Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Title page – Dedication
David's HARP Strung and Tuned: Or, an eaſie ANALYSIS Of the whole BOOK of PSALMS: Caſt into ſuch a Method, that the Summe of every Pſalm may quickly be collected and remembred.
With a Devout MEDITATION or PRAYER At the end of every Pſalm, framed for the moſt part out of the words of the Pſalm, and fitted for ſeveral Occaſions.
By the Reverend Father in GOD, WILLIAM, by the Divine providence, Lord Biſhop of Glouceſter.
LONDON, Printed for William Leake, and are to be ſold at the ſign of the Crown in Fleet-ſtreet, between the two Temple-Gates. 1662.
To the Right Honorable, EDWARD EARLE of CLARENDON, Viſcount Combury, Baron of Hyndon, Lord High Chancellor of ENGLAND, and Chancellor of the Univerſity of OXFORD, and one of His MAJESTIES moſt Honorable Privy Councel.
Right Honorable,
A KING and a Prophet greet you well. And yet it is the ſame Perſon under two names, who under either notion I preſume ſhall be welcome. For you have a King in your heart, and admit the Prophet into your boſome. The great ſervices you perform to the one, and the great affections you bear, and real courteſies you do the other, hath embol…ed me to preſent theſe my Meditations unto your protection, I ſhall leſſe fear the rigid Cenſures of others, if in your Lordſhips deep judgment I have contributed the leaſt mite that may help forward devotion. You are the great Moderator of the rigor of the Law, and therefore what I cannot claim in juſtice, I humbly beg in equity, that is, a favourable ſentence for expoſing theſe my crude conceptions under your Name, and I am enough honoured, if no diſhonour be caſt upon you, by fixing your Honors name to a Work ſo unworthy.
This indeed I had not done, had not your Lordſhips favour in particular obliged me to it. 'Tis by your Lordſhips influence upon me, that I glimmer as a little Star in the Church, and that I yield a more vigorous luſter is your Lordſhips endeavor, for which I have little to return but thanks in this poor acknowledgment. That you are a Patron to the Muſes in general, is too large; and univerſal Propoſitions are as Catholica, Catholick medicines, that cure few. That you have been a Patron to my ſtudies, puts life into my old blood not to be faint and weary. A vice to which old age is ſubject, that is, to waſte and go out, except there be oile in the Lamp.
That I no ſooner medled with this ſubject, was, becauſe I durſt not: The Myſteries herein contain'd, and the Art in the delivery were ſo ſuperlative, that I always held them fit for a mature judgment, which by length of years and obſervation is heightned in old men, till they wrack upon dotage. Beſides, I have obſerved, that the beſt of Expoſitors have preſented their thoughts upon the Pſalms in their riper years, and made them one of their laſt works. Heavenly raptures they met with in this Book, which raiſed their ſpirits and hearts, and beforehand prepared them to that place, to which they did approach. I have therefore written after their Copy, and brought it to light, as the child of my old age, and then, 'tis ſuppoſed there may be many infirmities in it, which that your Lordſhip cover with your mantle, will be a ſignal Act of charity.
The Motive that chiefly was moſt powerful with me to undergo this task, were thoſe Meditations and Devotions of others, which I uſed and peruſed upon theſe Hymns, Theſe to my judgment (weak I confeſſe) reliſh'd more of the Compoſers own Cenius, than of Davids ſpirit To remedy this, I conceived no better way, than to compoſe the Prayer in Davids words, which for the moſt part is here done, and though the order of the Verſes be here often inverted, yet this is done for the better Connexion of the whole. The ſcope and intent of the Pſalmiſt is ſtrictly obſerved.
Pray and Sing we ought with underſtanding, and that is not poſſible till we underſtand, what we Pray or Sing: Now to beget this knowledge in thoſe, whom I do deſire to animate and render devout in thoſe duties, the eaſieſt way I could think on, was, to preſent the whole Summe of every Pſalm in a brief Synopſis. This conſideration produced that Analyſis, which I here offer. How happily or unhappily this is perform'd, I leave it to your Lordſhips exacter judgment.
And yet there was another reaſon, which caſt me on this Subject. The face of the times were ſad and cloudy, and our Mother the Church in a mourning weed, as Rachel lamenting for her children, becauſe they were not: and yet upon the promiſes of God there was hope of a reſurrection. As then thoſe, who accompany their deareſt friends to their laſt home, though covered over with veſts of ſadneſſe, yet mourn not as men without hope: So I in this doleful and general funeral, as it were, of this our Mother, followed her to the grave (as the bitter and enraged enemies of hers hoped and boaſted) with a ſad heart and wateriſh eye: and yet in this depth of ſorrow I received this comfortable aſſurance, that the day of reſurrection would appear for Zion, that her walls would be rebuilt and flouriſh; which beyond my expectation, (God be bleſſed for it) I have lived to ſee, and by your Lordſhips favor enjoy a large and honorable portion in it.
Now that I might have ſomewhat ſuitable, and at hand ready to expreſſe both theſe paſſions. I could not find any part of Scripture ſo apt and pertinent, as this little Epitom of the whole. By which I have been taught to grieve and hope, to lament and joy, to complain to my God, and comfort my ſelf in the deepeſt of thoſe complaints with thoſe lively and inſpiriting encouragements, which this Swan of Bethlehem hath left, to be ſung by all the good people of God in their extremities. The whole is Davids, the Method only mine, and if it ſhall find a Candid interpretation from others, and a favorable acceptation from your Honour, you ſhall oblige me to remain, what I am,
Your Lordſhips, in all due obſervance WILL. GLOUCESTER.