mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 41.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xlii" n="xlii" next="Ps.xliii" prev="Ps.xli" progress="35.71%" title="Chapter XLI">
<h2 id="Ps.xlii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xlii-p0.2">PSALM XLI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xlii-p1">God's kindness and truth have often been the
support and comfort of the saints when they have had most
experience of man's unkindness and treachery. David here found them
so, upon a sick-bed; he found his enemies very barbarous, but his
God very gracious. I. He here comforts himself in his communion
with God under his sickness, by faith receiving and laying hold of
God's promises to him (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.1-Ps.41.3" parsed="|Ps|41|1|41|3" passage="Ps 41:1-3">ver.
1-3</scripRef>) and lifting up his heart in prayer to God,
<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.4" parsed="|Ps|41|4|0|0" passage="Ps 41:4">ver. 4</scripRef>. II. He here
represents the malice of his enemies against him, their malicious
censures of him, their spiteful reflections upon him, and their
insolent conduct towards him, <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.5-Ps.41.9" parsed="|Ps|41|5|41|9" passage="Ps 41:5-9">ver.
5-9</scripRef>. III. He leaves his case with God, not doubting but
that he would own and favour him (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.10-Ps.41.12" parsed="|Ps|41|10|41|12" passage="Ps 41:10-12">ver. 10-12</scripRef>), and so the psalm concludes
with a doxology, <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.13" parsed="|Ps|41|13|0|0" passage="Ps 41:13">ver. 13</scripRef>.
Is any afflicted with sickness? let him sing the beginning of this
psalm. Is any persecuted by enemies? let him sing the latter end of
it; and we may any of us, in singing it, meditate upon both the
calamities and comforts of good people in this world.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xlii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41" parsed="|Ps|41|0|0|0" passage="Ps 41" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xlii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.1-Ps.41.4" parsed="|Ps|41|1|41|4" passage="Ps 41:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.41.1-Ps.41.4">
<h4 id="Ps.xlii-p1.8">Promises to Those Who Consider the
Poor.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.xlii-p1.9">
<p id="Ps.xlii-p2">To the chief musician. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xlii-p3">1 Blessed <i>is</i> he that considereth the
poor: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xlii-p3.1">Lord</span> will deliver him in
time of trouble.   2 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xlii-p3.2">Lord</span>
will preserve him, and keep him alive; <i>and</i> he shall be
blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will
of his enemies.   3 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xlii-p3.3">Lord</span>
will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all
his bed in his sickness.   4 I said, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xlii-p3.4">Lord</span>, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I
have sinned against thee.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p4">In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p5">I. God's promises of succour and comfort to
those that consider the poor; and,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p6">1. We may suppose that David makes mention
of these with application either, (1.) To his friends, who were
kind to him, and very considerate of his case, now that he was in
affliction: <i>Blessed is he that considers</i> poor David. Here
and there he met with one that sympathized with him, and was
concerned for him, and kept up his good opinion of him and respect
for him, notwithstanding his afflictions, while his enemies were so
insolent and abusive to him; on these he pronounced this blessing,
not doubting but that God would recompense to them all the kindness
they had done him, particularly when they also came to be in
affliction. The provocations which his enemies gave him did but
endear his friends so much the more to him. Or, (2.) To himself. He
had the testimony of his conscience for him that he had considered
the poor, that when he was in honour and power at court he had
taken cognizance of the wants and miseries of the poor and had
provided for their relief, and therefore was sure God would,
according to his promise, strengthen and comfort him in his
sickness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p7">2. We must regard them more generally with
application to ourselves. Here is a comment upon that promise,
<i>Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.</i>
Observe, (1.) What the mercy is which is required of us. It is to
consider the poor or afflicted, whether in mind, body, or estate.
These we are to consider with prudence and tenderness; we must take
notice of their affliction and enquire into their state, must
sympathize with them and judge charitably concerning them. We must
wisely consider the poor; that is, we must ourselves be instructed
by the poverty and affliction of others; it must be <i>Maschil</i>
to us, that is the word here used. (2.) What the mercy is that is
promised to us if we thus show mercy. He that considers the poor
(if he cannot relieve them, yet he considers them, and has a
compassionate concern for them, and in relieving them acts
considerately and with discretion) shall be considered by his God:
he shall not only be recompensed in the resurrection of the just,
but he <i>shall be blessed upon the earth;</i> this branch of
godliness, as much as any, has the promise of the life that now is,
and is usually recompensed with temporal blessings. Liberality to
the poor is the surest and safest way of thriving; such as practise
it may be sure of seasonable and effectual relief from God, [1.] In
all troubles: He <i>will deliver them in the day of evil,</i> so
that when the times are at the worst it shall go well with them,
and they shall not fall into the calamities in which others are
involved; if any be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger,
<i>they</i> shall. Those who thus distinguish themselves from those
that have hard hearts God will distinguish from those that have
hard usage. Are they in danger? he will preserve and keep them
alive; and those who have a thousand times forfeited their lives,
as the best have, must acknowledge it as a great favour if they
have their <i>lives given them for a prey.</i> He does not say,
"They shall be preferred," but, "<i>They shall be preserved and
kept alive,</i> when the arrows of death fly thickly round about
them." Do their enemies threaten them? God will not <i>deliver them
into the will of their enemies;</i> and the most potent enemy we
have can have no power against us but what is given him from above.
The good-will of a God that loves us is sufficient to secure us
from the ill-will of all that hate us, men and devils; and that
good-will we may promise ourselves an interest in if we have
considered the poor and helped to relieve and rescue them. [2.]
Particularly in sickness (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.3" parsed="|Ps|41|3|0|0" passage="Ps 41:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): <i>The Lord will strengthen him,</i> both in body
and mind, <i>upon the bed of languishing,</i> on which he had long
lain sick, and <i>he will make all his bed</i>—a very
condescending expression, alluding to the care of those that nurse
and tend sick people, especially of mothers for their children when
they are sick, which is to make their beds easy for them; and that
bed must needs be well made which God himself has the making of. He
will make all his bed from head to foot, so that no part shall be
uneasy; he will <i>turn</i> his bed (so the word is), to shake it
up and make it very easy; or he will turn it into a bed of health.
Note, God has promised his people that he will strengthen them, and
make them easy, under their bodily pains and sicknesses. He has not
promised that they shall never be sick, nor that they shall not lie
long languishing, nor that their sickness shall not be unto death;
but he has promised to enable them to bear their affliction with
patience, and cheerfully to wait the issue. The soul shall by his
grace be made to dwell at ease when the body lies in pain.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p8">II. David's prayer, directed and encouraged
by these promises (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.4" parsed="|Ps|41|4|0|0" passage="Ps 41:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): <i>I said, Heal my soul.</i> It is good for us to
keep some account of our prayers, that we may not unsay, in our
practices, any thing that we said in our prayers. Here is, 1. His
humble petition: <i>Lord be merciful to me.</i> He appeals to
mercy, as one that knew he could not stand the test of strict
justice. The best saints, even those that have been merciful to the
poor, have not made God their debtor, but must throw themselves on
his mercy. When we are under the rod we must thus recommend
ourselves to the tender mercy of our God: <i>Lord, heal my
soul.</i> Sin is the sickness of the soul; pardoning mercy heals
it; renewing grace heals it; and this spiritual healing we should
be more earnest for than for bodily health. 2. His penitent
confession: "<i>I have sinned against thee,</i> and therefore my
soul needs healing. I am a sinner, a miserable sinner; therefore,
<i>God be merciful to me,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.13" parsed="|Luke|18|13|0|0" passage="Lu 18:13">Luke
xviii. 13</scripRef>. It does not appear that this has reference to
any particular gross act of sin, but, in general, to his many sins
of infirmity, which his sickness set in order before him, and the
dread of the consequences of which made him pray, <i>Heal my
soul.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.xlii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.5-Ps.41.13" parsed="|Ps|41|5|41|13" passage="Ps 41:5-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.41.5-Ps.41.13">
<h4 id="Ps.xlii-p8.4">David Complains of His Enemies; David's
Comfort in God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xlii-p9">5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he
die, and his name perish?   6 And if he come to see <i>me,</i>
he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself;
<i>when</i> he goeth abroad, he telleth <i>it.</i>   7 All
that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise
my hurt.   8 An evil disease, <i>say they,</i> cleaveth fast
unto him: and <i>now</i> that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
  9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which
did eat of my bread, hath lifted up <i>his</i> heel against me.
  10 But thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xlii-p9.1">O Lord</span>, be
merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.  
11 By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth
not triumph over me.   12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in
mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.   13
Blessed <i>be</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xlii-p9.2">Lord</span> God of
Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p10">David often complains of the insolent
conduct of his enemies towards him when he was sick, which, as it
was very barbarous in them, so it could not but be very grievous to
him. They had not indeed arrived at that modern pitch of wickedness
of poisoning his meat and drink, or giving him something to make
him sick; but, when he was sick, they insulted over him (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.5" parsed="|Ps|41|5|0|0" passage="Ps 41:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>My enemies speak evil
of me,</i> designing thereby to grieve his spirit, to ruin his
reputation, and so to sink his interest. Let us enquire,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p11">I. What was the conduct of his enemies
towards him. 1. They longed for his death: <i>When shall he die,
and his name perish</i> with him? He had but an uncomfortable life,
and yet they grudged him that. But it was a useful life; he was,
upon all accounts, the greatest ornament and blessing of his
country; and yet, it seems, there were some who were sick of him,
as the Jews were of Paul, crying out, <i>Away with such a fellow
from the earth.</i> We ought not to desire the death of any; but to
desire the death of useful men, for their usefulness, has much in
it of the venom of the old serpent. They envied him his name, and
the honour he had won, and doubted not but, if he were dead, that
would be laid in the dust with him; yet see how they were mistaken:
when he had served his generation he did die (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.36" parsed="|Acts|13|36|0|0" passage="Ac 13:36">Acts xiii. 36</scripRef>), but did his name perish? No;
it lives and flourishes to this day in the sacred writings, and
will to the end of time; for <i>the memory of the just is,</i> and
shall be, <i>blessed.</i> 2. They picked up every thing they could
to reproach him with (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.6" parsed="|Ps|41|6|0|0" passage="Ps 41:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): "<i>If he come to see me</i>" (as it has always been
reckoned a piece of neighbourly kindness to visit the sick) "<i>he
speaks vanity;</i> that is, he pretends friendship, and that his
errand is to mourn with me and to comfort me; he tells me he is
very sorry to see me so much indisposed, and wishes me my health;
but it is all flattery and falsehood." We complain, and justly, of
the want of sincerity in our days, and that there is scarcely any
true friendship to be found among men; but it seems, by this, that
the former days were no better than these. David's friends were all
compliment, and had nothing of that affection for him in their
hearts which they made profession of. Nor was that the worst of it;
it was upon a mischievous design that they came to see him, that
they might make invidious remarks upon every thing he said or did,
and might represent it as they pleased to others, with their own
comments upon it, so as to render him odious or ridiculous: <i>His
heart gathereth iniquity to itself,</i> puts ill constructions upon
every thing; and then, when he goes among his companions, he tells
it to them, that they may tell it to others. <i>Report, say they,
and we will report it,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.20.10" parsed="|Jer|20|10|0|0" passage="Jer 20:10">Jer. xx.
10</scripRef>. If he complained much of his illness, they would
reproach him for his pusillanimity; if he scarcely complained at
all, they would reproach him for his stupidity. If he prayed, or
gave them good counsel, they would banter it, and call it
<i>canting;</i> if he kept silence from good, when the wicked were
before him, they would say that he had forgotten his religion now
that he was sick. There is no fence against those whose malice thus
gathers iniquity. 3. They promised themselves that he would never
recover from this sickness, nor ever wipe off the odium with which
they had loaded him. They <i>whispered together against him</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.7" parsed="|Ps|41|7|0|0" passage="Ps 41:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), speaking that
secretly in one another's ears which they could not for shame speak
out, and which, if they did, they knew would be confuted.
Whisperers and backbiters are put together among the worst of
sinners, <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.29-Rom.1.30" parsed="|Rom|1|29|1|30" passage="Ro 1:29,30">Rom. i. 29, 30</scripRef>.
They whispered, that their plot against him might not be discovered
and so defeated; there is seldom whispering (we say) but there is
lying, or some mischief on foot. Those whisperers devised evil to
David. Concluding he would die quickly, they contrived how to break
all the measures he had concerted for the public good, to prevent
the prosecution of them, and to undo all that he had hitherto been
doing. This he calls <i>devising hurt against him;</i> and they
doubted not but to gain their point: <i>An evil disease (a thing of
Belial</i>), say they, <i>cleaves fast to him.</i> The reproach
with which they had loaded his name, they hoped, would cleave so
fast to it that it would perish with him, and then they should gain
their point. They went by a modern maxim, <i>Fortiter calumniari,
aliquid adhærebit—Fling an abundance of calumny, and some will be
sure to stick.</i> "The disease he is now under will certainly make
an end of him; for it is the punishment of some great enormous
crime, which he will not be brought to repent of, and proves him,
however he has appeared, a son of Belial." Or, "It is inflicted by
Satan, who is called <i>Belial," the wicked one,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.15" parsed="|2Cor|6|15|0|0" passage="2Co 6:15">2 Cor. vi. 15</scripRef>. "<i>It is</i>"
(according to a loose way of speaking some have) "a devilish
disease, and therefore it will <i>cleave fast to him;</i> and
<i>now that he lieth,</i> now that his distemper prevails so far as
to oblige him to keep his bed, <i>he shall rise up no more;</i> we
shall get rid of him, and divide the spoil of his preferments." We
are not to think it strange if, when good men are sick, there be
those that fear it, which makes the world not worthy of them,
<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.10" parsed="|Rev|11|10|0|0" passage="Re 11:10">Rev. xi. 10</scripRef>. 4. There was
one particularly, in whom he had reposed a great deal of
confidence, that took part with his enemies and was as abusive to
him as any of them (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.9" parsed="|Ps|41|9|0|0" passage="Ps 41:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>): <i>My own familiar friend;</i> probably he means
Ahithophel, who had been his bosom-friend and prime-minister of
state, in whom he trusted as one inviolably firm to him, whose
advice he relied much upon in dealing with his enemies, and who
<i>did eat of his bread,</i> that is, with whom he had been very
intimate and whom he had taken to sit at the table with him: nay,
whom he had maintained and given a livelihood to, and so obliged,
both in gratitude and interest, to adhere to him. Those that had
their <i>maintenance from the king's palace</i> did not think it
<i>meet for them to see the king's dishonour</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.4.14" parsed="|Ezek|4|14|0|0" passage="Eze 4:14">Ezra iv. 14</scripRef>), much less to do him
dishonour. Yet this base and treacherous confidant of David's
forgot all the eaten bread, and <i>lifted up his heel against
him</i> that had lifted up his head; not only deserted him, but
insulted him, kicked at him, endeavoured to supplant him. Those are
wicked indeed whom no courtesy done them, nor confidence reposed in
them, will oblige; and let us not think it strange if we receive
abuses from such: David did, and the Son of David; for of Judas the
traitor David here, in the Spirit, spoke; our Saviour himself so
expounds this, and <i>therefore</i> gave Judas the sop, that the
scripture might be fulfilled, <i>He that eats bread with me has
lifted up his heel against me,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:John.13.18 Bible:John.13.26" parsed="|John|13|18|0|0;|John|13|26|0|0" passage="Joh 13:18,26">John xiii. 18, 26</scripRef>. Nay, have not we
ourselves behaved thus perfidiously and disingenuously towards God?
We <i>eat of his bread</i> daily, and yet <i>lift up the heel
against him,</i> as Jeshurun, that <i>waxed fat and kicked,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p11.11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.15" parsed="|Deut|32|15|0|0" passage="De 32:15">Deut. xxxii. 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p12">II. How did David bear this insolent
ill-natured conduct of his enemies towards him?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p13">1. He prayed to God that they might be
disappointed. He said nothing to them, but turned himself to God:
<i>O Lord! be thou merciful to me,</i> for they are unmerciful,
<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.10" parsed="|Ps|41|10|0|0" passage="Ps 41:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He had prayed
in reference to the insults of his enemies, <i>Lord, be merciful to
me,</i> for this is a prayer which will suit every case. God's
mercy has in it a redress for every grievance, "They endeavour to
run me down, but, Lord, do thou raise me up from this bed of
languishing, from which they think I shall never arise. Raise me up
<i>that I may requite them,</i> that I may render them good for
evil" (so some), for that was David's practice, <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.4 Bible:Ps.35.13" parsed="|Ps|7|4|0|0;|Ps|35|13|0|0" passage="Ps 7:4,35:13">Ps. vii. 4; xxxv. 13</scripRef>. A good man will
even wish for an opportunity of making it to appear that he bears
no malice to those that have been injurious to him, but, on the
contrary, that he is ready to do them any good office. Or, "That,
as a king, I may put them under the marks of my just displeasure,
banish them the court, and forbid them my table for the future,"
which would be a necessary piece of justice, for warning to others.
Perhaps in this prayer is couched a prophecy of the exaltation of
Christ, whom God raised up, that he might be a just avenger of all
the wrongs done to him and to his people, particularly by the Jews,
whose utter destruction followed not long after.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p14">2. He assured himself that they would be
disappointed (<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.11" parsed="|Ps|41|11|0|0" passage="Ps 41:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>): "<i>By this I know that thou favourest me</i> and
my interest, <i>because my enemy doth not triumph over me.</i>"
They hoped for his death, but he found himself, through mercy,
recovering, and this would add to the comfort of his recovery, (1.)
That it would be a disappointment to his adversaries; they would be
crest-fallen and wretchedly ashamed, and there would be no occasion
to upbraid them with their disappointment; they would fret at it
themselves. Note. Though we may not take a pleasure in the fall of
our enemies, we may take a pleasure in the frustrating of their
designs against us. (2.) That is would be a token of God's favour
to him, and a certain evidence that he did favour him, and would
continue to do so. Note, When we can discern the favour of God to
us in any mercy, personal or public, that doubles it and sweetens
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p15">3. He depended upon God, who had thus
delivered him from many an evil work, to <i>preserve him to his
heavenly kingdom,</i> as blessed Paul, <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.4.18" parsed="|2Tim|4|18|0|0" passage="2Ti 4:18">2 Tim. iv. 18</scripRef>. "As for me, forasmuch as thou
favourest me, as a fruit of that favour, and to qualify me for the
continuance of it, <i>thou upholdest me in my integrity, and,</i>
in order to that, <i>settest me before thy face,</i> hast thy eye
always upon me for good;" or, "Because thou dost, by thy grace,
uphold me in my integrity, I know that thou wilt, in thy glory, set
me for ever before thy face." Note, (1.) When at any time we suffer
in our reputation our chief concern should be about our integrity,
and then we may cheerfully leave it to God to secure our
reputation. David knows that, if he can but persevere in his
integrity, he needs not fear his enemies' triumphs over him. (2.)
The best man in the world holds his integrity no longer then God
upholds him in it; for by his grace we are what we are; if we be
left to ourselves, we shall not only fall, but fall away. (3.) It
is a great comfort to us that, however weak we are, God is able to
uphold us in our integrity, and will do it if we commit the keeping
of it to him. (4.) If the grace of God did not take a constant care
of us, we should not be upheld in our integrity; his eye is always
upon us, else we should soon start aside from him. (5.) Those whom
God now upholds in their integrity he will set before his face for
ever, and make happy in the vision and fruition of himself. <i>He
that endures to the end shall be saved.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xlii-p16">4. The psalm concludes with a solemn
doxology, or adoration of God as <i>the Lord God of Israel,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.13" parsed="|Ps|41|13|0|0" passage="Ps 41:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. It is not
certain whether this verse pertains to this particular psalm (if
so, it teaches us this, That a believing hope of our preservation
through grace to glory is enough to fill our hearts with joy and
our mouths with everlasting praise, even in our greatest straits)
or whether it was added as the conclusion of the first book of
<i>Psalms,</i> which is reckoned to end here (the like being
subjoined to <scripRef id="Ps.xlii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.42.13 Bible:Ps.72.19 Bible:Ps.89.52 Bible:Ps.106.48" parsed="|Ps|42|13|0|0;|Ps|72|19|0|0;|Ps|89|52|0|0;|Ps|106|48|0|0" passage="Ps 42:13,72:19,89:52,106:48">lxxii., lxxxix, cvi.</scripRef>), and
then it teaches us to make God the Omega who is the Alpha, to make
him the end who is the beginning of every good work. We are taught,
(1.) To give glory to God as the <i>Lord God of Israel,</i> a God
in covenant with his people, who has done great and kind things for
them and has more and better in reserve. (2.) To give him glory as
an eternal God, that has both his being and his blessedness <i>from
everlasting and to everlasting.</i> (3.) To do this with great
affection and fervour of spirit, intimated in the double seal set
to it—<i>Amen, and Amen.</i> Be it so now, be it so to all
eternity. We say <i>Amen</i> to it, and let all others say
<i>Amen</i> too.</p>
</div></div2>