with us account all Saints to be fools He is a fool we say that would be laughed out of his Coat but he were a double fool that would bee laughed out of his skin that would hazard his Soul because loath to bee laughed at Because the Lord is his refuge Sed Jehovah Protector ejus because he runs to God by prayer and commits himself wholly to him for direction and success in all his enterprises Pudefacitis id est facitis ut videatur putidum you'jeer and hold it an egregious silliness You reject his confidence and relye on the arm of flesh which yet was never true to those that trusted unto it Vers 7. O that the Salvation of Israel c. This is the second part of the Psalm wherein David prayeth to God to deliver his Israel out of the hands of those Atheists and Oppressors The whole Church must be remembred in our prayers Sanhed c. 11. and that ancient people of God the Jews not forgotten Many of their Rabbins make this whole Psalm a Prophecie of their dispersion among the Genitles their Oppressors and this a prayer for their restauration For our sins say they which are many the coming of the Messiah that Salvation of Israel is deferred the time of his coming is sealed up Dan. 12.4 Verum enimverò Deus nos dignabitur clarissima visione cum reducet Zionem tunc intelligemus res ipsas prout sunt saith Jachiades on that Text but God shall give us a clear sight of all things when he shall bring back Zion c. This is truth and we must hasten that time by our heartiest wishes for that obdurate people that a Redeemer would come to them out of Zion Rom. 11.26 that the covering cast over that people might be destroyed Isa 25.7 and a general joy conceived throughout all the Churches for their happy re-admission Out of Zion i.e. Out of the Church whence all good cometh and such blessings as are better than all else that Heaven or Earth affordeth Psal 134.3 PSAL. XV. VErs 1. Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Heb. who shall sojourn for that is our condition whiles here in a forein Country and not at home The Church Militant also is Transportative as well as the Tabernacle and not fixed to one
for to thee doth it appertain Jer. 10 7. Rev. 15.4 Vers 11. The counsell of the Lord of standeth for ever That counsell of his whereby he hath decreed to maintain government amongst men to relieve the oppressed to punish the Wicked to uphold the Church is firm and inviolable Divinum consilium dum devitatur impletur humana sapientia dum reluctatur comprehenditur saith Gregory There is a councell in Heaven will dash the mould of all contrary counfells upon earth Vers 12. Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord viz. By speciall favour and covenant The preservation of the Church which hath so few friends on earth and so many enemies in earth and hell is justly brought as an evident argument of the divine providence Christ standeth upon mount-Mount-Zion and that mountain shall bee exalted above all mountaines The Church as it is highest in the favour of God so it shall be set above all the World and het enemies shall be in that place that is fittest for them the lowest the footstool of Christ The people whom he hath chosen Some read it The people which hath chosen Hims for their inheritance It cometh all to one See Deut. 26.17 18 19. Vers 13. The Lord looketh from Heaven Ita râ—spicit universos quasi singulas it 〈…〉 sâ—lâ—s And this Doctrin of Gods particular providence is fides natinnum quarum Deus est Dominus saith Kimchi taught in the Church only Vers 14. From the place of his habitation he beholdeth And this is a very great condescension sith he humbleth himself to behold things in Heaven Psal 113.6 to look out of himself upon the Saints and Angels how much more upon the inhabitants of the earth Vers 15. Unum paâ—â—ter acaliud Kimchi He fashioneth their hearts alike i. e. Ones as well as anothers The Arabick hath it Format sigillatim he fashioneth them severally one after another and not all soules together as the Origenists and some Jew-doctors held Hee considereth all their works Their hearts are not hid from him sith he made them as is said before much lesse their works These God considereth and therefore men had need consider them and turn their feet to his Testimonies Psal 119.59 Vers 16. There is no King saved by the multitude of an hoast Witnesse Sennacherib Xerxes Bajazet Away then with Creature-confidence it will be the ruine of all that rest in it whether it be in men or means that they trust See Psal 62.9 10. with the Notes A mighty man Or A Giant Goliah for instance As the most skilfull swimmers are often drowned So here Vers 17. Pausan An Horse is a vain thing And yet a warlike creature full of terrour See the Note on Psal 32.9 and so swift in service that the Persians dedicated him to the Sun See Job 41.20 Prov. 21.31 With the Notes Vers 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is on them that fear him Hee looketh upon such with singular delight not without sweet intimations of his singular kindnesse and care of their good Upon them that hope in his mercy Here we have a description of that true Church which God will never forsake sc It is a company of such as truly serve God and boast not of their merits but possessing their soules in hope and silence wait for his mercy Vers 19. To deliver their soul Freedom from troubles He promiseth not but deliverance in due time he assureth them and support in the mean while to keep them alive in famine Vers 20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord i. e. Patiently tarrieth the Lords leisure We can both wait and want for a need Vers 21. Our heart shall rejoyce in him We shall be sure of an happy issue and event but yet so as that we pray for it as in the next words Vers 22. Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee Not that we would have no more mercy than we have trust but we would shew that our trust is bottomed upon thy promises and that we humbly expect the full accomplishment of the same in due time PSAL. XXXIV VErs 1. A Psalm of David An Alphabeticall Psalm which David newly delivered from the Philistines Semper in Ecelesia his Psalmus piis suit commendatissimus Moller who had taken him prisoner and presented him to their King as a speciall prize composed with singular art as fit to be committed to memory by all godly people who may here meet with many excellent lessons and cordiall comforts When he changed his behaviour Heb. gust um hoc est gestum This he did being put to his shifts but not without sin Lib. 3. Od. 11. for he was splendide mendax as Horace saith of Hypermuestra at the best neither can this dissimulation or officious lye of his be excused as some have by distinctions indeavoured it but in vain Before Abimelech Or Achish King of Gath 1 Sam. 21. for he was binominiâ— saith Aben-Ezra or else Abimelech that is Father-King was his title of honour As Augustus would be stiled Pater Patria the Father of his Country R. Solomon saith that Abimelech was a common name to all the Philistin-Kings as Pharaoh to the Egyptian Who cast him one For a mad man 1 Sam. 21.15 wherein there was a sweet providence of God who can order our disorders to his own glory and our good like as an Artificer with a crooked tool can make straight work or as an Apothecary of a poysonfull Viper can make a wholesome triacle And he departed Into some parts of Judea where he might repent of his sin first as Peter did when got into a corner and then compile this Psalm of thanksgiving to God who had so graciously delivered him out of that hard and hazardous condition not only above but against his desert Vers 1. I will blesse the Lord at all times As not satisfied with any thing I can do herein at any time The Saints have large hearts and could bet eem the Lord a great deal more service than they are able to perform A certain Martyr said at the stake I am sory that I am going to a place where I shall be ever receiving wages and do no more work His praise shall continually be in my mouth For this remarkable mercy especially which I will still be telling of and speaking good of Gods name to as many as I can possibly extend unto This thankfull man was worth his weight in the gold of Ophir Vers 2. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord This holy gloriation is a Christians duty not to be neglected The Church in the Canticles is much in it and so is St. Paul It sheweth an heart full of joyes unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. And besides God is thereby greatly glorified Jer. 9.23 24. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad Not for my sake only but their own as conceiving good hope of like deliverance But then they
and God will receive you graciously pouring the oyl of his grace into your broken Vessels This comforted Bernard on his death bed he dyed with this sentence in his mouth Je. Manl. loc com 73. Austin caused it to be written on the wall over against his bed where he lay sick and dyed Many poor soules even in times of Popery had Heaven opened unto them by meditating on this Psalm and especially on this 17. vers Vers 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion Having made his own peace with God he now prayeth for the Church and the rather because by his foul sins he had hazzarded or rather exposed both Sion and Jerusalem Church and State to divine displeasure Delirantreges plectuntur Achivi Build thou the walls of Jerusalem i. e. Protect defend and maintain the civill State grant all things necessary for its safety and well-being supply of all wants confirmation and increase of all blessings Thus pray we Jer. 29.7 Psal 122.6 7 8. for except the Lord keep the City c. See Isa 5.1 2 3. 27.3 Hee is a wall of fire Rev. 20.9 of water Isa 33.20 21. say therefore as Isa 26.1 and beware of security sensuality senselesnesse c. Vers 19. Then shalt thou bee pleased with the sacrifices c. i. e. Such as are offered in faith and according to the will of God Psal 4.6 Then shall they offer Bullocks upon thine Altar They shall be free-hearted and frequent in thy work and service va torpori nostro Woe to our dulnesse and backwardness in these happy dayes of peace and free profession which we had need improve as they did Act. 9.31 Otherwise we may desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and not see it Luk. 19.22 Go to Shiloh c. PSAL. LII A Psalm of David Of the same time and argument likely with Psal 58. Maschil Or to teach that the end of the Wicked is evill Redarguit pravos mores saith the Syriack When Doeg the Edomite When Abiathar escaping the slaughter-slave the blood-hound as Edomite may signifie came and told David what was befaln the Priests and their City This was no small affliction to David the rather because by telling the Priest a lye himself had occasioned that Massacre Hereupon for the comfort of himself and other good people who were startled at this sad accident and might be deterred thereby from succouring David he penned this Psalm When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul c. Doeg is a fit name for a courtier for it signifieth a solicitous or busy-headed fellow a catch-poll a progging-companion an informer one that listeneth after rumours and carrieth tales to curry favour An Edomite he was by Nation but a Proselyte in pretence at least and one that was at that time detained before the Lord either by vertue of some vow or because it was the Sabbath-day and he would not travel on it or to perform some other religious service 1 Sam. 21.7 this dissembled sanctity was double iniquity and he became a type of Judas as some make him He came and told Saul Like a Parasite and a pick-thank as he was when as he should rather have told Ahimelech that David was out of Sauls favour and sought for to the slaughter as Kimchi here noteth on vers 3. but he concealed that that he might accuse Ahimelech and so slew three at once saith another Rabbine viz. himself Saul and Ahimeleck calumniatorem calumniatum calumniam audientem And said David is come to the house of Ahimeleck Few words but full of poyson Verba Doegi erant pauci sed multum nocua Kimchi Midrash Tillin leviter volant non leviser vulnerant See the story more at large 1 Sam. 22 9. c. The Rabbines say from Levit. 14. where the same word is used of the Leprous house that is here vers 5. of Doegs doom that he was for this fact smitten with leprosy and afterwards sent to Hell which they gather from Psal 120.4 Vers 1. Why boastest thou thy self in mischief thou mighty man Or Thou Giart for so he seemed to himself when he had slain tot inermes nec repugnantes so many naked men not making any resistance though they were the Priests of Jehovah and afterward had smitten the innocent inhabitants of the City of Nob together with the women the infants and the Cattel like another Ajax flagellifer or Hercules furens and now vaunted himself in that mischievous prowesse Egregiam veroâ—undem c. The Hebrew word for boasting here signifieth also madness when it is taken in the worse sence as Jer. 46.9 See Prov. 2.14 and to boast of his hearts desire is the note of an Atheist Psal 10.3 The goodness of God endureth continually Maugre thy spitefulness R. Solomon Kabuenaki Midrash Tillin God is good to Israel to the pure in heart and will be so The Rabbins make this the sense If Ahimeleth had not releeved me God would have stirred up some other to have done it Some others understand it thus The goodness of God towards thee a wicked wretch endureth all the day This should lead thee to repentance But thou after the hardness c. Rom. 2.4 Vers 2. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefes i.e. Cogitat id est eructat venteth the mischievous devices of thy minde being an inter preter and an instrument fit for such a purpose Such another Doeg was Nicholas saunders Priest the Fire-brand of Earl Deswâ—â—â—ds Rebellion in Ireland Anno 1580. a restless and wretched man whose foul mouth was at length stopped with famine that had been ever open to stir up rebellions against the State that had uttered so many Blasphemies against God and his holy Truth and invented so many loud and lewdlyes against men Like a sharp razor working deceitfully That instead of shaving the hair launcheth the flesh or missing the beard cutteth the throat Exscindit carnem cum crinibus R. Solom Consutro aberrans jugulum petit whence Dionysius the Tyrant would not trust any Barber no not his own Daughters to shave him but singed off his own hair with hot coals The slanderers Tongue as sharp as a razor or as the quills of a Porcupine flasheth and gasheth the good names of others and that many ways viz. both by denying disguising leslening concealing misconstruing things of good report and also by forging increasing aggravating or uncharitable spreading things of evil report not for any love to the truth nor for respect to justice nor yet for the bettering of the Hearer or the Delinquent but only to prejudice the one and to incense the other This was Doegs sin and denominateth him a Lyer vers 3. though hee had spake but the truth Vers 3. Thou lovest evil more than good Indeed evil only and not at all good whatever thou pretendest Thy heart is naught and thence it is that thy tongue is so mischievons as stinking breath cometh from corrupt inwards And
her that is for his Church or for her that tarried at home vers 12. a periphrasis of the Church in the times of primitive persecution especially till the Almighty scattered those persecuting Princes Some of the Jew-Doctors understand it of Gog and Magog It was white as snow in Salmon Or She was white as snow in Salmon not only as the wings of a Dove but glorious and glittering as snow on that high hill Judg. 9.47 48. At the top of the Alpes nothing is to bee seen but snow which hath lain there beyond the memory of man and as some say ever since the flood The same may be as true of Salmon which some here take for a Noun substantive common and render its albe sees in â—â—ligine thou shalt wax white in darknesse The old Emperour Andronicus lighting upon this verse in his Psalter and applying it to himself Turk hist fol. 164. was much setled and sastisfied concerning his troubles Vers 15. The Hill 〈◊〉 God is as the hill of Basan Basan was fat and fettile but Sion was better because the place where Gods honour dwelled any relation to whom dâ—th greatly ennoble any place or person so Gen. 17.21 22 Israel have blessed twelve Princes shall he beget but my covenant will I establish with Isâ—â—â— Since thou hast been precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Isa 4â— â— Vers 16. Why leap ye ye high bills Why do ye pride and please your selves in your privileges of nature so faire above this of 〈◊〉 Quare 〈…〉 so some render it and tell us that the originall word 〈◊〉 is Syriack 〈…〉 to irritate to insult or contend with any one This is the Hill which God desireth to 〈◊〉 in This 〈…〉 and doth still of the Church from the rest of the World The Lamb Christ is on Mount Sion Revel 14.1 Vers 17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand Heb. The Chariot to note the joynt-service of all the Angels who are here called Shinan of their changeableness now taken away by Christ say some of their precellency above other Creatures say others as being second or next unto God the chief Princes the Nobles of that Court as Dan. 10.13 Michael one of the chief Princes The Seventy render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The cheerful ones such as are in joy and tranquillity freely serving God in all his Warres carrying the Elect and marching about them The Lord is among them as in Sinai i.e. The Angels make Sion as dreadful to all her enemies as those Angels made Sinai at the delivery of the Law See Heb. 12.22 In the holy place Holy for the time whilst God appeared there so 2 Pet. 1.18 Tabor is called the holy Mount Vers 18. Thou hast ascended on high As a Conquerour doth on his triumphal Chariot the Romans ascended up to the Capitol Plut. in Aemyl leading their Captives bound behind them and giving gifts unto the people They might have this custom from David and these words might be the peoples acclamation to David or as some think both the Kings and peoples acclamation to the Ark that notable Type of Christ to whom St. Paul applieth it Ephes 4.8 9. and teacheth us to understand it of his wonderful Ascension Thou hast led captivity captive i.e. Thou hast captivated those that once held us in captivity for so Gods justice required Isa 33.1 so he had fore-promised Isa 24. Rev. 13.10 and so Christ hath fulfilled Coloss 2.15 saving his people to the uttermost from Sin Death Hell and the Devil who had taken them alive captive at his pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 Thou hast received gifts for men Heb. In man some render it in Adam Qualia erant in Adams talia dat Christus saith Eugubinus Christ gave such gifts to his people for if he received with one hand he gave with the other Sed Beth servilis non praeponitur proprio nomini and the fruits of his Victories are all for his Subjects as were in Adam True it is that hee repaireth Gods once-lost Image in them but the gifts here meant are mentioned by the Apostle Ephes 4 11. viz. Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edyfying of the body of Christ c. Lo these were those gifts that Christ bestowed upon his Church at the day of his Coronation and solemn inauguration into his Throne at the time of his triumphant Ascension These he received that he might give and he held it more blessed to give than to receive A like expression wee have Hos 14.2 Receive us graciously Heb. Take good sc to bestow it upon us as Acts 2.23 Yea for the rebellious also Rebellion at first till thou hast given them a better heart See Rom. 4.5 5.6 or if they continue so yet they may share in common gifts and external priviledges That the Lord God might dwell among them viz. in his religion and true worshippers for which end he giveth restraining grace to the very rebellious Vers 19. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us sc With blessings or with crosses turned into blessings as being sanctified and having their properties altered for of themselves they are fruits of sin and a peece of the Curse Let us not load him with our iniquities c. Vers 20. He that is our God is the God of Salvation Or This God is unto us a God of Salvations in the Plural so that he can save us and doth from a thousand deaths and dangers and when he hath delivered us to day he both can and will do it again to morrow he hath for his people omnimodam salutem And unto God the Lord belong the issues from death When we think there is no way but one for us he appeareth as out of an Engin and pulleth us out of Deaths jaws The Lord knoweth how to deliver his 2 Pet. 2.9 from the most desperate and deadly dangers Peter might well say it for he had the experience of it Acts 12. Christ hath the Keys of death Rev. 1.18 the sole dominion and disposal of it 〈…〉 mortis Vers 21. But God shall wound the 〈◊〉 of his enemies 〈◊〉 caput a wound in the head if deep and God strikes no small blows is mortal Christ will break the head of those that bruise his heel that attempt any thing against Him and his By Head here Diodate understandeth the Devil that Prince of the World Deut. 32.42 Psal 110.6 Hab. 3.13 Evil spirits in Scripture are called Shegnirim shag-haired Levit. 17.7 Isa 13.21 And they go on in their trespasses they do infinitely hate God and sin that sin against the Holy Ghost every moment But the most understand it of wicked men And the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still c. This is Gods enemy that by his wilful wickedness striketh and as it were shooteth at God runneth upon him even upon his neck and upon the thick bosses
wilderness i. e. To the birds and wild-beasts who fed upon the dead carcasses of the Egyptians cast upon the shore the Israelites having first taken the spoil of them whereby they were provided of many necessaries for their voyage toward Canaan Vers 15. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood i. e. Fontium torrentium scatebras latebras thou didst set the rock abroach once and again Exod. 17.6 Numb 20.11 rescissis ipsius naturae legibus Thou driedst up mighty rivers Jordan wherein some say met two great Rivers Jor and Dan whereunto the Chaldee here addeth Arnon and Jabbok wherof see Numb 21.14 Deut. 2.37 Vers 16. The day is thine the night also is thine He had argued with God and strengthened his own faith from Gods extraordinary works and now he doth the like from his ordinary works in nature with the alternal course thereof wherein appeareth a kind of image of the seasonable driving away of calamities and turning all things into a desired state Psal 30.5 Lam. 3.23 Thou hast prepared the light and the Sun i. e. That first light scattered abroad the heavens but afterwards gathered into the Sun as into a vessel By light some understand here the Moon that other great luminary it being the manner of the Hebrews nomen generis restringere ad speciens deteriorem Vers 17. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth Securing it from the overflowings of the Sea and appointing to the several Nations the bounds of their habitations Thou hast made summer and winter Plasmasti ea Now thou that hast done all this and more for mankind in general wilt thou be wanting to thy Church Vers 18. Remember this Forgetfulnesse befalleth not the Lord neverthelesse he giveth us leave to be his Remembrancers and not to keep silence when he is concerned Isa 62.6 That the enemy See vers 10. And that the foolish people have blasphemed thy Name This irketh the Saints worse than their own particular sufferings The Egyptians out of their respect to their Mercurius Trismegistus would not rashly pronounce his name no more would the Grecians their god Jupiter no not when they sware by him Turtur minimus censetur in columbarum genere Aristâ— Should not we be much more tender and respective of the holy and reverend name of our God taking it ill when by any it is blasphemed Vers 19. O deliver not the soul of thy Turtle-dove Turturilla tua that groaneth unto thee being not more innocent chast mild simple and sociable than weak shiftlesse Columb mas faemina dormiunt pascuntur codem in loco Arift hist anim lib. 8. c. 3â— Patitur non rapit Kimchi and unable to defend her self from those beasts of prey Optatus observeth that no fowl is more preyed upon by Hauks Kites c. than the Dove yet are there still more Doves than Hauks or Kites for all that So the Church increaseth notwithstanding all persecutions Unto the multitude Or To the beast the wild-company The same word is put here also immediatly for the Congregation or lively flock of Christ Vers 20. Have respect unto the Covenant This the Church knew to be her best plea and therefore she so plieth it For the dark places of the earth are full of cruelty That is saith Basil those places where men are in the darkness or ignorance not knowing God are full of ambition and tyranny Others make this the sense We can hide our selves no where but the Persecutors ferret us out Vers 21. O let not the Oppressed c. Contusas non revertatur confusas let him not take the repulse be disappointed of his expected help from Heaven Vers 22. Plead thine own cause For if we mis-carry Thou art sure to suffer among the proud Chaldees as an impotent God Remember how the foolish man c. See vers 18. Vers 23. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth daily Heb. Ascendeth viz. up to Heaven as Jon. 1.2 there is not hoe with them Mundi laetitia est impunita nequitia If the Lord take them not a link lower as we say they will grow intolerably insolent PSAL. LXXV TO the chief Musician Al-taschith That is Destroy not The Chaldee paraphraseth In the time when David said Destroy not the people The Psalm seemeth to have been made either by Asaph in Davids name or by David himself and by him committed to Asaph at such time as the difference depending betwixt him and Ishosheth many were slain on both sides This drew from David an Al-taschith not long before he was anointed King over all Israel 2 Sam. 5.1 c. Vers 1. Unto thee O God do we give thanks Heb. Wee celebrate thee O God we celebrate thee viz. both for mercies and crosses sanctified for these also are to be reckoned upon the score of Gods favours For that thy Name is near Nomen id est numen Thy Name that is thy self are near ad liberandum invocantem as Aben-Ezra expoundeth it to deliver those that call upon thee Vers 2. When I shall receive the Congregation i. e. The government of all the twelve Tribes as I beleeve I shall do shortly according to Gods promise to mee by Samuel I will judge uprightly That a man is in truth that he is his own particular place and station that he is really that he is relatively Vers 3. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved Both Church and Common-wealth here are utterly out of order I shall indeavour mine utmost to set all to rights and so to preserve the World from ruine which subsisteth by and for the sake of Gods Israel Absque stationibus non staret mundus I bear up the pillars of it Semen sanctum statumen terrae Isa 6.13 The holy seed upholdeth the State David did as Lucan saith of Cato toti genitum se credere mundo Jesus Christ much more he is the true Atlas upholding all things by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 Vers 4. I said unto the fools deal not foolishly Boast not your selves so proudly and petulantly but submit to Gods decree and my government how much more to Christs Lift not up the horn Metaphor a à tauris cornupetis Vers 5. Lift not up your horn on high Against the High God so Tremellius rendreth it Speak not with a stiff neck Some render it with an old neck let old things pass and now speak with a new and humble throat Hard words and stout speeches uttered from a mind vehemently moved out of its plate as the word here used importeth shall be one day dearly answered for Jud. 15. Vers 6. For Promotion commeth neither from the East Dignitatis nullum est â—â—porium Ambitionists use to look this way and that way how to advance themselves but all in vain Hispanic Monarchia Cathalica debetur divinitus sod in Utopia saith One Nor from the South Where the warm sunshine is Vers 7. But God is the Judge He sitteth
knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man c. Ephes 4.13 Vers 12. I will praise thee While he prayed he found his prayer answered and therefore thus breaketh forth into praises Vers 13. 〈…〉 delivered my soul from the lowest hell That is from deadly and desperate dangers Some understand it of the damnation of hell which David had deserved by his sins The Rabbines gloss is A loco adulter is appropriate Vers 14. O God the proud The strangers some read it by the change of a letter in the original who are commonly cruel And the assemblies of violent men Nebulonum some render it sturdy varlets 〈…〉 Vers 15. But thou O Lord art a God full c. These are part of those thirteen Attributes of Almighty God set down and proclaimed by himself Exod. 34.6 Middoth the Rabbines call them that is Properties Vers 16. O turn unto mee Or Look toward mee the life of a beleever consisteth in the light of Gods countenance Give thy strength unto thy servant Master pray lend me your hand saith the servant to his Master when he wants help 〈…〉 q. d. I was both in thy house came religious Parents c. therefore do mee good for their sakes at least as Ismael was blessed for Abrahams Vers 17. Shew mee a token for good Make mee King as thou hast promised and mean while to deliver mee that my greatest adverâ—â—â—â— may be convinced of their malice and madness At the death of some tokens were flown 〈…〉 for instance 〈…〉 and the Sun â—hope of a daâ—â— cloud so full Act. Mon 1544 1547. 1398. that he was forced to look another way PSAL. LXXXVII A Psalm or song Made likely by David after that he had setled the Ark in Mount Sion 2 Sam. 6. and understood that the Temple should be built in Mount Moriah In which two mountains or rather one mountain with two tops the Rabbines say that this Psalm was composed and thereunto they draw the next words His foundation or the argument of this Psalm is in and of those holy Mountains But this seemeth not to be the sense Vers 1. His foundation is in the holy Mountains Which cannot be removed but abide for ever Psal 125.1 Some read it The foundation thereof viz. of the Temple but especially of the Church universall that spirituall Temple built of living stones by God the best Architect Christ himself being the chief corner-stone is in the holy Mountains For out of Zion went forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem which is therefore called the Mother-Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief Church the root of the Gentile-Churches Rom. 11. Damasc l. 4. c. 13. the conversion whereof is here foretold verse 4. and perpetuall happinesse promised Vers 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion Nothing but his meer love moved him to make choice of it above all other places there to declare his power presence and goodness He first chose it for his love and then loved it for his choice and so he doth his Church Vers 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee Dicta praedicta told and foretold of thee Heb. in thee sc by the holy Prophets especially concerning the Christian Church See Isa 40. to the end of that Prophecy Nihil honorificum non praedicatur de te nihil praedicatur dete quin sit honorificentissimum Jun. Thou City of God The God of glory Act. 7.1 the great King Mat. 5.35 the only potentate 1 Tim. 6.15 who maketh his Church the place of his residence c. Selah O rem dignam perpetua admiratione O wonderfull Vers 4. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon Rahab is Egypt and so called for its strength and pride Babel the chief City of the Babylonians These were deadly enemies to Jerusalem which was ground betwixt them as betwixt a pair of Milstones but they shall be reckoned hereafter saith God among my domesticks among those that know mee or rather are known of mee See Isa 19.19 21 25. 1 Pet. 5.13 Behold Philistia The Philistines were ever bitter enemies to the Israelites but shall be converted and become children of the Church See Isa 54.1 44.5 And Tyre Which shall leave heaping and hoarding and imploy her Merchandise to feed and cloath Gods Saints Isa 23.18 Act. 21.3 4. With Aethopia Heb. Cush of Cush the son of Ham their Father and founder Gen. 10.6 Aethiopians they were called from their burnt faces The Eunuch received the Gospel and published it Act. 8. the Christian faith was professed among them as 't is thought from the Apostles time though now for above an hundred years they have again forsaken it This man was born there Natus id est renatus in illa The men of these several and other Countries were born that is born a new and so made free-denisons of the new Jerusalem fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the house-hold of God Ephes 2.19 Vers 5. And of Zion it shall be said This and that man was born in her i. e. Converted and so a daily accession made to the Church of Christ as was by Peters â—ermon c. and now so many Nations Behold the World is gone after him said those envious Pharisees Joh. 12.19 and the Papists grudge as much at the late glorious Reformation begun by Luther wherein so many rejoyce and shall do to all eternity Bucholcerus blesseth God that he was born in the dayes and was bred under the discipline of holy Melancthon Luthers colleague Divisae his operae sed mens fuit unica pavit Ore Lutherus oves flore Melanethen apes Beatus Ludovicus would be called Ludovicus de Pissiaco rather than take greater titles because there hee became a Christian Hee thought no birth to a new birth in Christ no parentage to that of God to his Father the Church to his Mother Christ to his elder Brother c. Some apply this text to the places of holy mens birth and tell us that he loves the very ground his servants tread on the very air they first breath in their walls are continually before him Isa 49.16 he thinks the better of the houses where they dwell And the highest himself shall establish her So that the gates of Hell shall not unsettle her Other states and Polities have their times and their turns their rise and their ruine not so the Church Vers 6. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people When he maketh his Cense-book called the writing of the house of Israel Ezek. 13.9 the Lords book of remembrance Mal. 3.16 the Register of the living in Jerusalem Isa 4.3 he shall muster them in the roll of his souldiers number them in the catalogue of his Citizens call them in the nomenclatura of his Disciples c. A glorious priviledge surely As well the singers as the players c. There shall be an exuberancy of joy in the holy Ghost the only comfortable soul-ravishing
sing in a strange Land Quid nobis cum fabulis cum risu saith Bernard in hoc exilio in hoc ergastulo in hac valle lachrymarum Let us cast away carnall mirth and groan earnestly to bee cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 Vers 5 Iâ— I forget thee O Jerusalem As I might seem to do should I herein gratifie these Idolaters or otherwise obey them rather than God The Jews at this day when they build an house they are say the Rabbines to leave one part of it unfinished and lying rude in remembrance that Jerusalem and the Temple are at present desolate At least they use to leave about a yard square of the house unplaistered on which they write Leo Modena of the riâ—es of the Jews in great letters this of the Psalmist If I forget Jerusalem c. or else these words Zecher lechorban that is The memory of the desolation Let my right hand forget Fiat abalienata atque emortua Let it bee paralyticall and useless unfit to touch the harp Vers 6 If I do not remember thee Hi gemitus Sanctorum sunt gemitus Spiritus sancti these are the very sighs unutterable that precede joys unspeakable and full of glory Either our beds are soft or our hearts hard that can rest when the Church is at unrest that feel not our Brethrens hard cords through our soft beds If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Heb. If I cause it not to ascend above the head of my joy Christ in his Ordinances must bee our chiefest comfort overtopping all other and devouring all discontents whatsoever Vers 7 Remember O Lord the Children of Edom Those unbrotherly bitter enemies The Jews call Romists Edomites Rase it rase it Discooperite discooperite Diruite ex imis subvertite fundamentis Buchanan Darius hearing that Sardis was sacked and burnt by the Athenians commanded one of his servants to say to him thrice alwayes at supper Sir remember the Athenians to punish them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod Tâ—rp Vers 8 That art to bee destroyed Spoliatrix saith the Syriack Isa 33.1 Happy shall hee bee i. e. Well rewarded with wealth and good wishes Vers 9 That taketh and dasheth thy little ones So at the destruction of Troy Sed palam raptis heu nefas heu Nescios fari puerâ—s Achivis Ureret flammis etiam latentes Mâ—tris in alve Horat. l. 4. Od. 6. PSAL. CXXXVIII VErs 1 I will praise thee with my whole heart Which no Hypocrite can do though hee may pray in distress from the bottom of his heart A gratefull manis a gracious man viz. if hee come with a true heart as the Apostle hath it Heb. 10.22 Aben-Ezra Before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee That is before Angels who are present in holy assemblies 1 Cor. 11.10 as was represented by those Cherubines pictured in the Temple as also before Princes and Potentates see vers 4. Kimchi Vers 2 I will worship toward thy holy Temple Wheresoever I am the face of my soul shall turn like the needle of a Diall by sacred instinct Abbot towards thee in the Ark of thy presence in the son of thy love For thy loving kindness and for thy truth For thy grace and truth which come by Jesus Christ the Ark and Mercy-seat were never sundred Gods loving kindness in Christ moved him to promise his truth binds him to perform and hence our happiness For thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Or Thou hast magnified thy name in all thy Words Or Thou hast magnified above all things thy Name by thy Word that is Thou hast got thee a very great name by fulfilling thy promises and by setting on thy Word with power Vers 3 In the day when I cryed c. This hee worthily celebrateth as a singular favour a badge of grace Psal 66.18 and pledge of glory Act. 2.21 And strengthenedst mee with strength in my soul With strength in the inward man Ephes 3.16 20. with spirituall mettal with supporting grace keeping head above water My body is weak my soul is well said that dying Saint I am as full of comfort as heart can hold said a certain Martyr The Apostle speaketh of the new supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 the joy of the Lord is strengthening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neh. 8.10 Vers 4 All the Kings of the earth shall praise thee Such of them as shall read these Psalms of my composing or otherwise shall hear of thy gracious dealing with mee according to thy promise Such also as shall hereafter bee converted to the faith for though Not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1.26 yet some are and these shine in the Church like stars of the first magnitude Vers 5 Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord As having tasted the excellencie of the comforts of godliness far surpassing those of the Crown and Scepter and felt the power of Gods Word subduing them to the obedience of faith whereby they come to rule with God to bee faithfull with his Saints and to sing their songs Vers 6 Though the Lord bee high c. Even the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity Isa 57.15 See on Psal 113.6 7. Yet hath hee respect unto the lowly This maketh that Ancient cry out Videte magnum miraculum See here a great miracle God is on high thou liftest thy self up Aug. de Temp. and he flieth from thee thou bowest thy self down and hee descendeth unto thee Low things hee looketh close upon that he may raise them higher lofty things he knoweth a far off that he may crush them down lower The proud Pharisee pressed as near God as he could the poor Publican not daring to do so stood a loof of yet was God far from the Pharisee near to the Publican The Lord Christ is a door to Heaven Aug. in Johaâ— but a low door hee who will enter in thereby humiliet se oportet ut sano capite intrare contingat saith Austin hee must needs stoop to save his head-peece But the proud hee knoweth a far off As not vouchsafing to come anear such loathsome lepers For pride is like a great swelling in the body apt to putrifie break and run with loathsome and foul matter Hence God stands off from such as odious and abominable hee cannot abide the sight of them Superbâ—s à calo longè propellit as the Chaldee here paraphraseth he driveth the proud far enough off from Heaven yea hee thrusteth them into Hell to their Father Lucifer that King of all the children of pride as Leviathan is called Job 41.34 Vers 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble Even in the vale of the shadow of death so that I seem little different from a dead man Thou wilt revive mee That is restore mee from so great a death as 2 Cor. â— 10 Thou shalt stretch
that rideth in the desert Comeâ—â— Isai 40.3 4 Mat. 3.1 Mat. 3.3 The Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raise up the way and make it ready as they use to do before Kings that ride in triumph that the King of glory may come into your hearts those deserts indeed By his name Jâ—h the same with Jehovah that proper and incommunicable name of God Some of the Heathens called it Joâ—â— as Dioderus Sicalanâ— Mackâ—â—â—â— c. Holy and reverend is this name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essentates and it is here and elsewhere given to Christ See it interpreted Rev. 1.4 Vers 5. A Father of the fatherless c. Pupillerum pater 〈◊〉 vindex a title that God much glorieth in and although hee rideth upon the Heavens and is higher than the highest yet so low stoopeth he to our meanness neither will he leave his people orphans or comfortless Jâ—â— c. 18. for God is in his holy habitation Not in Heaven only but in and with his Church on earth the Ark and Mercy-seat were never sundred Vers 6. God setteth the solitary in families i.e. He blesseth them with Issue See Psal 113.9 and so he doth the Church Isa 54. It in these dayes of the Gospel especially He bringeth out those which are bonnd in thâ—ing As he did Peter Act 12. Paul and Silas Act. 16. Some read it thus He bringeth out those which are bound in accomoditates into places where they may live commodiously and chearfully As on the other side The rebellions dwell in a dry land In leâ—â—s torridis arridis exsucis 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 and desert Countries where they are destitute of Gods blessing and his soul-refreshing comforts The Hebrew word signifieth a bleak or white soil such as is all Egypt where the Nile arriveth not viz. a whitish sand bearing no grass but two little weeds of which they make glass Where the river wâ—â—â—reth is a black mould so fruitfull say travailers as they do but throw in the seed and have four rich harvests in lesse than four months Hence Egypt is called The World Graâ—â—â—y Vers 7. O God when thou wentest forth before thy people Here the former benefits of God to his people are recited additis 〈◊〉 coloribus 〈◊〉 potius quam descripta and rather depainted out in lively colours than described Wet must stirre up out selves to thankfullness for what God hath done for our forefathers neither must the memory of his mercies ever grow stale with us Vers 8. The earth shook the Heavens also dropped Velut in sudoviut soluts as if they had been put into a sweat In so terrible a manner was the Law given that Gods sear might fall upon us Exod. 20. As for the Gospel it is than 〈◊〉 of Liberalities vers 9. confirming Gods inheritance when it is weary Even Sinai it self was moved at the prefence of God Some render it a facie Dei hâ—jus Sinaice à facie Dei Dei I srael These two verses are taken our or 〈◊〉 song Jud. 5.4.5 Vers 9. Thou O God didst send a plentifull rain Heb. Thou 〈…〉 rain of liberalities Spiritually this meaneth the Doctrin of the Gospel Deut 3. â— 2 Isa 45.8 Hos 14.6 and the gifts of the Holy Christ bestowed hereby and plentifully Vers 10. Thy Congregation hath dwelt therein 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 sosome render it and interpret it of the flocks and heards whereby of his goodnesse God prepared fot his poor those creatures being profitable both 〈…〉 Deus obrulit occasionem laetandi ovandi triumphandi Vers 11. The Lord gave the word That is the occasion 〈…〉 de victoria saith Vatablus How God provided his people of 〈…〉 Psalmist had told us now of the victory the good news whereof shall 〈◊〉 in every ones mouth like the word in an army with joyfull acclamations and out-cryes Great was the company Heb. army of the forbad published 〈◊〉 Such are thy Preachers of the Gospel Rom. 10.15 an office taken now from the Angelâ—â— and given to the Ministers whereâ—â— that Angel turned over 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 information 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word for 〈…〉 is 〈…〉 continuance out 〈…〉 of New England but to shew the weaknesse of the means fisherman and the like that God is pleased to use in this great work Ut imbecillitatem ministrorum Ecclesiae nocet Moller for the greater manifestation of his power in the successe as some conceive Vers 12. Kings of armies did flee apace Heb. Did flee did flee Or shall flee shall flee which one interpreteth of Devils called Principalities and Powers formerly using to give Oracles but after Christs birth ceasing to do so As also of Liciusâ—â— and other tyrants fleeing before Constantine the first Christian Emperour See Rev. 9.11 Antichrist is the King of Locusts and he fleeth daily before the Evangelies Lib. 3. de Pont. Rom. cap. 21. the New-Gospellers as he calleth them Bellarmine complaineth that ever since we held the Pope to be Antichrist non mode non crevit ejus imperium sed semper magiâ—ac magis decrevit his Kingdome hath not only not increased but more and more daily decreased And she that tarried at home divided the spoil That is toto congregatia que non pugnabat saith Kimchi Or the women also those domi porta came forth to pillage These dayes of the Gospel do abound with many godly matrones and holy Virgins And it is easie to observe that the New Testament affordeth more store of good women than the Old Vers 13. Inter Chytropodâ—s Though ye have lyâ—n among the Pots Quasiobruti roti oppleti fuligine tenebris black and sooty as the black guard of an army or as Skullions in a Kitchin who lye sometimes all right like beasts in a chimney-corner or as your Fore-Fathers in Egypt when their shoulders were not yet removed from the burden nor their hands from the pots Psal 81.6 The meaning is though ye have been in a low and loathsome condition yet now ye shall shine and flourish Verba sunt maliorum saith Kimchi these are the words of those women annunciatrices in the eleventh verse Beza maketh them to be the Psalmists words to those women that divided the spoil vers 12. Vixistis adhuc puella c. ye have hitherto dwelt at home and washt pots c. but now being enriched by the spoils yee may come abroad fair and trimme like white Doves with gilt feathers Yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove Ye shall flye swiftly from the storm of cruel persecution saith the Syroack Interpreter yea you shall shine and make a glorious shew ficut nivea columbae per medium aercus inter volitandum aureum quendam splendarem ejaculantur See Isa 54.11 12 13. the Churches bricks made in her bondage shall be turned into Saphires Vers 14. When the Almighty scattered Kings in it i.e. In the wilderness as they passed or in Canaan which they possessed according to vers 1. Or scattered Kings for
and pour out its complaint before the Lord. Vers 1. Hear my prayer O Lord O Lord Christ for so this Psalm is to bee understood as the Apostle sheweth Heb. 1. And let my cry Which is that thou wouldest be pleased to bring us poor exiles back to our own Country and so this prayer is answerable to that of Daniel Chap. 9. Vers 2. Hide not thy face from me For this would be worse than all the rest See Jer. 16.13 I will cast you cut of this land-and I will shew you no favour This last was a cutting speech and far worse than their captivity and yet Non exul curae dicitur esse Deâ— Answer me speedily Festina responde In our earnest prayers we may press for expedition in general not tying God to any particular time as those Bethulians did in the book of Judith Vers 3. For my dayes are consumed like smoak Which the higher it mounteth the sooner it vanisheth Some read it in the smoak So Psal 119.83 I am become like a bottle in the smoak dryed and withered 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 bones are burnt as an hearth Ossae mea quasi friâ—â— contaâ—â—erâ—â—â— My strength is gone Velâ—â—l sartagiâ—â—â— Arah Here to the twelfth verse is a most lively picture of a dejected person such as can hardly bee paralleld teaching us to be deeply affected with the Churches afflictions Vers 4. My heart is smitten Blasted with thins indignation that ventus urent â—xiâ—ans So that I forget eat my bread I am â—â—â—achless through want of that beat heart should supply Vers 5. By reason of the voyce of my 〈◊〉 A broken spirit drieth the bones Prov. 17.22 and by drinking up the marrow and radical moisture casâ—eth all into a consumption Vers 6. I am like a 〈◊〉 Or 〈◊〉 which liveth in lonely plaâ—â—â—â— and crieth ou◠〈…〉 I am like an Owl of the Desert Avis lutifuga Night-bird a Night-raven the Vulgar hath it others a Bat a Cuccow but most an Owl that noctis monstrâ—â— as Pliny speaketh of her net cantu aliquâ— vocales sedgeâ—itu hated of all other fouls Lib. 10. cap. which never come near her but to keep a wondering at her Vers 7. I watch I can as little sleep as eat vers 4. That nurse of nature and sweet Parenthesiâ— of mens griefs and cares sleep departeth from me Nec membris dat curasâ—pâ—rem And am as a sparrow That hath lost his mate so have I mine associater which is a sore loss for optimum solatium sodalitium Vers 8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day This is an evil that mans nature is most impatient of See Psal 137. And they that are mad against me That let flye at meâ— or that once praised me flattered meâ— So the Sept. Are sworn against me Have sworn my death or do swear and curse by me as the Turks do at this day when to confirm a truth they say Judaeus sim si sallam I would I were a Jew it is so See Zach. 8.13 Isa 6.15 Jer. 29.22 God make thee as Abab and as Zedechiah c. Vers 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread Being cast on the ground as a mourner I know not whether I eat bread or dust this relisheth to me as well as that my mouth is so out of taste And mingled my drink with weeping I forbare not to weep no not while I drank sorrow is dry and wine driveth away sorrow we say Not so from me Wine is calle by Simon ideâ— in Athonaeu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an expeller oâ— sadness De coelo in terram R. Solom Vers 10. Because of thine indignation This lay heavier upon the good mans heart than all the rest God was displeased For thou bast lifted me up and cast me down That is that I might fall with the greater poise Significatur gravissima collisie Here the Prophet accuseth not God of cruelty but bewayleth his own misery Miserum est suisse felicem It is no small unhappiness to have been happy Vers 11. My dayes are like a shadow that declineth As at Sun-set the shadows are at longest but not long lasting And I am withered like grass Mown down and laid a drying Vers 12. But thou O Lord shalt indure for ever And therefore wee thy Covenanters shall be restored Lam. 5.19 And thy remembrance Which thou hast of us and we of thee Vers 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion This hee speaketh with as much confidence as if he had been in Gods bosome for hee knew the promise of deliverance after seventy years captivity See the like Hab. 1.12 For the time to favour her c. This he understood by books as Dan. 9.2 and therefore presseth God to a speedy performance God loveth to be burdened with his own word to be sued upon his own bond c. But besides the promise the Psalmist had another ground of his confidence and that is in the next Vers 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones They pity heâ— and wish her welfare much more then dost thou Hee argueth from that sweet tender melting frame of spirit that was found in the faithful which is but a reflex of that farsweeter that is in God And savour the dust thereof Theruines and the rubbish heartily desiring and expecting a re-edification and restauration whereof they had a sweet promise Am. 9.9 and for the spiritual Temple to be built of Jews and Gentiles they had many more See all that followeth Vers 15. So the beathen shall fear c. By the restauration of Jerusalem where the Messias was to be born and manifested the everlasting Gospel shall be preached and the Gentiles converted to the faith And all the Kings of the earth Caught by those Fishermen and their successors in the Ministry Vers 16. When the Lord shall build up Zion Isaiah had foretold that the second Temple should be more glorious than the first Isa 54.11 and 60.17 the stones whereof were types of those living stones whereof that spiritual Temple was to bee built 1 Pâ—t 2.5 and wherein God would manifest more of his glory than ever liâ— had done in all the world besides Vers 17. Humilesque Myticae Virg. He will regard the prayer of the destitute Heb. Of the poor shrub tha is in the wilderness trod upon by beasts unregarded worthless Heath Juniper t Wild Ta marâ—k Tremelliâ—â— rendreth it Nudatissimi Others Excitantis se the prayer of one that stirreth up himself to take hold of God and thereby prevaileth with him I came for thy prayer saith the Angel to Daniel chap. 10.12 Vers 18. This shall be written for the generation to come This that the poor shrub hath sped so well in prayer together with all other the particulars of this Psalm and indeed the whole Scripture Rom. 15.4 So little truth is there in that assertion of the Jesuits that the Epistles of the Apostles were intended onely for the use of those Churches or persons to whom
they were first written And the people which shall be created Created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 Isa 51.16 his regenerated people For God planteth the heavens and layeth the foundations of the earth that be may say to Zion Thou art my people Vers 19. For he hath looked down from the height c. This is no small condescention sith he abaseth himself to look upon things in heaven Psal 113.6 From heaven did the Lord behold the earth That is his poor despised servants that are in themselves no better than the earth they tread on Vers 20. To hear the groaning of the prisoner Those prisoners of hope held so long captive in Babylon the cruelty whereof is graphically described Jer. 51.34 Vers 21. To declare the Name of the Lord in Zion This shall bee the business of the converted Gentiles to make up one Catholick Church with the Christian Jews and to bear a part in setting forth Gods worthy prayses See vers 18. Vers 22. When the people are gathered together sc to the Lord Christ For to Shilâ—â— shall be the gathering of the people Gen. 49.10 And the Kingdoms to serve the Lord As they did under Constantine the Great Valentinian Theodosius which three Emperors called themselves Vasalles Christi as Socrates reporteth the Vassals of Christ And the like may be said of other Christian Kings and Princes since who have yeelded professed subjection to the Gospel and cast their Crowns at Christs feet Vers 23. He weaâ—ned my strength in the way This is the complaint of the poor captives yet undelivered In via hoc est in vita quia bic sumus viatores in coelo comprehensores here wee are but on our way to heaven and wee meet with many discouragements He shortned my dayes viz. According to my account For otherwise in respect of God our dayes are numbred Stat sua cuique dies Vers 24. Take me not away in the midst of my dayes Heb. Make me not to ascend Serus in coelum redeam Fain I would live to see those golden dayes of Redemption Abraham desired to see the day of Christ Job 8. Simeon did and then sang out his soul All the Saints after the Captivity looked hard for the consolation of Israel Thy years are throughout all generations And that 's the comfort of thy poor Covenanters who are sure to participate of all thy goods Vers 25. Of old thou hast laid the foundation c. Here is a clear proof of Christs eternity Heb. 1.10 because he was before the creation of the world and shall continue after the consummation thereof vers 26 27. So the Saints a parte pest 1 Job 2.17 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Vers 26. They shall perish i.e. They shall change form and state being dissolved by the last fire 2 Pet. 3.7 10. But thou shalt endâ—re Heb. Stand and with thee thy Church Mat. 22.32 Yea all of them shall wax old as a garment Which weareth in the wearing so do the visible heavens and the earth what ever some write de constantia naturae Isaiah saith It rotteth as a book that is vener andae rubiginiâ— and wasteth away as smoak chap. 65.17 and 66.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tucetu Arab. At a vesture shalt thou change them The Greek hath roul them confer Isa 34 4. Vers 27. But thou art the same Therefore immutable because Eternall ut nihil tibi possit accedere vel decidere Vers 28. The children of thy servants shall continue By vertue of the Covenant and that union with thee which is the ground of communion If it could be said of Cesar that he held nothing to he his own that he did not communicate to his friends how much more of Christ Propterea bene semper sperandum etiamsi 〈◊〉 ruant the Church is immortal and immutable PSAL. CIII A Psalm of David Which he wrote when carried out of himself as far as heaven saith Beza and therefore calleth not upon his own soul onely but upon all creatures from the highest Angel to the lowest worm to set forth Gods praises Vers 1. Bless the Lord O my soul Agedum animulâ— mi intima mea visera A good mans work lyeth most within doors he is more taken up with his own heart than with all the world besides neither can he ever be along so long as he hath God and his own soul to converse with Davids Harp was not ofâ—ner out of tune than his heart which here he is setting right that he may the better make melody to the Lord. Musick is sweet but the setting of the strings in tune is unpleasing so is it harsh to set out hearts in order which yet must be done and throughly done as here And all that is within me All my faculties and senses The whole soul and body must be set a work in this service the judgement to set a right estimate upon mercies the memory to recognize and retain them Dent. 6 11 12. and 8.14 the Will which is the proper seat of thankfulness the affections love desire joy confidence all must bee actuated that our praises may be cordial vocal vital In peace-offerings God called for the sat and inwards Vers 2. Bless the Lord O my soul David found some dulness and drowsiness hence he so oft puts the thorn to the breast hence he so impeâ—â—ously instigateth his soul as One shere phraseth it And forget not all his benefits Forgetfulness is a grave look to it Eaten bread is soon forgotten with us as it is with children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pinâ—u neither perisheth any thing so soon with many as a good turn Alphonsus King of Arragon professed that hee wondred not so much at his Courtiers ingratitude to him who had raised many of them from mean to great estates which they little remembred as at his own to God Vers 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities David not only taketh upon him with an holy imperiousness laying Gods charge upon his soul to be thankful but intending to shew himself good cause why to be so he worthily beginneth with remission of fin as a complexive mercy and such as comprehendeth all the rest He had a Crown of pure gold set upon his head Psal 21. But here hee blesseth God for a better Crown vers 4. Who crowneth thee with loving kindness c. And how was this Crown set on his head but by forgiving all his iniquities Who healeth all thy diseases Corporal and spiritual Quod saniâ—as in corpore id sanctitas in corde Jehovah Rophe or the Lord the Physician as he is called Exod. 15.26 cureth His people on both fides maketh them whole every whit See Isa 19.22 Mat. 8.17 He bore out diseases Vers 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction From hell saith the Chaldee from a thousand deaths and dangers every day All this Christ our kind kinsman doth for us dying