be laid in one end of the scales, and man in another, man shall be found lighter than vanity itself.

LXII. 10. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery.

Oh then, trust not in that wealth and greatness, which is gotten by oppression and violence; for ye shall find no solid comfort and stay therein.

LXIII. 9. Those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

Those, that maliciously persecute me, shall, by thy just hand, be brought down into the grave.

LXIII. 10. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

They shall fall by the sword of the enemies, and be left in the field unburied, as a prey to wild beasts.

LXIV. 6. And the heart is deep.

They have plotted secret devices against me; according to the depth of their malice, and the height of their skill.

LXV. 3. Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

O God, they are our iniquities, that stand in the way of thy mercies, and prevail strongly against all the endeavours of my reformation; but, O Lord, do thou both mercifully forgive and powerfully remedy our offences.

LXV. 5. By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God.

O God, thou, in thine infinite justice, wilt answer the prayers and supplications of thy Church, in marvellous deliverances, and in fearful plagues upon thine enemies.

LXV. 8. Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

Thou glorifiest thyself by the constant succession of the day and night; and causest all the inhabitants of the earth, from the sun rising to the setting of the sun, to rejoice and sing unto thee, for the great works that thou hast done.

LXV. 9. Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water.

After a faint and barren drought, thou graciously condescendest to send down a fruitful rain, upon the face of the earth: thou greatly enrichest it with plentiful floods sent out from God, out of the clouds of heaven.

LXVI. 12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

Thou hast caused us to be miserably trampled upon, by our scornful and imperious enemies; and hast put us to all manner of hard trials: there is no afflictive element, which we have not passed through, by thy just sufferance and ordination; but, at last, thou hast put an end to our troubles, and hast settled us in a quiet plenty.

LXVI. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not

hear me.

If I give myself over to wickedness, I have no reason to expect favour from my God: how should I look for other, than that he should mark me out for vengeance ?

LXVIII. 1. Let God arise, Let his enemies be scattered, &c. Thy presence, O God, is with thine ark: as that ark of thine is now upon the remove, after a long rest; so do thou, O Lord, arise, after thy seeming silence and repose, and let thine enemies be discomforted and confounded.

LXVIII. 4. Extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, &c.

Extol him that moves, and rules, and governs the heavens by his mighty power; and dwells in that inaccessible glory: praise him, in that his infinite and absolute being, which he hath within himself, without all relation and dependence; and in that bounty, whereby he communicates a being to all his creatures.

LXVIII. 6. God setteth the solitary in families: he bringteh

out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

He giveth plentiful issue to those that were childless, and delivers the captive out of their thraldom; as, contrarily, those, that are rebelliously wicked, however they might seem fast rooted in a rich patrimony, he sends away into want and exile.

LXVIII. 7. O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness;

O God, what noble demonstrations hast thou given of old, to us thy people and our forefathers, of thy power and providence; when thou wentest before thy people, in a pillar of cloud and fire, through the wilderness.

LXVIII. 8. The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Both in the heavens and the earth, didst thou shew marvellous tokens of thy mighty protection and gracious care for thy people: all the course of nature seemed to be miraculously altered to set forth thy power: Mount Sinai itself shook at thy presence, in the delivery of thy law.

LXVIII. 11. The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

The Lord gave abundant matter of celebration and thanks

giving, and there wanted not store of messengers to publish his victories, or of damsels of Israel to applaud them, in their songs and minstrelsy.

LXVIII. 12. Kings of the armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.

The kings of the nations, who led forth their armies against Israel, were glad to flee apace for their lives; and the spoil was so great, that the women, who staid at home, had their shares in the division of it.

LXVIII.

13. Though you have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

Though ye have lain, like the drudges of the camp, in the hearths and sooty ranges of your tents, and thereby are soiled and deformed, yet, by God's merciful deliverance, the case shall be so altered, as that ye shall be fair and beautiful, like a pleasantly-coloured dove, whose feathers are as overlaid with gold, and silver.

LXVIII. 14. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

And howsoever God's Church seemed to be overcast with darkness of discomfort, while tyrants oppressed her, yet now the Almighty hath subdued and put to flight the enemies thereof, it was white and glorious, like to the hill of Salmon, of itself dark and shady, when it is covered with snow.

LXVIII. 15. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.

Sion, which is God's hill where he pleaseth to dwell, may well compare with the fruitful hill of Bashan; in height if it may equal it, in dignity and privilege it is much above it.

LXVIII. 16. Why leap ye so ye high hills? this is the hill which God delighteth to dwell in.

Why do ye so proudly vaunt yourselves, O ye mighty mountains of the earth? ye are all of no value to this hill, where the God of Heaven hath chosen to put his name.

LXVIII. 17. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in his holy place.

The great Lord of Hosts is attended with thousand thousands of heavenly angels, which are the chariots of defence for his Church: powerful, irresistible: and, as he was waited on by these innumerable angels, on Mount Sinai, at his majestical delivery of the law, so is he now attended with them, though invisibly, in his holy hill of Sion, where he manifesteth his gracious presence to his people.

LXVIII. 18. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, even the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.

O Saviour, thou art gloriously ascended up into thy highest

heavens, having first happily triumphed over all thine enemies, and dragged them captive after thee; and, immediately after that glorious ascension, thou hast sent down thy spirit upon men, in the miraculous gifts thereof; which thou hast bountifully shed abroad, even upon those that were formerly rebellious against thee, that even by them, thou, O Lord, mightest magnify thyself in thy gracious inhabitation in them.

LXVIII. 20. Unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. Unto this Almighty Lord, who is the God of Spirits, do belong all the passages, both to and from death: he can deliver his from it, he can bring his enemies into it, as seemeth best unto him. LXVIII. 22. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea;

The Lord hath said, ye well know what deliverances I have wrought for my people; how I caused them to pass through and conquer the country of Og, the great king of Bashan; and how I led them through the Red Sea, in a miraculous fashion: my hand is not shortened; I will still work the very like deliverances for my people:

LXVIII. 23. That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.

That, as it was in the destruction of the Egyptians, and in the conquest of Bashan and those other proud heathens, so again, thou mayest rejoice in the utter debellation and destruction of them that oppose themselves spitefully against the Church and kingdom of Christ, so as thou mayest trample in their blood, and thy dogs may lick it up.

LXVIII. 24. They have seen thy goings, O God: even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.

O God, all thy people have seen, and rejoice to see, with what exultation and spiritual triumph, thou, my God and King, in that thy holy ark, when it marched from the house of Obed Edom, wentest up towards thy sacred tabernacle.

LXVIII. 26. Even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. Bless ye the Lord in the congregation of his people, all that flow from that plentiful fountain of Israel.

ye,

LXVIII. 27. There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Napthali.

There are the tribes of Israel, ready and zealous to attend upon God: Benjamin, the least of all the tribes, is not the least forward; but, together with their ruler, presents himself to this service: Judah, the royal tribe, with their noble leaders, strives to be seen in the front of this glorious train: and Zebulun and Naphtali, though most remote in situation, yet in this holy solemnity, are not behind their fellows; but they and their princes put forth themselves, to celebrate this holy and happy procession of God's ark.

LXVIII. 28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength.

O Israel, thy God hath decreed power and sovereignty unto thee; so as, notwithstanding all oppositions, thou shalt be strong and mighty.

LXVIII. 29. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.

When thou shalt have established thy temple at Jerusalem, the kings of the earth round about thee shall come thither, and offer presents and sacrifices there unto thy name.

LXVIII. 30. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.

O Lord, do thou confound those professed enemies of thy Church; both their great patrons and abettors, as also their servile and ignorant followers; and humble thou them so far, as till they shall submit themselves to thy spiritual government, and yield their homage and tribute unto thy Son Christ: and, as for such as take pleasure in blood, and exercise wilful hostility against thy people, do thou utterly destroy them and their designs.

LXVIII. 31. Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to thee.

The Gentiles shall come in, and yield subjection to thee; even those (which are most unlikely) from the loins of Cham, the princes of Egypt and Ethiopia; these shall sue to be received into the bosom of the Church.

LXIX. 2. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing.

O God, I am ready to be utterly swallowed up with the evils, which are come upon me: I find not any ground of comfort to rest my soul upon.

LXIX. 12. They that sit in the gate speak against me.

The rulers and men of authority stick not to raise slanderous suggestions against me.

LXIX. 22. Let their table become a snare to them.

Let all those comfortable helps, which thou hast given them here, be, in thy just judgment, turned into so many temptations, and occasions of their fall.

LXIX. 23. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

Let the eyes of their understandings be so darkened, that they may not see the things belonging to their peace; and, as thou blindest their judgment, so do thou also weaken their strength, that they may be no less unfit for action.

LXIX. 27. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

Do thou so far give them over to the lawless desires and counsels of their own hearts, that they may add sin to sin, until their measure be full; and may not recover themselves, by a seasonable conversion unto thee.