feare evill when the evill is so eminent and the danger so great Is the face of Death no more terrible but that you dare looke upon it without feare Though it be the reproach of the wicked to feare where there is no cause of feare yet not to feare where there is cause can be no commendation in the godly And why then will David speake thus more like a desperate man then one that were well advised No doubt David will give good reason for that hee speakes As it were desperatnesse not to feare where there is Imminent danger So it were cowardise to feare where there is eminent comfort Lay then the comfort to the danger and you will easily excuse David for fearing no evill You have seene the Danger now heare the Comfort The Lord my shepheard is with mee For he is never absent from his flock his rodde and his staffe they comfort mee and may they not justly comfort me when with them he is able to recover a sheepe though falling downe the steepest Praecipyce or though already in the Wolfes mouth or in the pawes of the Lyon Indeed if I had not my Shepheard with mee Or if my Shepheard had not his instruments with him I might justly then be in feare of evill but what evill can I feare now when I have my Shepheard and my Shepheard his Instruments his rod and his staffe Both Instruments of comfort and not onely of comfort but of incouragement both Instruments of preserving But is it well understood what his Rod and his Staffe meane For they may as well bee instruments of correcting as defending and if of defending there is then just cause they should be comforts but if of correcting what comforts can they be for what comfort can it be to be corrected O my soule great comfort to me that know the nature of this Shepheard as I doe for doe not I know that whom he loves he corrects and therefore whom he corrects it is a certaine Argument that hee loves Indeed if the Rodde and the Staffe were in the hands of an enemie I should then feare them as instruments for my evill but being in his hands that is my Shepheard now they are but as my owne weapons put into an abler hand that can better manage them for my good then I could doe my selfe Could Moses with his rod fetch water out of a Rock and shall not God with his rod bring comfort out of trouble Could Jacob with his staffe passe over Jordan and returne enriched with heards of cattell and shall not Gods staffe make me passe over the Jordan of this world and bring mee home with troopes of joy Shall not his rod though it wound me comfort me when I know he wounds but to the end hee may apply a Plaister Shall not his staffe though it beat me comfort me when it is but to beat the dust out of mee that am nothing but dust But most of all must not his rod needs comfort me when it is his rod that makes me lye downe in greene pastures Must not his staffe needs comfort me when it is his staffe that keepes me right in the paths of righteousnesse Oh sweet Rod how can I choose but kisse thee Deare staffe but embrace thee seeing it is long of you that his greene pastures and his paths of righteousnesse doe me any good for they would certainly doe mee hurt his greene pastures would pamper up my flesh too much his pathes of righteousnesse would puffe up my spirits too much If his Rod and his Staffe were not used as Moderatours And if you thinke this strange that the paths of righteousnesse should puffe up the spirits Remember Saint Paul to whom there was given a thorne in the flesh lest his walking in the paths of righteousnesse should puffe him up But if the rod and the staffe in these senses may not be sufficient comfort to take away all cause of feare at least there shall come forth a Rod out of the stemme of Jesse indeed to David in particular a speciall comfort that will certainly be sufficient against all feare though I walke in the Valley of the shadow of death for this Rod as a Mountaine shall fill up all Valleys and as the substance shall fulfill all shadowe and as the true life shall swallow up Death in victory And is there not a staffe that will doe as much the staffe upon which Jacob leaned when he was a dying when he was indeed in the Valley of the shadow of Death O my soule having this Staffe of Jacob to leane upon this Rodde of the stemme of Jesse to be my comfort I shall make my selfe unworthy of protection if I should feare any evill though I walke in the valley of the shadow of death For why should I feare Death which is but the parting of the soule from the body seeing I cannot come to God with them both at once but they must first bee parted one from another My soule cannot come to the light of life if my body bee not first in the shadow of death indeed but in the shadow for the substance of death can never take hold upon it if my soule be gone before to take possession of the Light O then vouchsafe O God to bring my soule first and after it my body out of the shadow of Death into the light of Life and then I shall have cause just cause to say and to glory in saying The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want But if it be doubted still how it can be that Gods rodde and his staffe should be comforts to the godly then marke the issue and see what followes upon his Rod and his Staffe Thou preparest a Table before mee in the presence Verse 5 of my enemies Thou anoyntest my head with Oyle my cuppe runneth over For this is a sure rule with God that his chastening alwayes ends in cherishing if he strike with his Rod and perhaps breakes the head with his Staffe he gives Oyle presently to anoynt it and to make it whole againe If he make mee to keepe Fasting-day to day he allowes mee a feast for it to morrow and then my cuppe shall runne over Hitherto God hath vouchsafed to bee a Shepheard and David hath beene his sheepe Now God will be a Conquerour and David shall be a King Now God as a Conquerour will bestow favours on his friends and disgraces upon his enemies and therefore now the Scene alters where it was before in the field it is now within doores and where David before spake in the third Person he speakes now in the second Thou preparest a Table before mee and this is to feast his friends In the presence of mine enemies and this is to confound his enemies To prepare a Table before him is it selfe a favour but the greatnesse of the favour is in this that a Table is prepared before him in the presence of his Enemies For as there is no such joy of
we talk of all this while worldly minds have no feare but of worldly enemies and from such perhaps worldly friends may free them but the spirituall man feares rather spiritual enemies and who can free them from such but onely thou O God that art the God of spirits O mercifull God let not spirituall enemies have the victory over mee and I make no great reckoning of other enemies triumphing Alas I know that worldly enemies can never triumph over me if spirituall enemies get not first the victory And now O my soule if God have done this for me have lifted me up above these enemies above these enemies of both kindes have I not a double cause to extoll him for it and to praise his Name And yet I may say I extoll him not more for doing it then for his readinesse of doing it For I cryed unto him and hee healed mee I no sooner cryed but hee heard me he no sooner heard me but he healed me My suite was no sooner made then granted My disease as soone cured as discovered hee kept me not languishing by drawing out his cure in length but he applyed a present remedy and prevented Hope with hast As therefore I extolled him before for his love in lifting me up above my enemies so I must extoll him now for his compassion in being moved to doe it for my onely crying to him I used no intercessour but my owne voyce and hee healed me and for God to be moved with the cry of a wretched sinner and so to be moved as presently to heale him Is it not a just cause to extoll him and say O the wonderfull bowels of compassion that are in God Verse 3 To be lifted up from any place is an act of Power but the lower the place is it is the greater act of Mercie and can there be a lower place then the Grave at least then the grave of the Soule and from this low place was David lifted up as yee may heare himselfe say Thou O Lord hast brought up my soule from the grave Thou hast kept mee alive that I should not goe downe into the pit But is not this a strange speech in David as though there were a grave of the Soule as there is of the Body for if there be not how then is it true that God hath brought up his soule from the Grave Is it perhaps that he calls it the Soule which is but the cementing of the Body and life together or that he calls it the Grave of the Soule when it is in the lowest estate of vivifying the Body What ever it be it shewes a great mercy in God and a great power of that mercy to raise him up that was brought so low and to keepe him from falling into the Pit that was fallen already to the pits brinke The truth is that as sinne is the death of the Soule so continuance in sinne is the grave of the Soule and in this Grave of continuance did Davids soule lye a long time Alas the shortest time in this case is long till God by his quickning Spirit restored him againe to the life of Grace that hee had just cause to say Thou O Lord hast brought up my soule from the grave and hast kept mee alive that I should not goe downe into the Pit Oh how many there are that have bodyes walking above ground when their soules are lying in the Grave that are lustie and strong in the naturall life when in the spirituall life they are dead and buryed yet so long as they lye not buried above foure dayes so long as they continue not in sin so long till it have brought the Soule into an absolute corruption there is example in Lazarus and where there is Example there is hope they may be raised againe to life and be kept from falling into the Pit of perdition And now O my soule though God have not lifted thee up to as high a place yet seeing he hath lifted thee up from as low a place as he did David hast thou not as just cause as he to say I will extoll thee O God for thou hast lifted mee up and hast not suffered my enemies sinne and death to triumph over mee And here I find my selfe so oppressed with joy that I am not able to expresse it without assistance and what assistance can I looke for but from the Saints of God O therefore sing unto the Lord all yee saints of his give thankes unto him at the remembrance of his Holinesse It is not enough to praise him if yee doe not sing his praises for it must be done with chearefulnesse and exultation and it is not enough to sing if yee doe not praise him for your joy must be in him and for him in his goodnesse and for his glory If it were to sing of another thing I should require the whole Quire of Gods creatures to joyne in the singing but now that it is to sing of Gods holinesse what should prophane voyces doe in the Consort None but Saints are fit to sing of holinesse and specially of Gods holinesse but most specially with songs of holinesse O therefore sing to the Lord all yee saints of his and let your songs be more of his praises then of your owne thankfulnesse and let your thankfulnesse not be so much for the benefits which you have received as for the holinesse with which they are bestowed for God gives not his benefits as the world useth to doe out of any corrupt affection or with any corrupt intention but there is a holinesse in his giving as well as in his gifts and seeing the Cherubins and Seraphins doe continually cry to God Holy Holy Holy You that are his Saints may well afford to sing to God at the remembrance of his holinesse But what holinesse can there be in Anger Verse 5 and is there not anger in God sometimes and will not this then bee a cause rather of weeping to thinke of his anger then of singing at the remembrance of his holinesse O my soule this need be no cause to breake off the singing for his anger endureth but a moment and even anger it selfe is in God a holinesse It is none of the things that are naturall and permanent in God It is but forced upon him by the violence of sinne and as forced as it is it stayes not with him it is but as a wind that passeth Dum oritur moritur It dyes in the birth Nothing lives and is permanent in God but onely his favour and his love and therefore Though weeping may endure for a night yet joy commeth in the morning And seeing our life is of this condition that heavinesse sometimes must as well be had as joy it is happy for us they are so disposed that heavinesse comes but in the Evening when wee may sleepe it out and when our senses are apt to be tyed up from feeling it but joy commeth in the Morning when all our
made my mountaine to stand strong Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled 8 I cryed unto thee O Lord and unto the Lord I made supplication 9 What profit is there in my bloud when I goe downe into the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy truth 10 Heare O Lord have mercy upon mee Lord be thou my helper 11 Thou hast turned for mee my mourning into dauncing Thou hast put off my sack-cloath and girded mee with gladnesse 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thankes unto thee for ever MEDITATIONS VPON THE XXX PSALME OF DAVID IT seemes to be a course in Nature Verse 1 for Hosanna's alwayes to precede Allelujahs and therefore the Exordiums of Davids Psalmes are commonly thus Have mercy upon mee O God heare my prayer O Lord rebuke mee not in thine anger or some such forme of Hosanna but in this Psalme contrary to his custome he makes his Exordium of an Allelujah I will extoll thee O God And why is this done is it out of Devotion that he might get before hand and begin with God in Praises before God should begin with him in Benefits O my soule the showres of Gods blessings are so continually poured downe upon us that it is impossible we should ever get before hand with God in Allelujahs Although therefore he begin with an Allelujah yet it is because God hath prevented him in his Hosanna Hee will extoll God but it is because God hath lifted him up Gods praise indeed is put in the Present Tense but it is because his benefit is in the Preterperfect Tense I will extoll thee O God for thou hast lifted mee up and hast not made my foes to rejoyce over me But if David will extoll God how will he doe it for to doe it unworthily it were better to be left undone and who is able to extoll God worthily Hee will therefore perhaps call all the creatures of God to assist him and say Praise the Lord all yee his Angels Praise him all his Hosts praise yee him Sun and Moone praise him all yee starres of light Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. But if it be expected he must extoll him himselfe and not looke for helpe from others Hee will then extoll him in his exaltation and say Bee thou exalted O God above the heavens Or he will extoll him in his owne humilitie by kneeling and falling downe before him hee will extoll him in his singularitie and say There is no other God in heaven or in earth but onely thou O God or he will extoll him in his pluralitie and say Thou O God art wonderfull in thy Being Three Persons and one God blessed for ever And if to extoll him with sayings will not serve he will then extoll him with workes that men seeing his good workes may glorifie our Father which is in heaven And if neither words nor workes will be sufficient hoe will then extoll him with his silence and his wonder leaving that for Thought which cannot be exprest and leaving that for astonishment which cannot be conceived But why is it that David will thus extoll God Is it that hee may returne a thankfulnesse answerable to the benefit returne it in the same kind and answer it as it were in its owne language He will therefore extoll God which is a kind of lifting God up because God hath lifted him up which is a kind of extolling of him For as our extolling of God is the highest worke of our thankfulnesse so Gods lifting us up is the greatest benefit of his goodnesse We are thankfull to God and ought to be for his other benefits even for casting us downe but we use not to extoll him but for lifting us up For naturally indeed wee are all of us desirous to bee lifted up to be set aloft and to be high in the world for this pleaseth the eyes that they may see the more and pleaseth the whole body that it may the more bee seene but this is not the lifting up that David meanes but to be lifted up out of danger and out of the reach of the arme of his enemies O my soule let this bee thy comfort that although thy enemies be many and great yet they are not more thy enemies then they are Gods slaves and can goe no further then the length of their chaine which is seldome so long to reach to triumphing Sathan was a bitter enemie to Job and had certainly defeated him utterly if God had not held him short in his chaine and though linke after linke hee eetched out his chaine to a great length yet he could never make it reach so farre as to a Triumph For it is not properly a Triumph but when Dux Duci arma detrahit When one Generall disarmes another and this could never be done to Job for he kept on his Armour still his Helmet of Faith and his Brest-plate of Righteousnesse hee never let it goe off from him that there could be no cause for Sathan to triumph Men commonly are not satisfied unlesse themselves can triumph over their enemies but it is enough for me O Lord that thou suffer not my enemies to triumph over me for I aime not at glory but at safetie I might then ayme at glory if I were the assailant but now that I am onely the assailed what can I more desire then safetie and to bee out of the reach of all my enemies and such safetie without any glory may well give contentment seeing of all the miseries that can befall a man in this wretched world there is none greater none so great as to fall into the hands of enemies whose Malice like the fire of Hell is commonly unquenchable Let a friend strike me and it shall be a Balme to my head but to be strucken by an enemie who can endure it The striking of a friend is out of love and intends amendment but the blowes of an enemie are out of malice and tend to ruine It troubles mee not that my enemies rejoyce so their rejoycing have no relation to mee It troubled not Samson so much to have his eyes put out as to bee brought out before his enemies to be the laughing-stock for them to rejoyce at But why will David speake thus Thou hast not made my enemies to rejoyce over me as though it were God that made our enemies to rejoyce over us and not their owne spitefulnesse and malice Is it that permission is in God a kind of action and therefore he may justly be said to doe that which he suffers to be done Or is it that in his anger he makes our enemies the Executioners of his justice and punisheth our neglect of rejoycing in him with giving them power to rejoyce over us and so their rejoycing is not more in us his judgement then it is in them his act and operation But what enemies do
and not onely that I but that my glory may sing them and alas what glory have I doth not all glory belong to God Indeed so it is my glory then sings his Prayses when I ascribe to him all praise and glory my glory then sings his prayses when I praise him with all I have to glory in with all the faculties and powers of my soule and body those especially in which I was made after his Image for this is my Glory If this then bee the end that God intends shall I be so ungratefull to crosse his intentions if hee have given mee a Tongue and a Voyce to serve him shall I hold my peace and be silent in his service if he have turned my Mourning into Dauncing shall I bee sullen and slow to sing his Prayses Alas my Dauncing can never be kindly without Musick and what musick so fit for it as singing and what singing so fit as to the Ditty of his Prayses O my soule seeing God hath procured thee libertie to Daunce thou mayst well afford to find the musick and yet neither my Dauncing shall hearken to the musicke nor my singing shall looke toward the Dauncing but my Singing and my Dauncing both shall bee addressed and directed to God alone Shall my heart be so set upon my joy as to make me forget the Authour of my joy No O God my joy hath so sure a foundation that I can never be unmindfull of the Founder I will give thankes to thee O Lord my God for ever Not for a time which will cease Not as long as the Sunne and Moone endure which shall not alwayes endure not as long as I have breath in my body No my soule but as long as thou thy selfe hast Being which being breathed into mee by God shall never cease shall alwayes endure shall be forever When I extolled God I had relation to his Omnipotencie when I sung his Prayses to his Mercie and now that I give him thankes for ever to his Eternitie that now I may conclude and say O Almightie most Mercifull and ever-living God to thee be ascribed all Honour Prayse and Glory world without end THE THIRTIE FOVRTH PSALME OF DAVID 1I Will blesse the Lord at all times his Prayse shall continually bee in my mouth 2 My soule shall make her boast in the Lord The humble shall heare thereof and be glad 3 O magnifie the Lord with mee and let us exalt his Name together 4 I sought the Lord and hee heard me and delivered me from all my feares 5 They looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed 6 The poore man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles 7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that feare him and delivereth them 8 O tast and see how good the Lord is Blessed is the man that trusteth in him 9 O feare the Lord yee his Saints for there is no want to them that feare him 10 The young Lyons doe lacke and suffer hunger but they that seeke the Lord shall not want any good thing 11 Come yee children hearken unto me and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. 12 What man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good 13 Keepe thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile 14 Depart from evil and doe good seeke peace and pursue it 15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their cry 16 The face of the Lord is against them that doe evil to cut off their remembrance from the earth 17 The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all 20 Hee keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken 21 Evill shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate 22 The Lord redeemeth the soule of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate MEDITATIONS VPON THE XXXIV PSALME OF DAVID ALas what a Vow is this that Verse 1 David makes here a Vow which hee is sure before hand he cannot keepe for is it possible for any man to blesse God at all times Is there not a time of paine and miserie in which Jobs Wife perswaded him to curse God and dye and can cursing of God stand with blessing of God O my soule I take not my measure of blessing God from the last of that wicked Woman it is not paine it is not miserie it is not extremitie of paine or miserie that shall make mee to breake my Vow in blessing of God but if it be thought so great a matter to blesse God inmisery I will stretch my Vow yet further for I will blesse him for miserie and I may truly say if it were not for paine and misery I should want one speciall Motive for blessing of God But yet there is a time of sleepe which is a tribute due to Nature and is it possible to pay the tribute of sleepe to Nature and the tribute of blessing to God both at once If then sleepe be of necessitie so oftentimes how can blessing of God be performed at all times O my soule when our waking is terminated with blessing of God that blessing is in force till we wake againe for as in what place the tree falleth there it lyeth so in what state the Soule goes to rest in that state it resteth If my soule say to God I will lay mee downe to sleepe for it is Thou Lord onely that sustainest me my soule shall have it returned from God Thus the Lord giveth his beloved sleepe But if thus perhaps be made good the continuance of Blessing God yet in what consists the worke of blessing him Is it onely in Thought or onely in a good intention No my soule his praise shall continually bee in my mouth for though the heart indeed bee the Fountaine of blessing him yet out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and therefore it shall not be cloystered up in the Cells of silence but it shall have vent and bee brought into the light that if it bee not said that men seeing my good workes it may at least be said that men hearing my good words may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven But doe I not by this fall againe upon my old difficultie for if it seemed impossible before to blesse God at all times may it not justly seeme as impossible now that his Praise should continually be in my mouth It may perhaps be true of the Angels in whose mouthes wee know of nothing there is continually but Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath but to be verefied of the mouthes of men seemes a thing impossible for is
deliverance are often-times spirituall and so Job might be said to bee delivered from all his troubles when God gave him patience to endure his troubles but specially Lazarus might be said to bee delivered from his troubles when he was carryed by Angels into Abrahams bosome Verse 7 And here it falls out fitly to mention Angels for the Angell of the Lord encampeth round about them that feare him and delivereth them Wee little thinke we have a continuall guard about us and lesse we thinke that wee have a whole Campe for our guard but least of all that it is a Campe of Angels oh how safe should we thinke our selves if this were so O my soule this is so and yet wee thinke our selves not safe enough and may it not then be justly said What doubt yee of O yee of jittle faith But how can wee thinke there be Angells to guard us when we scarce thinke there be any Angels for if there bee they must bee creatures of God and then certainly creatures of a most excellent nature and would Moses then have left them out in his Catalogue of Creatures where he reckons them all up Indeed for this very reason because they are Creatures of a most excellent Nature hath Moses left them out for hee speakes but of materiall Creatures in this materiall world of which number the Angels are none But wee may thinke perhaps there are none because wee can see none as though we could see a thing that is invisible shall we therefore thinke we have no soules because we cannot see our soules Wee live now by Faith and not by sight and therefore can neither see soules nor Angels we shall then see both when we shall live by sight and not by Faith Alas if we beleeve no more then we see we seeme not to live by Faith neither for Faith beleeves that which it cannot see Oh therefore my soule to make it appeare thou livest and that thou livest by Faith let this be an Article of thy Creed that the Angels encampe and pitch their Tents about thee that if at any time thou bee assaulted if assaulted by enemies if by an Army of enemies thou maist have recourse to the confidence of this Guard and never tremble for any Alarum seeing there are more with us then are against us But how can the godly thinke they have a Guard about them when it is for Princes onely to have a Guard and the godly for the most part are but private men O my soule this is a Guard that attends no lesse the poorest man then the greatest Prince and attends him with as much carefulnesse as if he were a Prince But if there be Angels to defend the godly why doe they not defend them why doe they suffer them to be so molested so afflicted as they are for who are in such troubles who groane under such afflictions as the godly and would this be so if that were so would they be so oppressed if they had Angels to relieve them O my soule thou little considerest the infinite benefits that the godly re-receive by the ministerie of Angels If perhaps they suffer troubles of the body doe they not escape farre greater of the soule If they endure perhaps some momentarie afflictions doe they not avoid afflictions that would be everlasting Is there not an Army of malignant spirits to assault them and could they be safe from tearing in peeces if there were not a campe of Angels to assist them But though the Angels be a guard to the whole man both body and soule yet being creatures spirituall and invisible they are chiefly a guard to the invisible and spirituall part which is the soule The body they know must goe to the earth and therefore though a part is the least part of their care It is the Soule they chiefly waite upon because it is the soule they chiefly waite for for they stand waiting for the soule when it shall leave the body that they may take it and carry it into Abrahams bosome for till then they breake not up their Campe. And now O my soule seeing the Angels are so beneficiall and so good unto us Oh tast Verse 8 and see how good the Lord is for by the goodnesse we find in the Angels we may take a taste of the goodnesse that is in God if it be a great goodnesse in the Angels to encampe about us how great is his goodnesse that gives it them in charge for the Angels would not doe it if God did not command them Alas they could not doe it if God did not enable them Oh then taste and see how good the Lord is Not how good the Angels are though they bee good and exceeding good in their kind as Ministers yet what is this to the goodnesse of God who is the Fountaine of goodnesse to the Angels themselves O then Taste and see how good the Lord is for taste him we may but we can but tast him while we live here wee shall not have a full comprehension of him till wee come to see as we are seene when wee shall need no more encamping of Angels round about us O then Tast and see how good the Lord is but how can wee tast him that is not bodily how see him that is not visible Not him indeed but his goodnesse and not his goodnesse neither in its selfe but in its effects and not in its effects neither as they shall be but as they are which God knowes is but a small part of that they shall be O then Taste and see how good the Lord is if you would but taste him you would never take pleasure in other meat if you would but see him you would never delight in other object O my soule if thou couldst but taste the sweetnesse if but see the goodnesse that is in God it would make thee fall into a greater extasie than that of Saint Peter at the sight of Christs glory in the Mount at least it would weane thee from all the pleasures that the taste or the sight can minister to thee in this vaine world for alas what are the pleasures of the taste to the sweetnesse that is in God but as bitter Aloes to the sweetest honey What are the delights that passe by the senses to the delight in God that passeth all understanding May I not justly say now Blessed is the man that trusteth in him for hee that trusteth in God and he onely is like to bee admitted to taste the sweetnesse and to see the goodnasse that is in God which onely are the things that can make us blessed What is it to trust in God but to depend wholly upon him and to put all our confidence in him To trust in the world is to leane upon a broken reede to trust in our selves is to leane upon a shadow onely to trust in God is the true Terra firma where the Angels pitch their Tents and where if wee fixe our selves
What place will be left for wonder to give cause to say How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts But if hee had sayd How terrible are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts though it might have beene wonderfull in the degree yet it could not bee wonderfull in the kind for what wonder is it if the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts bee terrible but when he saith How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts this is not onely wonderfull in the degree but in the kind much more For what can be more wonderfull then that being Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts they should be amiable and so amiable as to be wondred at But is it not that God is in himselfe so amiable that all things of His even his Terrours themselves are amiable his Tabernacles and his Tents his Sword and his Speare his Darts and his Arrowes all amiable Terrible no doubt to his Enemies but amiable wonderfull amiable to all that love and feare him and great reason they should be so seeing they are all in their defence and for their safeguard though they be Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts to the wicked yet they are Courts of the Prince of peace to the godly and this makes my soule to Verse 2 long for the courts of the Lord. For I desire indeed to be a Courtier yet not as I am now God knowes I am very unfit for it but because Gods Courts are such they make any one fit that but comes into them they receive not men fit but make them fit and he that was before but a shrub in Baca assoone as hee comes into the Courts of the Lord is presently made a Cedar in Lebanon Indeed if his Tabernacles bee so wonderfull amiable they must needs be as wonderfull attractive for there is no such Adamant as Amiablenesse Nothing that so powerfully attracts and drawes all hearts unto it And to know the measure of their Amiablenesse by the power of their Attracting you need but looke upon my soule For my soule longeth and even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord which it would never doe if it were not for their wonderfull amiablenesse that attracts and drawes it by a kind of violence indeed by a kind violence unto them Every Amiablenesse is not so great to make a longing Nor every longing so great to make a fainting Nor every fainting so great to make the soule to faint Oh then consider how great this Amiablenesse is which makes my soule not onely to long but to faint with longing And blame me not for fainting as though it were my owne fault that would not restraine my longing for seeing his Tabernacles are of infinite amiablenesse they must needs worke in me an infinite delighting and that delighting an infinite longing and what restraint can there be of that which is infinite No alas my fainting is but answerable to my longing and my longing but answerable to the Amiablenesse If I had the offer made me which was made to Christ to enjoy all the Kingdomes of the Earth but with condition to want the Courts of the Lord this want would bring to my soule a greater griefe then that enjoying would give it contentment for seeing his Tabernacles are so amiable where he is Lord of Hosts how amiable must they needs be where hee is Prince of Peace and Prince of Peace he is in his Courts though in his Campe he be Lord of Hosts And that you may know it is not the weaknesse of my soule that it faints with longing for indeed weake spirits are apt to faint upon every light occasion but that it is the very operation of the wonderfull attractive power that is in the amiablenesse of his Courts see my Heart and my Flesh also how they are drawne to long after the Lord which they would never doe if it were not for some wonderfull amiablenesse that is in him for you may well thinke it must bee an Adamant of a wonderfull attractive power that can draw these heavy I rons of my heart and my flesh unto it for indeed though my Soule have a longing for the Courts of the Lord yet my Body perhaps could be content to want them there are Courts in the world that might please my Body as well perhaps better then these but God forbid God forbid I should be one to have my soule and body divided while they are united to have my soule runne one way and my body another No I am none of those but assoone as my soule longed for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh fell a longing for the living God As my Soule longed for the Place so my heart and my flesh for the Person for my heart and my flesh are of a duller apprehension they must have a present Enjoying of that they long for or they cannot be satisfied but my soule is of a cleerer sight and knows if it can but come to the place where he is it shall be sure withall to enjoy his presence and with his presence his Person The Soule indeed is a spirituall substance and therefore it is natural to the soule to long after spiritual things but the flesh is an earthly substance and therefore it is naturall to the flesh to long after earthly things and as long as these two are linked in the Body together they will alwayes be working upon one another alwayes seeking to draw each other to their partie and if the Soule can draw the flesh to goe her spirituall way then all is well it is as it should be but if the Flesh draw the Soule to goe her earthly way then all is out of order there will be no longing for the Courts of the Lord for they are spirituall and are never longed for but where the Soule is predominant and hath the leading And this is the order in Davids longing first his Soule begins to long for the Courts of the Lord and this is yet but a single cord but then comes in the Heart and the Flesh too and make it a Cord of three that is impossible to bee broken Indeed the Courts of the Lord are so exceeding amiable that it is impossible but every soule must needs long after them but yet every soule considers not what belongs to this longing but as Balaam longed to dye the death of the Righteous yet was loath to live the life of the Righteous so there are many that long for the Courts of the Lord but are loath to live the life of such Courtiers They that be in Kings houses weare silke and soft rayment because so it is fit for the honour of the place and they that will be in the Courts of the Lord must likewise weare rayment that is fit for the holinesse of the place they must be cloathed with the soft rayment of meeknesse and humilitie they must put on the robe of Righteousnesse and the garment of Sinceritie or because they are Courts of
good things God never bestowes upon the wicked never with-holds from the godly and are all cast up in one summe where it is said Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi videbunt Deum Blessed are the pure of Heart and such are onely they that walke uprightly for they shall see God But is walking uprightly such a matter with God that it should be so rewarded Is it not more pleasing to God to see us goe stooping then walking upright seeing stooping is the gate of Humilitie then which there is nothing to God more pleasing It is no doubt a hard matter to stoope and goe upright both at once yet both must be done and both indeed are done are done at once by every one that is godly but when I say they are done both at once I meane not of the body I know two such postures in the Body both at once are impossible but the Soule can doe it the Soule can stoope and goe upright both at once for then doth the Soule walke upright before God when it stoopes in humilitie before God and men And what remaines now for David to doe but to bring in the conclusion upon the Premisses seeing the Lord of Hosts though his Name be dreadfull yet his Nature is lovely seeing he is a Sunne to cherish and a Shield to Defend seeing he gives Grace and Glory and with-holds no good thing from them that walke uprightly Therefore blessed are all they that put their trust in him And what remaines now for us to doe but to receive this Conclusion of David as an absolute Demonstration and thereupon to walke uprightly and to put our whole trust and confidence in God through the merits of his Son Christ Jesus for then we are sure wee are in a sure way of attaining to Blessednesse to Eternall blessednesse that after this we may leave our wondring yet continue our Admiring How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord God of Hosts THE HVNDRED AND THIRD PSALME OF DAVID 1BLesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me blesse his holy Name 2 Blesse the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy infirmities 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things and renueth thy youth like the Eagles 6 The Lord executeth Righteousnesse and Iudgement for all that are oppressed 7 Hee made knowne his wayes unto Moses his Acts to the children of Israel 8 The Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and ful of compassion 9 Hee wil not alwayes chide neither wil hee keepe his anger for ever 10 Hee hath not dealt with us after our sinnes nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 11 For as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that feare him 12 As farre as the East is from the West so farre hath hee removed our transgressions from us 13 Like as a father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him 14 For he considereth whereof we are framed he remembers that we are but dust 15 As for man his dayes are as grasse as a flowre of the field so he flourisheth 16 For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting toward them that feare him and his righteousnesse unto childrens children 18 To such as keepe his Covenant and remember his Commandements to doe them 19 The Lord hath prepared his Throne in heaven and his kingdome ruleth over all 20 Blesse the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that doe his Commandements hearkening unto the voyce of his Word 21 Blesse the Lord all yee his Hosts Ye Ministers of his that doe his pleasure 22 Blesse the Lord all his workes in all places of his Dominion Blesse the Lord O my soule MEDITATIONS VPON THE CIII PSALME OF DAVID BLesse the Lord O my Verse 1 Soule O how well they are fitted for what worke so fit for my Soule as this Who so fit for this worke as my soule My body God knowes is grosse and heavie and very unfit for so sublime a worke No my soule it is Thou must doe it and indeed what hast thou else to doe it is the very worke for which thou wert made and O that thou wert as fit to doe the worke as the worke is fit for thee to to doe But alas I feare that by comming into this Body of earth thou art become in a manner earthy at least hast lost a great part of thy abilities and wilt never be able to goe thorow with this great worke thy selfe alone If to Blesse the Lord were no more but to say Lord Lord like to them that cryed The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord then my tongue alone would bee sufficient for it and I should not need to trouble any other about it but to Blesse the Lord is an eminent worke and requires not onely Many but very able Agents to performe it and therefore my Soule when thou goest about it goe not alone but Take with thee all that is within mee all the forces in my whole Magazine whether it be my Heart or my Spirits whether my Will or my Affections whether my Understanding or my Memory take them all with thee and Blesse the Lord. And of them all make use first of my Memorie Verse 2 Forget not all his Benefits for to remember his Benefits is indeed a principall part of Blessing him And the sooner thou goest about it the better thou art likely to performe it for forgetfulnesse is a thing that growes soone upon us and nothing sooner then forgetting of benefits our Memories are very apt to retaine Injuries but very unapt for retaining of Benefits For as long as we remember a Benefit we seeme to stand upon the rack of an Obligation to requite it and who is not willing to come off a Rack by any meanes he can and then rather by forgetting a Benefit then by requiting it and perhaps wee thinke it a kind of payment if we can but forget wee owe it But O my Soule consider that God expects no Retaliation of us he lookes for no requiting at our hands Alas He knowes we are not able He takes it in good part if but onely we remember his Benefits and should we not bee most ungratefull they being so great and so many as they are if we should not afford him so much as the remembring them But as to forget all his benefits were a wonderfull forgetfulnesse so to forget none at all were as wonderfull a Memorie for what memorie can be so vast not to forget some when they be so many Indeed so many that they cannot be numbred And what then O my Soule wilt thou doe in this case if thou canst not choose
my soule aspires for onely this Crowne makes sinne and Death to be my subjects Rebellious sinne that can never be brought into subjection but onely by this Crowne O God of thy loving kindnesse and tender mercies These indeed are Consequences most worthy to be remembred but yet perhaps not apt to be remembred for are they not of too high a straine and what the understanding doth not well apprehend the memorie doth not easily retaine He will therefore descend to Benefits of a lower Verse 5 ranke He satisfieth thy mouth with good things and renues thy youth like the Eagles This no doubt is apt to be remembred because it falls within the compasse of sense for who is not sensible of good things and specially when they bee good things for the mouth for all the labour of man is for the mouth All that the hands worke for and all that the feet toyle about is all but for the mouth so long as we may have greene Pastures and still Waters so long as we may have meat and drinkes not onely to satisfie hunger but to please the palate wee care not greatly for any thing else But O my soule these are not the good things that are here meant and yet even this perhaps were worth the caring for if it might continue but alas the dayes will come when I shall say I have no pleasure in them the time will come when my mouth will lose its taste and what good then will these good things of the mouth doe me No my soule no feare here of old age no feare of defect by reason of yeares For thy youth shall bee renewed like the Eagles There shall be no loosening here of the silver Cord no breaking of the golden Bowle but as the Eagle by mewing her feathers renues her youth So thou my soule by mewing thy feathers which is by casting off this fraile Tabernacle of thy flesh shalt perpetually be kept by the powerfull hand of God in a state of vigour Indeed the life we live now is the greatest part no life for Child-hood is scarce come to it and Old age is almost past it no time properly remaining to life but onely the short time of youth but the life that God hath in store for them that feare him not onely shall be alwayes but shall be alwayes Youth and no defect of Age shall be able to take hold upon it But may we not now begin anew and conceive rather that when David calls upon his soule to blesse the Lord and not to forget all his benefits Hee meanes he would have it to remember all his benefits and therefore he presently falls to reckon them all up himselfe not singula generum but genera singulorum Not all in particular but the generall Heads under which all the Particulars are comprehended And he begins with forgiving of sinnes because this is the Foundation this is that which reconciles us to God and which makes us capable of all his other benefits But alas what good will his forgiving my sinnes doe me if he stay there and goe no further for shall I not be committing of new sinnes continually and so God shall bee alwayes forgiving and never the neere Never the neere unlesse hee be alwayes forgiving To helpe this therefore his next benefit is the healing all my infirmities for this takes away that aptnesse to sinne to which wee are all of us by nature so prone and subject But alas what good will both these benefits doe me if hee yet stay here and goe no further seeing I am now a captive and already condemned to dye the death for should not my case bee like to theirs who upon the scaffold aske the King forgivenesse and when he forgives them yet they are put to death neverthelesse His next Verse 4 benefit therefore is a remedie for this For hee Redeemeth thy life from destruction Hee not onely frees thee from captivitie but preserves thee from perishing But alas what good yet will all these doe me if he should yet stay here and goe no further for when my sinnes be forgiven when my infirmities healed when my life redeemed yet what am I more by all this then as it were an Abrasa tabula at most what have I more to take joy in then every other ordinary creature Hee will now therefore Coronidem imponere give a benefit that shall perfect all For Hee crownes thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies Whatsoever is within the compasse of his loving kindnesse whatsoever within the extent of his tender Mercies he will not onely make thee capable of it but will freely bestow it all upon thee And who can deny but this now is a perfect Inventorie of all the benefits for which the soule hath cause to blesse the Lord to blesse him in respect of it selfe though there are other benefits indeed to the body for which the soule must blesse him too for alas the body is not able not able of it selfe without the soule and they are soone reckoned for they may be reduced to these two Sustentation and Renovation For hee satisfieth thy mouth with good things and thy youth is renewed like the Eagles as much as to say Thou shalt have the happinesse of the Epicure and of the Stoick both at once at least there shall bee no feare of hunger and thirst No drooping with Age nor ruines of Time And now O my soule let not my being in trouble and oppressed with sorrowes make thee doubt of the truth of these things for besides Verse 6 these benefits The Lord executeth Righteousnesse and Judgement for all that are oppressed Righteousnesse to them and Judgement for them For as it is righteous with God that his servants who are here oppressed should hereafter be comforted and be made partakers of all these benefits so it is his Judgement to the wicked who are their oppressours that they should feele hereafter the full measure of Gods wratth as it were in their revenge And this Righteousnesse and this Judgement he not onely deliberateth and determineth hee not onely promiseth to the godly and threatens to the wicked and then leaves them undone but he is perfect in all his wayes hee is truly Reall and puts them most assuredly in execution at least he executes them Per se or Per alium either by himselfe or by his Angels For indeed this part of his Judgement which is inflicting of punishment is not properly in God Opus suum and therefore no marvell if hee leave it to be done by Angels as he did at Sodome but though the Ministrie be theirs yet the Execution is His all the power is onely from him And although the executing his Righteousnesse and his Judgement be inter Arcana sua things hidden from us at which we may stand amazed but can never understand them yet he hath often-times revealed them to his servants the Prophets and specially to his servant Moses For he made knowne his wayes unto
as the Grave which is low indeed yet there thou maiest rest in hope for even there the Lord will not leave to helpe thee Or is it that he was brought low was humbled in spirit to seeme vile in his owne eyes and then God helped him For God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Verse 7 Now therefore O my soule returne to thy rest for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Now my soule let it be no longer said Why art thou so heavie and why art thou disquieted within me For the Lord hath exceeded the bounds of mercifulnesse with his bountifulnesse Not onely in mercy hee hath forgiven my sinnes but as if my sinnes had been Merits he hath made me also to taste of his bountie Hee hath dealt indeed most bountifully with thee for where thou didst make suite but for one thing hee hath granted thee three Thou didst aske but to have my soule delivered and he hath delivered mine eyes and my feet besides and with a deliverance in each of them the greatest that could be for what greater deliverance to my soule then to bee delivered from Death What greater deliverance to mine eyes then to be delivered from teares What to my feet then to bee delivered from falling that if now O my soule thou returne not to thy rest thou wilt shew thy selfe to bee most insatiable seeing thou hast not onely more then thou didst aske but as much indeed as was possible to be ask'd But can my soule dye and if not what bountie is it then to deliver my soule from that to which it is not subject The soule indeed though immortall hath yet her wayes of dying It is one kind of death to the soule to bee parted from the body but the truest kind is to bee parted from God and from both these kindes of death hee hath delivered my soule From the first by delivering me from a dangerous sicknesse that threatned a dissolution of my soule and body from the other by delivering me from the guilt of sinne that threatned a separation from the favour of God and are not these bounties to give my soule just cause of returning to her rest It is true it is the imperfection of life that it is subject to sicknesse and sicknesse drawes mortalitie after it but this imperfection is not here for hee hath delivered my soule from death and what is this but to have perfect health yet it is the imperfection of health that it is subject to crosses and crosses are a cause of teares but neither hath this imperfection any place here for he hath delivered mine eyes from teares and what is this but to have perfect Joy yet it is the imperfection of joy that it useth not to continue as it is said of the prosperitie of the wicked They are set in slipperie places and are apt to fall but neither is this imperfection found here for hee hath delivered my feet from falling and what is this but to be assured of continuance If then thou hast such health such joy such stabilitie Health not subject to sicknesse Joy not capable of sorrow Stabilitie not obnoxious to falling How canst thou O my soule how canst thou choose but pacifie thy unquietnesse and returne to thy rest But alas the rest thou canst returne to now is but a type of that true Rest when thou shalt rest from thy labours and when thy workes that now goe with thee shall then follow thee Thou hast now but one day of Rest for sixe dayes of labour but then thou shalt have an eternall Sabbath without any dayes of labour to disquiet it But though this rest cannot now bee had whilst thou dwellest in a restlesse body and thy body in a restlesse world yet there is a Rest that is worth the having and may onely my soule be called Thy Rest the rest which consists in the peace of conscience and to this rest thou maist well returne seeing not onely thou art at peace with God as being justified by his Grace but thou art in his favour also as having dealt so bountifully with thee And when thou returnest to this rest to the end thou maist have some exercise to thy rest that thy resting make thee not restiffe I will walke Verse 9 before the Lord in the land of the living For now that my feet are delivered from falling how can I better imploy them then in walking were they delivered from falling to the end they should stand still and bee idle No my soule but to encourage me to walke and where is so good walking as in the land of the living Alas what walking is it in the Winter when all things seeme dead when the very grasse lyes buried under ground and scarce any thing that hath life in it to be seene but then is the pleasant walking when Nature spreads her greene Carpet to walke upon and then it is a Land of the living when the Trees shew they live by bringing forth if not fruits at least leaves when the Valleys shew they live by bringing forth if not sweet flowers to delight the smell at least fresh grasse to please the eyes But is this the walking in the Land of the living that David meanes O my soule to walke in the Land of the living is to walke in the pathes of Righteousnesse for there is no such death to the soule as sinne no such cause of teares to the eyes as guiltinesse of Conscience No such falling of the feet as to fall from God and therefore to say the truth the Soule can never returne to its rest if we walke not withall in the paths of righteousnesse and we cannot well say whether this Rest bee a cause of the walke or the walking be a cause of the resting but this wee may say they are certainly companions one to the other which is in effect but this that Justification can never be without Sanctification Peace of conscience and godlinesse of life can never be one without the other Or is it perhaps that David meanes that Land of the living where Enoch and Elias are living with the living God but if he meane so how can he speake so confidently Verse 10 and say I will walke in the Land of the living as though hee could come to walke there by his owne strength or at his owne pleasure Hee therefore gives his reason I beleeved and therefore I spake for the voyce of Faith is strong and speakes with confidence and because in Faith he beleeved that hee shall come to walke in the Land of the living therefore with confidence he speakes it I will walke in the land of the living and perhaps to signifie that hee shall not walke there against his will but that he endeavours and useth the best meanes he can that hee may walke there For indeed if we endeavour not to walke here with Enoch and Elias in the paths of righteousnesse we shall never come to walke with God
leaves or they might bee greene flags or rushes and what good were to mee in such a greennesse No my soule the goodnesse is in being greene Pastures for now they performe as much as they promise and as in being greene they were a comfort to mee as soone as I saw them so in being greene pastures they are a refreshing to me now as soone as I tast them As they are pleasant to looke on so they are wholsome to feed on As they are sweet to be tasted so they are easie to bee digested that I am now me thinkes in a kind of Paradise and seeme not to want any thing unlesse perhaps a little water with which now and then to wash my mouth at most to take sometimes a sippe for though sheepe bee no great drinkers and though their pastures being greene and full of sappe make drinke the lesse needfull yet some drinke they must have besides and now see the great goodnesse of this Shepheard and what just cause there is to depend upon his Providence for hee lets not his sheepe want this neither but hee leades them besides still waters Not waters that roare and make a noyse enough to fright a fearefull sheepe but waters still and quiet that though they drinke but little yet they may drinke that little without feare And may I not justly say now The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want And yet perhaps there will be want for all this for is it enough that he leade them into greene pastures and besides still waters May he not leade them in and presently take them out againe before their bellyes be halfe full and so in stead of making them happy make them more miserable set them in a longing with the sight and then frustrate them of their expectation No my soule The measure of this Shepheards goodnesse is more then so Hee not onely leadeth them into greene pastures but hee makes them to lye downe in them Hee leades them not in to post over their meat as if they were to eate a Passeover and to take it in Transitu as dogges drinke Nylus but hee makes them to lye downe in greene pastures that they may eat their fill and feed at leisure and when they have done lye downe and take their ease that their After-reckoning may be as pleasing as their Repast and that they may be free from being solliciti de crastino for taking care to provide for tomorrow seeing they have a Market of provision round about them or rather their meat ready drest to their hands for many dayes to come O my soule thus are the godly provided for by the Lord their Shepheard and though their pastures may seeme withered and dry in the eyes of the world yet to them they are greene and pleasing and give more gladnesse to their hearts then theirs whose Corne and Wine most abundantly increaseth And now O my soule is it not time now to say Grace and to acknowledge a thankfulnesse for this plenty of my meat and drinke and can I say a shortet Grace then this The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want And yet perhaps there will be want for all this for if God be a Shepheard will hee not sheare his sheepe and if hee sheare me will he not leave me bare and naked and how then can I say I shall not want God indeed is a Shepheard that will sheare his sheepe but hee will Tondere not Deglubere Hee will take off our old cloathes but it is to make way for new and he takes them off in a time when we may well spare them indeed in a time when it is better for us to be without them and therefore neither is his shearing any cause but I may say still The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want And yet I say still there will perhaps bee want for all this For is it enough to have food and rayment Is it enough to have ease and plenty Alas all these doe but serve for the body there is no provision here for the soule and if the soule be not provided for all the rest is but the care of Martha troubled about many things and none of them needfull But he that told Martha of her errour is it like he will commit the like errour himselfe No my soule his principall care is of the soule for hee restoreth my soule but as he made mee Verse 3 not a living soule at first till hee had made the earth and the fruits of the earth to serve for my living so he Restores not my soule now till he hath first ledde me into Greene pastures to serve for my sustenance for to what purpose were it to give a life and not a living to give a Being and not give meanes to maintaine that Being and was it not perhaps from hence that Christ tooke his patterne when he taught us to Pray for daily bread before wee Pray for forgivenesse of sinnes But though he provide first for the body which was made first yet he provides most for the soule which was given last Hee but feedes my body but he restores my soule Hee ministers to my body but accidentall and outward things but inward and substantiall to my soule And why is it that God provides more for the soule then for the body but because the soule is of farre more worth then the body for God is not as man to take care of things out of fancie or upon mistaking but hee takes care of things according as hee values them and values them according as they are worth Numquid cura Deo de Bobis Doth God take care of Oxen Indeed the Soule in comparison of the Body is of farre more value then the worth of an Oxe in comparison of a man O that wee could be so wise as to know the true value and worth of the soule and to take care of things according to their values we should then certainly be more carefull of the soule lesse carefull of the body then we are and be more sensible of that saying of Christ What availes it a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his soule It may bee allowed perhaps to men to provide first for the body so they would provide most for the soule as God doth here but to provide first and most for the body and last and least for the soule as most men doe that I say not all for the body and nothing for the soule as some men doe This must needs be extremely against all good order seeing it is so directly against Gods order But to what is it that God restores my soule It must be to something that my soule had before and hath not now and so it is Hee restores it to its originall puritie that was now growne foule and black with sinne for alas what good were it to have greene pastures and a black soule Hee restores it to its naturall temper in affections that was growne
distempered with violence of Passions for alas what good were it to have still waters and turbulent spirits Hee restores it indeed to life that was growne before in a manner quite dead and who could restore my soule to life but he onely that is the good Shepheard and gave his life for his sheepe which no shepheard ever did but Hee Saint Peter layd downe his life but he gave not his life for he would perhaps have kept it if he might and he layd it not downe neither as a shepheard for his sheepe but as a sheepe rather for his shepheard but this Shepheard gave his life for his sheepe Gave it quia oportuit indeed because it was necessary he should give it but yet quia voluit too because hee would giue it for if it had not beene voluntarie it could not have beene acceptable and if not acceptable never certainly have served for a Ransome and if not Ransomming no Restoring But is it not said The Shepheard was smitten and the sheepe were scattered and what was his smyting but the Giving his life and had he not done better to have kept his life then leaving it to leave his sheepe to scattering O my soule though they were scattered for a time yet it was but to be gathered together againe with the greater joy for though he left his life yet he left not his sheepe but had a care of them even in death for hee had power to lay downe his life and power to take it up againe and as he layd it downe for his sheepes Ransome so hee tooke it up for their justification Every shepheard knowes that sheepe are subject to many infirmities and knowes many infirmities to which they are subject and therefore is never without his Boxe of Tarre as the best remedie in cases of danger but if the danger passe his Tarre-boxe and touch upon the life he then gives them over and lets nature worke but the Lord is a Shepheard of another nature above the power of Nature He restoreth the soule when the life is in danger hee hath wayes of curing which no shepheard knows of but himselfe and if other helps fayle he need but to say Velo sis sanus I will Be thou whole and without any Tarre-boxe it is a present remedie And may I not now justly say The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want And yet perhaps there will be want for all this for is it enough that he restore my soule and then leave me What is it to restore my soule but to put it in statu quo prius in the state it was made at first which was after the Image of God in holinesse and righteousnesse and if I could not continue in this state when made in it how shall I continue in it when restored to it Hee will therefore supply this want too for having restored my soule in righteousnesse Hee will leade mee in the paths of righteousnesse that though left to my selfe I tooke a wrong guide and went astray yet when he leades me that is the way it selfe I may be sure I cannot possibly goe out of the way But alas O Lord these paths of righteousnesse have a long time so little beene frequented that all prints of a path are almost cleane worne out that it is a hard matter now but to find where the paths lye and if wee can find them yet they are so narrow and so full of rubbes that without speciall assistance it is an impossible thing not to Fall or goe astray Even some Angels and those no meane ones were not able to goe right in these pathes of righteousnesse but for want of leading went awry and perished O therefore Thou the great Shepheard of my soule as thou art pleased of thy grace to leade me into them so vouchsafe with thy Grace to leade me in them for though in themselves they bee pathes of righteousnesse yet to me they will bee but paths of errour if thou vouchsafe not as well to leade me in them as into them O the comfortable pathes of righteousnesse the very paths in which Enoch walked with God and which walked in as they should be will bring us to a better Paradise then that of our first Parents For if God leade us in these paths these paths will leade us to the place where the Goats shall be put on the left hand and the sheepe be taken on the right that now I am certainly come to the highest cause of my glorying to say The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want for at his right hand is the fulnesse of Joy forevermore But why is it that this great Shepheard will doe these great things for me Is it because he findes me to be a sounder sheepe and to have fewer blemishes upon me then some other Alas no for I am nothing but blemishes and unsoundnesse all over but Hee will doe it for his Names sake For seeing hee hath taken upon him the Name of a good shepheard he will discharge his part what ever his sheepe be It is not their being bad sheepe that can make him leave being a good shepheard but he will be good and maintaine the credit of his Name in spight of all their badnesse and though no benefit come to them of it yet there shall glory accrew to him by it and his Name shall neverthelesse be magnified and extolled But now O my soule though I can say I shall not want yet can I say I shall not feare For is not Feare an inseparable companion of Mortalitie and can I then choose but feare that know my selfe to be mortall and know also what the condition is of being mortall Not onely that I may dye but that I must dye and not onely must one day but may this day Alas this very minute I feare indeed when I consider my owne frailtie but when I consider that the Lord is my Shepheard I then am armed against all feare against this feare of death it selfe Hee that makes me to walke in Greene pastures and in paths of righteousnesse and keepes me from want hee also leades me by the hand as I walke and keepes me from feare Yea thou I walke in the Verse 4 valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evill Though I be brought to never so great extremitie though brought as low as the Valley of death though brought as neere to Death as the shadow to the body though brought to walke as a ghost amongst the dead yet I will feare no evill The shadow of death may perhaps be farre enough from it for all our life is but the shadow of death but the Valley of the shadow must needs be close to death as being the very entrance to it yet if I were brought to this doore of death if brought within the doore and compassed about with Death yet for all this for all that can be said or done I will feare no evill Will you not will you not
of doores yet his soule shall presently be received into his house there to dwell with him and his Angels not as a servant but as sonne seeing none but sonnes abide in the house for ever Which in the person of David is no lesse the Portion and may be as well the comfort of all the godly and is but the expressing of that in a higher straine which was said at first in a lower style The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want THE TVVENTIE SEVENTH PSALME OF DAVID 1THe Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I feare the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid 2 When the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eate up my flesh they stumbled and fell 3 Though an host should encampe against me my heart shall not feare though warre should rise against me in this will I be confident 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seeke after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beautie of the Lord and to inquire in his holy Temple 5 For in the time of trouble hee shall hide mee in his Pavillion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall hee hide me he shall set me upon a Rock 6 And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his Tabernacle sacrifices of joy I wil sing yea I will sing praises unto the Lord. 7 Heare O Lord when I cry with my voyce have mercy also upon me and answer me 8 When thou saydst seeke yee my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord wil I seeke 9 Hyde not thy face farre from mee put not thy servant away in anger Thou hast beene my helpe leave me not neither forsake mee O God of my salvation 10 When my father and my mother forsake mee then the Lord wil take mee up 11 Teach me thy way O Lord and leade mee in a plaine path because of mine enemies 12 Deliuer mee not over to the wil of mine enemies for false witnesses are risen up against mee and such as breathe out crueltie 13 I had fainted unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living 14 Waite on the Lord bee of good courage and hee shall strengthen thine heart waite I say on the Lord. MEDITATIONS VPON THE XXVII PSALME OF DAVID LIght which makes all things visible Verse 1 was the first made of all visible things and whether God did it for our example or no I know not but ever since in immitation of this manner of Gods proceeding the first thing we doe when wee intend to doe any thing is to get us Light Indeed Light is not onely a directour but a comforter and nothing naturally strikes so much terrour as Darknesse for when wee are in the darke not onely wee are apt to take into our fancies all frightfull objects but we know not how to take our steps for feare of walls and thresholds It is every ones case to have the Sunne for his light but it is not every ones happinesse to have God for his Light and alas if I should trust to the Sunne for light I should be left in darknesse every day at least at night but God is a Sunne that never sets hee is Light himselfe hee is Light it selfe and therefore it is good trusting to God for Light for so I shall be sure neither day nor night to be left in darknesse O thou great Creatour of Light Thou Light of all creatures vouchsafe to shine upon me and to lighten my darknesse that neither any Objects of terrour may make mee to tremble nor any Thresholds of errour may make mee to stumble but that I may walke securely in the confidence of this The Lord is my Light for of what then of whom now should I be afraid But is it enough that God bee my Light what if I my selfe be blind what good then will his Light doe mee It is true and therefore David stayes not here but Deus illuminatio mea God is my Enlightening too Hee is both my Light and my sight my Light by which to see and my sight with which to see my Light to make walls and thresholds visible and my sight to make me able to avoide them If it were not for Light I should be alwayes in the darke if it were not for sight I should bee darke my selfe No illumination without both and never both but onely from God There is one indeed who hath gotten him a Name to be called Lucifer as though it were hee that brought us Light when God knowes but for him we should have had no darknesse yet he pretends to both both to Light and to enlightning but alas his light is but imposture his enlightning but illusion for as he can transforme himselfe into an Angell of light so he can transforme the light it selfe and make it seeme light when it is indeed darke and therefore his light can never make Walls and Thresholds to be truly visible and as little can his enlightening make us able to avoide them For this was tryed in our first Parents who upon his Enlightening had their eyes opened indeed but opened to see Good and Evill not to distinguish good from evill and therefore could not enable them cannot us to avoid the evill But as they that follow his light doe stumble and fall at the Threshold of errour so they that are led by his enlightening doe run their heads against the Walls of impietie No avoiding of Walls and Thresholds No shunning the snares of Sathan the illusions of this Lucifer but onely by saying if truly saying Deus illuminatio mea God is my enlightening and then we may safely inferre of what of whom should I be afraid Indeed David might well say Deus illuminatio mea God is my Enlightening Seeing God had enlightened him not onely to see but to be a Seer which is a Prophet but what is this to us who are farre from any such enlightening to see as Prophets O my soule it is enough for us that Christ is the great Seer in whose Light wee shall see light and though David were of the Jewes and wee bee of the Gentiles yet as Christ was the glory of his people Israel so he is a Light to lighten the Gentiles and therefore Deus illuminatio mea God is my enlightening as fit for us to say as it was for David But doth Gods enlightening serve onely for a safeguard against Walls and Thresholds Alas the light of the Sunne and the enlightening of Nature would serve to doe this and what need we then to seeke any other O my soule there are spirituall Walls and Thresholds which no Sunne can make us see which Nature her selfe is not able to see onely Gods enlightening hath the influence to doe it There is a Wall of sinne the Partition
stand not idle and may have some testimonie for my salvation that it grow not doubtfull There is one Verse 4 thing I have desired of the Lord and that I will seeke after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beautie of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple This beholding of Gods beauty will be a continuall exercise for my Illumination and this enquiring in Gods holy Temple will give me assurance of my salvation It were very hard if David making but one request to God that God should deny him for hath he not bidden us to aske and wee should have and could David aske lesse then to aske but one thing No my soule God denied it not to David nor will deny it to thee nor to any other that shall aske it in Faith and specially if hee aske it to so good an end as David doth here to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple But seeing David would make but one request to God why would he not make a greater for alas what a poore request is this to desire to dwell in Gods house and what to doe but onely to see and to see what but onely a Beautie a fading thing at most but to enquire and what is enquiring but onely to heare newes a vaine fancie and what cause in any of these why David should make it his request to God But marke O my soule what goes with it Take altogether to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple And now tell mee if there be tell me if there can be any greater request to be made any greater cause to be earnest about it For though worldly beauty be a fading thing yet the Beauty of the Lord shall continue when the world it selfe shall fade away and though enquiring after newes be a vaine fancie yet to enquire in Gods Temple is the way to learne there is no new thing under the Sunne and there it was that Solomon learned that all is vanitie Indeed this one thing that David desires is in effect that Unum necessarium that Christ speakes of in the Gospell which Mary made choyce of there as David doth here and I may say it is that pretious Jewell which the rich Merchant sold all he had to buy and had his bargaine commended by Christ himselfe O how happy were wee if we could bound our desires within the compasse of things necesserie for all our miserie growes from this that our desires have no certaine dwelling but wander and range about from one object to another like vagabonds from place to place and no helpe there will be for it till our desire arrive at that which is the best for as long as there is any better to be had the Desire will never leave desiring and where is that best to be had but in him onely that is onely good in him indeed that is the onely good and seeing there can be no happinesse till the Desire be settled and the Desire will never be settled till wee come at God therefore no meanes so likely to make us happy as to dwell in Gods house for there wee are sure we shall be with him and once with him never have desire to any thing besides him There are other houses which in worldly considerations and to worldly mindes may seeme as convenient and perhaps be more profitable to dwell in then this house of God but that which makes me so desirous to dwell here rather then any where else is partly for the prospect that I may behold the beauty of the Lord and partly for instruction that I may enquire in his holy Temple For there is not such a Prospect againe in the world as this Not on the Mount where Christ was shewed all the Kingdomes of the earth and the glory of them Nor such another place for instruction as here Not all the Schooles of Philosophers Not all the Oracles of the Heathen in any degree to be compared with it And what then is this beauty of God which David is so desirous to behold what this house of God in which he desires to dwell There is a beauty of God in his creatures most glorious indeed and most worthy of beholding but yet this needs no dwelling in Gods house to see it wee may see it as well dwelling any where else but there is a beauty of God in himselfe a beauty which if once we see wee shall never be willing to take our eyes off a beauty which the more wee see the more we shall see cause to desire to see it a Beauty which without speciall illumination neither the eyes of men are able to behold nor the tongues of Angels to expresse and this Beauty is no where to be seene but in Gods house and not there neither but by dwelling in it It is not for every one that comes in as a stranger to see this Beauty they must be dwellers in it continuall and constant frequenters of it or they are never like to be admitted to behold it There is indeed in all the creatures of God in some more eminently a certaine tincture of this Beauty and is perhaps that which deceives us in the estimating of our happinesse because wee take tincture for substance and fixe our selves upon that which is made but onely for a passage For tinctures though they please for a time yet they soone weare out and decay no solidnesse nor durablenesse but in the substance it selfe and no substance of beauty but onely in God and therefore the truest happinesse indeed all true happinesse in onely the beholding of this Beauty And if any man doubt of this because seeing is but the satisfaction of one sense and happinesse gives satisfaction at least to all the senses Let him then heare what David in another place sayes Videte gustate quam suavis est Dominus See and taste how sweet the Lord is For in this Seeing not onely the Tasting but all the senses are united at least the pleasures of all the senses are comprised and the rather if wee consider that Beholding hath a preheminence above Seeing for where seeing may bee in Transitu onely Beholding implyes a permanencie and a fixing our eyes upon it and such is the Seeing that is the Essentiall sense of happinesse And what then is this house of God in which David desires to dwell hath God any other house then Heaven and would David dwell in Heaven whilst hee is dwelling upon Earth will nothing serve his turne but to aske God for impossibilities Indeed Heaven is Gods Throne but Heaven and Earth both are full of the Majestie of his glory and therefore God hath a House on earth too a House dedicate to the honour of his Name and David justly makes his Prayer for this House because indeed it is the house of Prayer and no Rent payd for dwelling in it
but onely Prayer O then make me able O God to pay thee this Rent and I shall never doubt of continuing thy tenant in this House to behold thy Beautie and to inquire in thy holy Temple But why should David make it a suite to God to dwell in his House seeing God leaves the doores open that every one may come and dwell in it that will O my soule it is not simply to dwell in it but so to dwell in it that he may see Gods beauty and this cannot bee seene without illumination and no illumination but of Gods donation For indeed this dwelling is a spirituall living a donative onely in Gods gift and justly therefore David makes it his suite to have his Induction but an Induction onely while wee live here no perfect possession till another life but hee that seekes not his induction here must never looke for possession hereafter As to behold the beauty of God is one great benefit of dwelling in Gods house so it is another no lesse to inquire in his holy Temple as that beholding gives a satisfaction to our eyes so this inquirie to our mindes When David saw the prosperitie of the wicked hee was so amazed that hee knew not what to make of it till he entred into Gods holy Temple and inquired and there he presently learned what Gods meaning is in it and why hee suffers it to be so What knowledge so necessary as the knowledge of sinne yet Saint Paul confesseth hee had not knowne what sinne is but for the Law and where is the Law to bee learned but enquiring in Gods holy Temple and indeed if there bee any scruple of conscience if any doubtfulnesse of mind if any difficulty of question concerning either God or our selves either the life present or the life to come by enquiring in Gods holy Temple it is presently cleered and resolved for there are the Oracles kept which serve to instruct to teach to reprove that the man of God may be perfect in every good worke And amongst all the great mysteries which are learned by enquiring in Gods holy Temple this is one of speciall comfort to me that Verse 5 when I am in trouble if his house that I dwell in be not sufficient to defend me he will hide me in his owne Pavillion in the secret of his Tabernacle will hee hide mee hee will set mee upon a rock that one way or other he will bee sure and I may be sure he will set mee in safetie But how can God hide me in his Pavillion which lyes open to all men and where every man may enter and find me He will then rather then faile hide me in the secret of his Tabernacle which is shut against all men and where none enters but himselfe But yet his Tabernacle may be burnt with fire may bee blowne up with powder blowne downe with winde and what safetie then in the secret of his Tabernacle Hee will then if that faile set me upon a Rocke and a Rocke is subject to none of these that so at least neither fire nor sword nor tempest of wind may prevaile against me Or is it that being once admitted to dwell in Gods house I shall have not onely the protection of a servant for his Tegere is Protegere but the advancement also of a Favorite to be set upon a Rocke for this as it is a safetie is no lesse an honour Or is it that lest mine enemies should thinke it were done for feare of them that he hydes me he will set me upon a Rocke as it were in defyance and though some may be so bold to enter the secret of his Tabernacle yet none will bee so desperate to venture upon a Rock against which all they can doe is but to dash themselves in peeces and to hasten their owne ruine And now O my soule how canst thou doubt of thy being in safetie having the three great fortresses of God for thy defence his generall providence which is his Pavillion then his speciall Mercie which is the secret of his Tabernacle then the Mediation of Christ who is the Rocke upon which when thou art set neither the raging of the Sea nor the blustering of the wind need to affright thee for though they roare against thee yet they cannot hurt thee and of whom then of what now should I be afraid For being set upon this Rock My head shall Verse 6 bee lifted up above mine enemies round about mee Though my feet may be in the water yet my head shall be above water I shall be in no danger though perhaps in some trouble and in no trouble neither but such as while my head is lifted up I may freely laugh at and despise and the rather for that though my enemies be so many as to be round about me yet they are so meane as to be all below mee not meane in themselves but meane through him that hath lifted up my head above them If mine enemies were but low it were no great matter to be higher then they but to have my head lifted up above them who carry their heads so high as to thinke none their equalls this must needs be as well to me a cause of joy as in thee O God an effect of power In thy lifting up my head I regard not so much the honour as the relation to my enemies for whether it be lifted up little or much it is all one to mee so long as it bee above my enemies their pitch is my proportion for the marke of my ayme is not superiority but securitie not to shine in other mens eyes but not to have mine owne put out There may be many causes of joy to a man in trouble but none so great as this to have his head lifted up above his enemies for though to take revenge of an enemy bee the delight onely of a cruell nature yet to be able to take revenge is a joy to the mildest nature but yet a joy that must bee made a sacrifice not to grow insolent and proud upon it but as to receive the power with humilitie so to use it with mildnesse and most of all to ascribe the glory to whom it belongs There was a time O God when thou didst lift up mine enemies heads above me and even then I offered thee a sacrifice too but it was a sorrowfull sacrifice a sacrifice of sorrow but when thou shalt lift up my head above mine enemies I will then offer thee a joyfull sacrifice a sacrifice of joy and it shall not bee a silent joy as though I sought to smother it by which no glory would come unto thee but it shall be a singing joy and the song shall bee of thy praises as shewing me to joy more in thy lifting me up then in my being lift up more for thy glory then for my owne advancement but sing I shall for both I shall sing to expresse my joy and I shall sing to extoll thy
senses are waking to entertaine it What is the Evening but the end of the day and what is the Evening of our life but the end of our dayes and in this Evening indeed there is commonly heavinesse weeping for parting of friends that have lived together but this heavinesse is removed assoone as morning comes for what is the Morning but when the Sunne riseth againe and what is our Morning but when we shall rise againe and as when this morning comes there will bee a day that shall have no more Evening so when this joy comes all teares shall be wiped from our eyes and there shall be no more weeping Indeed all our great joyes have ever come in the morning It was a Joy that came in the morning at the Birth of Christ It was a Joy that came in the morning at the Resurrection of Christ It was a Joy that came in the morning at the Descending of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and these Joyes were then so great that they have made us Feasts ever since Our Christmasse our Easter and our Whitsontide yet these Joyes had their heavinesse preceding the Joy of Christs birth had the heavinesse of his Mothers slight the Joy of Christs Resurrection had the heavinesse for his Passion the Joy of the Descending of the Holy Ghost the heavinesse for Christs departing but these heavinesses were so presently followed with joyes that it hath made this Aphorisme be found true still Heavinesse may endure for a night but joy commeth in the morning And now O my soule what need it trouble thee to have heavinesse in the Evening so long as thou art sure to have joy in the morning What need it trouble thee to be weeping for a time when thou art sure of rejoycing when time shall be no more Hitherto I have beene busie about singing Gods praises for lifting mee up which hath beene his worke Now I must leave singing and come to saying to speake of my owne worke And I said in my prosperitie I shall never Verse 6 be moved but alas if my singing were no Verse 7 better then my saying it had beene better for me to have held my peace in both for what a saying is this to say I shall never be moved Is there any Mountaine so strong that it cannot be moved and if no Mountaine how any man but this is the insolent language of prosperitie to give over crying to God and fall a boasting of it selfe Alas Prosperitie hath neither good tongue nor good eyes as it made David say hee should never be moved so it made him thinke it enough that God by his favour had made his Mountaine strong but as for the maintaining it strong to arrogate that to himselfe when God knowes if once we leave depending upon God and arrogate any thing to our selves our Mountaine will soone bee turned into a Valley and our strength will goe from us as it did from Samson when his haire was cut off and this makes David say now Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled for as it is the favour of God that makes our Mountaine strong and our Mountaine being strong wee are kept from trouble so it is the hiding of Gods face that makes our moutaine weake and our mountaine being weake wee are presently troubled but rather indeed if God doe not as well maintaine our mountaine strong as make it strong we shall quickly bring our Mountaine to a Mole-hill wee shall quickly either fall our selves from our Mountaine or have our mountaine to fall upon us Wee see the Earth hath no comfort but in the Sunne and therefore if the Sunne bee removed the Earth presently puts on Blacks is pincht with cold and covered with darknesse That which the Sunne is to the Earth thy Face O God is to me and what marvell then when thou hidest thy face if I bee left as a disconsolate Earth in trouble and mourning God useth not to hide his face from any that depend upon him and therefore as long as I put my trust and confidence in him he was to me as a strong Mountain I enjoyed his favour and the light of his Countenance but assoone as I left depending upon him and trusted to my owne strength my Mountaine was suddenly turned into a Valley and I was left alas in a vale of miserie O therefore my soule notwithstanding any prosperitie whatsoever Doe thou depend upon God for thy Mountaine both for making it strong and for maintaing it strong and never bee moved to say thou shalt never be moved for to bee immovable is a priviledge of God himselfe and of God alone and is not communicable to any creature It is a false saying in any estate to say I shall never be moved but in prosperitie falsest of all for hee that is in prosperitie stands in a slipperie place and such a place is not capable of stabilitie What is prosperitie but an earthy thing and can any thing that is earthy be secure from moving when the body of the Earth it selfe is moved O my soule the consideration of this Alas the feeling of this hath made mee leave both singing and saying and fall to my crying againe I cryed to thee O Lord and unto the Lord I made supplication Verse 8 Indeed crying is the voyce of a suppliant and the fittest voyce for a supplication but yet why should David tell God of his crying to him and say I cryed to thee O Lord as though God knew it not without his telling it No doubt God knew of his crying for how else did he heare it and of his supplication for how else could hee grant it and therefore it seemes hee tells it not so much to God as to us that wee may take notice with what sacrifices God is pleased For as there are divers sacrifices that are acceptable to God so each of them in the due time is the fittest and most acceptable singing fittest after a benefit obtained and crying fittest for obtaining a benefit Allelujahs fittest when wee are in triumph Hosanna's fittest when we are in distresse And therefore being at the present in perill of his life and delivered as it were into the hands of Death the sacrifice he offers now is a supplication which yet seemes not so much a supplication as an Expostulation Verse 9 What profit is there in my bloud when I goe downe into the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy truth If I goe downe into the Pit shall I not bee turned into dust and is dust good for any thing but to be food for the Serpent May I not doe thee better service above ground then under it Alas I shall be there but in the company of Wormes poore silly things that are not capable of knowing thee I am here in the societie of reasonable creatures with whom I may joyne in extolling thy Praises Hast thou not breathed into mee the breath of life and wilt thou draw in thy
the gates of Hell can never prevaile against us What preserved Jonas in the Whales belly What Daniel in the Lyons denne but only their trust in God O then my soule doe thou also trust in God and hee will be the same God to thee the same safegard in thy dangers as he was to Jonas and to Daniel But yet let thy trusting in him be such as that thou presume not for there are certaine bounds that must not be passed It is as dangerous to goe too farre in trusting in him as to be too short and as it is Faith that puts us on for comming too short so it is Feare that keepes us off from going too farre O therefore Feare the Verse 10 Lord yee his saints for there is no want to them that feare him Verely a strong Motive to make us feare God seeing hee that feares him shall want nothing And yet the Motive not so strong but the reason as apparant for the Feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome and Wisedome I may say is the godly mans Purviour and what marvell then if hee want nothing that hath so cunning a Purveiour as Wisedome to keepe him from want but then it must be from want of things that are good for to want other things is no disparagement to Wisedomes pourveyance O that men would understand how to distinguish betweene things that are truly good indeed and things that but onely seeme good we should then have a better world then wee have and men would never complaine of want when they have but too much never bee so earnest for supply of things that truly considered are but meerely superfluous If therefore one that feares God be in any want we may know that the thing he wants is not good for if it were good he should not want it it may perhaps be good in it selfe but not good for him and if not good for him hee cannot be truly said to want it because indeed he were better be without it But is Feare a thing of such force to supply our wants One would rather thinke that boldnesse and courage should supply them No my soule for what creature so couragious Verse 11 as the Lyon Yet the young lyons doe lacke and suffer hunger whether they be young Lyons as depending upon the provision of their Parents or young in the strength of their youth that can provide for themselves yet they sometimes lacke and suffer hunger for indeed strength of body is not the best Purveiour No my soule nothing but wisedome makes the true purveyance and no wisedome without the feare of the Lord and therefore none but they that feare the Lord can bee free from want But is not this a fearefull doctrine that either wee must feare or else wee must want were it not as good to want as to have our wants supplyed by feare Is not the Remedie worse then the Disease Alas this is but the objection of Children either Children in yeares or Children in understanding who know not what Feare it is I meane and therefore Come yee children and hearken to mee I will Verse 11 teach you the feare of the Lord It is not a Feare that you need be afraid of it is a feare that will free you from all other feares it is a feare that is Active where all other feares are Passive It is a Feare that workes in love and who would not love such a Feare It is a Feare that is joyned with Joy a Feare not to offend but a Joy for not offending It is a Feare not so much of Gods justice as of his Mercy for there is mercy with him that hee may bee feared It is not a Feare that will shorten your life but be a meanes to prolong it but then it must not be a bare speculative feare but you must put it in practise and these may bee the rules Keepe thy tongue from evill and thy lippes Verse 12 from speaking guile Depart from evill and do good seeke peace and pursue it Long life was once promised before to them that honour their Parents and here it is promised againe to them that love their Neighbours for these Rules are as the whole body of morall Philosophie and are therefore delivered in sixe parts like the six Commandements of the second Table which onely concerne our dutie to Neighbours and in all of them the qualitie of chiefe Predominance and which keepes then all in tune is Feare Keepe thy tongue from evill for feare of the evill that may ensue and thy lips from speaking guile for feare lest thy guile bee discovered to thy shame Depart from evill for feare of infecting and doe good for feare of repenting Seeke peace for feare of wanting it and pursue it for feare of losing it The two first Precepts are the dutie of words for words must first be regulated before workes can bee actuated and they are both Negative Keepe thy tongue from evill and thy lips from speaking guile for it is not required of the tongue to be Eloquent or of the lips to deliver Oracles It is enough in the tongue if it be not irreverent to superiours nor detracting from equalls It is enough in the lips if they be not charmes to deceive nor Equivocations to delude The other Precepts are the dutie of workes and they are foure where the Precepts of words were but two because we must be more in workes then in words and they are all Affirmative for it is against the nature of a worke to be in the Negative for so working should be no better then idlenesse the two former are generall as generall as Good and Evill that if we meet with any thing that is Evill our part is to Depart for there is no demurring upon Evill No dallying with baytes lest staying we be stayed as Eve was Therefore depart from evill If we meet with any thing that is good our worke is to fall a working for vertue consists in action and is not so proper to bee talked of as to be done we never reade of any reward for good words onely but all reward is onely for good workes Because thou hast done this saith God to Abraham Therefore doe good The two last Precepts are speciall whither we call them speciall as being particular or as being excellent for so is Peace It is the legacie that was left us by Christ and who would lose Christs Legacie for want of seeking it Therefore seeke Peace and pursue it but not pursue Peace for this were to make warre upon peace but pursue the seeking of Peace for though it be said seeke and yee shall find yet it is not said how long we must seeke before wee shall find if therefore seeking Peace you find it not at first pursue the seeking it and you shall find it at last Agree with thine Adversarie while thou art in the way This is to seeke peace Leave thine offering at the Altar and goe first and be
reconciled This is to pursue it Or perhaps the counsell that Saint Paul gives to Timothy may expresse it plainer Be instant in season and out of season to bee instant in season is to seeke peace to be instant out of season is to pursue it Indeed if a man desire long life and to see good dayes he must have a speciall care of peace whither it be peace in the humours or peace in the Passions whither Peace with God or peace with men they are all prolongers of life and life is never shortened or disquieted but for want of peace in one of these and therefore that you may not bee to seeke of long life seeke peace and pursue it And now O my soule is there not great cause that the feare of the Lord should animate all our words and workes when so great a Majestie as the eye of God is looking upon them when so sacred an Auditorie as the Verse 15 eares of God are hearkening to them For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their cry and can any man be so without shame as to bee without feare when he is the spectacle which God is pleased to looke upon the speaker which he vouchsafes to hearken to But O my soule as it cannot but make thee feare so it cannot but make thee joy for what greater honour then to bee the object of Gods eyes and eares What though the world regard thee not as long as God regards thee What are the eyes and eares of the world but eyes and eares of scorne or else of envie of scorne when in adversitie and of envie in prosperitie but the eyes of the Lord are righteous eyes and are therefore upon the righteous his eares are eares of compassion and therefore are open to their cry But are not the Eyes of the Lord as well upon the wicked and what priviledge then is this to the Righteous No my soule his Eyes are upon the Righteous but they are against the wicked and not onely his eyes but his whole Face is against them to cut off their remembrance Verse 16 from the earth O my soule as thou considerest with joy the great force that is in righteousnesse which drawes the eyes and opens the eares of God so consider with trembling the great force that is in sinne which not onely turnes away his Eyes and stops his Eares but makes him to bend his whole Face in furie that if his favours of looking upon us and hearkening to us cannot winne us to feare him out of love at least the bending his Face against us in anger may force us to feare him out of terrour for he bends not his Face to make a shew onely as though he did but set a face upon it but it is to cut off the very remembrance of them that doe evill from the Earth But may not the wicked erect Tombes and Monuments that will preserve their remembrance for many Ages perhaps as long as the Earth shall endure and how then is their remembrance cut off from the Earth but from what Earth is it not meant from the Land of the living that in this may be seene the different condition betweene the godly and the wicked for as it is said here that the remembrance of the wicked shall be cut off from the Earth so it is said in another place of the godly that they shall be had in everlasting remembrance and where is any everlasting remembrance to be had but in the Land of the living Indeed to have their remembrance cut off in this Earth is not worthy of Gods threatning It is the cutting off from the Land of the living which is the blotting them out of the Booke of life that is a worke worthy of Gods setting his Face against them and this may well bee called a cutting off not onely because it shall come suddenly upon them but because they are never like to be heard Alas never like to be heard of any more which can never be the condition of the godly for they can never be so out of remembrance but that they shall bee alwayes heard of God For the righteous cry Verse 17 and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles But how is it like to be true that the godly shall never be forgotten when they seeme to be forgotten already while they live for how else should it happen that they are more in trouble in more trouble than other men but that God hath cast them out of his remembrance O my soule their very being in trouble is a certaine argument that God remembers them if he had not remembred Job and his righteousnesse he would never have given Sathan so much leave as he did to trouble him For indeed though troubles be judgements to the wicked and are as the first blowes to cut off their remembrance from the earth yet they are but tryals to the godly and doe but serve to make their remembrance be the fresher Doe we not see how Trees are nipt with frost and cold and not so much as a leafe left hanging upon them scarce so much as life remaining in them but is it not to renue in them the fresher springing and to make way for fruits in a greater plentie and such are the troubles of the godly they end in deliverance and though they be bitter for the present yet they make the joyes afterward to taste the sweeter And what marvell if God heare the cry of the righteous being so nigh unto them as hee is For the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken Verse 18 heart Not broken with envie as many are Not broken with despaire as some are but broken with sense of their sinne as the righteous are for this onely is the broken heart to which God is nigh and hee is not nigh it in vaine No my soule it is good having God to be our neighbour for hee saves all them to whom he is nigh Hee saves all them that bee of a contrite and humble heart the lower they are in their owne eyes the higher they are in his and when their heart is broken with sense of their sinne he makes it whole againe with supply Verse 19 of his grace It is true Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of all For the righteous have many enemies and therefore must needes have many troubles but their troubles are not troublesome because they have the Lord for their deliverer if it be sicknesse he makes their bed in their sicknesse If it be hunger hee fills the hungrie with good things when hee sends the rich emptie away if it be Death it selfe Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis the issues of Death are all in Gods hands and all this while though their heart be broken yet their bones are whole still They may have thornes in the flesh but not a bone of theirs is broken
for one of Verse 20 their bones is Faith which though it may bee shaken yet it cannot bee broken Another of their bones is Hope which though it may bee battered yet it cannot be broken and Patience is a bone which may be vexed but can never be broken for in all of them the Lord hath a hand Hee upholds the righteous that they cannot fall Hee strengthens them that they cannot faint and as long as their bones bee whole they are able to stand upright and shrinke not for any burthen that either the Flesh or the World can lay upon them And though David in this have an eye perhaps upon Christ of whom indeed there was not a Bone broken yet what is spoken of the Head may not incongruously bee applyed to the Members and in the soundnesse of Christs bones the bones of the godly are kept from breaking But the troubles of the wicked are of another nature for Evill shall slay the wicked Verse 21 and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate Their hearts perhaps are broken too but because they are not broken with sense of their sinne but with spight and malice to the Righteous there shall be none to make them whole but their owne evill shall be their owne destruction and having none to deliver them they shall be left desolate and without all hope of helpe But shall not the wicked then have this good by being desolate that as they have none to helpe them so they have none to hurt them Alas it needes not they doe it fast enough themselves for Sinne is a recoyling Poyson it turnes violently backe upon them that commit it and it may be truly said of every wicked man that he is Felo de se a Murtherer of himselfe Though Righteousnesse of it selfe doth not save the Righteous but they need a Saviour besides yet wickednesse of it selfe destroyes the wicked they need no other Destroyer Perditio tua ex te O Israel Thy destrustion is from thy selfe O Israel And O my soule what great Examples there are to verefie this saying They that hate the righteous shall be desolate When Cain hated the righteous Abel was he not thereupon made desolate and became a Vagabond forsaken both of God and man but in a higher degree when the wicked Jewes hated Christ the righteous was there not a Voyce heard as of Angels saying Migremus hinc Let us depart from this place and thereupon left them desolate without Prince or Prophet without Temple or Altar to this day You may say perhaps that Cain might easily be made desolate having killed his brother in a time when there was no more in the whole world but that one Familie but how can the wicked bee made desolate now when Totus mundus in maligno est positus When all the world is full of them and no Beasts so herd together as they doe But is it not that Desolatenesse consists not so much in want of company as in want of comfort was Job the lesse desolate for having company of whom to say Miserable comforters are ye all much lesse shal the wicked be the lesse desolate for having company of whom to say Miserable Tormentours are yee all for alas all their companie shall bee either Companions in their torments or Companions their tormentours which can never bee the case of the godly for though they be not so perfect not to have their faults yet they are so happy not to have them imputed for being Gods servants Hee will redeeme them though they be taken captive yet hee will not suffer them to continue Captives but rather then not redeeme them he will give his onely Sonne to be their ransome But yet how can the godly choose but bee Desolate when the whole world scarce affords enow to make a company and where then can company be had to keepe them from being desolate O my soule they have Angels to pitch their Tents about them while they live here and hereafter they shall come to bee Citizens in the New Hierusalem where they shall have company enough Priests and Patriarks Prophets and Apostles Martyrs and Confessours blessed Virgins and chiefly the Blessed Virgin but above all where they shall see the Blessed face of God whose onely sight is able whose sight is onely able to keepe from being desolate and then at least I shall bee as able to performe my Vow as now I am ready to make it I will blesse the Lord at all times his Praise shall continually be in my mouth THE EIGHTIE FOVRTH PSALME OF DAVID 1HOw amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of hosts 2 My soule longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God 3 Yea the Sparrow hath found an house and the Swallow a nest for her selfe where shee may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of Hosts my King and my God 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praysing thee 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee and in whose heart are thy wayes 6 Who passing thorow the valley of Baca make it a Well the raine also filleth the pooles 7 They goe from strength to strength every one of them in Syon appeareth before God 8 O Lord God of hosts heare my prayer Give eare O God of Iacob 9 Behold O God our shield and looke upon the face of thine Anoynted 10 For a day in thy Courts is better then a thousand I had rather be a doore keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the tents of wickednesse 11 For the Lord God is a Sunne and a shield The Lord will give grace and glory No good thing will hee with-hold from them that walke uprightly 12 O Lord of Hosts Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee MEDITATIONS VPON THE LXXXIV PSALME OF DAVID WHen wee cannot expresse the Verse 1 greatnesse of a thing in direct tearmes wee are faine to flye to wonder and so doth David here because he cannot expresse sufficiently how amiable the Tabernacles of the Lord are hee therefore falls to wondering and helpes himselfe with a question How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts But is not Davids wondering it selfe wonderfull that the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts should be so wonderfully amiable Is it not a wonder they should bee amiable at all For are not his Tabernacles Tents of Warre and is there any thing in Warre that can be amiable If he had said How terrible are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts his wonder had beene with some congruitie for the Lord of Hosts is terrible in all his workes but to say How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts seeme to imply a contradiction for though they may be amiable as they are Tabernacles yet they must needs bee terrible as they are Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts and when this Terriblenesse hath made an abatement in their Amiablenesse
but forget some of his Benefits yet forget not all his Benefits if thou canst not remember all at least remember some Forget not It is hee that forgiveth Verse 3 all thy sinnes it is hee that healeth all thy infirmities Remember but these and they will alwayes minister matter enough to keepe thee in worke for blessing his Name For to forgive all my sinnes O my grievous my manifold sinnes that I know not whether they bee more or more grievous whether their Number or their Greatnesse be the greater is it not a benefit that may justly claime a prime place in my memorie If it were but onely to be favourable in punishing my sinnes it were a benefit worth remembring but to blot my sins cleane out and absolutely to forgive them and that freely without any desert of mine Alas without any possibilitie of deserving This is a Benefit that no Lethargie can forget indeed a benefit that deserves remembring in the highest degree And yet perhaps to forgive all my sinnes not a greater benefit then to heale all my infirmities This being the chiefe worke of his Grace as that of his Mercy for seeing my sinnes many of them and upon the matter all of them bee sinnes of infirmitie for even wilfulnesse and presumption are of infirmitie by healing my infirmities hee prevents me of sinning and is it not as great a benefit to keepe me from committing sinnes as to forgiue my sinnes when I have committed them But O my soule meddle not with this high point of Heraldrie to discusse which is the greater of Gods Mercy or his Grace They are both an Abyssus it is worke enough for thee and for all that is within me to Blesse him for both and for both indeed thou hast just cause to Blesse him seeing it is by the vertue of both that thou art able to Blesse him If it were not for his Mercy thou wouldst want the materiall cause of blessing him if it were not for his Grace the efficient but now that there is a concurrence of both together Now that both he forgiveth all thy sinnes in his Mercy and healeth all thy infirmities by his Grace Now O my soule what would it argue but extream ungratefulnesse farre exceeding a forgetfulnesse both in thee and all that is within me if thou shouldst not Blesse his Name For O my soule consider the multitude of infirmities to which thou art subject thou hast many suggestions of the flesh and thou art apt to consent and yeeld unto them and strivest not against them by earnest Prayer and holy Meditations This is an infirmitie In thy prayers to God thy thoughts are often wandring and thou thinkest of other matters farre unworthy of that great Majestie to whom thou prayest or if not so yet thou art quickly weary thy spirits are drowsie in it and thou hadst rather be doing of something else This is an infirmitie And indeed thou hast infirmities in all thy senses In thy seeing thou canst see a moate in thy brothers eye and canst not see a beame in thine owne eye In thy smelling thou thinkest Suavis odor lucri ex re qualibet that the savour of gaine is sweet from whence so ere it rise In thy Hearing Thou art gladder to heare prophane and idle discourses then such as be serious and holy These are infirmities and O my soule if I should cut thee up into as many parts as an Anatomist and examine the infirmities of every part should I not have cause just cause to cry out with Saint Paul O wretch that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne Who shall heale me of all these infirmities for whether we call them sinnes and then God forgives them or call them Infirmities and then he heales them they are to us all one benefit in God all one kindnesse that as either of them is well worth remembring so for both of them we have just cause to blesse him and to praise his Name But O my soule as thou remembrest these things that both he forgiveth all thy sins and healeth all thy infirmities so remember also their consequences too for upon these there are great matters depending as worthy to bee remembred as the things themselves For alas my soule thou wert by sinne come to be Mortall and the sentence of Morte morieris was past upon thee but now by forgiving thy sinnes this sentence is reversed by healing thy infirmities thy life is Redeemed it is taken out of the hands of the Destroyer and put into the hands of a Redeemer and a Redeemer not onely from Captivitie but from destruction for Captivitie takes away but onely thy libertie but destruction would take away thy very Being and can it be thou shouldst not keepe that in memorie which is it selfe the cause that thou hast a Memorie for what memorie couldst thou have if thou hadst not a Being and what Being couldst thou have if thou wert destroyed and destroyed thou shouldst be if thou wert not Redeemed and Redeemed thou canst not be unlesse thy sinnes bee forgiven This no doubt is a consequence never to be forgotten and yet perhaps there is a consequence behind of greater consequence then this For this my soule gives thy life but onely a duration but there is a consequence a comming that will give it an exaltation For he crownes thee with loving kindnesse and with tender mercies To be madk a King is an eminent favour but to be made a King from being a Captive where not onely the Quo is so considerable but the Unde more this is indeed a supereminent favour and hardly capable of expressing And this is thy case for where before thou hadst fetters upon thy feet thou hast now a Crowne upon thy head and not a Crowne gotten by violence and worne with feare but He crownes thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies His kindnesse would have made a Crowne good enough for thy wearing but his loving kindnesse makes it a Crowne worthy of his giving And if there be doubt that his mercies alone may not bee ready enough to bestow this Crowne upon thee yet of the readinesse of his tender mercies there can be no doubt there can indeed be no doubt seeing his loving kindnesse and his tender mercies are the Crowne it selfe which he bestowes For O my soule when I speake of a Crowne thou must not fancie to thy selfe such a Crowne as Kings of the earth weare For Christ professed plainly that his Kingdome is not of this world and therefore neither must thine be but consider the extent of Gods loving kindnesse and of his tender mercies and thou wilt find a better Crowne laid up for thee then all the Kingdomes of the Earth put together can afford O gracious God grant me the Crowne of thy loving kindnesse and tender mercies and all other Crownes I willingly lay downe at the foot of thy Throne with the foure and twentie Elders This onely is the Crowne to which
Verse 7 Moses his Acts to the children of Israel For when Moses went up to the Mount Sinai and tarried there with God the space of fourtie dayes we may well thinke that God in that time revealed many secrets to him and particularly made knowne his wayes not onely his wayes in which he would have us to walke but his wayes in which hee walkes himselfe and the course he holds in the Oeconomie and government of worldly affaires why hee suffers the wicked to prosper and why the godly to be oppressed These wayes of his hee made knowne to Moses to the children of Israel onely his Acts Hee shewed them his Wonders upon Pharaoh and that was his Judgement and he shewed them his wonderfull favours to themselves in the Wildernesse and that was his righteousnesse but hee shewed them not his way and the course he held in them They saw onely the Events of things they saw not the reasons of them as Moses did no more doe we nor is it fit we should It is enough for us enough for our comfort that we know this of God in generall That hee is mercifull and gracious Verse 8 slow to anger and full of compassion Not that any slownesse is in God but his slownesse is his Patience and his Patience is out of compassion for alas if God were as ready to anger as we are ready to provoke him to anger we had long ere this been turned to dust and utterly consumed O my soule here are foure properties spoken of to be in God and are all so necessary that we could not misse one of them If hee were not mercifull we could hope for no pardon and if he were no more but mercifull we could hope for no more but pardon but when besides his being mercifull he is also gracious this gives us a further hope a hope of a Donative and then it will not be what we are worthy to receive but what it is fit for him to give If he were not slow to anger we could expect no patience and if he were but onely slow to anger we could expect no more but patience but when besides his slownesse to anger hee is also full of compassion This makes us expect he will be the good Samaritane and not onely bind up our wounds but take care also for our further curing What though he chide and be angry for a time It is but our being patient awhile with him as he a long time hath beene Verse 9 patient with us For he will not bee alwayes chiding neither will hee keepe his anger for ever No my soule consider the rule of Nature that Nullum violentum est diuturnum and you will find it true in the God of Nature Mercy and Compassion are kindly and naturall in God and therefore these will continue and never leave him but chiding and anger are things I may say violent and not naturall in him and therefore it cannot bee that these should last or continue long with him Certainly it is as unpleasing to God to chide as it is to us to be chidden and so little hee likes of Anger that he riddes his hands of it as fast as he can he is not so slow in comming to it but he is as quick in getting from it for chiding is a barre to Mercy and Anger an impediment to Compassion and nothing is so distastfull to God as that any block should lye in the way of his Mercy or that the libertie of his Compassion should have any cause of restraint and then we may be sure hee will not himselfe lay a block in the way with chiding nor be a cause to restraine his Compassion by keeping his Anger And we may the better be perswaded of this in that which is to come by taking notice of that which is past For Hee hath not dealt Verse 10 with us after our sinnes neither rewarded us according to our iniquities Though he have chidden yet hee hath not strucken or if hee have strucken yet his blowes have not beene great not so great to doe us any hurt for there is mercy in his very Anger and though we keep our selves within no bounds of sinning yet he keepes his Anger within the bounds of Mercy Alas O Lord if thou shouldst deale with me after my sinnes as I have used no measure in my sinning so thou shouldst use no measure in my punishing and what then could I expect to befall me but utterly to perish But why is it that God hath not dealt with us after our sinnes Is it not because hee hath dealt with another after our sinnes Another who tooke our sinnes upon him of whom it is said that God chastened him in his fierce wrath and why did he chasten him but for our sinnes O gracious God Thou art too just to take revenge twice for the same faults and therefore having turned thy fierce wrath upon him Thou wilt not turne it upon us too but having rewarded him according to our iniquities thou wilt now reward us according to his Merits O Deere Jesus let not thy painfull sufferings bee made frustrate by my sinfull doings but so mediate betweene God and my sinnes that hee may turne away his angry Countenance from me and looke upon me onely with the eye of his Mercy And O my soule how canst thou doubt of this when As high as the Verse 11 Heaven is above the Earth so great is his mercy towards them that feare him and who would wish for a greater mercy to bee in God then this But yet the distance betweene Earth and Heaven though great and indeed very admirable great is but a limited distance and is there then a limitation and a boundary of Gods mercy May I not as truly say as low as Hell is beneath the Earth so great is my sinne in the sight of God and how then am I sure that Gods mercy is any greater then my sins and if not greater how can it pardon them O my soule though the heighth of Heaven be limited yet Gods mercy hath no limitation for his Mercy is above all his Workes and therefore above Heaven the worke of his hands Or if hee seeme to set a limitation to Gods mercy is it not perhaps because there is some sinne that is not capable of his Mercy for sinne against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come But O my soule though Gods mercy bee without limitation yet let it not make thee the bolder to sinne for though it be so great yet it is so great to none but to them that feare him for to them that feare him not it is not so great Alas it is not great at all Alas it will be none at all but if thou feare him and to feare him is to feare to sinne then thy sinne can never be so great but that Gods mercy which is as high as Heaven will bring thee to bee admitted into the
love Alas hee may heare us and we never the better hee may heare our voyce and yet his love to us perhaps but little for who will not give a man the hearing though he love him not at all With men perhaps it may be so but not with God for his hearing is not onely voluntarie but reserved Non omnibus dormit his Eares are not open to every ones cry indeed to heare us is in God so great a favour that he may well be counted his Favourite whom he vouchsafes to heare and the rather for that his hearing is alwayes operative and with a purpose of helping that if he heare my voyce I may be sure he meanes to grant my supplication or rather perhaps in Davids manner of expressing in Gods manner of proceeding to heare my voyce is no lesse in effect then to grant my supplication And now because hee hath inclined his eare to Verse 2 heare me I will therefore call upon him as long as I live that if it be expected I should call upon any other it must bee when I am dead for as long as I live I have vowed to call upon God But will this be well done May I not in so doing doe more then I shall have thankes for perhaps for my labour Is this the requitall that God shall have for his kindnesse in hearing me that now he shall have a customer of me and never be in quiet for my continuall running to him and calling upon him Doth God get any thing by my calling upon him that I should make it a Vow as though in calling upon him I did him a pleasure O my Soule that God might indeed have a customer of me in praying although I confesse I should not be so bold to call upon him so continually if his owne commanding me did not make it a Dutie for hath not God bid me to call upon him when I am in trouble and is there any time that I am not in trouble as long as I live in this vale of miserie and then can there be any time as long as I live that I must not call upon him For shall God bid me and shall I not doe it shall God incline his Eare and stand listening to heare and shall I hold my peace for the nonce that he may have nothing to heare Or shall I wave calling upon God who I know both can and will heare mee and call upon some other who I know not whether they can or no Is Prayer worth any thing if it bee not in Faith and can there bee Faith where there is uncertaintie O my Soule this is a great secret which we should perhaps have never knowne if God himselfe had not revealed it to us that to call upon him is not a trouble to him but a pleasure not in us a presumption but a dutie though it be our suite yet it is his service it is indeed both our suite and service and though his glory be not the more by it yet his glory is the more manifested by it and as he is a jealous God so of nothing so much as of his glory his glory hee will not communicate with any other any thing else perhaps but not his glory and this is all the glory hee can have from us that wee acknowledge our owne weaknesse and his Power that we call upon him not onely as one that is able to helpe us but as the onely One that is able to helpe us for else we satisfie not his jealousie and if it be a true rule in Philosophie Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora It is no lesse true in Divinitie It is in vaine to call upon any other for reliefe but God alone if God alone be able and willing to relieve us Either therefore wee must say that God is not able or not willing to helpe us or else confesse it at least a great vanitie to call for helpe to any other But if Gods benefits be the Motive to love him why are not his afflictions as well a Motive not to love him For is there any evill in the Citie and God hath not done it No my soule the reason is not like his benefits are all gratuitous and come gratis from him his Afflictions are as it were violent and come forcibly from him his Afflictions are punishments or chastisements duly deserved but his Benefits are not Wages or Rewards that are justly merited and therefore we cannot so justly say that crosses and afflictions are cast upon us by God as that they are drawne upon us by our owne sinne for sorrowes and paines are as the Ecchoes I may say of sinne and according as this calls so they answer if sinnes be but light there is like to be heard but a light reflexe of sorrowes but if they be crying sinnes heynous and loude what marvell if the Ecchoes be answerable and that the sorrowes of Death compasse us about and the paines of Hell take hold upon us But if it be doubted by what meanes afflictions and crosses doe happen to us yet it cannot be doubted by what meanes they must be removed from us seeing there is none able to rowle away the Grave-stone of our sinnes but onely God and therefore no meanes to remove afflictions but onely his Mercy and no meanes of this meanes but to call upon him Doe Physitians use to come to a Patient unlesse they be called and why then should wee looke that God the great Physitian of our soules should come to helpe us if we call not upon him Upon him O my soule and upon no other for of his Power and Will to helpe me I cannot doubt of others I may For the Verse 3 sorrowes of death compassed me and the paines of hell tooke hold upon me and can I doubt of his power that hath delivered me from these Or can I thinke of any other that could deliver me from these but onely hee Could any deliver me from the sorrowes of Death but hee onely who triumphed over Death Could any free me from the paines of Hell but hee onely who put Hell it selfe to paine and cast Death and Hell into the Lake of fire and shall I call upon any other to deliver me but upon him onely who I am well assured is able to deliver me No my soule but to leave no time for calling upon any other I will call upon God as long as I live Not for a day or a moneth but all the dayes of my life even as long as I live And how long will that bee Alas how long can it be seeing the sorrowes of Death have already compassed me about and the paines of hell have taken hold upon mee For what are the sorrowes of Death but sorrowes like those of Rachel that would not be comforted because they were not What are the paines of Hell but paines caused by guiltinesse of sin that deserves Hell Paines not more in sense of
torment then despaire of remedie What is it for the sorrowes of death to compasse me about but as it were to besiege me and was it ever knowne where they once besieged that ever they did raise their siege Was it ever knowne where the paines of Hell did once take hold that ever they did let goe their hold and alas in this extremitie of distresse in this gulph of despaire what hope could David possibly have that ever hee should be delivered O my soule the hope of Abraham In spe contra spem credidit Hee beleeved against all credibilitie Hee hoped against all possibilitie against all possibilitie indeed in the course of nature against all credibilitie in the eye of Reason and therefore he makes his moane to one above the reach both of Nature and Reason Verse 4 O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soule a short Prayer for so great a suite and yet as short as it was it prevailed that if wee wondred before at the power of God wee may wonder now at the power of Prayer that can prevaile with God for obtaining of that which in Nature is impossible and to Reason seemes incredible There are many short Prayers recorded in the Scriptures of which we may note especially three This of David here O Lord deliver my soule and that of the Publican in the Gospell Lord be mercifull to me a sinner and that of the Thiefe upon the Crosse Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome All three short yet all three Prevalent that wee may know it is not the multiplicitie of words or the length of Prayers that prevailes with God but the fervencie of spirit and the devotion of the heart Yet lest it should be taken as a restraint of longer prayers and specially lest it should be a scandall to the Prayer which Christ taught us and is much longer we may observe withall that each of these prayers is but of one Petition in Christs Prayer For to say O Lord deliver my soule is no more nor fully so much as to say Deliver us from evill and to say Lord be mercifull to me a sinner is no more nor fully so much as to say Forgive us our trespasses and to say Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome is no more nor so much as to say Thy kindome come But seeing David with his short Prayer prevailed with God to deliver his soule why should I despaire of the like successe of my prayers to be delivered from my troubles O my soule I should not despaire of the like successe as David had if I could but pray with the like spirit as David did O therefore thou great God that didst inspire Davids heart with a spirit of zeale which made his prayers not onely acceptable but effectuall vouchsafe also to kindle in my heart a fire of Devotion that my prayers may ascend unto thee like the sacrifice of Abell so acceptable that they may be accepted so accepted that they may be effectuall and may make mee able to sing this Allelujah of David I will love the Lord for he hath heard my voyce and my supplication And now O my soule me thinkes I see the Lord as it were inclining his eare unto me and I seeme to feele an accesse of force in my confidence Verse 5 of his goodnesse for indeed the Lord is gracious and righteous yea our God is mercifull Hee is gracious in hearing Hee is righteous in judging hee is mercifull in Pardoning and how then can I doubt of his will to helpe me Hee is righteous to reward according to deserts He is gracious to Reward above deserts Yea he is mercifull to reward without deserts and how then can I doubt of his Will to helpe mee Hee is gracious and this shews his bountie he is righteous and this shews his Justice Yea hee is mercifull and this shews his love and how then can I doubt of his Will to helpe mee If hee were not gracious I could not hope he would heare me If he were not righteous I could not depend upon his Promise If hee were not Mercifull I could not expect his Pardon but now that he is gracious and righteous yea and mercifull too how can I doubt of his Will to helpe me But are there no others that are gracious and righteous and mercifull as well as Hee Are not the Saints and Angels in Heaven They are so no doubt but not as well as hee God forbid wee should once have such a thought They are Gracious and Righteous and Mercifull by participation onely and onely by having as it were some beames imparted to them but to bee gracious as the Fountaine of Grace to be Righteous as the Sunne of Righteousnesse to be Mercifull as the Authour of Mercie there is none there is none at all neither Saint nor Angell that is so but onely God and therefore of Gods Power and Will to helpe me of his and of his onely I can onely be assured And if I erre in simplicitie yet the Lord preserveth the simple he takes Verse 6 not advantage of errours where there is a good intention yet not a good intention onely where the truth is manifest and revealed for then should Uzzah have beene preserved but in matters obscure and not plainly revealed there to serve God in simplicitie of heart this falls within the compasse of Gods mercy and such he takes into his Protection He gives them perhaps some resentment of their errours by worldly crosses but yet hee denyes them not his assistance and this I can speake of my owne experience For I was brought low and yet hee helped me I was brought low and in trouble by the just provocation of my sinnes but because I sinned not in presumption but in simplicitie at least by infirmitie the Lord hath had mercy on me and preserved me Or I was brought low and hee helped mee for then is the time of helpe when we are brought low and therefore God who doth all things in due time when I was brought low then he helped me Wherefore O my soule let it never trouble thee how low soever thou bee brought for when thy state is at the lowest then is Gods assistance at the neerest that we may truly say Gods wayes are not as the wayes of the world for in the world when a man is once brought low he is commonly trampled upon and nothing is heard then but downe with him downe to the ground but with God it is otherwise for his propertie is to raise up them that fall and when they are brought low then to helpe them That it is no such hard case for a man to bee brought low may I not rather say his case is happy for is it not better to be brought low and have God to helpe him then to be set aloft and left to helpe himselfe At least O my Body this may bee a comfort to thee for thou art sure to bee brought low as low
in the Land of the living But though I had spoken thus and thus confidently yet I found my selfe in trouble and affliction still which made me say in my hast All men are lyars In my hast indeed for I Verse 11 thought not of one man who was farre from being a lyar and in whose mouth was found no guile It seemes that to give the lye was not so heynous an offence in Davids time as it is in these dayes for else how durst he have spoken such words that all men are lyars which is no lesse then to give the lye to the whole world And yet no man I thinke will challenge him for saying so no more then challenge S. John for saying that All men are sinners And indeed how should any man avoid being a lyar seeing the very being Man is it selfe a lye Not onely a Vanity and put in the ballance is lesse then vanity but a very lye promising great matters and is able to doe just nothing as Christ saith Without me yee can doe nothing and so Christ seemes to come in as it were to be Davids second and to make his word good that all men be lyars And now let the world doe its worst and take the lye how it will for David having Christ of his side will alwayes be able to make his part good against all the world for Christ hath overcome the world But though all men may be said to be lyars yet not all men in all things for then David himselfe should be a lyar in this but all men perhaps in something or other at sometime or other in some kind or other Absolute truth not found in any man but in that man onely who was not man onely for if hee had beene but so it had not perhaps beene found in him neither seeing absolute Truth and Deitie are as Relatives never found to be asunder But in what thing is it that all men should be lyars Indeed in this for one to thinke that God regards not nor loves not them whom he suffers to be afflicted for we may rather thinke hee loves them most whom hee suffers to be most afflicted and we may truly say he would never have suffered his servant Job to be afflicted so exceeding cruelly if he had not loved him exceeding tenderly For there is nothing lost by suffering afflictions No my soule they doe but serve to make up the greater weight of glory when it shall be revealed But let his afflictions be what they can be yet I will alwayes acknowledge they can never be in any degree so great as his benefits and oh that I could thinke of something that I Verse 12 might render to him for all his benefits for shall I receive so great so infinite benefits from him and shall I render nothing to him by way of gratefulnesse But alas what have I to render all my rendring to him will bee but taking more from him for all I can doe is but to take the cup of salvation and call upon his Name Verse 13 and what rendring is there in this taking If I could take the cup of Tribulation and drinke it off for his sake this perhaps might be a rendring of some value but this God knowes is no worke for me to doe It was his worke who said Can yee drinke of the cup of which I shall drinke Indeed he dranke of the Cup of Tribulation to the end that wee might take the Cup of Salvation but then in taking it wee must call upon his Name upon his Name and upon no others for else wee shall make it a cuppe of Condemnation seeing there is no Name under Heaven in which we may bee saved but onely the Name of Jesus Yet it may be some rendring to the Lord if I pay my Vowes and doe as it were my Penance openly I will therefore pay my vowes to Verse 14 the Lord in the presence of all his people But might hee not pay his Vowes as well in his Closet betweene God and himselfe as to doe it publickly No my soule it serves not his turne indeed not Gods turne but he must pay them in the presence of all his people yet not to the end hee should be applauded for a just Payer for though he pay them yet he can never pay them to the full but to the end that men seeing his good workes may glorifie God by his example and the rather perhaps for that David was a King and the Kings example prevailes much with the people to make them pay their vowes to God but most of all that by this meanes Davids Pietie may not be barren but may make a Breed of Pietie in the people also which may be one mysticall reason why it was counted a Curse in Israel to be barren for he that payes not his Vowes to God in the presence of his people may well be said to be barren in Israel seeing hee begets no children to God by his Example And perhaps also the Vowes which David meanes here was the doing of some meane things unfit in shew for the dignitie of a King as when it was thought a base thing in him to Daunce before the Arke he then vowed he would be baser yet and in this case to pay his Vowes before the people becomes a matter of necessitie for as there is no honour to a man whilst he is by himselfe alone so there is no shame to a man but before people and therefore to shew that he is not ashamed to doe any thing how meane soever so it may tend to the glorifying of God Hee will pay his vowes in the presence of all his people And hee will doe it though it cost him his life for if he dye for it he knowes that Pretious in the sight of the Lord Verse 15 is the death of his Saints But that which is pretious is commonly desired and doth God then desire the death of his Saints He desires no doubt that death of his Saints which is to dye to sinne but for any other death of his Saints it is therefore said to be pretious in his sight because hee layes it up with the greater carefulnesse And for this it is there are such severall Mansions in Gods House that to them whose death is pretious in his sight hee may assigne the most glorious Mansions This indeed is the reward of Martyrdome and the encouragement of Martyrs though their sufferings bee most insufferable their tortures most intolerable yet this makes amends for all that Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints for if it be so great a happinesse to be acceptable in his sight how great a happinesse must it be to bee pretious in his sight When God at the Creation looked upon all his workes it is said he saw them to be all exceeding good but it is not said that any of them were Pretious in his sight and how then comes Death to bee pretious in
his sight that was none of his workes but is a destroyer of his workes Is it possible that a thing which destroyes his creatures should have a Title of more value in his sight then his creatures themselves O my soule this is one of the Myracles of his Saints and perhaps one of those which Christ meant when he said to his Apostles that greater Myracles then he did they should doe themselves for what greater Myracle than this that Death which of it selfe is a thing most vile in the sight of God yet once embraced by his Saints as it were by their touch onely becomes pretious in his sight and to alter a thing from being vile to be precious is it not a greater Myracle then to turne Water into Wine Indeed so it is Death doth not damnifie his Saints but his Saints doe dignifie Death Death takes nothing away from his Saints happinesse but his Saints adde lustre to Deaths vilenesse and it is happy for Death that ever it met with any of Gods Saints for there was no way for it else in the world to be ever had in any account But why say I in the world for it is of no account in the world for all this It is but onely in the sight of God but indeed this onely is All in All for to be pretious in Gods sight is more to be prized then the world it selfe For when the World shall passe away and all the glory of it be laid in the dust then shall Trophyes be erected for the death of his Saints and when all Monuments of the world shall bee utterly defaced and all Records quite rased out yet the death of his Saints shall stand Registred still in faire Red letters in the Kalendar of Heaven for if there be glory laid up for them that dye in the Lord much more shall they bee glorified that dye for the Lord. I have wondered often-times why God will suffer his Saints to dye I meane not the death naturall for I know Statutum est omnibus semel mori but the Death that is by violence and with torture for who could endure to see them he loves so cruelly handled but now I see the reason of it For Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and what marvell then if he suffer his Saints to dye when by dying they are wrought and made fit Jewels to be set in his Cavinet for as God hath a Bottle which he fills up with the teares of his Saints so I may say he hath a Cabinet which he decks up with the deaths of his Saints and O my soule if thou couldst but comprehend what a glory it is to serve for a Jewell in the decking up of Gods Cabinet thou wouldst never wonder why he suffers his Saints to bee put to death though with never so great torments for it is but the same which Saint Paul saith The afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall bee revealed But if you will have a Glasse to view the Extent of this pretiousnesse and plainly to see how pretious in the sight of God the death of his Saints is then look upon the revenge that is taken for it for there is nothing that God takes so much to heart and of which hee takes so sharpe revenge as the death of his Saints to touch them is to touch the Apple of his eye and if the punishment of Cain bee not thought sufficient to make it appeare at least the complaint of Christ against Hierusalem will be sufficient O Hierusalem Hierusalem Thou that killest the Prophets and it is thought by some that the destruction of Hierusalem was the rather hastened to revenge the death of James who was called the Just but how soever this wee know it was therefore executed to revenge the death of Jesus who was truly the Just and may we not well take notice that the death was exceeding pretious when the revenge that was taken was so exceeding furious But why speake I of Death when I may yet doe God good service in life and if the death of his Saints be pretious in his sight certainly the life of his servants is not unregarded For whether we dye wee dye to the Lord or whether wee live wee live to the Lord and though in this life we cannot expect the reward of Saints yet in this life wee may claime the respect of servants and in this I claime an interest my selfe Verse 16 for truly O Lord I am thy servant and oh that I could serve thee so truly that I might heare thee say Euge bone serve For we are all very ready to professe our selves thy servants but very unready to doe the service of our profession and specially in these times when Servant is growne to be a word of complyment rather than of truth that to say I am thy servant is all one as to say I am an Hypocrite But O Lord let it not be found so in me not be thought so of me for I am thy servant by a double right and oh that I could doe thee double service as thou art the Lord of life and as I am the sonne of thy Handmaid Not of Hagar but of Sarah not of the Bond-woman but of the Free and therefore I serve thee not in Feare but in Love or therefore in feare because in love and then is service best done when it is done in love and in love indeed I am bound to serve thee For thou hast loosed my bonds the Bonds of death which compassed me about by delivering me from a dangerous sicknesse and restoring me to health or in a higher kind Thou hast loosed my Bonds by freeing me from being a Captive to bee a Servant and which is more from being a servant to be a sonne and more then this yet from being a sonne of thy Hand-maid to be a sonne of thy selfe and therefore indeed a sonne of thy selfe because a sonne of thy Handmaid for what is thy Handmaid but thy Church and he that is not borne of this Handmaid though he may have the generall benefit of a servant sustenance and protection yet hee can never have the speciall benefits of a sonne freedome and inheritance Or thou hast loosed my bonds Thou hast freed me from the heavy yoak of the Ceremonies of the Law and hast Enfranchised mee with the glorious liberty of the Gospell that where before thou didst require the sacrifice of Servants which was the bloud of Beasts now thou acceptest the sacrifice of sonnes which is Verse 17 Prayer and Thanks-giving I will therefore offer to thee the sacrifice of thanks-giving and call upon thy Name For Prayer and Thanks-giving make both but one Sacrifice and seeing all sacrifice is due onely to thee therefore to thee onely I will offer both my Thanks-giving and my Prayer I could not make Thankes-giving a Sacrifice if Prayer did not begin it I could not make Prayer a Sacrifice if Thanks-giving did not finish it If there should bee Thankes-giving and no Prayer the Sacrifice would want a foot if Prayer and no Thanks-giving it would want a Head for as the Basis is Prayer so the Coronis is thanks-giving Although perhaps Thanks-giving bee but the Act and Thankfulnesse the Habit and it is the Habit that makes the Sacrifice because it must bee Juge sacrificium A continuall Sacrifice which the Act cannot be And if there had beene a word to expresse the Habit of praying as Thankfulnesse doth of Thanks-giving perhaps Saint Paul would have used it where he saith Pray continually for who can doubt but hee meanes the Habit of praying and not the Act and where he saith In all things give thankes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It intends perhaps but this In all things be thankfull And what then shall the Thankfulnesse or the Thanks-giving be that I will offer to God for a sacrifice O my soule it shall bee an acknowledging of his benefits and of his onely benefits it shall be a proclaiming him to bee my Patron and my onely Patron It shall bee an extolling him for his Mercy in forgiving my sinnes for his graciousnesse in healing all my infirmities for his compassion in Redeeming my soule from destruction and for his bountie in crowning me with loving kindnesse and tender mercies it shall bee indeed a Vowing to him the whole service of all the faculties of my soule and body And not to be done in a corner as though I were not willing it should be knowne nor before some few people onely as though I were loath too many should see it but I will pay my vowes to him in Verse 18 the presence of all his people that young and old rich and poore high and low may all bee witnesses of my thankfulnesse This for the persons before whom it shall be done and then for the place in which it shall be done it shall be done in the courts of the Lords house if any Verse 19 place be more conspicuous more publick then other it shall be done there it shall be done in the midst of thee O Hierusalem that the Fame of it may be spread that the sound of it may equally goe forth into all parts of the world that as all thy people shall be beholders of my thankfulnesse so all the world shall bee admirers of thy goodnesse and as there is in Heaven an Allelujah of thy Saints so there shall be in Earth an Allelujah of thy Servants of which Number of both which numbers my hope is to be one and that I may be sure to be one O my soule praise thou the Lord and because my owne praising will be but a very small service therefore mend it my soule by calling upon others and saying Praise yee the Lord. FINIS
prosperitie to the godly as when their enemies see the prosperitie they are in it being a kind of revenge that God takes upon their enemies in their behalfe so there is no such Tragedie to the wicked as to be made spectatours of the prosperitie of the godly it being the greatest affront that can be to their expectation to see them advanced whom they both hated and despised Could Haman have had a greater affliction then to see Mordecai advanced and himselfe forced to bee an instrument in his advancing Videbunt quem transfixerunt They shall see him whom they pierced shall be one of the miseries and perhaps one of the greatest in Hell it selfe And now is David a King and as a King hath Honour and Plentie Thou anoyntest my head with oyle This is his Honour My cuppe runneth over This is his Plentie that where he said before The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want hee may as justly say now The Lord is my rewarder I shall abound But is it not that in the Person of David here there is a Reference to Christ himselfe seeing it is all verefied in him that is spoken here Hee that hungred so long till Sathan thought he could have eaten stones hath now a Table prepared before him a Table where the godly shall sit and eat with him in his Kingdome Hee that had enemies insulting over him hath now all his enemies made his foot-stoole Sinne and Death Sathan and his members lye prostrate under him Hee that had his Head pricked with thornes hath now his Head anoynted with Oyle with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Hee that thirsted and could get but Vinegar to drinke hath now such plenty that his cup runneth over All power is given him both in Heaven and Earth At least in the person of David there will be relation to all the godly Now Lazarus that could not get so much as crummes from Dives his Table shall have a Table himselfe prepared before him Now Dives that fared deliciously every day shall bee glad to stand waiting at Lazarus Table for a drop of water that the godly may well be content to be in penurie a-while seeing they shall have a Table ere long prepared before them They may well be content to let their Enemies bee masters awhile seeing they shall have them ere long to be wayters upon them They may well be content to hang downe their heads for awhile seeing their heads ere long shall bee anoynted with Oyle They may well be content to have hard measure for a time seeing the time will be shortly that their Cup shall runne over And now O my soule will not all this serve to comfort thee in this vale of miserie Art thou so besotted on things present as to have no consideration to make no valuation of things to come and to come so shortly so shortly all that they are put in the Present tense as if they were come already But if David cannot over-rule thee as a King let him at least perswade thee as a Prophet for now you shall have him a Prophet and a Votarie and this is his Prophecie Surely Mercy and goodnesse shall follow mee all the dayes of my life and this is his Vow I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever But is Davids Prophecie like to bee true will Mercie and Goodnesse follow him all the dayes of his life O my soule it was true in David it shall be true in all the godly for whom God loveth he loveth to the end and Mercie and Goodnesse shall follow them all the dayes of their life Mercy to commiserate and Goodnesse to relieve Mercie to beare with infirmities and Goodnesse to supply wants Mercie to be an assistant in Adversitie and Goodnesse to be a Governesse in Prosperitie Alas O Lord if thy Mercie should not follow me thy Justice would if thy Goodnesse should not follow mee thy Vengeance would and then one that were no Prophet might easily foretell the miserable estate I should be in as now that Mercie and Goodnesse follow me one that is no Prophet may easily tell the happy condition I shall be in Although this perhaps be not so much a Prophecie as a Faith in David at least a Prophecie which all the godly may make to themselves by Faith to be assured of the mercy and goodnesse of God and not to follow them for a time and then give over but to follow them all the dayes of their life But what no longer then all the dayes of their life and then leave them No my soule but all the dayes of that life that shall never leave them O the comfortable doctrine of Faith farre more comfortable then Heathen Philosophie ever knew for that went no further then Ante obitum nemo as though no man could be happy till his death where by this it appeares that men may bee happy while they live for if a man be then happy when the mercy and goodnesse of God follow him as certainly a greater happinesse there cannot be then seeing they surely follow the godly all the dayes of their life surely a godly man is happy while hee lives But then the surenesse is long of the mercy and not of the man for it seemes he would goe farre enough from it if Mercy did not follow him but now that hee is followed by Mercy and Goodnesse hee cannot goe so fast from them but they will overtake him and make him happy O mercifull God so frame my heart that I may not flye from thy Mercy and put it to follow mee at least let it so follow me that it may overtake me for then I shall have the happinesse to bee able to keepe my vow that I will dwell in thy house for ever but rather I shall have the favour as an effect of thy Mercy that I shall dwell in thy house for ever For if this be a Vow it is a strange one where all the benefit is to him that makes the Vow and none at all to whom it is made for what is it to God whither I dwell in his house or no such Vowers God may have enow O my soule to vow to dwell in Gods house is to vow to be his servant and to bee his servant is to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life and though this service be no benefit to God as indeed no more is any thing I can doe for my goodnesse extendeth not to him yet the Vow to bee his servant being well performed will bee more acceptable to him then if I should vow as Jepthe did to sacrifice his onely Daughter But wee need not stand to justifie Davids Vow for it seemes not so much a Vow of David to God as a favour of God to David that when his mercy hath followed him all the dayes of his life he will take him afterwards to live with himselfe and though his body for a time be cast out