troubles in the flesh so were comforts in my soul which did mitigate the sorrow of my heart which did arise from that which grieved the outward man so that the sad thoughts of my heart were turned into matter of joy 2 Cor. 7.4 I am fill'd with comfort I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation Can then the sorrowful thoughts of the heart The prolepsis can tribulations and afflictions delight any soul Yes they may the soul of a pious and righteous man while he considers That 1. Apodosis shewing the true use and end of afflictions Either by them he is purged from the impurity of sin that cleaves so close to him 2. Or that he is by them proved and tryed by God whether he will cleave fast to him 3. Or that God doth this to make him conformable in his sufferings to his head Christ Jesus 4. Or that his reward in heaven for his patience shall be the greater For our light affliction which is but for a moment works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 In the multitude of the greatest sorrows these are Gods comforts and they may delight a soul 3. 3 Confirm'd from the nature of God that will revenge injustice His third Reason to comfort the Church in affliction is drawn from the Nature of God to whom all iniquity especially committed by those in the seats of justice is hateful of which because those who are in high places are most guilty for they most oppress his people therefore he will be sure to take the severest revenge on them And with this also he comforts the people of God under the Cross 1. Vers. 20 Shall the Throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee Thou art a just God Especially in Magistrates who hope to bear it out 1. By their Throne 2. By wicked Laws and wilt thou have any thing to do any society with those that sit upon Thrones and Seats of justice and execute injustice which they hope to bear out by their power 2. Which frame mischief by a Law i. e. Frame wicked Laws or under the colour of Law and Justice oppress the innocent Summum jus summa injuria and injuries may and are too often done ex pravâ interpretatione legis With those who do injustice by the sword of justice God will have no fellowship 3. Vers. 21 And yet there is a third pretence of wicked men to colour their proceedings against innocent men 3 By their Council The first was their Throne 2. The second was the Law And the third is their Council and consultations in them These they call to that end Coeunt turmatim Jagheddu Congregabuntur Convenient They meet by Troops as Thieves they Assemble they Convene in Synods they gather themselves together and that to a most wicked end 1. Against the soul of the Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag To hunt 2. To Condemne the Innocent Blood Their Laws are Dracc's Laws Now what shall the poor Innocent do in such a case From whom God will defend his people How shall he be comforted Help he must expect none from man from man it cannot come it must come from Heaven and therefore let him say with David Let my enemies rage as they list Vers. 22 and exercise all cruelties toward me under a pretence of zeal piety and legal justice 1. But the Lord is my defence that their treachery and plots shall not hurt me 2. My God is the Rock of my refuge on whom my hope shall safely relie 3. I am fully assured for I have his Word and his promise engaged for it 1. That he shall bring upon them their own iniquity that is Vers. 23 that the iniquity of the wicked man And punish them for their injustice shall return upon his own head As thy Sword hath made women childless so shall thy mother be childless among women saith Samuel to Agag 1 Sam. 15.33 Judges 1.7 2. And shall cut them off in their own wickedness in malitia eorum not so much for their sin as the malice of it 3. Which for assurance of it he repeats and explains who it is that shall do it Yea the Lord our God shall cut them off the Lord whose providence they derided our God the God of Jacob whom they contemned vers 7. The Prayer collected out of the ninty fourth Psalm O Omnipotent Lord God Vers. 6 strange and wonderful is the insolence of wicked men for they do not only slay the widow and stranger and murder the fatherless Vers. 5 but they are come to that height of pride and madness that they break in pieces thy people and afflict thine heritage yea they set their mouths against heaven and blaspheme thee to thy face Vers. 7 boldly and presumptuously they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it O Lord how long shall the wicked Vers. 3 how long shall the wicked thus triumph How long shall they utter and speak hard things How long shall all the workers of iniquity boast themselves of their power their strength Vers. 1 their armies their success their wisdom To thee O Lord God Vers. 2 vengeance belongs to thee vengeance belongs evidently and apparently shew thy justice Lift up thy self ascend into thy Throne and Tribunal O thou Judge of the whole earth and reward the proud after their deserving Man I see being advanced to honour hath no understanding Vers. 8 and without thy Spirit of wisdom is to be compared to the beasts that perish for is it else possible that a creature endued with reason should become so bruitish as to imagine that he that planted the ear and gave him power to hear should not hear Or so foolish as to think that he who framed that admirable Organ of the eye and placed in it the visive faculty should not see himself be deaf and not listen to what is proudly spoke against him and blind and not regard what is maliciously done against his people Is it conceivable that any man should be so follish and stupid as to suppose that he who hath fallen in fury upon many Nations for their sins shall not correct him for his transgressions that he who hath taught man knowledge and shewed him by his own conscience what is good and evil and by it reproving him when he does amiss and by it taking revenge on him a is it possible I say that he should not know and revenge it Yet to this Blasphemy and Atheism some have arrived O Lord never let any of thine fall into this bruitishness far remove from them this folly make them wise to know that thy ear of jealousie hears all things and that thy eyes run through the world and tryes the children of men that thou art present in all our wayes seest our actions hearest our words nay searchest into the secrets of our hearts and the depth of our counsels and that it is
are the dayes of thy servant How long shall this affliction endure when shall the dayes of this tentation and misery be at an end this persecution be over 2. When wilt thou execute judgement he means temporal punishments on them that persecute me O let me not dye comfortless but let me see that thou art a God of judgement and men behold that there is a reward for the righteous 3. And in the next verse he describes them from their qualities Vers. 5 1. They were proud Men that would endure no yoke of God Who are 1. Proud of man 2. Subtile They digg'd pits For their advantage 2 Subtile submit to any base office crouch and bow Psa 104.10 Absolon abased himself 3. Impious men for the courses they took against him 3 Impious were not according to Gods Word They digg'd pits for me which were not after thy Law 'T is some comfort yet that we have those men our enemies that are enemies to God and whose actions are displeasing to him 4. For they are contrary to thy Law For all thy Commandments are true nay truth it self and they a false generation 5. And yet these are the men that persecute me He prayes for seasonable help but they do it wrongfully 6. Therefore O Lord help me Help me against their treachery 7. And it is but time For their malicious cruelty is unsatiable they have not only troubled me but had almost consumed me upon earth 8. The comfort yet is that it is not done because I forsook not thy precepts 3. He shuts up all with a Petition that he makes often in this Psalm 3 He petitions for strength 1. Quicken me And it may seem strange that so often he should acknowledge himself as it were a dead man and desire God to put life into him But to a child of God every desertion and decay of strength seems a death so desirous they are to live to God that when they fail in it and are dismabled they account themselves as it were dead and pray the Lord for life Quicken me And promiseth obedience 2. Quicken me after thy loving-kindness he opposeth Gods kindness to his enemies malice and it is comfortable I am troubled with their malice for thy sake and therefore I crave to be refreshed by thy kindness In that there is comfort enough Psa 52.1 3. So shall I keep the Testimonies of thy mouth So that is quickned by thee for otherwise there was in him no strength to obey no more than a dead man doth the actions of a natural life The Prayer O Merciful God while that help and salvation Vers. 1 which we alone expect from thée is delayed and with-held from us our very souls have fainted within us To thée we look day and night and our eyes are bent toward heaven in expectation of thy promises O Lord when wilt thou comfort us Our body languisheth our skin is furrowed into wrinkles no bottle in the smoke is more dryed up than is our flesh while we look and long for help from thy hand Proud men the sons of Belial that have shaked off the yoke have digg'd pits for our life They wrongfully persecute us They have almost consumed us upon the earth O Lord how many are the dayes of thy servants How long shall this affliction endure when shall the dayes of this tentation and misery be at an end when wilt thou execute jugement on them that persecute us Help us O Lord for we hope in thy Word arise and deliver us for we have not forgotten nor yet will forsake thy Statutes This we have resolved on Vers. 3.7 this we have decréed but to perform this resolution of our selves we are not able no more than a dead man is to execute the actions of the living Quicken us then with thy Grace according to thy loving-kindness and infiniteness of thy mercy and so will we kéep thy Testimonies which thou hast made known unto us by thine own finger and left unto us by the mouth of thy own Son Iesus Christ our Lord. 12. LAMECH THIS Octonary is an Encomium of the Word of God The Contents and of the perfection thereof which he commends from the immutability and constancy thereof 2. Then from the comfort he received from it in his trouble 1. Gods Word immutable both In the three first verses the Prophet shewes That Gods Word is immutable by an instance in the creatures 1. Ver. 1 In the Heavens For ever O Lord thy Word is setled in Heaven For the Heavens were made by his Word In heaven and earth and continue in the same frame they were made by his Word to this day 2. In the Earth Whose foundations are yet immoveable Thy faithfulness is unto all Generations Ver. 2 Thou hast established the earth and it abideth 3. Ver. 3 They Heaven and Earth both continue this day according to thy Ordinance 4. The Reason is For all things serve thee Thy creatures they are and thou their Lord Creator they then must be at thy Beck and Command 2. 2 It brought him comfort in his trouble Next he shewes the excellent perfection of Gods Word by a rare effect it had upon himself it gave him comfort and kept him from despair in his trouble he collected it from the former instances thus if the Word of God sustained the Heaven and the Earth he saw no reason but it might also sustain him and so leaning upon it he was delighted in it and that delight held him up he knew it would be an Anchor of hope that would not fail him Vnless thy Law had been my delight Ver. 4 I should have perished in my trouble This he knew he could not do because God had promised him the contrary no such comfort in trouble as Gods Word and Promise this will abide when other fails 3. Upon this comfort he vowes Upon which joy and comfort first he makes a promise of thankfulness he had found life in Gods Word and he resolves never to forget it 1. Ver. 5 I will never forget thy precepts that men forget them is because they find no heart in them 2. 1 Never to let it slip out of his memory His Reason is For with them thou hast quickned me He saith not the Word quickned him but God by his Word For the Word quickens not till Gods Spirit come to it Vitam gratiae augendo vitam gloria promittendo 2. 2 To be Gods servant Then next he devotes himself to be Gods servant for the present and for ever 1. Ver. 6 I am thine And I do and will serve no other Lord no base pleasure no profit nor the World nor the flesh nor the Devil and therefore I can with a good conscience ask 2. O save me It is for a Lord to protect and save his servant 3. And that I am thine is evident in this that I am ready to do thy Will For
altogether Out of all which David concludes that it is both precious and sweet Ver. 10 1. The price of it beyond the best gold More to be desired it is than gold Precious Sweet yea than much fine gold obrizo the gold of Ophir 2. The sweetness thereof beyond honey than the honey-comb 3. Yea and besides all this Ver. 11 he shews upon his own experience the excellency of it Moreover by them is thy servant taught probatum est 4. Nay such is the fruit benefit use of it Beneficial to those that keep it That the observers of it are like to be well rewarded no man shall serve God for nought For in keeping of them there is Merces a reward 2. Ampla Merces a great reward 3. But these last words set David to his prayers What a reward The third part Yea but David kept it not a great reward only to those who keep Gods Law My conscience then tells me that the reward belongs not to me for I cannot plead this observance In many things we sin all and I among the many There were but these wayes to help him Confession Petition for Grace and Faith and these he makes use of 1. An offender he was known sins he had too many Ver. 12 and many more that he knew not and even for these he asked pardon This he confesseth desiring to be quit of them not only from the guilt but the filth Who can tell or understand his Errours 2 Asks pardon Cleanse thou me from secret faults 2. However so long as he carried about him this body of sin Ver. 13 he could not choose but erre upon ignorance infirmity c. 3 Begs grace against presumption yet he petitions for so much grace that he may not maliciously offend Keep back also thy servant from presumptuous sins 1. Because the effect would be lamentable sin would become a King For then sin wold domineer and reign in him and reign in his mortal body which is inconsistent with grace Keep back c. Ne lest they get the dominion the upper hand over me command rule and I obey and become a drudge a slave a vassal to sin 2. This is the great offence a sin not of a small size And make him guilty of the great offence therefore keep back thy servant from these sins and then however I be a sinner and guilty yet I shall be innocent from the great offence 3. Lastly that his prayer be heard he begs also he prayes for his prayer Ver. 14 and the meditations of his heart Let the words of my mouth 4 That God would accept his prayer and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight And that which put him in heart notwithstanding his many Errours to do it to pray to trust to confess was because the Lord was his Strength Who was his Strength and Redeemer his Redeemer 1. His Strength his Rock to keep him that he fell not 2. His Redeemer if he did fall In the words he coucheth two benefits 1. Conservation 2. Acceptance of his person through Christ and expresseth his faith The Prayer out of the nineteenth Psalm O God thou art a gracious God to the sons of men and because this is life Eternal to know thee to be the only God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ That man perish not in his ignorance Thou hast revealed thy self unto him in the Book of Nature and in the Scripture The Heavens declare the Glory the Wisdom the Goodness Ver. 1 the Power of thee their Creatour and that ample whéel of the Firmament bestudded with infinite variety of Stars of several Magnitudes doth manifest that they are the work of thy hands and not of any inferiour power They speak to us day after day Ver. 2 and night after night and plentifully teach the knowledge of thee The constant and perpetual succession of times and seasons caused by the uncessant motion of those great luminaries inform us that there is a wise and infinite power that over-rules them Neither do they speak thy glory in an unknown tongue or whisper thy power and wisdom in a low voyce or to some people only but they proclaim it in every Language and Idiom they roar it louder than the voyce of Thunder in all mens ears Ver. 3 there is nor speech nor language nor Nation nor people that may not hear their voyce and understand their language Their light Ver. 4 their constant and perpetual motion their efficacy and general influence is so admirable and well known that their direction is gone out through all the Earth and their words to the end of the World But among all those celestial bodies there is not any which doth so clearly set forth thy Majesty as that bright Globe of the Sun in which thou hast as it were Ver. 5 set up thy Throne and Tabernacle whose lustre and splendour being far more beautiful than that of a Bridegroom Ver. 6 when he comes out of his Chamber whose motion is so swift that in a few houres it cometh from one end of Heaven to another and runneth to the end of it again whose heat is so vigorous that there is nothing hid from the power and vertue of it proclaim and preach to the World that there is a wise and potent God who by his power made and by his wise providence disposeth rules and orders all things in Heaven and Earth Thou then O God hast not left thy self without witness for the invisible things of thée from the Creation of the World are clearly séen even thy eternal Power and Godhead being understood by the things that are made whence we confess that we are left without excuse For we ought to have béen perswaded by the authority and obedience of these thy Creatures to love to honour to fear thée and to adhere unto thée alone but wrethes as we are little regarding these good instructions and instructors we have followed the counsels of our own hearts and béen seduced by our own vain imaginations with the Fool we have said privately to our selves There is no God But such was thy goodness and care of us an ungrateful Generation that in mercy pitying this our carelessness and that which followed upon it our misery and deviation from thée thou hast set us over a better Tutour from whom we might not only learn to know thée but a way to live well here and a way to live for ever Ver. 7 Thou gavest us in mercy thy Law which is a perfect Master and able to convert the soul this is a sure Teacher and can make wise the simple These thy Commandments are pure Ver. 8 and admit no admixtion of false-doctrine false-worship Ver. 9 or iniquity These thy Commandments are right and rejoyce the heart setling a quiet conscience These teach us thy fear in sincerity and Truth and they teach it for ever They enlighten the eyes and keep
as some great King in his Throne providing for all the parts of his Empire examining all Causes and doing justice to every one 1. Vers. 13 The Lord looks from heaven and beholds all the sons of men 2. That he sees all From the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth Vers. 14 3. And he is not â—â—iosus spectator neither Vers. 15 He sees and considers their hearts their works Considers in what men put their trust And he sees in what they put their confidence in their Armies in theiâ— strength in their Horse not in him But all in vain Vers. 16 For there is no King that can be saved by the multitude of an Hoast Evacuates their designs A mighty man is not delivered by much strength An horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any man by his great strength Multitude strength c. without God are useless 2. Hitherto he hath given a proof of Gods providence toward all men 2 But defends his Church but now he descends to a particular proof of it by his care over his Church which he wonderfully guides defends protects in all dangers and assaults And that notice be taken of it he begins with an Ecce Behold the eye of the Lord his tender'st care is over them that fear him Vers. 18 upon them that hope in his mercy To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine Upon this Gods people The third part The three last verses contain the Acclamation of Gods people who believe and place all their hope and trust in God For being excited as it were by the former Arguments They do three things Vers. 20 1. They express and profess their faith and dependance on God 1 Wait on him Our soul waiteth on God he is our help and our shield Vers. 21 2. They publish upon what hope they are held up and how comforted 2 Publish his name and rejoice in it For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his Holy Name Vers. 22 3. Upon this hope they commend themselves by prayer to God 3 Commend themselves to Gods mercy Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee The Prayer collected out of the thirty third Psalm O God thy goodness is so great thy faithfulness so constant thy power so wonderful thy providence so universal but thy care so Fatherly toward thy people that we were unworthy of the least of thy mercies should we not acknowledge them and return thee due honour and thanks For there is nothing in the whole world which doth not witness thée to be a bountiful God Vers. 4 and a most Merciful Father Thy Word O Lord thy Decrée for the Creation and Government of the World is right and equal and all thy works are done in true wisdom righteousness and judgement Vers. 5 For there is nothing that thou hast commanded which is not just Nothing that thou hast promised which thou wilt not make good and bring to pass Out of that love thou bearest to righteousness and judgement the earth is full of thy goodness there being in it nothing so minute and vile which one way or other doth not partake of thy bounty Vers. 6 and commend thy goodness and mercy to us By thy Word alone and sole Command were those incorruptible Orbs of the Heavens made and confirm'd and all the hoast of them that multitude of starres so orderly and beautifully disposed by the breath the word the Fiat of thy mouth Thou hast gather'd together those unruly waters of the Sea into one place and shut them up with bounds and limits that they return not again to cover the earth And thou hast hidden and laid up great streams of waters in the bowels of the earth as in a Treasure-house which at thy pleasure thou bring'st forth to water a thirsty Land He spake and all this was done he commanded and it stood fast For so great is thy power that without any labour without any delay without any help all this was done and that by thy Will and Word only and by thy Word and Will it is that it doth so now continue and remain without dissolution Therefore O ye righteous rejoice in the Lord Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner Vers. 2 praise therefore a righteous God with an upright heart Neither with your mouth only express his praise but set it forth with musical instruments Praise the Lord with the Harp sing unto him with the Psaltery and an instrument of ten strings And you who have so often sung of his honour now since he hath renew'd his mercies set forth your joy with a New Song play skilfully with a loud voice So set forth his praise his power his wisdom his mercy that all the earth may fear the Lord and the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him For what he hath ordained by his eternal counsel shall be fulfill'd and stand fast for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations Since then thou O Jehovah art most just most merciful most Mighty blessed is that Nation who have chosen and worshipped thee O Lord for their God and happy is the people whom thou hast chosen for thine inheritance O make us Lord alwayes of this people that we may be happy under thy protection Dwell in the midst of us and bless us But O Lord bring the counsels of wicked men against this thy people to nought and make the devices of the people of none effect Look down from heaven and behold all the sons of men from the place of thy habitation look upon the inhabitants of the earth Thou searchest the very hearts and reins and knowest all their plots and secret counsels they take against thy people thou séest their preparations and provisions O Lord make them know and so fashion their hearts that they may perceive that all hope and confidence is in vain which is not in thée Because there is no other can save besides thy self For there is no King that can be saved by the multitude of an hoast neither is a mighty man deliver'd by much strength An Horse whether in battle or flight is a vain-deceitful thing to save a man neither shall he deliver his rider by his great strength It is not in these vain helps we put our considence our hope is in thée alone on thée we relie to thée we trust from thée we look for help Let thy eye therefore O Lord be upon us that fear thee who relie not upon any merits and creatures but on thy méer mercy let thy everlasting mercy then follow us and deliver our souls from temporal and eternal death and suffain us with a sufficient livelihood in the time of famine Upon thee O Lord our soul doth wait be our shield to protect us our help to deliver us So shall our heart
ever and ever Amen Amen PSAL. XLVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm is wholly Gratulatory sung by the Church for some very great deliverance after the victory from confederated enemies Two especial things to be considered 1. The confidence the Church hath in God from vers 1. to 8. 2. An Exhortation to behold it and that he is the Lord of Hosts the Authour of Warre and Peace vers 8 9 10. 1. The first part The Churches confidence He begins with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Maxime which is the ground of all the confidence which the people of God can have God is our Asylum or refuge to fly to our strength Vers. 1 stay munition on which to relie a very present help to deliver us in trouble Upon which Gods people inferre this Conclusion The inference upon it boldness in persecution Therefore will we not fear no not in the greatest calamities and multitude of enemies Which he expresseth First Metaphorically then in plain proper terms Fear we will not Vers. 2 1. Though the earth be moved or removed on which the Church is seated 2. Though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea i. e. the great and strongest Empires and Kingdoms should be ruin'd and overwhelm'd 3. Though the waters roar and be troubled Vers. 3 Though a multitude of people threaten and join their forces to ruine the Church 4. Though the Mountains i. e. Kingdoms shake at the tumour and swelling pride of these Compiratours For the waters are people Revel 17. More plainly for we have the interpretation of these Metaphors Vers 6. Vers. 6 Though the heathen raged the Kingdoms were moved yet will we not be afraid Justum tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava jubentium Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatet solidâ Neque Auster Dux inquietus turbidus Adriae Nec fulminantis Jovis manus Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruina 2. And of this he next descends to shew the reasons 1. There is a River The reasons of this the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God the holy place of the Tabernacles of the most high Vers. 4 The City of God was Jerusalem the type of the Church and the holy place of the Tabernacles the Temple The little Siloah that ran softly did water Jerusalem and the Gospel-promises that shall flow alwayes in the Church shall make glad the hearts of Gods people Vers. 5 2. God is in the midst of her to keep to defend her therefore she shall not be moved that is utterly removed but shall remain for ever 3. God shall help her and deliver her yea and that right early in a fit season He that should come will come and will not tarry 4. He uttered his voice and the earth was melted The hearts Vers. 6 of the men of the earth that exalted themselves against his Church at the least word uttered from his mouth melted were struck with fear and terrour 5. The Lord of hosts is with us He is Dominus exercituum Vers. 7 their Armies then are at his command vers 7 11. 6. The God of Jacob is our refuge He is our Asylum and he will saye us vers 7 11. The second part contains two Exhortations 1. He calls to all to behold the works of the Lord Exhortations The second part and of two he gives instance for to behold 1. That War is his work Vers. 8 See what desolations he hath made in the earth Vers. 9 2. That Peace is his work Vers. 10 He maketh War to cease to the end of the earth c. 2. Then in the person of God he exhorts the enemies of the Church to be quiet for their endeavours are but in vain and their rage to no purpose Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the heathen I will be exalted in the earth The Prayer out of the forty sixth Psalm Or an Hymne O Blessed Lord God Vers. 1 upon whom we have depended ever since we were born forsake us not now in this néedful time of trouble but be our refuge to whom we may flie our strength on whom we may relie our present help in these distracted times either by fréeing us from our pressures or giving us patience to undergo them So shall we not fear in the greatest storms No Vers. 2 though the Devil raise the greatest persecutions against thy Church to remove it from the earth no not though a multitude of people conspire and swell with pride though they compass us about as a flood of waters Vers. 3 Though we behold the shaking and commotions of all other Kingdoms and Empires about us For thy rich promises will sustain our fainting hearts Vers. 4 A River of mercy there is in thee whose ever flowing streams shall make glad the City of our God the most high in which he hath set his Tabernacle to dwell and which we know he will uphold for ever Vers. 5 God is in the midst of her and she shall not be removed by any incursion help her he will in a fit season right early he hath promised to come and he will not tarry Arise Vers. 6 O God to fight for us utter thy voice to defend our cause for then the Nations will tremble the Kingdoms will be moved the hearts of our enemies shall melt like war and all that have exalled themselves against us shall lose their courage and be surprized with an astonishing fear Certainly the Lord of hosts Vers. 7 at whose command there is an Army an Army of Angels is with us The God whom Jacob worshipped and by whose power and mercy he was defended from the fury of his brother Esau will defend us when we flie to him O come then Vers. 8 and consider the works of the Lord behold what wonders he hath done for his people in all ages For their sakes he hath destroyed mighty Armies and brought strange desolations upon the mightiest Kingdoms Vers. 9 Again for their sakes he hath made Wars to cease in all the World he hath broken the Bows of the mighty cut their Spears in sunder and burnt up their Chariots with fire from Heaven giving to his people the blessing of peace All then you who are enemies to his Church Vers. 10 be still cease from your wicked plots and conspiracies for know this for certain that he is God he will get himself honour upon you Vers. 11 and he will be exalted not only in the Heaven above but he will also be exalted by what he doth for his people on Earth So that when we shall see his wonderful deliverance that he sends his people and the revenge he takes on their enemies we shall have reason to say and say again The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge PSAL. XLVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Triumphalis THE Prophet takes occasion from the bringing up of
the Ark or else by the setling of it in the Temple by Solomon to foretel the Ascension of Christ into heaven who was the true Ark of the Covenant and the Propitiatory Then there was a Jubilee and so there must be at the remembrance of this It contains a Prophesie of Christs Kingdom and it hath two especial parts First Christs ascension typified An invitation to sing praises to Christ Secondly The reasons that perswade to it 1. Vers. 5 The Ascension of Christ is under the Arks ascension typified Verse 5. God is gone up with a shout His invitation to praise God for it the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet 2. Upon which he invites that we do that at this feast which was then done Vers. 1 viz. That we clap hands and sing praises That this be done 1. Cheerfully O clap your hands for clapping of hands is an outward sign of inward joy Nahum 3.19 2. Universally O clap hands all ye people 3. Vers. 6 Vocally Shout unto God with the voice of melody 4. Frequently Sing praises sing praises sing praises sing praises vers 6. And again sing praises vers 7. It cannot be done too often 5. Knowingly and discreetly Sing ye praises with understanding know the reason why you are to praise him 3. Now these reasons are drawn from his Greatness and his Goodness 2 The reasons to perswade to it 1. He is Great He is the Lord the most high 2. Terrible 3. A great King over all the earth All power at his Ascension 1 God great given to him in heaven and earth Vers. 2 2. He is a Good God Vers. 7 1. In collecting his Church by subduing the Nations 2 Good and that in four respects not by a Sword but by his Word and Spirit by which he would subdue their iniquities the iniquity of the Jew first Vers. 3 and then of the Gentile For the Law was to come out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem To the discipline of that Religion and Service which we profess both were to submit and therefore both might well be said to be subdued to us and be brought under our feet Vers. 4 2. In honoring and rewarding his Church He shall chuse out an heritage for us even the worship of Jacob whom he loved 1. His Church was his choice A chosen generation a select people 2. His heritage for he will dwell among them and provide an inheritance for them blessings on earth and an inheritance in heaven 3. This is the worship and glory of Jacob of Jacob after the Spirit the Kingdom Priest-hood and all the promises made unto Jacob and the Fathers being theirs 4. The cause His love only He chose Vers. 7 c. because he loved 3. In increasing and amplifying his Church God is the King now of all the earth not of the Jews only For he reigneth over the heathen also He sits upon a Throne of Holiness rules by his Holy Word and Spirit making them Holy who were unholy 2. Yea and a willing people also For the Princes of the people are gathered together even the people of the God of Abraham 4. In protecting his Church whether by himself Vers 9 or by the Princes he raiseth up for her defence For the shields of the earth belong unto God Princes and Prelates are shields of the Church but God is the chief He is greatly exalted The Eucharistical Prayer collected out of the forty seventh Psalm O Lord God who hast exalted thy Son Iesus Christ with great Triumph into the Kingdom of heaven we beséech thée leave us not comfortless but send to us thy Holy Spirit to comfort us and exalt us to the same place whither our Saviour is gone before And thou O blessed Saviour Vers. 5 who when thou hadst finished our Redemption on earth didst ascend to the beaven in great glory and Majesty Vers. 2 and satest down on the right-hand of thy Father and art become the Lord the most high terrible and a great King over all the earth receive the petitions of thy humble Servants present them at the Throne of Grace and make intercession for us Subdue the people by the power of thy Spirit Vers. 3 and bring the Nations under thy féet by the sharp edge of thy Word Cause those who are yet strangers and aliens from thy worship to fall low before thée and perswade all those who are yet afar off to come néer and to embrace thy Gospel and the truth and equity of thy Law The time was Vers. 4 when in Judah only God was known and thy Name was great in Israel it was the excellency of Jacob which thou didst love but now thou hast merited Vers. 7 and art ordained to be the King of all the earth since therefore thou hast chosen these also for thine inheritance Vers. 4 reign thou even over the Heathen Vers. 8 and subduing their iniquities sit upon thy Throne of Holiness among them O happy day Vers. 9 when not the meanest and lowest but the greatest and the noblest when the Princes of the people shall be gathered together and be united to the people of the God of Abraham being all worshippers of the same God professors of one and the same Faith and partakers of one and the same mercy For then should the name of our God who is truly the shield and defence of his people be greatly exalted in the earth The praises of our God should then be in our mouths Vers. 7 and with-wisdom and understanding should we sing our Psalms heart and hand affections and work being every way agréeable to our Psalmodie O Lord infinite and wonderful are thy wayes and works toward the children of men but the work of Redemption by the blood of thy dear Son farre excéeds them all For this love for this mercy O work upon our hearts to sing praises to thy honour our tongues to sing praises to thy glory our lips to shout with the voice of melody O all ye Saints of his Vers. 1 Clap your hands for joy shout for triumph sing praises to God Vers. 5 sing praises sing praises to our King sing praises Let hands and tongue and works and words be ready prest to sing praises to the God of Jacob. Amen PSAL. XLVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 UNder the Type Jerusalem is set down the happiness of the Church which is alwayes protected by Gods favour Three parts there are of this Psalm 1. The excellencies and priviledges of the City of God from vers 1. to 4. 2. A Narration of a miraculous deliverance she obtain'd and upon it the Terrour that fell on her enemies from vers 4. to 8. 3. An Exhortation to consider it and praise God from vers 8. to 15. 1. The first part He begins with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised Great in himself Vers. 1 and greatly to be praised for all things in all
and in Truth according to his Word and Promise He will accept no mans person but render to every man according to his works The Prayer collected out of the ninty sixth Psalm O Merciful Lord so déep is the Sea of thy mercies which hath from everlasting flow'd over unto us and thy dayly favours Vers. 1 2. that thou doest conter upon us that except we will be ungrateful we must sing unto thee a new Song for new blessings and bless thy name for fresh gifts and graces Vers. 5 What is man that thou shouldst be so mindful of him or the son of man that thou shouldst regard him Thou who madest the heaven Vers. 4 createdst him after thy own image but he defaced it Vers. 5 Thou who wert to be feared far above all gods gavest him a command to worship and honour thee but he made to himself other gods which indéed were no gods Vers. 4 but petty and ridiculous Deities and cast by thée the great God of heaven and earth a God greatly to be praised a God to be feared above all gods and worshipped the inventions of his own brain and the works of his own hands But all this did not cool thy love nor retard thy mercy even when all the kindreds of the Nations did serve other gods thou sentest them Redemption thou sentest thy Son to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel Great and marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Vers. 2 who ought not to fear thee and glorifie thy Name Warm therefore our cold hearts with thy love that we may shew forth thy Salvation from day to day Vers. 3 Make our flow tongues eloquent and powerful that we may publish this glad-ridings and declare thy glory unto the heathen and thy wonders to all people So resplendent is thy Honour and Majesty so immense thy strength Vers. 6 so illustrious thy beauty that we dust and ashes tremble in our approaches to thee and were it not for those commands thou hast laid upon and invitations and encouragements thou hast given to penitent and believing sinners we durst not presume to tender our selves and our homage before thee Vers. 7 But since thou hast call'd for a gift from us we do fréely give unto thée glory and strength fluce thou doest expect as a due debt glory to thy name we chéerfully give thée glory and proclaim thy name to the whole world The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Offerings we have none that are worthy of thée Vers. 8 yet such as we have we bring we offer unto thée the Sacrifice of a troubled and a contrite spirit we tender unto thée our petitions and thanks upon the Altar of a mortified and broken heart we confess our unworthiness and fast and wéep before thée we come into thy Courts and present what we are able two poor mites soul and body Lord accept of these our offerings for Iesus Christs sake Our desire is to worship thee in the Beauty of Holiness to be holy as thou art holy to be perfect as thou art perfect but being conscious to our selves of the impurity and imperfections of our own hearts and sensible of thy excellencies we step back for very fear and retire for shame Bold and impudent we cannot be in thy presence but we worship thée with trembling spirits and adore with reverence Yet thus much we are and may be bold to proclaim among the heathen The Lord reigneth Vers. 10 Jehovah who is our righteousness is our King long let him reign Vers. 11 for ever let him live Hosannah to the son of David and let all things in heaven and earth say Amen to it Let the Angels and Saints in Heaven rejoice at it Vers. 12 let all men on earth be glad of it let the wicked who are like the troubled Sea will they nill they reare it out let the fulness thereof the impious spirits that move them bow at the Name of Jesus Yea let the wildest tree in the field and wood be brought at last to confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father O thou great King of all the world Vers. 11 to whom all power is given in heaven and earth rule thy people with thy Word and Spirit and judge the adversaries of thy worship and enemies of thy Gospel bear rule and dominion among the heathen that yet have not submitted unto thee let the whole world be established by thy Gospel and thy Laws take place among them and never be removed Lord hasten thy Kingdom and appear in thy glory Even so come Lord Jesus Vers. 13 Come quickly Come to judge the earth seat thy self upon thy Throne and call all the Nations of the world before thee and make it known that thou art not an accepter of any mans person but that thou wilt judge the world with righteousness and the people with thy Truth and that those that have done ill shall go into eternal punishment but the righteous into life eternal Be thou my King O sweet Iesus inform me in thy Law guide and rule me by thy Spirit cause me so to worship and fear thee to offer such spiritual Sacrifices unto thee to give what I owe such glory and honour to thy Name that at thy coming I may be set on thy right-hand and be one of that number to whom thou wilt say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen PSAL. CXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IN this Psalm David sets forth Gods power and glory and being moved by the Spirit of Prophesie foretels the downfall of Idolators and the happy estate of those who serve God with an honest heart Three parts there are of this Psalm 1. A Prophetical description of Christs power and glory especially at the day of judgement from vers 1. to 7. 2. A manifest difference put betwixt Idolators and the people of God Confusion he imprecates to the first vers 7. And gives notice of the joy of the second with the reasons vers 8 9. 3. He exhorts those that love God to a good life encouraging them upon Gods favour vers 10. And upon the joy that is like to follow it vers 11. for which he stirs them up to rejoice and to be thankful vers 12. He begins with a Solemn Acclamation The Lord reigneth The first part God is the Supreme King being the self-same that he commanded to be proclaimed in the former Psalm vers 10. As if he had said By the coming of Christ the Empire of Death Vers. 1 the Power of the Devil all Oracles are silenc'd and all Idols destroy'd And he will use his Scepter
By the first the Metaphor is more hard by the second the more easie and sweet but the sence will be the same 1. By light then here is understood Gods favour the light of understanding truth goodness with the effect of it or that which ariseth from it comfort content of soul tranquility peace of conscience 2. Now this is sown as seed it often times lies hid under the clods but at last it shews it self 2. Or as light is obscured by some cloud which at length breaks forth or riseth to some height as the Sun in the morning The sence then is this Such a time there is when the just man may say Wisd 5. 6. The light of righteousness hath not shined unto us and the Sun of righteousness rose not upon us The favour of God hath seemed to us to be hid and buried as it were in disfavour But this saith our Prophet shall not be alwayes the favour of God is sow'd and it will spring up again The light of comfort of peace of conscience though it be clouded and darkned yet it will break forth and rise again 2. Again There shall be gladness for the upright in heart 2 Gladness of heart For uprightness doth direct and establish the heart whence there ariseth an ineffable joy in the conscience when a man is a Witness to himself that his will is conformable to Gods Will and all those things and only those things please him which please his God Which is the second reward or fruit that he reaps who loves God and hates evil 3. He concludes Therefore And out of these premises the Prophet draws his inference and conclusion which he forms into an advice Vers. 12 Since light and joy doth arise to those who are upright in heart and that joy is from God Then 1. You that are just rejoice not in the vanities of this world 1 Rejoice in the Lord. as do the unjust but rejoice in the Lord who gives you this justice 2 Be thankful and rewards it with this joy 2. Then again be thankful for it Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness It is his holiness his righteousness not your own that you carry in your hearts and so often as this comes to your remembrance bless and thank him for it The Prayer collected out of the ninty seventh Psalm O Omnipotent Lord I never think of that great day when I must stand before thy Tribunal and render an account of my words thoughts and actions but my heart trembles for fear and my knees are ready to smite one against another Terrible thou wert upon Mount Sinai when thou gavest and terrible thou wilt be when thou wilt exact an answer for the breach of thy Law The clouds and thick darkness then round about thee amaze my sinful soul the fire that shall go before thee Vers. 2 and burn up thine enemies round about thee flasheth in my eyes the lightning darting out of the clouds Vers. 3 and the earth trembling under me makes me tremble Methinks I hear men call to the Mountains to cover them and the Hills to hide them from the severity of thy wrath but these Rocks of Stone dissolve and melt as Wax at thy presence at thy presence O Lord at the presence of thee who art the Lord of the whole earth My heart O Lord is hard like one of those Rocks hardned it is by the deceitfulness of sin send down into it the fire of thy holy Spirit that may dissolve and melt it as war and make it apt to receive thy impressions of grace of a hard heart make it soft and tender of a heart of stone make it a heart of flesh that I may hear thy Law and obey it that I may repent for the breaches of it and every day judge my self that I may not be judged of the Lord. Never let that day flip out of my memory when the heavens shall declare thy righteousness Vers. 6 and all the people see thy glory for then the whole world shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with all the Angels about him with the voice of the Arch-angel and the Trump of God when that general Summons shall be blown abroad Arise ye dead and come to judgement A day indéed this will be of darkness and gloominess a day of sorrow Vers. 7 and such as never was from the beginning of the world So in it self so to thy enemies so to Idolators These would not that thou shouldst reign over them Confounded therefore on that day be all they that serve graven Images and that boast themselves of Idols Thou art our King O God send help unto Jacob and we are sur◠thou wilt send help Vers. 2 because thou hast set up thy Kingdom for that end and reignest that thou mightest do good to those that are upright in heart Righteousness and judgement are the habitation of thy Throne Vers. 8 as in judgement thou wilt procéed against the workers of iniquity so wilt thou also in justice deal with all those that love the Lord and hate iniquity At the hearing of this it is that Zion rejoiced and the daughters of Judah were glad O make me one of the inhabitants of this Zion that I may lift up my head and not be amazed at the remembrance of that fearful day being fully assured that it shall be the day of my Redemption not my destruction O thou who shalt be my Iudge be my Saviour also preserve my soul and the souls of all thy Saints and deliver us out of the hand of the wicked Able thou art to do it for thou Lord art far above all the earth thou art exalted far above all gods If thou wilt thou canst save us and we believe thou wilt because it was the end thou camest into the world the end why thou sufferest that painful and shameful death of the Cross to save sinners Sinners O dear Saviour we are we desire in uprightness of heart to serve thée though we cannot shake off the sin that hangs so fast on yet we detest and hate it The consciousness of our guilt too often over clouds ou◠joy O let it break forth again and shew us the light of thy countenance the comforts of our souls are buryed under the thoughts of thy displeasure oh that the day were come that they might shoot again and spring up then would we hope though we sowed in tears yet we should reap in joy This if thou wilt grant us Then will we rejoice in thee our Lord and King and give thanks at the remembrance of thy righteousness thy holiness thy merits thy innocent life and undeserved death which alone we can trust to at that day PSAL. XCVIII Propheticus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS Psalm is an evident Prophecy of Christ's coming to save to judge the world and therefore the Church hath well subjoined
instances in which the excellency of Gods name doth appear and he gives forth three First Infants Secondly The heavens and the Luminaries therein Thirdly Man himself 1. The excellency of Gods power divinity and goodness appears in infants 1 In infants Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings hast thou ordained strength 1. Vers. 2 The sucking of babes and speaking of infants are evident demonstrations of Gods strength and excellent name For who taught the babe to suck or the dumb infant to speak but the Lord our Governour 2. Or the innocent babes that dyed for him by Herods hand were Martyrs and declared his strength 3. Or the children that cryed Hosanna 4. Or by Babes is meant such as the worldly wise repute no better than children and fools by simple Prophets ignorant fishermen humble confessours hath he perfected his praise and still'd the enemy and the avenger confounded the wisest Philosophers and stopp'd the mouth of Devils 2. The next instance 2 In the heavens in which the glory and excellency of Gods name is manifested is the Heavens Moon Stars These are the works of his fingers Vers. 3 call'd here therefore Thy heavens Whose amplitude is great order and Orbs wonderful beauty admirable matter durable motion various yet stable Together with the stars whose multitude is numerous magnitude various order admirable influences secret and wonderful and the constant course of the Moon and the other great Luminary all which thou hast order'd and ordain'd When I say I consider this then I think with my self What is man Vers. 4 that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him 3 In Man which is his third instance to manifest the excellency of Gods providence and government of the world In which he reflects upon man in his baseness and his dignity 1. Whose vileness the Prophet considering In his baseness vileness and misery signified by the question What is man as if he should say What a poor creature how miserable what except dust and ashes when he was at the best for he was taken from the dust of the ground even then when God created him after his own image But now miserable dust while he lives and to dust he shall return when he dyes What then is this miserable creature of what worth of what value that thou so great so immense a Creatour of all other things that dwellest above the stars and celestial Orbs shouldst vouchsafe to visit and have a care of him 2. Admires the love and care of God to him For that is his Dignity that above all other creatures thy love is greatest to man This thou hast shew'd these wayes 1. 1 In visiting him In visiting him Thou visitest him and art mindful of him 1. Thou visitest him by conferring many temporal blessings on him 2. Thou wert mindful of him and visitedst him first by thy Prophets then in person by thy dear Son that brought Redemption to him when he was utterly lost 2. Vers. 5 In making him thy second creature The Angels first him next and not in all things inferiour to them 2 In making him little lower than the Angels Thou madest him a little lower than the Angels Lower indeed according to his body and bodily necessities but in the faculties of his soul resembling those celestial Spirits 3. 3 In adorning him with glory and worship In creating him after thy own image which when he had lost thou again repairedst and restoredst it making him a partaker of the Divine Nature in thy Son And so didst compass invest and adorn him with glory and worship 4. Vers. 6 In making him Lord of all thy creatures Thou mad'st him to have dominion over the works of thy hands 4 In making him Lord of all creatures and putt'st all things under his feet that they should all obey serve him as their Lord and turn to his use and profit which though true of man yet it especially belongs to Christ when he took our humane nature for he was heir of all things And we in Christ are restored to our dominion over the creatures Which the Prophet illustrates and amplifies in particular 1. Vers. 7 All sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field 2. The fowls of the air the fishes of the sea c. He closes the Psalm with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he began The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world The Meditation or Prayer collected out of the eighth Psalm O Lord our God and governour Vers. 1 how great how admirable how ecxellent is thy Name not only in Judea but in all the earth Our words are too flat to express our senses and reason too weak to comprehend the wisdom of thy wayes the immensity of thy goodness which thou hast shew'd to the children of men Thy name and thy will thou hast made known in thy Word thy name thou hast magnified in thy works both which as often as we consider we are put into astonishment and admiration From this earth we cast up our eyes to heaven and in that Arch we behold nothing but matters of wonder for thou hast set thy glory above the heavens There is thy Seat and Throne of Majesty there the Angels and Saints praise thée there the Sun and the Moon with all the stars proclaim thy glory O Lord our God how excellent is thy Name in all the earth thou hast set thy glory above the heavens And though this thy goodness is diffused and may be séen in all things yet it is in nothing more admirable than in thy providence for infants and sucklings Vers. 2 for out of the mouth of these thou hast ordained strength The child is no sooner born but thou hast ordained a teat for it to suck and a strange instinct to séek after it The young of any creature is no sooner brought forth but thou hast provided for it milk and nourishment by which it should live grow up increase and become strong So great is thy care thy love thy provision for all creatures But which is yet more wonderful these very infants and sucklings could no sooner speak but thou hast taught their tongues to sound forth Hosannah to the Son of David What were all thy Prophets and Apostles but as it were babes and sucklings rude and illiterate men and yet in their mouths thou didst perfect the praise It was not by the power of arms it was not by strength it was not by humane wisdom and prudence that thou didst convert the world and gather thy Church but thou didst make choice of those ignorant and weak men by whose mouths no better than Babes and Sucklings thou wouldst still that enemy of our souls the Devil and put to silence that avenger of our sins Satan who by thée is appointed to take and is well pleased that he may take a just and cruel
down Vers. 3 Saul had broken all Leagues and Covenants he had made with him 2 The want of assistance The Priests were slain with the Sword His fortresses taken from him His outward estate destroy'd Laws subverted If he staid perish he must some few righteous men are left But what can the righteous do 2. The second part To these their Arguments and counsel David returns his answer in a sharp reprehension I tell you 1. Davids answer I trust in God In the Lord put I my trust How say you then to my soul Vers. 1 and he gives his Reasons for it from the Sufficiency and Efficiency of God 1 That he trusts in God 1. What say you the foundations are cast down yet I despair not for God is sufficient 1 Who is sufficient 1. Present in his holy Temple He can defend 2. Vers. 4 He is a great King and his Throne is in heaven 3. Nothing is hid from him His eyes behold and his eye-lids try the children of men 4. 2 Just He is a just God which is seen in his proceeding both to just and unjust Vers. 5 1. He tryeth the righteous by a Fatherly and gentle correction 2. But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hates These two last Propositions he expounds per partis and begins with the wicked 1. Vers. 6 Vpon the ungodly he will rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible Tempest For he will punish the wicked this shall be the portion of their cup. 1. Pluet He shall rain upon them when they least think of it even in the midst of their jollity As rain falls on a fair day 2. Or he shall rain down the vengeance when he sees good for it rains not alwayes Though he defers it yet it will rain 3. The punishment comes to their utter subversion as Sodoms fire 4. This is the portion of their cup that which they must expect from him 2. Vers. 7 But he does good to the just For the righteous God loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright And reward the just He bears him good-will and is careful to defend him The Prayer collected out of the eleventh Psalm IT is not unknown to thée O merciful Father to how many dangers to how many enemies thy elect people are exposed Our enemies drive us from our dwellings and say unto our souls Vers. 1 Fly and wander as a bird from hill to hill as Fowlers they pursue us and suffer us in no place to build or to be at rest And when they have chased us from house to home even in this obscure place they give us no respite Vers. 2 but hunt us as a Partridge upon the Mountains they bend their how and make ready their arrow upon the string that when we think least of it Vers. 3 they may privily shoot at the upright in heart To those streits and miseries we are brought that we know not what to do All our fortunes are decay'd all our strong holds taken all outward helps fall us the very foundations of our hope and help is perish'd when that Religion truth and service in which we were wont to glory and rejoice is taken from us Yea those very Leagues Oaths Covenants which they have given us for our security they have null'd and broken off from their necks and cast away thy cords from them O Lord what shall the righteous do what shall he say Vers. 3 whether shall he fly for aid and succovr to whom shall he make his moan when they whose heart is upright and would are unable to help And what have we done that these men should pursue us to take away our lives O Lord thou art my God in thee will I trust who art able to do all things Vers. 1 and wilt never forsake those who hope in thy mercy and relie upon thy word and power And though these present dangers hang over my head yet I will not despair For I know the Lord whom I have believed fits above in Heaven as in a Royal Palace and. Throne and is over and above all Therefore I will not fear though the foundations of the earth be moved despair I will not of help nor depose my expectation of deliverance since his eyes behold from that holy Temple and his eye-lids sée consider try Vers. 5 and judge the doings and sufferings of the children of men Thou Lord knowest how to discern the just from the unjust and to put a difference in their rewards Vers. 6 for thou doest approve try and gently correct the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence thy soul hates For as the fairest day is overcast with clouds and thunder and lightning suddenly break out from abova and affright and involde the world in an unexpected Tempest So wilt thou O Lord though thou defer thine anger rain down vengeance on the wicked in their greatest jollities when they think not of it and promise to themselves the fairest dayes and are in greatest security Thou wilt cast down snares and take them a sudden fire and brimstone shall destroy them as it did Sodom the storm and tempest of thy fury shall overwhelm them This is the portion this their reward this their lot which thou hast measured to them out of thy cup. But I know thou art in thy Temple Vers. 7 and wilt be present with the just in all his dangers to govern to help to defend to frée him For it is not as men think and as Reason would over-hastily judge the foundations are not overthrown nor all our helps and aids perished For thou O Lord lovest righteousness and thy countenance doth behold the upright A just God thou art and a lover of justice and just men and thou wilt set thy face to do good to those who are upright in thy eyes These thou wilt love their cause thou wilt defend their persons thou wilt protect for the merits of thy dearly beloved Son Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. XII The Summe is A prayer of David to God to save and help him and keep him from the deceits and contagion of the wicked of which the world is too full THERE be four parts of this Psalm 1. A Prayer and the reasons of it vers 1 2. 2. A Prophecy of the fall of the wicked or an Imprecation vers 3. whose arrogance he describes vers 4. 3. Gods answer to Davids Petition with a promise full of comfort vers 5. for it is tatified vers 6. 4. A Petitory Conclusion Keep them thy people or a confident affirmation That God will keep them from the contagion of the wicked vers 7. Of which there are too many vers 8. 1. The first part He calls for help His Petition is brief and jaculatory for he breaks upon God with one word Help or Save Lord vers 1. Of which he gives two reasons 1. Vers. 1 1 Because good men are few The
the Anaphora Quousque quousque quousque How long what for ever 2. The second part He petitions that His Petition set down in the third verse of which there be three degrees opposed to the parts of his complaint ver 1 2. 1. 1 God would look on him Look upon me or consider me Thou hast hitherto seemed to turn away thy face but once behold me and shew me one good look 2. 2 Hear him Hear me Thou hast seemed to have forgotten but now I pray thee remember me Ver. 3 and shew that thou dost not neglect my prayer 3. 3 Illuminate him Lighten my eyes I have been vexed in my soul and agitated various counsels to recover thy favour but do thou instruct me and illuminate me what course I shall take Now that this his Petition might be the sooner heard This Petition he enforceth he presseth many Arguments 1. 1 From the relation betwixt God and him From that Relation that was betwixt him and God O Lord my God hear me 2. 2 From the event 1. Death From a bitter event that was like to follow upon the repulse and delay if God heard him not he should die his heart failing him Lest I sleep the sleep of death 3. Ver. 4 From another consequent that would follow viz. the boasting and insultation of his enemies 2 Insultation of the enemy Lest my enemy say I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me rejoyce when I am removed But though he were delay'd yet he despairs not for 3. The third part He yet despairs not In the close the Prophet professeth his faith joy thankfulness 1. His faith I have trusted in thy mercy 2. Ver. 5 His joy My heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation 3. Ver. 6 His thankfulness I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me The Prayer collected out of the thirteenth Psalm Ver. 1 O Lord how long wilt thou so carry thyself toward me as if thou hadst altogether blotted me out of thy Memory How long O Lord as if thou wert angry dost thou hide thy face and turn thy countenance from me seeming to have no care of me or to shew me the least favorable aspect How long shall I be in a doubt what to do Ver. 2 and deliberate with my self whither or to whom to flie for succour in this my extremity I am daily oppressed with sadness and sorrow in my heart while nothing presents it self to my mind that may ease my grief Besides my enemy thinks that he hath gotten the upper hand over me O Lord how long shall he exalt himself insult and cruelly and proudly triumph over me 'T is enough 't is enough O Lord that thou hast turned away thine eyes from me 't is enough Ver. 3 that thou hast long shut thine ears at the voice of my complaint Now cast upon me one kind look consider my adversities and hear my grievous moans Thou whom I only serve Thou upon whom alone I do depend In these great evils in this agony of soul Ver. 4 in this déep darkness of discomfort I live and pine I pine and grieve and my eyes are grown dim with floods of tears but do thou O Lord with the chearful light of thy countenance dispel this thick darkness that is come over my soul lighten mine eyes that I may sée some way of escape lest being oppressed with the sense of my misery I be swallowed up of sorrow and surpressed by a deadly sléep of despair Should such a thing happen my enemy will rejoyce at it and be apt to boast I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me will be glad when I am moved or removed But O Lord though hitherto I behold outwardly no other things Ver. 5 but signs of thine anger and displeasure yet as I have alwayes trusted so I will trust not in my merits but thy mercy and my heart when thou shalt frée me from this grief and fear shall rejoyce and be glad in that salvation thou shalt send me And for very joy from a grateful heart I will give thée thanks Ver. 6 and sing Hymns to the honour of my Lord who hath repaid me good for the hope that I have reposed in him and I will chant Psalms to the praise of that God who hath dealt lovingly and bountifully with me declaring the greatness and goodness of his power and love for my deliverance ever and ever PSAL. XIV Which is Practical Atheists Character TWO parts there are of this Psalm 1. The Description of the Practical Atheist from ver 1. to 7. 2. A Petition for the Church ver 7. 1. The Atheist is here noted out to us divers wayes The first part The practical Atheist described 1. From his name Nabal a Fool or rather a Churle 1 By his name no natural Fool but a sinful a Fool in what he should be wise 2. His hypocrisie or cunning He saith but he will not have it known 1 By his name 't is to himself he saith in his heart he is a close politick Fool. Ver. 1 2 His hypocrisie 3. His saying or his chief and prime principle There is no God 3 His principle No God which is manifested 4. From his practice confessing God in his words for some politick advantages yet in his works he denies him for 1. His heart is wicked and unregenerate They are corrupt 1 By his corrupt heart 2. He is guilty of the sin of Commission in a very high degree They have done abominable works 2 By his works which are abominable 3. And he is guilty of the sin of Omission There is none that doth good This in general after the Prophet descends to some particulars 3 Never good Davids conviction of the Atheist 2. David demonstrates what he said three wayes and convinceth them 1. By the testimony of God himself for he brings him in as a witness against them and such a witness that cannot be deceived for he is 1. An eye-witness Prospectat He looks on 1 By God who is an eye-witness 2. He is in Heaven above them and by that advantage may see all He looks down from Heaven 3. And all he sees and is diligent to enquire Ver. 2 He looks from Heaven upon the children of men From heaven sees all 4. And enquires into his actions And the end is to enquire into their Religion To see if there were any that would understand and seek after God 2. Ver. 3 And then he gives his testimony in these general terms They are all gone aside And gives this testimony they are all become filthy there is none that doth good no not one 3. 1 In general that not one good And then in the next verse he reckons up two especial sins of which they were guilty Injustice and Impiety 1. Ver. 4 Injustice For they eat up his people
as bread 2. 2 That they are guilty Impiety For they call not upon God 4. 1 Of injustice Now that his testimony is true he convinceth them 1. 2 Of impiety By the light of their own conscience An non sibi sunt conscii Have they no knowledge Ver. 4 Know they not that all this is true that they do this and this 1 By the testimony of their own conscience which is naught as Doth not their own heart tell them all this is true 2. By the effect that which follows an evil conscience an extream fear and horrour Trepidarunt trepidatione They are alwayes in an extream fear which shews that all is not well They said there was no God But for all that 3 The effects shew by which he also convicts them their heart tells them That God is in the Generation of the Righteous and they shall dearly answer for the eating up of his people 3. Ver. 5 By a second effect which is their scorn and derision of any good counsel 1 An extream fear and horrour that the man whom they esteemed poor and contemptible gave them If any man who had the fear of God before his eyes chanc'd to say unto them 2 Their desperate contempt of good counsel O my Brethren do not so wickedly they scoff'd at it they made a mock at it and did all they could to shame him for it if he replied That God was his Refuge he whatever they said to the contrary ' trusted in God They made light of it and were apt to return He trusted in God Ver. 6 that he should deliver him let him deliver him now Nay of God himself if he will have him Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his Refuge The second part of the Psalm The second part contains a Petition for the Church and an exaltation upon the favour exhibited 1. Ver. 7 He prayes that God would send salvation to his people 2. And that it be He prayes for the Church Out of Zion because Christ was set a King upon the holy hill of Zion that is the Church O that the salvation of Israel were out of Zion 2. Of which the consequent would be the joy of his people For then the consequent would be the joy and rejoycing of his people for their deliverance from captivity spiritual and temporal When the Lord turneth the captivity of his people then shall Jacob rejoyce and Israel shall be right glad The Prayer out of the fourteenth Psalm O Most holy and undefiled Majesty in comparison of whose purity all other things are impure we miserable wretches conceived in sin and born in iniquity do confess and acknowledge that we are laden with those fruits growing from that bitter root and that till we are born again by thy Spirit we are wholly corrupt in thy sight the faculties of our souls are very much wounded Ver. 1 so foolish we are and blinded in our understanding that we labour to perswade our selves There is no God no God that knows cares for or will judge the actions of men in this World so averted we are from thée in our wills that we bear no affection at all to that which is good though to compass our own ends we profess to know thée in words yet in déeds we deny thée Ver. 2 for our lives are corrupt our works abominable and such as sends up a stinking savour into thy nostrils there is not one of us that doth the good thou hast commanded not a man that understands as thou hast revealed thy self in thy Word or séek to honour thée to fear thée to put his whole trust and confidence in thée not a man that she we that love he ought to his Neighbour O Lord if thou shalt look down from Heaven Ver. 3 and shalt set thine eyes to consider the wayes of the children of men Thou shalt not sée a wise man amongst us not a man that sets his heart seriously to enquire and religiously to séek after God For we are all gone aside we have béen sway'd by our desires and lusts and turned from thy wayes to our own Ver. 4 we are become unprofitable and filthy and reprobate to every good work Wo wo unto us which are such workers of iniquity against the light of our conscience we have oppressed thy people and with delight devoured them as a man would eat bread daily easily gréedily No religious Bond is able to restrain us for that God whom we should call upon we invoke not that God whom we should honour we worship not Impious wretches we are and leaving then the Well of living water we have digg'd to our selves Pits that will hold no water sacrificing to our own inventions our own arm our own net For this our wickedness thy just judgment hath overtaken us Ver. 5 and we tremble and are afraid lest thou should utterly forsake us thy presence is indéed in the generation and company of the righteous these thou dost defend and kéep secure from fear but our conscience doth so sharply accuse us and the guilt of our malicious wickedness so far load us that we have just reason to fear rejection from thy face and the extreamest of thy wrath and indignation Ver. 6 And so much the more because when thy servants thy Ministers of whom the World was not worthy have given us warning to trust in thée after their example we have laboured to shame them and derided and mocked at their counsel But O Iust God Ver. 6 though thou dost poure out the vials of thy wrath upon the wicked yet in judgment remember mercy and deliver thy people be among the generation of the righteous protect thy servants by their refuge and hide them under the shadow of thy wings till thy anger be over-past Send thy Israel salvation out of Zion that place over which thy Son is King Ver. 7 Bring back thy people from Captivity from the prison and bondage of sin and from the cruel yoke which the Oppressor hath laid upon their necks so shall Jacob rejoyce and Israel shall be glad PSAL. XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or A Psalm of Doctrine in which we have the Character of a sound Christian TWO parts it hath 1. The first delivered in form of a Dialogue betwixt the Prophet and God from ver 1. to 5. The first part Davids question Who shall dwell 2. The Epiphonema in the end of the last verse 1. The question proposed by David to God 1. Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle 2. Who shall rest upon thy holy Hill That is because all are not Israel Ver. 1 which are of Israel therefore David asks of God 2 The answer made by God containing the Notes of a good man who shall dwell as a true Member in the Tabernacle or the Church Militant and who shall rest in the Church Triumphant 2. To which question God returns
will bless the Lord not only for those temporal blessings formerly mentioned but rather for these spiritual following Ver. 7 1. 1 For illumination For the illumination of my mind that I may understand the thing that is right I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel 2. 2 For Sanctification For my sanctification My reins instruct me in the night seasons when I am most retir'd methinks I hear a still voyce within me This is the way walk in it 3. 3 For his perseverance For my confidence and perseverance I say the eye of my faith full upon him without irregular affections and passions 1. I have set the Lord alwayes before me I do not forget him 2. Because he is at my right hand to help me that I fall not 3. I shall not be moved Satan may stand at my right hand to resist and trouble me Zach. 3.1 But God is on my right hand to assist and deliver me Ver. 9 or comfort me therefore I shall not be greatly moved 4. 4 His joy in it For that joy I find in me I am in a good plight as much as heart can wish or need require therefore my heart is glad wicked men rejoyce in appearance And for his assurance 1. Of the Resurrection by Christ their joy is but skin-deep but Davids is deeper his heart glory flesh rejoyceth spirit soul body overjoyed the cause is The Resurrection of the Body Resurgam 1. My flesh shall rest in hope or dwell In this world as in diversorio in the grave as repositorio in heaven as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mansion 2. Ver. 10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell My body say some in the grave but there is more in it 3. Neither wilt thou suffer Chasid Thy Holy One to see Corruption the Messiah that is to come out of my loiâ—s Christs Resurrection is the cause Ve. 9. 11. the pledge the security of ours Job 19.25 5. And eternal life which he illustrates The promise of a future life which is here illustrated 1. From the quantity Fulness of joy 2. From the quality Pleasures 3. From the constancy and honour done us At thy right hand and his hand is strong and none can take us out of it 4. From the perpetuity duration continuance for evermore 5. From the cause the presence sight beatifical vision Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is the fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore The Prayer out of the sixteenth Psalm O God thou hast béen a merciful God unto me through my whole life and bestowed upon me many spiritual and temporal blessings which thou hast denied to many of thy better servants Ver. 6 that inheritance which thou my heavenly Father hast alotted to me Ver. 5 is fallen to me in a rich and pleasant place and it is sufficient for me because thou hast bestowed it who art all-sufficient O Lord though I am altogether unworthy of this favour yet be thou still the portion of my cup replenish it and uphold and maintain me in it for I shall quickly lose and forgo it if it be in mine own kéeping But upon these outward things I set not my heart Ver. 2 for my goods are nothing to thee for can a man be profitable to his God as a man that is wise is profitable to himself The sole way that I can honour thée with these outward blessings is by doing good to the Houshold of faith make me therefore carry a charitable mind Ver. 3 and a liberal hand to these make me set my delight upon the Saints that are in the earth and upon such as excel in vertue for these thy Son hath suffered for their salvation he shed his blood in these thou delightest and let it be my delight then to do them good Increase to that end Ver. 7 and continue unto me thy Graces illuminate my mind with thy Counsels Ver. 6 let my reins also instruct me in the night season that I may yield to thy holy inspirations let thy Spirit that continual spring of comfort and counsel dictate and suggest unto me what I ought to do and to choose that good part that shall never be taken from me I know O Lord that they who depend upon lying vanities Ver. 4 and run after another god do but multiply sorrows to themselves never let me then joyn with them in their bloody offerings nor let their names be mentioned by me or come within my lips with approbation and honour These are enemies unto thée O Lord preserve me from them and I know thou wilt preserve me Ver. 1 because I put my trust in thee Thou art my Lord I have set thee alwayes before me Ver. 8 be at my right hand and I shall never be moved So shall I have cause to bless thée and rejoyce in thée Ver. 7 My heart also shall be glad while I remain in the Land of the living And when this Tabernacle in which I sojourn shall be taken down and I gather'd to my Fathers Ver. 9 My flesh shall rest quietly in the grave in hope of a joyful Resurrection for I am assur'd Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell because thou hast not suffer'd thy Holy One to see corruption I am a Member of that Body whereof he is the Head he the Redéemer I one of those that he hath redéemed and therefore I hope to sée God in my flesh and to see him not with other but with these same eyes Confirm me in this hope strengthen me in this faith shew me in the valley of death the path of life while I live here conduct me in the way of grace that leads to glory where in thy presence I shall have fulness of joy I shall sée thée face to face and enjoy that happiness in a full measure which nor eye hath séen nor ear hath heard neither can enter into the heart of man to understand neither shall this joy admit of any end or satiety for at thy right hand there is pleasures for evermore This happiness O Lord is only in thy power to bestow vouchsafe therefore to give it unto us we beséech thée for the merits of thy only Son our Saviour Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. XVII Davids Appeal to God in justification of himself and his Petition for defence against his Enemies THERE be three parts of the Psalm 1. A Petition 1. For Audience ver 1. ver 6. 2. For perseverance in good ver 5. 3. For special favour ver 7 8. 4. For deliverance at this time especially v. 13 14. 2. A Narration in which we meet with 1. His Appeal to God and his own justification ver 2 3 4. 2. The Reasons of it his Enemies and their Character ver 9 10 11 12 13 14. 3. A Conclusion which hath two parts one belonging to this life and the other to the future ver 15. 1. He
Wicked men these are corrupters of all Truth and Religion Blood-thirsty men these are that thirst after the blood of thy Saints and use all their force power and conspiracies to root them out of the Earth they lie in wait for our souls they are gathered together for our ruine O send us help from thy holy Heaven and save us from the rage of them who would eat us up Many many grievous offences we have committed against thée our God but it is not for these crimes they at this time invade us but they are haters of true Religion and implacable enemies to true Piety which because we maintain therefore they craftily take counsel and wisely they work to our destruction O Lord Thou knowest that without any fault or offence of ours they run and prepare themselves to Battel Therefore O just God who art a witness of our innocency and their cruelty be not like one that sléeps arise to help us that séek thée behold our miseries and stand up for us that stand for thée and since thou art the Lord of Hosts who hast all Armies at thy Command and the God of Israel whom thy people serve suffer not thy chosen to be thus oppressed by wicked men whose pride excéeds that of the Heathen Visit them in anger O Lord and be not merciful to them that offend of malicious wickedness they are an object of vengeance not of mercy execute then thy severe wrath upon them Are not their works altogether the symptoms of an obstinate and hard heart Earnest they are to execute their plots they run too and fro In the Evening when good men are at rest then they arise for mischief mad as Dogs to bring their purposes to pass They grinne they threaten they walk round the City observing where they may take their Prey Boldly they speak with their mouth what their heart intends and the words that procéed from thence are very Swords breathing to us nothing but death and utter extirpation Thy Majesty they regard not and as for man their pride and power is so great they care not who hears them for they know that few are able and fewer willing to help us But thou O Lord sittest in Heaven upon thy Throne and hearest and séest all things both our oppressions and their insultations frustrate their attempts evacuate their endeavours have their persons in derision and laugh all their projects to scorn Let them not be visited with the visitation of all men Slay them not lest the people forget it but scatter them among the people make them for their flagitious lyes and perjuries become Wanderers and Beggars Let them run here and there for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied Consume them O Lord consume in thy wrath bring them down from their Throne out them from their power and dignity let their unjust gotten goods perish and their great wealth come to nought that they may know that it is God that rules in Jacob and unto the end of the World The sin of their mouth is impudent the words of their lips blasphemy Ver. 12 their very preaching is cursing and lyes therefore spare them not but let them be taken by the pride of their words and fall into that snare of destruction in which they were wont to boast that they would catch other innocent men Make us so happy O our Eod that we may sée our desires upon thy enemies so shall we sing of thy power and praise thy mercy aloud in the Morning and all shall know that thou art a strong Tower of defence and a sure refuge to all that in sincerity of heart in the day of trouble call upon thée Unto thee O Lord will I sing for thou O God art my Refuge and the God of my Mercy Thou alone hast mercy on me and to thée alone will I call for mercy through Iesus Christ my Lord. Amen PSAL. LX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel Triumphale BEfore Davids time 1 Chron. 18. and in the beginning of his reign Israel was in a distressed condition He composed and quieted all And made War and conquered the Moabites c. Edom only was not vanquished In this Psalm then he gives thanks for his victories And prayes for assistance for the conquest of Edom. The parts of it in general are 1. A commemoration of the former lamentable distracted condition of the Israelites vers 1 2 3. 2. The condition of it under his reign much better from vers 4. to 9. 3. His thankfulness in ascribing all his victories to God from vers 9. to 12. 1. The first part The former condition of Israel which he laments In the first he shews that God was angry with Israel 1. Of which he laments the effects of his anger 2. And then prayes for the aversion 1. O Lord thou hast or hadst cast us off 2. Thou hast scattered us abroad thou hast been displeased 3. Vers. 1 Thou hast made the earth to tremble 4. Thou hast broken it 5. Thou hast shew'd thy people heavy things 6. Thou hast given us a drink the wine of astonishment Every syllable of which Congeries will appear to be most true to him that shall examine the story of the Israelites before Sauls reign under his government upon his death and the first entrance of David to the Kingdom The stirs he had and wars with the house of Saul until Ishbosheth was taken out of the way 2. Imputes to Gods anger All which wars civil and external with the calamities that flowed from them Vers. 1 he imputes to Gods anger vers 1. Thou hast been displeased 3. And prayes to God to turn to them And upon it prayes 1. O turn thee to us again Let us enjoy thy countenance which was averted Vers. 1 2. Vers. 2 Heal the breaches of the Land Close the wounds made by these contentions and it seems they were not yet all perfectly closed For he adds It shaketh 2. The second part But now the condition of it was much better All being brought under one King The present condition of Israel 2. And he victorious over his forreign enemies 1. Thou now hast given a Banner to them that fear thee All Israel all those that are thy servants are brought to acknowledge and fight under one standard Vers. 4 in effect have receiv'd me for their sole King the factions and parties being quieted David being King 2. That it may be display'd Set up that Israel may know under whom to fight and whose part to take 3. According to Gods promise Because of thy Truth Who by this hast made it appear that it was no fiction nor no ambition of mine to set up this standard But a Truth that I was by Samuel by thy special appointment Anointed to be King And I am now invested with the Crown for the performance of thy Truth and Promise 4. Vers. 5 And the end is especially that I should bring deliverance to thy
other part and to prove The third part The carnal conclusion made out of the premises that notwithstanding all that had or could be said yet the good and godly person is the sole happy man To which before he comes directly he repeats again his tentation to think otherwise confesses his weakness and how far it wrought upon him if this be so then all my study of Religion is in vain 2. All my sufferings are to no purpose 't is all folly 't is all vanity 1. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Ver. 13 2. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastned every morning 2. Then next he shews by a Dilemma He resolves the question But not by reason that too weak to do it His Arguments are the way he took how to find out the resolution of this question and two wayes he proposed first that of Reason and he condemns it by a double Argument the first drawn ab absurdo The second ab impossibili 1. If I say I will speak thus Thus as ver 13 14. That I have cleansed my heart in vain that no man can be happy under the Cross Behold I should offend against the Generation of thy children Ver. 5 for all these were plagued and chastned and yet all these cleansed their hearts 1 Ab absurdo and were innocent 't is absurd then to affirm this 2. If I examine this again in the balance of Reason 2 Ab impossibili That good men should be under the Cross and yet happy it seemed to me impossible to be true let Reason be Judge and the quite contrary will appear viz. that those who have power authority wealth health are the happy men Ver. 16 and therefore the Prophet adds When I thought to know this viz. by the strength of Reason and Discourse it was too painful too hard and difficult for me 3. Irresolved then he was and so shall any other about this point Ver. 17 till he consults with God and the Oracle of his Word Being then irresolved from Reason He consults with God and finds their end miserable there he shall find a remedy in his Book and the School of Christ what shall quiet the passions and tumults of his soul there it is to be learned and not from flesh and blood this he confesses I understood nothing in this point untill I wont into the Sanctuary of God for then I understood the end of these men By the end of life a man is to judge of any mans happiness for ante obitum nemo c. To their end then we are to look and by that to judge What is their end then that Gods Book here teacheth 1. Be it that they are set on high yet their felicity is unstable and uncertain Surely Thou O God Thou raisest them thither but then 1 Their felicity unstable Thou settest them in slippery places They can have no certain stay and standing for their feet 2. Under them is a great Gulf and Precipice 2 They cast down and God not only humbles them for that sometimes befals good men But these thou casts down to destruction prosternis ut intereant 3. Their ruine is not vulgar and common nor delayed long but sudden and unlooked for which the Prophet intimates by his Exclamation How are they consumed and brought to desolation 3 Unexpectedly suddenly as in a Moment 4. Add to this That their destruction is terrible and full of amazement 4 Their ruine fearful both to others that behold it and to themselves being troubled with the affrights of a guilty conscience and the fear of the wickedness that pursues them They are utterly consumed with terrours as Judas Saul Cain Nero Julian c. So that all their happiness in this World was but a vain empty thing like a dream Their happiness then is vain which similitude is explained Isa 29.7 8. As a dream when one awaketh so O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise and make contemptible their image totam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all their pomp and great shew 4. The fourth part Upon it he confesseth his weakness that tempted And now the Prophet begins ingeniously to acknowledge his weakness and infirmity in the debating this question betwixt him and his own Reason he takes all the fault to himself and clears God 1. He confesseth that he was transported with indignation animosity and fretfulness at it 1 By animosity Thus my heart was is not now grieved and I was pricked in my reins 2. 2 By ignorance He confesseth his folly ignorance brutishness about it So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee in this point I knew no more than a bruit beast 3. 3 And shews the difference of good bad men under the Cross He comforts himself in Gods goodness and presence shewing that though he be in trouble and under the Cross which is the lot of the godly yet there is a great deal of difference betwixt their troubles and those of the wicked for 1. They are not neglected and deserted Nevertheless I am continually with thee 2. Thou hast holden me by my right hand As a Father thou leadest me by the hand 3. Thou directest me with thy counsel by thy Word and Spirit 4. And after receive me to Glory Here I may be vilified but one day glorified yea and if thou seest it good raised to honour glory and promotion in this life 5. The fifth part His resolution upon it And now being as it were ravished with the contemplation of Gods Providence and certainty of his good will toward him in an ardent affection he breaks forth expressing how resolute he is say flesh and blood what it will in all his troubles to stick and cleave fast to his God 1. Whom have I in Heaven but thee What God beside what Angel or Saint to be my hope 2. And there is none upon earth I desire besides thee They are miserable comforts and comforters I nauseate all in Heaven or Earth in comparison of thee 3. I confess through weakness I am often tempted to see the prosperity of the wicked and when I feel my self pressed with miseries poverty violence wrongs so that my flesh and my heart faileth 4. And the conclusions he draws thence The sixth part But through confidence and hope in thee I quickly revive and recover God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 6. Now two conclusions I have learned from this tentation and debate 1. That they that are far from thee shall perish Thou hast destroyed all that go a whoring from thee 2. That it is good for me to draw near to God I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works Thy works in governing and defending thy Church in this life and rewarding thy servants with glory
found their hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pind. 4. The cause of this consternation At thy rebuke O God of Jacob both the Chariot and Horse are cast into a dead sleep Thus God became Glorious and Excellent among good men 2 Terrible 2. Vers. 7 But he became Terrible also to wicked men So Terrible that 1. Thou even thou art to be feared for who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry None be he never so proud 2. Vers. 8 Of which this is an evident Argument Thou didst cause judgement to be heard from heaven It was so in the destruction of Senacherib The earth feared and was still Men saw it were amaz'd at it and put to silence And this work of God in overthrowing his enemies The effects of it and saving his Church he farther amplifies When God arose to judgement to save all the meek of the earth Vers. 9 The consequent was this 1. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee 1 Praise from the wicked The fierceness and rage of man against thy Church shall at last turn to thy praise confess they shall being conquered by thy hand that thou art mightier than they so did Pharaoh This is the finger of God so Julian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain 2 And victory Though they body and rally again yet thou shalt overcome and conquer their fury 3. In the Close he exhorts all Gods people to vow him honour The third part For which and to perform their vow 1. Vow and pay unto the Lord your Gâ—d let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared All to vow praises 2. And he adds his Reason in an Epiphonema 1. He shall cut off the spirits of Princes Take away from Tyrants their courage and prudence 2. He is terrible to the Kings of the earth They shall know he is God A Psalm of Thanksgiving after some great Victory collected out of the seventy sixth Hsalm O Omnipotent God and most merciful Father it hath pleased thy unspeakable goodness beyond any merit or desert of our's Ver. 1 to make thy self known to us in thy Gospel and thy Name great and famous in our Israel Declared thou hast to all Nations that Salem the City of peace is that place where thou wilt set up thy Tabernacle and Mount Sion thy Church Ver. 2 that habitation which thou wilt defend from the violent attempts of her malicious enemies Our ingratitude no question was very great and our provocations many our lives not answering to the light of thy Word which thou madest shine unto us and because we rebelled against thée therefore this great Army of rebellious men is justly risen up against us who threatned to unroot thy people and utterly to lay waste thy Zion But thou O Lord passing by our transgressions hast put a hook into the nose of our enemies and a bridle into their lips defended miraculously thou hast thy City Jerusalem for thy own sake and for thy servant Davids sake our blessed Saviour There hast thou broken the strength of the Bowe Ver. 3 and not suffered him to shoot an arrow there in our land thou hast made void their Shield dull'd the edge of the Sword scattered their Army and by thy power dissolved and brought to nothing all their warlike preparation and ammunition When we are compassed as it were with a darksom cloud of fear and even despaired of any help and succour then thou didst appear in glory thy excellence then arose to save us our aid was from Heaven our deliverance from above thy Kingdom established in righteousness and holiness far excéeds that power that is gotten by violence murder and robbery therefore they that came to spoil us are spoiled they are consumed and have slept their sleep out of which when they awaked they have béen amazed that in their hands of so much wealth and plunder which they dreamed of they found nothing which hapned unto them not by the course and ordinary changes and chances of things in this World no nor yet by our force and power but at thy rebuke O God of Jacob by thy command by the severity of thy judgment both the Chariot and those who trusted in it both the Horse and his Rider are fallen O Lord Thou even thou art terrible Thou even thou alone art to be feared Who is there though never so potent though defenced with the strongest Army that is able to resist thée that may stand in thy sight when thou art angry At this time thou hast fought from Heaven for us Thou didst make all people to hear thy judgments from thence and the Tyrants of the earth when they felt the power of thy hand trembled and shaked at it their heart melted and their knées smote together quiet they were and silent not daring to mutter against thée or against thy people O Lord the fierceness the rage the pride of man shall turn to thy praise even thy enemies the profanest men being humbled by thy judgments shall confess thy power and acknowledge thy hand say they shall This is the finger of God that thou Lord goest before thy people that thou hast done it and their posterity shall by their example be restrained from doing any such wickedness and by their fathers punishment taught to fear God And now O all ye which are Israelites indéed and perptually stand in his presence Vow unto your God for this his great mercy and pay the sacrifice of praise bring presents unto him whom alone you ought to fear and reverence To him I say vow and perform your vows who for your sake hath cut off the animosities and taken down the courage of Princes and made it appear That he will be a terrible God to all the Kings of the earth to whom be praise to whom be glory now and for ever Amen PSAL. LXXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this Psalm the Prophet shews the bitter agony which a troubled spirit undergoes upon the sense of Gods desertion and the comfort again it receives upon the consideration of Gods great and gracious works Two parts of this Psalm 1. He sets forth the strife betwixt the flesh and the Spirit and how the flesh tempts to despair and calls into question the goodness and favour of God from ver 1. to 10. 2. Next he shews the victory of the spirit over the flesh being raised encouraged and confirmed by the Nature Promises and Works of God from the 10th verse to the end of the Psalm an excellent Psalm this is and of great use in all spiritual desertions 1. The first part I cryed unto God with my voyce even unto God with my voyce and he gave ear unto me Ver. 1 in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord ver 1 2. Here David shews the course he took to find ease in his extream trouble of soul he accused not
not the interposition of our sin so it be repented and left that can hinder his Grace to shine upon us and remove it 3. He is slow to anger and he hath this of a Father also 3 Slow to anger For no men more patient than Fathers in tolerating the infirmities and childishness of their Children this in him also For like as a Father pieth his Children Ver. 13 so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 4. Plenteous in mercy 4 Plenteous in mercy He takes into his consideration what frail Creatures we are and fading For he knoweth our frame he remembreth we are dust Ver. 14 As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the Field so he flourisheth for the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more And this fragility and instability of our's causeth him to be exceeding merciful to us which David expresseth in the next verse by way of Antithesis But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting ab aeterno in aeternum from the Eternity of our Predestination to the Eternity of our Glorification yet not bestowed hand over head it is with thy Restriction and Limitation But to those that fear him and keep his Covenant 1. Upon them that fear him 2. And his righteousness that is veracity and faithfulness in performing his Covenant not to the Fathers alone but to Childrens children 3. To such as keep his Covenant Yea and are obedient observe the conditions of Faith and Repentance 4. Yea and of obedience also That remember his Commandments to do them These Benefits are many and wonderful and the mercy from which they proceed infinite but that no man doubt of the performance of it Ver. 19 that God will do for those That fear him and keep his Commandments This mercy God is able to make good what he hath promised and in the Close of this Part the Prophet puts us in mind of his Power 1. He is Dominus in Coelo not like our Lords on Earth his power is no where circumscribed 2. He hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens there he fits pro Tribunali can see and judge the World 3. And that we suspect him not to be some under-Judge set over us and appointed by another David tells us His Kingdom ruleth over all The Supremacy is his he is the Supreme Monarch 3. The third part For these Benefits he invites all Creatures to praise God And thus the Prophet having particularly remembred Gods Goodness and Benefits to his People as being not able to return sufficient thanks alone he invites all the Creatures to joyn with him in his praise and first the Angels Bless the Lord ye his Angels whom he describes 1. 1 Angels From their excellency Ye that excel in strength 2. From their obedience And do his Commandments 3. From their celerity readiness and chearfulness in it That hearken to the voyce of his words that you may shew you selves faithful Ministers and Servants 2. 2 Armies of God He invites all the Armies of God to joyn with him by which Bellarmine understands all the Superiour Order Archangels Principalities Dominations and Powers which is the Militia of Heaven Luke 2. together with the Angels before-named Bless the Lord all his Hosts ye who how glorious soever yet are but Ministers of his that do his pleasure faithfully receive your charge and do it diligently and daily execute it 3. 3 All his works He invites all the Creatures of God to joyn with him also as if they had sense 3 All his works and understood him Bless the Lord all his works All for that no man should think that he meant only rational Creatures in Heaven and Earth 2. He adds in all places of his Dominion which extends over the whole world All Creatures then without exception and all in all places he desires would do it and good Reason for he made all and rules over all and is in all places with all and fills all and preserves all and moves all and in their kinds they have done it the Water at the Flood the Fire at Babylon the Crowes in feeding Eliah the Lyons in sparing Daniel c. And they do it when all keep their own stations and work according to that Law of Nature which God hath put upon them 4. 4 Himself Lastly That no man should imagine that he that called on others would be backward in performing the Duty himself as he began so he concludes this excellent Psalm Bless the Lord O my Soul At all times let his praise be in thy mouth The Prayer collected out of the one hundred and third Psalm BOund I am Ver. 1 O Omnipotent God and most merciful Father for thy great favours unto me with heart with soul with all powers of my mind and all strength of my body perpetually to acknowledge thee to praise thee and laud thy holy Name Wherefore O my Soul Bless thou the Lord and all faculties within me and parts about me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all or any one of his Benefits My actual sins are many and grievous but thou O Lord in mercy hast forgiven my iniquities Thou hast justified me by the death of thy Son cleansed me by his blood of an unjust person made me just of an enemy a friend of a slave a san I consess O Lord that the bitter root of sin is so graffed in my nature that I carry it about me in my mortal body and I lament yet I give thanks to thy grace which hath so healed my infirmities and so subdued them by the power of thy Spirit that I féel it daily dying and the strength thereof so decayed that it cannot reign rule and command within me And this gives me assurance Ver. 4 That thou hast redeemed my life from death hell and destruction and that at last out of thy loving-kindness and tender mercies I shall be Crowned with a Crown of Glory Lord what was I or what could I deserve that thou shouldst bestow these wonderful Benefits upon me when I think upon them I am not able to comprehend them and when I comprehend them I should be never able to believe them had'st thou not revealed them and assured them to my foul by thy boly Spirit O my Soul then bless the Lord bless his holy Name and forget not all his Benefits But as if all these high favours had been too little Thou hast over and above added many temporal blessings I enjoy by thy bounty food and rayment Ver. 5 which are good things so long as well used with these thou hast satisfied my mouth and given me health and strength to make use of them So that my youth is renewed as the Eagles in this my old age I find my body healthful my senses not altogether impaired my
Canopy extended over his Throne sometimes in his Chariot drawn by the swiftest Horses with all his Nobles Ministers and Servants about him and attending his pleasure And in this manner he presents the Majesty of God which were the work of the first and second day for by that order he proceeds in setting forth Gods works viz. by the order of the dayes they are made 1. His Robe is the light the work of the first day which is the purest The second part the most beautiful the most glorious illustrious vivifical Ver. 2 chearful of all Gods Creatures with this he is cloathed as with a garment 1 Of the first day for he is light John 1.1 and be dwells in that inaccessible light that no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6. 2. His Pavision stretched round about him is the Heavens 2 Of the second day the work of the second day these as it were the Hangings the Curtains of his Chamber of Presence by his fiat and power stretched out Ver. 3 as we now see them He stretched out the Heavens as a Curtain 3. His Palace built in a most miraculous manner the beams thereof laid not as is usual upon some firm and solid body but upon that which is most fluent He layes the beams of his Chambers in the waters In Gen. 1.7 we read of waters above the Firmament which were a part of the second dayes work and of these surely the Prophet speaks What is to be understood by waters above the Firmament is no dispute for this place Vide Zanch. de op Dei lib. 2. c. 1. 4. His Chariot the Clouds Who makes the Clouds his Chariot upon these he as it were rides and in a wonderful nimble manner is in all places he pleaseth no otherwise than the Clouds who are now in this place and instantly removed to another 5. The Horses that draw it the Winds Alipedes as the Poets feigned the Horses that drew the Chariot of the Sun by it his intent is to shew That by the power of God are brought upon the face of Heaven and remov'd at his pleasure Ver. 4 6. His Attendants Angels He maketh his Angels Spirits In which his Majesty appears his Ministers a flaming fire No Creature of greater quickness and agility than a Spirit no Element more active than fire These blessed Spirits he sends forth as he pleaseth to defend his Servants and as a flame of fire to consume and burn up his enemies in which appears his Might and Majesty 2. Next the Prophet descends from the Heaven and out of the Aire 2 Of the third day in which his Power and Wisdom The Earth created and comes to speak of the work of the third day and he begins with the Earth that Element which is best known to us in which he shewes the power and wisdom of God many wayes 1. In the foundation of it upon its center that whether it have the motion of Verticity as some do teach or else is fix'd and moves not at all Ver. 5 strange it is that so great and heavy a body should remain in the midst of the World and not sink ponderibia librata suis 1 In foundation This the Prophet attributes only to the Power and Providence of God Who laid the foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever 2. Another part of his Providence about the Earth was that whereas the water being the lighter Element did at first cover the Earth 2 The raising it above the waters by his Fiat and made it useless God either by taking of some parts out of the upper superficies of the Earth in sundry places and made it more hollow and laying them in other places made it more convex or to speak more plainly by raising some and depressing others made room for the Sea This was a work of Gods Word and the Prophet speaks of this in the three following verses 1. First He shewes in what condition the Earth was in the first Creation it was covered and under water Thou cover'dst it with the deep Ver. 6 as with a Garment the waters stood above the Mountains 2. He shewes how the Earth became uncovered it was by the voyce power and fiat of God Let the waters be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear Gen. 1. This the Psalmist here calls the rebuke of God the voyce of Thunder for God had no sooner spake the word Ver. 7 But it was so At thy rebuke they fled at thy voyce of Thunder they were afraid whether they were such waters as are now or thick mists and vapours after to be condensed into vapours afraid they were to stay any longer and to cover the Earth when God rebuked them spoken as it were in Thunder and bid them remove 3. Ver. 8 And so there became a new World as it were Jussit extendi campos subsidere Valles 3 Confining the Sea The Mountains and the Vallies take the lower place Or else as we read They the mists and vapours go up by the Mountains for quanti montes volvuntur aquarum but they stayed not then nor yet do stay upon the Mountains But they go down by the Vallies unto the place which thou hast appointed for them still failing along to Sea 4. Ver. 9 4 His Providence about the Rivers There thou inclosest them as with doors and bars Job 18. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the Earth yet not violently kept there as some suppose but restrain'd by an ordinary way of Nature it being natural for water to descend to the lower places which by Gods power was not hollowed for them to remain in that they once did return and cover the Earth was by Gods extraordinary Command 3. And next he comes to speak of the Rivers and Springs and shewes Gods wonderful Providence about them 1. Ver. 10 He sendeth the Springs that is the streams of water from the Hills into the Vallies 1 Their Springs which yet at first run among the Hills for who knowes not that the domus fluvii the Spring and Well whence the greatest Rivers stream is seated commonly in the foot of some Mountain 2. 2 Their Use And the end of this infinitely declares Gods Providence it is for the sustenance of Beasts and Fowles perish they must for thirst were it otherwise and therefore he adds 1. They i. e. the Springs and Rivers give drink to every Beast of the Field the wild Asses quench their thirst 2. By them shall the Fowles of the Heaven have their habitation which sing among the Branches 4. But the Springs and Rivers cannot water all parts of the Earth were it not then for another part of his Care and Providence 3 The Rain and Dewes the Hills and higher places would be altogether barren and unfruitful his Wisdom therefore
therefore O Lord I cry and profess before the whole World Thou art my refuge my stay my hope Ver. 6 my strong Tower of defence Thou alone while I remain in this land of the living art my portion and heritage I have chosen thée for my shield and buckler my affections are to thée and I will rely only on thée Therefore good God attend unto my cry for I am brought very low weakned and humbled and depressed and brought to a forlorn condition Ver. 7 Deliver me from those that persecute me and thirst after my blood for they are grown far too strong for me Bring my soul out of this affliction with which I am straitned as in a Prison and I will praise and magnifie thy Name Nay the righteous and sincere-hearted Israelites that expect the performance of thy promises and long for it upon this mercy extended to me shall then compass me about adhere unto me and congratulate my deliverance and restitution Sing they will in the house of the Lord that thou hast dealt bountifully with me Get thy self honour then upon Pharaoh and all his Army deliver out of this Aegyptian bondage thy poor afflicted Israel bring them into the promised Land expel the Canaanites before them and exalt the Kingdom of thy Son Iesus Christ our Lord To whom with thée and the Holy Ghost be all Glory Dominion and Power now and for ever Amen PSAL. CXLIII Being the last of the Penitentials DAVID being driven from Jerusalem by his son Absolon wisely calls to mind his sin as being the cause of it which in this Psalm he deplores and desires grace and mercy of God The parts of this Psalm are 1. A Prayer to God for remission of sin grounded upon Gods promise and goodness ver 1. not upon his own worthiness ver 2. 2. A Narration of the sad state of his Affairs ver 3 4. 3. The Comfort he received in his sad condition and whence ver 5 6. 4. His Petition containing divers particulars to which are annexed particular Reasons from ver 7. to the last 1. The first part In the beginning he petitions for Audience Hear my prayer O Lord give car to my supplication Ver. 1 but expresses not the matter he pray'd for which yet out of the following words may well be collected to be remission of sin David begs on for which he was thus punished and this he begs of God to grant both in regard of his promise and mercy 1. 1 Gods promise In faithfulness answer me Thou art a faithful God that hast promised pardon to penitents a penitent I am make then thy Word good to me and pardon me 2. 2 And mercy a pardon And in thy righteousness which here signifies mercy and loving-kindness In thy mercy then answer me and seal my pardon justifie me because I confess my iniquities Isa 43.26 Men call for confession from the guilty to condemn God to pardon And that this is the sense appears more clearly by the next verse 1. Ver. 2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant Call me not to a strict and rigorous account at thy Bar of Justice And not for his merit This he deprecates so that justitia in the former verse could not be taken for that justice which punisheth sin and rewards righteous deeds for that he pleads not here but declines it yea and assigns the Reason 2. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified Not I nor any man that ever did doth or shall live Let me then have my pardon upon thy promise and mercy and not for my merits It is not then the most commendable work that can justifie any man at the Bar of God but his mercy in Christ which he hath promised to accept Taught he hath us daily to pray Remitte debita 2. The second part And now he enters upon the Narration of his sad condition which he urgeth as another Reason to perswade God to remit his offence Ver. 3 and it is taken from the grievousness of tentation His sad condition to which the enemy brought him and the consequent of it 1. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul I look not so much upon my son Absolon that seeks my life as upon the enemy of Mankind Satan who entic'd me to Adultery and tempted me to Homicide 2. He hath smitten my life down to the ground He hath humbled me made me vile and contemptible in thy sight made me a lover of the earth and earthly pleasures who before had my Conversation in Heaven 3. He hath made me dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead For after that he had intangled my soul with earthly pleasures he made me dwell in spiritual darkness that I saw not the way to life but was indeed dead in trespasses and sins I knew no more of what belonged to the life of the Spirit than those that have been long dead Eph. 4.18 19. 2.5 And the effect that it wrought upon me For which he was ready to faint and despair was fear consternation and horrour of mind out of the sense of thy wrath against my sin 1. Ver. 4 Therefore my spirit was overwhelmed within me I suffered a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my soul I was ready to faint when I consider'd thy holiness and my impurity thy severe justice and my inability to satisfie it 2. And my heart within me is desolate far from all comfort Troubled I was not lightly not superficially but seriously and inwardly my soul was heavy to the death 3. The third part But recovers In this sadness I cast about what to do Though I felt thy hand heavy upon me yet despair I durst not even from this miserable state I began to fetch my remedy I found it was thy grace to bring me to this astonishment for my sin that my heart was not hardned in sin but astonished for sin mollified when it was thus troubled and à dolore parturivi salutem That then which came into my head were thy wayes that thou hadst taken with penitent sinners before me 1. I remember the dayes of old The dayes of Adam Noah Abraham Moses c. who all being thy servants yet sinning grievously Upon the remembrance of Gods mercies to others and repenting Thou admit'st to mercy whose examples I applied and they kept me from despair read Psal 77.5 6 7 c. for all these were Testimonies of thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thy love to man And meditation of them 2. I meditate on all thy works I muse upon the works of thy hands I did not slightly run them over but I meditate I muse upon them for in this combate betwixt hope and despair comfort is not obtained but by a long and serious meditation of Gods works his works in making a second Covenant with us and purchasing and applying Redemption The profit admirable 3. And the profit that came