Moses his prayer. Or, An exposition of the nintieth Psalme.: In which is set forth, the frailty and misery of mankind; most needfull for these times. Wherein [brace] 1. The sum and scope. 2. The doctrines. 3. The reasons. 4. The uses of most texts are observed. / By Samuel Smith, minister of the Gospel, author of Davids repentance and the Great assize, and yet living.

Lord thou hast been our dwelling place. [Text.]

THat is, Lord, thou hast been to our fore-fathers, what a dwelling house is to men, viz. a covert and a

safe defence, and a Castle to defend them, and protect them from all hurts and dangers; that though they had no dwelling place, but travelled from Country to Country, yet they had a sure defence, for thou didst protect them, and wast unto them their Dwel∣ling place. [Doct. 4] The note is,

That Gods Church & people have ever had a Dwelling place. * 1.1 Lord thou hast bin our dwelling place from gene∣ration to generation. The Lord himself under his wings protects and defends his people; and they are safe whom he keepeth, The eternall God is thy re∣fuge, and underneath are the everla∣sting armes. Happie art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people, saved of the Lord. * 1.2 If the Lord keep the City, it is in safety. The godly are said to dwell in the secret of the most High., and to say unto God, thou art my rock, my refuge, and my strong tower. He shall hide me (saith David) in the secret of his Tabernacle. * 1.3 The godly must not look to be freed from dangers, it is enough that they are preserved in dangers.

How was the woman pursued in the Wildernesse by the red Dragon, * 1.4 yet God provided for her a habitation there for her selfe, and her child, which she brought forth.

So when the Church shall be perse∣cuted by Tyrants, she must not think that any earthly hold can keep her safe, only here is her priviledge, she hath the shadow of the Almighty, * 1.5 and the secret of the most High to fly unto. How oft was David pursued by Saul, sometimes by Absalom his own son; yet still God provided for him a hi∣ding place.

Object. But hath not the Church, [Object.] and the particular members of it, suf∣fered Martyrdome, slaughters, &c.

Ans. It is true, [Answ.] God suffers many times his children to fall by the cruel∣ty of the enemies of the Church: yet even therein they are more then Con∣querors. The primitive Martyrs in all their sufferings, the Text saith, They would not be delivered, * 1.6 because they looked for a better resurrection.

And God is pleased thus many times to suffer the wicked to prevail

against their bodies for these Reasons.

1. That herein, and hereby, the wicked might fill up the measure of their sins, and so hasten their own de∣struction.

2. Hereby God will have his truth witnessed; yea, sometimes with the very blood of the Saints.

3. God will have it so, for the uti∣lity and profit of his Church; for the blood of Martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Yet still the promise is most sure, God will be a hiding place unto his, and the worst that Tyrants can do, is but to kill the body, and so hasten their happinesse and glory; they can never prevail against the inward man nor overthrow their faith, nor disap∣point them of salvation.

But hereby our faith is exercised, our patience tried, and the bitternesse that we have tasted in our sufferings, makes our deliverance but so much the more sweet and comfortable unto us.

And the Reason is, [Reason] that neer relati∣on that is between God and his peo¦ple, shewes that God must be their

habitation, they are his Sons, they are his Spouse, members of his body, his friends, his servants; and shall not God be a house and habitation unto them; Nay more, they are so neer and dear unto God that he that toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye. * 1.7 Such cannot want protection.

Seeing there is no protection and safeguard unlesse our God become our habitation, and dwelling place. [Vse 1] This discovers unto us the folly of such, who foolishly run from protection, some one way, and some another; and never seek for Gods protection. Some put their trust in strong holds, in great and fortified Castles; some in their wit, some in their riches, &c. But un∣lesse the Lord be thy dwelling place, and unlesse the Lord be thy protection, thou canst have no safety, though thou dwellest in an house of Ivory, and in the strongest Castle made of stone; yet unlesse the Lord keep thee, every Sergeant of Gods judgment, and every messenger of Gods venge∣ance will seize upon thee.

Seeing they only be in safety whom [Use 2]

the Lord covers, and whom he pro∣tects with his armes, and with his power; we see then it is our wisdome to seek unto God for safetie, and to creep under his wings; for if he keep us all shall be well with us. A prudent man foreseeth the evill, * 1.8 and hideth himselfe; that is, he flies to God for protection. For let men seek what shifts they can, and use all the means they can, to winde themselves out of misery, yet unlesse the Lord keep them, unlesse they seek unto him by repentance and prayer, they shall be but as the bird in the net, strive and struggle, but shall never be able to get out, but the more she strives, the more she is intangled.

So the wicked, the more they seek to avoid Gods judgments, by their shifts and devices, the more they are ensuared in them. Unlesse the Lord be our habitation and dwelling place, to protect and defend us by his owne power and providence.

Thirdly, [Use 3] the consideration hereof, that God is our habitation and dwel∣ling place, to hide and shelter us, when

stormes and tempests are up, and rea∣dy to annoy us; The consideration hereof should serve to arme Christians with a holy resolution to keep in with God, to obey him, and to go on in a godly course, and not to fear the threats and terrours of men, or what man can do unto us. Hath God un∣dertaken to protect us, and to be a habitation unto us, to be our shield and buckler, our defence and hiding place? Whom then should we fear?

'Tis true Gods servants whilst they are here, are subject to a world of dangers, inward, and outward: But why should we fear, when the Lord hath undertaken to be a buckler, a shield, a shadow, and a hiding place unto us?

How oft doth David the to this, * 1.9 in times of danger, I love the Lord, my buckler, my shi••••d, and defence: q. d. What though my troubles are many, and my enemies are mighty: yet I have at hand a buckler, and a shield, that will keep off all dangers, He is my buckler, my shield, and my defence. What a comfort was it to Jonas, when

scorched with heat, God so seasonably provided the Gourd to spring up, that refreshed him from the scorching beams of the Sun; this God provided for him: and thus will the Lord pro∣vide a shadow and shelter for us in times of danger. What comforts have we here, that may not fitly be resem∣bled to Jonas Gourd, riches, honour, power, &c. These may yield a sha∣dow for a time; but then comes the Sun shine, the East-wind, or the worm, that nips them, and they are gone. Who would then trust to such shadows as these are? the daies and times that we have lived to see hath declared this unto us, that all earthly things are meer shadowes: How is the Crown it selfe withered? how many noble families and houses are now laid in the dust? and what is it that we do enjoy, that we can promise to our selves any certainty in? at the best, they are but weak helps. But saith Da∣vid The Lord liveth, and blessed be my strong help.

If God be a dwelling place to his people, [Use 4] and that they are so safe under

his wings, whose faithfulnesse and truth shall be their shield and Bucker;

Then how fearfull is the condition of those, that walk not in his waies, and live not under his protection, that have not God for their Habitation, these lie open to all stormes, and Tem∣pests, of Sathans temptations, and all such miseries that a poor Creature can be subject unto. Howsoever God may feed them, and fill their bellies with the good things of this lise: yet what comfort can they have in the evil day, when conscience is let loose to speak terrible things to the soule, and Sathan shall cast his fiery darts against them, such must needs be at their wits end, that have not a God to fly unto.

Doth not carnal policy teach us thus much, to get into some Noble mans, or some great mans Family, and then we think our selves highly priviledged, and wee looke for protection under them. O where are our hearts Chri∣stians, and where is that spiritual wis∣dom that ought to be in us, that look no more after Gods service, whose service is perfect freedom, and which

brings with it so much safety, and security.

And the last is, [Use 5] that seeing wee may say as Moses here, Lord thou hast been our dwelling place: our Covert and de∣fence in dangers, thou hast protected and covered us by thy hand, thou hast kept us in these contagious times, wherein many have been sick, many weak, and many taken away by death; Lord thou hast given us health after sicknesse, deliverance from dangers, consolation after all our sorrows and afflictions; thou hast been our defence and protection. Thou hast been a cover unto us, or else wee had long a go pe∣rished.

O what shall we render to the Lord for all these benefits, what rent do wee owe unto God for our Habitation and safe protection! If we should finde this favour at any mans hand; that he would let us have a dwelling place fit and needfull for us, to defend us from storms, and tempests, and that for seaven years or twenty years together, will he not look for some rent or ser∣vice at our hands, but the Lord hath

been our dwelling place twenty, thir∣ty, forty years, from time to time un∣to this day. Now wil not the Lord look for some Rent and service at our hands, even the Rent and service of o∣bedience and thankfulnesse, that wee should not displease our Landlord, that we should not grieve him, or pro∣voke him to anger: but keep his fa∣vour, and good will, and please him in all things: this Rent of obedience and thankfulnesse doth the Lord re∣quire at our hands.

But alas how few do pay the Lord this Rent, and perform this service, who albeit they receive daily from him many benefits, and mercies; few with that Leper in the Gospell, re∣member to return thanks.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Gods people have ever had a dwelling place. Deut. 33 27-29.
• * 1.2

  Ps. 127.1, 2. Ps. 91.1.
• * 1.3

  Ps. 27.5.
• * 1.4

  Rev. 12.14.
• * 1.5

  Ps. 91.1. Ps. 18.2. 1 Sam. 22.1, 5.
• * 1.6

  Heb. 11.
• * 1.7

  Zach. 2.8
• * 1.8

  Prov. 22.3.
• * 1.9

  Psal. 18.