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100 A MEMORIAL OF THE DELIVEUANCE
fully, towards the haven where we would be. ^ A song upon Sigionoth leaves not one string of our affections untuned. It is a song that reacheth every line of our hearts, to be framed by the grace and Spirit of God, Therein hope, fear, reverence, with humility and repentance have a share ; as well as joy, delight, and love, with thankfulness. Inter- changeable dispensations take up all our affections, with all our graces ; for they are gi'acious affections, exercised and seasoned with grace, of which we speak. The stirring of natural affections, as merely such, is but the moving of a dunghill to draw out a stinking steam, a thing the Lord nei- ther aimeth at, nor delighteth in: their joys are his provo- cation, and ' he laugheth in the day of their calamity, when their fear cometh ;' Prov, i. 26, 27.
2. To keep them in continual^ dependance upon himself. He hath promised his own daily bread, not goods laid up for many years. Many children have been undone by their parents giving them too large a stock to trade for themselves ; it has made them spendthrifts, careless, and wanton. Should the Lord intrust his people with a continued stock of mercy, perhaps they would be ' full and deny him, and say. Who is the Lord?' Prov. xxx.9. Jeshurundidso; Deut. xxxii. 14, 15. Ephraim 'was filled according to her pasture, and forgot the Lord ;' Hos, xiii. 6. Neither on the other side will he be always chiding. ' His anger shall not burn for ever' very sore. It is our infirmity at the least, if we say, ' God hath forgotten to be gracious, and shut up his tender mercies in displeasure;' Psal. Ixxvii. 9. But laying one thing against another, he keeps the heart of his in an even balance, in a continual dependance upon himself, that they may neither be wanton through mercy, nor discouraged by too much op- pression. Our tender father is therefore neither always feed- ing, nor always correcting. ' And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark : but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light,' saith the prophet Zechariah, chap. xiv. 6, 7. seeking out God's dispensations towards his, ending in joy, and light in the evening.
f Psal. cxix. 67. Hos. v. 15. Heb, xii. 10, 11. 1 Pet. i. 6. e In caelo non in terra mercedeni proraisit reddendain. Quid alibi poscis, quod alibi dabifiir? Anibros. Offic. lib. 1. cap. 16.
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Use. Labour to have your hearts right tuned for songs on Sigionoth, sv/eetly to answer all God's dispensations in their choice variety. That instrument will make no music that hath but some strings in tune. If when God strikes with mercy upon the string of joy and gladness, we answer pleasantly; but when he touches upon that of" sorrow and humiliation, we suit it not; we are broken instruments, that make no melody unto God, We must know how to receive good and evil at his hand. * He hath made every thing beau- tiful in its time;' Eccles. iii. 11. every thing in that whole variety which his wisdom hath produced. A well-tuned heart must have all its strings, all its affections, ready to an- swer every touch of God's finger, to improve judgments and mercies both at the same time. Sweet harmony ariseth out of some discords. When a soul is in a frame to rejoice with thankful obedience for mercy received, and to be humbled with soul-searching, amending repentance for judgments inflicted at the same time, then it sings a song on Sigio- noth, then it is fit for the days wherein we live. Indeed both mercies and judgments aim at the same end, and should be received with the same equal temper of mind. A flint is broken between a hammer and a pillow : an offender is hum- bled between a prison and a pardon : a hard heart may be mollified, and a proud spirit humbled between those two. In such a season the several rivulets of our affections flow naturally in the same stream. When hath a gracious soul the soundest joys, but when it hath the deepest sorrows ? * Habent et gaudia vulnus.' When hath it the humblest meltings, but when it hath the most ravishing joys? Our afflictions which are naturally at the widest distance,may all swim in the same spiritual channel. Rivulets rising from several heads are carried in one stream to the ocean. As a mixture of several colours make a beautiful complexion for the body ; so a mixture of divers aff'ections under God's va- rious dispensations, gives a comely frame unto the soul. Labour then to answer every call, every speaking providence of God, in its right kind, according to the intention thereof: and the Lord reveal his mind unto us that so we may do.
'' Cum vexamur ac premiraur turn maxirae gratias aginius indulgentissimo patri, quod corruptelam noslram noii patitur longius procedere : hinc intelligiraus nos esse Deo cura;. Lactan.
102 A MEMORIAL OF THE DELIVERANCE
Having passed the title, let us look a little on those parts of the prayer itself that follow.