1 though clouds and darkness are round about thee, yet judgment and justice are the habitation of thy throne a. (9.) That his truth is invariable, and the treasures of his goodness inexhaustible. Thou art good, and thy mercy endures for everb. Thy loving kindness is great towards us c, and thy truth endureth to all generations d. Thou hast proclaimed thy name: the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sine. And this name of thine is our strong tower g. Thou art good, and dost good; good to all, and thy tender mercy is over all thy works h. But truly God is in a special manner good to Israel, even to them that are of a clean heart i. O that thou wouldst cause thy goodness to pass before us k, that we may taste and see that the Lord is good, and his loving kindness may be always before our eyes l. Lastly, That when we have said all we can of the glorious perfections of the Divine nature, we fall infinitely short of the merit of the subject. Lo, these are but parts of his ways, and how little a portion is heard of God; but the thunder of his power who can understand m? Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out; he is excellent in power and in judgment, and in plenty of justice n; and he is exalted far above all blessing and praise o. We must give to the praise of that splendour and glory wherein he is pleased to manifest himself in the upper world. a Psal. xcvii. 2. d Psal. c. 5. h Ps. cxix. 68. cxlv.9. /Ps.xxxiv.8.xxvi. 3. o Neh. ix. 5. b Psal. cxxxvi. 1. e Psal. cxvii. 2. Thou hast prepared thy throne in the heavens a, and it is a throne of glory, high and lifted up, and before thee the seraphims cover their faces b. And it is in compassion to us, that thou holdest back the face of that throne and spreadest a cloud upon it c Thou makest thine angels spirits, and thy ministers a flame of fire d. Thousand thousands of them minister unto thee, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before thee to do thy pleasure e. They excel in strength, and hearken to the voice of thy word g. And we are come by faith and hope and holy love, into a spiritual communion with the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, even to the general assembly and church of the first-born, in the heavenly Jerusalem h. 4. We must give glory to him as the Creator of the world, and the great protector, benefactor, and ruler of the whole creation. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive blessing, and honour, and glory, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure, and for thy praise, they are and were created i. We worship him that made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of waterk; who spake, and it was done; who commanded, and it stood fast 1; who said, Let there be light, and there was light; let there be a firmament, and he made the firmament; and he made all very good m; and they continue this day, according to his ordinance, for all are his servants n. The day is thine; the night also is thine; thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and wintero. a Psal. ciii. 19. d Psal. civ. 4. b Isa. vi. 1, 2. c Job xxvi. 9. g Psal, ciii. 20. k Rev. xiv. 7. 10. n Psal. cxix. 91. Thou upholdest all things by the word of thy powera, and by thee all things consistb. The earth is full of thy riches; so is the great and wide sea also c. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season; thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing d. Thou preservest man and beast, and givest food to all flesh e. Thou, even thou art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all g: and the host of heaven worshippeth thee, whose kingdom ruleth over all h. A sparrow falls not to the ground without thee i. Thou madest man at first of the dust of the ground, and breathedst into him the breath of life, and so he became a living soulk. And thou hast made of that one blood, all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hast determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation / Thou art the most high, who rulest in the kingdomof men, and givest it to whomsoever thou wilt m; for from thee every man's judgment proceeds n. Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigns o, and doth all according to the counsel of his own will, to the praise of his own glory p! 5. We must give honour to the three persons in the Godhead distinctly, to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that great and sacred name into which we a Heb.i. 3. d Psal.cxlv.15,16. b Col. i 17. c Psal. civ. 24, 25. were baptized, and in which we assemble for religious worship, in communion with the universal church. We pay our homage to the three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost; for these three are one a. We adore thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth b, and the eternal Word, who was in the beginning with God, and was God, by whom all things were made, and without whom was not any thing made that was made, and who in the fulness of time was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and showed his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth c. And since it is the will of God that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father d, we adore him as the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person; herein joining with the angels of God, who were all bid to worship him è. We pay our homage to the exalted Redeemer g, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father h. We also worship the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, whom the Son hath sent from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth i, who proceedeth from the Father, and who is sent to teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance k, who indited the scriptures, holy men of God writing them, as they were moved by the Holy Ghostl. 6. We must acknowledge our dependence upon God, and our obligations to him, as our Creator, Preserver and Benefactor. Thou, O God, madest us, and not we ourselves, and a 1 John v. 7. d John v. 23. h Phil. ii. 11. / 2 Pet. i. 21. b Mat. xi. 25. e Heb. i. 3, 6. i John xv. 26. c John i. 1, 2, 3, 14. g Rev. i. 5. k John xiv. 26. therefore we are not our own, but thine, thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture a; let us therefore worship, and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker b. Thou, Lord, art the former of our bodies, and they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and curiously wrought. Thine eye did see our substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book all our members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them c. Thou hast clothed us with skin and flesh, thou hast fenced us with bones and sinews; thou hast granted us life and favour, and thy visitation preserves our spirit d. Thou art the Father of our spirits e; for thou formedst the spirit of man within him g, and madest us these souls h. The Spirit of God hath made us, and the breath of the Almighty hath given us life k. Thou puttest wisdom in the inward part, and givest understanding to the heart l. Thou art God our Maker, and teachest us more than the beasts of the earth, and makest us wiser than the fowls of heaven m. We are the clay, and thou our potter; we are the work of thy hand n. Thou art he that tookest us out of the womb, and kept us in safety when we were at our mother's breast; we have been cast upon thee from the womb, and held up by thee; thou art our God from our mother's bowels o, and therefore praise shall be continually of thee p. In thee, O God, we live and move, and have our being, for we are thine offspring q. In thy hand our breath is, and thine are all our ways r; for the way of man is not in himself, neither is it in man a Psalm c. 3. d Job x. 11, 12. b Psalm xcv. 6. c Psal. cxxxix. 14. 16. g Zech. xii. 1. Job xxxviii. 36. o Psal. xxii. 9, 10. r Dan. v. 23. |