A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM GENERALLY.

"My soul doubtless waiteth still upon God," &c. Be my troubles never so great and dangerous, yet my soul shall trust continually and constantly in the Lord, that can and will remedy them: for he is my strength and my salvation; and he is my defence.

"So shall I not greatly fall." Although, good Lord, by reason of my infirmity and sin, which is in all men, my soul is weak and feeble, that it will he oppressed with the lightest of all thy troubles, which thou layest upon man for his sin; yet, when it taketh hold of thy mercy, it waxeth strong. And although it be weak and trembling by reason of infirmity, yet doth it not clean fall from the trust of constancy and hope.

And let the wicked imagine their wicked imaginations against thy poor servants, O God: yet at length shall they come to shame and destruction, as the tottering wall doth fall, and the rotten hedge is consumed with fire. For that they go about, they shall never bring to pass, because they devise to put him to shame, that God hath purposed to exalt and magnify. And whatsoever doubleness they use to speak fair with their mouths, and yet have false and hollow hearts, it shall not bring their intent to their purposed end. Selah. God be thanked, of whom dependeth all the hope of my salvation: and he is my strength, my salvation, and my defence, so that I shall not fall.

Wherefore, all Christian and afflicted persons (saith the Prophet), follow mine example, and put all your hope and trust in the mercy of God, who only saves us from evil, and blesses us with all goodness. Pour out therefore before him all your cares and heaviness, and look assuredly for help from him, for doubtless the help of man is nothing worth: for "if

man and vanity were both weighed in a pair of ba lances, vanity itself would be weightier than man. How then can so light a thing as man is, help in the time of trouble?" And as a man is but vanity, or else more than vanity; so be all worldly riches that man possesseth, and as little or less able to help an afflicted man, as man is unable to help himself.

And this I know (saith the Prophet), not by man's wisdom, but by the mouth of God, that whatsoever help man looketh for, besides God, he may be assured at all times to be both helpless and comfortless; and trusting to God, he shall be at all times both holpen and comforted: for so saith the Lord, whose sayings no power is able to falsify nor to resist.

What Things are to be noted out of every particular Part of this Psalm, for the Edifying and Comfort of him that shall use to say, sing, or meditate this Psalm.

THE FIRST PART.

My soul truly waiteth upon God."

Out of the first part (wherein is contained what the Christian should do in the time of trouble) is to be noted what it is for a man to have his soul waiting still upon God, or else to have silence always in his soul towards God in the days of adversity, as this Psalm speaketh. When the Christian man or woman, in the time of sorrow and heaviness, without grudge or impatience looketh for the help of God, and giveth not himself to quarrelling or complaining of God, as though he did him wrongs and punished him too much; then doth the soul wait upon the Lord, or else hath silence towards God, as we see by Job, where his soul still attended upon the Lord. When his goods, cattle, house, and children were taken

from him, he said after this sort: "The Lord gave them, the Lord hath taken them away; as the Lord is pleased, so is it done. The name of the Lord be blessed." (Job, i.) All this while he bore the cross of God without murmur or grudge, and had his soul still waiting apon God, as this Prophet here saith. But when he was burdened further, and from the sole of the foot to the top of the head was stricken with sores and blotches; he cursed the day that he was born in, and the night wherein he was conceived, with many more unquiet and lamentable words, as it appeareth in his book. (Job, iii.)

The like example we have before of King David in the book of the Psalms, where be these words: "In trouble and adversity I said, I was cast away from the sight of thine eyes, O God." (Psalm xxxi.) And as Job sometime said, if he should die, yet would he trust in the Lord (Job, xiii. xvii.); so said David a little before, if he should go in the midst of the shadow of death, he would not fear. (Psalm xxiii.) In the which Psalm ye may see how constantly his soul waited upon the Lord: yet in the 31st Psalm his troubles were so great, that in them he said, "I am cast from the sight of thee, O God." So that these testimonies and examples of the Scriptures do declare, that to have the soul to wait upon the Lord, is to be assured that God will help in trouble, and patiently to bear the trouble without grudge, until God send remedy and help for it.

The second thing to be gathered of the first part, is to mark and see, that in the very elect of God, and most excellent personages amongst holy men, there is sometime quiet, patient, and thankful sufferance of adversity strongly, that it seemeth in the soul of him that is troubled, there is so constant and strong faith, that it maketh all sorrows and troubles rather pleasant and sweet, than heavy, burdensome, or pain

ful. At another time troubles seem unto them so heinous and grievous, that the burden of them is as great a pain as death, not only in quieting the body, but also very sore vexing of the spirit, with these and like cogitations: "God hath cast me out of his sight; God will have mercy upon me no more; my soul is heavy and troubled." (Psalm xxxi. xlii. xliii. lxxvii.) And this diversity of increase and decrease of faith and hope of holy men and women before cur time teacheth us great wisdom and consolation; wisdom, in that we see faith and hope be not natural qualities in man, although he be never so virtuous, or never so graciously elected by God to eternal salvation but they be the merciful gifts of God given unto man for Christ's sake, and wrought by the Holy Ghost above man's deservings.

We learn also that the gifts of God, faith, hope and charity, patience and sufferance, with such-like virtues, be not at all times of like condition and strength in man, but at some time so strong, that nothing can fear us, and at another time so weak, that all things do make us dismayed and fearful. Now and then it is so doubtful, that we cannot tell whether it were best to suffer for the truth, or else to be released, consenting unto falsehood. Thus God useth his gifts in us, not always after one sort, partly for our sins, and partly to prove us, and to bring us to a certain knowledge of our infirmity and weakness. From Saul, Judas, and Cain, he took his Spirit clean, to punish their iniquity and wickedness; and from Job, to attempt his patience, and to make him feel that of himself he could bear nothing.

We learn consolation out of this text in this, that in our troubles the Lord forsaketh us not, but comforteth us; and the more our troubles and adversities be, the more is his grace and favour towards us. As the Prophet saith in another of his Psalms: "As

adversities oppressed my heart, so thy consolations, Lord, rejoiced me" (Psalm xliv.): in the which Psalm ye may see what consolation the afflicted conscience taketh in adversities.

The Psalm is made against the wicked oppressors and persecutors of the poor: wherein they say, As the tyranny of the wicked troubleth us, so thy consolations, good Lord, do rejoice and comfort us. And the same saith St. Paul to the Corinthians: "As the afflictions of Christ do abound in us, even so by Christ aboundeth our consolation." (2 Cor. i.)

There is also to be noted, in that the Prophet saith, his soul waiteth upon the Lord.

Many men can dissemble injuries, wrongs, and oppressions outwardly. (Matt. x. xxvi. John, xi. xviii. Luke, xix.) Sometimes, when they be not able to revenge; and sometimes, when they dare not revenge, for lack of opportunity and occasion, lest more harm might ensue of that their enterprise., As the Jews durst not kill Christ a great while, for fear of the people; yet were they murderers in their hearts before God, the fact outwardly not then being done. Some again revenge not, because they think dissembled patience will gain worldly commodities and riches. Howbeit, this quietness and refraining from revenging is nothing worth before God. But when the heart and soul waiteth upon God, and is contented to be as God maketh it, the waiting and service of the soul the Lord delighteth in, and is pleased withal.

This is a godly doctrine, and much to be desired, to have the mind contented with such things as be troublesome and painful to the body inwardly and where the mind waiteth not patiently upon the Lord in trouble, it will appear divers ways. Sometimes, many years after the displeasure is done, the man that suf fered the displeasure revengeth it wrongfully and