Notes on the Book of Psalms, Psalm 135
The cxxxv. PSALM.
The Psalmist quickens up the people of Israel in general, the Priests and Levites more particularly, but most especially the faithful of both sorts to magnifie and praise the Lord, and this he doth by way of argument taken from the congruitie, delectabilitie, and dutie of it from such a people to such a God, who as he is greatly to be preferred for his self-sake, and the excellent power that is in him, so for the effects of it towards them, the grateful memorie whereof should ever be upheld for his glorie and his peoples faith sake. All other Gods being but puppits, he onelyonly is God, and onelyonly to be blessed as such, especially of them that are his onelyonly people and Priests, his Church, preferred by him of all the world, to that honour, who therefore ought to honour him how and where he will be worshipped.Psalm cxxxv.
1PRaise ye the Lord, praise ye the name of the Lord, praise him, O ye servants of the Lord.1 O That all sorts of people would consider their dutie of praising God, conscionably to discharge it in spirit and power, to magnifie him for his greatness as Lord of and over all, yea for his excellent attributes and properties not onelyonly absolute, but relative of grace and goodness, and for his alonenes, for as there is no God like him, so there is no God but him; O ye servants of the Lord chosen by him and set apart for that purpose, what ever others do, forget not you your duties, not onelyonly of your persons but of your places, to praise the Lord worthily with hearts enlarged with the apprehensions of him and his manifold excellencies.
2Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.2 I mean ye Priests and Levites principally, be you especially conversant in this service of praising the Lord in his holy Temple, where you are priviledged to administer like to the glorified saints in heaven that stand in his presence for ever more praising the Lord. Yea, and all others also that are admitted to the participation of grace, and that worship him in his ordinances though at greater distance, whether Levites or people, whose persons and praises faithfully tendered in spirit are yet really accepted and graciously regarded by the God of Israel, whose presence is as well in the courts which also are sanctified, as in the Temple it self (with his Church on earth, as well as in heaven.) Praise ye therefore the Lord, ye that worship him without as well as within the holy sanctuarie of our God, both Priests and people.
3 Be not so much awed by fear to praise the Lord,3Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praises unto his name, for it is pleasant. as induced by love, for those lovely excellencies of grace and goodness that are in him, and shine forth from him to his people, let the faith and experience the Church hath had thereof in all ages, tune your voice and instruments to the exaltation of his name, in praise-worthy commemoration of all the good he hath either promised or performed, which to do is delightfull to God, and every good heart.
4 Surely,4For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. we far above all the world are debtors to God; ow more in way of praise than ever we can pay him, for this unestimable merciemercy and priviledge of adoption to be his peculiar, to name his name upon, and marked out of all the great fold of the world for his people, and the sheep of his pasture, even we, a poor hand-full, that came out of the loins of one man, our Father Jacob, that he should choose him and his out of all mankind to set his love upon, and thus to honour, as to esteem none else worth reckoning of, but us, and us as his treasure and Jewels of value, whom he onelyonly sets by, as he shall by his Church and people in all the world, and onelyonly by them.
5 Under what notion soever we apprehend God,5For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all Gods. he is worthie our uttermost praises, whether as good to us, or as great in himself, who indeed is of that immensitie, as that his positive admits of no comparative degree, he is abstractly great, even greatness it self, in power & majesty beyond humane apprehension and capacity, in the faith whereof yet we ought to praise him, for so his people best know him, and that not onelyonly as absolutely and essentially so, but also relatively and derivatively so to us, this great God being greatly our God; his greatness as it is superlative to all greatnesses, whether humane powers or imaginarie deities, so his grace shall extend it accordingly unto our protection and preservation against them, and to the confusion of men and Idols that are set against him or us his Church and people.
6Whatsoever t…e Lord pleased that did …e in heaven and in earth.6 I mean the great and mightie God, the sole Sovereign and Monarch of all the world both heaven and earth, who of his meer will and by his onelyonly word made all things to be that they are, from the highest to the lowest, whether in the heavens above or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, and the invisible depths of both down to the very center, and as he commanded them to be, so he rules and commands them now they are, to be, and do what he would have them, and not otherwayes, to his praise and his peoples security.
7He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, he maketh lightn…ngs for the rain: he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.7 He createth ruin by appointing and impowering the sun from all parts of the world, sea and land, to exhale the vapours which we see ascend on high into the middle region of the air, where they engender clouds, & those clouds rain, which by his providence is dispersed and dispensed all the world over, what the earth sends up in exhalations from all parts, it receives down again every where for its use in showers and dews. Yea, what a piece of Artifice do our eyes behold, when by the force of thunder, he sends lightning and rain, fire and water, out of one and the same cloud, so that when we see the one break forth, we conclude the other not far behind, as if naturally fire produced water, which are so contrarie, but yet are made to cohabit till, and be subservient, when he pleaseth to dispose of them in storms and tempests. The wind also blows when, where, and how he lists, and not otherwayes, how unruly and boisterous so ever it seem, it breaks not prison of it self, but is let out of its restraint by him, without whose will and pleasure it cannot so much as breath, who is the God of nature, ordeining and ordering her in all causes, and all their effects, how rare soever, beyond our knowledge, and above our reach transacted in the heavens, whereof these are few instances.
8 Yea,8Who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast. and on earth too, where not a few things praise-worthie have been wrought by the same Almighty power for his people Israel, whereof we will enumerate some, a few of many, as, the high & mightie slaughter he made of the first-born both of man and beast in Egypt, with a strong hand bringing his people thence, spite of Pharaohs power and oppugnation.
9 He wrought miracles,9Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. and made strange demonstration of his heavy displeasure by manifold judgements, destructive signs and prodigies, in the midst of thee, O Egypt, for their sakes, when his people the Israelites had no harm there, forcing thereby hard-hearted Pharaoh, thy King, and his courtiers, to acknowledge his power, and at last submit to his will.
10 Nor in Egypt onelyonly did he do wonders and execute judgements upon his Churches enemies,10Who smote great nations, & slew mightie Kings. but when by a mightie hand & the destruction of the Egyptians, he had brought them thence, by the same out-stretched arm did he lead them through the wilderness, destroying all that made opposition to them, both Princes and people, though far greater and every way better provided then they, way-faring men were.
11Sihon King of the Amorites, and Og King of Bashan, and all the Kingdoms of Canaan.11 As for instance. Sihon the King of the Amorites, and Og that mightie man the King of Bashan, who opposed their passage, these Kings and their people they destroyed on the other side Jordan, and on this side even all the Kings and Kingdoms of Canaan, thirty one in number; those under Moses, these under Josua, were subdued by the Lord, who fought for Israel against all their enemies.
12And gave their land for an heritage unto Israel his people.12 And he that is Lord of all the earth, as before he had promised to Abraham, so now he fulfilled his word by an effectual possession and implantation of his people Israel in the lands and possessions of all the foresaid Kings and Kingdoms, gave them to them and their heirs for ever, which he hath ever since preserved to and for them, and their posteritie, with as Almighty a hand, as at first he gained and gave them.
13Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever, and thy memorial, O Lord, through all generations.13 The glorious manifestations thou hast alwayes made of thy powerful goodness, and gracious faithfulness in the behalf of thy people against their enemies, ought to be renowned for ever hereafter in all ages, which also shall produce experiments answerable to those thy properties, which are ever the same in thy Churches behalf, who shall transmit the grateful memorie of thy former mercies and miracles down from age to age, and from one generation successively to another, to thine everlasting glorie and their corroboration and comfort, in the faith of thy faithfulness to thy covenant and promises, (the grand charter of the Catholick Church) theirs as well as ours, made to them as to us.
14For the Lord will judge his people, and he will rep…nt himself concerning his servants.14 For the Lord is his peoples according to covenant, so that though he do, yea, must both in justice and merciemercy chastize them for their aberrations, thereby to humble and reduce them: For impunitie would argue him no father, nor they no children; as sure I say as he is both just and gracious to lay the rod upon them for sin, so he is as merciful and faithful to take it off again, when of sinners they become penitents, and renew their covenant to be his, he will soon be theirs, and repent as well as they, and then wo be to their enemies, we have and shall ever find it so.
15 That he hath ever approved himself the onelyonly God of power to deliver us when the time hath come,15The Idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of mens hands. maugre all the Powers on earth that have been against us, and their gods to boot, which cannot preserve them that worship them, against the power of the Almighty whom we onelyonly serve of all the world besides, which is heathen, and their gods meer Idols, at best made of gold and silver, nor are they so much as their own makers, but have their Beings from men, they make them that made not themselves, therefore must they needs be goodly Gods.
16 They are meer liveless statues,16They have mouthes, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not. without sense or motion, able neither to speak nor see, having no better mouthes, nor eyes than man can make them.
17 Their ears are like their eyes,17They have ea…s, but they he…r not, neither is there any breath in their mouthes. the one blind, the other deaf, and their mouthes as breathless as speechless, for such an inversion of nature, as men to make Gods, can produce no better effects.
18 And they that make them are as void of understanding,18They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them. as they of life and sense, that against reason can think such things fit to be worshipped for Gods, which are their creatures, not they theirs, and so is every one (that seeing what they are, and knowing whence they come) putteth confidence of good or evil in them, both their Gods and they are alike blockish, and as void of power as understanding, as plainly appeareth, when our God appears for us against them.
19Bless the Lord, O hou…e of Israel, bless the Lord, O house of Aaron.19 Let therefore your faith and zeal be laid out upon no such imaginarie deities, nor your fear upon any earthly powers, do you that are the posteritie of Jacob, from whom you have the name of Israel given of God himself, walk worthie such a father and servant of the Lord, by honouring and praising him, and him alone, all of you own him and honour him for your Lord and God, specially you that are his in principal place and office by special designation, you Priests the sons of Aaron, let your zeal exceed as much, as do your engagements.
20Bless the Lord, O house of Levi; ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.20 And you that are of an inferiour rank in the Priest-hood, ye Levites, remember also your ingagements to honour, and praise the Lord, who hath called you to so sacred an office about his Temple, do your duties worthie your places; but because no doubt too many are, as formal people, so formal Priests that serve the Lord, if at all, more in shew than sincerity, therefore my exhortation is chiefly to you both Priests and people that are regenerate, Israelites indeed, Priests of the Lord as well as of the Temple, endowed with the true fear of God, and sanctifying graces of his spirit, you are they that I hope and exhort, and that God looks should honour and serve him with praise and thanks in faith and spirit, worthie your selves and him your God, as a chosen generation, a royal Priest-hood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
21 Let all Israel,21Blessed be the Lord out of Sion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. whether in power or profession, his visible or invisible people, of what rank or qualitie soever, Prince, Priest, people, resort unto the place appointed for his solemn worship, mount Sion, where his sanctuarie is seated, and there joyn their forces and affections to bless and serve him, who is especially present there, of all Israel having preferred Jerusalem to be the place of his residence, and of all his glorious dispensations where he will be blessed of his people; and whence he will bless them again that honour and serve him. Therefore fail not on your part, praise him, and pray to him, that is and will be your God if you do so.