terrible is worthy of a Christians contempt what is pleasant to bee turned ouer with a scorne The meane requires a mean affection betwixt loue hatred We may not loue them because of their vanitie wee may not hate them because of their necessarie vse It is an hard thing to bee a wise host and to fit our entertainment to all comers which if it be not done the soule is soone wasted eyther for want of customers or for the mis-rule of ill guests 69 God and man build in a contrary order Man layes the foundatiō first then addes the walls the roofe last God began the roofe first spreading out this vault of heauen ere he layd the base of the earth Our thoughtes must followe the order of his worke-manship Heavē must be minded first earth afterwarde and so much more as it is seene more Our meditation must herein follow our sense A fewe miles giue boundes to our view of earth wheras wee may neere see half the heaven at once Hee that thinkes most both of that which is most seene and of that which is not seene at all is happiest 70 I haue euer noted it a true signe of a false heart To be scrupulous and nice in small matters negligent in the mayne whereas the good soule is still curious in substātiall points and not carelesse in things of an inferiour nature accounting no dutie so small as to bee neglected and no care great enough for principall duties not so tithing mint and cummin that he should forget iustice and iudgement nor yet so regarding iudgement and iustice that he should contemne mint cummin Hee that thus misplaces his conscience will bee found either hypocriticall or superstitious 71 It argues the world full of Atheistes that those offences which may impeach humane societie are entertained with an answerable hatred and rigor Those which do immediately wrong the supreme maiestie of God are turned ouer with scarce so much as dislike If wee conuersed with God as we doe with men his right would bee at least as precious to vs as our owne All that conuerse not with God are without God not only those that are against God but those that are without God are Atheists Wee may be too charitable I feare not to say that these our last times abound with honest Atheists 72 The best thing corrupted is worst An ill man is the worst of all creatures an ill Christian the worst of all men an ill professor the worst of all Christians 73 Naturally life is before death and death is only a priuation of life Spiritually it is contrary As PAVL sayth of the grayne so may wee of man in the businesse of his Regeneration Hee must die before hee can liue yet this death presupposes a life that was once and should bee God chooses to haue the difficultest first we must bee content with the payne of dying ere we feele the comfort of life As wee dy to nature ere we liue in glory So wee must die to sinne ere we can live to Grace 74 Death did not first strike Adam the first sinfull man nor Cain the first hypocrite but Abel the innocent and righteous The first soule that met with death overcame death the first soule that parted from earth went to Heaven Death argues not displeasure because he whō God loved best dyes first and the murtherer is punished with living 75 The lives of most are mis-spent only for want of a certayne ende of their actions Wherin they doe as vnwise Archers shoot away their arrows they know not at what mark They liue only out of the present not directing thēselues and their proceedings to one vniuersall scope whence they alter vpon all change of occasions and neuer reache anie perfection neither can doe other but continue in vncertaintie and end in discomfort Others ayme at one certaine marke but a wrong one Some tho fewer leuell at the right end but amisse To liue without one maine and common ende is idlenesse and folly To liue to a false ende is deceit and losse True Christian wisdom both shows the end and findes the way And as cunning Politickes have many plots to compasse one and the same designe by a determined succession so the wise Christian fayling in the meanes yet still fetcheth about to his steadie ende with a constant change of indeuours Such one onely lives to purpose and at last repents not that hee hath lived 76 The ship-wrack of a good conscience is the casting awaie of all other excellencies It is no rare thing to note the soule of a wilfull sinner stripped of all her graces and by degrees exposed to shame so those whom wee have knowen admired have fall'n to bee levell with their fellows and from thence beneath them to a mediocrity and afterwards to sottishnes and contempt belowe the vulgar Since they haue cast awaie the best it is iust with God to take away the worst and to cast off them in lesser regardes which haue reiected him in greater 77 It hath euer bin counted more noble and succesfull to set vpon an open enemie in his owne home then to expect till hee set vppon vs whiles wee make onely a defensiue warre This rule serues vs for our last enemy Death whence that olde demand of Epicure is easily answered whether it bee better Death should come to vs or that we should meete him in the waie meet him in our minds ere hee seize vpon our bodies Our cowardlinesse our vnpreparation is his aduantage wheras true boldenesse in confronting him dismayes and weakens his forces Happie is that soule that can sende out the scoutes of his thoughts before-hand to discouer the power of Death afarre off and then can resolutely incounter him at vnwares vpon aduantage such one lives with securitie dies with comfort 78 Manie a man sends others to heauen and yet goes to hell himselfe and not fewe hauing drawn others to hell yet themselues returne by a late repentance to life In a good actiō it is not good action it is not good to searche too deeply into the intentiō of the agent but in silēce to make our best benefit of the worke In an euil it is not safe to regard the qualitie of the person or his successe but to consider the action abstracted from all circumstances in his owne kind So we shall neither neglecte good deedes because they speede not well in some hands nor affecta prosperous euill 78 God doth some singular actions wherein we cannot imitate him some wherein wee may not most wherin he may and would fain be followed He fetcheth good out of euill so may wee turn our owne others sinnes to priuate or publique good we may not doe euill for a good vse but wee must vse our euil once done to good I hope I shall not offende to say that the good vse which is made of sinnes is as gainefull to God as that which arises from good actions Happie is that man that can
HOLY Obseruations LIB I. ALSO Some fewe of DAVIDS Psalmes Metaphrased for a taste of the rest By IOS HALL AT LONDON Printed by H. L. for Samuel Macham and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head 1607. To the right Honorable EDWARD Lord Denny Baron of Waltham my most boūtifull Patron Grace PEACE Right Honorable THis aduantage a scholler hath aboue others that hee cannot be idle and that hee can worke without instruments For the mind inured to contemplation will set it selfe on work when other occasions faile and hath no more power not to study then the eye which is open hath not to see somthing in which businesse it carries about his owne Library neither can complain to want books while it enioyeth it selfe I coulde not then neglect the cōmodity of this plentifull leasure in my so easie attendance heere but though besides my course and without the help of others writinges must needs busie my selfe in such thoughts as I haue heere giuen account of to your Lordship such as I hope will not bee vnprofitable nor vnwelcome to their Patron to their Readers I sende them forth from hence vnder your honorable name to shewe you that no absence no imployment can make mee forget my due respect to your Lordship to whom next vnder my gracious Maister I haue deseruedly bequeathed my selfe and my indeuours Your goodnesse hath not wont to magnifie it selfe more in giuing thē in receiuing such like holy presents the knowledge whereof hath intitled you to more labours of this nature if I haue numbred aright then any of your Peeres I misdoubt not either your acceptation or their vse That GOD who hath aboue all his other fauours giuen your Lordship euen in these careless times an heart truly religious giue you an happy increase of all his heauenly graces by my vnworthie seruice To his gracious care I daily commende your Lordship with my Honorable Lady wishing you both all that litle ioy earth can afford you and fulnesse of glory aboue Non-such Iuly 3. Your Lo Most humbly deuoted for euer In all duty and obseruance Ios Hall HOLY Obseruations AS there is nothing sooner dry then a teare so there is nothing sooner out of season thē worldly sorrowe which if it be fresh and still bleeding findes some to comfort and pitty it If stale and skinned ouer with time is rather intertained with smiles then commiseration But the sorrowe of repētance comes neuer out of time Al times are alike vnto that eternitie whereto we make our spirituall moanes That which is past that which is future are both present with him It is neither weake nor vncomely for an old man to weepe for the sinnes of his youth Those teares can neuer be shed either too soon or too late 2 Some men liue to be their own executors for their good name which they see not honestly buried before thēselues dy Some other of great place and ill desert part with their good name breath at once There is scarce a vicious man whose name is not rottē before his carcasse Cōtrarily the good mans name is oft times that heyr to his life eyther borne after the death of the parent for that enuy wold not suffer it to come forth before or perhaps so well growen vp in his life time that the hope therof is the staffe of his age and ioy of his death A wicked mans name may be feared awhile soone after it is eyther forgotten or cursed The good mans eyther sleepeth with his bodie in peace or waketh as his soule in glorie 3 Oft times those which show much valor while there is equall possibility of life when they see a presēt necessity of death are found most shamefully timorous Their courage was before grounded vpon hope that cut off leaues them at once desperate and cowardly wheras men of feebler spirits meete more cheerefully with death because though their courage bee lesse yet their expectatiō was more 4 I haue seldome seene the son of an excellent and famous man excellent But that an ill bird hath an ill egge is not rare children possessing as the bodily diseases so the vices of their Parēts Vertue is not propagated Vice is euē in them which haue it not raigning in themselues The grain is sowen pure but comes vp with chaffe husk Hast thou a good son Hee is Gods not thine Is he euill Nothing but his sinne is thine Help by thy praiers and indeuors to take away that which thou hast giuen him and to obtaine from God that which thou hast canst not giue Els thou maist name him a possession but thou shalt finde him a losse 5 These things be comly pleasāt to see worthy of honor frō the beholder A young Saint an old Martyr a religious souldier a cōscionable States-man a great man curteous a learned man hūble a silent woman a child vnderstanding the ey of his Parēt a mery cōpaniō without vanitie a friende not changed with honour a sick man cheerefull a soule departing with cōfort and assurance 6 I haue oft obserued in mery meetings solemnly made that somewhat hath fallen out crosse eyther in the time or immediately vpon it to season as I thinke our immoderation in desiring or inioying our friends and againe euentes suspected haue proued euer best God herein blessing our awfull submission with good successe In all these humane things indifferency is safe Let thy doubtes bee euer equall to thy desires so thy disappointmēt shall not bee grieuous because thy expectation was not peremptory 7 You shall rarely finde a man eminent in sundry faculties of mind or sundry manuarie trades If his memory be excellent his fantasie is but dull if his fancie be busie and quick his iudgement is but shallow If his iudgement be deep his vttrance is harshe which also holds no lesse in the actiuities of the hand And if it happen that one man be quallifyed with skill of diuers trades and practice this variety you shal seldom finde such one thriuing in his estate with spirituall giftes it is otherwise which are so chayned together that who excels in one hath some eminencie in more yea in all Look vpon faith shee is attended with a Beuie of Graces Hee that beleeues cānot but haue hope if hope patience He that belieues and hopes must needes finde ioy in God if ioy loue of God hee that loues God cannot but love his brother his love to God breedes piety care to please sorrow for offending feare to offend His loue to men fidelity Christian beneficēce vices are seldō single but vertues go euer in troups they go so thicke that sometimes some are hid in the croud which yet are but appear not They may be shut out from sight they cannot be seuered 8 The Heauen euer mooues and yet is the place of our rest Earth euer rests and yet is the place of our trouble Outwarde motion can be no
be neerer thee in thy last what differs that from this but in time Correct thy dulnesse vpon former proofs or els at last thy deuotion shall want life before thy body 19 Those that come to their meat as to a medicine as Augustine reports of himself liue in an austere Christian teÌ„per shal be sure not to ioy too much in the creature nor to abuse themselues Those that come to their medicine as to meate shall be sure to liue miserablie and dye soone To come to meate as meate if without a gluttonous appetite palate is allowed to Christians To come to meat as to a sacrifice vnto the belly is a most base brutish idolatry 20 The worst that euer were euen Caine and Iudas haue had some â—autors that haue honoured them for Saints And the Serpent that beguyled our first Parents hath in that name had diuine honour and thankes Neuer anie man trod so perilous and deepe steppes but some haue followed and admired him Each master of heresie hath found some clients euen hee that taught all mens opinions were true Againe no man hath been so exquisite but some haue detracted from him euen in those qualityes which haue seemed most worthy of wonder to others A man shall bee sure to be backed by some eyther in good or euil and by some shouldred in both It is good for a man not to stand vpon his Abbetters but his quarrell and not to depend vpon others but himselfe 21 We see thousands of Creatures dye for our vse and neuer doe so much as pitty them why do we think much to dye once for God They are not ours so much as wee are his nor our pleasure so much to vs as his glory to him their liues are lost to vs ours but chaÌ„ged to him 22 Much ornament is no good signe Paynting of the face argues an ill complexion of bodie a worse minde Truth hath a face both honest and comely and lookes best in her owne colours but aboue all diuine truth is most faire and most scorneth to borrowe beautie of mans witt or tongue she loveth to come forth in her natiue grace like a Princely Matrone and counts it the greatest indignity to be dallyed with as a wanton Strumpet She lookes to command reuereÌ„ce not pleasure she would be kneeled to not laughed at To pranke her vp in vaine dresses and fashions or to sport with her in a light and youthful maner is most abhorring from her nature they know her not that giue her such entertainment and shall first knowe her angry when they do know her Againe shee would bee playne but not base not sluttish She would be clad not garishly but not in ragges Shee likes as little to bee set out by a base foyle as to seeme credited with gaye colours It is no small wisdome to know her iust guise but more to followe it and so to keepe the meane that while we please her wee discontent not the beholders 23 In worldly carryage so much is a man made of as he takes vpoÌ„ himselfe but such is Gods blessing vppon true humility that it still procureth reuerence I neuer sawe Christian lesse honored for a wise neglect of himselfe If our deiection proceed from the conscience of our want it is possible wee should be as little esteemed of others as of our selues But if wee haue true graces and prize them not at the highest others shall value both them in vs and vs for them and with vsurie giue vs that honour wee with held modestly froÌ„ our selues 24 He that takes his full liberty in what he may shall repent him how much more in what he shoulde not I neuer read of Christian that repented him of too little worldlie delight The surest course I have still found in all earthlie pleasures To rise with an appetite and to bee satisfied with a little 25 There is a time when Kings goe not forth to warfare Our spirituall warre admitts no intermission it knowes no night no winter abides no peace no truce This cals vs not into a garisoÌ„ where we may have ease and respite but into pitched fields coÌ„tinually we see our enemies in the face alwaies and are alwayes seene and assalted euer resisting euer defeÌ„ding receiuing and returning blowes If eyther wee be negligent or weary wee dy what other hope is ther while one fights the other stands still We can neuer haue safetâ—â— peace but in victory There must our resistance be couragious and constant wheâ—â— both yielding is death and all treatyes of peace mortall 26 Neutrality in things good or euil is both odious and preiudicial but in matters of an indifferent nature is safe and commendable Herein taking of parts maketh sides and breaketh vnitie In an vniust cause of separation hee that fauoureth both partes may perhaps haue least loue of either side but hath most charitie in himselfe 27 Nothing is more absurd then that Epicurean resolution Let vs eat and drinke to morrow wee shall dy As if wee were made onely for the paunch liued that we might liue yet ther was neuer any naturall man found sauor in that meat which hee knewe should be his last wheras they should say Let vs fast and pray to morrow we shall die For to what purpose is the body strengthened that it may perish whose greater strength makes our death more violent No man bestowes a costly roofe on a ruinous tenement That mans end is easie happy whom death finds with a weak bodie and a strong soule 28 Somtimes euen things in themselues naturally good are to bee refused for those which being euil may be an occasion to a greater good Life is in it self good and death-euill Els Dauid Elias and many excellent Martyrs would not have fled to hold life and auoid death Nor Ezekiah haue prayed for it nor our Sauiour haue bidden vs to flee for it nor God promised it to his for a reward yet if in some cases wee hate not life wee loue not God nor our soules Heerein as much as in any thing the peruersnesse of our nature appeares that wee wishe death or loue life vpon wrong causes we would liue for pleasure or wee woulde die for payne Iob for his sores Elias for his persecution Ionas for his gourd would presently dye and will needs outface God that it is better for him to die then to liue wherin wee are like to garrison souldiers that while they liue within safe wals and showe themselues once a day rather for ceremony pomp then neede or daunger like warrefare well enough but if once called foorth to the field they wish theÌ„selues at home 29 Not onely the least but the worst is ever in the bottome what shoulde God doe with the dregges of our age when sinne will admitt thee his Clyent no longer then God shall be beholdeÌ„ to thee for thy seruice Thus is God dealt-with in all other offrings The worst least sheafe must bee
Gods fauours is vnpartially bâ—â—â—â—wed vpon all willing â—eceiuers whereas Nobilitie of blood and height of place blessings of an inferiour nature are reserued for fewe Heerein the Christian followes his Father his prayers which are his richest portion hee communicates to al his substance according to his ability to fewe 57 God therfore giues because hee hath giuen making his former fauours â—â—â—â—ments for more Man therefore shuts his hand because he hath opened it Ther is no such way to procure more from God as to vrge him with what he hath done All Gods blessings are profitable and excellent not so much in themselues as that they are inducements to greater 58 Gods immediate actions are best at first The frame of his creation how exquisite was it vnder his hand afterwardes blemished by our sin mans indeuours are weake in their beginnings and perfitter by degrees No science no deuise hath euer bin perfite in his cradle or at once hath seene his birth and maturitie of the same nature are those actions which God worketh mediately by vs according to our measure of receit The cause of both is on the one side the infinitenesse of his wisedome and power which cannot bee corrected by any second assayes On the other our weakenes helping it selfe by former grounds and tryals Hee is an happie man that detractes nothing from Gods workes and addes most to his owne 59 The olde saying is more coÌ„mon then true that those which are in hell know no other heauen for this makes the damned perfitly miserable that out of their own torment they see the felicitie of the saints togither with their impossibility of attayning it Sight without hope of fruition is a torment alone Those that heere might see God and will not or doe see him obscurely and love him not shall once see him with anguish of soule not enioie him 60 Somtimes euill speeches come from good men in their vnaduisednesse and somtimes euen the good speeches of men may proceede from an ill spirit No confession coulde bee better then Satan gaue of Christ It is not enough to consider what is spoken or by whom but whence for what The spirit is oft-times tryed by the speech but other-times the speech must bee examined by the spirit and the spirit by the rule of an higher word 61 Greatnesse puts hie thoughts big words into a man whereas the deiected minde takes carelesly what offers it selfe Euerie worldling is base-minded therfore his thoughts creep stil lowe vpon the earth The Christian both is knowes himselfe truely great and thereupon mindeth and speaketh of spirituall immortall glorious heauenly thinges So much as the soule stoopeth to earthly thoughts so much is it vnregenerate 62 Long acquaintance as it maketh those things which are euill to seem lesse euill so it makes good thinges which at first were vnpleasant delightfull There is no euill of payne nor no morall good action which is not harsh at the first Continuance of euill which might seem to weary vs is the remedie and abatement of wearinesse the practice of good as it profiteth so it pleaseth He that is a straÌ„ger to good and euill findes both of them troublesome GOD therefore dooth well for vs while he exerciseth vs with long afflictions and wee doe well to our selues while wee continually busie our selues in good exercises 63 Sometimes it is well taken by men that wee humble our selues lower then there is cause Thy seruant IACOB sayth that good Patriarch to his brother to his inferiour And no lesse well doth God take these submisse extenuations of our selues I am a worme no man Surely I am more foolish then a man haue not the vnderstanding of a man in mee But I neuer finde that anie man bragged to GOD although in a matter of Truth and within the compasse of his desert and was accepted A man may be too lowly in his dealing with men euen vnto contempt with God hee cannot but the lower hee falleth the higher is his exaltation 64 The soule is fed as the bodie starued with hunger as the body requires proportionable diet and necessarie varietie as the bodie All ages and statures of the soule beare not the same nourishment There is milk for spiritual infants strong meate for the growen Christian The spoone is fit for one the knife for the other The best Christian is not so growen that hee neede to scorne the spoone but the weake Christian may finde a strong feede dangerous How manie haue beene cast away with spirituall surfets because being but newe-borne they haue swallowed down bigge morselles of the highest mysteries of godlinesse which they neuer could digest but together with them haue cast vp their proper norishment A man must first know the power of his stomach ere hee knowe how with safetie and profit to frequent Gods Ordinary 65 It is verie hard for the best man in a suddayne extreamitie of death to satisfie himself in apprehending his staie and reposing his heart vppon it for the soule is so oppressed with suddaine terrour that it cannot wel commaund it selfe till it haue digested an euill It were miserable for the best Christian if all his former prayers and meditations did not serue to ayde him in his last straites and meete together in the center of his extreamitie yielding though not sensible reliefe yet secret benefit to the soule wheras the worldly man in this case hauing not laid vp for this houre hath no comfort from God or from others or from himselfe 66 All externall good or euill is measured by sense neither can we account that eyther good or ill which doth neither actually auaile nor hurt vs spiritually this rule holds not All our best good is insensible For al our future which is the greatest good we hold onlie in hope and the present fauour of God wee haue many times and feel not The stomach findes the best digestion euen in sleepe when we least perceiue it and whiles wee are most awake this power worketh in vs eyther to further strength or disease without our knowledge of what is done within And on the other side that man is most dangerously sick in whome nature decayes without his feeling without his complaint To knowe our selues happie is good but wo were to vs Christians if wee could not bee happie and knowe it not 67 There are none that euer did so much mischief to the Church as those that haue beene excellent in wit learning Others may bee spightfull enough but want power to accomplish their malice An enemy that hath both strength craft is worthy bee feared None can sinne against the Holy-Ghost but those which haue had former illumination Tell not mee what partes a man hath but what grace honest sottishnes is better then profane eminence 68 The intertainement of all spiritualll euents must bee with feare or hope but of all earthly extreamities must bee with coÌ„tempt or derisioÌ„ For what is
incline To these loud cryes that to thee powred bin 3 At early morne thou shalt my voyce attend For at day breake I will my selfe addresse Thee to implore and waite for due redresse 4 Thou dost not Lord delight in wickednesse Nor to bad men wilt thy protection lend 5 The boasters proud cannot before thee stay Thou hat'st all those that are to sinne deuoted 6 The lying lippes who with bloud are spotted Thou doost abhorre and wilt for euer slaie 7 But I vnto thine house shall take the way And through thy grace aboundant shall adore With humble feare within thine holy place 8 Oh! lead me Lord within thy righteous trace Euen for their sakes that malice me so sore Make smooth thy paths my dimmer eyes before 9 Within their mouth no truth is euer found Pure mischiefe is their heart a gaping toome 10 Is their wide throate yet their tongues stil sound 11 With smoothing words O Lord giue them their doom And let them fall in those their plots profound In their excesse of mischiefe them destroy 12 That rebells are so those that to thee flie Shall all reioice and sing eternally 13 And whom thou dost protect and who loue thee And thy deare name in thee shall euer ioy â— Since thou with blisse the righteous dost reward And with thy grace as with a shield him guard Psal 6. As the 50. Psalme The mighty God c. LEt mee not Lord be in thy wrath reproued Oh! scourge mee not· when thy fierce rage is moued 2 Pity mee Lord that do with languor pine Heale mee whose bones with paine dissolued bin 3 Whose weary soule is vexed aboue measure Oh Lord how long shall I'bide thy displeasure 4 Turne thee O Lord rescue my soule distrest 5 And saue me of thy grace Mongst those that rest In silent death can none remember thee And in the graue how shouldst thou praised be 6 Weary with sighs all night I caus'd my bed To swim with teares my couch I watered 7 Deepe sorrow hath consum'd my dimmed eyne Sunk in with griefe at these leud foes of mine 8 But now hence hence vaine plotters of mine ill The Lord hath heard my lamentations shrill 9 God heard my suit and still attends the same 10 Blush now my foes and fly with sudden shame Psal 7. As the 112. Psalme The man is blest that God doth feare 1 ON thee O Lord my God relyes Mine only trust froÌ„ bloody spight Of all my raging enemies Oh! let thy mercy me acquite 2 Least they like greedy Lyons rend My soule whiles none shal it defend 3 Oh Lord if I this thing haue wrought If in my hands be found such ill 4 If I with mischief euer sought To pay good turnes or did not still Doe good vnto my causelesse foe That thirsted for my ouerthrowe â— Then let my foe in eager chace Ore take my soule and proudly tread My life belowe and with dis-grace In dust lay downe mine honor dead 6 Rise vp in rage O Lord eft-soone Aduance thine arm against my fo'ne And wake for me till thou fulfil My promis'd right so shal glad throngs Of people flock vnto thine hill For their sakes then reuenge my wroÌ„gs And rouse thy self Thy iudgements be O're al the world Lord iudge thou me As truth and honest innocence Thou find'st in me Lord iudge thou 〈◊〉 9 Settle the iust with sure defence Let me the wicked's malice see 10 Brought to an end For thy iust eye Doth hearts and inward reyns descry 11 My safety stands in God who shields The sound in hart whose doom each day 12 To iust men and contemners yields 13 Their due Except he change his waie His sword is whet to bloud intended His murdring bowe is ready bended 14 Weapons of death he hath addrest And arrowes keene to pearce my foe 15 Who late bred mischiefe in his brest But when he doth on trauell goe â—6 Brings forth a ly Deep pits he delues And falls into his pits himselue â—7 Back to his own head shall rebound His plotted mischiefe and his wrongs â—8 His crown shal craze But I shal sound Iehouah's praise with thankful songs And will his glorious name expresse And tell of all his righteousnesse Psal 8. As the 113. Psalme Ye Children c. 1 HOw noble is thy mighty name O Lord o're all the worlds widâ— frame Whose glory is aduanc't on hye Aboue the rouling heauens rack 2 How for the gracelesse scorners sake To still th' auenging enemy Hast thou by tender infants tongue The praise of thy great name made stroÌ„g While they hang sucking on the brest 3 But when I see thine heauens bright The Moon glittering stars of night By thine almighty hand addrest Oh! what is man poore silly man That thou so mind'st him dost daine To look at his vnworthy seed Thou hast him set not much beneath Thine Angels bright with a wreath Of glory hast adorn'd his head Thou hast him made hy souerayne Of al thy works stretcht his raigne Vnto the heards and beasts vntame To foules and to the scaly traine That glideth through the watery main How noble each-where is thy name Psal 9. To the tune of that knowen song beginning Preserue vs Lord. 1 THee thy wondrous deeds O God With all my soule I sound abroad 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy drad name my song shal be 3 O highest God since put to flight And fall'n and vanisht at thy sight 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightful Iudge thy selfe do'st proue The troupes profane thy checkes haue stroid And made their name for euer void â— Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our citties sack And bring to dust whiles that ye say Their name shall dy as well as they â— Lo in eternall state God sits And his by throne to iustice fits Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to al folk iust doom shal yeeld The poore from hy find his reliefe The poore in needfull times of griefe 10 Who knowes thee Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer do'st thy clieÌ„ts leaue 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He minds their case nor can passe o're Sad clamours of the wronged poore 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that do'st saue My soule from gates of death graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beautious gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioice in thy safe ayd Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Lo their owne feet entangled bee 16 By this iust doom the Lord is known That th' ill are punisht with their own 17 Down shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest 19 Shall not ay dy Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude 20 Of Lawelesse pagans strike pale fear Into those breasts late stubborn were And let the Gentiles feele and find They been but men of mortall kind Psal 9. As the 51. Psalme O Lord consider 1 WHy staÌ„d'st thou Lord aloof so loÌ„g hid'st thee in due times of need 2 Whiles leud men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuise let them be caught 3 For lo the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauins most 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to inquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue stil deni'd 5 Ther is a God His waies yet proue Aye prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer sight 6 Therfore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shal stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide 8 Mischief il he seeks the soule Of harmlesse men in secret wait And in the corners of the street Doth shed their blood with scorne and hate His eyes vpon the poore are set 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoile He spoiles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toile 10 He croucheth lowe in cunning wile And bows his brest wheron whol throÌ„gs Of poor whom his fair showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs 11 God hath forgot in soule he sayes He hides his face to neuer see 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be 13 Shal these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborn Thou see'st what al their mischiefs are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist theÌ„ take the poor distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The help of Orphans and oppressed 15 Oh! break the wickeds arme of might And search out al their cursed trains And let them vanish out of sight 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord atteÌ„dest To poore mens suites thou doo'st direct Their harts to theÌ„ thine eare thou beÌ„dest 18 That thou maist rescue froÌ„ despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FINIS