e Yea the thoughts of God, and of his infinitePower and Truth and Goodneſs, which uſed to be very ſweet and comfortable to me, were now matter of terror and trouble, becauſe they were all ingaged againſt me, and God himſelf my only Friend, was now very angry with me, ana become mine Enemey, fUnto God in | Prayer. g So far was I from finding reliefby my Complaints thar : they increaſed my Miſery.
4 Thou holdeſt mine eyes waking I am fo troubled ; that I cannot ſpeak 5. | : +5 By thoſe ſharp and continual Griefs, and thoſe perplexing and tormenting Thoughts and Cares, which from time to time thou ' ſtirreſt up in me; ; The greatneſs of my ſorrows ſtupifie my mind : and make me both lifeleſs and unable to ſpeak ; nor can any words ſutficienrly expreſs the extremity of my miſery- ny ' 5 * I have conſidered & the daysof old Z, Þ the years 'Pſ-147. of ancient timess ps Ten & If by that means I could get any comfort. 7. i« e. The mighty —_* Gr! works of God done for his people in former times. Days are put ,2_* 1 ; for Events done in them, as Pſal. 37, 13. and 137+ 7. Obad. wv- j2. Mich, 7. 4. ; OS ds 6 I call to remembrance my ſong in the night»: 3 commune with mine own heart, and my ſpirit made diligent ſearch y. _ | + cs OI | » The manyand great Merciesand Favours of God vouchſafed ' by him to me, and tp his people, which have obliged me to adore ; him, andſing his Praiſes not only in the day, the time appointed
+ Feb! hang. |
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| :What ſhould bethe cauſe of this ſtrange and vaſt Alteration, and' how theſe ſore Calamities could come from the hand of fo gracious and merciful a God, as ours is, and what might be expeQted as to their continuance or removal. £5 | 7 Will the Lord caftoffs for ever ? and will he be fa- vourable no more ? | Rs ny | o His peculiar and choſen people ? This doth not ſeem to ae cither with Gods Nature, or with thateverlaſting Covenant which he hathmade with them. : ER, 8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever p ? doth his pro- miſe fail + for evermore 9? . of ©": > cw ? Are all the ſtores of his Mercy quite ſpent? Doth he now ,,1 come? ceaſe to be what he hath ſtyled himſelf, The, Lord gracious and , ,.-,,, merciful, long-ſuffering, and aboundant in goodneſs ? q Will he ” never more make good thoſe gracious Promiſes upon which he hath commanded us to hope. : 7 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious r | hath he it anger ſhut up his tender mercies s ? Selah. _ | » Becauſe he hath ſolong diſuſed ir. 5 So as they can never flow forth, no not to his own people. | . TR j 10 And I faid 7, This is my infirmity #4: but Twiltre « pf. 4a member x * the years of the right hand ofthe moſt High y. +4: 25: , t I thus anſwered theſe Qbje&ions. « Theſe ſuſpicions of Gods Faithfulneſs and Goodneſs,proceed from the weakneſs of my Faith, and from, the miſtake of a diſeaſed Mind. x Which words may be underſtood out of the following Verſe, as other words frequent-= ly are in like Caſes. y The years wherein God hath done great
and glorious Works, which are oft aſcribed to Gods Righe hand,
as ÞJale 17. 7.and 26+ 6. and 45.4: and 118. 15. . But the word
rendred years doth alſo ſignific changing, and accordingly this
Verſe is by other Learned M65" and may well — + + $42
- LXXVIW. F dred otherwiſe withoutany ſuch Supplement as is in our Tranſla- tion, thus, f1d 1 ſaid, This is my Affiit:en or Grievance, ( the ſum of all, and the chicf cauſe of my Trouble and Anxiety is this ) the oberge of the right hand of the mt High, that that right hand which formerly hath done ſuch great and wenderful things for his people 5s at this time not only hid in Gods Boſom, and nor drawn forth for their defence, bur is alſo ſtretched forth againſt them, and is the principal cauſe of all our preſent miſeries. I could bear the malice and rage of our Enemies, from whom we could nor expett better things, but that our gracious and Covenanted God ſhould forſake and perſecute his own people, this is that which makes it intolc- , ».. rabje.
ir 1 will remember the works of the LORD, ſurely |
; T will remember thy wonders of old z. 2; And yet upon ſ-cond and,ſerious thoughts of what God had - Foriierly donefor his people, many times far above their expeCta- | tions, Iwill take comfort in remembrance of them, becauſe God "35 ſill the fame thar he was in Power and Goodneſs, and love to his ,
people, and therefore will pity and help us in this preſent Calami- } ty, as he hath oft done in others of the 1aine
Nature. 2 I will meditace alſo ofthy work, and talk of thy
doings. | -| al. 68. 12 * Thy way «, O Godzjs in the ſanctuary b: who | Bu. is ſo great a God as our God c? "I s i. e. Thy doings, or the courſe ofthy Providence, which is , oft called Gods way ; the various methods and cauſes of thy deal- | ings with thy people. + Is there contained and deelared As the | proſperity of wicked men, fo alſo the grievous calamities of Gods people, are great ridd!es and ſtumbling blocks to the ignorant and ungodly World, but a full and fatisfaftory reſolution of them may be had from Gods SanQuary, as is obſerved in the former caſe by | this ſame Aſaph, P/al. 73. 16, 17. and here in the latrer. Or, Is -In Holineſs. So the Senſe 1s, God is holy and juſt, and true in all his Works; yea even in his Judgments upon his own people, as will evidently appear from the iſſue of them. c And alrtough «ur God : at preſentſuipends his Power. and doth not pur it forth to celiver - his people our of the hands of their Idolatrous Enemies, who thence | take occaſion to blaſpheme his Name, and to exalt their Idol-gods above him, yer he 1s ill infinitely Superiour in Power, both to - them and to their Gods, and can, and will in his due time, reſcue his people from them. 14 Thou art the God that doeſt wonders ; thou haſt
declared thy ſtrength among the people #. 4 By the mighty effeCts of it here following.
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P $ AFL M 8:
tained in them, concerning Gods tranfcendant Goodneſs to an un-
| things donein antient times, and in a great meaſure worn out of
15 * Thou haſt with thine arm redeemed thy people
e, the ſons of Jacob and Jeleph f. Selah. F- 'e To wit, out of Egypt, after a longand hard Bondage. Which he here mentions to ſtrengthen his Faith in their preſentCaprivity- | f Whom he mentions; partly as a moſt eminent - portion of the | # = Sons of Jaceb, branched forth into rwo numerous Tribes; pait'y