- 2. Thy Law is the Truth. The Truth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it hath the priority of all Lawes in this; it contains no falshood, the promises and threats in it shall certainly be fulfilled.
6. Upon which he makes mention of a fourth effect that it produced in him,
viz. joy and delight, yea, non obstante, all his troubles and sorrows.
- 1. Trouble and anguish hath taken hold upon me. The righteous are often under the crosse, that sin may be subdued,
[Ver. 7] patience and the graces of the Spirit increased, the pleasures of the world contemned, and the joyes of heaven desired.
- 2. Yet thy Commandments are my delights: Yet, even in this great tribu∣lation, the meditation of thy truth contained in thy Law doth delight me; it is the remedy against all my afflictions to call to mind what thou hast promised, This is it that sanctifies all afflictions to me, and makes me rejoyce in them.
7. [Ver. 8] That Gods Word and Truth was everlasting that gave him so much comfort and joy, that he repeats it again. 1.
The righteousnesse of thy testimonies is e∣verlasting, and adds only his accustomed Petition unto it. 2. Give me under∣standing and I shall live. Live and revive in all my troubles. It is no life that men have, who are destitute of this knowledge, they live uncomfortably, and therefore the Word of God is contemned by none, but such as know not the ex∣cellency thereof, and the comfort it brings.
The Prayer.
O Lord thou art a righteous Iudge, and thy justice is so essential to thée,
[Ver. 1] that thou canst no more defrand thy servants of thy promised comforts, nor let the wicked escape unpunished in their sins, than deny thy self to be God. Thou art upright in thy judgments, even in those stripes thy children receive, and in all those plagues the wicked receive at thy hands. O Lord we confesse that for our sins we justly have deserved to receive those blowes, and yet we comfort our selves in this, that these chastisements are to be but temporal, whereas the stripes of the wicked are like to be eternal. They may escape thy anger and flourish here, but they shall never flye from the wrath to come.
Now from this eternal justice which is in thée, hath procéeded thy Law, which is a Law of equity, for the testimonies which thou hast commanded,
[Ver. 2] are exceeding righteous, a Law of truth having no admi••tion of vanity or falshood,
[unspec 4] a law of purity, the finest gold purged from the drosse is not purer,
[unspec 5] a perpetu∣al and eternal law, that to all men, and at all times prescribes their duty.
[unspec 3] Put then, O Lord, into my heart a zeal, a love to this Law,
[unspec 4] let me never forget it, but take my delight in it,
[unspec 5] even then when trouble and heavinesse have taken hold on me.
[unspec 6]
It is not unknown unto thée, how I have béen consumed with grief, and in∣flamed with anger, because ungodly men have forgotten thy words,
[Ver. 3] this they laugh at, for this they despise me,
[unspec 5] but their milice doth but increase my love to thy Law, and their contempt quicken me in the memory of thy promises.
[unspec 8] O give me an understanding heart, and an inflamed soul to thy truth, and so I shall live quietly in the midst of my calamities, and chearfully end my dayes in thy sear, and by thy favour be brought at last to a safe harbour in heaven by Iesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour. Amen.