implacable Adversary who hunts after our Souls and ceases not like a Dog to go about seeking whom he may devour Lord deliver thou my Darling from his Power as thou didst St. Paul even at such a dismal time when I may seem in his very Jaws then let my Soul escape and get away and find a way to serve thee as that chosen Vessel did who could Pray and sing Praises unto thee even at Midnight so let us endeavour to worship the Lord with holy Worship with clean Hands and a pure Heart that we may stand on his holy Hill and remember in all the Formalities of outward Cleanness to keep our Spirits pure and in all our Approaches to thee to keep our selves unspotted of the World to this end give us inward Holiness and the Sanctifications both of Heart and Life that in the darkest hour of Temptation in the deadest time of Distress in the cloudiest night of Trouble or of Agonies we may lift up our Praises and Adorations unto thee who canst send thine Angel as thou didst once thy Son at such a time to comfort and recover our vile Natures and to command Deliverances unto thy People even from thy most holy Place O! that we may be of the number of those who qualifie themselves by thy Service for the better discharge of their Duty and thy Will that having the filthy Garments of our own evil Thoughts Words and Actions like Joshua's the High-Priest's taken off from us we may not have Satan left at our right Hands to accuse or command us but may see Jesus at thy right Hand interceding for us and being cloathed in the long Robes of his Righteousness we may lift up our Hands in thy Sanctuary and bless thee for evermore who hast made the Heavens as well as the Sea for thy Children to adore thee in O! Our Father c. THE FIFTEEN Psalms of Degrees OR ASCENTS Are so called because they were sung Anthem-wise by several Parts of the Choir with Elevation of Voice on some higher Ground or place of advantage perhaps on the Steps of the Temple which in Ezekiel's Vision are mentioned to be Fifteen in number Ca. 40. v. 22.34 And just so many Stairs say the Talmudists were there mounting from the Women's Court to the Men's on which they fancy these PSALMS were sung and therefore thus termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aquila and Symachus But I think rather because they were much used by the Hebrews upon their coming up from Babylon and at the building of the second Temple Cap. 8. as may be guessed from Nehemiah at which time they might indeed begin very properly with the 120th Psalm by reason of the contempt and calumniation of their ill-willers at that time who were such as are there described Arabians crafty and cruel Adversaries who maliciously opposed both their unloosing the Chains of Captivity and the erection of their Buildings Need was there then of Songs of Eâ—â—â—ation and Ascents to advance God's high Deliverances of them and exalt his Praise and Glory in the most excellent way of rejoycing which was in their eminent Music as the Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendered Cantica Dignitatum may likewise bear As also to revive their drooping Spirits by some pleasant kind of Melody or lofty Note well known to the Jews by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some suppose may here import no more than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the front of other Psalms viz. to notifie that the Tune or Key these were to be sang in was the same with such other Psalms as were known to begin with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS
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
Godliness shoot forth every where in our Land in the great City in Princes Courts and in thy House and ours so that thou mayest have Mercy on Zion and repair the breaches of thy Jerusalem while she that sate Disconsolate as a Widow may now be feasted with Bread from Heaven with the Manna of Divine Ordinances duly administred so that no Soul amongst us may go empty away but that even he who gathers least may have no lack Exod. 16.18 Lord thou canst make thy holy Viands like David's Provision at the Passover be dealt so plentifully to every one as that none shall be unprovided for or ashamed who depend like Ruth upon thy Bounty but they who despise thee shall be wrapt up in Confusion as in a Cloak Therefore let thy Servants joy in thy Salvation and all our People know the Lord acknowledging his Goodness and his Bounty that blesses the Abundance of the Rich and fills the Hungry with good things that both may have Bread enough and neither want nor repine but seek their Food of God while he makes those that depart wickedly from him to continue in shame and scarcity Ah! that we may stand in a we and not sin lest we inherit the promotion of Fools instead of the Kingdom and Crown of David so provide for us gracious Master in every state and condition as may seem best to thy God-like Wisdom and prove most to thine Eternal Glory if not to ours O! Our Father c. THE FOURTEENTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXXIII PSALM Was composed by David as some think at his Coronation 2 Sam. 5. 1 Chr. 1. 2 Pet. 1.7 1 Sam. 17.29 1 Sam. 18. 2 Sam. 1. 2 Sam. 3. 2 Sam. 10. 9. 18. c. after his eight years Civil War to exhort the People to Love and Amity according to the exhortation of the Apostle for those were the Graces which did most adorn his Life both when a public and a private Person and so this Psahn as the next was fitted for the most Solemn Times of Worship and the happy Return from Bondage and Captivity because it magnifies the pious Accord Uniformity and Blessed Communion of the Church of God in all Times It Celebrates the Excellencies of Love both in and towards God and Man it reflects much Joy from the Consideration of the Mystical Union between Christ and his Members whom he owns as Brethren who shall live and live together also with him though he is their High Priest Rock and Prince according to the most apt Comparisons of the holy Oyl and high-born Dew which Similies In Zorobabel and Joshua Types of the Messiah as well as the Subject were so well calculated to the Time when there was a Prince and an High Priest restored again to Israel that it is no wonder we find it placed among the Graduals Some apply it to all the Israelites Love one towards another who were Brethren of the same Stock as we are all in Adam and likewise to their Love of their Ruler who was higher than the rest as was shewn in Saul like Mount Hermon and Sion more advancing than other Hills Therefore to animate us with the like affections towards our Brethren Parents and Superiours they say the Priest's Blessing is compared to the Sacred Oyl and the Prince's Favour to the fruitful Dew according to that expression of the Wisest of Kings which descends from the highest to the lowest and is both pleasant and profitable to all Prov. 19.12 as the Heathen Poet Meander once quoted by St. Paul himself could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some of the Rabbins think it a particular Eulogy of the Concord and Conformity among the Priests in their Religious Exercises and therefore mention is made of Aaron the most Anointed of the Lord as he may be termed rather than chief Anointed because most Oyl was expended on him BE╌hold how plea╌sant ' t is For Saint George's or All-Saints Day how good But O! how rare and hard to find Brethren of the same House and Blood be╌come of the same way and mind Like Sampson's Honey strong and sweet Judg. 14.14 'T is thus to see Men's Hearts and Hands As Jonathan's and David's meet Twisting together in Love's Bands 1 Sam. 18.3 When Prince and People so are one As that the Oyl pour'd on his Head 2 Sam. 19.39 5.3 19.23 Down to the lowest Limb doth run In Grace and Peace and Pardon spread 'T is like the precious Ointment shed Levit. 8.12 Upon the High Priest's hallow'd Crown Which both perfum'd his Beard and Head And thence upon his Clothes fell down Thus have I seen Clouds big with Rain First give their Dews to all the Hills And then show'r Wealth on the low Plain As Friendship benefits distills On Friendship 's Fleece God's Love brings down Judg. 6.38 39. Blessings as numberless as Drops Which from Mount Sion deck the Town Vide Hammond And cloath the Fields from Hermon's Tops As to the Vale these Mountains are So to the Weak the Potent prove Useful and kind though distant far Yet center'd like the World by Love For all our Comforts come from Love By Love God gives the Happy Life That Blest below and best above There without end here without strife Gloria Patri Glory to him who makes our Bliss To the one God in Persons three As in beginning was now is And shall be to Eternity AMEN CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Fourteenth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXXIII PSALM O Blessed Father who hast made many of us of one Blood and Kind O blessed Saviour who hast made us many of one Bread and one Lump O blessed Spirit who art the Love both of the Father and of the Son shed this abroad into all our Hearts abundantly look upon us graciously O thou only one most loving and pitying Lord God! that we may look upon thee better though it be but darkly at the best in that Sea of Glass before the Throne in that clearest mirror and reflection of thy favour to Mankind to wit in Christ incarnate in whom God is most 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
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
pursuit of those 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 Eccles 5.11 lose our loved Sleep 'Till God our Stock hath blest But they whom God hath blest Like Job regain their Peace God gives his Jedidiahs Rest Nempe Dilectis Domini viz. Jedidiah's such as Solomon 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 Liâ—e 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 Children come from the Lord Ruth 4.13 Those Fruits of th' Womb Gen. 30.2 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 side 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 CXXVII 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 purchse 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 preservation 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 Fruit of the Womb unto his Friend Abraham whose Children we are if we believe as he Lord we believe help our unbelief that we might not throw away our loved sleep much less our best beloved Souls in carking after the things of this Life whether they be Pleasures Profits Power Posterity Preferments or vain Past-times for what are these in respect of a Soul But giving up our Souls Estates and Concernments into the hands of a faithful Creator who is able to keep them and us to the very uttermost let us be preserved not only in perfect Peace and Prosperity in this Life but also in a happy and safe Repose even in Death it self when we expect to rest from our Labours and to sleep in Jesus Amen THE NINTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXVIII PSALM Is a Description of the Felicities
befit Men to pry nicely into that thou mightest stoop to the weaknesses of thy Body the Church and comply more absolutely with the divine Will and Compassionate more serisibly the Infirmities or Ignorances of Mankind O most gracious condescending Jesus how were thy Delights among the Children of Men while thou didst not behave thy self like a Simon Magus like an Impostor that would be admired for some God below but like thy Servant Moses didst vail thy self that thou mightest be conversed withall and didst not walk too much obscured by thine own Lustre and Transcendency but didst leave the Doctors and Learned Jews to go down with thy humble Mother into Galilee and to be subject unto her as a weaned Child And though thou wouldest not exercise thy self in things too high for thee yet O! how low wouldest thou appear in thy Employments How plain in thy Countenance how easie and affable in thy Conversation that Publicans and Sinners and little Children might come unto thee and hear thy excellent Discourses and taste thy miraculous Provisions while thou wentest about doing good and telling Men that they should follow thy steps in being meek humble quiet and contented doing Good readily suffering Evil patiently as dear Children Lord How then should we abhor our selves when we either think of thee or of our selves How unlike are we become to thee if we claim any Kindred with thee For do we not still continue like Leviathan among the Sons of Pride Do we seem little in our own Eyes as thy Servant David did when thou didst make him a great King Or rather do we not lift up our Wills and Understandings and walk with a stiff Neck of Perversness in opposition to thee as it were aiming even at Heaven it self like the Tail of the old Serpent So far are we from receiving the Kingdom of Heaven like little Children But O! when then shall it once be that we shall not be High-minded but fear and love and own thee to be Lord over us Then shall we not rashly venture with Uzzah to meddle with those things which are unmeet for us or forbidden to us but we shall be weaned from our Mother Earth from the love of this dirty World and from loving its foul Inclinations and we shall cast our Cares and Affairs on thee renouncing all Self-Trusts or Conceits to level the face of our Souls before the feet of the holy Jesus that when thou comest O most holy Spirit to prepare the way of the Lord in us he may find no Rock nor Mountain nothing too hard or haughty in us nothing untractable or inaccessible to obstruct or oppose his Progress But O! let the too mighty Elevations of my vain Thoughts be brought down and the crooked ways of my Heart be made strait and the rough ways of my Condition be made smooth that my Soul may be still quiet with me and still'd and quietted by thee Rebuke the tempestuous Motions of a froward Mind that I may repose my self sweetly and safely on thy Promises on thy Provisions and resign my self wholly to thy Inspirations And God grant that all thine Israel may like Jacob wrastle with Principalities and Powers even in the highest and most heavenly Things and though never so much in a Night of Cares and darkest perplexities or to encounter with enraged Enemies yet let them wait and hope on the Lord and stay and strengthen themselves on their God as David did at Ziklag for he is a sure Reward and a constant Reward a Pillar of Fire and a Pillar of a Cloud a Sun and a Shield in whose Name we ought to trust denying our own Conjectures Affections and Desires rather than an absolute Dependance on him for ever and ever AMEN THE THIRTEENTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXXII PSALM Is a Narration of David's Devotion and of God's Promises and Appointment as to David and his Seed and the setling of the Ark on Sion which was a Type of the stability of Christ's Kingdom and of the future Felicities of his Servants in the Reign of the Son of David the Messiah the Horn spoken of here in Verse 17 as the Rabbins agree which the Apostle proves Acts 2.30 Therefore it was solemnly used at the Rebuilding of Jerusalem 2 Chron. 6.41 42. Deut. 12.11 1 Chron. 17.11 12. and most probably as Grotius thinks a composition of Solomon's at his raising of the Temple for the Honour of God and the Place containing in it part of Solomon's Prayer part of God's Promise to the Jews and to David But Kimchi and others think it made by David at that very time 1 Chron. 21.26 1 Chron. 22.1 when the scituation of the future Temple was miraculously shewn unto him as it is hinted in the word Invenimus by the Sign from Heaven For as David was absolutely forbidden the building of a Temple so 'till the Prophet Gad came to him with a Divine Command 1 Chron. 17.12 That he should build an Altar in the Threshing-Floor of Araunah For all his great desire like Abraham's to see such a glorious Day and notwithstanding his Devotion like Jacob to the Service of God yet he knew not the place that God would chuse as his Heaven upon Earth for his most eminent and suitable Habitation Therefore his Care and Concern chiefly reflecting on his Vows here made were the more considerable and might well be stiled Afflictions worthy to be Commemorated as well as his former Persecutions His constant Humility Meekness pious Sollicitude and Affection for God's Service demonstrated in 2 Sam. 7.2 and 1 Chron. 17.16 and all these senses the word Afflictions will bear as I have shewn in my Version Where also I have endeavoured to be as clear as I could in the Exposition of that dark place of the sixth Verse Hic versus plurimum Hebraeos fatigat inquit clarius which by some Commentators like the Jewish Arab. here is render'd much more shady and obscure so that the Elegant Castalio was forced to confess That he understood not the meaning of the Text viz. Verse 6. Therefore herein as all along by the help of the Crities with the assistance of the Learned Hammond and De Muys I strive to sum up briefly as much of the sense as my Verse and Knowledge will give me leave to do Yet I cannot omit Buchanan's Version of this hard Sentence which is as singular as his Paraphrase elsewhere is excellent Fama licet Patriae multum promitteret orae Inter saxa tamen Sylvestribus obsita dumis Monstravit Deus ipse locum Deus ipse perenne Hic Templum Templique sacris sedem innuitarie Though Fame hath promis'd much to Judah's Coast By the Ark's stay whereof our Towns may boast Yet God himself hath shown and we have found Old Prophecies which did at Bethlem sound Fulfill'd on woody Hills where the Ark stood Or where it was to stand high as a Wood. For the Woods of the Field or the Fields