Davids Harp Strung and Tuned

The Prayer collected out of the seventy eighth Psalm.

WOnderful, O Lord, are thy ways, infinite thy mercies, admirable thy patience and longsuffering toward the children of men: [Vers. 5] that we might know thee, thou hast established a Testimony in Jacob, and appointed a Law in Israel; [unspec 8] that we might not forget our duty, thou hast left thy Commandments upon Record; that we should not be a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their hearts aright, and start from our duties as a broken bow, thou hast acquainted us with thy proceedings with thine own people in Egypt, in the Wilderness; and in that Land, which thou hast divided to them for an inheritance.

We have heard with our ears, [unspec 3] O God, and our fathers have told us, what thou hast done in the time of old, and we will not conceal thy works from the generation to come. Thy wonders in Egypt were illustrious, in the red Sea wonderful, in the Wilderness prodigious, in Canaan full of power. The plagues of Egypt, thy path in the waters, the cloud by day, the pillar by night, the Manna, the Quails, the water out of the Rock, show thy power, severity, and mercy. All which should breed in us fear and reverence.

But like those rebellious Israelites, [unspec 10] we have not kept thy Covenant, nor walked in thy Law, [unspec 11] we have forgot thy works, and thy wonders then done; we have turned back, [unspec 40] we have tempted thee our God these ten times, we have provoked and grieved the holy One of Israel. [unspec 41] We have not remembered thy hand, nor the day, when thou deliverest us from the hand of the enemy.

Of a truth, Lord, when thy hand hath been heavy upon us by the pestilence, [unspec 34] famine, or sword, when thou by any of thy severe judgments didst stay us, [unspec 35] and bring us to the jaws of death, then we sought thee, then we returned and inquired early after God, [unspec 36] then we remembered, that God was our Rock, [unspec 56, 57.] and the high God our Redeemer. Novertheless we did but flatter thee with our mouths, and lied unto thee with our tongues, for thy heavy hand was no sooner removed, but our obedience was at an end. We have again rempted and provoked the most High God, we have not kept thy Testimonies, but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully with our fathers.

Thine own people were not more contumacious, Israel not more stubborn, forgetful, willful, than we have been. If they dissembled with thee, we have done the like; if they provoked, grieved, tempted thee, we have done the like. [unspec 37] Our great deliverances have not wrought upon us, thy apparent judgments have not bettered us, thy returns of mercy have stiffned our hard hearts. [unspec 38] Woe be to us for our infidelity, and disobedience; whither shall we fly? to whom shall we go? Were it not, that we consider that thou art the Father of mercies, [unspec 39] our hearts would faint. Those words upon record are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb to our dying souls. Israel was not right with him, nor steadfast in his Covenant: But he being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not, yea, many a time he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath, For he remembered, that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Remember, O Lord, the mould of which we are made, consider that we are but weak and vain flesh, strive not always with us; remember that the breath in our nostrils, is but a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again, then turn away thine anger, and stir not up all thy wrath. Out of thy mere compassion pardon and forgive our iniquity, and destroy not the work of thine own hands.

Raise us by the power of thy Spirit, and confirm us in thy truth, that there never may be in us hereafter a heart of unbelief; Never let us depart from the living God, or harden our hearts from thy fear. The natural branches are broken off, and we, who were slips of the wild Olive, are graffed in, of which we have not so much reason to boast, as to tremble, [unspec 67] lest that thou, who hast refused the Tribe of Joseph, and cast aside the Tribe of Ephraim for their ingratitude, rebellion, impiety, and disobedience, shouldst upon the same ground reject us also. We will not boast against the natural branches, but come before thee with fear and hope; with fear, lest what happened to them, may befall us; and yet with hope, that the same mercy which followed them, may yet follow us. [unspec 68]

In the hottest of thy anger, thou yet madest choice of the Tribe of Judah, [unspec 69] and set'st thy love upon Mount Zion, there thou built'st thy Sanctuary on high, [unspec 70] and set'st it like the earth, which never should move at any time. [unspec 71] David thou madest choice of to be their Prince, and broughtest him to feed Jacob thy people, and Israel thine inheritance. Let this thy love, [unspec 72] notwithstanding our wickedness, continue unto thy Church, let the Tribe of Judah be dear in thy eyes, take pleasure and do good to Zion, build thy Sanctuary on high, and make it conspicuous and beautiful in the eyes of her very enemies, never let the gates of hell prevail against it. Call thy servant David from his low condition to guide thy people, and rule thy inheritance. And let the power of thy Spirit, be so effectual in him, that he may feed thy people according to the integrity of his heart, and guide them prudently with all his might: So shall we, who are the sheep of thy pasture, give thee thanks forever and ever.

PSAL. LXXIX. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

THIS Psalm was composed, when the Church was oppressed, as some conceive by Antiochus; certain it is, it was in a very distressed condition. And it hath

These parts, Uiz.

• 1. A Complaint for the desolation of Jerusalem, from verse. 1. to 5.
• 2. A Deprecation of God's anger, verse. 5.
• 3. A twofold Petition.
  • 1. Against the enemies of the Church, verse. 6, 7, 10, 11, 12.
  • 2. For the Church, verse. 8, 9.
• 4. A Doxology, verse. 13.

1. The Complaint is very bitter, and riseth by many degrees.

• 1. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. The Antithesis is elegant: The heathen, those Wolves, impure beasts, are come into thy Land, thy peculiar.
• 2. Thy Holy Temple have they defiled. [Vers. 1] Prophaned the place consecrated to thy service.
• 3. They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. Funditus deleverunt. [Vers. 2]
• 4. Their cruelty they have exercised upon the Dead. The dead bodies of thy Servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the air, the flesh of thy Saints to the beasts of the Land. [Vers. 3]
• 5. A second part of their cruelty, was, that they made no more reckoning to let out the life-blood of a man, than of so much water. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem.
• 6. They wanted a grave. And there was none to bury them.
• 7. [Vers. 4] And to make up the full measure of their calamities, their enemies looked on, and scoffed at it. We are become a reproach to our Neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

2. The misery being fully decipher'd in this pathetical Complaint, next the Psalmist acknowledgeth the cause of their calamity, and expostulates with God.

• 1. The cause was, God's anger and jealousy.
• 2. [Vers. 5] He expostulates with God about it, and deprecates it. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry forever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? i.e. Cessairasci.

3. And now he begins his Prayer, which is twofold. First, Against the enemy.

• 1. [unspec 6] Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the Kingdoms that have not called on thy name. Not upon us, but on them.
• 2. And he adds the reason, and 'tis a reason of weight, in which he respects not himself, but God's people. For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. [unspec 7]

The other part of his Prayer, is for pardon and help for the Church.

• 1. [unspec 8] He said, verse. 5. that God was angry, and anger ariseth from sin. First then he begs remission.
  • 1. O remember not against us our former iniquities.
  • 2. Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us. Ratio. For we are brought very low.
• 2. And then he prays for help. Help us, O God, of our Salvation: using the most powerful Argument, [unspec 9] God's glory, Help us for the glory of thy name.
• 3. Then joins both together. Deliver us, and purge away our sins for thy Names sake.

And now he adds to his first reason, viz. God's glory; two more, why he desires sudden help, which are, The Blasphemy of the heathen. 2. The Misery of his people at this time.

• 1. If they were not delivered, the enemy was like to blaspheme, and say; Now wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? Therefore, Let him be known among the heathen in our sight, by the revenge of the blood of thy Servants which is shed. [unspec 10]
• 2. Our case is miserable, we are an object of pity. Let then the sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the greatness of thy power; preserve thou those that are appointed to die.
• 3. [unspec 11] And, thirdly, render unto our neighbors seven-fold into their bosoms, [unspec 12] i.e. largely; even the reproach with which they have reproached thee, O Lord.

4. The Vote or Obligation to be thankful for the deliverance.

• 1. So we that be thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, shall give thee thanks forever.
• 2. We will show forth thy praise to all generations We thy people, thy sheep, will do it. For praise is not comely nor acceptable out of the mouth of a sinner. [unspec 13]

PSAL. LXXX. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

THE occasion of this Psalm, is the same with the former, viz. An oppression of Israel, and devastation, as is most likely by the Assyrians.

The parts are,

• 1. A Prayer, verse. 1, 2, 3.
• 2. A complaint by way of expostulation, from verse. 3. to 8.
• 3. In the twelve last verses, to move God to commiseration, He
  • 1. First reckons up God's love to Israel, under the Allegory of a vine, from verse. 8. to 12.
  • 2. Deplores the waste made upon it, verse. 12, 13.
  • 3. Prayes that God would return, look upon, and restore the vine, from verse. 13. to 18.
  • 4. Makes a vow of perpetual service, verse. 18.

1. In the beginning of this Psalm, the Prophet offers up his Petition for audience, for help, for favor, for repentance, and remission of sin.

• 1. [Vers. 1] For audience. Give ear. For if God will not hear, 'tis to no end to pray.
• 2. [Vers. 2] For aid, assistance, help. Stir up thy strength, and come and save us, shine forth, show us a favorable countenance.
• 3. [Vers. 3] For amendment, which is the essense of repentance. Turn us again, and cause thy face (which seems to us cloudy, angry now) to shine, and we shall be saved. Vere faelices.

And the Argument he useth to persuade this, is from the person of God, and his former administration; 1. He showed himself a shepherd. 2. He was glorious in Israel.

• 1. O shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Free us from these Wolves.
• 2. Thou that fit'st between the Cherubims, hast taken up thy seat among us, and showed thy glorious presence by the Ark that the Cherubims cover. Shine forth, and show thou hast not left us. 2. Shew thyself before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, i.e. before all Israel.

2. To his Prayer, as ardent Petitioners use, he adjoins his Complaint. Of which the particulars are these.

• 1. He complains that God was angry, and shows his anger in this, that a prayer would not be heard. O Lord, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? [unspec 4] A sad case this, when God, who hath commanded, Call on me in trouble, and I will hear thee, yet will not hear. No marvel if he began the Psalm with, Give ear, O Lord.
• 2. [unspec 5] He complains of their lamentable condition, their grief and calamity was so great, that they eat nor drank without tears, no pleasane meat came in their mouths. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears, and givest them tears to drink in great measure.
• 3. He complains of the ill usage they found from all, [Vers. 6] both Neighbors and enemies.
  • 1. Thou makest us a strife, i.e. an occasion of strife to our Neighbors, for they contend about us, striving who shall reign and domineer over us.
  • 2. And our enemies laugh among themselves. Make a mock, and scorn of us.

After which complaint, the Prophet ingeminates his principal Petition.

• 1. Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts. Make us penitents, Converts, new men.
• 2. And cause thy face to shine. Clear up thy countenance, [unspec 7] and frown no more.
• 3. And then we know the effect. We shall be saved, q.d. Vivemus, regnabimus, faelices erimus, nullo bono destituti.

3. And that he might the sooner move God to commiseration, under the Metaphor of a Vine,

• 1. First he puts God in mind, what he had done for his people Israel.
  • 1. He brought this Vine out of Egypt. A choice Vine then, translated thence. [unspec 8]
  • 2. Thou castest out the heathen. Purgest, as it were, the ground for it.
  • 3. Thou plantest it. A plant it was of thy own, and men love their own plants.
  • 4. Thou preparest room before it. Removedst all impediments, [unspec 9] that might hinder the growth.
  • 5. And didst cause it to take root. Else the planting, the making room had been in vain.
  • 6. And it filled the Land. The Vine, that is, the people grew and multiplied. Which is amplified in the two following verses, in which the Amplitude and Glory of the Kingdom is declared.
    • 1. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, [unspec 10] and the boughs thereof like the goodly Cedars.
    • 2. She sent out her boughs to the Sea, [unspec 11] and her branches to the river, i.e. Euphrates.
• 2. The Prophet deplores the waste now made upon the Vine, and that by God. For he faith,
  • 1. Why hast thou broken down her hedges? The fence being broken down, the Vine cannot be safe. [unspec 12] This the Prophet laments, that God had said flat. Whether Angels, or Laws, or his Statutes were the Hedge, all was gone. Or if the Kings power, that was taken away.
  • 2. And upon the remove of the Hedge, there followed a Triple mischief.
    • 1. All those that pass by the way, do pluck her. [unspec 13] Everyone that would, made havoc of the Clusters.
    • 2. The Boar out of the wood doth waste it. Some home-bred enemy in power, enters and spoils it.
    • 3. The wild beasts of the field devour it. Tyrants from abroad.
  • 3. He prays to God to have compassion, and look upon his Vine again.
    • 1. Return, we beseech thee, O Lord God of hosts. Thou art the Lord of Armies, return then and fight for us. [unspec 14] We neglected thee, when present, but once more return, and we shall more esteem thy favor, and beware how we drive thee from us.
    • 2. Look down from heaven. Thence protect us. For earth cannot help us.
    • 3. Behold, and visit this Vine. Take it once again into thy care. For he that will not visit his Vine, is not like to have any care of it.
  • 4.
    • He prays for the whole Land, the Vineyard. And visit the Vineyard that thy right-hand hath planted, [Vers. 15] i.e. thy power. And the branch, i. e. people, that thou madest strong (by thy promise and Covenant, that it should grow into an ample and great Kingdom) for thyself, i. e. for thy glory, for thy service. To bring forth grapes for thee.
    • And now once more he interserts and repeats his complaint.
      • 1. [unspec 16] It is burnt with fire. 2. It is cut down, Igne, & ferro grassantur hosts.
      • 2. They, i. e. the boughs, branches, shoots of the Vine, perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. It is not the enemies swords, but thy rebuke of us for our sins, that hath brought upon us this devastation.
  • 5.
    • He prays again almost in the same words of the 15. verse, Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right-hand, [unspec 17] and upon the son of man, whom thou madest strong for thyself.
    • In the interpretation of this verse, Interpreters agree not. For by the son of man,
      • 1. Some understand Christ, who is often called the son of man, and is the man on God's right-hand.
      • 2. The Jews, Zerobabel, or some other chief Leader. Which Jansen saith, is the more probable opinion.
      • 3. Others, the Jewish Nation, and the whole body of that people, whom God is pleased to call His Son. Israel is my first-born, who was the man of his righthand, because grown strong by his power. To this opinion Musculus and Moller incline.

According to the first interpretation, which is Basils, the sense is this. Let thy hand and power be showed by the man of thy right-hand, thy Son, and for his sake spare thy Vineyard, and let not the enemy utterly waste it. 2. According to the second, he prays that God would send them some strong and mighty Savior or Deliverer. 3. According to the third, he prays, that God would show his power and might, and not suffer his people, whom he had taken unto him in the place of a Son, and to the glory of his name, joined to himself by the right-hand of his power and strength of Covenant, now (to the ignominy of his name) to perish by the cruelty of wicked men.

4. The last part of the Psalm, contains a promise of Gratitude. That they would revolt and rebel no more, but constantly adhere to God, and renounce their Idols.

• 1. [unspec 18] So will not we go back from thee. We will no more be backsliders.
• 2. Quicken us. Revive us from this death, this calamity. Or, Quicken us by thy Spirit and Grace.
• 3. And we will call upon thy name. We will serve thee, and not any strange god.

And so he concludes the Psalm, with that verse twice before set down and explained, verse. 3. verse. 7. now repeated.

PSAL. LXXXI. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

IN this Psalm the Prophet exhorts the people to praise God in his Festivals, for the benefits he confer'd on them, and exprobates their disobedience, and shows the events that fell upon it.

The parts are,

• 1. An exhortation to celebrate in their Festivals, God's name, from verse. 1. to 4.
• 2. The reasons he useth to persuade unto it, viz. the benefits of God confer'd upon Israel, from verse. 4. to verse. 12.
• 3. An exprobation of Israel's ingratitude, and the consequent, verse. 12, 13.
• 4. The expression of God's love, and call to amendment, which if they hearken to, he tells them what will follow, from verse. 14. to the end.

1. He first exhorts to rejoice and exult. But not in any worldly manner, as may easily be collected out of the circumstances.

• 1. The Object, God. To God, our strength, to the God of Jacob. [Vers. 1]
• 2. That this joy be expressed by voice, and instruments of Music. Sing aloud, make a joyful noise, take a Psalm, bring hither the Timbrel, [unspec 2] the pleasant Harp, with the Psaltery. Blow up the Trumpet. Signifie your joy always. [unspec 3]
• 3. Especially, that it be in a fit season. In the New Moon, in the time appointed, on our Solemn Feast-day. For then they were to rejoice before the Lord.

2. And now he expresseth the reasons why this was to be done.

• 1. God's command. For this was a Statute for Israel, and a Law of the God of Jacob; this he ordained in Joseph for a testimony.
• 2. The antiquity of it. Ordained presently upon the time, when he, that is, God went out through the Land of Egypt. [unspec 5] In remembrance of their deliverance, they were to rejoice. Which benefit he amplifies by this circumstance, that they were delivered from people of a strange language, which is no small benefit, the intelligence of any tongue, being the bond of all society.

And now more particularly he recounts God's favors to them. For which they had reason to rejoice.

• 1. That he delivered them from a base servitude. I removed his shoulders from the burden, and his hands, that is, the Israelites, were delivered from the pots. [unspec 6]
• 2. And he did this for them, when they were in affliction, and cried to him. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee. The courtesy was seasonable. [unspec 7]
• 3. He did by signs and wonders in Egypt, show that he had a care of them. Thou calledst upon me in trouble secretly, and I answered in the secret of thunder; by an open sign I showed my presence with thee, and my care in secret for thee.

And here he interserts one particular of Israel's ingratitude, when they tempted God, and murmured for want of water, which God let them want, for a trial of their obedience. I proved thee also at the waters of Meribah. Selah. Numb. 20.

And after he proceeds, and reckons up a new, and the greatest benefit, viz. [unspec 8] The giving of the Law. To which he useth, in effect, the same Preface which is extant, Deut. 5.1. before Moses gave the Law. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee. O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me. [unspec 9] If there were that piety in thee, or that love to me, as I expect, Then there shall no strange god be in thee: Neither shalt thou worship any other gods. Which is the second Commandment.

To persuade to which, he adds three reasons. The two first in the front of the Decalogue.

• 1. I am the Lord thy God. A God, thy God, whom else shouldst thou worship? [unspec 10]
• 2. Which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt. Redeem'd, delivered thee from bondage.
• 3. Open thy mouth wide, and I shall fill it. Have no other gods, but me, and I will largely and abundantly supply thy wants. This is his promise. Ask and have, seek and find, but seek first the Kingdom of God, and its righteousness.

3. To this he adds the just complaint of God, for Israel's disobedience. But, notwithstanding all the evidences of my might, and Arguments of my love, they were a rebellious, and stubborn people, which God lays to their charge, verse. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice, [unspec 11] and Israel would none of me. They broke my Covenant, and willfully set me aside for strange gods.

And this their Rebellion drew on them a heavy, the severest punishment.

• 1. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust. I let them alone in their obstinacy.
• 2. And they walked in their own counsels. They might do what they would, I regarded it not. A heavy judgment for a man to be left to himself. Compare with this verse, 2 Thes. 2.12. which expounds it.

4. And yet behold the love of God to a willful, rebellious, and obstinate people, he wishes that it had been otherwise, and by his wish, affectionately moves them to repentance.

O that my people had hearkened to me, and Israel had walked in my ways. [unspec 13] Consider how ardently God desires the good of man, and not his ruin.

And tells them what should ensue upon it. Three very great benefits, and most desired. [unspec 14]

• 1. A depression of their enemies. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord, should have been found liars, i. e. submitted and humbled themselves, [unspec 15] though hypocritically and falsely, as all flatterers do. But to that pass they should have been brought, that they should be glad to dissemble with, and flatter God's people.
• 2. The second benefit is, That their time should have continued forever, i.e. Their peace, their tranquility, their health, their quiet habitation should have been very long, and not interrupted with War, Sedition, Tumults.
• 3. [unspec 16] The third benefit is, The abundance of all things: Expressed by wheat, and honey.
  • 1. I should have fed them also (not with bran mixed with flower, as poor folks use, and is usual in time of famine) with the finest of the wheat.
  • 2. And with honey out of the Rock (in which in Judea, Bees commonly lived) would I have satisfied thee. 'It is a blessing to say, I have enough.

PSAL. LXXXII. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

THAT the Prophet might admonish and check the Judges of the earth about their duty, he sets God in the midst of them, commanding that they do justice, and • hreatning revenge for their injustice, assuring them, that he will rise one day, and judge them.

Three parts of the Psalm.

• 1. The Prophets Proclamation, verse. 1
• 2. God's contestation with the Judges of the earth, from verse. 2. to 8.
• 3. The Prophets prayer, that God would rise to judge, v. 8.

1. The Prophet, as a Cryer in a Court, proclaims first a very profitable Doctrine, and lays a solid foundation for all justice: viz. That all Judges remember, that as at an Assize the Judge sits in the midst of the Justices, so God is present and President, [Vers. 1] and sits in the midst of the Judges, hears, sees, and will reward or revenge what they do. God standeth in the Congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods.

2. And this being laid for a foundation, he falls, in the person of God, to contest with the Judges: First reproving them, verse. 2. Then exhorting them to their duty, verse. 3, 4. Lastly, proposeth the event upon the neglect of justice, both to the Common Wealth, verse. 5. and to themselves, verse. 6, 7.

• 1. He reproves them in the second verse, and that very sharply, as they deserved.
  • 1. For their judgment, that it was unjust. Ye judge unjustly.
  • 2. [Vers. 2] For their obstinacy. Not once done, but often, they continued in it. Us{que} quo. How long?
  • 3. Their partiality. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Ye accept the persont of the wicked.
• 2. He exhorts them to do their duty, which is double.
  • 1. Defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy. Do right to every man.
  • 2. Deliver the poor and needy. Rid them out of the hand of the wicked. Be a shield to them, [Vers. 3] a Savior.
• 3. [unspec 4] He acquaints us with the events which will follow where justice is not done. In that Common Wealth, All the foundations of the earth are out of course. And the Judges are the causes of it. In whom there are three foul defects.
  • 1. The first is, Ignorantia juris. They know not.
  • 2. [Vers. 5] Their willfulness, negligence, or oscitancy in sifting the cause. Neither will they understand.
  • 3. Their perverse resolution to go on their own way, without any respect had to the Laws of God or man: They walk on still in darkness, and then it was no wonder, that all the foundations of the earth should be out of course.

2. The other event was death and judgment, which was to fall upon their persons, verse. 7. Which that they might take down the better, he brings it in with an honorable Preface, that they might know he had an high esteem of their place and persons, [Vers. 6] yea, though unjust Judges.

I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most high. Your Ordination is from Heaven, your Power from God, your Office is his Creature.

But withal he would have them know, that they were but mortal gods, [Vers. 7] they themselves must come to judgment, which was the other event.

• 1. Ye shall die like men, ye shall die as those that are no gods, that are de plebe.
• 2. Ye shall fall as one of the Princes, as those whose death is inglorious, their memories infamous and hateful, and after death you shall not be happy, ye shall fall as Lucifer did. Mortal you are become, as Adam by your sin, and you shall be deprived of immortality.

3. The last part is a prayer, that since by injustice all the foundations of the earth be out of course, he desires that God would take the matter to his own cognizance.

• 1. Arise, O Lord; He saith not, You that are oppressed, [Vers. 8] rise against your Judges, but that they leave it to God.
• 2. That he would sit upon the Bench, and judge the earth.
• 3. He would amplify and enlarge his Kingdom. For thou shalt inherit all Nations.

PSAL. LXXXIII. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

TO resolve this Psalm, there is no difficulty. For it branches itself into

These parts:

• 1. A short Ejaculation or Prayer, verse. 1.
• 2. A Complaint of the enemies of God's Church, which is the reason of his Prayer, from verse. 2. to 11.
• 3. A fearful Imprecation against them, from verse. 11. to the end.

1. The Prophet out of a holy impatience at the patience and longsuffering of God, calls ardently and earnestly upon him, as appears by the ingemination of the words, that he would be no longer patient at the affronts and insultations of the Churches enemies. The cause was his own, not to be endured then longer.

2. And next he begins to Complain, which was the reason of his Petition. These were enemies, 1. To the people of God. 2. To God himself, verse. 5. And then he tells us, who they were, from verse. 6. to 9.

• 1. [Vers. 2] He describes the enemies of the Church. The Characters of which, are,
  • 1. They were Soldiers. They make a tumult. Their warlike fierceness is signified by it. [unspec 3] As Lions, Bears.
  • 2. They were arrogant and proud. They that hate thee, life up their head. And wilt thou then be silent?
  • 3. They are subtle men. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones, those whom thou hidest under the shadow of thy wings. Thy pecul •• r, Exod. 19.5.
  • 4. Their counsel broke out into action, and they encouraged one another in mischief, [unspec 4] even to the total and final destruction of the Church. Come, say they, let us cut them off from being a Nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
• 2. Which Confederacy and Conspiracy was not only against the people of God, [unspec 5] but against God himself. For they have consulted together with one consent, nemine dissentiente, and are confederate against thee.
• 3. He gives us in a Catalogue of these Conspirators. All the world against God and his Church.
• The Tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites: of Moab, [Vers. 6] and the Hagarens.
• Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, [unspec 7] the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tire.
• Ashur also is joined with them, they have holpen the children of Lor. [unspec 8] Selah.

3. And having discovered the men and their attempts, he prays to God for revenge, which consisted in four particulars. 1. Their fall and ruin. 2. Their persecution. 3. Their terror. 4. And their disgrace. Which he illustrates by divers similitudes. 1. Of a wheel, that easily runs down a hill. 2. Of stubble driven away by the wind. 3. As wood burnt up by the fire. 4. Of a flame that consumes the Mountains. 5. Of a tempest that throws down all things before it.

• 1. Their ruin and fall, he would have it total, and exemplary. [unspec 9] Do unto them as unto the Medianites, as to Sisera; as to Jabin at the brook of Kison. Which perished at Endor, [unspec 10] and became as the dung of the earth. Make them and their Princes like Oreb and Zeb; yea, all their Princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna. [unspec 12] Of which he interserts a reason. Who have said, [unspec 13] Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
• 2. And this their ruin he would have sudden and violent, as appears by the similitudes.
  • 1. Precipitate them, whirl them down. [unspec 14] O my God, make them like a wheel: or unquiet in mind.
  • 2. Remove them, as light things are blown away by the wind. Make them as stubble before the wind.
  • 3. Burn them as speedily, as the fire burns the wood: Or, as the flame sets furs on fire on the Mountains.
• 3. Persecute them with thy tempest. [unspec 15]
• 4. Make them afraid with thy storm. [unspec 16]
• 5. Fill their faces with shame.

These three parts of their punishment.

• 1. Flight.
• 2. Fear. Terror.
• 3. Shame, and Ignominy.

And that the Prophet might not seem uncharitable in this bitter imprecation, he now shows the ends why he thus prayed. These were two. [unspec 16]

• 1. The first, That they might seek after God, in effect be converted. Do this to them, that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Or as others conceive. Seek thy name merely out of a servile fear of God's vengeance, and contain their fury, not daring any further to attempt anything against the Church. Which the next verse confirms. Let them be confounded and troubled forever; yea, [unspec 17] let them be put to shame, and perish, i. e. brought to utter destruction; or at least, so enfeebled, that they may be said to perish.
• 2. The second, That thereby God's glory may be the more exalted, viz. That men may know, that thou whose name is Jehovah, art the most High over all the earth, i. e. not Lord of the Jews only, but the Gentiles also. Ut cognoscatur. Junius. That thy Eternity, Majesty, Power, may be acknowledged by all men.

PSAL. LXXXIV. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

WHEN David composed this Psalm, he was enforced to be absent from the house of God, and the holy Assembly of God's people. In this Psalm then

The Prophet doth,

• 1. Set forth his love to God's house, and his desire to be present, verse. 1, 2, 3.
• 2. Account those happy, who might continue in that Assembly, verse. 4, 5, 6, 7.
• 3. He prays to God for his restitution thither, and sets down the causes, verse. 8, 9, 10, 11.
• 4. Yet he accounts himself happy, because he trusts in God, verse. 12.

1. He begins with a pathetical Exclamation, as ravished with the beauty, the excellency, the comforts which he once enjoyed in God's house, which he calls God's Tabernacle.

How amiable are thy Tabernacles, O Lord of hosts?

Which form is usual, when we conceive more than we can express: As, [Vers. 1] Quam bonus Deus? O death, how bitter is thy remembrance? So that, How amiable? is as if he had said, More amiable than I know which way to tell you.

2. Then next in plainer terms he expresses his ardent affections to be present in the house of God, to the Ministry and Service there done.

• 1. My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord.
• 2. My heart, and my flesh, soul, and body, cries out for the living God.

The Ark of God, which was the sign of his presence, was so dear to him, that he longs, faints, cries, heart, hands, eyes, tongue, all earnestly desire to be present with it.

3. He laments his absence, (whether now forced to it by being present with his Armies abroad, or driven away by Absalom ) so that he accounts his case more miserable in this respect, than some Birds, Sparrows and Swallows, that might build about the Temple.

Yea, the Sparrow hath found her a house, [Vers. 3] and the Swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thy Altar, i. e. thy house, by a Synecdoche. They may nestle there, build there, sing there, be present there, but I may not, that's my grief. They then upon the point, more happy than I.

O Lord God of hosts, my King, and my God. By which words he would move God to pity.

• 1. O Lord God of hosts. That I acknowledge thee, now I am in Arms.
• 2. My King. I a King over thy people, but thou a King over me.
• 3. My God, whom I serve, therefore I desire to be in the place of thy service, and where thou dost most gloriously administer thy Kingdom, i. e. in thy house.

2. In the second place, he pronounceth them happy, who had free liberty perpetually to live in that Assembly which is called the Church, whether they did reside there, or were but in their way and journey thither.

• 1. [Vers. 4] Blessed are they that dwell in thy House, viz. The Priests and Levites.
  • 1. Blessed they are, for thou in thy House, as the good Master of the Family, dost there dispense unto them all thy administrations, viz. all thy goods, thy righteousness, the gifts of the Spirit, an inheritance of eternal life, &c.
  • 2. That dwell, continue, remain, not that come and look into it, and go out presently from it. They must be Citizens, dwellers in it, not Tenants at will, and Passengers, habitandi locum habeant, non divertendi non commorand • .
  • 3. A third part of their happiness consists in this, that they will do their duty. [Vers. 4] They will be still praising thee. Which is a true Note of God's Servants. They will offer to God Invocation, Thanksgiving, Confession, they will vow to propagate his Truth, and other duties of love and piety.
  • 4. [Vers. 5] The fourth is, That their trust is in God. Blessed is the man, whose strength is in thee. Who rely not so much in their external performances in the Temple, as unto thy promises which thou hast made to those who worship thee sincerely in thy Temple.
• 2. This is the happiness those enjoy that dwell in God's house, and they are happy also, who in their hearts are there, and have a desire, and are in their journey, yea though in their way they encounter many difficulties. So saith our Prophet,
  • 1. Blessed are they, in whose heart are the ways of them, that is, who not in hypocrisy dwell there, or that trust in their external performances, [unspec 5] but in whose heart are fixed those duties, which they that dwell in the Temple, perform sincerely.
  • 2. [unspec 6] Who passing through the Vale of Baca, make it a Well, the rain also fill the Pools.
    • 1. They pass. The Israelites in great numbers did ascend daily to God's house.
    • 2. They might, or often did pass through the Vale of Baca, or Bochim, the Vale of Mulberries, a dry Land, and then they wanted water: or through Bochim, the Valley of sorrow, and then they had tears to drink, and the rain filled the Pools of their eyes. For many are the afflictions of the righteous: and yet for all this, go on.
    • 3. [unspec 7] They pass from strength to strength, from Castle to Castle, from Town to Town, from one degree of virtue to another, Till everyone of them in Zion appeareth before God. Nor length of the journey, nor weariness, nor roughness of the way, nor difficulties, nor dangers in it, can discourage them, on they go, till they come to God's house in Zion. And are therefore, Blessed.

3. To his desire to be present in this Assembly, he adds a Prayer, O Lord God of hosts hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, O God our shield, [unspec 8] and look upon the face of thy anointed, i. e. of me whom thou hast anointed to be King. He desires that the God of Armies would protect, defend, give Victory, be a Buckler to him and his Army, and reduce them again, that they may do him service in his house. And he gives his reason, For one day in thy house, is better than a thousand, viz. out of it: I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, [unspec 9] than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For it is far more pleasant, more profitable; better it is. Which he illustrates by an opposition of time, place, persons.

• 1. One day in God's house, to a thousand out of it. Abroad luxury, pleasure, vanity, ostentation, death. In God's house the contrary, therefore out-doors here is better. I had rather be a door-keeper here, than, &c.
• 2. God's house, to the tents of wicked doers. Abroad luxury, pleasure, vanity, ostentation, death. In God's house the contrary, therefore out-doors here is better. I had rather be a door-keeper here, than, &c.
• 3. A door-keeper, a Corite, to the Noblest dwellers. Abroad luxury, pleasure, vanity, ostentation, death. In God's house the contrary, therefore out-doors here is better. I had rather be a door-keeper here, than, &c.

And in the next verse he gives us a more solid reason for this his choice, [unspec 10] or rather indeed three reasons.

• 1. The first taken from the properties of God. For the Lord is a Sun, and a Shield.
  • 1. A Sun, he dispels darkness, illuminates, comforts, heats, gives life, increase.
  • 2. A Shield he is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The Lord Protector of his people.
• 2. The second from his Bounty, he gives the best gifts, Grace, and Glory.
  • 1. Grace, for freely he adopts us for his Sons, and makes us heirs of eternal life.
  • 2. Glory in this life, for he raiseth to dignities here: and glory in heaven.
• 3. From his Al-sufficiency, or rather Efficiency. For no good thing will he with-hold.

But that every man do not serve himself of these reasons, as supposing that all these things belong to him, that God will be a Sun, a Shield to him, give grace and glory, or with-hold no good thing from him: [unspec 11] The Prophet very cautelously limits his words, No good thing he will with-hold from them that walk uprightly. Hypocrites then, and back-sliders, may challenge none of these blessings.

• 1. They must walk. Go on constantly, and continue in their way.
• 2. They must walk uprightly, in sincerity of heart, and not dissemble with God, if they mean to have a portion of the good things he gives.

4. The close of the Psalm, is an Acclamation, O Lord God, blessed is the man that trusts in thee. In which he tacitly answers an Objection. [Vers. 12] If such are blessed that dwell in the house of the Lord, then those are not blessed, which are exiled from thence. Yes, saith David, blessed they may be, and are, though they want that happiness. For all are blessed, who with a firm faith rely and trust in God, though being detained by prisons, tyrants, exile, and Schismatics, they enjoy not the outward communion of the Church, because by a true and solid confession of the Truth, they are still joined to the true society of Saints.

PSAL. LXXXV. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

M Ystically this whole Psalm is a Prophesy concerning the redemption of Mankind from the Tyranny of sin and Satan, by the coming of Christ, prefigured by the deliverance of the Jews, either from Egypt, or rather from Babylon, after which they fell again into grievous troubles under Antiochus.

Three parts of the Psalm.

• 1. An Acknowledgment of God's formet mercies, ver. 1, 2, 3.
• 2. A Petition upon that ground, that he would still do the like, 4, 5, 6, 7.
• 3. A profession of obedience, and an advice to continue in it, ver. 8. that men may be partakers of the promises, both spiritual, 9, 10, 11. and temporal, ver. 12. which shall be performed to those who keep in the ways of God, ver. 13.

1. In the three first verses, the Prophet makes a Commemoration of God's mercies to his people; of which the Fountain, is, his good will and favor; Lord, Thou bast been favorable; of which the effects were, temporal and spiritual.

• 1. Temporal: Thou hast been favorable to thy Land, [Ver. 1] Thou hast turned away, or brought back the captivity of Jacob, freed them from the Babylonian yoke.
• 2. Spiritual; which consisted in two things. [Ver. 2]
  • 1. Justification: Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, and covered all their sins. [Ver. 3]
  • 2. Reconciliation; Thou hast taken away all thy wrath, and hast turned thyself from the fierconess of thy anger.

2. And now upon the experience of these former mercies, the Prophet commends a new Petition, the sum whereof is briefly this, Thou hast been favorable to us before, and therefore we hope that thou wilt be so now; this is the consequent of the former antecedent, and upon it in confidence he prays.

Turn us then, O God, our Savior, &c. to the 8th. verse; [Ver. 4] in which Petition is said over again, what was acknowledged before in the Commemoration of the benefits.

• 1. Thou hast turned away the captivity; Restore us then, turn us then, or return to us, O God our Savior.
• 2. Thou hast been reconciled, be again reconciled to us: Thou hast taken away all thy wrath, &c. ver. 3. [Ver. 5] Now cause thine anger towards us to cease; Wilt thou be displeased at us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all Generations? This is contrary to thy nature, who art slow to anger.
• 3. Thou hast brought us back, and so revived our hearts, ver. 1. And wilt thou not revive us again, by delivering us from our present calamities, [unspec 6] and this death, that thy people may rejoice in thee?
• 4. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, &c. ver. 2. Shew us then thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Save us in mercy, first from sins, the cause of our sufferings, and then from the punishment, [unspec 7] our present miseries.

3. And that the Church might prevail in her Petition, she now promiseth obedience, and to wait upon God; I will hear what the Lord God will speak: As if she had said, why do I expostulate thus with my God? why do I thus complain, I will attend to his Word, and hear what he will say; for he is a trusty Counselor in all our afflictions, [Ver. 8] and this it is, that he will say, I wound, and I make whole, I kill, and I give life.

• 1. For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his Saints: Though he begins to his people in the cup of his Cross, yet he keeps the best wine till the last, [unspec 8] and turns his Cross into a Crown; if they hear what he saith, he will speak peace to them.
• 2. If they hear, I say; for he speaks upon a condition, that they be not Backsliders, the Prophet puts in a Caveat for that; But let them not turn again to folly.

And this the Prophet confirms in the next verse by a vehement asseveration. [unspec 9]

• 1. Surely his salvation; i. e. freedom from all dangers, is nigh them that fear him.
• 2. And the end is, That glory may dwell in our land; i.e. That our Land may be in a happy condition, enjoying peace, and the fruits of peace, plenty, laws, liberty, and quietness; for glory here is opposed to devastation.

And this the Prophet amplifies by an enumeration of the consequences of peace: Inter arma silent leges, silent virtutes; Cruelty the opposite to mercy, falsehood and error which is opposed to Truth; Injustice the opposite to righteousness bears all the sway; but when God shall speak peace to his people, all will be contrary.

• 1. [unspec 10] Mercy and Truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other: These virtues shall be in great honor, viz. Mercy and Truth, Righteousness and the study of peace and concord. Justice and peace kiss; for there is such a league betwixt these two, that where peace is made without justice, it is not like long to continue; and Mercy and Truth must meet, for it is no mercy to spare error and falsehood.
• 2. [unspec 11] Truth shall flourish out of the Earth; i. e. Because men shall be lovers and observers of Truth in their bargains, contracts, leagues, words and promises, they shall make the earth flourishing, and the land where peace dwells happy.
• 3. And righteousness hath looked down from Heaven: For as the rain that descends from Heaven doth make the earth fruitful, so the justice that comes from Heaven, God's justice is that which will make a people happy; for this will teach to love thy Neighbor as thyself: Quod tibi hoc alteri; which the statutes of Omri will not do.
• 4. [unspec 12] In a word, which is the sum of all the promises, 1 Tim. 4.8.
  • 1. They shall enjoy spiritual blessings: For the Lord shall give that which is good.
  • 2. And temporal; And our Land shall yield her increase.

4. In the last verse, for these mercies, he sets down our Duty.

• 1. Righteousness shall go before him, i.e. God: His Saints shall walk before him in holiness and righteousness.
• 2. [unspec 13] And shall set us in the way of his steps; that is, shall teach us to walk constantly and happily in the ways of his Commandments all the days of our life, Luk. 1.72.

How this Psalm is aptly applied to Christ and his Kingdom, both by all Ancient and Modern Expositors, I leave it to be searched in the Authors themselves, because the Application would be tedious, and is not so consonant to my intent.

PSAL. LXXXVI. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

D AUID in this Psalm being in trouble, prays unto God for continuance in grace, and in an innocent life; and complaining of the insolence of his Persecutors, prays for protection, and some token of God's goodness. This Psalm then is a continued Petition, and according to the various Arguments he useth to persuade it, it may be divided into

These four parts.

• 1. The first, is a Petition for safety, drawn from his own person, the Petitioner, from ver. 1. to 5.
• 2. The second, a quickening of the same Petition, from the Person and Nature of God, from ver. 5. to 14.
• 3. The third, taken from the quality of his Adversaries, ver. 14.
• 4. A conjunction of all these three: The first, ver. 15. The second, ver. 16. The third, ver. 17.

1. His prayer is varied by many forms; Bow down thine ear, hear me, preserve my soul, be merciful unto me, rejoice the soul of thy servant, &c. and each form hath a reason annexed.

• 1. [Ver. 1] Bow down thy ear, hear me; Ratio: For I am poor and needy; i. e. destitute of other help.
• 2. [Ver. 2] Preserve my soul; Ratio: For I am holy: i.e. pious and studious of holiness, ready to serve thee.
• 3. [Ver. 3] O thou my God, save thy servant; Ratio: That trusteth in thee, relies on thy help, and for that exposed to dangers.
• 4. [unspec 4] Be merciful unto me, O Lord; Ratio: For I cry unto thee daily. I cry and call without intermission.
• 5. Rejoice the soul of thy servant; comfort me with thy presence, and sense of thy favor; Ratio: For unto thee, O Lord, I life up my soul; i. e. with great desire I long after thee.

And all these Reasons persuade to Audience, from the person of the Supplicant, who because he was in distress, and yet studious to please his God, did rely upon God, and daily cry, and earnestly desire the sense of his favor, therefore he did lift up his soul to him.

2. And yet he continues his Petition, from the consideration of the Nature and Person of God to whom he prays; Hear me, and turn away thy wrath.

• 1. For thou, O Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee; [Ver. 5] give ear therefore unto my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. [unspec 6]
• 2. [unspec 7] In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; Ratio: For thou wilt answer me; it runs thus, Thou art merciful to them that call upon thee, ver. 5. I call, therefore thou wilt answer.
• 3. There is none among the gods like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any of their works like thy works: [unspec 8] None like in goodness, wisdom, power, in thy works which thou dost to save thy people; and therefore I call and cry to thee for help.

And this the Prophet amplifies in the two next verses; as if he had said, the event doth show, That there is none like thee, no works like thy works; for,

• 1. [unspec 9] All Nations, which now worship Idols, shell come; i. e. be converted, and worship thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy Name.
• 2. [unspec 10] For thou dost great and wondrous things (of which, the conversion of the Gentiles is one) Thou art God alone.

And upon this Reason, that none is like God, none comparable to him in his works:

• 1. He falls to prayer again, and first begs of God that he may be governed by his Word and Spirit, for then he would be an obedient servant: Teach me thy way, [unspec 11] O Lord, and I will walk in thy Truth; unite my heart to fear thy Name.
• 2. And secondly, professeth he would be a thankful servant; I will praise thee, [unspec 12] O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy Name for evermore: [unspec 13] To which he subjoins his Reason: For great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Hell; i. e. from the greatest troubles. And upon both these, his obedience and thankfulness, he pleads to be heard.

3. And yet he presseth another Argument, viz. The person and quality of his Adversaries; 'tis but Reason that God hear him, for he was beset with enemies; and these were, proud men: 2. Potent men: 3. Ungodly men.

• 1. Proud they were; The proud have risen up against me.
• 2. Potent they were, and many of them: [unspec 14] The Assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul.
• 3. Ungodly men, Atheists, Scorners: They have not set thee before them.

4 And now he hath recourse again to his former Arguments, but amplifies them.

• 1. First, drawn from the Nature of God, ver. 5. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. [unspec 15]
• 2. The second, from his own condition, ver. 1, 2. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me, give thy strength unto thy servant, [unspec 16] and help the son of thy Handmaid; i.e. one born within thy Covenant, and of a poor humble mother.
• 3. The third, from the quality of his Adversaries, that they which were Atheists, might see God's hand in his deliverance, and confounded by it.

Shew me a token for good; i.e. [unspec 17] show by some evident sign that thou art not angry with me, but that thou hast received me into thy favor: That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed, because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

PSAL. LXXXVII. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

T HIS Psalm is short, but sweet; for it contains many excellent privileges of the Church of God, of which everyone must be a Member that hopes for salvation; whosoever was the Author, it was his purpose to excite men to be in love with the Assemblies of God's Saints; and to that purpose the dignity and amplitude of the Church is set forth in this Psalm; and the notes of her beauty and perfection may well serve for the Analysis.

• 1. First, the Church is here commended for her foundation, the Author of it is God, it is his foundation, and it is surely laid, not in the sand, but upon a Mountain, and no common Mountain neither, but a consecrated place; laid it is in the holy Mountains.
• His foundation is in the holy Mountain: No question the Prophet alludes to the hill of Zion, [Ver. 1] which was the Type of the Catholic Church, and indeed the foundation of it: For the Law was to come out of Zion.
• 2. [Ver. 2] The second Prerogative of the Church, is taken from God's love and favor to it, far beyond that of any other Assembly: The Lord loves the gates of Zion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
• 3. Now besides the commendation it hath from the builder, which was God, and his free love to it, [Ver. 3] a third Prerogative it hath, and that is from the testimony and predictions of the Prophets, Isaiah, Haggai, Saint John, who not. Glorious things are sprken of thee, Thou City of God. Selah.
• 4. And one of those glorious things foretold by the Prophets, was the great increase and amplitude of the Church, [Ver. 4] by the access of the Gentiles; even those Nations which were the greatest enemies to God's people, should become friends and Citizens of this City; even the Egyptians, Babylonians, Tyrians, Ethiopians, in effect all the Gentiles, of what language, Country soever.
  • 1. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me, i. e. among my friends and family; Behold Phylistia and Tyre with Ethiopia; some of all Nations are come into my family; there is one Fold, one Shepherd.
  • 2. This man was born there; this man, whom you now see a Citizen of Zion, was an Alien, he was born there, in Egypt, Babylon, &c.
• 5. But now having renounced his Country, and his fathers house, [Vers. 5] his Idols, and old ways, it shall be said of Zion. Uir & Uir, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . This and that man was born, regenerate, and become a new man in her; Here he received his adoption, and the earnest of the Spirit.
• 6. Farther yet, the felicity of this City shall in this far exceed all other, that whereas they fall to decay, and perish, this shall our-last all time. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. For the most highest shall confirm and est ablish her.
• 7. A seventh Prerogative of the Church, is, That God agit Censum, [Vers. 6] and does, as it were, enrole the names of the Citizens. So that now there is no difference betwixt Jew and Gentile, bond, nor free, all are one in Christ Jesus. The Lord shall count, when he writes up the people, That this man, this cast-off Gentile, was burn there. Be as free a Denizon, and have all the privileges and prerogatives of this City, as the natural Jew.
• 8. Another Prerogative of these Citizens, is, That they shall enjoy a perpetual Solemnity, grief and sorrow shall cease, and with Songs and instruments of Music they shall sound forth God's praises. As well the siagers, as players on instruments, shall be there.
• 9. Lastly, He concludes the Psalm with an excellent Epiphonema, [Vers. 7] that indeed comprehends all that can be said in the praise of the Church, viz. All my springs are in thee. Here are the fountains of living water. Here are to be found the hidden treasures of all knowledge. Here the waters, that will refresh a thirsty soul, and a fainting spirit. Here all comforts, all content. The waters that are muddy and troubled in other streams, in this are as clear as Cristal. 'It is Virgo aqua.

PSAL. LXXXVIII.

THIS present Psalm expresseth to the life the sad case of an afflicted, and a troubled soul, complaining to God upon the vehemence of the disease, and sense of death, that he could feel no comfort.

Four parts of this Psalm.

• 1. A Petition, verse. 1, 2.
• 2. The cause of this Petition, the misery he was in, which he describes, from verse. 3. to 9.
• 3. The effect which this his miserable condition wrought upon him, which was,
  • 1. A special Prayer, verse. 9, 13.
  • 2. An expostulation with God for deliverance, verse. 10, 11, 12.
• 4. A grievous Complaint, from verse. 14. to 18.

1. The Prophet offers his Petition, but before he commenceth it, he premiseth four Arguments that may persuade the admittance of it.

• 1. His confidence and reliance on God. O Lord God of my salvation. [Vers. 1]
• 2. His earnestness to speed. I have cried.
• 3. His assiduity in it. Day and night.
• 4. Yea, and that sincerely. Before thee.

And then he tenders his request for audience. Let my prayer come before thee, [Vers. 2] incline thine ear unto my cry.

2. And then next he sets forth the pitiful condition he was in, that thereby he might move God to take compassion, which he amplifies divers ways.

• 1. From the weight and variety of his troubles, many they were, and pressed him to death. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to the grave. [Vers. 3]
• 2. From the danger of death in which he was, [unspec 4] which is illustrated by three degrees.
  • 1. That he was Moribundus, no hope of life in him, even by the estimate of all men. I am counted with them that go down to the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength.
  • 2. That he was plane mortuus, but as a dead man. [unspec 5] Free among the dead. Freed from all the business of this life, as far separate from them, as a dead man.
  • 3. Yea, dead and buried. Like the slain, that lie in the grave: whom thou rememberest no more, i.e. to care for in this life, and they are cut off from thy hand, i.e. thy providence, thy custody, as touching matters of this life.
• 3. And yet he farther amplifies his sad condition by two Similitudes.
  • 1. Of a man in some deep, dark Dungeon. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps: As was Jeremiah, Cap. 37. [unspec 6]
  • 2. Of a man in a Wrack at Sea, that is compassed with the waves, [unspec 7] to which he compares God's anger. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Unda{que} impellitur unda. The recourse of his troubles was perpetual, one no sooner gone, but another succeeded.
• 2. And to add to this his sorrow, his friends, (whose visits in extremity use to alleviate the grief of a troubled soul) even these proved perfidious, and came not at him; He had no comfort from them. Which was God's doing too, the more was his grief. The auxesis is here very elegant.
  • 1. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me. Thou.
  • 2. Thou hast made me an abomination to them. No less, an abomination. [unspec 8]
  • 3. I am shut up, I cannot come forth. As a man in prison, I cannot come at them, and they will not come to me.

3. The effect of which grievous affliction, was threefold. 1. An internal grief and wasting of the body. 2. An ardent affection in prayer. And 3. An expostulation with his God.

• 1. My eye mourns by reason of affliction. An evidence it is, [unspec 9] that I am troubled and grieved to the heart, that my eye droops and fails. For when the animal and vital spirits suffer a decay, the eye will quickly, by her dimness, deadness, and dullness, discover it.
• 2. It produced an ardent affection, a continuance, and assiduity in prayer, which is here made evident by the adjuncts.
  • 1. His voice. I have called daily upon thee. It was, 1. Clamor. 2. Assiduns.
  • 2. By the extension of his hands. I have stretched out my hands to thee. Men use to do so when they expect help, when they look to receive, whence we usually say, Lend me thy hand.

3. The third effect was, an expostulation with his God, in which he presseth God to spare his life, from the inconvenience that might thereby happen, viz. that thereby he should be disenabled to praise God, and celebrate his name, as he was bound, and did desire to do, among the living. An Argument used before, Psal. 6. & 30. This Argument, though it savors too much of human frailty, yet he thought thereby to move God, who above all things, is jealous of his own glory, which he conceived in his death, would suffer loss, and therefore he asks,

1. [unspec 10] Wilt thou show wonders among the dead? That is, My desire is, that which ought to be of every pious man, to set forth thy honor, which cannot be done, if I now go to the grave, except by some miracle I should be raised from thence.

2. For, Shall the dead arise again, and praise thee? 'It is the living, the living that shall set forth thy power, thy goodness, thy fidelity in keeping thy promises, to the sons of men. The dead, as dead, cannot do this, and the dead return not from the grave to do it, except by miracle.

3. [unspec 11] For farther yet, Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? [unspec 12] Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the Land of forgetfulness? Such is the grave, a place of Oblivion, for Abraham is ignorant of us. The goodness and faithfulness of God, which he makes known to his Church in this life, are not known, nor can be declared by the dead, the living see them, the living have experience of them, and therefore he desires his life may be spared for that end, lest if he die now, that faculty, ability should be taken from him. He should be able no longer to resound the praise of God, which is the true end, that any man ought to desire life.

4. And so he returns to his Complaint, and repeats again what he had said before, and almost in the same words. And gives three instances.

• 1. He gives an instance in his prayer. But unto thee have I cried, O Lord, [unspec 13] and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. He prayed, he cried, earnestly, early, not drowsily, not sleepily, for he did prevent God. He prayed, and would continue in prayer, and yet all was in vain.
• 2. [unspec 14] For God seems to be inexorable, which he complains of next, and asks why it should be so? Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? Even the best of God's Servants, have been brought to that strait, that they have not had a sense of God's favor: But conceived themselves neglected, deserted by him, and discountenanc'd.
• 3. [unspec 15] His second instance is, his present affliction mentioned before, verse. 4, 5, 6, 7. I am afflicted, and ready to die. Which he doth here exaggerate.
  • 1. From the time and continuance of it; It was a very long grief, for he had borne it even from his youth up.
  • 2. From the cause. It proceeded not from some outward and human cause, that might have been borne and helped. But it was an affliction sent by God, Thy terrors have I suffered. It came from a sense of God's wrath.
  • 3. From an uncomfortable effect. It wrought in his soul, amazement, unrest, a perpetual trouble, astonishment. Thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind: I am distracted with them.

    And he amplifies this wrath by the former Similees, verse. 7. Of Waves, and water.

    • 1. Thy fierce wrath goes over me: as waves over a man's head at Sea. Thy terrors have cut me off, cut off my life as a Weavers Thrum.
    • 2. They came round about me like water. 2. Daily like water. 3. They compassed me about, Simul, together, as if they conspired my ruin, there were many of them, All thy waves, verse. 7.
  • 4. His third instance, which is the same, verse. 8. The perfidiousness and desertion of his friends. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . A loving friend is some comfort in distress, but this he found not. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me. And mine acquaintance into darkness. They appear no more to me, to give me any counsel, help, or comfort, than if they were hid in perpetual darkness.
    Tempora cum fiunt nubila, solus ero • .

    〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

PSAL. LXXXIX.

I N this Psalm the Prophet praiseth God, and sets forth his goodness and faithfulness, particularly, that he made an everlasting Covenant with David and his seed. In which the stability and perpetuity of Christ's Kingdom, of which the Kingdom of David was but a Type, is excellently described and foretold.

The parts of this Psalm, are these.

• 1. The Sum, Pith, and Argument of the whole Psalm, viz. the Loving-kindness and truth of God, verse. 1, 2.
• 2. The particular instance of God's goodness and truth in making a Covenant with David, verse. 3, 4.
• 3. A Doxology, containing the praise of God for his wonders, faithfulness, power, providence, justice, judgment, mercy, truth, from verse. 5. to 15.
• 4. The Happy estate of God's people, from verse. 15. to 19.
• 5. A special example of God's goodness toward his Church, exemplified in David, but truly verified in Christ, from verse. 19. to 28.
• 6. How David's posterity should be dealt with upon their disobedience, from verse. 28. to 38.
• 7. A Complaint, or Expostulation upon the contrary events, where he doth deplore the torn estate of the Judaical Kingdom, from verse. 38. to 47.
• 8. A Petition for mercy and restauration, from verse. 47. to 51.
• 9. An Epiphonematical conclusion, verse. 52. blessing God for the hope he hath in his favor and help in all estates.

1. The Breviary of the Psalm is set down in the first verse, and amplified by the reason in the second. Thus he begins.

• 1. I will sing. Chant, set forth in a Song. The fittest way to express our joy for anything: so best inculcated, so best remembered, so best delivered to others to remember. [Vers. 1]
• 2. Of the mercies, plurally, for they are many. And his Song should be of all.
• 3. For ever. Intentionally, though not actually: for as a wicked man, could he live always, would always sin: so a good man, could he live always, would always sing the mercies of the Lord. 2. Or if ever be joined to Mercies, it is his everlasting Mercies.
• 4. With my mouth I will make known thy faithfulness from generation to generation. With my mouth, while I have a being, I will make known; and when I have no being, I will commit them to writing, Ut sciat haec aetas, posteritas{que} legat.

His reason for it, is, because God's mercy is everlasting, and therefore fit to be the subject of an everlasting Song.

• 1. For I have said. Set down this for a certain position, [Vers. 2] an undoubted truth.
• 2. Mercy shall be built up forever. 'It is not exhausted in one age, but as a house built on a strong foundation, it shall stand firm, and be perceived age after age.
• 3. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. As is thy mercy, so is thy faithfulness, perpetual, as the heavens, in which is found no change.

2. And for the proof of God's goodness and truth, he produceth an instance in his Covenant made with David: Where, by a Prosopopeia, he brings in God speaking.

• 1. I have made a Covenant with my chosen. It was not Merit then, [Vers. 3] it was free Election.
• 2. I have sworn. Faelices nos, quorum causâ Deus jurat. To David my servant. And the Covenant and Oath is extant, 2 Sam. 7.11.
• 3. And the tenor of the Covenant, is, [unspec 4] Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy Throne to all generations. Thy seed, signally, which is true of Christ only, who was of the seed of David, to whom the Lord gave the Throne of his father David, who was to reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there shall be no end. The words then are not to be understood of David's temporal Kingdom, but of the seed of David; that is, Christ's spiritual Kingdom, for that was to be established forever.

3. And now what the Prophet undertook in the first verse, he performs; for at the fifth verse his Doxology begins. The person is only changed; and that to advantage. For there he spoke of himself, I will sing. Here he saith it shall be done by others, The heavens shall praise. [Vers. 5]

1. Some, by the heavens, understand the Church, and the Preachers in the Church.

2. Others, the Angels, and blessed spirits in heaven. Both are true, and of both it may be well affirmed. O Lord, the heavens shall praise thy wondrous works. Thy faithfulness also in the Congregation of Saints.

2. The Subject of the Heavens, and the Angels, and Saints praise, are,

• 1. God's wondrous works, and his Truth. In general, [Vers. 5] all his miracles, but in particular, this wondrous work: viz. his making a Covenant with David, in taking an Oath to perform it, and his faithfulness in keeping it. For it is a wonder, that so great a Majesty should so far condescend.

And now he sings praise to this Majesty, setting forth the power of it, and that in three respects.

• 1.
  • By way of comparison, in the 6, 7, 8, verses, viz. That there is nor Angel in heaven, nor Monarch in earth his Peer. For who in the heaven can be compared to thee, O Lord? [Vers. 6] who among the sons of the Mighty, i.e. Celestial Spirits, can be likened to the Lord?
  • Which is so true, that the very Angels fear and reverence his Majesty, and ought to do it. [Vers. 7] God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his Saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
  • And because this should be always fixed in our memory, he comes over it again, [Vers. 8] verse. 8. O Lord God of hosts, who is strong like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
• 2. By his Agency in governing the world, as for example, First, The Sea.
  • 1. Thou rulest the raging of the Sea, when the waves thereof arise, [unspec 9] thou stillest them. Thou brokest Rahab, i. e. the Egyptian Pharaoh in pieces, as one that is slain. Thou hast scattered thine enemies with a strong arm, [unspec 10] viz. in the Red Sea.
  • 2. [unspec 11] Heaven and earth. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine.
• 3.
  • By his Creation of all things. As for the world and fullness thereof, [unspec 12] thou hast founded it. The North and South, thou hast created them. Tabor and Hermon, i. e. East and West shall rejoice in thy name.
  • And then he concludes this part of the Majesty and Power of God, with this Epiphonema. [unspec 13] Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right-hand.
• 2. The other part of the praise, which both the Prophet and the Angels sing to God's honor, is taken from his Attributes sum'd up in the 14. verse. Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne, mercy and truth shall go before his face. He presents God as a great King sitting in his Throne; [unspec 14] 1. The Basis of which is Justice and Judgment. 2. The Attendants, Mercy and Truth.
  • 1. Justice, which defends his Subjects, and does everyone right.
  • 2. Judgment, which restrains Rebels, and keeps off injuries.
  • 3. Mercy, which shows compassion, pardons, supports the weak.
  • 4. Truth, that performs whatsoever he promiseth.

4. And in regard that God is powerful, just, merciful, faithful, he takes an occasion to set out the happy condition of God's people, [unspec 15] that live under this King.

Blessed are the people, that know the joyful Sound: do know that God is present with them, and his Kingly Majesty is at hand to protect them. The phrase is taken from Moses. For the Law was given by sound of Trumpet. The calling of the Feasts, by sound of Trumpet. At that sound they removed. At that sound they assembled. Balaam said, Clangor Regis, The sound of a King is among them. Happy then are the people, that know the joyful sound, God present, their King speaking, ruling, defending, pardoning them.

That they are Happy, the effects do evince: which are,

• 1. They shall walk in the light of thy countenance, i. e. Though beset with troubles, yet they shall walk confidently, being assured of God's favor.
• 2. [unspec 16] In thy name shall they rejoice all the day long. Their joy is firm.
• 3. In thy righteousness shall they be exalted. They shall get a name, strength. In their Union and Communion with God they shall be happy.

Confident then, joyful, and strong they are in all temptations, which yet they have not from themselves. All is from God, For

5. The Doxology being now ended, and the happiness of God's people expressed and proved, the Prophet now enlarges himself upon the Covenant formerly mentioned, verse. 4, & 5. exemplified in David, but truly verified in Christ. Which he continues to the 30: verse.

• 1. Then, i. e. when David was chosen to be King, and invested with the Regal Robe. [Vers. 19]
• 2. Thou spakest in Uision to thy Holy One. To Samuel for his anointing. And saidst.
• 3. I have laid help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. That is, David in Type, [unspec 20] but Christ in the Antitype. So explained, I have found David my servant, with my holy Oil have I anointed him.

To which there follows the promises made to him.

• 1. For his establishment and confirmation in the Throne. With whom my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen him. [unspec 21]
• 2. For protection against his enemies. [unspec 22] The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. [unspec 22]
• 3. A Conquest over his enemies. [unspec 23] And will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
• 4. [unspec 24] And that there be no doubt of the performance of these ample promises, nor yet those that follow, the Prophet interserts the cause, viz. The Faithfulness and Mercy of God. In Mercy he said it, and it should so come to pass. But my Faithfulness and Mercy shall be with him. And now he goes on.
• 5. His Horn shall be exalted. He shall have, as it were, [unspec 25] the strength of an Unicorn.

And this his exaltation appears,

• 1. In the dilatation of his Empire. I will set his hand also in the Sea, and his right hand in the rivers, i. e. [unspec 26] From the Sea to Euphrates, 2 Sam. 8.
• 2. In the Honor done him, to call God, Father, his God, his Rock. He shall call me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.
• 3. Then that God asserts and fixes this Prerogative upon him, [unspec 27] acknowledging him to be his Son: his first-born Son: Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the Kings of the earth.
• 4. In the perpetuity of his Kingdom, [unspec 28] which is rightly attributed to God's mercy: as verse. 25. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my Covenant shall stand fast with him.
• 5. In the promise made to his seed. [unspec 29] His seed also will I make to endure for ev er, and his Throne as the days of heaven.

6. And next the Prophet puts a Case, and answers it. But what if David's seed transgress God's Covenant, break his Laws, violate his Statutes, become rebels, and disobedient, will God then keep Covenant with them? shall his seed endure forever? and his Throne as the days of heaven? To this doubt God answers, from verse. 30. to 38. showing us how David's seed, if they transgress, shall be dealt with. [unspec 30]

• 1. If his children forsake my Law. That is, my whole doctrine of Worship, Religion, Faith, &c.
• 2. And walk not in my judgments, i. e. in those Laws, which set out rewards and punishments.
• 3. If they break my Statutes. Those Statutes I have set down for my service, the Rites, Ceremonies, New Moons, Sabbaths, Sacrifice, Circumcision, Pasch, &c.
• 4. [Vers. 31] And keep not my Commandments, i. e. The Decalogue, and Moral Law. In a word, if they become vicious in their Morals, and profane, and Rebels in my Worship, and Religion.

This then shall happen unto them, escape they shall not, but shall soundly smart for it, they shall feel, 1. Uirgam. 2. And Verbera. The Rod, the Whip. Then

• 1. [unspec 32] I will visit, i. e. punish their transgression with the Rod.
• 2. And their iniquity with stripes. Which was often done. By the Babylon: Antiochus, &c.

And yet in judgment I will remember mercy. I will remember my Covenant, my Promise, my Word, my Oath, and will make that good, totally I will not cast off David's seed, which I mean not after the flesh, for that is long since cast off, but after the Spirit. Christ which was of the seed of David, and those which are his seed, viz. the Church, shall enjoy the benefit of my Covenant and Oath forever.

And that there be no doubt of this, he brings in God repeating his Oath and Covenant.

• 1. [unspec 35] His Oath. Once have I sworn by my holiness; that is, by myself, who am Holy. [unspec 36]
• 2. His Covenant. That I will not lie unto David. For
  His seed shall endure forever, [unspec 37] and his Throne as the Sun before me.

  It shall be established forever as the Moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.

As the Sun and Moon are not obnoxious to mutations, no more is this Covenant; they must endure to the end of the world, and so must this Covenant. They are faithful Witnesses in heaven, and so we are to seek for the performance of this Covenant in heaven, not in earth, the Covenant being about a heavenly Kingdom, not an earthly. It being evident, that the Kingdom of David on earth, hath failed many ages since. But that of Christ shall never fail.

7. Now that David's Kingdom did fail, or at least was brought to a low ebb, is the complaint in the following words, which flesh and blood considering, gave a wrong judgment upon it, as if God did nothing less than perform his Oath and Covenant. This is it which the Prophet lays to God's charge.

• But thou hast cast off, and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thy anointed: Both King and people are cast aside. Than which nothing seems more contrary to thy Covenant.
• Thou hast made void the Covenant of thy servant, thou hast profaned his Crown.

Of which there be many lamentable consequences.

• 1. [unspec 38] His Crown is cast to the ground. The glory of his Kingdom trampled upon. [unspec 39]
• 2. His hedges broken down, his strong holds brought to ruin.
• 3. All that pass by the way, spoil him. Exposed he is to all Rapine and Plunder. [unspec 40]
• 4. [unspec 41] He is a reproach to his neighbors. Exposed to all contumely and disgrace.
• 5. [unspec 42] Thou, hast set up the right-hand of his enemies, and made all his adversaries to rejoice. Thou seemest to take part with the enemy against him, and makest him exult and rejoice in oppressing him.
• 6. [unspec 43] Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, blunted his sword, that was wont to slay, and hast not made him to stand in the battle, but to fly, and turn his back. [Vers. 44]
• 7. Thou hast made his glory: The glory, dignity, authority of his Kingdom, to cease, and cast his Crown to the ground.
• 8. The days of his youth thou hast shortened, [unspec 45] cut him off in the prime and strength of his years. Thou hast covered him with shame, made his opulent, glorious Kingdom, ignominious; which was true in divers of David's posterity, especially Jehoiakim.

These were the sad complaints, which the Prophet pours out, as despairing, so far as sense and reason could direct him of the performance of what God had promised.

But he quickly recovers, and recalls his thoughts, and that he may move God to help, he falls to prayer, which is very pathetical.

8. He considers the nature of God, as kind, loving, merciful, slow to anger, and asks,

• 1. Us{que} quo? How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thyself, forever? [unspec 46] Hide thy favor?
• 2. Shall thy wrath burn like fire? An element that hath no mercy.

Then he useth other Arguments pathetically expressed to move God to pity.

• 1. Drawn from the brevity of man's life. [unspec 47] Remember how short my time is.
• 2. From the end that man was created, not in vain, but to be an object of God's goodness and favor, which if he enjoins not, he shall seem to be born to no purpose, therefore he asks, Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
• 3. From the weakness and disability of man. His life is short: [unspec 48] and can he lengthen it? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Yea, though he live long, yet he is a mortal creature. Shall he deliver his soul from the grave?
• 4. From the Covenant, of which he puts God in mind. Lord, [unspec 49] where are thy former loving-kindnesses, which thou swarest to David in thy Truth?
• 5. From the ignominy, scorns, sarcasms by enemies cast upon them, [unspec 50] which he desires God to look upon.
  • 1. Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servant.
  • 2. And how I do bear in my bosom, not spoken afar off, but in my hearing, and to my face, as if poured and emptied into my bosom, the rebukes, not of this, or that man, but many people.
• 6. And lastly, That these reproaches, in effect, fall upon God. For they, who reproach God's Servants, are his enemies. Remember the reproaches
  • 1. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord. [unspec 51]
  • 2. Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed, i. e. Either whatsoever he says or does, Quocun{que} se vertat. 2. Or else by footsteps, is to be understood the latter end of David's Kingdom, which was indeed subject to reproach. 3. But the Chaldee Paraphrast, by footsteps, understands the coming of the Messiah in the flesh, which because it was long promised, and men saw not performed, they derided, mocked at, and reproached as vain.

9. The close of this long Psalm is a Benedictus, by which the Prophet, after his Combat with Flesh and Blood, about the performance of the Covenant, doth compose his troubled soul, and acquiesce in God, blessing him for whatsoever falls out, no otherwise than Job did, breaking forth into this Epiphonema.

• 1. [Vers. 52] Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Blessed be his Name, who doth, and orders all things for the best to his people, although in the midst of calamities and troubles, he seems to desert them.
• 2. And that we may know that he did this from his heart, he seals it with a double Amen. Amen, Amen. So I wish, so be it.

PSAL. XC. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

T HE inscription makes Moses to be the Author of this Psalm, and because here is mention made in it of the Mortality of man, the fragility of his nature, and the brevity and misery of his life, which proceeded from the wrath of God, moved to cut off his life, and punish him while he lives, for his iniquity, conceived it is, that Moses composed it upon some notable disobedience and rebellion of Israel, while they were in the Wilderness, for which God brought upon them an exemplary vengeance, whether that of Corah, Dathan, or Abiram, or the plague that consumed them for making the golden Calf, or as the common opinion is, for their murmuring upon the return, and report of the Spies, Numb. 14. For which God sent a plague among them: or else when God smote the people with a very great plague at Kibroth Hattaavah, Numb. 11. Which of these it was, is uncertain. One of these is supposed to be the occasion of the composition, and that which moved God to indignation, which Moses deprecates in the end, and prays to God to return, and show favor to his people.

There be four parts of this Psalm.

• 1. An ingenious acknowledgment of God's protection of them, ver. 1, 2.
• 2. A lively Narration of the mortality of man, his fragility and brevity of his life, together with the misery of it, from ver. 2. to 7.
• 3. The causes, man's rebellion, and God's anger for it, from ver. 7. to 12.
• 4. A Petition, which is double; 1. That God would instruct man to know his fragility; 2. That he would return, and restore him to his favor, from ver. 12. to 17.

1. In the beginning Moses the man of God freely acknowledgeth what God had always been unto his people.

2. What he is in himself, and his own nature.

• 1. To his people he had been always a refuge, as it were, a dwelling place, though they had been Pilgrims and Sojourners in a strange land for many years, [Ver. 1] yet he had been, nay dwelt among them; and no question he alludes to the Tabernacle of God that was pitched among them, as an evidence of presence and protection: Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place, a secure place to rest in, in all Generations, Deutr. 33. from 1. to 6.
• 2. But in himself he was from everlasting; other creatures had a beginning, and their Creation and Ornaments from him, he the eternal being: Before the Mountains were brought forth, [Ver. 2] or ever thou hadst formed the earth, and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God: Not like man then, whose mutability, fragility, mortality, brevity, he next describes.

2.