Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 1 · Psalm 1
THE FIRST PSALM.
The subject of this first Psalm of the first partition, is the distant fate of pious and godless men, both in this, and the next life.
1. BLessed is the man that‖hath not walked foreign walketh not in thea. Counsell of the ungodly, nor†stood foreign standeth in the way of sinners, nor*satt foreign sitteth inb. the‖or assembly seat of the scornful.
He that aspireth to any degree of felicity either in this life, or in another, must most circumspectly guard himself (and by constant fervent prayer implore Gods aids) that he be not gained by any example, or invitation of the wicked men of the world, to joyn with them in any forbidden enterprize; Or if he have been thus insnared, and seduced into the beginning of any such course, then his second care must be, that he abide not one minute in that state of Rebellion, and danger, (wherein the longer he continues, the more he grieves, and repels the holy Spirit of God, and makes his return the more difficult,) but by true contrition, and confession, and vow'd amendment, make his speedy return unto God, and sue out his timely pardon. Or if he have omitted this duty also, and continued some time in this unhappy course, yet at least let him beware that he advance not to so high a degree of impiety, as either to despise the terrors of the Lord, and the chastisements, which he sends to awake, and amend men, or the Rebukes and Censures of Superiours, or the fraternal admonitions of equals, especially, that he speak not peace to his own soul, presume not of any mercy from God, whilest he continues in this state, or of more efficacious grace from him, to fetch him out of it; Above all, that he do not associate himself with those, which do profestly all these; For all and every of them are so many wayes of Atheistical mocking of God, and contempt of all goodness, and the highest degrees of provocation, which must expect their doom from God, forsaking and obduration here, and eternal irremediable torments hereafter. (thus much for the negative.)
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And not only so, but then also (positively) he must apply himself to a most serious study and consideration of the whole law of God, and every single precept thereof, and that in order to a sincere uniform impartial obedience to it, nay, he must advance to a delight in it, discerning a most solid pleasure, and satisfaction in the practice of all holy duties (of piety, and charity and sobriety) and an emptiness and loathsomeness (at least comparatively with those) in all the false joyes, that wicked men are so transported with, and upon these accounts, (both that he may exactly know his duty, in every part of it, and have this pleasurable tast of it) he must both study, and practise it continually, make these two the great designes of his whole life.
3. And he shall be like a tree planted by thec. ‖divisionsrivers of water, that†yieldeth foreign bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall notd. *fallwither, and whatsoever he‖bringeth forth doth, shall prosper.
He that doth thus, shall flourish in the Church of God, after the manner that a tree flourisheth, that hath the advantage of water brought neer it in trenches, to refresh it in time of drought; For thus shall the spirit of God, promised to all such, assist and enable him to bring forth abundant fruit, and accordingly being thus enabled by this divine strength, he will, upon all opportunities, multiply acts of all divine virtues. And even for outward things, which are not of the essence of true felicity (for such only are exercises of virtue, our prescribed way to a durable felicity) but yet are, here in this world, advantageous accessions and accomplishments thereof, bearing the same proportion to the other, that leaves do to fruit (as leaves accompany, and adorn, and cover the fruits, and withall defend them from heat and cold, and help to the ripening of them, so these outward accessions are many wayes useful to the exercises of virtues) These also shall in an eminent manner be preserved to the pious man (Godlinesse hath the promise of this life, 1 Tim. iv. 8.) he shall have them richly to enjoy, 1 Tim. vi. 17. i. e. first they shall yeild him a plentifull contentment and satisfaction, 1 Tim. vi. 6. and secondly, he shall never fail to have such a portion of them secured to him, as is perfectly fittest for his turn; And in a word, all his productions of all sorts, his thoughts, his resolutions, his actions, as well as his externall accessions, proportionable to the buds, and blossoms, and fruit, and not only leaves of the most flourishing tree, all wherein he is concern'd, shall by Gods speciall blessing providence, continually watching over him, be exceedingly successefull to him.
4. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaffe which the winde driveth away.
As for the wicked, they must expect a far distant fate, who being compared to the Godly, are so far from being like a well rooted and flourishing tree, that as husks, and straw, and chaffe, the most refuse adherents unto fruit, they are unsetled and obnoxious to every blast, of in themselves very empty and unprofitable, and accordingly shall be dealt with by God; When a day of winnowing comes (such are all Gods seasons of judgement, Mat. iii. 12.) then shall the separation be made, and their condition be very unlike one to the other; The solid fruit we know, abides, but the chaffe, and husks, and dust is carried away with the winde, Psal. lxxxiii. 13. Job xxi. 18. Isa xli. 16. And that is not all, for then, as to combustible matter (good for little else) the fire attends that winnowing, and burns up all the trash, Isa. v. 44. Psal. lxxxiii. 14. devours and consumes it utterly (which the Greek, and Arabick, and Aethiopick, and vulgar latine expresse by adding [from the face of the earth.] And so it is with the wicked, when Gods judgements come, they violently seize on them, helplesse and comfortlesse, and hurry them hence into a place of endlesse misery, where the worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched.
5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in thef. congregation of the righteous.
When therefore that finall doom comes, which shall repeal all the unequall judgements of this life, and repair them abundantly, who have here suffered causelesly, when all both good and evil shall appear before that dreadfull tribunal, to receive the rewards of all their doings, these unhappy miscreants shall not be able to abide the triall, shall have nothing to pleade for themselves, their conscience shall accuse, and (as being self-condemned) dragge them with shame and horrour to the place of their execution; or if they shall pretend to make any plea, they shall certainly miscarry, and be cast. The judgements of God, as of him that sees the most secret recesses of the very heart, bringing with him also an assembly of myriads of holy Angels and glorified Saints, who are able to testifie and convince any gainsayer, are managed with that severity of uprightnesse, that there is no hope of escaping that vengeance which is justly due to them for their impious course. They must have false and partiall Judges, from whom to expect absolution or favour, but this being a most pure and just tribunal, they are sure to meet with neither, or they shall have a farre distant fate from that which belongs to the righteous.
6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
For the Lord sees and beholds with mercy, and, according to the gracious tenour of the Euangelicall covenant, approves, and finally rewards all the good purposes and performances of the godly, his humble, obedient, penitent, faithfull servants, but for others, such as go on impenitently and unreformed, on whom all his wise, and compassionate, and powerfull methods have yet wrought no change, they shall all be severely adjudged by him. The course of sin wherein now they go on presumptuously and obstinately, doth at the present most directly tend, and shall at the last most certainly bring them to eternal irremediable destruction. And all his long-suffering and abundant mercy shall not then stand them in any stead, to put off, or abate their torments.
Annotations on Psal. I.
V. 1. Counsell] The Hebrew foreign foreignfrom foreign consuluit, advising, or asking counsell, vulgarly signifies the result of the consultation, the way, whether good or bad, which is taken up on that deliberation, and agreeably the Syriack renders it here foreign the way, the Arabick, the Sentence, or resolution, or determination, consequent to the consultation. In this notion we finde it Psal. xiv. 6. the counsell of the poor, i. e. the way, and course (viz. of piety) which he adheres to; and Psal. cvi. 13. Gods counsell is to be interpreted by [his works] preceding in that verse, viz. that which he purposed to do for them (as Psal. cvii. 11. it must receive its signification from the context, which mentions not works, but words there, and so notes the precepts or commands of God) and accordingly this same word is once rendred foreign work, Job xxi. 16. and once foreign way, or course of life, which any man takes to, good or bad, Psal. lxxxi. 12. And so it must needs signifie here, that [foreign foreignwalking] may agree with it, which noteth the following or going on in any course, that others have traced before us.
V. 1. Seat] Hebrew foreign from foreign foreignsedit, literally denotes sitting, and so must be rendred, 1 King. x. 5. and 2 Chron. ix. 4. the sitting of his servants, and Psal. cxxxix. 2. my down-sitting, and so Lam. iii. 63. where yet the Greek have foreign seat, or chair, or place of sitting, as here, and in most other places. And if that be the acception of the word here, then it notes the quiet repose, and security, and presumption of the sinner, without any regrets or disturbances in his course, or yet further, as a chair is a seat of dignity in a School, or Synagogue, or Sanhedrim, a teaching or instructing of others in the course, as a Doctor or Professor of impiety. Beside this, it signifies also an assembly or consessus, so called, because many meeting together in consultation, the posture of sitting is there generally used, as most commodious. So Psa. cvii. 32. we fitly render it, the assembly of the Elders. And thus the interlinear here reade in consessu, in the assembly, and the Chaldee Paraphrase foreign in the society or congregation (for so that Noun signifies among them, and is by*See Schindler Pentagl. p. 1205. c. foreign some Learned men thought to signifie in that one place, where it is used in the Bible, Psal. lv. 9. foreign ventus congregationis, a whirlwinde, or associated winde) and then it must note associating with this sort of Athiestical scoffers, and so the Arabick evidently understood it, rendring it (without any mention of chair or seat) and hath not sate with the scorners. These two senses of the word having so reasonable pretensions to it, I have therefore retained both of them in the Paraphrase, thereby to secure the Reader of the full importance of it.
V. 3. Rivers] foreign foreignfrom foreign divisit, literally signifies divisions, and may refer to the customes of conveying water to orchards or gardens. A mention of it we have in Deut. XI. 10. where of the land of Aegypt, 'tis said, thou wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs: where the vulgar reades, by way of Paraphrase, in hortorum morem, aquae ducuntur irriguae, after the manner of Gardens (the Syriack addes, which want watering) the waters are lead or brought to water it, or literally, by thy foot, i. e. by digging (the work of the foot) thou broughtest water in trenches for the watering of it. For thus in Aegypt, where they wanted rain, they did to all quarters distribute the overflowings of Nilus, by cutting of trenches or ditches, called commata, and diacopi (saith*Miscel. l. 1. c. x. Hieron. Magius) i. e. cuts or divisions here. To this custome and use of the word foreign we have a reference Prov. xxi. 1. The Kings heart is in the hands of the Lord, we reade as the rivers of waters, the interlinear hath pelagi, the Hebrew foreign retained (giving us farther to observe, that the Greek and Latine foreign and Pelagus used for the Sea, hath this origination) the LXXII have foreign streams, but the vulgar literally divisions, divisions of waters, i. e. as the waters that the Gardiners bring by cutts either from springs or rivers to their gardens, are by them lead at pleasure, backward or forward, this way or that way, diverted, or stopt, or applied in a greater or lesse plenty to this or that tree, as they direct it, so is the heart of the King in Gods disposall, and accordingly it follows, he turneth it whither he will. And this acceptation of the word is most commodious for this place also, speaking of a fruit tree that flourisheth exceedingly, for such are said to be planted in a watered garden, Isa. lviii. 11. and so are fat, as there it is said, likely to become very fruitfull by that means. And to that incline the LXXII reading foreign, and the Arabick, and Aethiopick, and vulgar latine, all to the same sense, decursus, the passages, or runnings along of the waters.
V. 3. Wither] foreign foreignfrom foreign aruit, growing dry or withering, may literally thus be rendred; But almost all the ancient Interpreters and Paraphrasts render it by the notion of falling, the Targum (and so the Syriack) foreign shall not fall, and so Isa. i. 30. xxxiv. 4. xl. 7. and the interlinear, non decidet, the vulgar, non defluunt, the LXXII foreign, all so concordant in the same sense of falling, that learned men think they either read or had an eye to foreign cecidit. But the decision is more clear from the vulgar metonymy, of the cause or antecedent, being set to note the effect or consequent also, for by this figure the falling of leaves being naturally consequent to the withering or flagging of them, the verb foreign that signifies withering, may fitly signifie that, and be used for falling also, and so most probably here, where foreign shall not wither, is set metaphorically to signifie the continuance of all outward accomplishments to the pious man; their neither losing their sap and verdure, nor yet falling from him; the former notes his contentment, while he enjoyes them, the latter Gods defence to secure him in the quiet enjoyment of them; as when the meek have the promise to possesse the earth, and they that honour their parents to have long life in a Canaan; which though it must alwaies be understood cum mixturâ crucis, especially now under the Gospel (or else there could be no place left for martyrdome, or for the exercising the most eminent of Christs precepts, yet in generall speaking, the promise doth most fitly belong to, and is frequently repeated for the encouragement of all godly men: That they shall have an antepast of the goodness of God, a comfortable enjoyment (which consists more in a competency, than in the greatest load) of the good things of this life, whilest on the ungodly he rains snares, fire, and brimstone, a sad portion for them to drink, or enjoy here, though there were never an arrear behinde of eternal hell.
V. 3. Doth] Of the word foreign foreignfecit, it may deserve to be noted, that as it belongs to several things, so particularly it is applied to trees, producing or bringing forth fruit, Isa. v. 4. I lookt that it should bring forth, foreign grapes, foreign and it brought forth wilde grapes. So Isa. xxxvii. 31. foreign and it shall bear fruit upward. And so very often elsewhere: And accordingly in the New Testament, the phrase is most frequent, foreign to make, or do, i. e. to bear, or bring forth fruit, Mat. iii. 8. & 10. So that still the similitude is maintained in these last words of the verse, like a tree planted by the divisions of waters, yeelding fruit in his season, not so much as his leaf withering, and whatsoever he bringeth forth, bud, blossome, or fruit, it shall prosper.
V. 5. Congregation] That foreign foreignfrom foreign convocavit, signifies an assembly, there is no question. All the difficulty is, who the just are here, of whom this assembly consists, whether they that are mentioned v. 6. under the same title, the godly, that shall be rewarded in that judgement, or the foreign Heb. xii. 23. the just made perfect, i. e. that have already received their crown, those Saints, of whom the Apostle pronounceth, that they shall judge the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2. taking in also the Angels, those holy myriads, Jude 15. with whom God is there said to come to execute judgement upon all. To the latter of these we are inclined by the Septuagint, who render it foreign, and so the vulgar Latine, in concilio, in the councel of the just, for then, as Mat. v. we have mention of two judicatures, one by foreign the judgement, the other by foreign the Sanhedrim or Councel (the great standing judicature at Jerusalem) so we have here foreign and foreign judgement and councel, most probably in the same sense, and so the word foreign once more rendred foreign Councel, Numb. xvi. 2. and frequently foreign assembly, doth certainly signifie that judicature among the Jews; and so the Chaldee foreign here used, was before taken for a consessus (as was said v. 1. note a) and the Syriack and Arabick, and Aethiopick, all agree to it, the first rendring it foreign assembly, the two other Councel. And then this is the clear meaning of it, that that last doom (or foreign foreignday, as the Chaldee here render judgement; from whence we have foreign foreignday, in the New Testament signifying judgement) is transacted by a Court of eminently just persons, God the just and righteous Judge, ii Tim. iv. 8. assisted with a Councel of Saints and holy Angels, all of them just and crown'd as such: And therefore there is no appearing for wicked men before that tribunal, they shall certainly be condemned by them. But the parallel betwixt fruit and chaffe may not improbably incline to the former sense, that the ungodly shall not be able to abide the winnowing of the divine judgement (the winde of Gods vengeance v. 4.) nor consequently remain in the company of the righteous, who in stead of receiving damage by the fury of the winde, are only purged and fixt by it.