La scala santa, or, A scale of devotions musical and gradual being descants on the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, in metre : with contemplations and collects upon them, in prose, 1670.

CONTEMPLATIONS and COLLECTS ON THE Twelfth PSALM of DEGREES, BEING The CXXXI. PSALM.

O Thou Son of David! of whom we ought to learn to be Meek and Lowly, let us see what kind of Disciples we are by regarding our dear Master, and find what Proficients in thy School by minding the Copy thou hast set us: There appeared not the least glance of Pride, Arrogance, or Self-love, in thy Behaviour; there was not the least Roof of Bitterness in thy Breast, for thou camest to Attone the first Sin of our first Parents; and so for all thou wert exalted far above all that are here called Gods, yet thy Spirit was not haughty (as Lucifer's,) not thine Eyes lift up to the forbidden Fruit.* 1.1 Thou wert willing to be ignorant (as Man) of those things which did not befit Men to pry nicely into, that thou mightest stoop to the weaknesses of thy Body the Church, and comply more absolutely with the divine Will, and Compassionate more sensibly the Infirmities or Ignorances of Mankind. O most gra∣cious condescending Jesus! how were thy Delights among the Chil∣dren of Men! while thou didst not behave thy self like a Simon Magus, like an Impostor that would be admired for some God below; but, like thy Servant Moses, didst vail thy self, that thou mightest be con∣versed withall, and didst not walk too much obscured by thine own Lustre and Transcendency, but didst leave the Doctors and Learned Jews to go down with thy humble Mother into Galilee, and to be sub∣ject unto her as a weaned Child. And though thou wouldest not exercise thy self in things too high for thee, yet, O! how low wouldest thou appear in thy Employments? How plain in thy Countenance? how easie and affable in thy Conversation? that Publicans and Sinners, and little Children, might come unto thee, and hear thy excellent Discourses, and taste thy miraculous Provisions, while thou wentest about doing good, and telling Men that they should follow thy steps in being meek, humble, quiet, and contented, doing Good, readily suf∣fering Evil patiently as dear Children.

Lord! How then should we abhor our selves, when we either think of thee, or of our selves! How unlike are we become to thee, if we claim any Kindred with thee! For do we not still continue, like Levia∣than, among the Sons of Pride? Do we seem little in our own Eyes, as thy Servant David did, when thou didst make him a great King? Or rather do we not lift up our Wills and Understandings, and walk with a stiff Neck of Perversness in opposition to thee, as it were, aiming even at Heaven it self, like the Tail of the old Serpent? So far are we from receiving the Kingdom of Heaven like little Children!

But, O! when then shall it once be that we shall not be High-minded, but fear, and love, and own thee to be Lord over us? Then shall we not rashly venture with Uzzal to meddle with those things which are unmeet for us, or forbidden to us; but we shall be weaned from our Mother Earth, from the love of this dirty World, and from loving its foul Inclinations; and we shall cast our Cares and Affairs on thee, renouncing all Self-Trusts or Conceits, to level the face of our Souls before the feet of the holy Jesus; that when thou comest, O most holy Spirit! to prepare the way of the Lord in us, he may find no Rock nor Mountain, nothing too hard or haughty in us, nothing untractable or inaccessible to obstruct or oppose his Progress. But, O! let the too mighty Elevations of my vain Thoughts be brought down, and the crooked ways of my Heart be made strait, and the rough ways of my Condition be made smooth, that my Soul may be still quiet with me, and still'd and quietted by thee. Rebuke the tempestuous Motions of a froward Mind, that I may repose my self sweetly and safely on thy Promises, on thy Provisions, and resign my self wholly to thy Inspirations: And God grant that all thine Israel may (like Jacob) wrastle with Principalities and Powers, even in the highest and most heavenly Things; and though never so much in a Night of Cares and darkest perplexities, or to encounter with enraged Enemies, yet let them wait and hope on the Lord, and stay and strengthen themselves on their God (as David did at Ziklag,) for he is a sure Reward, and a constant Reward, a Pillar of Fire, and a Pillar of a Cloud, a Sun, and a Shield, in whose Name we ought to trust, denying our own Conje∣ctures, Affections, and Desires, rather than an absolute Dependance on him for ever and ever. AMEN.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Mark 13; 32;