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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bless_v	lord_n	praise_v	4,649	5	10.4003	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97354	La scala santa, or, A scale of devotions musical and gradual being descants on the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, in metre : with contemplations and collects upon them, in prose, 1670.	Coleraine, Hugh Hare, Baron, 1606?-1667.; Loredano, Giovanni Francesco, 1607-1661. Gradi dell'anima. English.	1681 (1681)	Wing C5063; Wing L3069; ESTC R5066	58,459	102

and surrounded as in the fifth and sixth in the seventh and eighth hemm'd in and convoy'd out for Victory and Triumph WHere shall I seek for aid For the Second of September and October where shall I set mine Eyes mine Eyes and Pray'rs like Birds afraid up to the Hills would rise But whither would they rise un╌to some dangerous height O no this Quarry thither flies whence springs our help and light Nor hath our Health and Light From things below their Birth But from the highest Rock of Might Who made both Heav'n and Earth Therefore though false foul Earth Thy Soul with Foes surround Shall it be mov'd from holy Mirth Shall Cares run it on Ground Christ is the Ark to ground Gen. 8.11 Thy Heart on when distrest From head to foot he 'll make thee sound On him did Jacob rest Gen. 28.11 But he doth never rest Non dormitabit multo minùs dormiet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quamvis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex impatientiâ Iugentis Deus obdormire dicitur Psal 44.24 From doing good nor sleeps That with such Guards thou may'st be blest Gen. 32.2 As he his Israel keeps Good Shepherd he doth keep Psal 22.1 4. His Flock ev'n in Death's shade See then if thou art of his Sheep How on thy side he 's laid Though Dangers have way-laid Thy going out or in See how thy Husband's Arm 's display'd Isa 54.5 To save thy very Skin Like the three Children's Skin Dan. 3.27 Thine shall be scorch'd by none Whatever Heat thou may'st be in Whatever Star hath shown Nor shall the Moon nor Sun Hurt thee by Night or Day No Mischief seen nor closely done Shall touch thee any way God shall preserve thy Ways And Mind from all that 's ill In Youth And when thy Life decays Blessed thou shalt be still Then trust and bless him still Who endless Safety sends God through this Vale of Sorrows will Guide us to joyful ends The Entrance Progress Ends Public and private Pow'rs Labours and Studies of his Friends God blesses at all hours Then trust and bless him still Who still did us defend God doth and ever will Give Blessings without end Antistrophe Give Blessings without end God doth and ever will He still did us defend Then trust and bless him still The Entrance Progress Ends Public and private Pow'rs And Works of all his Friends God blesses Lord bless Ours Gloria Patri c. To God 〈◊〉 Father 〈◊〉 Son And to the Holy-Ghost Be Glory And let ev'ry one Strive who shall praise God most CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Second PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXI PSALM I Will lift up my Heart to thee O Lord And though it be cast down with the dangers and diffidence I am in while mine Afflictions and mine Enemies have cast a Mount about me to hinder me from the sight and hope of Succour yet have I God's Hill to fly unto and from thy House I can survey the end of the Wicked the Redemption of thy Captives and the height of thy Power that is higher than the highest But O the depth of thy Love What a pleasant Vale is this under it How doth this smile and sing and stand full of Corn that strengthens Man's Heart So that although I remain in the Valley of the shadow of Death if I can but look up to the Rock that is higher than I to Christ the Shecinah the true Mercy Seat that is placed above the Cherubims all Types and Symbols of his Presence I shall neither lose my Faith nor my Life I shall not be discomfitted nor enslaved like a surprized Zedekiah I shall not be famished nor broken up like a long besieged Jerusalem Though mine Enemies hem me in on every side and carnal Fear cause me to cry out as the Prophet's Servant What shall we do Yet if I can but lift up mine Eyes to thee which indeed are naturally as heavy as Moses his Hand I shall perceive somewhat else besides Perils and Foes on every side I shall find the Mountains full of Chariots of Fire and more for me than can be against me For an Host of Angels shall pitch their Tents about me to secure me and those mighty Ministers of thy good pleasure shall keep me like Daniel from the power of the Lyon So that my most Savage Enemies shall lack and suffer hunger while I want nothing that is good For though my way be hedged up that I cannot pass which way I would nor follow the Lusts of my Heart and the desires of mine Eyes as many do yet I may look up with joy and confidence as I trust I shall at the last day because my Salvation is drawing nigh My Hope my Help cometh from the Lord not from the Angels in his Presence but from the Angel of his Presence and of his Covenant the Blessed JESUS who having taken our Nature that he might be sensible of our Infirmities ever abides with Humanity at thy right Hand making Intercession for us And as he made the Heavens and the Earth for us so he makes a new Heaven and a new Earth of us by justifying and sanctifying both our Souls and Bodies through the mighty Work of his Spirit in his Word and Sacraments For these are the Mountains of the Lord wherein he is apparently seen Glorious in Holiness Fearful in Praises doing Wonders and abounding in Goodness and Truth If we Worship him as our Fathers did in these Mountains in the heights of Sincerity and Devotion we may expect to hear God promising us graciously as he did Abraham that he will be a God to us and to our Seed after us And we may hope to see him as Manoah and his Wife did in the Zealous performances of his holy Worship in the Flame arising from the Altar of our Hearts from whence God would not accept a Service if he desired the Death of Sinners Therefore we may be assured that if we keep in his ways he will keep us in ours as he did his Israel both by the Pillar of Fire and by the Pillar of a Cloud by the flame of Affliction as well as by the light of Prosperity And while we lay hold on these as Sampson did on the two Columns let us invoke thy help O Lord saying O Lord Though thou mayest call to Baldness to Weeping to Weakness or to Want though thou mayest touch the Sinew and make it shrink or strive with me as thou didst with Israel and begin to afflict me or seem to depart from me so that my Flesh and my Heart may fail yet O suffer not my Soul to slip let not my Foot my Foundation be removed but let it rest with thy Dove upon the Ark of thy Covenant and be fixed on the Rock Christ Jesus that thou mayest order all my goings O! do thou go out and in before me that my going out and coming in may be ever blessed If

Cords from me that I might be thy Servant and there the Lord my Righteousness So that I trust they shall be confounded that contend with thee for my Soul and I shall not be ashamed while I wait on thee though my Flesh be as Grass that withers away Thou art my Strength O Lord and my Portion for ever who wilt I trust give a Blessing to my Seed to my Harvest to my House to my Endeavours and Encrease that my Work and thine may prosper in my hand and bring fulness of Joy and Satisfaction to my Breast while all the vain Thoughts and viler Suggestions of my Heart I desire so to hate as to wish like the Grass upon the House tops withered and faded away that they may never grow up to a Crop lest sowing the Wind I Reap the Whirlwind and have my Recompence in vanity according to my delight or trust and come to nothing before my time But O Lord I wait on thee for a Blessing in this my day and for thine Eternity that I may be like a Field whom God hath enriched if he be not on my side I cannot prosper and I know him whom thou blessest is Blessed Bless me therefore even me O! Our Father c. THE ELEVENTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXX PSALM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De dolore Profundo ex imo corde and not as the Papists would have it De Profundis Purgatorii to be used for the Dead It is an Act and incitement of Hope under the most weighty Pressures from this Proof viz. That neither with the strongest Angels nor Saints departed much less with the greatest or best of Men upon Earth is any Pardon or Propitiation to be found but only with God who alloweth us here space and place for Repentance that he may be feared not so slavishly as to be fled from or hated that he may be sued unto adored and attended on in the holy Duties of Prayer Praise and Trust which are comprized in this Psalm to be used sedulously and constantly night and day according to that which the Repetition of the comparison in the sixth Verse doth infer which is thus gloss'd on by Kimchi My Soul waiteth in the Night for the Lord that it may be in the number of those who rise in the Morning-Watch to pray And this sense being most comprehensive of the Times and Method both of Jewish and the greatest of Devotion I follow it in my Version and desire to do so in my Practice This Psalm was made as some think in the time of the Captivity for Redemption from it as may be judged by the last Verse But others ascribe it to David giving it the same Date with the 51st and is reckon'd the sixth of the Penitentials i. e. of those which were used when public Penitents were brought and reconciled to the Church who might well say Because there is Pardon as saith the Text or Propitiation as the 72d with thee O Lord therefore shalt thou be feared i. e. obeyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the mildness of his Laws and meekness of his Dealings were strong Motives for Repentance Anthema Hócce à me usitatum est ut primò factum in Secundum Octobris OUT of the Deep wherein like Jo╌nas I was try'd out of the mire of Sin my Clay to God hath cry'd Lord hear my Voice give what I crave O! let me have thy Love Heav'ns Joys Too oft we chuse false Joys And should'st thou be severe To chasten our ill Choice What Man his Ills can bear But we have prov'd That thou may'st be Pardon 's with thee Both fear'd and lov'd I 'le fear lest thou art lov'd Too little and I 'le flee When Fear my Heart hath mov'd Unto thy Sanctuary Early and late Grace to afford There waits the Lord Therefore I 'le wait My Soul on high shall wait Like those who watch the rise Of Day to Officiate At Morning Sacrifice Nay like the Guard Remove the Night Who long 'till Light And them reward 'Till Jacob's Star reward Your Hopes and on you rise Wait Isr'el on your Lord With wakeful wishing Eyes Look 'till the Sun Doth heal and bless Of Righteousness And brings God's Son O! shield ye with his Sun God's People trust his Word Since full Salvation Attends our gracious Lord There 's Pity seen Who will Redeem And Pow'r in him Us from all Sin Gloria Patri c. Glory be to our King Who shall be was and is Loud Hallelujahs Sing To God the God of Peace The Lord of Hosts The Father Son The Three in One And Holy-Ghost AMEN CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Eleventh PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXX PSALM O Dearest Jesu when I consider thee crying with strong Cries to thy Father for me out of the depths of thine Agony and of thy Sufferings both in Gethsemane and in Golgotha how am I swallowed up in the Abysses both of thy Passion and Compassion for us Ah! what fathomless Depths indeed O! what unmeasurable Dimensions both of Grief and Goodness are there for us to be immersed in and since they who are conversant among great Waters see the Wonders of the Lord O! how may we behold these in the drops of thine Eyes and of thy Wounds in the Rivers of thy Tears and of thy wonderful Sweat in the Ocean of thy Love and Sorrows for Mankind When thy Soul was heavy and sunk down even unto Death and all the Cataracts of Shame and Fury passed over thy Head O King of Righteousness and Glory yet out of the deep and horrible Pit of God's Wrath into which thy condition was plunged for our sakes how didst thou reach up thy very Sighs and Groans thy Pains and Sadness thy Prayers and all thy Passions unto Heaven it self to reach us thence a Medicine and a Remedy more certain Health and a more happy Life than the lifting up of the Serpent in the Wilderness ever brought to its beholders I will therefore look unto thee and be enlighten'd even while thou seemest Eclipsed I will stay my self on the Tree of thy Cross and secure my self under the Shadows of thy Crucifixion when I am most cast down or overwhelmed with the Seas of my Anxieties and Trials for the Lord hath been deeply sensible of our Infirmities and touched to the quick with humane Miseries that he might not be fled from as he was formerly both while he stood on Sinai and on Golgotha but that he might be feared and approached unto with Reverence because there is a Propitiation with him for us there is an Attonement made by him our High-Priest Therefore O God! hear my Voice though my Sins cry aloud for Vengeance and thou mayst be more strict than thou wert formerly under the more imperfect Light of Nature or of the Ieish Law to mark the failings and stumblings of Mankind now in the lightsom day-time of the Gospel yet do thou my Father Jeremiah 38.12 13. and my Prince pity

we like David such Olive Trees as might be fixed in thy House and framed into more holy Uses to be farther instrumental to thy Glory Behold a greater than Solomon is here to make us fit to attend thy Oracles and with the Cherubs to be near thy Mercy Seat Dear God! prepare us for such high places there however thou cut and strike us here that we might be the better formed and wrought out of the World's glory for our own into thine even by the beauty of Holiness that New Jerusalem that comes down from above Then shall we admire the good of Sanctity and wish the good of thy People all the days of our life and rejoyce in the happiness of thy Chosen all the days of Eternity For as we are Blest in serving thee out of thy House and Sanctuary so we hope to be Blessed with thee in thy holy Hill of Sion where we shall see the glorious Harvest of all Ages the eternal Happiness of our Generations and the never-fading Peace of thy chosen Israel AMEN THE TENTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXIX PSALM Is a Commemoration not unlike that Solemn one which every true Israelite was to make at the Offering of the First-Fruits Deut. 26.35 36 37. and Secondly a Prognostication of the cursed End and Ruine of the Church her Enemies from the Consideration of the wonderful Deliverance which God had wrought and reiterated for his People a Juventute both from theirs and the World's Infancy so that at length their Adversaries according to their Prayers shall be but weak few like the Grass on the House top 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not growing up there being formerly a Meter or gatherer of Grass as we have now of Grain most in fashion about those fertile Countries where Grass is of an excessive length even at this day as modern Travellers ' affirm that withers before it's pulling But Zion's Foes saith Ezra or whosoever it was who in his Time compiled this Prophetical Psalm and Prayer shall one Day be so inconsiderable that as they shall have no Eulogies to encourage their Growth or Harvest so they shall need no Weapon to cut them down for they shall drop away shamefully of their own accord without a Dominus Vobiscum said unto them 1 Cor. 14.25 Isa 36.10 For all they may say though not of a Truth what once a Sennacherib and a Rabshakeh falsly affirmed That God is with us Quâ de causâ à me Selectus est hic Hymnus in Tertium Septembris Propter M. O. C. nee non in Quintum Novembris IF Ja╌cob did in E╌gypt tell what Troubles in his time be╌fell how few and e╌vil were his Days How hard Life's travel in rough ways In Ca╌naan well may Is╌rael say From my Youth up God was my stay From my Youth up I met with Foes Gen. 28.16 17. But to God's House I ' scap'd from those Many a time was I assail'd But I as many times prevail'd God broke my Cords which they did bind Exod. 2.24.25 And made them Captive if not kind Long did they with deep Furrows wound Exod. 5.19 And Plow my Back as 't were their Ground Mark 15.15 But the good Husbandman now cracks The Ploughman's Whip on their own Backs John 15.1 The Righteous Lord stays not too long 1 Cor. 10.13 From resc'uing his who suffer wrong Therefore shall Zion's Enemy 2 Sam. 3.33 Like Fools wax faint like Cowards fly Psal 73.6 Whom Pride doth cloath Shame shall confound Prov. 16.18 As Corn that grows in no good Ground Mat. 13.5 But stands with Kings on the House-Top 2 Sam. 11.4 Where comes a Blast and that 's its Crop Dan. 4.30 31. It s Crop doth rot before 't is ripe Nor can it fill the Reapers gripe Nor joy his Heart For what is worse It bears no Burthen but a Curse 'T is no Man's comfort no Man's care No Man for such bids one short Pray'r None in God's Name give such good speed As Boaz to his Harvest did Ruth 2.4 Gloria Patri But we to God will Glory give Who with the Son and Spirit doth live God Reigns and shall as heretofore Bless'd be his Name for evermore CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Tenth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXIX PSALM O Dearest Jesu let me behold thee as an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile and yet how many a time even from Herod's persecution of thee in thy Youth wert thou afflicted Thou didst grow up as a Stem out of a dry Ground very poorly and despicably in the Eyes of the vain proud World who looked for another appearance and attendance than thou O King of Glory didst affect on Earth and therefore wert thou rejected as a Man of Sadness And well mightest thou be acquainted with much Grief when thou didst bear our greatest Sins even those whereby we did set thee at nought as did Herod and his Soldiers and even sought the holy Child the First-born of Grace in our Hearts to take away its Life O Lord we must confess how many a time too often we have betrayed and exposed thy Name and Body thy Word and Members to Shame and Reproach to Indignities and Sufferings We have smitten and pierced them through with many Sorrows we have knotted the Whip and lengthen'd out the Rods to plough thy Back as the Jews did by their lashing Taunts when thou wert dying on the Cross only to non-plus thy Love and patience if it were possible But the Lord is Righteous and the Lord is Merciful and therefore he hath cut asunder the Cords of the Wicked and by his Righteousness shall justifie many as also confound all such as have evil will towards his Zion Grant therefore dear Lord that we may not prove such a Crop as grows upon the House or among the Stones which withereth as soon as it is put forth But as from our Childoood we have been acquainted graciously with thy Mind and Gospel so grant that we may grow up in Grace and in the knowledge of a Saviour and have the Blessing of Almighty God from the very Ground of our Hearts to the last Harvest of our Lives and be able to bless many others as Boaz did in the Name of thee Our Father c. TO thee dear God! be all the Dominion the Power and Glory of my Being for thou hast prepared it from the fury of my Adversaries ever since the first motions of that evil Figment in my Heart which hath broke out often into evil Concupiscences and endeavoured to plough with my Heifer to plot with my naughty Flesh to bind and to deliver me a Prisoner unto Satan but my Lusts have not led me Captive nor plough'd upon my Back as they conspired to do for thou O Lord most just and holy wouldest not suffer them to Tyrannize or Triumph too long over me but hast broke those Bands of Wickedness and cast their

ease when we tumble our selves down by diffidence in God or self-deceit And vile Oppressors like the Devils themselves are in their proper and pleasant work when they are Lording it over thine Heritage Wherefore preserve us we beseech thee from our own Baseness and Falshood as well as from the Tyranny and Treachery of thine other Enemies And plead thou our Cause for us with others and with our selves for thy Son 's and for our Soul's sake And when we are driven by the Insolence of others or by the Demerits of our own Actings to implore thy Mercy and thy Pity with all the prostitute Submission humble Confidence and absolute Resignation of Obedient Servants O! let us not be slothful in our Duties or doubtful of thy Providence but diligent in all the Labour that thou callest us to thanking our selves for deserving Correction as thee our Lord for correcting us so Father-like and trusting by thy Chastisements to prove in us more of thy Love and of our Adoption THE FIFTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXIV PSALM Is entituled David's according to the Tenor of that in Samuel Cap. 2. v. 22. being a Commemoration of his wonderful deliverance from great and many Dangers together with a thankful acknowledgment to God the sole Author of Safety and Success properly used at any time of eminent Preservation as on the Fifth of November or Third of June It may be called David's Triumphs for more than one Victory by God's special assistance as may be gathered from the repetition of the first words nisi quod Dominus which imply the iteration of God's Goodness and Man's gratitude for when he is pleased to manifest the largeness of Loving-kindness to us then especially ought we to make our return of Gratitude with a Non nobis This Divine Io Paean was composed probably after the Conquest of the Ammonites who had beset David on every side according to that expression of their force and inhumane Rage Tunc homines Adham per contemptum vivos deglutiissent nos or as the word Adham seems to hint to me upon his subduing of the Edomites when he made the 60th Psalm or as others think after most of his Victories over the Philistines c. in Chron. when the Snare was broke by the Death of his Enemies as in the Prophecy the Jews Bondage was by the Persians breaking the Chaldean Monarchy And so the late and former the many and wonderful Deliverances of our Nation are to own the immediate effect of God's gracious interposition and as a signall Evidence of His all-swaying Power as the first Creation of the World was that we might not Sacrifice to our Nets and Bulwarks nor value our selves upon the store of deeper Waters like once Proud but now Desolate Tyre but that our Trust Succour and Defence may be founded on him the Supreme of all Beings on whom depends the whole Creation HAd not the Lord been on our side now may the wrastling Isâ•Œrael say when Eâ•Œsau did his Troops provide our Flocks had been the Lyâ•Œons prey Had not the Lord been on our side When Men against us rose like Waves The Surges of their Rage and Pride Had snatcht us quick into our Graves Like Whales upon Amittay's Son Jonas Death's Jaws on us they open'd wide Dathan's strange End Numb 16.29 how could we shun Had not the Lord been on our side When Seas of Rage swell'd to that height As on our Souls to whelm their Tyde Those Torrents had destroy'd us quite Had not the Lord been on our side Then had the Streams our strength o're-pow'r'd But we through Floods through Foes did wade And were not as a Prey devour'd Nor of their cursed Teeth afraid Blessed be God! our Life 's got free From all the Toyls their Mischief set As Birds out of a Snare so we 'Scape strangely through the Fowler 's Net Hell Snares are broke our Souls are freed For on God's help our Hearts are stay'd God's Word speaks Heav'n and Earth his Deed His Hands preserve the Works they made God keep us all as all he made From him the Heavens and Earth proceed Upon his Truth our Trust is stay'd Hell's Snares are broke and we are freed Gloria Patri c. Glory be to the Father Son And Holy-Ghost whom we adore In Persons three in Essence one Who was is shall be evermore CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Fifth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXIV PSALM O Thou Lyon of the Tribe of Judah thou Shepherd of Israel that leadest thy People like a Flock while we with thankfulness look up to thy strength for us to thy stay of us and thy staff over us let us look down with Humility on our own unworthiness We deserve not the least part of that care and watchfulness of thine which defends us daily from the ravenous Bear of this World's Temptations from the Uncircumcised Philistine our own Flesh and from the roaring Lyon of the Abyss that goes about seeking to devour to swallow us up quick as it were at a Morsel And yet blessed be the Lord he hath not given us up for a Prey to these Destroyers and if we give not up our selves by our sinful fears and easie submissions though Satan's rage be like his Hell enflamed he cannot have his will of us That Lyon may come out against us with great wrath and fright us by his vain Noises but cannot fall upon us at once as he desires He hath no part no power of us 'till we give it to him If therefore O Lord we are on thy side or thou on ours we need not fear what Devils or what Man can do unto us even when they rise never so proudly never so powerfully against us Let us but set the Lord our Righteousness at our right hands let us but have righteous Hands and innocent Hearts and we shall not be so greatly moved or terrified as to let the Enemy triumph over our Souls though yet we must confess with Grief that many Waters have gone over them The swelling Torrents of sinful Passions and Prosperity the mighty Floods of worldly Cares and Vanities the supersluities of naughty sensual Pleasures have not only tossed and endangered but even overwhelmed and swallowed up our Lives So that we have been sinking into destruction like those that are howling in the Pit Alas the bitter Streams of our vile imaginations and transgressions have like a deadly draught or Poyson been suck'd in greedily and sent to our very Hearts so that we had been past all means of escape or hope of succour if thou hadst not stood by us as thou didst by thy Servant Paul and not only strengthened but saved us as thou didst the Prophet by drawing us forth as thou didst the Prophet of the dangerous Gulph of estrangement and infidelity into which our triple Enemies would have thrown us Their Power would be great like their Malice Didst not thou take our part O holy Spirit and plead our

Cause O sweetest Jesus Blessed be thy omnipotent and most glorious Mercy that hath made our Souls as a Bird that may fly up to Heaven and be secure We praise and thank thee dearest Father for those Wings of Faith Prayer Love and Devotion whereby we can escape the Snare of the cunning Fowler and all his noysom Plagues and Temptations O! still cover us both with thy gracious Protection and with the lovely Wings of the Holy of Holies so that we may break the Bands of Satan asunder and cast away his Cords from us and neither have the Eyes of our Faith held from seeing thee nor the Feet of our Affections from seeking thee but like thy beloved and most loving Disciples Peter and John leave our Nets whereby we take others and all those Entanglements whereby we are so caught our selves and throw off every Impediment for the better following of our Master Christ under the Patronage of whose Love and Power we would roost and nestle our Beings for ever For it is he that hath made Heaven and Earth for us for our Habitation and will make a new Heaven and Earth about us for our Regeneration And since this is a greater Blessing than the first Creation of Man let our delivery from the Jaws of Hell bring him more Honour than all his other Dealings with us even Glory for evermore Amen THE SIXTH Psalmof Degrees BEING The CXXV PSALM Like the 11th Psalm sheweth David's Trust and Recourse to God not like Saul to the Witch of Endor or Wealth of Amalek but where Believers are established and secured in the Presence of the Almighty and perpetuity of the Church whereby they find the goodness of their Portion and the evil Lot of the Wicked whatsoever he be whether Hypocritical Profane or Backsliding It is applied by the Rabbins to the Days of the Messiah and so by us it may be appositely used on Sacramental Days or any such time of greater manifestation and experience of God's Integrity and the Faith of Man WHO on the Lord do build their Trust For S. John's day like Siâ•Œon they command up inâ•Œto Heav'n their Heads they thrust their Feet unâ•Œmoâ•Œved stand Right safe high strong they always stand Like God's most Holy ground The Rock of Ages on each hand Doth shade them and surround As Hills Jerusalem surround To deck her and defend So God encircles and hath crown'd His folk World without end As Hills c. For least in Sin their Suff'rings end Though an Egyptian * For the Rod or Scepter of Wickedness is the Tyranny of a Pharaonick Oppression over the lot of the Righteous that is the Church of God which he may lay on but will not leave nor suffer to lye still God having the Rod of their Portion in his hand alluding to the old way of Sortition by Staves whereof see Numb 17. and Josh 18. For the Reasons mentioned observe how aptly the Portions of the Wicked let them be never so fat or fair like Esau's here are termed Rods to plague oft-times both themselves and others as Dives's Portion did But the Portion of the Godly is stiled a Lot and a pleasant one as David's 16 Psal 6. or a Cup of Blessing indeed like Jacob's and of abundance like Benjamin's Gen. 33.11 Gen. 44.2 Rod To th' Goshen of the good extend 'T is thence remov'd by God Do good still to the Good O Lord To him whose Heart and Line Bend not to wrong whose Feet ne're trod Ways which to Hell encline Since such as crooked ways encline To do or cherish ill God shall drive from him but design Peace to his Israel For such c. Gloria Patri c. To Father Son and * The suddain change in the expression of God from the second Person to the third As it is an elegancy in the Original so it may note such shall not know God in the second Person of the Trinity as a Saviour but at a far greater distance as a Judge Heb. 10.38 39. who draw back and turn aside perverting their way which is already crooked Prov. 14.2 to more depraved Obliquities and desperate Apostacy after a profession of the right way But they shall be tortured with Hypocrites and Unbelievers while he shall be kept like Israel Gen. 32. in perfect Peace whose Mind is stayed on God Isa 26.3 to the greater vexation of those Edomites who perhaps sometime persecuted him Ghost we bow One glorious God w' adore As in beginning was is now And shall be evermore CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Sixth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXV PSALM O Thou immutable Lord God most faithful Creator Redeemer and Comforter I desire not only to believe of thee in the world to credit what thou art in thy self but to trust to what thou sayest in thy Gospel to rely on thee for what thou dost at present and acquiesce in thee for what thou wilt do hereafter and stay my self on thee through thine everlasting good pleasure For thou art the Lord that dost not change and therefore we are not consumed but are converted from Creatures to thy Children confirmed from our weaknesses by thy Spirit and continued in thy service with thy self Ah the safety the assurance the steadiness the solace the sole and supernatural satisfaction that is in fulness of Faith upon thee the Messiah the Lamb of God who makest us thereby the Temples of the living God the City of the Lamb the New Jerusalem that shall ascend up above and be made illustrious with all the Jewels of the concord regularity and brightness of Spiritual Graces as with the eternal Riches of ineffable Love and heavenly Glory So that we shall never be removed from our Abode in Jesus Christ thou hast made our Rock so strong and if we believe surely we shall be establish'd for ever for the foundation of God stands sure As we shall here be surrounded with the munition of Rocks the Rock of Ages and all his Angels like Jerusalem the holy City so also we shall be wholly blest and saved to the very uttermost For neither the blasts of Temptation the Spirit that rules in the Children of Disobedience shall attack the corners of our Dwellings as he did Job's Sons nor from the Wilderness assault us as he did our Saviour to spoil our Labours or our hopes Nor shall the storms of Tribulation be able to beat upon our House so as to make it shake or totter For though our building of Faith be raised high even unto the Heavens yet it is no Babel it is no Jericho but a Fabrick that the Lord will bless and defend and because it stands upright it shall stand fast for ever The strength of our confidence in God shall put to flight the Armies of those Aliens that would enter and destroy its strong holds for there are Mountains of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about the Faithful to secure them so that they cannot be immur'd or shut up