pray and hope like a Souldier that God would be his Shade as well as his Shield as near to him as his shadow that the Sun might not hurt him by Day nor the Moon by Night as Absalom and Achitophel the one by Day and the other by Night intended to have done And if we look on David as he went up the Ascent of Mount Olivet This Psalm was very proper for his Condition then as it is for any Person 's now in the interval of War the Phrases being throughout the whole Psalm Military and allusive to Souldiers besieged as in the first Verse relieved as in the second all-arm'd as in the third secured watched and guarded as in the fourth shielded and surrounded as in the fifth and sixth in the seventh and eighth hemm'd in and convoy'd out for Victory and Triumph For the Second of September and October Here shall I seek for aid 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 Gen. 8.11 Christ is the Ark to ground Thy Heart on when distrest From head to foot he 'll make thee sound Gen. 28.11 On him did Jacob rest Non dormitabit multo minù◠dormiet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quamvis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex impatientiâ lugentis Deus obdormire dicitut Psal 44.24 But he doth never rest From doing good nor sleeps Gen. 32.2 That with such Guards thou may'st be blest As he his Israel keeps Psal 22.1 4. Good Shepherd he doth keep 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 Dan. 3.27 Like the three Children's Skin 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 Antistrophe Give Blessings without end 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 the Father and the 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
Majesty and Excellency of the first Pen-man it is more reasonable that we should submit our Endeavours as Publicola did his Fasces to the use and benefit of the most and meanest rather than make them Trophies of our own Arrogance and our Brethren's weakness Our continual work is Mark 9.49 50. to have about us that Salt of Charity which may season our Offerings both to God and Man while we thank the one or assist the other It it not double Superstition and worse than Folly to court the Prayers of Men in Heaven and the Praises of Men on Earth 'T is enough to have an Interest quite otherwise in Religion and to forward Man's Good with God's Glory more than with our own or God's Blessing with our own good Deeds rather than with others good Words So that I would not be thought Censorious nor Singular nor any other ways Pharisaical in my Entertainments here Though I bring several Courses of Devotion they are not worthy to be compared to the good piece of Flesh and Flagon of Wine wherewith our great Exemplar once treated the People yet let these be never such course Fare they are really designed for a Blessing to all as David's Banquet was in 1 Chron. 16.34 and I can conclude with his Royal word As for me 1 Chron. 29.17 18. in the uprightness of my Heart I have willingly offered all these things Noli altum sapere sed time More ERRATA's in the First Part. PAg. 11. l. 34. read off l. 42. r. holiest p. 14. l. 3. insert thou p. 15. l. 30. insert is the wickedness of Folly Eccles 7.25 l. 41. dele from p. 16. l. 2. for from them read for Women In Margin Psal 92.13 l. 32. r. my p. 21. l. 14. dele the. l. 20. r. were p. 25. l. 43. r. they will p. 27. l. 19. r. weep thus dele this l. 34. insert and thine dele and. p. 28. l. 28. r. thee p. 32. in Margin insert Dan. 4.31.32 Jer. 51.9 p. 38. l. 30. dele a. p. 40. l. 42. in Margin Deut. 32.4 l. 45. dele the. p. 43. l. 32. insert for p. 48. l. 12. in Margin 2 King 6.16 23. to l. 46. in Margin Dan. 4. 12 13. p. 50. l. 25. for secured read soured p. 53. l. 38. read we may be ERRATA in the Second Part. PAg. 10. in Gloria Patri read To God to Father Son p. 21. l. 22. insert are given us p. 24. l. 20. dele as thou didst the Prophet which is twice repeated p. 26. l. 14. for O Lord read O God remove the * from l. 24. to l. 20. p. 35. l. 16. read establish his Kingdom p. 41. l. 32. read and a fruitful p. 45. l. 16. in Margin Isa 36.10 p. 48. l. 2. in Margin Ruth 2.4 p. 49. l. 17. read the Rods. l. 33. read preserved it p. 50. l. 4. read thou p. 55. l. 32. read Jewish l. 33. in Margin Jer. 38.12 13. p. 56. l. 2. in Margin Jonas 2.5 6. l. 17. read this present state p. 60. l. 6. for Loving read Leaving the Breast p. 61. l. 6. read Root p. 62. l. 3. read Uzzah l. 23. read Rereward p. 64. in Margin read Clarius in l. 23. read sedem innuit Aris. p. 68. in Marg. †read nictaturus sim p. 79. l. 13. read but to the people who watched there p. 84. l. 17. read Songs of Elevation And note This whole 84th Page should have been the first IN Psalmorum Laudem CHORUS 1. Angelorum 2. Hominum CHORUS THE PSALMS are Paradises Spring Streaming Refreshments every way They 1. Wine 2. Oyl 1. Milk 2. And Honey bring 1. To Cheer 2. To Cure 1. To Feed 2. T' Allay 1. When we are merry Psalms we sing 2. When we 're afflicted Psalms we say 1. They Heav'n's 2. And Earth's Devotions wing 1. While Angels Praise 2. Or Men do Pray CHORUS The PSALMS are Paradises Spring Streaming Refreshments every way c. THE FIRST Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXX PSALM It is a Complaint and Prayer against the falsness fraud and impious Designs rather than the force of inhumane Adversaries Because their Strength and Power may at least for a Time be from God's Will and Permission but Deceit and Perfidiousness owe their Birth to Men's Prevarications and the subtil Temptations of the Evil One And therefore ought the rather to be deprecated The Author of this Psalm is not known but supposed to be David and made by him upon the like occasion that the 7th the 34th and the 52d were Composed when he fled to Gath ob Aethiopem Jeminiensem as * In Psal 7. Castalio phraseth it or upon the implacable Fury of Saul truly and civilly as well as elegantly stiled A melancholy terrible Man Or else upon the malicious Information of a Cushite or Edomite against an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile which seems very probable from his Description of the Parties who were after the way of Mesech as the Aethiopians Cushites were and allied to the sordid Tents of Kedar or Arabia of which Country Doeg was a Native This Psalm likewise looks Prophetically at the sworn Enemies of Jerusalem 's Peace such as were the confederate Arabians and Asiaticks at the building the Temple and afterwards with Antiochus at the defacing of the same All which cruel and cunning Foes are expressed by * Ezek. 38.2 God and Magog For S. Steven's day or some time of Trial. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. IN my di stress and fear I cry'd unto the Lord who soon did help as hear when I this wish did word From Lips made foul by guile and wrongs and from false Tongues Lord save my Soul What Praise Quid tibi dabit aut quid addet tibi Spoken as to Saul perhaps by the Psalmist upon the account of Doeg what Profit shall The treachérous Tongue bring thee Poor Soul 't will scorch and Gall Thy self as well as me Having been streightned in my Verse I desire to observe in Prose the rare Elegancy of the Psalmist here who speaking of a desert state and place among the Sons of Ismael the great Archer he tells his savage Foes though Companions that they shall be struck with their own Weapons as Saul was and burnt with the Coals of the Wilderness where Juniper most abounds which was the most desolate and grievous Fire from the nature of the Wood and so proper fuel for the black Tents of Kedar and for Mesech the Asiaticks if taken for a People wild and wandering about in Wagons or living in Tents covered with Skins But if it referrs to a place it is well rendered by the LXXII whom I follow with Symachus and Aquila c 'T will doubly harm By Fire and Shot Like Darts made hot From some strong Arm. Why then O why so long Do I protract my Woes By wand'ring still among War's Friends and Peace's Foes I 'm in a Tent Who are on Theft Of Arabs left And
any other I had rather be a Door-keeper in thy Tabernacle than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Help us then to joyn with the blessed Choir both of the Church Militant and Triumphant in a Lesson of the best Service even Love and Charity which is the compleatest Religion the fulfiller of the Law the filler full of Heaven For see the Jerusalem that comes down thence as well as that which is above agrees in all its Parts and Graces and by its lovely Symmetry makes up the sweetest Harmony of Heaven and Earth declaring Charity the bond of Peace as Peace the breeder of Felicity Therefore while we see the present Concord and Conformity thou hast afforded our Nation we look with joy upon an Emblem of that glorious Day when thou shalt gather thy Children from the four Winds and bring then together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and to live with him for ever Lord 'till that time come preserve thy Church among us from Rent and Spot from Breach and Blemish and meet with us graciously as thou didst with Elijah in the soft mild Voice of thy Gospel in the savoury Breath of thy Spirit in the sweet Airs of our pious and public Services wherein make us to consent to Pray for the Peace of our Souls and of thy People as also for the Plenty of our Land for the Piety of our Governours for the Prosperity of their Government and Persons for the Purity of Religion for the Perpetuity of thy Church among us as also for Unanimity and Uniformity in the way of thy Worship that we may endeavour as well as desire the most durable Good here and an eternal Good hereafter to our selves and ours and all thine Which we beseech thee grant for Jesus Christ 's sake who is of the Stock and Lineage of David to whom belongs the Seat of Judgment for ever and ever Amen THE FOURTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXIII PSALM Is agreeable to the condition of David in the third Psalm as also to the sad State of the Israelites Composed perhaps by Ezra at Babylon and from that time frequent in use being Calculated for the Times of Trouble and Tyranny Wherein the Church as under Antiochus or some such insulting Oppressor prayeth complaineth and trusts to God The Priest beginning as it were with an Oremus to the People in the first Verse and then the whole Congregation joyning and going on with him to the end of the Psalm TO thee who dost a bide a bove the Starry Spheres yet hast our Griefs with Pi ty ey'd to thee we send our Tears To Heav'n this Spring of Tears From hence doth bubling rise Psal 121.1 Which from low Grounds our Passion rears To thee that hast our Eyes By Hand in the Text is understood help strength or protection by those who take the words of this Verse to imply the Servant's repairing to his Lord for succour and defence from Foreign injuries It also signifies bounty direction and correction to those who take the meaning as I apprehend it Nor do we need an Eye But to observe thy Hands Which way for Blessing us they lye By Chast'nings or Commands Since oft Gen. 48.14 19. like Israel's Hands Thine as a-cross are spread For God not Man best understands How to Crown Ephraim's Head Therefore we raise our Heads Not to repine but pray To mark how our chief Joshua leads And how we him obey As Soldiers still obey Their Leader's Staff and Rod And at their Becks do go or stay So wait we on our God Thy Smile or Frowns O God Like humblest Handmaids we Do bear and from our Lord's aboad Gen. 21.14 Do not like Hagar flee Jon. 1.3 No Jonas here will fly From thee Jon. 4.8 though Chasten'd thus We 2 King 5.2 as meek Servants carefully Stay 'till thou pity us Thy Mercy we implore Multum saturata est Anima subsannatione As if play'd upon and scossed at by the Soldiery while led in Triumph according to the expression in Psal 137.3 Thy speedy Mercy Lord For now our Lives are scorn'd nay more Our very Souls abhorr'd By those we are abhorr'd As we do loath their Pride Who can with Insolence afford To wrong us and deride But God shall them deride Whose Scorns o're-charge our Hearts When these are full and can abide No more God takes our parts And since God takes our parts To him our Tears shall glide To him we 'll lift our Looks and Hearts Who doth in Heav'n abide Now since God takes our part To him our Tears shall glide To him we 'll lift our Looks and Hearts Who doth in Heav'n abide Gloria Patri c. All Glory Praise and Bliss To th' Three in Unity Who as at first was God now is And evermore shall be CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Fourth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXIII PSALM O Thou great Lord and King that dwellest in the Heavens David hath taught me to lift up mine Eyes to thee and the Son of David hath better instructed me to call thee by thy Spirit Abba Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. That gracious Name of Our Father invites us Lord to call upon thee in the needful time of Trouble For though thou dwellest in the highest Heavens thou art not contained by them but from that thy Throne vouchsafest to look down upon what is done and suffered upon Earth So that in the deepest evils of our Sufferance as in all the good of our Enjoyment here we may still look up and see thy doing and be satisfied in the Wonder that thou dost so much for our advantage Ah! how marvellous is it in our Eyes that when Hope and Help both fail on Earth we can seek much higher for them and even then too when we are justly corrected because thou art a merciful King and behold we are thy Servants for all that thou hast afforded us We submit to thee with humble Fear and wait on thee with Thanksgiving and Praise thee for smiting and subduing us thy People under thee For thou dost as the King of Israel did to Benhadad thou beatest that thou mayest bring us to thy self thou conquerest that thou mayest be kind taking away a little that thou mightest give a better Kingdom Wherefore we beg and trust that when thou hast convinced us how worthy we all are of Hate Death and Disgrace that then thou wilt restore us to Life Favour and Prosperity Well may we be watchful Suppliants and Expectants for some Token of thy Pity when thy left Hand some sinister Providence is laid upon us because thou hast still thy right Hand the Man of thy right Hand to embrace thy Spouse when thy afflicting Hand is never so heavy upon her either by the Tyranny of Oppressors or by the Rod of Tribulation Let us rightly hearken to this Rod and see the Hand which hath appointed it and not look
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
the ASCENTS of the SOVL ASSENTS Psalmodia Colloss 3.16.17 1 Chron 16 Cap Design Psalm 3. 7. 10. 12. 4. â— â—… 18. 20. 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 2. 11. 13.14 29. 30. 31. 33. 23. 32. 34. 35. 8. 24. 44. 50 16. 25. 26. â—… 15. 27. 17. 22. 52. 6. 38. 51. 28. 37. 49 21. 39. 43 36. 41. 12. 40. 42 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epictet in Arrian Dissert lib. 1. cap. 17. LONDON Printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford Anno Dom. 1681. THE MIND OF THE FRONTISPIECE GReatness and Piety combine To make the Psalmodist Divine Good Actions following pure Intents His Soul ASCENDS his God ASSENTS TO THE Right Honourable THE LEARNED AUTHOR A PINDARIQVE ODE I. ROuze up dull Quill and never Dormant lye Upon thy Cotton Pillow stiff and dry Useless and void of all Activity I 'le not disturb thy Rest To travel long in quest Of some impertinent Romance To Ape the fond or sighing Lover No for by chance I lately did discover In a fair view upon the Prospect-Land Greatness and Goodness walking hand in hand II. By the safe Conduct of a gentle Muse I trac'd a Royal Court Which led me to the Sacred Fort Where Strength and Beauty might amuse Fifteen Ascents of fair and precious Stone Not such as here are found Did mount me from the lower Ground To view a large and wond'rous Throne Whereon I spy'd a David and a Jonathan III. A Jonathan who whilom did employ His Quill to imp his Dart Whereby not to annoy Young Jesse's Heart But Love and needful Secrets to impart One who is able to engage With the Goliahs of the Age Those Debauchees who complement A Cloud and labour to entice The very Principles of Vertue into Vice With gaudy and prophane Embellishment Now for the wanton Fancy's sake Their Souls lye canker'd in the Rust Of Ease ill-manag'd now they make Greatness a Pander unto Lust If ever Prophecy did nick the Times David foresaw their * Seurrilis Cant. de Davide Bath non ita pridem compos Dytherambique Rhimes For when he counts his Injuries and Wrongs He adds * Psal 69.12 On me the Drunkards make their Songs IV. Oft have I seen the Sun's declining Light Drowsily nod down to the Lap of Night But when next Morn the Champion wakes For 't is not long he Dreams About the Globe's wide Lists a gallant Ring he takes Brandishing his Lance of Beams And when he manages a well-drest Ray The Night-Mare Sleep as frighted starts away Old Darkness is dismounted by the brisk young Day The World 's call'd up again and Men revive With a more strong assurance that they live Thus when the shades of Drollery possest The Seat where Virgin Muses once did rest When we despair'd that pious Lays Or useful Rhimes should e're more guild our Days A Star strangely propitious did appear Darting its Splendors from the wise Men's Hemisphere They'd much of Goodness much of heav'nly Grace As far as that can mix with humane Race And did portend the overthrow Of fordid Wit if that be Wit that some call'd so V. Their low-born Muse arm'd with Poetic Rage And License basely congeed to the Stage They trod mean Paths whose whole Design and Wit Could reach no farther than the Neighb'ring Pit When as your tow'ring Soul Leaving us beneath All humane Passions doth controul And mount into those Regions where Is nought but pure and subtle Air Where common Mortals cannot breath VI. Go on thou noble Hero who dost know The Paths of Honour and of Vertue too A Soul so Skilful so inur'd to Good Never proud Greek or Roman understood They only built a gaudy Theater Sacred to Vertue thou hast rais'd thy self to her Such a clean Lodging ev'ry Soul may boast Who bears the Temple of the Holy-Ghost Others for Pomp or Safety may provide Against their fatal Day A costly Dungeon or a Memphian Pyramid T' inclose their Souls too with their mould'ring Clay While by the Virtue of thy sacred Fire Decree'd not to expire Your Honour shall surviving Fame Live in a heav'nly Cone of Flame VII When I peruse the Comment and the Text Nothing I find so dubious or perplext * Tit. 1.14 By Jewish Fables or Conceits of Men But your unerring Pen Dictator doth Commence And reconcile King David's sense With such Illustrations there As if thou wert his Privy-Counsellor Your Version modest and yet faithful too Shews what thou dost and able art to do VIII My Numbers must fall short of what is due To such pure Zeal and depth of Judgment too Fifteen Degrees Henceforth shall every Psalm Boast that it can Receive the Honour of thy skilful Name THE CHIEF MUSICIAN Then Pardon Sir if I aspire To kiss the lowest Step of your advanced Quire S. H. AD NOBILISSIMUM AUTHOREM JActitet immensi Salomonem Machina Templi Structorem Graduum te Chorus ipse canit * Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deos Mart. utpote Christus Templi Excidium praesagivit Illius obruitur moles operosa ruinâ Vim frustra his infers Vespasiane tuam Ficta Poetarum torpescant Numina quorum Gleba Sepulchralis Frigida Membra tegit Musanum Lymphis incassùm labra retingunt Ni prunam Linguis praebeat Ara suis Vestris aspirat caeptis Deus ille Deorum Et sic Divino jure Pocta cluis Te merito canimus cujus conscendere Scalam Laurea subrepens ambitiosa cupit Te miseret Plantae quoties tremebunda precatur Ut Paradisiacis insita vivat Agris O Dilecte Deo pergas tibi ut Orbis Honore Agnoscat nullum nec Pietate parem Oro ut dignêris Triviae Tentamina Musae Quâ placidâ semper Fronte videre soles Forsitan insolitum videar compingere Carmen Scilicet appositè scribere causa vetat Honoris vestri obsequio deditissimus S. H. TO THE Most Illustrious And Serenest STELLA MADAM AS soon as Nature had awaked my Duty in the tender of its Devotion to Lucinda I was prompted by Justice as well as Love to lay my next Offering at Your Feet because I must avow to all the World that nothing hath that Ascendant over my Soul as Ye Two have who make my Passions high yet honest Ye are Twin-Stars of the first Magnitude so that I cannot shew Ye my Respects without advancing my Religion Your Piety encouraging that unto some nobler Effort while it instructs these in the most decent and humble ways of submitting my Desires to Heaven's acceptance first and then to Your Graces Madam You know I never yet approach'd You but with a Prayer or with Musick admiring the Divinity which still arrays Your Person the Imitation of your Holy and Harmonious Mind I think is Work for the most Excellent upon Earth
awry by Pride Uncharitableness Impenitence or Impatience on what thou dost because as thy provoked Justice is the Author so our Provocations are the just Original of our Sorrows and the Springs of our Sufferings And it is well for us in our Calamities when we are not thrown out but fall into the Hands of God who is no less pitiful than powerful to deliver us with David out of the Hands of all our Enemies and out of the Hands of Saul too From all our wicked Foes I mean and from our most wicked selves also from our own Unrighteousness as well as others which fills our Souls with Shame our State with Contempt and our Lives with Sorrow For is not proud Lucifer as it were at 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 Is rael say when E-sau did his Troops provide our Flocks had been the Ly ons 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 Jonas Like Whales upon Amittay's Son 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 superfluities 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 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
State according to thy Will CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Twelfth PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXXI PSALM O Thou Son of David of whom we ought to learn to be Meek and Lowly let us see what kind of Disciples we are by regarding our dear Master and find what Proficients in thy School by minding the Copy thou hast set us There appeared not the least glance of Pride Arrogance or Self-love in thy Behaviour there was not the least Roof of Bitterness in thy Breast for thou camest to Attone the first Sin of our first Parents and so for all thou wert exalted far above all that are here called Gods yet thy Spirit was not haughty as Lucifer's not thine Eyes lift up to the forbidden Fruit. Mark 13 32 Thou wert willing to be ignorant as Man of those things which did not 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 sensibly 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 Uzzal 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 That he should build an Altar in the Threshing-Floor of Araunah For all his great desire like Abraham's 1 Chron. 17.12 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 Hic versus plurimum Hebraeos fatigat inquit clarius Where also I have endeavoured to be as clear as I could in the Exposition of that dark place of the sixth Verse 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 Critics