thou mis-take not thy selfe in casting up the Audit of thy sinnes and thinke thou hast perhaps but One or Two sins to answer for to God when in Gods sight every sin thou committest is a Legion and for a Legion of sinnes thou must make thy account thou shalt make account And now seeing my sins are in number so many and so great in measure have I not reason to aske for mercies of equall proportion although therefore I aske not thy Bounty but thy Mercy yet the Bounty of thy Mercy I aske to aske lesse than would serve would prejudice my wants and not relieve them and how then can I aske lesse than a multitude of great Mercies to doe away my offences who have a multude of great offences to be done away But hath God then a multitude of Mercies whereof some be greater and some be lesser Is not his Mercv as himselfe is onely One and simplicissimus No doubt It is so in it selfe One and single as himselfe but yet in relation to us and to our understanding It is said to be as it is applyed To every sinne a Mercy to great sinnes great mercies to a multitude of sinnes a multitude of Mercies But is not this a Disorder in praying to pray for that for which we should rather give thankes to pray for a multitude of great mercies as though we had them not already When wee should rather give thankes for them which wee have so continually For is it not Gods great mercy to us all that wee be not all consumed and this great mercy multiplyed unto us when thousands fall on our right hand and ten thousands on our left yet we in the midst of these dangers are kept safe from danger Is it not his great mercy that hee gives Riches and Plenty and this mercy multiplyed unto us when so many are pined away with penury yet our Land floweth with Milke and Honey Is it not his great mercy that the light of the Gospell shines upon us and this mercy multiplied unto us when so many live in darknesse and in the shadow of death These indeed are great Mercies yet they are but the mercies of his Patience or of his generall Goodnesse and Bounty and of these mercies we may justly be afraid as it is said There is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared but it is the mercies of his speciall Love that I desire and of these mercies there can be no feare for Love casteth out Feare The mercies of his Patience and of his Bounty are not his tender mercies wee may have them perhaps and to our hurt as long Life but to heape up wrath against the day of wrath Riches and Honours but to make our Camell the greater and the unfitter to passe thorow a Needles Eye The light of the Gospell but to make us the more guilty and subject to be beaten with more stripes but his tender mercies are the mercies of his Love and can never be had but for our good for Love covers the multitude of sinneâ— and this covering of our sinnes is the 〈◊〉 â—ecovering of Paradise and suâ—ers not the Angell with the flaming sword to find any thing in us to keepe us out O therefore how ever it pleaseth thee O God to deale with mee in the mercies of thy Patience by length of daies or in the mercies of thy Bounty by Riches and Honours be pleased at least to grant mee the mercies of thy Love to cover my sinnes and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies Doe away mine offences It was a great mercy even of thy Love that with great miracles thou diddest bring the Israelites out of Egypt but that thou didst endure to be grieved with that Generation fortie yeeres together and yet bring them at last into the Land of Canaan this was a multitude of great mercies And yet more than this It was a great mercy that thou diddest suffer our first Parents after their great sinne to live and to propagate their sinfull Race but that thou didst send thine onely Sonne to Expiate their sinne and to make satisfaction for it with infinite Indignities in Life and Death this was a multitude of great and tender mercies And now that I have the multitude of Gods tender mercies at the heighth what would I have it to doe Even to doe away mine offences For this is a worke for a multitude of mercies and of mercy only Thy Power O God is Almighty and yet cannot Thy Justice most perfect and yet will not Thy Wisedome Infinite and yet knowes not how to doe away offences without thy Mercy but thy Mercy alone and of it selfe both Can and May and Will and therefore thy Mercy is the Sanctuary that I flie unto and seeing thou delightest in shewing of mercy Behold I shew thee a large Field here wherein thou mayst shew it a Multitude of my great sinnes for a Multitude of thy great mercies And because sinnes are Pollutions and no way to doe away Pollutions so well as by washing Therefore wash mee thorowly from mine Inquitie and cleanse me from my sinnes I must confesse I was at first afraid of thy washing for thou didst once wash the whole World and then thou didst wash away the sinners but not the sins and if thou shouldst wash mee so It were as good for me to be unwasht but I consider that washing was in thy Iustice the washing I desire is in thy Mercy and I should not have dared to pray thee to wash me if I had not prayed thee first to have mercy upon me for it is thy washing in mercy onely that washes cleane thy washing in Iustice washeth cleane away But why is David so preposterous in making his sute To pray God to wash away his sinnes before he make his confession and tell what his sinnes be As a man that should require his Physician to cure his disease without telling what hee ailes and what his disease is But is it not that the ardour and burning heat which David felt of his sins made him as it were to leape into the water at the very first crying out to be washed quite forgetting all order through the violence of his ardour much like to Saint Peter who through heat of desire to be instantly with Christ whom hee saw upon the water never stayed but girt his coate about him and leapt into the water clothes and all Or is it that David might well require to be cured of his disease without telling it being come to a Physitian who knew his disease better than himselfe Or is it indeed that to tell our disease is part of our curing to confesse our sinnes is an act of our washing and therefore no preposterous course in David to pray for washing before confessing seeing no confessing is truly sound which hath not its beginning and is not proceeding from Gods washing But how can wee answer this to God Hee saith unto us by Esay Wash you Make
sinned that God might be justified And what can be more said for justifying of a sinne then to say it was done for justifying of God But far is it from David to have any such meaning his words import not a lessening but an aggravating of his sinne as spoken rather thus because a Judge may justly be taxed of injustice if hee lay a greater punishment upon an offender than the offence deserves therefore to cleare thee O God from all possibility of erring in this kinde I acknowledge my siâ—s to be so hainous my offences so grievous that thou canst never be unmercifull in punishing though thy punishing should be never so unmerciful For how can a Judge passe the bounds of equity where the delinquent hath passed all bounds of iniquity and what error can there be in thy being severe when the greatnesse of my fault is a Iustification of severity That thou canst not lay so heavie a doome upon mee which I have not deserved Thou canst not pronounce so hard a sentence against me which I am not worthy of If thou judge mee to torture it is but mildnesse If to die the death it is but my due If to die everlastingly I cannot say it were unjust Yet in judgement O Lord remember mercy consider not how foule I am become but how I am become foule for though my sinne be great yet I was not the beginner of it for Behold I was borne in iniquity and in sinne hath my mother conceived me And seeing my birth did not amend my conception how should my growth amend my birth Did not sinne at least the Authour of sin heare thy voyce when thou saidst Encrease and multiply Which though not spoken to him yet as an Intruder hee claimes to have a part and seeing all the parts of my soule and body have increased and growne greater since my birth will not hee looke that siâ—ne also shall have a share in growing as well as they Doth any thing grow so fast as a weede and is there any so very a weede as finne hath it not beene growing ever since I was borne and can so fast growing in so long growing make lesse than a Monster And am I a fit Champion to encounter Monsters Indeede I encountred a Beare and slue him a Lyon and killed him a Giant and overcame him but these were no Monsters at least no Monsters to be compared with sin Oh the monstrousnesse of sin farre harder to be vanquished than all the Monsters that ever Nature made for I could vanquish a Beare a Lyon Giant the greatest of Natures Monsters but with all my forces have not beene able to vanquish this Monster Sinne. But why am I partiall towards my Parents and charge my poore Mother with conceiving mee in sinne but let my Father passe without blame Or is it that to say I was borne in sin is as much as to say I was begotten iâ— sinne and so my Father hath a share of my sinne in begetting mee as well as my Mother in conceiving mee Indeed if Eve had only sinned and not Adam it might have beene said wee were conceived in sinne but not perhaps that we were begoten in sinne or if Adam had â—ly sinned and not Eve it might have beene said we were begotten in sinne but not perhaps that we were conceived in sinne but now that Adam Eve have both of them sinned it is justly said I was begotten in iniquity and in sinne â—ath my Mother conceived mee and so we are all of us sinners now of the whole blood both by Father and Mother and no Inheritance so sure to us from them as this of sinne and in this Inheritance we are all great husbands whatsoever becomes of Naboths Vineyard wee commonly make sure worke to improve this and we seldome leave till wee can leave more of it to our children than wee received from our Parents and seeing no diseases are so incurable as those which come Extraduce from either of our Parents how incurable must sinne needes be which is Extraduce from them both If I were onely borne in sinne then all the time I lived in the little world of my Mothers wombe I must have beene without sinne and so might hope thou wouldst at least have some respect to that time of Innocency I lived there But now that not onely I was borne in sinne but my Mother also conceived mee in sinne now I was a sinner assoone as a creature and not one minutes time of Innocencie to plead for my selfe And now alas O Lord What couldst thou ever looke for at my hands but onely sinne The Leopard cannot change her spots no more can I that am conceived in sin conceive any thing but onely sin It is naturall to me and Nature will have her course But though it be naturall to mee to sinne yet it is not naturall to me to sinne so grievously as I have done for then every one should be as great a sinner as my selfe but now that I must say with Saint Paul Of all great sinners I am the greatest this is an estate of sinne which I have not by Inheritance but by Purchase and I cannot blame Nature but my selfe for this all the help is that though I might be ashamed to doe it yet I am not ashamed to consesse it and is not a sincere confessing in the ballance of thy Mercv O God of even weight with the not doing and therefore although the sinne I confâ—sse be great and being great must needes be greatly displeasing to thee yet this confâ—ssing my sinne to be great cannot be displeasing For Thou lovest truth in the inward affections and this my confession comes from thence For there is a truth in words when it is without lying as Saint Paul saith I speake the truth I lie not but this truth reacheth not home to confessing of sinnes and there is a truth in deedes when it is without lying as Christ said of Nathaniel Behold a true reacheth in whom there is â—o guile but neither doth this truth reaâ—h home to confessing of sinnes but there is a truth in heart when it is in sincerity as it is said here Thou lovest truth in the inward affections and this is the truth that carries home the confessing of sins to its full period For though thou lovest all truth and every where yet the truth of the inward affections thou affectest most inwardly for this is properly within thine owne survey soeing thou only art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the trier and searcher of the heart and reines Truth of words may have for its motive vain-glory and praise of men truth of deeds awe of the Law but truth in the inward affections can have no motive but onely the love of truth which therefore must needs be pleasing to thee who art thy selfe both Love and Truth Where thou lovest truth thon teachest wisedome and because thou lovest truth in the inward affections thou teachest wisdome in the
MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS UPON The one and fiftieth Psalme of DAVID Miserere mei Deus By Sr. RICHARD BAKER Knight LONDON Printed by Edward Griffin for Anne Bowler and are to be sold at the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1638. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE EDVVARD Earle of DORSET of His Majesties most Honorable Privie Counsell Lord Chamberlaine to the Queene and Knight of the most Noble Order of the GARTER MOST Honoured Lord I know you neither like nor have leisure to looke upon trifles but I know also you account not discourses of Piety in the number of trifles This makes mee bold to present your Lordship with this short Treatise of Meditations that being short it may not divert you long being Pious not divert you at all J so much honour your Lordship for your publicke vertues so much am bound to you for your private that J cannot forbeare to present you with something as a testimony of my service in both and a richer present I could not thinke of than Meditations upon this Psalme of David which is indeede the Master-piece of his Repentance as his Repentance the Master-piece of all his Vertues The Jewell it selfe is from David onely the Case from me and though the Jewell deserve a more Illustrious Case and your Person a more Jllustrious present yet there is colour to hope I may bee pardoned in both seeing the Jewels splendour gives a lustre to any case and your Noblenesse to any present And though it might bee presented with a better hand yet it cannot with a better heart seeing he presents it that is Your Lordships humble and devoted servant RICHARD BAKER Perlegi librum hunc cui Titulum est Meditations upon the 51. Psalme eumque tipis mandari permitto SAMVEL BAKER Ex aedib Londin Iunii 21. 1637. MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS upon the 51. Psalme of DAVID O LORD our GOD how Excellent is thy Name in all the World Thy glorious Majesty is Excellent but that brings nothing to me Thy Justice is Excellent but That brings me to Nothing It is thy Mercy that must doe mee good and therefore thy other Excellencies I Adore but This I Invocate To Invocate thy Justice I dare not Thy Glory I cannot but thy Mercy I both Dare and Can For why should I not Dare when Feare gives me Boldnesse How should I not be able when weaknesse gives mee strength Why should I not Dare when Thou Invitest me to it How should I not be able when Thou Drawest mee to it Dost Thou Invite mee and shall I not Come Dost Thou Draw mee and shall I draw backe Can there be a Patron so powerfull as Thou Can there be a Supplyant so dejected as my selfe Of whom then is it fitter to aske for Mercy than of Thee O God who art the God of Mercy and for whom Is it fitter to aske for Mercy than for mee who am a creature of Misery If I were not so miserable Thou couldst not be to mee so Mercifull and have I not reason then to aske that of Thee which thou couldst not have so much occasion to manifest to mee as by mee If it were not for sinne there should be no Misery and if no Misery no exercise for thy Mercy and wilt thou let it stand Idle where it hath so foule sinnes for so faire Fields to walke in Hast thou Mercy and wilt thou not shew it Or wilt thou shew it to others and not to me To say I have not deserved it were to make it no Mercy for if I deserved it it were Justice and not Mercy Is not thy Mercy over all thy Works and am not I the worke of thy Hands The more Mercy thou shewest the more is thine Honour and wilt thou not doe that which is most for thine Honour Thou didst shew Mercy to Adam who was the first sinner and thou didst shew Mercy to the Thiese on the Crosse who was the longest sinner and wilt thou not shew Mercy to mee who am not the first and hope not to be the longest Hast thou shewed Mercy to so many that thou hast not Mercy left for me also If thy Mercy were finite and could be exhausted It were no charity to aske it lest others might want it but seeing it is Infinite and can never be spent why should I be sparing to aske it or Thou to bestow it Thy Mercy is Infinite or none at all for all thou art is Infinite and wilt thou by shewing thy Mercy lesse shew thy selfe to be Mercilesse If thy Mercy be Infinite it must extend to all and how extends it to all if not to me Thou hast as much Mercy for me as if thou hadst none to have Mercy on but me and can it be thou shouldst have so much for mee and let mee have none of it Can my daily Infirmities alien thy Love This were to thinke thou didst not love me but for my goodnesse and alas what goodnesse is there What goodnesse ever was there in mee that thou shouldst love mee Can thy Love aliened turne away thy Mercy This were to thinke thy Mercy did reach no further than thy Love and so because I know thou lovest not sinne I might justly feare thou wouldst never have Mercy upon sinners But O gracious God Thou lovest for thy loves sake and Thou hast Mercy for thy Mercies sake and seeing thy Love which is thy selfe can never leave Thee It makes mee assured thy Mercy which is thy Nature will never leave mee If I refused thy Mercy thou mightst justly with-hold it but now Behold I hold my Brest open to receive it Or if I did not aske thy Mercy thou mightst forbeare to shew it but now Behold I begge it upon my knees I am none of Zebedees sonnes that aske to sit at thy right hand and at thy left I desire not Exaltation but Absolution It is not thy Bounty I aske but onely thy Mercy Have mercy upon mee O God according to thy loving kindnesse and according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies doe away mine offences It may be thought severity in God to cast Adam out of Paradise for only One sin But was Adams sin but onely One but One perhaps in Action but a Million in Affection For say It was Pride hath not Pride more branches than a Tree hath Say it was Gluttony hath not Gluttony more dishes than Dives had Say it was Curiositie hath not Curiosity more Eyes than Argus had Say it was Disobedience hath not Disobedience more faults than Absolon had For how else could Manasses sinnes come to be more than the sands of the Sea if it be not that a sinne though but in Thought may justly be thought a Million of sinnes And as it is said in the Gospel that a man was possessed with an uncleane Spirit but that uncleane Spirit was a Legion So wee may say of every sinne It is but One sinne but that One sinne is a Legion Here therefore O my soule take heed
us makes within us for no snow is so white in the eyes of men as a soule cleansed from sinne is in the sight of God And yet a whiter whitenesse than this too for being purged from sin we shall induere stolam albam put on the white robe and this is a whitenesse as much whiter than snow as Angelicall whitenesse is more than Elementar But may we not conceive rather that in saying Purge mee with Hysop it is not meant purgando but aspergendo that so there may be two degrees exprest of using the juyce of this Hysop one when it is but a sprinkling only yet enough to take away the foulenesse of sinne another when it is a full and thorow washing which besides the cleannesse addes also a beauty and that to admiration Indeed the least drop of Christs blood the true juyce of this Hysop makes fit to stand in the congregation of the righteous but a full bathe of it gives a high degree in the Hierarchie of Saints and Angells Howsoever we may plainly see a great difference betweene the washing that was spoken of before and the washing that is spoken of here as great a difference as betweene cleannesse and whitenesse for that washing was to cleanse us but this washing is to whiten us of that it was said Wash mee and I shall be cleane but of this it is said Wash mee and I shall be whiter thau snow and therefore upon this it presently followes and very justly Make mee to heare of joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce For white is the Embleme of joy and where the Embleme of whitenesse is once had the Motto of joy and gladnesse will not long be behind But we must be whited first for while the blacknesse of sinne remaines in the soule there can be no Embleme of whitenesse engraven upon it but if once we be whited by Gods washing and have the Embleme upon us this Motto wee may be sure will be added to the Embleme Hee will make us heare of joy and gladnesse And the like may be seene in the kindly order of Gods Physicke First a Purge and then a Cordiall having purged us with Hysop hee will make us to heare of joy and gladnesse but wee must be purged first for while the peccant humours remaine in the soule there is no place fit for the Cordiall of joy but if the humors be purged by the Hysop of repentance then the heart will be lightened and the spirits refreshed and the Cordiall of joy and gladnesse will have its full operation But had David ever any returne of this Petition Did God ever heare it or grant it Oh the wonderfull graciousnesse of God! he heard it and granted it made a returne and that presently and by a sure mouth the mouth of the Prophet Nathan Behold God hath forgiven thy siâ— for this no doubt was the joy which David here makes sute to heare of for what joy of what Jubile can make the broken bones rejoyce but this onely that wee be at peace with God through the remission of our sinnes David was happy that had a Nathan by whom to heare it but by whom may wee have hope to heare it Indeed as happy in this as David for though wee have not the same Nathan in individno yet we may truely say wee have him in specie and the same message of joy which that Nathan told to David our Nathans tell us when they say Hee pardoneth and absolveth all them which truely repent and unfainedly believe his holy Gospel which though we heare perhaps as words of course yet it is the very same joy which David here makes such earnest suite to heare of But why should David pray to God to make him heare of joy and gladnesse and not rather doe as his sonne Salomon did afterward gather Gold and Silver get him men-singers and women-singers and so make joy and gladnesse to himselfe Alas my soule these are joyes to be repented of and not joyes to repentance for but for such delights as these I had never fallen into these sorrowes they have been my snares and cannot now be comforts it is not all the delights and pleasures of the world that can ease one pang of a penitent heart The sorrowes are spirituall and must have spirituall joyes thou O God hast caused the sorrowes and thou only canst Minister the comforts Qui Vulnera fecit Solus Achilleo tollere more potest But say O my soule how came thy bones to be broken hath this beene the worke of Gods Hysop Is the breaking of bones the gentle purging that was talk'd of What could Ellebore or Scammony have done more and yet thou canst not wonder so much at the force of Gods purging to breake thy bones as thou mayst wonder at the force of his Cordiall to make thy broken bones rejoyce and that which thou mayest wonder at more the same Hysop is both the Cordiall and the Purge wonderfull indeed that the same thing should both breake the bones and make the broken bones rejoyce yet so it is for this Hysop is not only a cleanser but a knitter and binder together and as by the force of cleansing it breakes the bones so by the vertue of knitting together it makes the broken bones rejoyce for what greater joy to broken bones than to be knit together and made whole againe It was not I God knowes that broke my bones I could never have had the heart to doe it It is thou O God didst breake them and that in Mercy for thou knewst that unlesse my bones were broken my sin that is bred in the bone could never be thorowly purged away And now O God if I be not purged enough already purge mee yet more and purge mee still untill I be made more white than snow but then make mee to heare of joy and gladnesse for without this Cordiall I shall faint in my purging and shall never be able to goe thorow with thy course of Physicke For my bones are already broken and I have scarce any blood left me in my veines but if thou give me this Cordiall of joy and gladnesse my strength will returne and my broken bones will be made whole againe But why is it said Make mee to heare of joy and gladnesse and not said rather Make mee to feele joy and gladnesse For were it not better to feele joy than onely to heare of joy but indeede wee cannot feele this joy unlesse wee heare it first and if once wee heare it it is then our owne fault if wee doe not feele it For what is this joy but that of which the Angels brought tidings to the Shepheards Behold I bring you tidings of great joy This day is borne to you a Saviour one that shall make whole againe all broken bones seeing he is one of whom there shall not a bone be broken But what is this to us that his bones be not broken
shall be more to mee than for Nabuchodonosor to be restored to his Sense his Reason his Kingdome againe This joy is to mee as Isaak was to Abraham the whole comfort of my life and thou restored'st him to his Father in great compassion and wilt thou have no compassion on me and not restore my Isaak to me againe O mercifull God take away my goods take away my health take away my life but take not away this joy from mee unlesse thou meane to restore it againe for without this joy my goods will doe mee no good I shall be sicke of my health I shall be weary of my life all joy without this joy is but shadow of joy no solidnesse no substance in it other joyes I can want and yet want no joy but how can I want the joy of thy salvation but I must needes fall into the hell of my owne perdition Indeed all these graces and specially these foure A right Spirit and Gods presence his holy Spirit and the joy of his salvation are all I may say of a covey like Partridges that alwaies keepe together or if at any time parted by violence they never leave calling after one another till they meet againe and thus a right Spirit calls after Gods presence his presence after his holy Spirit his holy Spirit after the joy of his salvation and the joy of his salvation calls after them all O then Restore to me the joy of thy salvation that this covey of thy Graces may be kept together and that the mournefull voyce of calling after one another may no more be heard to disquiet my soule But how can God restore that which hee tooke not away For can I charge God with the taking away the joy of his salvation from mee O gracious God I charge not thee with taking it but my selfe with losing it and such is the miserable condition of us poore wretches that if thou shouldest restore no more to us than what thou takest from us wee should quickly be at a fault in our Estates and our ruine would be as sudden as inevitable But why am I so â—arenest for restoring for what good will restoring doe mee if I cannot keepe it when I have it and how shall I more keepe it being restored than I kept it before being enjoyed and if I so enjoy it as still feare to lose it what joy can there be in such enjoying O therefore Not restore it onely but establish me with thy free Spirit that as by thy restoring I may enjoy it entirely so by thy establishing I may enjoy it securely Indeed if thou shouldst only restore it and then leave it for me to keepe I should presently runne a hazard of losing it againe but when thou restorest it and then confirmest it and that with the seale of thy free Spirit this gives me an indefeasible estate and absolutely frees me from feare of losing it any more for ever Alas my soule what qualmes have these beene what floatings betweene feare and hope all the comfort is that as Hope sets out first and gets the start of Feare so it keepes the field last and gets the goale from Feare For Hope setâ—ing out by Gods renewing a right Spirit and then disturbed by feare lest hee should take away his holy Spirit gets the victory at last by being established with Gods free Spirit for this establishing fixeth our floating and frees us from having these qualmes of feare and hope any more Not that we can ever bee free where they are but that they shall not be where we are not feare because in a Haven not hope because in possession But what mysterie is it that David intends here by his triplicity of Spirits A right Spirit a holy Spirit a free and principall Spirit Are they not all one holy Ghost but divers operations called therefore the right Spirit because it directeth us the holy Spirit because it sanctifieth us the free and principall Spirit because it governes us And thus understood wee may see from whence the Collect in our Liturgie was gathered which saith Direct Sanctifie and governe us in the waies of thy Lawes and in the workes of thy Commandements Or is it that hee makes three sutes for three spirits as intending to every person in the Deity one intimating the second person by the right spirit as being the way and the truth the third person by the holy Spirit as being the Author of sanctification the first person by the free and principall Spirit it being Hee that must say Fiat to all that is done And thus understood we may see from whence is framed that Versicle in our Letanie which saith O Holy Blessed and glorious Trinity three Persons and one God have mercy upon us miserable sinners And now is David Monte potitus gotten up I may say to the toppe of Mount Gerizim after many wearisome and painefull steps Hee was indeed so oppressed with the burden and so fettered with the chaine of his sinnes that he seemed as a man distracted not knowing in the world what course to take yet not willing to be wanting to himselfe he tries all the waies and useth all the meanes hee can possibly devise or thinke of First he prayes God to wash him from his sinnes and lest washing should not be sufficient hee praies next to be purged from his sinnes but not trusting to these outward meanes he thinkes upon a new course and praies to have his sinnes blotted out as much as to have Gods Debt-booke cross'd yet not satisfied with this neither he then flies to inward meanes and praies not onely to have a cleane heart created but a right Spirit renued in him that so he may be Purus corpore spiritu and now one would thinke he were certainely past all danger yet even here he falls into the most dismall frights that ever seized upon a perplexed soule for he feares least God should cast him off from his Presence and lest hee should take his holy Spirit from him most dismall frights indeed yet recovering his spirits he bethinkes himselfe at last of a way that either will serue to make him a free-man or he must never looke to be and that is to bee established with Gods free Spirit and this indeed strikes the stroke and therefore this hee makes his Murus Aheneus for being now established with Gods free Spirit he findes himselfe so free that he thinkes himselfe able to set up a Free-schoole and is confident to say Then will I teach thy waies to the wicked and sinners shall be converted unto thee Then if thou say unme Et tâ— conversus converte sratres I shall doe it both boldly and effectually Boldly for I shall teach thy waies to the wicked who are but unruly schollers and effectually for sinners shall be converted unto thee which is the end of all schooling And then if the Angels give a Plaudite to their conversion I doubt not O God but thou
what this song is and how hard a thing it is to sing of Gods Righteousnesse the Angels have enough to doe to sing it it is their Allelujah and seeing the singing this Allelujah is the chiefest service of an Angell what deserves he lesse than an Angels place that can sing of Gods Righteousnesse And that we may see how transcendent a matter it is to doe it Behold David here a man farre abler than any of us yet finds himselfe not able so much as to open his lips towards it but is faine to call to God for help O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise open them indâ—ed to bid Ioab number the people and to entice Bathsheba to folly I can but to open them to sing of thy Righteousnesse and to shew forth thy praise I am utrerly unable unlesse thou uouchsafe to open them for me Oh then open thou my lips O God for else I shall be forced to breake off abruptly and after so many great favours received be faine to goe my waies without so much as saying I thanke you But it shall never be said of David that hee is so unmannerly so ungratefull If thou but please to open my lips for then as I have sung this Penitentiall Psalme for my selfe so I will sing an Encomiasticall Hymne for thee and this fiftieth Psalme as well as the fiftieth yeere shall have its Iubile If thou open not my lips neither Repentance will cry nor Ioy will sing but both will be as dumbe as the Divell in the Gospel but if thou open my lips my month will turne Organist and I shall strive with the Angels in singing their Allelujah If I onely open my lips they will quickly shut againe and there will not be a praise that is worthy of thee but if thou open them Thou openest and no man shutteth and then I shall shew forth thy praise to all generations Thy praise but for what for thy washing and purging me for thy creating in mee a cleane heart and renewing a right Spirit within mee for thy restoring to me the joy of thy Salvation and for establishing mee with thy free Spirit that wee may know it is no ordinary opening of lips that will serve seing it is not a single praise but a whole troupe of praises that must come forth at once I must praise thee for thy humility that disdainest not to make mee cleane I must praise thee for thy bounty that deniest not to make mee new I must praise thee for thy patience that attendest my repentance I must praise thee for thy graciousnesse that acceptest my repentance and before all these I must praise thee for thy mercy that art willing I must praise thee for thy Power that artable I mst praise thee for thy Iustice that knowest why I must praise thee for thy wisedome that knowest how to forgive mee my sinnes and to deliver mee from blood but above all these I must praise thee for thy glory that having made the sands of the â—a the starres of Heaven so innumerable yet all of them put together are not counters enow to summe up thy praises And now I was thinking what were fit to offer to God for all his loving kindnesses hee hath shewed mee and I thought upon sacrifices for they have sometimes beene pleasing to him and he hath oftentimes smelt a sweete odour from them but I considered that sacrifices were but shadowes of things to come and are not now in that grace they have beene for old things are past and new are now come the shadowes are gone the substances are come in place the Bullockes that are to be sacrificed now are our hearts it were easier for me to give him Bullockes for sacrifice than to give him my heart but why should I offer him that hee cares not for my heart I know hee cares fore and if it be broken and offered up by Penitence and Contrition it is the only sacrifice that now hee delights in But can wee thinke God to be so indifferent that he will accept of a broken heart Is a thing that is broken good for any thing Can we drinke in a broken Glasse Or can we leane upon a broken staffe But though other things may be the worse for breaking yet a heart is never at the best till it be broken For till it be broken wee cannot see what is in it till it be broken it cannot send forth iâ—s sweetest odour and therefore though God love a whole heart in affection yet hee loves a broken heart in sacrifice And no marvell indeed seeing it is even hee himselfe that breakes it for as nothing but the blood can breake the Adamant so nothing but the blood of our scape-goate Christ Iesus is able to breake our Adamantine hearts Accept therefore O God my broken heart which I offeâ— thee with a whole heart seeing thou canst neither except against it for being whole which is broken in sacrifice nor except against it for being broken which is whole in affection But is not this to make God a cruell God to make him delight in broken hearts as though hee tooke no joy but in our sorrowing No pleasure but in our tormenting It is true indeede God delights to be mercifull but yet hee delights not to be mercifull unjustly and justly hee cannot be mercifull but where hee findes Repentance and seeing Repentance can never be without sorrowing and such sorrow as even breakes the heart with sorrow this makes the broken heart a pleasing sacrifice to God because as a just mans Prayer ties up his hand as it were from doing of justice so a sinners Repentance sets him at liberty for shewing of mercy And now that I have prayed and offered sacrifice for my selfe shall I forget my Mother Sion For is not Sion the common Mother of us all Shall I forget the glorious City Hierusalem whereof I am a member and a Ciâ—izen Can I prosper if my Sion suffer Can I be safe if Hierusalem be in danger O then Doe good O God in thy good pleasure to Sion Build thou the walls of Hierusalem But shall I put God to so meane a worke to be a builder of walls O glorious God what fitter worke for thy Allmighty Power For what is it to build the walls of Hierusalem but to defend Hierusalem from her enemies And what arme of defence hath Hierusalem to trust to against the Host of her enemies but thine onely O Lord who art the Lord of Hosts Thou hast indeed laid a sure foundation in Hierusalem but what is a foundation if there be no walls reared A foundation is to build upon and to what purpose if it be nâ—t built upon aâ—d who is able to build upon it but thou O God the great Builder of the World who with thy onely Word didst builâ— the Wâ— â—h is a Vineyard if it have no hedges to fence it no more is Hierusalem if it haye
no walls to defend it For is it not subject to all sudden surprises Lies it not open to all Hostile invasions and so wee should lose the end of Sion in the midst of Sion For what is Sion but a Sanctuary for sacrifices and how can wee offer thee the sacrifice of thankesgiving for our fafety if wee cannot offer our sacrifices in safety and what safety if there be no walls to defend us Oh therefore Build thou the walls of Hierusalem and then as in thy good pleasure thou hast done a pleasure to Sion so thou shalt smell a sweete odour and take pleasure in Sion for wee shall offer thee the sacrifices of righteousnesse With burnt offering the offering of a true though imperfect righteousnesse in the Hierusalem here below and with whole burnt offering the offering of a perfect Righteousnesse in the Hierusalem that is above and we shall offer Bullockes upon thine Altar sing our 〈◊〉 upon that Altar under which the Saints lie now and sing their Dirges their Dirge of How long O Lord Holy and True shall be changed into songs of externall Jubilee Angells and men Christ himselfe and his members shall all cast downe their Crownes before thee that thou onely maist be All in All and that thine may be the Kingdome the Power and the Glory for Ever and Ever Amen And now that we have heard the penitent David make his confession and say his Orisons seene him make his Oblations and offer his Sacrifices to God It may not be unfit to draw an observation or two from the manner of his Leiturgie and first that this whole Psalme hath in it thorowout Bimembres sententias verses consisting of two parts whereof the later is ever an augmentation of the former as when he saith Wash me from mine iniquity It followes and cleanse mee from my sinnes which is more than washing and so an augmentation When he saith I know mine iniquity it followes and my sinne is ever before me which is more than knowing his sinne and so an augmentation When he saith Against thee onely I have sinned it followes I have done this evill in thy sight which is more than sinning against him and so an augmentation When he saith I was borne in iniquity it followes and in sinne hath my mother conceived mee which is more than to be borne in sinne and so still an augmentation as likewise in all the rest if we run them over which shewes the great hast that David makes in his journey of Repentance and therefore takes two paces at one stride and climbes as it were two staires at one step A second observation may be that almost all the Psalme thorow but most apparently in the middle verses One deprecates the evill and the next following obsecrates the good One expresseth a detestation of his sinnes and the next following an application of Gods Mercies like a Gardiner that with one hand pluckes up weeds and with the other plants sweet flowers For in saying Purge mee from my sinnes he deprecates the evill and pluckes up weeds and in the next following Make mee to heare of joy and gladnesse hee obsecrates the good and plants sweet flowers In saying Turne away thy face from my sinnes he deprecates the evill and pluckes up weedes and in the next following Create in mee a cleane heart he obsecrates the good and plants sweet flowers In saying Cast mee not off from tâ—y presence he deprecates the evill and plucks up weedes and in saying Restore to me the joy of thy salvation he obsecrates the good and plants sweet flowers And by this he seemes as it were to besiege God round with his Petitions and to hold him fast with both hands as Iaakob did the Angel that he may leave him no way to escape and be sure not to let him goe without a blessing Another observation may be this that in all this Psalme David arrogateth nothing to himselfe but sinne and misery lying wholly at Gods Mercy for the remission of his sinnes and so farre from any ability to satisfie for himselfe that hee acknowledgeth in himselfe an utter disability but to speake a good word or but to thinke a good thought and indeed we may truely say that all the spirits in the Arteries all the blood in the vaines of this Psalme are but blasts and drops of the Antheame in Christs Prayer For Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory for Ever and Ever Amen FINIS Verse 1. 20. Verse 2. 20. Verse 3. 20. Verse 4. Verse 5. Verse 〈◊〉 20. Verse 7. 20. Verse 8. Verse 9. 20. Verse 10. 20. Verse 11. 20. Verse 12. 20. Vers. 13. Verse 14. Verse 15. * So reckoned by many of the Ancients Verse 16. Verse 18.