Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	good_a	work_n	work_v	6,969	5	7.2984	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33746	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	58,602	103

with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being sung with loud and frequent Responses by the Levites at the erecting and re-edifying of the Temple and therefore intended by me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as an Anthem for the Day of a Nativity or Baptism For Shrove-Tuesday or a Wedding TIL God the House doth build and Fa mily maintain Workmen tho' ne're so strong or skill'd La bour a las in vain Fa ther 's get Sons in vain in vain the Watchmen ward our Gates un less the Lord or dain his Host to be our Guard In vain a Life we keep Rise early late take Rest Fare hardly For I take it with the 72 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when others take pains with care to provide for their Families God's Beloved thrive better and yet do not so much as lose their sleep or rest in pursuit of thòse enjoyments which others incessantly toyl for This shews the vanity of our Solicitude as the other sence viz. so he gives speaks God's Blessing of honest Labour whereby he brings Rest and makes both it and what else got by Labour pleasant according to Eccless 5.11 lose our loved Sleep 'Till God our Stock hath blest But they whom God hath blest Like Job regain their Peace Nempe Dilectis Domini viz. Jedidiah's such as Solomon God gives his Jedidiahs Rest And with their Rest Encrease Look All Children are given as an Inheritance passing from the Father of Heaven to us not purchased by our own Ability but the Wise and Good are more than David's pleasant and goodly Heritage for they are also a Reward as here and a Crown especially such as are born to us in our stronger and youthful Age who may be grown up and able to give advice and assistance and ready at hand to help or adorn as Arrows in the Quiver of an Archer so that we may go in or out of the Gates of our House City or Lie with honour and safety and speak either with Friends or Foes strong or great the Judge or General Whether it be in public in the sight of all as Aben Ezra construes in Portâ or whether it be in the place where the People assemble where the Nobles meet where the Thrones are set the Prophets prophecy the Right is pleaded the Guards are kept the Soldiers stand and the Judges fit as they did formerly in the Gate Vide Ruth 4.1 1 King 22.10 2 King 7.20 Judg. 9.52 c. ev'n our best Encrease Ruth 4.13 Gen. 30.2 Children come from the Lord Those Fruits of th'Womb which some may guess Man's Work are God's Reward Children both give and Ward A blow for though but young To Parents they 're a double Guard Like Weapons to the Strong Those Shafts help against wrong Life against Death provide Like Jonathan's they home are flung To shield our threaten'd fide Happy the Man whose side Bears Quivers of such Arms For wheresoe're his Cause is try'd He 's quit of Shame and Harms Thus we whom God hath Blest Like Job regain our Peace Since God gives his Beloved Rest And with our Rest encrease Gloria Patri c. To God the Father Son And God the Holy-Ghost Be Glory and let every one Strive who shall praise God most HOSANNA CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Eighth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The GXXVII PSALM GRacious Father who workest hitherto as thy Son also worketh look upon us thy Workmanship make us thy Building who as lively Stones well wrought and figured would be built up a Spiritual House unto thee And we know except thy Divine Wisdom thus frame and raise us bearing up the Pillars of our Strength hewing out the Stones of our hard Hearts to be polished Corners of thy Temple we shall prove but sorry Tabernacles but foolish Builders and Labourers in vain For who amongst us can say that he hath made his Heart clean Who can come to the Rock to lay a good Foundation except it be given him from above Or who can keep himself so clean as that the foul and wicked Spirit touch him not nor enter in again after he hath been cast out of a Man except thou O Lord who art stronger than the Enemy dost watch and defend the House of the poor Soul Thou must work all our Works in us and for us for without thee we can do nothing O therefore raise strengthen stablish and compleat us thou glorious Solomon thou who must edifie us by thy Apostles and Teachers and instruct us how to be Temples for thy holiest Spirit and the Heritage of the Lord for evermore We must acknowledge that our best Skill and carefullest Actions our Watchings and Fastings our Righteousness and Charities are as Stones which thou O Master Builder mightest refuse being fit for nothing but to debase and throw us down to Hell affording us no prop or safe reliance upon them 'T is thou alone O truest Jedidiah that foundest thy beloved Church upon the Corner-Stone of Faith which edifies with joy and peace with rest and firmness in believing So build us up we beseech thee and watch over our Souls that we may not be found to have watch'd or to have work'd to have instructed our Hearts to have cleansed our Hands in vain but to have done the Work and compleated the Task which thou hast appointed us to do by edifying both our selves and others in our most holy Faith We throw our selves Lord Jesus on thy gentlest Bosom of Compassions to be regarded and instructed by thee and trust that we are not Judas's whilst we eat of thy Bread and drink of thy Cup but shall be unto thee Sons and Daughters such an Inheritance as may be the Crown of thy Rejoycing the purchase of thy Labours the proof of thy Power the Arrows in thy Quiver with which thou mayest triumphantly come to the Almighty and say Behold me and the Children which thou hast given me Let not thine Arms be full or weary dear Lord 'till thou hast enclosed our Souls within them and made us so the Children of thy strength as that we may be able to come with boldness to the Throne of Grace and neither be affrighted when we meet with our Enemies in the Gate of Death nor when we shall speak with our Accuser and our Judge at the great Tribunal of the last day From the various Proofs of thy tenderness over thy Flock in giving them repose and comfort and blest content in the midst of their hard fare hard work and harder want O skilful Shepherd of our Souls let us learn to cast our Care upon thee for our protection and provision for thy presérvation of our Persons and propagation of our Families and if thou carest for us we need take no more care than Abraham did for God will provide for us for our Off-spring for our chief Good and for his Glory The Lord shall build his David a House and he will be an exceeding great Reward even above that of the

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 Psalm of 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 For S. John's day WHO on the Lord do build their Trust like Si on they command up in to Heav'n their Heads they thrust their Feet un mo-ved 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 Hill 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 Divers'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 Gin. 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 Hib. 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

let none be dumb But Father Son and Ghost adore Who was and is and is to come Thrice Blessed God for evermore CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Seventh PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXVI PSALM O Most dear Redeemer Jesus who wouldest be the Lord our Righteousness we must confess thou mightest justly become our Enemy as Joseph's Brethren became his Foes because of the multitude of our Dreams those vain conceits of Happiness which have been trusted and lean'd upon though but Egyptian Reeds have greatly merited thy Punishment and our farther deceptions We have deserved to be most terribly mistaken like the hungry wretch who dreams he eats but he awakes and behold he is faint and the more afamisht Thus are our Souls but the more starved by those Visions of the Night those short unsatisfying pleasures those shadows and fond imaginations in which we have been lull'd asleep by the Flesh the World and the Evil one leading us Captive by them at their pleasure But Lord if thou wilt teach us like thy self to lead Captivity Captive and to subdue their triple Band that lies in Ambush against us as Abimelech's against the Men of Shechem then shall we be like the Widow's Son raised even from the Dead We shall not only recover our strength wonderfully as did the Cripple before we go hence but be recalled with Lazarus to newness of Life and have our Wills and Faculties unbound our Mouths and Hearts opened our Hands and Feet loosed and enlarged to sing the Praises of the Lord to run the Paths of his Commands and to teach Transgressors his ways that so Sinners may be converted unto him admiring the great things which God hath done for us and we praise him for continually for as God's Praise must be ever in our Mouths upon the account of his miraculous Redemption of us who were conquered and taken enslaved and sold so ought we incessantly to pray for the Conversion of others remembring those that are in Bonds as bound with them and that thy Servants O Christ who are many may be made one Bread and they who sit in the darkness of Ignorance or in the shadows of Error may be delivered from the power of Satan into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Blessed Lord thou hast Brethren here that the World knows not nor thinks to be such O! that all the Sheep though they have gone astray may be reduced from their Wanderings and brought out of their Wilderness Condition and desert State by resting on the Shoulders of thy Power and leaning on the Bosom of thy Love O thou well-beloved and best loving Jesus how grateful gracious and desirable how profitable sweet and suitable will such a stream of Grace prove to thine Israel in their Pilgrimage It will be a Well springing up and raising thy poor Creatures unto Life it will be like drops upon the tender Herb like showers upon the thirsty Ground making the hard-hearted and barren Soul to rejoyce and to break forth into gladness and into fruitfulness For when thy Word distills like the Dew and thou sendest a gracious Rain upon thine Heritage it must needs be refresh'd and renew'd like the face of the good Ground which thou hast Bless'd for that which is sterile is nigh unto Cursing but that which kindly receives the Rain that comes oft upon it brings forth Food meet for him by whom it is dressed what kind of Husbandry soever he useth towards it So we beseech thee grant O thou good Husbandman that since thou dost so plentifully shower amongst us thy benefits and the good tidings of the Gospel we may bring forth the fruits of thy Spirit such as are proper for our places and conditions and for the Ages of our Lives and of the World what way soever thou takest with us whether thou break us up by the Plough of Afflictions or dig about us by forbearance and prosperities We know that he who Sows the good Seed of thy Grace in an honest Heart with the Tears of true Remorse although the Enemy should mingle Tares among the Wheat yet being a painful Labourer shall Reap a good Crop at the Harvest of the World and that with Joy and not with Grief for godly Sorrow worketh Repentance unto Salvation not to be repented of Let us not therefore sorrow as do many for Temporal losses but rather let us rejoyce that thou pourest down plentifully of thy Grace upon us which is better than abundance of Corn and Wine And so even when we go forth with Peter weeping bitterly for our Sins if we hear with us the precious Seeds of Adoption and Regeneration and these abide with us although we may lye down in the dust of Death or go out of the Land of the Living here yet shall we come again with Bosoms full of Joy and with Arms full of a Jesus that went out before us bearing our Reproach and who with Tears and strong Cries pleaded for the handful that was given him out of the World and shall come again like a happy Reaper bringing Sheaves of Corn with him that the people whom he hath laboured for and united unto himself may be crowned with Victory Prosperity and Glory and compleated with Gladness with him for evermore Amen THE EIGHTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXVII PSALM Was complied by Solomon as a Compendium of his Ecclesiastes shewing the vanity and therein the vexation of all worldly Travel and Care without God's Blessing in the principal instances of this Life's concernment which are the building of our Houses by strength and safety as in the first Verse by Frugality and Wealth as in the second Verse and chiefly by Children and Heirs to make our Habitations Names and Inheritances to remain for ever as much as in us lieth as in the third And this I take to be the meaning here of building an House as it is the work of the Master of a Family in Oeconomy rather than that of the Mathematician in Architecture And in this sense the Phrase is taken oft in Scripture as we read Exod. 1.21 God gave the Midwives for their Faith Hope and Charity Protection Riches and Progeny to support their Families So likewise 1 Chron. 17.10 11. the promise of God's building David's House is explained by giving him Issue which should establing his Kingdom better than Solomon could do notwithstanding all his Wisdom Power and number of Women since we read but of one Son and he weak and infirm which that mighty Builder raised up to support the Royal State Crown and Dignity of the House of David Well then might the Author of this Psalm who hath inserted his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second Verse be a Type of the Messiah and begin to affirm and reiterate the Nisi Dominus here and infer that Except the Lord David 's Lord as well as Son did build his House Solomon and other Kings should but labour in vain This Psalm might be superscribed

he and so great a Bearer as that she hall cover and adorn all the sides of his House and bring him clusters of Eshcol Grapes of Sion Loads of Comfort and Satisfactions Tokens of Plenty and Delight for having trodden the Wine Press alone And then O beloved Husbandman when thou shalt visit this Vine and behold the Off-spring which thou hast brought her with transports of Joy and Contentation O! then look upon me and mine and see us grafted into the right Olive though we be sprung from that which is wild by nature that we may grow up as Plants of thy own planting and flourish round about thy Table For this hath God promised unto thee O Christ and we beseech thee to make it good unto us by making us thy Children O Lord how should we praise honour and serve thee Were 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 wither 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 For all they may say though not of a Truth what once a Sennacherib and a Rabshakeh falsly affirmed That God is with us Quà de causâ à me Selectus est hic Hymnus in Tertium Septembris Propter M. O. C. nec 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 ●6 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 Exod. 2.24.25 God broke my Cords which they did bind And made them Captive if not kind Exod. 5.19 Mark 15.15 Long did they with deep Furrows wound And Plow my Back as 't were their Ground But the good Husbandman now cracks John 15.1 The Ploughman's Whip on their own Backs 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 Psal 73.6 Prov. 16.18 Mat. 13.5 Like Fools wax faint like Cowards fly Whom Pride doth cloath Shame shall confound As Corn that grows in no good Ground 2 Sam. 11.4 Dan. 4.30 31. But stands with Kings on the House-Top Where comes a Blast and that 's its Crop Its 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 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

wonderfully wisely and kindly seen to reconcile the World what is that but Vileness Vanity and Vexation Frailty and a Curse unto himself that Man might be far more able than he was by the Glasses and Laver of the Tabernacle both to see his Spots and Pollutions to get clean from them and that God might be consider'd and admired not so much in the broken Glass of Nature nor in the blotted Book of the Creature which shew us his power and greatness as in the Face of a Redeemer in the Testament of the holy Jesus which most plainly and yet most gloriously speaks thy Love and Goodness and calls for ours since if thou hast so loved this naughty World and us that help to make it worse how ought we to love thee and also to love one another O how good as well as how pleasant a thing it is to know Christ as our Head and we our selves his Members This is as sweet and useful as Life it self to make our short Lives here not tedious to our selves or others nay this is Life Eternal because Charity never fails We shall have that Grace for all if we are Christians we shall keep it always if we are Saints for it is Holiness and will be Happiness it is the Oyl that from our Head from our everlasting Aaron falls down to the very Skirts of his Clothing to revive and refresh the lowest and most humbled Sinner if believing and it is that Anointing from above which we must not want especially at the last Article of Life in the greatest extremities of Temptation but we must carry it along with us into our Father's presence then shall we be in his sight as a Field which the Lord hath blest then will he smell the Odour of our elder Brother's Vest upon us and we shall inherit the Promises and abide in his Love in the participation and in the propagation thereof Divine Love being the Dew of Heaven that causes the fruitfulness of the Earth it makes us high and white like Hermon pleasant and safe as Mount Sion it makes our Superiours and the great ones of the Earth not to be Rocks of Offence to us but to be rather as the shadows of a Rock in a dry Land needful Supports convenient Sanctuaries and Refreshments and it causes God to command a Blessing on us from all degrees of People above us and of conditions round about us Therefore Dear Lord help us to live in such Concord and brotherly Kindness as that we may be Blessed from all our Relations from our Superiours by having the Oyl of Spiritual Blessings and the Dew of Temporal Favours bestowed on us Love and good Will from Equals Prayers and good Wishes from Inferiours being so careful and affectionate both for thy Priests and for our Princes as that neither Moses nor Aaron may be murmured at but obeyed by us and we may be protected and guided by their Hands in the Spirit and Practice of all true Love and Charity for the honour of our Christian Profession and for the glory of thy holiest Name O Christ Jesus our Lord who livest and reignest c. THE FIFTEENTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXXIV PSALM Was composed by David De Muys thinks as well as the former and appointed to put the People in mind of their more solemn Times of Meeting with that pious charitable and unspotted Souls with which they ought to approach God this being an Euge an incitement to all who are the Lord's Servants to be constant and pure in his Service as a particular hoc age to the Priests at the Canonical Hours of Prayer and stated Times of public Worship to lift up clean Hands and holy Hearts It is a proper Close to the preceding Hymns being often sung at Midnight at the end of the Nocturnal Offices by the Jews and design'd by me for the Eves of our greater Festivals It is an Exhortation generally directed not only to the Priests who kept the Watch in the Temple so to the People who watched their Days and Nights for many departed not as you may gather from Psal 92.2 and Luke 2.37 It seems to me most probable that this Psalm was composed by Ezra the Priest or some of his Time not only because it is the last of the Graduals which were accommodated for the Return from Captivity but because it is Dramatic chiefly concerning the Priests who stand by night in the House of the Lord or as the 72d in the Courts of the House which was not built in David's time and therefore it is not so likely a composition of David's but of Ezra when the holy manner of worshipping God was restored Ezra 8.6 and the Priests set in their Courses Vers 7. In the first Verse of this Psalm I should suppose the Choir joyning to the Music and then the Chief Priest for that Watch giving the rest Directions as in the second Verse and they again in the third Verse blessing him for it is Bless thee and not yee though in my version I use the Plural throughout A Nocturnis for Christmas Eve ALL ye whô God's Do me stics are see you with An gels wait and in your Courses like each Star by Night shine at Heav'ns Gate Look while ye stand Among the Jews the Choir stood the People kneeled the High-Priest sate and the washings of their Hands and Feet so frequent during the time of their officiating were call'd Sanctifications or kneel or sit Ye serve and bless the Lord Look that your Hands God's Altar fit And to his Praise accord Look ye be clean for Holiness Becomes God's holy Place Watch well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 72. is short of the Original though it means in holy Things as well as Places for it signifies Holiness in the Abstract Christ typified by the Ark of the Covenant and such Holiness in Men as could adapt them for the discharge of their Duty which is hinted by the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.8 And this was signified by the Jews often washing their Hands and Feet before their Praying which was stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctification Vt alibi indigitavi and Pray that Filthiness None of God's Works deface Then God who made the World and stays On Sion Grace shall send 'Till he shall Bless and we shall Praise From hence World without end Gloria Patri c. To God the Father God the Son And God the Holy-Ghost Be Glory giv'n by ev'ry one Who make the Lord their Boast AMEN CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Fifteenth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXXIV PSALM O Thou that acceptest not the Persons of Princes nor regardest the Rich more than the Poor since they are all alike the Works of thy Hands grant that we may not be such Fools as to forget thee in any time of our quiet fulness or repose lest thou come at an Hour when thou art not look'd for by us and find us unfit for thy Appearance who canst