Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 4 · Psalm 95
PSAL. XCV. A Pſalm to be ſung at all times, in all places, Bellar.by all men. foreign.
FOR it contains an invitation to praiſe God with internal and external worſhip; and therefore is fitly choſen by the Church to be ſung in the beginning of our Liturgy, to excite all men preſent to ſerve God infear, and rejoice with reverence.
Two parts of this Pſalm.
1. An Exhortation to praiſe God, to adore, worſhip, kneel, ver. 1, 2, 6.
2. Reaſons to perſwade to it.
1. Gods mercies, ver. 3, 4, 5, 7.
2. His judgments in puniſhing his own people Iſrael for their neglect of this duty, from ver. 8. to 11.
1. David begins this Pſalm with an earneſt invitation, including himſelf, The firſt part. David calls an Aſſembly.crying:
1. O come, let us; come along with me, though a King, he thought not himſelf exempted. Ver. 1
2. And the Aſſembly being come together, he acquaints them what they came for.
1. To ſing to the Lord, heartily, merrily, joyfully; Exaltemus.1To ſing to God.
1. Let us make a joyful noiſe; make a Jubilee of it, Jubilemus.
2. Openly, and with a loud voyce; Let us make a joyful noiſe with Pſalms.
3. Reverently, as being in his eye, his preſence.
4. Gratefully; Let us come before his preſence with thankſgiving.2To adore and worſhip, outwardly, inwardly.
2. To worſhip, to bow down, to kneel, ver. 6. Adoration, humble Adoration, outward worſhip, that of the body, as well as inward, that of the ſoul is his due; and that for theſe reaſons. Ver. 6
2. For God calls for nothing from us, which there is not great reaſon, The ſecond part. His Reaſons to perſwade it.but that we yield him; ſerve him then we ought with heart and body, out of many reſpects.
1. Becauſe he is the Rock of our ſalvation, whether temporal or ſpiritual, Ver. 1 ſo long as we rely on him as a Rock, 1Becauſe our Rock.ſafe we are from the tyranny of men, from the wrath of God, from the power of the Divel, death, hell.
2. Becauſe he is a great God, and a great King, above all gods. Jehovah, Ver. 5 a God whoſe Name is, I am, an incommunicable name to any other; 2A great God and King.for his Eſſence is from himſelf, and immutable, all other derivative and mutable; and the great Jehovah, great in Power, Majeſty, Glory, and greater than all other Nuncupative gods, Idols, Kings, for he is above them all, above all gods.
3. The whole orb of the earth is under his power and dominion; Ver. 4 3Under his Dominion the whole World.In his hands are the deep places of the earth, the ſtrength of the hills is his alſo. The globe of the earth in all its extenſions is ſubject to him.
4. And no marvail, for he is the Creator of both, 4The Creator.which is another Argument: The Sea is his, and he made it, Ver. 5 and his hands formed the dry land. Ver. 6
5. He is our Maker, the Creator and Lord of man alſo.5Our Maker.
6. Our Lord God in particular; 6Our Lord God.for he hath called us to be his inheritance: For we are the people of his paſture, and the ſheep of his hand.
Now all theſe laid together, and well weighed, being wonderful expreſſions of his mercy and loving-kindneſs, are of ſtrength enough to perſwade us heartily, reverently, openly to ſing to, and praiſe him, to adore, bow down, and kneel before him.2In which duty if we fail, he propoſeth what is to be expected by the example of the Iſraelites.
2. In which if we obſtinately and ſtubbornly fail, we have a fair warning given us what is like to follow, by the example of the Iſraelites, purpoſed here by the Prophet, That if mercy will not win upon us, then judgment may: Lege Hiſtoriam, ne fiat Hiſtoria, Numb. 14. Exod. 17. The ſum is this:
1. God gave them a day, and he gives it you, 'tis the hodie of your life.
2. In this day he ſpeaks, he utters his voyce; outwardly he ſpeaks by his Word, To whom God gave a day.inwardly by his Spirit.
3. This you are bound to hear, to obey it.
4. And 'tis your own fault if you hear it not, for you may hear it if you will, to that purpoſe he hath given you a day: T day if you will hear his voyce.
5. Say you hear it not, the cauſe is, the hardneſs of your hearts, and take heed of it; Harden not your hearts.
For then it will be with you, But they hardned their hearts.as it was with the Iſraelites.
1. As in the day of temptation in the Wilderneſs, at Meribah and Maſſah.
2. When your Fathers, the Iſraelites, that then lived, tempted me, and proved me. And tempted God.They asked whether God was among them or no? They queſtioned my power, whether I was able to give them bread, and water, and fleſh?
3. And they found that I was able to do it, They ſaw my works; for I brought them water out of the Rock, and gave them bread from Heaven, and fleſh alſo.
But theſe were not the ſole tentations and provocations I found from them, their ſtubbornneſs was of a long continuance, and often repeated, for it laſted forty years, ſo long as they were journying through the Wilderneſs: Forty years long was I grieved with this Generation, Therefore God cenſured them for a ſtubborn people.which very much aggravates their rebellion; and this drew God to paſs this Cenſure and Verdict upon them.
1. His Cenſure was, that they were an obſtinate, ſtubborn and perverſe people; A people that did alwayes erre in their hearts, that were lead with their own deſires, and run a head their own way, which cauſed them to erre; the way of God they would not go in, they knew it not; that is, they approved, they liked it not,; they thought themſelves wiſer than God, and knew better how to make proviſion for themſelves, than God could; They have not known my wayes.
2. His Verdict upon them; Unto whom I ſware in my wrath, that they ſhall not enter into my rest; 2And ſwore they ſhould not enter into his reſt.i. e. literally into the land of Canaan that I promiſed them; the Oath is extant, Exod. 14. As I live, ſaith the Lord, your carcaſſes ſhall fall in the Wilderneſs; and in the Wilderneſs they did fall, every one, except Caleb and Joſhua; a fearful example againſt ſtubbornneſs and diſobedience, and to that end produced and amplified by the Prophet; and the Apoſtle, Hebr. 4. by it warns the Hebrews, that they be not incredulous, hard-hearted, obſtinate, leſt a worſe thing happen to them, leſt they be excluded the reſt of the celeſtial Canaan, of which the earthly was but a Type.
A Meditation collected out of the ninety fifth Pſalm.
MANY, O Lord, are the wayes by which thou workeſt upon the weak and untoward nature of man to win him to his duty, Thou remembreſt him of thy loving-kindneſs, Thou ſetteſt before his eyes fearful examples of thy juſtice, executed even upon a people, whom thou madeſt choice of before all the Nations of the earth, that he ſhould be dutiful, and not dare to be obſtinate and harden his heart at thy voyce; 'tis thy deſire that his ſervice unto thée be a reaſonable ſervice, and powerful are the reaſons uſed here by the Prophet to perſwade unto it.
Bound we are to ſing unto the Lord, Ver. 1 to give thanks in his preſence, and ſhall we not do it? Bound we are to adore, worſhip, bow down and kneel, and dare we plead, as ſome do, againſt it? Tell me, what it is that can move thee? will power? Ver. 3 He is the Lord. Will Majeſty and Excellency? He is the great Jehovah. Will Soveraignty? He is above all Princes of the Aire, Ver. 4 and Princes of the Earth? Will Dominion; the whole terreſtial Glove is ſubject to him, the déep places of the earth, and the ſtrength of the hills are in his hands: Ver. 5 He made the Sea, and 'tis his; He formed the dry land, and both are in his hands: Ver. 6 Nay, his hand went upon thée, O man, he ſtamped upon thee his own image, and was thy Maker and Creator.
O my ſoul, why then art thou ſo dull, ſo heavy, ſo flack, ſo negligent in the performance of this Duty? ſuffer not thy brutiſh fleſh hereafter to over-rule and depreſs the Spirit, come willingly, and proſtrate thy ſelf humbly, and adore reverently; ſing chearfully, and give thanks heartily in the preſence of thy God. He is the Lord that made the whole World, he is the Lord that rules the whole World; the ſtrength of Mountains, the depths of the Earth and Sea, the height of Princes are as the duſt of the balance in compariſon of his Power and Majeſty, fall then low before his foot-ſtool, confeſs thy weakneſs and meanneſs, and knéel before the Lord thy Maker.
I ſaid too little, for this is a general mercy, and common to all creatures, for not the leaſt and vileſt of theſe, but is the work of his hands, and over theſe thou haſt ſet man to be a Lord, in which Dominion a Heathen partakes with a Chriſtian, becauſe he partakes of the name of man, and hath thy image of reaſon, underſtanding, will, memory, ſtamped upon his ſoul; bound then upon theſe Arguments he is, to bow and knéel as well as I, and obliged to worſhip and adore as much as any Chriſtian.
But thou haſt tyed us unto thée in a ſtronger Bond, and obliged us to theſe duties by a nearer and more precious favour, when we were ſtragling in the Wilderneſs thou wenteſt after us, and brought'ſt us home to thy Fold, Ver. 7 and haſt made us the ſheep of thy paſture, when we were not a people; Thou haſt laid thy hand upon us, and ſeized us for thy own people, and ever ſince become unto us a Rock of ſalvation, ſaved us from the fury and rage of Tyrants, ſaved us from our ſins, ſaved us from thy wrath, ſaved us from the wrath to come; O come then, let us worſhip and bow down, and knéel before the Lord our Saviour and Redéemer.
And now, O my ſoul, Ver. 7 conſider what it is that thy Maker and Redéemer requires of thée, even that thou hear his voyce, and obey his commands; he hath given thée a day, and but a day to do it: Behold, now is the day of ſalvation, Ver. 8 put it not then off, let it not ſlip from thée, and harden not thy heart againſt his mercy, take héed that there be not in thée an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, and thou be hardned by the deceitfulneſs of ſin.
Ever have in memory the Iſraelites and their obſtinacy, their ſin; Ver. 8 and what befell them. They were a ſtubborn Generation that ſet not their heart aright, they provoked the moſt High, they tempted the Holy One of Iſrael; Ver. 9 forty years long was he grieved with that untoward people, they erred in their hearts, Ver. 10 and would not ſubmit to his Laws and wayes: But they eſcaped not unpuniſhed, vengeance, as God had ſworn, overtook them, and their carcaſſes fell in the Wilderneſs, nor above two of ſix hundred thouſand ſouls entred into that reſt promiſed them, the land of Canaan.
I read and tremble, I tremble and pray; Lord kéep me from this diſobedience, this obſtinacy, this hardneſs of heart, melt my ſoul with the fire of thy Spirit, and ſoften it with the oyle of thy grace, that when thou ſpeakeſt. I may anſwer, and at the ſound of thy voyce I may be obedient; ſo that ſhewing not the leaſt reluctation to thy commands, and never murmuring at thy doings, I may obtain by thy infinite goodneſs, after the manifold errors and furious ſtorms of this life, that ſecute Port of Heaven, where there remains a perpetual reſt to the people of God through Ieſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.