we talk of all this while worldly minds have no feare but of worldly enemies and from such perhaps worldly friends may free them but the spirituall man feares rather spiritual enemies and who can free them from such but onely thou O God that art the God of spirits O mercifull God let not spirituall enemies have the victory over mee and I make no great reckoning of other enemies triumphing Alas I know that worldly enemies can never triumph over me if spirituall enemies get not first the victory And now O my soule if God have done this for me have lifted me up above these enemies above these enemies of both kindes have I not a double cause to extoll him for it and to praise his Name And yet I may say I extoll him not more for doing it then for his readinesse of doing it For I cryed unto him and hee healed mee I no sooner cryed but hee heard me he no sooner heard me but he healed me My suite was no sooner made then granted My disease as soone cured as discovered hee kept me not languishing by drawing out his cure in length but he applyed a present remedy and prevented Hope with hast As therefore I extolled him before for his love in lifting me up above my enemies so I must extoll him now for his compassion in being moved to doe it for my onely crying to him I used no intercessour but my owne voyce and hee healed me and for God to be moved with the cry of a wretched sinner and so to be moved as presently to heale him Is it not a just cause to extoll him and say O the wonderfull bowels of compassion that are in God Verse 3 To be lifted up from any place is an act of Power but the lower the place is it is the greater act of Mercie and can there be a lower place then the Grave at least then the grave of the Soule and from this low place was David lifted up as yee may heare himselfe say Thou O Lord hast brought up my soule from the grave Thou hast kept mee alive that I should not goe downe into the pit But is not this a strange speech in David as though there were a grave of the Soule as there is of the Body for if there be not how then is it true that God hath brought up his soule from the Grave Is it perhaps that he calls it the Soule which is but the cementing of the Body and life together or that he calls it the Grave of the Soule when it is in the lowest estate of vivifying the Body What ever it be it shewes a great mercy in God and a great power of that mercy to raise him up that was brought so low and to keepe him from falling into the Pit that was fallen already to the pits brinke The truth is that as sinne is the death of the Soule so continuance in sinne is the grave of the Soule and in this Grave of continuance did Davids soule lye a long time Alas the shortest time in this case is long till God by his quickning Spirit restored him againe to the life of Grace that hee had just cause to say Thou O Lord hast brought up my soule from the grave and hast kept mee alive that I should not goe downe into the Pit Oh how many there are that have bodyes walking above ground when their soules are lying in the Grave that are lustie and strong in the naturall life when in the spirituall life they are dead and buryed yet so long as they lye not buried above foure dayes so long as they continue not in sin so long till it have brought the Soule into an absolute corruption there is example in Lazarus and where there is Example there is hope they may be raised againe to life and be kept from falling into the Pit of perdition And now O my soule though God have not lifted thee up to as high a place yet seeing he hath lifted thee up from as low a place as he did David hast thou not as just cause as he to say I will extoll thee O God for thou hast lifted mee up and hast not suffered my enemies sinne and death to triumph over mee And here I find my selfe so oppressed with joy that I am not able to expresse it without assistance and what assistance can I looke for but from the Saints of God O therefore sing unto the Lord all yee saints of his give thankes unto him at the remembrance of his Holinesse It is not enough to praise him if yee doe not sing his praises for it must be done with chearefulnesse and exultation and it is not enough to sing if yee doe not praise him for your joy must be in him and for him in his goodnesse and for his glory If it were to sing of another thing I should require the whole Quire of Gods creatures to joyne in the singing but now that it is to sing of Gods holinesse what should prophane voyces doe in the Consort None but Saints are fit to sing of holinesse and specially of Gods holinesse but most specially with songs of holinesse O therefore sing to the Lord all yee saints of his and let your songs be more of his praises then of your owne thankfulnesse and let your thankfulnesse not be so much for the benefits which you have received as for the holinesse with which they are bestowed for God gives not his benefits as the world useth to doe out of any corrupt affection or with any corrupt intention but there is a holinesse in his giving as well as in his gifts and seeing the Cherubins and Seraphins doe continually cry to God Holy Holy Holy You that are his Saints may well afford to sing to God at the remembrance of his holinesse But what holinesse can there be in Anger Verse 5 and is there not anger in God sometimes and will not this then bee a cause rather of weeping to thinke of his anger then of singing at the remembrance of his holinesse O my soule this need be no cause to breake off the singing for his anger endureth but a moment and even anger it selfe is in God a holinesse It is none of the things that are naturall and permanent in God It is but forced upon him by the violence of sinne and as forced as it is it stayes not with him it is but as a wind that passeth Dum oritur moritur It dyes in the birth Nothing lives and is permanent in God but onely his favour and his love and therefore Though weeping may endure for a night yet joy commeth in the morning And seeing our life is of this condition that heavinesse sometimes must as well be had as joy it is happy for us they are so disposed that heavinesse comes but in the Evening when wee may sleepe it out and when our senses are apt to be tyed up from feeling it but joy commeth in the Morning when all our
but forget some of his Benefits yet forget not all his Benefits if thou canst not remember all at least remember some Forget not It is hee that forgiveth Verse 3 all thy sinnes it is hee that healeth all thy infirmities Remember but these and they will alwayes minister matter enough to keepe thee in worke for blessing his Name For to forgive all my sinnes O my grievous my manifold sinnes that I know not whether they bee more or more grievous whether their Number or their Greatnesse be the greater is it not a benefit that may justly claime a prime place in my memorie If it were but onely to be favourable in punishing my sinnes it were a benefit worth remembring but to blot my sins cleane out and absolutely to forgive them and that freely without any desert of mine Alas without any possibilitie of deserving This is a Benefit that no Lethargie can forget indeed a benefit that deserves remembring in the highest degree And yet perhaps to forgive all my sinnes not a greater benefit then to heale all my infirmities This being the chiefe worke of his Grace as that of his Mercy for seeing my sinnes many of them and upon the matter all of them bee sinnes of infirmitie for even wilfulnesse and presumption are of infirmitie by healing my infirmities hee prevents me of sinning and is it not as great a benefit to keepe me from committing sinnes as to forgiue my sinnes when I have committed them But O my soule meddle not with this high point of Heraldrie to discusse which is the greater of Gods Mercy or his Grace They are both an Abyssus it is worke enough for thee and for all that is within me to Blesse him for both and for both indeed thou hast just cause to Blesse him seeing it is by the vertue of both that thou art able to Blesse him If it were not for his Mercy thou wouldst want the materiall cause of blessing him if it were not for his Grace the efficient but now that there is a concurrence of both together Now that both he forgiveth all thy sinnes in his Mercy and healeth all thy infirmities by his Grace Now O my soule what would it argue but extream ungratefulnesse farre exceeding a forgetfulnesse both in thee and all that is within me if thou shouldst not Blesse his Name For O my soule consider the multitude of infirmities to which thou art subject thou hast many suggestions of the flesh and thou art apt to consent and yeeld unto them and strivest not against them by earnest Prayer and holy Meditations This is an infirmitie In thy prayers to God thy thoughts are often wandring and thou thinkest of other matters farre unworthy of that great Majestie to whom thou prayest or if not so yet thou art quickly weary thy spirits are drowsie in it and thou hadst rather be doing of something else This is an infirmitie And indeed thou hast infirmities in all thy senses In thy seeing thou canst see a moate in thy brothers eye and canst not see a beame in thine owne eye In thy smelling thou thinkest Suavis odor lucri ex re qualibet that the savour of gaine is sweet from whence so ere it rise In thy Hearing Thou art gladder to heare prophane and idle discourses then such as be serious and holy These are infirmities and O my soule if I should cut thee up into as many parts as an Anatomist and examine the infirmities of every part should I not have cause just cause to cry out with Saint Paul O wretch that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne Who shall heale me of all these infirmities for whether we call them sinnes and then God forgives them or call them Infirmities and then he heales them they are to us all one benefit in God all one kindnesse that as either of them is well worth remembring so for both of them we have just cause to blesse him and to praise his Name But O my soule as thou remembrest these things that both he forgiveth all thy sins and healeth all thy infirmities so remember also their consequences too for upon these there are great matters depending as worthy to bee remembred as the things themselves For alas my soule thou wert by sinne come to be Mortall and the sentence of Morte morieris was past upon thee but now by forgiving thy sinnes this sentence is reversed by healing thy infirmities thy life is Redeemed it is taken out of the hands of the Destroyer and put into the hands of a Redeemer and a Redeemer not onely from Captivitie but from destruction for Captivitie takes away but onely thy libertie but destruction would take away thy very Being and can it be thou shouldst not keepe that in memorie which is it selfe the cause that thou hast a Memorie for what memorie couldst thou have if thou hadst not a Being and what Being couldst thou have if thou wert destroyed and destroyed thou shouldst be if thou wert not Redeemed and Redeemed thou canst not be unlesse thy sinnes bee forgiven This no doubt is a consequence never to be forgotten and yet perhaps there is a consequence behind of greater consequence then this For this my soule gives thy life but onely a duration but there is a consequence a comming that will give it an exaltation For he crownes thee with loving kindnesse and with tender mercies To be madk a King is an eminent favour but to be made a King from being a Captive where not onely the Quo is so considerable but the Unde more this is indeed a supereminent favour and hardly capable of expressing And this is thy case for where before thou hadst fetters upon thy feet thou hast now a Crowne upon thy head and not a Crowne gotten by violence and worne with feare but He crownes thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies His kindnesse would have made a Crowne good enough for thy wearing but his loving kindnesse makes it a Crowne worthy of his giving And if there be doubt that his mercies alone may not bee ready enough to bestow this Crowne upon thee yet of the readinesse of his tender mercies there can be no doubt there can indeed be no doubt seeing his loving kindnesse and his tender mercies are the Crowne it selfe which he bestowes For O my soule when I speake of a Crowne thou must not fancie to thy selfe such a Crowne as Kings of the earth weare For Christ professed plainly that his Kingdome is not of this world and therefore neither must thine be but consider the extent of Gods loving kindnesse and of his tender mercies and thou wilt find a better Crowne laid up for thee then all the Kingdomes of the Earth put together can afford O gracious God grant me the Crowne of thy loving kindnesse and tender mercies and all other Crownes I willingly lay downe at the foot of thy Throne with the foure and twentie Elders This onely is the Crowne to which
Verse 7 Moses his Acts to the children of Israel For when Moses went up to the Mount Sinai and tarried there with God the space of fourtie dayes we may well thinke that God in that time revealed many secrets to him and particularly made knowne his wayes not onely his wayes in which he would have us to walke but his wayes in which hee walkes himselfe and the course he holds in the Oeconomie and government of worldly affaires why hee suffers the wicked to prosper and why the godly to be oppressed These wayes of his hee made knowne to Moses to the children of Israel onely his Acts Hee shewed them his Wonders upon Pharaoh and that was his Judgement and he shewed them his wonderfull favours to themselves in the Wildernesse and that was his righteousnesse but hee shewed them not his way and the course he held in them They saw onely the Events of things they saw not the reasons of them as Moses did no more doe we nor is it fit we should It is enough for us enough for our comfort that we know this of God in generall That hee is mercifull and gracious Verse 8 slow to anger and full of compassion Not that any slownesse is in God but his slownesse is his Patience and his Patience is out of compassion for alas if God were as ready to anger as we are ready to provoke him to anger we had long ere this been turned to dust and utterly consumed O my soule here are foure properties spoken of to be in God and are all so necessary that we could not misse one of them If hee were not mercifull we could hope for no pardon and if he were no more but mercifull we could hope for no more but pardon but when besides his being mercifull he is also gracious this gives us a further hope a hope of a Donative and then it will not be what we are worthy to receive but what it is fit for him to give If he were not slow to anger we could expect no patience and if he were but onely slow to anger we could expect no more but patience but when besides his slownesse to anger hee is also full of compassion This makes us expect he will be the good Samaritane and not onely bind up our wounds but take care also for our further curing What though he chide and be angry for a time It is but our being patient awhile with him as he a long time hath beene Verse 9 patient with us For he will not bee alwayes chiding neither will hee keepe his anger for ever No my soule consider the rule of Nature that Nullum violentum est diuturnum and you will find it true in the God of Nature Mercy and Compassion are kindly and naturall in God and therefore these will continue and never leave him but chiding and anger are things I may say violent and not naturall in him and therefore it cannot bee that these should last or continue long with him Certainly it is as unpleasing to God to chide as it is to us to be chidden and so little hee likes of Anger that he riddes his hands of it as fast as he can he is not so slow in comming to it but he is as quick in getting from it for chiding is a barre to Mercy and Anger an impediment to Compassion and nothing is so distastfull to God as that any block should lye in the way of his Mercy or that the libertie of his Compassion should have any cause of restraint and then we may be sure hee will not himselfe lay a block in the way with chiding nor be a cause to restraine his Compassion by keeping his Anger And we may the better be perswaded of this in that which is to come by taking notice of that which is past For Hee hath not dealt Verse 10 with us after our sinnes neither rewarded us according to our iniquities Though he have chidden yet hee hath not strucken or if hee have strucken yet his blowes have not beene great not so great to doe us any hurt for there is mercy in his very Anger and though we keep our selves within no bounds of sinning yet he keepes his Anger within the bounds of Mercy Alas O Lord if thou shouldst deale with me after my sinnes as I have used no measure in my sinning so thou shouldst use no measure in my punishing and what then could I expect to befall me but utterly to perish But why is it that God hath not dealt with us after our sinnes Is it not because hee hath dealt with another after our sinnes Another who tooke our sinnes upon him of whom it is said that God chastened him in his fierce wrath and why did he chasten him but for our sinnes O gracious God Thou art too just to take revenge twice for the same faults and therefore having turned thy fierce wrath upon him Thou wilt not turne it upon us too but having rewarded him according to our iniquities thou wilt now reward us according to his Merits O Deere Jesus let not thy painfull sufferings bee made frustrate by my sinfull doings but so mediate betweene God and my sinnes that hee may turne away his angry Countenance from me and looke upon me onely with the eye of his Mercy And O my soule how canst thou doubt of this when As high as the Verse 11 Heaven is above the Earth so great is his mercy towards them that feare him and who would wish for a greater mercy to bee in God then this But yet the distance betweene Earth and Heaven though great and indeed very admirable great is but a limited distance and is there then a limitation and a boundary of Gods mercy May I not as truly say as low as Hell is beneath the Earth so great is my sinne in the sight of God and how then am I sure that Gods mercy is any greater then my sins and if not greater how can it pardon them O my soule though the heighth of Heaven be limited yet Gods mercy hath no limitation for his Mercy is above all his Workes and therefore above Heaven the worke of his hands Or if hee seeme to set a limitation to Gods mercy is it not perhaps because there is some sinne that is not capable of his Mercy for sinne against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come But O my soule though Gods mercy bee without limitation yet let it not make thee the bolder to sinne for though it be so great yet it is so great to none but to them that feare him for to them that feare him not it is not so great Alas it is not great at all Alas it will be none at all but if thou feare him and to feare him is to feare to sinne then thy sinne can never be so great but that Gods mercy which is as high as Heaven will bring thee to bee admitted into the