376 Of EleClion. - . .. ~Souls, in Pfal. 12 t. The Lordis thy keepa; Vcrj. 5· anp v<rj; 7· The Lord BooK IV. p;,Jl/preferve '''!Sot~/ , . as the SubjeCt ot hi• care :. And then taki~.g inVerf.>· V""'''"'' He will11ot jtfj]cr thy foot to 6e moved; And all thts there being fpoken in relation to their Souls; and how withal the very fame individual Phrafes are here ufed; Holds our Souls ill life; aud jiljfaeth not our feetto 6r .moved ; T his induceth me to judge , that the aim, as to the fpiritual Life of the Soui is in this paJTage intended , as well as in that Pfa!m. 12. ' >· He that penned this Pfalm , having bleffcd God thus in the behalf of ali other Saints, and invited them thereBy todo the fame, at !aft offers tocaft in the experiments of Gods dealings with his own Soul , as a provocation,' and a pattern unto other Saints, to recoiled with themfdves the like dealings of God with them; to the fame end, and purpofe: Thus Verf. 16. Comr aud hear, alt ye tb,,t frar God, tmd I wilt declare what hr bath dom for my Soul: Where the words [for "'i Soul) do certainly refpeCl: the fpiritual dealings of God with his Soul, in diftinCl:ion from fuch outward mercies, as concerned his Bo– dily Life : And fo doth clearly expound what he had meant, by keeping our Souls in Life, in this 8. vrrje: Now this paJTage of his, being the conclufion of the Pfalm, and as it were the !ummary of it, I therefore take to look backward to thefe foregone pa!lages; and to be as his feuing his Seal to the truth of them , in his own Experience; Having this coherence with the for– mer: As if he had faid , come atld hear, I wilt declare what God bath doue for my Soul; namely in keepi11g, and hotdi11g t71J Soul in Life; during all this long Tract of Tryals, I have pafTedover, and gone through, together with you, all the refi of my fellow fulferers: For which I in my particular do blefs God; and for which you, in your particulars have caufe to praifc God alfo: And thus, that which follows to the end of the Pjizlm, I underftand to refpeCl: what exercifes, and gracious IfTues of Spirit, by prayer , and felf examinati– on of Spirit, had befaln him, under thofc common Trials forementioned, that he bad found: The chief whereof, were, I cried to him with my mollth, tmd hewm t:<toltedwith my to11gue: And lo to the end ofthe Pfalm: And fo his Scope inVerj. 16,ifTues in this;as ifhe had faid,Lo here I,who am but one among you all that fear God in the World, (and perhaps in his own eye he was the leaft,) come, and behold the courfe I have run through , from the time of God his firft putting Life into my Soul, unto this day : And if I did but tell yo111, or could rehearfe all the Experiments which my life fince affords ; and give fo large, and ample a declaration, (as his own word is ) as I could from experience make; enterwoven with fo many varieties of rich difpenfations, of Gods having preferved me fiill in Grace, and kept Life in ure in me, efpecial– ly by prayer, VerJ.17, and not having regarded Iniquity in my Heart; Verf. .t8. from time to time, in the midft of all the Temptations, and changes that hav£ paft; you would ftancl agafi at them , as I my felf do: And I would do this, to the end that you would all be provoked thereby, to view and remind the feveral courfes of dealings which God hath taken with each of you, to the upholding and carrying each of your Souls through, with Spritual Life fiill continued in them: Aad that you would fet down, and tell the like fiories too, at which we !hall all be aftonifi1ed one at another; and fall down afore God ia all, ...and ever and anon adore him, and cry out ; 0 Blefs our God, all ye the people of God, wh ich bath thus wonderfully, and miraculoufly held our Souls in Life, for thefe ten , twenty, thirty , fortv, fifty years : And if my own tingle Experience would, yea and doth afford fo much, (and Oh! bow little of Gods Craceto me, am I able to declare,) what would all, and each of yours, when alllha!l be fully told, rife up unto, as at the Day of Judgment it will? . This I take it, is the Prophets intimate Scope; who ever he was that wrote it, from the Experience of wllat himfelf had found , and obfcrvotion o~o– thers Saints, his companions, all along that captivity out of B.1bilot1: Wluc!) whcncomcforthof it, he writes. My
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