Psalms 58

Now God's Justice runs in two channels: it is seen in two things, the distribution of rewards and punishments. 1. In rewarding the virtuous; (Psalm 58:11) Doubtless there is a reward for the righteous. The Saints shall not serve him for nothing, he will reward praeces & lachryma…

In this be not like the serpent. 'Tis said of wicked men, their poison is like the poison of a serpent (Psalm 58:4). What is this poison?

So that by all this it is evident that God's children must needs persevere in grace and cannot be disinherited. If they could be disinherited then the Scripture could not be fulfilled, which tells us of glorious rewards for the heirs of promise (Psalm 58:11): Doubtless there is…

They derided his Spirit, and now he will laugh at their calamity (Proverbs 1:26). The Saints will not pity them: they persecuted the Saints upon earth, therefore they will rejoice to see God's justice executed on them (Psalm 58:10). The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the v…

While there is a hell the wicked shall be scourged enough; and while there is eternity, they shall lie there long enough; and God will abundantly compensate the faithful service of his people. They shall have their white robes and crown (Psalm 58:11): "Verily there is a reward f…

1. Branch. If there be such a glorious kingdom to come, believe this great truth; Socinians deny it. The Rabbins say the great dispute between Cain and [reconstructed: Abel] was about the world to come, Abel affirmed it, Cain denied it; this should be engraved upon our hearts as…

Q. But how if they be not willing to be catechized? A. It is much more a sin and shame, if being ignorant they refuse to have their ignorance helped by being instructed (Psalm 58:5; Proverbs 17:22; Proverbs 13:18; Proverbs 15:32). Q. But is it not indeed a reproach and shame to…

3. A righteous man is more excellent than a wicked, in respect of what he shall have: he shall have a better reward; both righteous and wicked are rewarded, but there is a vast difference; the wicked shall have a reward of punishment, the righteous of mercy (Psalm 58:11). So tha…

What are all the learned disputes against the Truth, but the props of those vulgar misprisions and gross conceits that are in the heart of every natural and ignorant man? We have all a heretic in our bosoms, and are by nature prepared to drink in all kind of errors and lies, and…

And when that collect, where they say, You have sent your Son to be born as on this day, is appointed to be said six days together one after another, as if Christ were born six times over. Yes, it appoints a most corrupt, and false translation of the Scripture to be read, and wh…

Now this is not an insulting joy over them, but rejoicing in the honor that God has, and in the good that does come to the Church by the execution of such men, both to God and to his people. So that it follows in Psalm 58:11, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily th…

2. That spiritual love alluring the soul, works by such art as cannot be resisted: Hence, conversion and being drawn to Christ, is termed by the name of charming; even as turning off Christ is a bewitching, or killing with an evil eye, as we say; (Galatians 3:1) And so being dra…

2. That he is well-pleased with us, who have an interest in him. In our natural estate we are all displeasing to God; whatever we are in the purpose of his decree, we must look upon ourselves as we are in the sentence of his law — so children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), enemies by…

1. To show the world the advantage of godliness, and close adhering to him in an hour of temptation (Psalm 119:56): "This I had because I kept your precepts." And (Psalm 58:11): "So that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judges…

There are two things in this expression: 1. They shall be rewarded, 2. They shall be openly rewarded. So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judges in the earth (Psalm 58:11). The Scribes and Pharisees do all their works to be…

Answer: Men do it by league, and confederacy with the devil. The enchanter charms by joining societies (Psalm 58:5). The devil seeks whom he may devour: and therefore, where he finds a fit person to work upon, he insinuates and offers himself.

When God will punish the sins of the reprobate with eternal torment, according to their deserts; and crown the good works of his servants, with an eternal weight of glory, above their desert: for piety shall not always go unrewarded, neither shall impiety always go unpunished, f…

We must therefore labor to quench all those inordinate passions of the flesh, and with a humble and meek spirit to wait for the fit time when this judgment shall be executed: not so much in regard of our own particular profits, as to see God's justice exalted, according as it de…

So Solomon expresses it too, in that place (Ecclesiastes 6:5): Moreover, he has not seen the Sun; And in allusion to this, David when he curses the plots of wicked men, that though they have conceived mischief, and though they have gone with it a long time, and are ready to brin…

Drawing near implies a strangeness and distance. In our lapsed estate we lost two things, the image of God, and communion with God (Psalm 58:3). The wicked are estranged from the womb.

2. That the reason of this is, because they are such fools, this will appear, if we consider, That all men are foolish in their natural estate, state, it is bred in, and born with them; it is the wise man's observation in (Proverbs 22:15): foolishness is bound up in the heart of…

3. The very sinful habit and power is reproved in the Word, even the power as it is contra-distinguished from the sinful act; Psalm 14:1, The habitual fool has said in his heart there is not a God. The habitual blindness and hardness of heart that may be in sleeping men, the sta…

There is not a promise made to using of means, but there is a sad threatning of wrath to such as use no means; he that plows none, but sleeps in Summer, shall be cloathed with rags: but there is no word that all who plow painfully shall be rich men, and cloathed in scarlet (Prov…

How long will you follow vanity and seek leasing? Psalm 58:4. They are like the deaf adder, which stops her ear. 5. Which will not hearken to the voice of the charmer.

Assert. 2. A believer under the sense of mercy and deliverance, is to engage his soul to praise. David delivered in the cave (Psalm 58:7), I will sing and praise. Psalm 30, You have turned from me my mourning into dancing; verse 12, O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for e…

Certainly, there is a more blessed condition for Gods people hereafter, they have not received that which is prepared for them, there are other manner of things to be revealed, then those that you see. Psalm 58:11 Verily there is a reward for the righteous; surely it is so: notw…

All things are not hurled up and down by chance, as if the benefit we receive were only a good hit, and the misery a mere misfortune. No, all things are ordered by a powerful, wise and just God; his Word does not only discover this to us, but his works; (Psalm 58:11) So that a m…

Take him from head to foot, from the crown of that to the sole of this, there's no whole (because not holy) part in him, but all filthy and full of putrefactions and sores. If we dissect and anatomize man, we shall find this but too true, for not to name every sin that cleaves t…

Yet the Devil has been with them already. Tis said in Psalms 58:3, They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. They no sooner step than they stray, they no sooner lisp than they lie.

What would a man be the better for the king's pardon, if he were condemned after he were pardoned? 5. If the children of God should be finally disinherited, then the Scripture could not be fulfilled, which tells us of glorious rewards (Psalm 58:11). Doubtless there is a reward f…

And yet to clear the judgment of any one in this point, I will set down some reasons in way of proof. First, the holy Scripture does intimate so much to us in Psalm 58:5, where, however the common translation runs in other terms, yet the words are properly to be read thus: which…

Thirdly, they reason thus: enchanters by whispering of words in charms can stay the stinging and poisoning of serpents. For so David in effect speaks; that the voice of the Charmer charms the serpent (Psalm 58:5). It may seem therefore that there is no small force in words for t…

Can we call him godly who is a bad Magistrate? He perverts equity, Psalm 58:1. Do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?

The Angels will not pity them; it is a desirable sight to them, to see God's Justice glorified. The Saints in Heaven will not pity them; they were continually persecuted by them, and they shall rejoice when they see the vengeance, Psalm 58.10. Nay, such as were their nearest Rel…

2nd Commandment: You shall make to yourself no graven image, etc. He breaks this commandment: who represents God in an image (Exodus 32:6-8); who worships God in or at images, as crucifixes and such like (2 Kings 18:4); who kneels down before an image; who is bodily present at M…

For may we not say sometimes with the Psalmist (Psalm 57:4), My Soul is among Lyons, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of Men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. And how is the deliverance of men contrived from such per…

And therefore you that are hearers, suffer me to provoke you to it, when the time comes that you are to approach to the house of God; pray to the Lord that he would direct you, and that the minister may come home to your hearts, bring your hearts to the word, as the people did t…

Special communion with Christ is founded in real union with Christ. But 'the wicked are estranged from the womb' (Psalm 58:3). But there is real communion between God and his people in duties.

Generally it says, the Lord loves righteousness (Psalm 11:7). Verily there is a reward for the righteous (Psalm 58:11): blessings are on the head of the righteous, etc. (Proverbs 10:6). Particularly for the righteous person himself in this life, it is said, that the eyes of the…

Such is the judgment of the Magistrate, when he acquits or condemns men, as their deserts are, to temporal punishment. Of which we may read (2 Chronicles 19:6; Psalm 58:1). Such also is the judgment of the Prophet, or Minister, whereby he does openly pronounce to men, that belie…

(1) Because vows are a part of our gratitude and thankfulness due to God only, for his favors and mercies conferred upon us (Psalm 50:14; Psalm 66:13-14). (2) Because we are commanded in the Word to make our vows to God and perform them, but nowhere are we appointed to make our…