Hence still the more I sob distrest, Mine enemies that seek my hurt, The fury of my foes makes me, Does make me understand myself (n). (j) 2 Cor. iv. 16. 17. For which cause we faint not, but thongh our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (k) PSAL. xxxiii. 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. (1) GEN. i. 20. And Joseph said unto his brethren, As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. (m) PSAL. Iv. 23. But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in thee. (n) My Sin, Is. xlii. 24. Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. My duty, 2 SAM. xvi. 11. 12. And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life; how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse: for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. MICAH vii. 8. 9. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indig. nation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me; he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. My safety, PSAL. ix. 9. 10. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name, will put their trust in thee for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. v. 16. Their slanders cannot work my shame (o), The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the works of his own hands. Higgaion, Selah. (0) PSAL. xxxi. 13. 14. For I have heard the slander of many, fear was on every side, while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. (p) 1 PET. iv. 14. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. (q) NUMB. xxiii. 7. 8. And Balaam took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? v. 23. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob, and of Israel, What hath God wrought! (r) PROV. xxvi. 2. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. (s) 1 PET. iii. 8. 9. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing: knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. (t) PSAL. Ixix. 12. 13. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. (u) GEN. 1. 20. See letter (m) forecited. ESTHER ix. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, to stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same yearly as the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and They are my sordid slaves I wot; With little kindness in their heart (w). the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them. Because Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot) to consume them, and to destroy them: but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters, that his wicked device which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. (v) JER. xxv. 8. 9. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. v. 12. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Caldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Is. x. 5. 6. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. v. 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. Chap. xliv. 24. 28. Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord-that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundations shall be laid. Chap. xlv. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him: and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. v. 4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have sirnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. They sweep my outer house when foul, The mystery of the believer's pardon and security from revenging wrath, notwithstanding his sin's desert. I, Though from condemnation free, Find such condemnables in me, As make more heavy wrath my due Than falls on all the damned crew (a). Blessed (w) MATTH. v. 10. 11. 12. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. LUKE VI. 22. 23. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy for behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. (x) Is. iv. 3. 4. 5. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies a cloud, and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence. Chap. xxvii. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. (y) PSAL. lx. 8. Moab is my wash-pot, &c. (a) Roм. viii. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them But though my crimes deserve the pit, Remission, seal'd with blood and death, With slavish fear and hellish dread (d) ; which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Chap. vii. 18. For I know, that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. 1 TIM. i. 15. 16. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (b) GAL. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemeth us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. ROM. v. 9. Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. EPH. i. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. to come. (c) 1 THESS. i. 10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath Is. liv. 9. 10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have swoin that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee. PSAL. lxxxix. 30. 31. 32. 33. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. (d) Matth. xiv. 26. And when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, Is it a spirit; and they cried out for fear. |