Thankfulness in Grain OR A GOOD LIFE THE BEST RETURN Delivered in another Sermon on the same occasion in St. Dionis Back-Church Aug. 14. 1653. By NATH. HARDY Master of Arts and Preacher to that Parish Deut. 10. 12 13. And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his waies and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul To keep the Commandments of the Lord and his Statutes which I command thee this day for thy good Aug. Meditat. Oportet me Domine tantò magis tibi gratiosum devotum ad serviendum promptiorem existere quanto me de tantis beneficiis obligatiorem conspicio in reddendâ ratione Bern. Serm. cont. ingratitud Non verbo tantum vel linguâ sed opere veritate exhibeamus nos gratos ei qui dator gratiarum Dominus Deus noster qui est benedictus in secula LONDON Printed by T. W. for Nath. Webb and Will Grantham at the sign of the Black Bear in St. Paul's Church-yard near the little North-door 165◠Sermons preached by Nathanael Hardy M. A. and Preacher to the Parish of St. Dionis Back-Church JVstice Triumphing or The Spoylers spoyled A Sermon preached on the 5th of November in the Cathedral Church of St. Pauls The Arraignment of licencious Liberty and oppressing Tyrannie In a Sermon at a Fast before the Lords in Parliament in the Abbey-Church at Westminster Faiths Victory over Nature A Sermon preached at the Funerals of Mr. John Rushout Junior The safest Convoy or The strongest Helper A Valedictory Sermon before the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Bendish Baronet his Majesties Embassadour to the Grand Seigniour at Constantinople A Divine Prospective representing the Just Man's peacefull End A Sermon at the Funeral of the Right VVorshipfull Sir John Gayr Knight Love and Fear the inseparable Twins of a blest Matrimony A Sermon occasioned by the Nuptials between Mr. William Christmas and Mrs Elizabeth Adams Divinity in Mortality or The Gospels excellency and the Preachers frailty A Sermon at the Funerals of Mr. Richard Goddard Minister of the Parish of St. Gregories by St. Pauls Two Mites or A gratefull acknowledgement of God's singular goodness In two Sermons occasioned by the Author's late unexpected Recovery from a desperate Sickness Printed and are to be sold by Nath. Web and Will Grantham at the black Bear in St. Paul's Church-yard near the little North-door To the Right Worthy and his much Honoured Lady the Lady Mary Saltingstall present prosperity and future felicity Good Madam I Have now fulfilled your desire in publishing these weak notions I hope you will pardon me that withall I fulfill my own desire which is by these lines to let the World know my singular obligations to your Ladyship Among those many graces which adorn your truly Christian life your cordial love to the Orthodox Dispensers of the Gospel is not the least and it is so much the more amiable because in this apostatizing age wherein the love of many waxeth cold towards and the rage of some groweth hot against them Indeed as for my own particular I have far less reason to complain than many others of my Brethren and those far more deserving than my self it having pleased Almighty God both to restrain my Enemies and multiply my Friends beyond expectation And truly next to the infinite goodness of my God which I desire for ever to celebrate and the no less faithfull than skilfull endeavours of my worthy Physicians which I shall alwaies acknowledge I must attribute my late almost miraculous recovery to the fervent intercessions of my affectionate Friends at the Throne of Grace on my behalf To them all I return my hearty thanks and promise my daily prayers for them and more especially for you my honoured Lady whom I have reason to esteem as none of the meanest among them That your health may be prolonged and your troubles ended your Children blessed and your comforts enlarged finally that you may sparkle as a Diamond here in grace and hereafter shine as a Star in glory shall be the uncessant prayer of Your Ladyships real Friend and Servant in the Lord NATH. HARDY Psal. 116. v. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living MAns present Condition is subject to frequent alterations our life like the sea ebbeth floweth as the Moon waxeth and waineth and with the air is now Cloudie and anon cleer Nulla sors longa est dolor ac volupt as Invicem cedunt saith the Tragedian truly we continue not long in one state the day hath the vicisitude of an evening and morning the year of Winter and Summer health and sickness adversity and prosperity interchangeably succeed each other in this our earthly pilgrimage And now what more fit then that as our condition is mutable so our disposition should be answerable and our spirituall frame be suitable to our temporal estate To hope in adversity and to fear in prosperity for health to be thankfull and under sickness to be patient finally in afflictions to seek God with tears and after deliverance to walk before him with joy is a truly Religious temper Thus was it with this holy man David whom we find in this Psalm expressing this behaviour under both conditions when he found trouble and sorrow he called upon the Name of the Lord and when his Soul is delivered from death he resolveth upon walking before the Lord in the words of the Text now read I will walk c. At the mentioning of this Scripture I doubt not but you conjecture the reason of my choosing it and I hope beloved you will pardon me that as yet I preach to my self I shall be the fitter to preach to you nay let me tell you as in teaching you I speak to my self so in admonishing my self I speak to you what lately was and now is my condition either formerly hath been or shortly may be any of yours besides the duty of the Text is such as concerneth not only me but all here present to put in practise as being that without the performance of which no man can order his conversation aright Finally if you look back on the former subject that calleth for this and this answereth to that that is as the foundation this as the superstructure both required to a perfect fabrick that as the doctrine this as the use both requisite to a compleat Sermon and therefore having from the former Scripture commemorated the mercy I conceived it very fit to mind both my self and you of the duty from these words I will walk c. Indeed with little adoe we may find both in this text According to a different reading of the first words I shall and I will the clause puts on a severall sense if we read I shall walk they are words of confident expectation if I will they are
nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me by Hosea Though I have bound and strengthened their arms yet do they imagin mischief against me And may they not as truly be charged upon us we are fatted with God's blessings and spurn at his precepts the beams of his goodness have shone hot upon us and our vicious lives have sent up the more noysome stench into his Nostrils he hath magnified his mercies and we multiply our iniquity Very apposite to this purpose are those complaints of Salvian and Lactantius God giveth us good things that we might be good we on the contrary abuse those good things to increase our evils he calls us by his benefits to repentance and we become the more dissolute Then most unthankfully forgetting and injuriously dishonouring God when we have the most reason to remember and glorifie him But do we thus requite the Lord oh foolish People and unwise Consider I beseech you 1. Is not this the most odious ingratitude to retaliate injuries for curtesies That we should receive good at the hands of God and not evil is unreasonable to expect but to receive good and return evil is very injurious to act There is a retaliation of good for evil this is admirable of good for good this is laudable of evil for evil this is blameable of evil for good this is abominable 2. Doth not the Law of Nature teach us to do as we would be done to and would we have others deal by us as we do by God I appeal in Salvian's words to you that are the great and rich Men of this World how great were the guilt of that Servant who should cast reproach upon endeavour mischief against an indulgent and bountifull Master And shall we our selves practice that towards God which we would abhorr and condemn in a Servant towards us 3. VVhat shall we answer to God in that day of account when he shall plead with us for our ungratefull disobedience Oh thou rebellious Wretch had God instead of restoring destroyed sparing thee in cut thee off from the Land of the Living thou mightest have pleaded Lord if thou hadst lengthened my daies I would have reformed my life but now that patience hath tried thee and goodness waited on thee what excuse canst thou make for thine impenitency The sense of this made Ezra to blush in behalf of the People crying out And now Oh our God what shall we say after this for we have forsaken thy Commandments In the apprehension of this devout Bernard exclaimeth against himself With what face can I so stubborn a Child lift up my eyes to so gracious a Father I am ashamed of my ingratitude in returning hatred for love Imagine thy self Oh ingratefull Sinner standing at God's tribunal his mercies and thy iniquities set in order before thy face and think thou hearest God upbraiding thee in words much like those by Nathan to David I have many a time delivered thee from great dangers I have given thee Wife and Children with many other blessings and if this had been too little I would have given thee such and such things wherefore hast thou despised my Commandments dishonoured my Name abused my Mercies and surely thou canst not but cover thy self with a Cloud of shame yea pour out a shower of tears 4. Finally Do we not think that God is highly provoked with and therefore will surely and sorely avenge himself upon such ingratefull Rebels Was not David greatly inraged against Nabal when he said In vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the Wilderness he hath requited me evil for good VVas not God incensed bitterly against the old World when he said It repented me that I made Man upon Earth He saith no less of all unthankfull Sinners In vain have I both given and kept all that they enjoy it repenteth me that I ever made them or conferred the least mercy on them And will you know what followeth upon such provocations Hear what God saith concerning his People She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oil and multiplyed her Silver and Gold which they prepared for Baal therefore will I return and take away my Corn in the time thereof and my Wine in the season thereof and will recover my Wool and my Flax given to cover her nakedness Hear what Joshua saith from God to Israel If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange Gods then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he hath done you good Believe it Brethren if mercy induce not to obedience disobedience will ruine our mercy nor are either life or health or any other blessing so entail'd upon any person but that ingratitude may yea will cut it off Nay let me adde Ingratia beneficia ingentia flagitia ingentia supplicia if as mercy hath abounded iniquity superabounds as iniquity abounds so calamity shall much more and by how much the Oil of God's compassion hath been the more plentifully poured upon us by so much shall the flame of his judgements burn the hotter against us And therefore Ezra pronounceth this as a most just sentence against himself and the People in case of their disobedience Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments and joyn in affinity with the People of these abominations wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping Oh therefore yet at last let the bounty of God lead us to repentance and obedience give unto the Lord the glory due to his name and serve him according to his great goodness To which that we may be the better enabled observe and practice these following directions 1. Keep God's mercies fresh in thy memory and often ponder especially upon eminent deliverances This remembrance of Divine benefits is that which St. Bernard commendeth as fit to be a pillar in the spiritual house of our souls and this is that which thankfulness taketh care of it is God's faithfull Register she is never forgotten and she never forgetteth she writeth God's love as he doth his Beloved on the palms of her hands she hath still new thoughts of the daies of old and maketh a deliverance live as God doth for ever And surely this duty well performed would be a singular means of exciting and enabling us to walk worthy of mercy When Ahasuerus on the night he could not sleep commanded the Records to be brought unto him and read before him and therein found how instrumental Mordecai had been in delivering him from the treason of his Chamberlains he presently asketh What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this So will the soul that faithfully and seriously meditateth on God's deliverances and benefits whereof he is not onely an instrument but a principal
former is a foundation for the superstructure of future gifts true it is this kind of ratiocination prevaileth not with men they have done for us therefore they must still nay it is accounted impudence to expect or desire they should some mens ability is cut short they cannot do as they have done other mens minds are mutable their affection cooleth and they grow weary of doing what they have done but neither of these are in God who changeth not Queen Elizabeth's Motto Semper eadem though in some sense true of her Religious constancy yet is most properly due to God who is semper idem with whom is no variablenes nor shadow of Change There is no abbreviation of his hand nor alteration of his heart both the fountaine of his power and treasure of his love are inexhaustible and the everlasting God the Lord the Creatour of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary to wit of doing good to his people Let it therefore be the wisedom of Saints to treasure up experiences of Gods goodnes to others chiefly to themselves that they may be both incouragements of faith and arguments in prayer That which may make us blush in our requests to men let it rather embolden us in our adresses to God namely the bounty we have already received from his hand We many times cannot find in our hearts to petition those whom we have often troubled before but David considering what God had done for him his house withall what he had promised to do therfore findes in his heart to pray a prayer to him Indeed promises and experiences are strong supports of our confidence when we go to God and plead Lord thou sayedst thou wilt do me good nay Lord thou hast been favourable to me he knoweth not how to deny our supplications This is the confidence saith S. John that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us and we may have confidence that what we ask is according to his will when it is no more but what he hath spoken yea formerly vouchsafed And therefore as Saul when David had mercifully spared him his life taketh courage to implore favour for his seed so let us upon the grant of one request be emboldned to put up another and upon the receipt of former mercyes incourage our selves to believe hope and desire future as here David in the text because thou hast delivered I shall walk And so much be spoken of the first interpretation of the words proceed we now to a larger insisting on that which as I conceive is most genuine to the Text and was chiefe in my intention of handling And that I may in this sense handle the words according to their just and fuâ—l latitude I shall consider them both 1. Absolutely in themselves and 2. Relatively in their connexion In the former we shall see what was David's resolution In the latter what was the reason of that resolution The better to dispatch the first consideration of the words observe in them 1. His resolving upon a duty I will and 2. The duty he resolves upon namely to walk before the Lord in the land of the living I will Saint Bernards comment upon those words of the Psalmist elswhere in thee will I trust may very well serve as a Paraphrase on these words I will walk that is this is my desire my purpose and the intention of my heart to walk before him in reference to this it is that David saith elswhere of himself I have said that I will keep thy word nay more then so I have sworne and I will performe it that I will keep thy righteous â—udgment intimating that this was not barely his resolve but his oath and that which he had not onely promised but sworn to do The like we shall find to have been the practice of other Saints in Scripture namely to consecrate themselves to God by promise thus Jacob voweth a vow and what is the matter of it but that the Lord should be his God not onely on whom to trust but whom to obey Joshuah taketh up a resolution both for himself and his family to worship the true God I and my house will serve the Lord Moses after hee had given the Law to the people causeth them to enter into Covenant for the performance of it And to name no more Asah gathereth all Judah together to swear unto the Lord that they would seek him with an execration of him to death who did not keep it Nor is it without singular reason that godly men have taken this course that hereby both they might be the more strongly obliged to God and God to them 1. These promises bind us the closer to God To illustrate this you must know that religious promises are distinguished according to the objects about which they are conversant some are of things in their own nature indâ—fferent and are called ceremoniall others are of things in themselves necessary and termed morall those though after promise we are bound to observe exactly yet before we were free to do or not to do these we were before tyed to observe but by this meanes a further bond is layed upon us There is indeed a sufficient obligation in Gods Precepts to require our obedience but when to his precepts we add our own promise it is so much the more ingaging True it is the Creatures naturall obligation to its Creators command is so great that in it self it is not capable of addition but yet our voluntary promises serve to inflame our lukewarmenes and stir up our backwardnes to obedience Indeed a religious resolution is as the putting of a new rowell into the spurr which maketh it the sharper the twisting of another threed into the rope whereby it is the stronger or tying of a new knot whereby it is made the faster And hence it is that as God in condescension to our weaknes hath annexed an oath to his promises not to make them firmer in themselves but to confirm us the more so godly men in consideration of their own dulnes adjoyne their promises to Gods Precepts not to strengthen their force in injoyning but to quicken themselves the more in observing 2. These serious resolutions of serving God bind him to us When * Solomon dedicated a Temple to God God engageth himself to be there present in a special manner and from thence to heare the prayers of his people when we promise to be Gods servants what do we but consecrate our selves to be his living Temples and may not we then expect the like privilege When the servant had by the boaring of his eare disclaimed the benefit of the Jubilee and engaged himself to his master for ever the master could not but account himself obliged to take Care of and provide for such a servant nor hath Almighty God less respect to those who Cordially
to approve of them when made so to look after them how they are made good and let me tell you To prophane that heart which is once consecrated to God to faulter in the execution of what is solemnly resolved in Gods service is a fetching the sacrifice from the Altar and will certainly bring the Coal of fire along with it Hadst thou never put in for the title of a friend and votary with an Oh God my heart is ready to do thy will thou hadst not been perfidious though prophane but by breaking thy promise thou addest the guilt of unfaithness to that of disobedience and thy sin becommeth beyond measure sinfull and therefore look on David once again who as he saith here I will walk so elsewhere I have walked in thy truth there professing he had done what here he resolveth he will do To this end let us speedily performe what we have once deliberatly resolved As we do by a fickle and inconstant man take him at his word whilst we have him in a good vein lest in a short space he alter his mind So let us deale by our deceitfull hearts When thou vowest a vow to God defer not to pay it is the wise mans counsell and indeed it is very wise counsell defer not to put in action what Gods Spirit hath put into thy intention Nor let any man think to excuse himself by pleading inability and saying I would but I cannot fulfill my religious purposes rather let him joyne earnest supplications with his serious resolutions and not doubt but he that hath begun to work in him the will will also strengthen him to do Oh my God I would do what I ought Oh that I could do what I would thou hast in some measure wrought my will to thy command Oh work my power to thy will that I may not onely will to desire but do thy will thou hast been pleased to put Oh keep it for ever in the imagination of the thought of the heart of thy servant to walk before thee and so I am fallen on the duty which here David resolves upon namely to Walk before the Lord in the land of the living For the more methodicall discussing of which be pleased to observe these three particulars The matter the manner and the season or place of performing this duty So that here we have an answer to three or foure questions if you would know What he resolveth it is to Walk How he would walk before the Lord When and where in the Land of the living namely in this world which is the place or whilest he should be living in this land and so it notes the time of his walking before the Lord Of each of these in their order beginning with the matter of this resolve which is to 1. Walk In the handling of this both the verbe and the conjugation are considerable The verbe in its proper acception signifieth a motion of the body which we call walking but per metaphoram de vita moribus actionibus usurpatur Metaphorically it is applyed to the manners and conversations of men and that not without just reason Men sit at home but commonly when they walk it is abroad fitly therefore are our externall actions represented by walking So that that which here David resolveth upon is the same with what elswhere he calleth an ordering the conversation aright and this I will walk is as much as if he had said I will indeavour to lead a regular and orderly life It would not here be passed by the seeming contradiction in the Psalmists expressions At the seventh verse he saith return to thy rest Oh my Soul and here he presently saith I will walk how can these two stand together Motus quies privativè opponuntur saith the Philosopher motion rest are opposite now walking is a motion as being an act of the locomotive faculty How then could David return to his rest and yet walk an objection somewhat specious but the strength of it is easily enervated and the difference quickly reconciled To which end you must know that the walking and rest here mentioned being of a divine nature do not oppose each other spirituall rest maketh no man idle and therefore it is no enemy to walking spirituall walking maketh no man weary and therefore it is no enemy to rest Indeed they are so far from being opposite against that they are subservient to each other and it is hard to say whether that rest be the cause of this walking or this walking a cause of that rest Indeed both are true since he that rests in God cannot but walk before him and by walking before we come to rest in God Returning to rest is an act of confidence since there is no rest to be had but in God nor in God but by a believing assiance in reliance on him Walking before God is an act of obedience when we disobey we wander and go astray onely by obedience we walk Now these two are so far from being enemies that they are companions and ever go together confidence being a means to quicken obedience and obedience to strengthen confidence That confidence is not a spirituall rest but a carnall security which hopes in the promise and yet obeyeth not the Precept very observable therefore is both David's assertion and exhortation elswhere his assertion concernes himself I am like a green Olive-tree I trust the more in God intimating that the lamp of his confidence was fed with the oyl of good works his exhortation is to others Trust in the Lord and do good implying that a right trust in God puts upon doing good and a sedulous doing good emboldneth to trust in God so that these two not only may but must meet together in every Saint return he ought to his rest but withall he must walk To let this go and return to what hath been already hinted That which is here especially considerable is that David resolveth to look to the regulating of his life and the well ordering his externall actions If you cast your eyes on the first verse of his Psalme you find a profession of love I love the Lord if on the second a promise of prayer I will call on the Lord if on this verse a resolve of walking I will walk before the Lord There are three things should be the object of a Saints care the devotion of the soul profession of the mouth and conversation of the life that is the sweetest melody in Gods eares when not onely the voyce sings but the heart-strings keep tune and the hand keepeth time all of these are observable in good David with his heart he loveth God with his lips he calleth upon God in his life he walketh before God and truly this last ought not to be the least of our care and that in respect of God others our selves 1. It is our walking that glorifieth God So much our blessed
walk which these words before the Lord may instruct us in namely the right way wherein he must go the special motive to incite him to his walk and the principal end whereat he ought to aim Of each a word 1. Before the Lord intimateth the way and that either in particular or in general 1. In particular the way of God's worship and so to walk before the Lord is Occupatum esse in cultu Dei to be frequently conversant in religious performances so that this ambulare may be interpreted by adorare coram Domino will walk as much as I will worship before the Lord Coram Domino intelligo de Tabernaculo Domini Before the Lord is as much as in the Tabernacle of the Lord where was the Ark a sign of his special presence whither David resorted that he might give God the worship due to him Psal. 75. 6. So that we may expound this walking before God by that which he saith elswhere I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever Psal. 23. 6. Indeed in respect of this constant residence in God's House to offer sacrifice the Priests are said to walk before him 1 Sam. 2. 30. For though God be everywhere yet he is more peculiarly present in his House The whole World is his Court but the Church his Chamber of Presence Well then may they who serve at his Altar be said to walk before him Nor is it onely true of them but of all who frequent God's House since then they come before his presence and draw nigh to him in a more special manner That then which according to this exposition we may observe is the temper of a godly man what he taketh most delight in giveth himself to and desireth to imploy himself about to wit God's immediate worship and service and that especially in the Publick Assemblyes VVhat Pleasure is to the Voluptuous Honour to the Ambitious Wealth to the Covetous Applause to the Vain-glorious that is God's worship to the Religious the Chief nay the All he delights in And therefore this holy Prophet elswhere maketh this his one nay onely request to God which being granted it matters not what else is denied him and which he would not cease seeking after till it were granted him that he might dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple Psal. 27. 4. Indeed as a Mole in the Earth a Fish in the Sea a Bird in the Air so is a Saint in the House of God to wit as in his proper place no wonder if David desire to dwell in it all his daies In God's House it is that God manifesteth himself to his Servants and his Servants behold his Beauty ask his counsel and sweetly converse with him well may the Psalmist not onely desire but seek after it So amiable is communion with God to a pious man that even in earthly businesses he hath heavenly thoughts and whil'st he walketh before men in civil conversation he is still with God in spiritual affections Surely then he cannot but be in love with Religious Duties wherein he so immediatly converseth with and walketh before God 2. In general the way of God's commandments and so to walk before God is to walk ad nutum voluntatem Dei in that way which God is pleased to set before us Ex ejusdem praecepto velle omnia facere vivere to resign up our selves to the guidance of God's Word and will in all things It is said of Zachary and Elizabeth that they were righteous before God * walking in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless where one phrase explaineth another So that if you would know what it is to be righteous before God it is to walk in all the Lord's Commandments VVhat other exposition need we or better can we have of this phrase than God himself giveth in that speech of his to Salomon If thou walk before me as David thy Father walked to do according to all that I have commanded thee 1 Chron. 7. 14. VVherein is plainly intimated that to do according to all God's commands is to walk before him So that this phrase of walking before in this sense is much like that of standing before And as Servants stand before their Lord ready to perform his injunctions or Scholars before their Master to receive his instructions so do holy men before God to sulfill his prescriptions It informeth us in the character of a true Saint he is one who walketh before God avoyding what he forbiddeth performing what he commandeth and so making his Law the rule and square of all his actions This is that which elswhere this holy man more expresly professeth when he saith * Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my paths namely to guide him in all his actions both inward and outward of heart and tongue and hand A true Saint dareth not go a step further than this light goeth before him nor will he refuse to go whithersoever this Lamp leadeth him Speak Lord for thy servant heareth said Samuel 1 Sam. 3. 9. when God appeared to him Lord what wilt thou have me to do Act. 9. 6. was Paul's voyce when Christ manifested himself unto him This is a truly pious temper when our heart ecchoeth to God's voyce and we are willing to obey whatsoever he is pleased to command O my Brethren often ask your selves these Questions Before whom do I walk At whose command am I What are my waies Doth the Spirit or the Flesh govern me Is carnal reason or God's Word my rule Believe it onely they who walk before God now shall with joy appear before him hereafter and onely they who walk in the way of his precepts do in a religious sense walk before him 2. Before the Lord may very fitly be construed by subejus oculis to walk as remembring that we are under his eye and all our actions obvious to his inspection In which sense they carry in them a singular motive to and help in the right ordering our conversation namely a serious consideration of God's presence It is the counsel of the Wise Man to his Son In all thy waies acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path The Vulgar Latine readeth it Cogita Deum in every thing thou takest in hand think on God And truly the very thought of God if serious would be an excellent means to direct our paths He must needs walk right who doth nothing to which he dare not crave God's assistance or from which he would desire God's absence Thus did that pious Father acknowledge God which made him say Lord whatsoever I do I do it before thee and whatsoever it is I do thou knowest it better than I who do it The same David elswhere expresseth to have been his temper when he saith All my waies are before thee Psal. 119.