Exposition of the Principal Scriptures Used in our English Liturgy, Part 8
Venite exultemus Domino.
IT is euident, not only byhAugust. lib. 10. Confess. cap. 33. & prooe…. in Psal. 118. Tertullian. lib. de Velandis virginib. cap. 7. Church history, but also by the Scripture, that Psalmes hauehave alwaies taken vp a great roome in diuine seruice.iScaliger de emendat temp. lib. 6. pag. 273. edit. 1593. Mat. 26. 30. 1. Cor. 14. When you come together, as eueryevery one of you hath a Psalme.
Let not any then wonder at our often Psalmodie both after, and before the word expounded, and read: and sometime interlaced betweene both. A custome continued in all other reformed Churches of Scotland, France, Flanders, &c.
Aboue all other Psalmes,kMaster Deering Lect. 15. vponupon the Epistle to the Hebrewes. our Church hath fitly chosen this, as a whetstone to set an edge vponupon our deuotions at the very beginning of publike praiers in the Temple: teaching plainly for what matter, and after what maner, it behoueth vsus to serue God in his Sanctuary. For it consists of two parts:
1. An exhortation to praise God, in the 1. 2. 6. verses.
2. An allegation of causes why we should doe this, and they bee taken either from his
Mercies,
In generall; for creating and ruling the whole world: 3. 4. 5.
In particular, for electing his Church. 7.
Iudgemēts, in the
8. 9. 10. 11. setting before their eies a fearefull example, and that in their owne Fathers, for, omitting this excellent dutie.
In the first part two points are remarkable:
Who must praise; Let vsus sing, let vsus come, let vsus worship.
How
Where; Before his presence.
Whereto; Sing to the Lord.
Wherewith; with our voice:
Let vsus sing: with our heart, heartily: with hands and knees, O come let vsus worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker.
For the …:lFor he made this Psalme. … content alone to praise God, but exciteth all other about him to doe the …ame: O come let vsus sing. Heb. 4. 7.Now Dauid may be considered
As a
Priuate man.
Publike person,
Prince.
Prophet.
Here then is a threefold paterne in one: An example for Masters to stir vp their …amilie; an example for Preachers to exhort their people; an example for Princes to prouoke their subiects vntounto the publike worship of the Lord. It becommeth great men, especially to be good men: as beingmGreg. Naz…an. vnprinted statutes, andnArist. speaking … vntounto the rest. This affection was inoGen. 18. 19. Abraham,p1 Cor. 9. 22. Paul,qIosua 14 15. Iosua, and ought to be in all,rHeb. 3. 13. exhorting one another while it is called to da….
You hold it a good rule in worldly businesse, not to say to your seruants, Come ye, goe ye, arise ye: but, let vsus come, let vsus goe, let vsus arise. Now, shall the children of this world be wiser in their generation, then the children of light? Do we commend this course in mundane affaires, and neglect it in religious offices? Assuredly if our zeale were so great to religion, as our louelove is towards the world; Masters would not come to Church (as many doe) without their seruants, and seruants without their masters; parents without their children, and children without their parents; husbands without their wiues, and wiues without their husbands: but all of vsus would call one to another, assEsay 2. 3. Esay prophecied; O come let vsus goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord, to the house of the God of Iacob, hee will teach vsus his waies, and wee will walke in his pa…hs. And, as Dauid here practised, O come let vsus sing to the Lord, let vsus heartily re…oice in the strength of our saluation.
How First where;Where. before the Lord, before his presence, vers. 2. 6. God is eueryevery where; tPsal. 139. 7.Whither shall I goe from thy spirit? or whither shall I goe from thy pre…ence?
True▪ God is a circle, whose Center is no where, Circumference eueryevery where: yet is he said in holy Sc…ipture to dwell inuMat. 69. heauen, and to be present in his Sa…ctuarie more specially; manifesting his glorie from heauen, his grace in the Church principally. For hee said in thexExod. 20. 24. Law, In all places where I shall put the remembrance of my name, I will come vntounto thee: and in theyMat. 18. 20. Gospell, Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them. Albeit eueryevery day be a Sabbath, and eueryevery place a Sanctuarie for our priuate deuotions, according to the particular exigence of our occasions; yet God hath allotted certaine times, and certaine places for his publike seruice: Leuit. 19. 30. Ye shall sanctifie my Sabbaths, and reuerence my Sanctuarie.
God is to be worshipped euer, and eueryevery where. Yet the seuenth of our time▪ and the tenth of our liuing, must more specially be consecrated to that honour which hee requires in the Temple. And thereforezComment. in locum. Caluin is of opinion that Dauid vttered this speech vponupon the Sabbath: as if hee should say, Come let vsus sing to the Lord, not in priuate only, but let vsus come before his presence with thanksgiuing. As in the 100. Psalme: Goe your way into his gates, and into his courts with praise.
The consideration of this one point, that God is in eueryevery place by his generall presence; in this holie place by his especiall presidence, may teach all men to pray not hypocritically for fashion, but heartily for conscience; not only formally to satisfie the law, but also sincerely to certifie our louelove to the Lord our maker, giuing vntountoaMat. 22. 21. Si Caesar in Nummo quaerit imaginem suam Deus non quaerit in homine Imaginē suam? Augustin. e…ar. …uius Psalmi. Caesar the things which appertaeine to Caesar, and vntounto God the things which belon… to God. That we may not only praise where we should, but, as it followeth in the diuision Whereto:Whereto. Let vsus sing to the Lord; let vsus reioyce in the strength of our saluation, let vsus shew our selues glad in him.
EueryEvery one in his merrie mood will say; Come let vsus sing, let vsus heartily reioyce: But as good neuer a whit as neuer the better. Silence is a sweeter note then a loud, if a leaud sonnet. If we will needs reioyce, let vsus (saithbPhilip. 4. 4. Paul) reioyce in the Lord: if sing, saith Dauid, let vsus sing to the Lord.
Vaine toyes are songs sung to the world; lasciuious balads are songs sung to the flesh; Satyricall libels are songs sung to the Diuell; onelyonly Psalmes and Hymnes, and spirituall songs arecColoss. 3. 16. melodie for the Lord. P…e debes Domino exultare si vis securus mundo insultare, saithdTom. 8. fol. 730. Augustine vponupon this text: we may not exalt but insult ouer the world, the flesh, the diuell; our exaltations and exultations are due to God only.