Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A02170
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Meditations and disquisitions upon the one and fiftieth Psalme of Dauid Miserere mei Deus. By Sr. Richard Baker, Knight.
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Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.
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1638
(1638)
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STC 1231; ESTC S100560
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42,166
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82
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shall be more to mee than for Nabuchodonosor to be restored to his Sense his Reason his Kingdome againe This joy is to mee as Isaak was to Abraham the whole comfort of my life and thou restored'st him to his Father in great compassion and wilt thou have no compassion on me and not restore my Isaak to me againe O mercifull God take away my goods take away my health take away my life but take not away this joy from mee unlesse thou meane to restore it againe for without this joy my goods will doe mee no good I shall be sicke of my health I shall be weary of my life all joy without this joy is but shadow of joy no solidnesse no substance in it other joyes I can want and yet want no joy but how can I want the joy of thy salvation but I must needes fall into the hell of my owne perdition Indeed all these graces and specially these foure A right Spirit and Gods presence his holy Spirit and the joy of his salvation are all I may say of a covey like Partridges that alwaies keepe together or if at any time parted by violence they never leave calling after one another till they meet againe and thus a right Spirit calls after Gods presence his presence after his holy Spirit his holy Spirit after the joy of his salvation and the joy of his salvation calls after them all O then Restore to me the joy of thy salvation that this covey of thy Graces may be kept together and that the mournefull voyce of calling after one another may no more be heard to disquiet my soule But how can God restore that which hee tooke not away For can I charge God with the taking away the joy of his salvation from mee O gracious God I charge not thee with taking it but my selfe with losing it and such is the miserable condition of us poore wretches that if thou shouldest restore no more to us than what thou takest from us wee should quickly be at a fault in our Estates and our ruine would be as sudden as inevitable But why am I so â—arenest for restoring for what good will restoring doe mee if I cannot keepe it when I have it and how shall I more keepe it being restored than I kept it before being enjoyed and if I so enjoy it as still feare to lose it what joy can there be in such enjoying O therefore Not restore it onely but establish me with thy free Spirit that as by thy restoring I may enjoy it entirely so by thy establishing I may enjoy it securely Indeed if thou shouldst only restore it and then leave it for me to keepe I should presently runne a hazard of losing it againe but when thou restorest it and then confirmest it and that with the seale of thy free Spirit this gives me an indefeasible estate and absolutely frees me from feare of losing it any more for ever Alas my soule what qualmes have these beene what floatings betweene feare and hope all the comfort is that as Hope sets out first and gets the start of Feare so it keepes the field last and gets the goale from Feare For Hope setâ—ing out by Gods renewing a right Spirit and then disturbed by feare lest hee should take away his holy Spirit gets the victory at last by being established with Gods free Spirit for this establishing fixeth our floating and frees us from having these qualmes of feare and hope any more Not that we can ever bee free where they are but that they shall not be where we are not feare because in a Haven not hope because in possession But what mysterie is it that David intends here by his triplicity of Spirits A right Spirit a holy Spirit a free and principall Spirit Are they not all one holy Ghost but divers operations called therefore the right Spirit because it directeth us the holy Spirit because it sanctifieth us the free and principall Spirit because it governes us And thus understood wee may see from whence the Collect in our Liturgie was gathered which saith Direct Sanctifie and governe us in the waies of thy Lawes and in the workes of thy Commandements Or is it that hee makes three sutes for three spirits as intending to every person in the Deity one intimating the second person by the right spirit as being the way and the truth the third person by the holy Spirit as being the Author of sanctification the first person by the free and principall Spirit it being Hee that must say Fiat to all that is done And thus understood we may see from whence is framed that Versicle in our Letanie which saith O Holy Blessed and glorious Trinity three Persons and one God have mercy upon us miserable sinners And now is David Monte potitus gotten up I may say to the toppe of Mount Gerizim after many wearisome and painefull steps Hee was indeed so oppressed with the burden and so fettered with the chaine of his sinnes that he seemed as a man distracted not knowing in the world what course to take yet not willing to be wanting to himselfe he tries all the waies and useth all the meanes hee can possibly devise or thinke of First he prayes God to wash him from his sinnes and lest washing should not be sufficient hee praies next to be purged from his sinnes but not trusting to these outward meanes he thinkes upon a new course and praies to have his sinnes blotted out as much as to have Gods Debt-booke cross'd yet not satisfied with this neither he then flies to inward meanes and praies not onely to have a cleane heart created but a right Spirit renued in him that so he may be Purus corpore spiritu and now one would thinke he were certainely past all danger yet even here he falls into the most dismall frights that ever seized upon a perplexed soule for he feares least God should cast him off from his Presence and lest hee should take his holy Spirit from him most dismall frights indeed yet recovering his spirits he bethinkes himselfe at last of a way that either will serue to make him a free-man or he must never looke to be and that is to bee established with Gods free Spirit and this indeed strikes the stroke and therefore this hee makes his Murus Aheneus for being now established with Gods free Spirit he findes himselfe so free that he thinkes himselfe able to set up a Free-schoole and is confident to say Then will I teach thy waies to the wicked and sinners shall be converted unto thee Then if thou say unme Et tâ— conversus converte sratres I shall doe it both boldly and effectually Boldly for I shall teach thy waies to the wicked who are but unruly schollers and effectually for sinners shall be converted unto thee which is the end of all schooling And then if the Angels give a Plaudite to their conversion I doubt not O God but thou
MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS UPON The one and fiftieth Psalme of DAVID Miserere mei Deus By Sr. RICHARD BAKER Knight LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Anne Bowler and are to be sold at the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1638. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE EDVVARD Earle of DORSET of His Majesties most Honorable Privie Counsell Lord Chamberlaine to the Queene and Knight of the most Noble Order of the GARTER MOST Honoured Lord I know you neither like nor have leisure to looke upon trifles but I know also you account not discourses of Piety in the number of trifles This makes mee bold to present your Lordship with this short Treatise of Meditations that being short it may not divert you long being Pious not divert you at all J so much honour your Lordship for your publicke vertues so much am bound to you for your private that J cannot forbeare to present you with something as a testimony of my service in both and a richer present I could not thinke of than Meditations upon this Psalme of David which is indeede the Master-piece of his Repentance as his Repentance the Master-piece of all his Vertues The Jewell it selfe is from David onely the Case from me and though the Jewell deserve a more Illustrious Case and your Person a more Jllustrious present yet there is colour to hope I may bee pardoned in both seeing the Jewels splendour gives a lustre to any case and your Noblenesse to any present And though it might bee presented with a better hand yet it cannot with a better heart seeing he presents it that is Your Lordships humble and devoted servant RICHARD BAKER Perlegi librum hunc cui Titulum est Meditations upon the 51. Psalme eumque tipis mandari permitto SAMVEL BAKER Ex aedib Londin Iunii 21. 1637. MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS upon the 51. Psalme of DAVID O LORD our GOD how Excellent is thy Name in all the World Thy glorious Majesty is Excellent but that brings nothing to me Thy Justice is Excellent but That brings me to Nothing It is thy Mercy that must doe mee good and therefore thy other Excellencies I Adore but This I Invocate To Invocate thy Justice I dare not Thy Glory I cannot but thy Mercy I both Dare and Can For why should I not Dare when Feare gives me Boldnesse How should I not be able when weaknesse gives mee strength Why should I not Dare when Thou Invitest me to it How should I not be able when Thou Drawest mee to it Dost Thou Invite mee and shall I not Come Dost Thou Draw mee and shall I draw backe Can there be a Patron so powerfull as Thou Can there be a Supplyant so dejected as my selfe Of whom then is it fitter to aske for Mercy than of Thee O God who art the God of Mercy and for whom Is it fitter to aske for Mercy than for mee who am a creature of Misery If I were not so miserable Thou couldst not be to mee so Mercifull and have I not reason then to aske that of Thee which thou couldst not have so much occasion to manifest to mee as by mee If it were not for sinne there should be no Misery and if no Misery no exercise for thy Mercy and wilt thou let it stand Idle where it hath so foule sinnes for so faire Fields to walke in Hast thou Mercy and wilt thou not shew it Or wilt thou shew it to others and not to me To say I have not deserved it were to make it no Mercy for if I deserved it it were Justice and not Mercy Is not thy Mercy over all thy Works and am not I the worke of thy Hands The more Mercy thou shewest the more is thine Honour and wilt thou not doe that which is most for thine Honour Thou didst shew Mercy to Adam who was the first sinner and thou didst shew Mercy to the Thiese on the Crosse who was the longest sinner and wilt thou not shew Mercy to mee who am not the first and hope not to be the longest Hast thou shewed Mercy to so many that thou hast not Mercy left for me also If thy Mercy were finite and could be exhausted It were no charity to aske it lest others might want it but seeing it is Infinite and can never be spent why should I be sparing to aske it or Thou to bestow it Thy Mercy is Infinite or none at all for all thou art is Infinite and wilt thou by shewing thy Mercy lesse shew thy selfe to be Mercilesse If thy Mercy be Infinite it must extend to all and how extends it to all if not to me Thou hast as much Mercy for me as if thou hadst none to have Mercy on but me and can it be thou shouldst have so much for mee and let mee have none of it Can my daily Infirmities alien thy Love This were to thinke thou didst not love me but for my goodnesse and alas what goodnesse is there What goodnesse ever was there in mee that thou shouldst love mee Can thy Love aliened turne away thy Mercy This were to thinke thy Mercy did reach no further than thy Love and so because I know thou lovest not sinne I might justly feare thou wouldst never have Mercy upon sinners But O gracious God Thou lovest for thy loves sake and Thou hast Mercy for thy Mercies sake and seeing thy Love which is thy selfe can never leave Thee It makes mee assured thy Mercy which is thy Nature will never leave mee If I refused thy Mercy thou mightst justly with-hold it but now Behold I hold my Brest open to receive it Or if I did not aske thy Mercy thou mightst forbeare to shew it but now Behold I begge it upon my knees I am none of Zebedees sonnes that aske to sit at thy right hand and at thy left I desire not Exaltation but Absolution It is not thy Bounty I aske but onely thy Mercy Have mercy upon mee O God according to thy loving kindnesse and according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies doe away mine offences It may be thought severity in God to cast Adam out of Paradise for only One sin But was Adams sin but onely One but One perhaps in Action but a Million in Affection For say It was Pride hath not Pride more branches than a Tree hath Say it was Gluttony hath not Gluttony more dishes than Dives had Say it was Curiositie hath not Curiosity more Eyes than Argus had Say it was Disobedience hath not Disobedience more faults than Absolon had For how else could Manasses sinnes come to be more than the sands of the Sea if it be not that a sinne though but in Thought may justly be thought a Million of sinnes And as it is said in the Gospel that a man was possessed with an uncleane Spirit but that uncleane Spirit was a Legion So wee may say of every sinne It is but One sinne but that One sinne is a Legion Here therefore O my soule take heed