Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	great_a	let_v	6,859	5	4.2631	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

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

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

when never so closely begirt by Adversaries They can still look up nay go up to the Hill of Sion from whence comes their help even to Jesus the Author and finisher of their Faith who not only pitched the forces of his Word and Miracles but the red Standard of his Cross and the first Camp of his Martyrs and Apostles upon the Hills of Jerusalem to Convoy all Comers to the City of our God and to draw all to him from the Center of the World Oh therefore let neither the Rod nor the Staff of the Wicked be laid or lest upon my score or part lest I do or suffer the evil of Sinners but let thy Rod and thy Shepherds Staff both thy Cross and mine dear Jesu comfort and fill up my Cup and make mine Heritage and Lot like thine For then it shall be good and thou that art so ever wilt do good to me making and keeping me upright in Heart clean in my Hands single in mine Eye of Faith and sound in the Feet of mine Affections steady in the ways of thy Commandments Lord if thy hand be not graciously when most heavily upon me how soon may I put forth my hand unto wickedness like Cam Pharaoh Balaam Achan and Jeroboam and like Judas Ananias and Simon Magus This makes me yet pray more earnestly that Christ may still pray for me since he that Christ prays for shall believe aright and he that so believes shall not find upon his lot the Scepter of Unrighteousness the Rule of Satan the Domination of Sin the Rod of the Wicked the Guilt or Punishment of Reprobates Oh then that my lot and last end may be in the Righteousness of Jesus my Lord that I may not fall presumptuously nor fear greatly nor be driven forth with evil doers but be led forth into the Paths of Peace into the straight way that leads to life there to taste of the Brook in the way the quiet and sufficiency thou affordest thy Flock here and to drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures hereafter to lye down like thy Sheep in the green Pastures of Hope in the never fading never failing enclosure of thine Arms and to rise in Glory with thine Inheritance for evermore Amen THE SEVENTH Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXVI PSALM Is thought to be composed by Esdras or some of that time after the Babylonish Bondage because in the first part of the Psalm it joyfully Celebrates the Return of some as in the second part heartily wishes the Restoration of all the rest of the Captivity from the Land of the North as the Realm of Babylon is called Jer. 13.19 20. Jer. 16.19 in regard of its site to Judea making that apt and excellent resemblance of them to Strcams running into the dry and desolate parts of the South which must needs be very welcome there and are said to flow thither as Torrents in great abundance upon the melting of the Snows and producing of Showers by the South Wind So that whether you take נגב for the South Wind or South part of the World the comparison may hold to either acceptation of the Word very full and elegant The Jews flocking Southwards home but not all together as the Spirit of God moved on the Waters in Babylon in the Days of Cyrus Darius and Xerxes stirring up Zerubbabel Ezra Nehemiah and others to bring back the Hebrews restore Religion rebuild the Temple and repair Jerusalem which had been demolished and burnt by Nebuzaradan in the fifth Month 2 Kin. 25.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in that same Month about Harvest time was the Return of the Jews with Ezra c. 7. v. 9. who had been led away Captive at their Sowing time Therefore the Simile of the Husbandman here was rarely apposite both to the occasion of their Joy and season of the Year and their manner of Exaltation This PSALM is very proper for our 23d of April and 29th of May or any such happy Time of recovery from Trouble Danger and Oppression AFTER the long Night of a State so dark as ours so de╌so╌late who could so much as Dream that we should wake out of Cap╌ti╌vi╌ty But when God took that Plague a╌way that E╌gypt which on Si╌on lay our Pangs like Dreams a╌way did fly and we had safe de╌li╌ve╌ry Pleas'd and transported with our Change By a Recovery so strange As Cripples cur'd by Wonders we Acts 3.9 Soon got both Strength and Liberty Soon we got well well home and found Grief did no Soul no Body wound But Hearts and Tongues in Psalms agree And they got Feet as well as we Then both our Chains and Silence broke Then Pagans too the Truth thus spoke The Lord hath done great things for ye The Lord hath done so answer'd we Therefore God's Works with joy we tell Which may convince the Infidel And call up Pray'rs for such as be Not yet return'd from Slavery O! were our Friends our Foes and all Redeem'd from their Egyptian Thrall From Satan and from Sin set free How welcome were their Liberty Welcom as Nilus in the South And sweet as Show'rs in days of Drouth For all with us we long to see Reap Mirth who plough'd in Misery Sure Lord thy Lab'rers in the heat Who take the pains shall tast the Wheat 2 Thes 3.7 8 9. And may with shouts receive from thee A Largess of Prosperity We who dropt little hopes in Tears When driven hence by Foes or Fears Now loaded back with Solace see Rich Incomes from Captivity Thus the poor Seeds-man sadly goes Eundo ibit flendo port●●s pretlum semlnis pretlosum ob caricaiem While on the ground his Wealth he strows But when the Harvest Crowns him he Jogs home with Sheaves and jollity Veniendo veniet cum ex●● sat●●● So they who shed a few small Tears I' th' Seed-time of their Hopes and Fears Shall glad Returns from Sadness see And shock up more Felicity Nay he that goes from hence and bears To Earth his Dust to Heav'n his Tears Shall find those precious Grains to be Vast Crops in blest Eternity Gloria Patri c. In the Lord's Praise 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

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

thou go not out with us carry us not abroad nor let us stay at home without thee Let not the Vanities of the Day nor the Visions of the Night disturb our Senses or abuse our Souls O Lord prevent the Mid-day Devils and the Arrows that fly by Noon from blasting or hurting of us nor let Nocturnal Evils or any mischief in the dark have Power to smite us But be thou a Succour a Second a God not a far off to preserve and prosper us in all our Actions publick and private in our Labours in our Studies in our Rest in our Retirements in our weak Beginnings in our happier Progresses and in our best Conclusions O Lord be with us in our entrance on the Stage of this World in our Parts here in our Exit hence even now and for evermore Amen THE THIRD Psalm of Degrees BEING The CXXII PSALM Deseribeth David's Joy which is expressed in the 30th Psalm at the bringing of the Ark and Offering for the Temple and Dedication of his House to God's Service And it is a Preparative Hymn for the Devout in their going up to the Places of Religion and Solemn Worship containing their Thanks Praise and Pleasure in the return of the Comfort and Company which they enjoyed in the public Adoration of God and their Prayers for the longer continuance of such signal Blessings Made by David as it is thought upon his return to Jerusalem after his flight from Absalom and solemnly sung by the Levites at their coming out of Captivity Jerusalem in general as the Temple more especially being the Type of God's Church both Militant and Triumphant that is built with the precious Stones of the Apostles and Prophets CHRIST himself being the Rock Caput Anguli Caput Angelorum to whom when many come there is much Joy The Poem is Dramatick like the 118th Psalm in which the King Priest and People seem to bear their Parts of Rejoycing at the public Festivals which were thrice every Year to be solemnized at Jerusalem according to the Command of God which occasioned the great Beautifying Enlarging and Fortifying of that City intimated in the 2d 3d 6th and 7th Verses as well as the other reason of its Happiness and Amplitude from the Temple of God and Throne of David mentioned in the 1st 5th 8th and 9th Verses To which may be added this reason because there was the great Senate of the LXXII or Sanhedrim The King beginneth the Psalm in the 1st Verse the Priests follow in the 2d the People in the 3d and they go on in the 4th Then the King takes it again in the 5th the Priests in the 6th and the People go on in the 7th as in a Procession and good order The Priests take it again in the 8th and the the King concludes in the best though last place with a fixt and pious Resolution This may properly be set for the 29th of May. BLes╌sed be God for the good News and Freedom which he doth afford From th' House of Bondage like glad Jews we come un╌to thy House O Lord. Our Woes and Wand'rings now shall cease While rooted fast like Trees we stand Within thy Courts who dost with Peace Plant us again in our Land Our Joys shoot up with fresh encrease While rooted fast like Trees we stand Within thy Courts who dost with Peace Plant us again in our own Land See Hierosolyma optimè instituta concors ideo duratura see how comely how compact Peace makes this Gyant-City seem Our Union makes her Form exact Like th' Heav'nly New Jerusalem Whither to an Eternal Feast All the Lord's Tribes at last shall go And on his Hill above find rest As we do in his House below Here now as at a Passover Our Tribes like Streams i' th' Ocean meet To serve thee as thy Laws averr And Praise thy Name that is so great Here now as at a Passover Our Tribes like Streams i' th' Ocean meet To serve thee as thy Statutes are And Praise thy Name that is so great Here is God's Temple David's Throne The Bench of Justice Mercy 's Seat Here Princes Prophets Priests make known How good our Church our State how great Here 's the Blest Type of Heav'n above Pray then for Salem here for Peace Since they who love this Place do prove Happy and blest with much Encrease Lord bless us and this Place with Peace With Plenty and with Piety For thy Name 's sake let our's encrease Our King 's and Friends Prosperity All Tyes both Humane and Divine Our Love for Men our Zeal for God What we can do or wish combine Fiat Pax in Antemurali tuo Abundantia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Palatiis Turrium ad instar structis To seek the Bliss of this aboad Gloria Patri c. In the Lord's Praise 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 Third PSALM of DEGREES BEING The CXXII PSALM O Glorious God! to whom Praise and Worship is due to whom Vengeance and Holiness belongs accept the Joys and Adorations of our Souls and Bodies for that we have not only Freedom in our own Persons but also Encouragement from our Relations to come along with them and many more of thy People to the most proper place and by the appointed way of public Worshipping and Praising of thee Oh! how glad as if we had found great Spoils may we be to find not only that we can but also that others will plant themselves within thy Courts and not stand in the way of Sinners that we may prosper together like Trees by the Water side and bring forth Fruit and that in due season Dear and gracious Lord when we go hence and shall be called away by Death how happy should we be could we come to thee as easily as we now can come to the Church and bring this Olive-branch in our Mouths into thy Ark Let us go up into the House of the Lord let us ascend unto his holy Hill let us be transplanted from the Gates of Death to be rooted in the Porches of the New Jerusalem for one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand in 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

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