lie, Lay thy sins in his wounds, and he shall bury them so that oly they shall never bave resurection: the sun shall set, and bave a morrows resurrection herbs shall bave a winter death and a sprins surrtion; thy by shall bave a long winter's niht, and then a resurrection; only thy sins buried in the wounds of thy Savio, shall never bave resurrection; and therefore take heed of that deceit in the spirit, of that spirit of deceit, that makes thee impute sins to thyself, when God imputes them not; but rejoice in God's genemlbryiriny of transyrei, that Christ bath died for ail, multiply thy joy in the covering of thy sin, that Christ bath instituted a church, in which that geneml pardon is ruade thine in paicular, and exalt thy joy, the hot imputiny iniquity, in that serenity, that tmnquillity, that God shall receive thee, at thy last bout, in thy lt bath, the sweat of death, as lovingly, as aecepbly, as innoeently, as he received thee, fmm thy first bath, the laver of regeneration, the font in baptism. Amen.
a.Xqaen I kept silence, my hones waxed otd, through my roaring all the tlay long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is tul-ned into the dronght of summer. Selah.
Art ways of teaching, are rule and example: and though ordinarily the rule be first placed, yet the rule itself is ruade of exanaples: and when a rule would be of hard digestion to weak understandings, example concocts it, and makes it easy: for example in matter of doctrine, is as assimilation in matter of nourishment; the example makes that that is proposed for out learning and farther instruction, like something which we knew before, as assimilation makes that neat, which we have received, and digested, like those parts, which are in our bodies before. David was the sweet singer of Israel; shall we say, God's centor . His son Solomon,vas the powerful preacher of Israel shall we say, God's chaælain. Both of them, excellent, abundantly, superabundantly excellent in both those ways of teaching; poet, and preacher, proceed in these ways in both, rule, and example, the body and soul of instruction. So this Psalm is qualified in the title thereof, A Psalm of Dcvld yiving iJstruct&n. And having given his instruction the first way, by rule, in the two former verses, that bIessedtwss consisted in the remisshm of sins, but that this remlssion of sins,vas imparted to none, dolts in spiritu, It whose spirit there was a»y deceit, he proceeds in this text, to the other fundamental, and constitutive element of instruction, cxample; and by example he shows, how far they are from that blessedness, that consists in the remission of sins, that proceed with any deceit in their spirit. And that wayof instruction, by example, shall be out first consideration; and out second, That he proposes himself for the example, I kept sil.ewe, says he, and so nty bones u'axed old, &c. And then, in a third pat', we shall see, how far this holy ingenuity goes, what he confesses of himseif: and that third part will subdivide itself, and flow out into many branches. First, That it was he himself that was lt doloso spiritu, In whose spirit there was deceit, Quia tacuit, Because he heid his tongue, because he disguised his sins, because he did hot confess them. And yet, in the midst of this silence of his, God brought him ad rtçqitun, to voices of roaring, of exclamation, to a sense of pain, and a sense of shame; so far he had a voice, but still he was in silence, for any matter of repentance. Secondly, he confesses the cffect of this his silence, and this his roaring, Iv, veterctverttt, t ossa, l]ly bottes waxed old, and, mV noisture is tur»ed into tle d»'ou9ht of summer. And then thirdly, he confesses the reason from whcnce this inveteration in his bones, and this incineration in his body proceeded, Quia a99ravata rratts, because the hand of God lay heavy upon him, heavy in the present weight, and heavy in the long continuation thereof, day and td.aht. And lastly, all this he seals with that selah, which you find at the end of the verse, which is a kind of .darit, of ernest asseveration, and re-afl$rming the Sme thing, a kind of amen, and ratification to that which was said; se[ch, truly, verily, thus it was with me when I kept silence, and deccitfully smothered my sins, the hand of God lay heavy upon me, and a truly, as verily it vill be no better with any man, that suffers himself to continue in that case. First then, for the assistance, and the power, that example bath in instruction, we see Christs method, Quh/aD iMtio, How was it from the beginnin; do as bath been done belote. "Ve see Godes method to Moses, for the Tabernacle, Look tht tou raabe erêrythiny, after thy oattern, t'hich t'as showed thee i the 3[ount'; and for the creation itself, we know God's method too; for though there were no world, that was elder brother to this world before, yet God in his own mind and purpose had produeed, and lodged certain ideas, and forms, and patterns of every pieee of this world, and ruade them aceording to those preconeeived forms, and ideas. XVhen we consider the ways of instruction, as they are best pursued in the Scriptures, so are there no books in the world, that do so abound with this eomparati'e and exemplary way of teaching, as the Seriptures do; no books, in which that word of reference to other things, tiret sicut is so often repeated, do this, and do that, sieur, so, as you seo such and such things in nature do; and sicut, so as you find such and such men, in story, to hve donc. So David deals with God himself, he proposes him an example; I ask no more fvour at thy hands, for thy church now, than thon hast atTorded them heretofore, do but unto these men now, 81cut Midlanitis, As unto the 1Midianites, S'icut Æiserw, As unto Sisera, s unto Jabint: make their nobles 6'ictt Oreb, Like Oreb and like Zêb, and Ml their princes,S'icut Zeba, As Zeba and as Zalmana. For these had been examples of God's justice: and to be ruade examples of God's anger, is the saine thing, as to be a malediction, a curse. For, in that law of jealousy, that bitter potion which the suspectcd woman was to take, was accompanied with this imprecation, Tke Lord a'e tkee a curse amon.q the peolole"; so we read it; but St. Hierome, In. exemplum, The Lord make thee an
ERo LV.] PENITENTIAL PSALISo example amo t]e letrlole; that is, deal with thee so, as posterity may be afrid, when it shaH be id of any of them, Lord deal with this woman so, as thou didst vith tt adulteress. And so the prayer of the people is upon Boaz, Ut sit in exenplum, (as St. Hierome also rends that place) Te Lord maJ'e tee a example o/ virtue in rata, and in BetMem'; that is, that God's people might propose him to themseIres, conform themselves fo him, d walk as he did. As on the other side, the auger of God is threatened , God shall make thee Exemplum et st«porem , An example and a consternation; and Exenplum et deris«n', An example and a scorn; that posterity, whensoever they should be threatened with God's judgments, they might presently return to such examples, and conclude, if out sins be to their example, out judents will follow their example too, a judgmeat accompanied with a consternation, a consternation aggravated with scorn, we shall be a prey to our enemies, an «tonishment to ourselves, a contempt to all the world; we do accordiug to their example, and according fo their example we shall surfer, is hot a conclusion of any Sorbonne, nor a decision of any Rota, but the logic of the univerl university, heaven itl£ And so whcn the prophet would be excused from undeaaking the office of a prophet, he ys, Adam exe»lun roEum ab ado&scetia , Adam bath been the example, that I hure proposed to myself from my youth; as Adum did, so in the sweat of my brows, I also have eat my bread; I bave kept cattle; I bave followed a country lit, and not ruade mvse]f fit for the office and function of pmphet, Adam bath been my example from my youth. And when Solomon did hOt propose a man, he proposed something else for his example, an example he would have; he looked upon the ill husband's land, and he saw it overgrown, Et e.renplo didici disciTliam , By that example I learnt to be wiser. Enter into the armoury, search the body and bowels of story, for an answer to the «tuestion in Job, Quis periit, lVhver perished bei»9 itwcet, or u'here were the riyhteous cut off ? There is hOt one example; nowhere; never. Answer but that out of records, Quis restitit, Il'ho bath hardewd ]Hmsef çqait the Lord, and prospered'°? Or that Ruth. iv. ll. a Ezek. v, 15. « Jet. xviii. 39. Zech. ii. 5. Pro. v. 32. Job iv. 7. o Job ix. 4. VOL. II. 2
30 PREACHED UrON THE [SEB. LV. Quis cotradcet, If e cu o «o ca Mnde Mmffiffi? There is no example no man, y no means. So, if thou be tempted th over-valuing thine own purity, find an cxample to anse'er that, Quis undum, lVo can bri-çqa clean thiy out OE ucleanness *? Or tht, IVko can sç¢, I kae ¢nade y keart clean, I urefrom sin? There is no example; no man ever did it; no man eau say it. If thou be tempted to worship God in an image, be able to answer God something to that, To u'kom will ye liken God, o.»" wha likeie ill ye copare «.ito hiz '? There ean he no exalnple, no pattern to make God by: for, that were to make God a eopy, and the other, by whieh he were ruade, the original. If thou have a temptation to withdraw thyself from the discipline of that ehureh, in whieh God hath ven thee thy baptism, final an example, to tisfy thy eonseienee, and Go&s people, in what age, in whnt place, there vas any sueh chureh instituted, or any sueh discipline practised, as thou hast fancied to thyself. Be]ieve nothing for vhich thou hast hot rule; do nothing for which thou hnst hot an example; for there is hOt more dangerous distemper in either belief or practiee, than singularity; for there on]y may we justly call for miracles, if men will present to us, and bind us to t]fings that were never believed, never done belote. David therefore, in this Psahn, his Psalm of instruction, (as himself calls it) doth both; he lnys down the rule, he establishes it by example, and that w our first consideration, and we bave done with that. Our soeond is, That he goes hot far for his example; he labours hOt to shov his reading, but his feelmg; hot his leanfing, but his compunetion; his conscience is his library, and his examplc is himself, and he does hot unclasp great volumes, but unbutn his own brcast, and from thence he takes it. Sien that give rules of civil wisdom, and wise conversation amongst men, use to say, that a wise man must never speak mueh of himself; it will argue, say they, a narrow understanding, tht he knows little besides his own oetions, or else that he overvalues his own actions, if he bring them much into discourse. But the wise meu that seek Christ, (for there were such wise men in the wodd once) Job . 1o. ]ffi Job v. 27. Prov. xx. 9. Isaish xz. 18.
EII. L V. ] PENITENTIA L SLMS. l statesmen in the kingdom of heaven, they go upon other grounds, and, wheresoever they may final them, they seek such examples, as may conduce most fo the glory of God: and when they make thcmselves examples, they do not rather choose themselves than others, but yet they do hot spare, nor forbear themselves more than other men. David proposes his own example, to his own shame, but to God's glory. For David was one of those persons, Qui Non Totult solos Terire , Ho could hot sin alone, his sin authorized sin in others: princes and prelates, are doctrinal men, in this sense and acceptation, that the subject makes the prince's lire his doctrine; he learns his catechism by the eye, he does what he secs donc, and frames to himself rules out of his superiors' exmnple. Therefore, for their doctrine, David proposes truly his own example, and without disguising, tells that of himself, which no man else could bave told. Christ who could do nothing but well, proposes himself for an example of humility, I have given you at example«; xvhom . what . That you hould do as I hare donc. So St. Paul instructs Titus, I ail thitçqs show et Tatter»t of good wovks '; but whom . for Titus might ha'e showed them naany patterns; but show thyse a Tattern, says the apostle; and hot only of assiduous, and laborious preaching, but of.qood corA's. And this is that, for which he recommends Timothy to the church, He works the work OE the Lord ', and, hOt without a pattern, nor without that pattern, which St. Paul had given him in himself, He works so, as I also do. St. Paul, who had propoeed Christ to himself to follow, might propose himself to others, and wish as he does, I wouM ail men were even as myse For, though that apostle, by denying it in his own practice, seem to condenm it in ail others, to preach ourselves, (tire preach ot otrselees, btt Ckrlst Jes«s the Lord ») yet to preach out of out o history, so far, as to declare fo the congregation, fo what manifold sins we had formerly abandoned ourselves, how poweffully the Lord was pleased fo reclaim us, how vigilantly he bath vouchsafed to preserve us from relapsing, fo preach ourselves thus, to call up the congregation, to hear what God bath donc for my soul, is a blessed preaching of myseff. And therefore Solomon t» Bernard. it John i. 15. n Titus il. 7. ts 1 Cmç xvi. 10. » 2 Cor. iv. 5. 2M 2
532 raexcue çvo xu¢ [sea. LV. does not speak of himself so much, nor so much propose and exhibit himself to the church, in any book, as in that which he calls the Preacer, Tcdedastes: in that book, he hides none of his own sins; none of those practices, which he had formerly used to hide his sins: he confesses things there, which none knew but himself, nor durst, nor should bave published them of him, the king, if they had known them. So Solomon preaches himself to good purpose, and poufs out his own soul in that book. Vhich is one of the reasons which our interpreters assign 2°, why Solomon calls himself by this naine, eccledastes, coelet]., which is a word of the feminine gender, and not cotwionator, but concio- atrix, a she-preacher, because it is anima cowionatrLr, it is his soul that preaches, he pours out his own soul to the congregation, in letting them know, how long the Lord let him ruu ot in vanities, and vexation of spirit, and how powerfully and eflbctually he reclaimed him at last: for, from this book, the preacher, the she-preacher, the soul-preacher, Solomon preaching himself, rather herself, the church raises convenient arguments (and the best that are raised) for the proof of the salvation of Solomon, of which divers doubted. And though Solomon in this book speaks divers things, net as his own opiniou, but in the sense o! worldly men, yet, as we bave a note upon Plato's Dialogues, that though he de se too, yet whatsoever Plate says in the naine and person of Socrates, that Plate always means for his own opinion, se whatsoever Solomon says in the naine of the preacher, (the preacher says this, or says that) that is evermore Solomon's owa saying. Vhen the preacher preaches himself, his own sins, and his own sense of God's mercies, or judgments upon him, as that Ls intended most for the glory of God, se it should be applied most by the hearer, for his oxrn edification; for, he were a very ill-uatured man, that should think the worse of a preaeher, because he confesses himself te be worse than he knew him te he, belote he confessed it. Therefore David thought it net enough, te have said te his confesser, te Nathan, in private, Peccari, l are dnned; but here, belote the face of the whole church of God, even te the end of the wodd, (for se long these records are te lest) he proposes himself, for an exemplary sinner, fol" a sinful to Lorin. Proleg. C. 5.
example, and for a subject of God's indignation, whilst he remained so, lichen I ept silewe, and yet ro«red, ty a»td lay eavy on ne, a»d my noisture was ttrwd into te dro of" sommer. And so we are corne to out third part, I-le teaches by example; he proposes himself for the example; and of himself he confesses those particulars, which constitute out text. Three things he confees in this example. First, that it was he himself that was in doloso spiritr«, that had deceit in his spirit, Q«ia tacit, Becau he held his tongue, he disguised his sins, he did hOt conïess them; and yet, in the midst of this silence of his, God brought him Md ruyitum, To voices of roaring, of exclamation, fo a sense of pain, or Shalne, or loss; so far he had a voice; but still he was in silence, tbr any matter of repentance. Secondly, he coufesses a lamentable effeet of this silence, and this roaring, Inveteraverut ossa, His bones were consumed, waxen old, and his moisture dried up; and then he takes knowledge of the cause of all this calamity, the weight of God's heavy hand upon hiln. And to this confission he sets to that seal, which is intended in the last word, selah. First then, David confesses his silence; therefore it was a fault: and he coffesses it, as an instance, as an example of his being In Joloso spirit«, That there was deceit in his spirit; as long as he was silent, he thought to delude God, to deceive God; and this was the greatest fault. If I be afraid of God's power, because I consider that he tan destroy a sinner, yet I have his will tbr my buckler; I relnember, that he would not the death of a silmer. If I be afraid that his will may be otherwise bent, (for what can I tell, whethcr it may hot be his will to glorify himself in surprising me in my sins .) I have his word for my buekler, 11Iiseratiows ej«s sq»er omht opera ejts, God does nothing, but that his mercy is supereminent in that work, whatsoever; but if I think to escape his knowledge, by hiding my sins from him, by lny silence, I ana in doloso iritu, if I think to deceive God, I deceive myself, and there is no truth in me. Vhen we are to deal with fools, we must, or we must hot answer, as thcy may receive profit, or inconvenienee by out answer, or our silence..1 »swer ot c.]bol, accordi.q to his.lbollsh- »ess, le'st tkot be li'e kim: but.ver, in the next verse, Answer a foolaccordin.q to his foollshness, lest fie be wise in hls own conceit.1. But answer God always. Though he speak in the foolishness of prenehing, as himselt" ealls it, yet he speaks wisdom, that is, peaee to thy soul. We are sure that there is a good silence; for we bave a rule for it from Christ, whose actions are more than examples, for his actions are rules. His patience wrought so that he would hot speak, his afttietions wrought so tha he eould hot. tic was brought as a sheep fo tke slauyhter, and he was durable; There he would not speak; 3Ij stretçqth is drled -np li]'e a potsherd, and my ton.que cleareth to ny juws, and thon hast brought e into the dust of deatk ', says David in the person of Christ, and here he could hOt speak. Here is a good silence in our rule: sois there also in examples derived froln that rule. There is 8ilentium reverentioe, A silence of reverence, for respect of the presence; The Lord is in his holy temple, let all tke world ke«p silence before him '. Vhen the Lord is working in his tenlple, in his ordinances, and institutions, let hOt the wisdom of all the world dispute why God instituted those ordinances, the foolishness of preaching, or the simplicity of sacraments in his church. Let hot the wisdom of private men dispute, why those whom God bath accepted as the representation of the chm'ch, those of whom Christ says, ecclesice, T«ll the ckurch, have ordained these, or these ceremonies for decency, and uniformity, and advancing of God's glory, and men's devotion in the church; let ail the earth be silent, In sacramentis, The whole church may change no sacraments, nor articles of faith, and let particular men be silent in sacramentalibus, in those things which the church hath ordained, for the better conveying, and imprinting, and advancing of those fundamental mysteries; for this silence of reverence which is an acquiescence in those things which God bath ordained, immediately, as sacraments, or nlinisterially, as other ritual things in the church, David would hOt bave complained of, nor repented. And to this may well be referred silenti«m subjectionis, that silence which is a recoguition, a testimony of subjection. Let the women keep silence in tke ckurck,for tkey oçqtt tobe sut]ect"; * Prov. xxvi. 4, . * Isaiah iii. 7. m l'salin xxii. I. * Ilab. il. ult. 1 Cor. xiv.
SEP,. LV.] PEN|TENTIAL ISALMSo 5 and, Let the wome learn in silence, witl all ubjectio «. As far as any just commandment, either expressly, or tacitly reaches, in enjoyning silence, we are bound fo be silent: in moral seals of secrets, hot fo discover those things which others upon confidence, or for out counsel, have trusted us withal; in charitable seals, hot to dlscover those sins of others, which are corne to ouï particular knowledge, but hot by a judicial way; in religions se.ls, hOt to discover those things which are delivered us in confession, except in cases excepted in that canon; in secrets delivered under these seals, of nature, of law, of ecclesiastical canons, we are bound to be silent, for this is silettitm 8ubjectioni8, an evidence of our subjection fo superiors. But since God hath ruade man with that distinctive property, that he can speak, and no other creature; since God m.de the first man able to speak, as soon as he was in the vorld; since in the order of tho Naz.rites instituted in the Old Testament, though they forbore wilm, and outward care of their comeliness, in cutting their hair, and otherwise, yet they bound hot themsel-es to aly silence; since in the other sects, which grew up amongst the Jewa, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and Essenes, amongst all their superfluous, and superstitious austerities, theve was no inhibition of spc,king, and comlnunication; since in the twilight between the Old and New Testament, that dumbncss which was cast upon Zachariah , was inflicted for a punishment upon him, because lle believed hot that, that the angel had said unto him, wc may be bold to say, Th.t if hot that silence, which is enjoilmd in the Roman church, yet that silence which is practised amongst them, for the COllcealing of treasons, and those silences which are imposed upon some of their orders, that the Carthusians may never speak but upon Thursdays, others upon other times, they are hot silentia sul,jectionis, silences imposed upon any just authority, but they are in doloso spirittt, there is deceit in their spirit; if hot in every one of them, who execute the commandment, hot in every poor Carthusian, yet in them who imposed it, who by such an obedience in impertinent things, infatuate them, and accustom them to a blind and implicit obedience in matters of more dangerous consequence. Silence of reverence, silence of subjection meet in this, and in 1 Tire. il. l I. 7 Luke i. 20.
this they determine, that we hold out togues from questioning anything ordained by God, and ri'oto defaming anything donc by that power, wbich is esmblised by his ordinance. And this silence falls not under David's complaint, nor cofemion. We ha-e hot long to stay upon flfis silence, which we call the good silence, because it is hot the silence of out text; this only we say, That t]lere is silence which is absolute]y go, always good, and there is another occasionally goed, sometimes g, and sometimes not so; and that is ilentium boni, or a bono, an abstinence from speaking, or from doing some things, which of themsel'es, if no ciremnstauce changed their nature, were and quisite.,Tlentium bouture, that silence that is absolutely, and alwys good, is a quiet contentment tnde d«bueras esse dites, fias make tbee rich, and have indeed ruade thee rieh, tlxou make thyself poor, by thiuking thyself poor, and misinterpreting Go(Fs doing: that thou have not Pra, cordla fatui, s the saine father speaks, The bowels of an empty man, whining, and cD'ing bowds;,S'ic«t rota cnrrus, fenm portans et mnrmurans, As a cart that ha.th a full and plentifld load, and squeaks and whines tlle more for tiret abundance. either naurmur that thou hast minus de bonis, hot goeds enough, nor nimis de malis, afflictions too many, but reckon how nluch more gd God hath showed thee, then thou hast deserved, and h«»w much less iii.,S'it alone, and bt, 1, silence, beca«se thou hast borne it , because the Lord hath laid affliction upon tllee; thiue case is within two vees, Fo" the Lord «.iii hot forsabe thee]b" e¢er . If thou munnur, and say, Qui«l fici, Lord vhat bave I donc to thee, that thou shouldst deal thus with me thou shalt hear the justice of God answer thee, lrum deeis, nihil ]ècisti, Thou llast donc nothing, and that is fault enough; nothing for me, nothing for my sake, but ail for respect of thyself, in thine own ways, and to flfine own euds. The other good silence is hot always good, but oecasionally, and circumstantially so; It is a forbearing to si)eak truth, which may be good then, when out speaking of truth can do no good, xe Bernard. Lainent. iii. 28. o Austine.
and mny do havre. I u'ill keêp my mouth bridled whilst the wickêd is in my si.qkt; I n'as dumb, and spake nothiny, I kept silence een from ffood, and raff sorrow n'as more stirred. » Though it were vexation fo him, though ]le had sense, and a relnorse, that this 'as ome degree of prevarication, fo abandon the defenee of God's honour af any rime, ye his reli.ious diseretion ruade if appear to him, that this present abstinence would, in the end, conduce more to God's glory. It was the wise inan's rule, Kindle hot the coals of sinners, u'hen thon rebukêst them, lest thott beest burned it thefleryflames oftheir sins '. Poison works apaee upon ellolerie eomplexions; and physicians may eatell tlle i»lamae by going about to cure it. An over-vehement, and unseasonable reprehender of a Sill lllay eontraet that, or a greater Sill himselt: I may rel)rehend a blasphemer, in sueh a nlanner, and at sueh a thue, as I eould uot choose but suspect, that he would lnultiply blasl»hemies upon lny reprehension; and, though that take off none of his fault, yet it adds to mine, and now God hatll two in the bond; he shall answer, and I too, for these later blasphemies. The wise man gave us the rule, Kindle hot coals, and a good king gave us the example, when Rabshakeh had blasphemed against God and the king; Let hot Hezdi'iah deceive you, sa!tin.q, Tke JLord w/ll deliÇer us, thon thêy kept silence, and answerêd kim hot a word, says that text; for, (as it is added) The kin9"» commandment n'as, say;n.q, Ansu'er him hot a word. There is a religious abstinence, in not answering our adversaries, tllou.,,,b t|leir libels, and inerepations, alld eontumelies tend to tile disllOllOUr of (o. St. Anlhrose obsel'ved good degrees in this diseretiou, fie notes in David, that,iluit a bonis, Though it troubled him, he eouhl hold his peaee, vhen his reply might exasperate othcrs: he notes in Job, (as he reads that place, aeeording to the Septuagint) Ecce, rideo oTprobium, Bekohl, I laugh at their reproackes»; that he could take pleasure in the goodness of his conscience, for all their calumnies. He notes in St. Paul a higher degree than that;)Ialedicimur, et benedicimus"', That he when he was reviled eould bless them that reviled him. Religious diseretion allows us to disguise out anger, and smotller out Sol'row, when either onr anger would exasperate, or our sorrow encourage the adversary, to a more vehement opposing of God, and his church and his children. But all this is rather truc, in private persons, than in those whom God hath sent to do his lnessages to his people, lVhe I hall a!/ to the wicbed, (says God to the prophet) Thon shalt surely die, a,,l thon, the prophet,.qivest hlm hot u'arnitçq, nor speakest fo admonish tat ]*e may lire, the saine wicl['ed nm shall die i ini,luity, bttt Ms blood will I require af thy hands ". And, if every single sinful act, and word, and thought of mine, need the whole blood of Christ Jesus to exl)iate that, what blood, and what seas of that blood shall I need, when the blood of a whole parish shall be required at my hand, because I forbore to speak plainly of their sins, and God's judgment. It is truc, which St. Bernard says, Discretio mater, et consumnutrix virtutum, Discretion is the nmther, and discretion is the nurse of every virtue, but yet, in this comnlandment which is laid upon us, for the reproof of sin, IIa,¢ ornais sit nostra discretio, says he, ut in koe mdla sit nobis discretio; Let this be all our discretion, as discretion is wisdom, that we use no discretion, as discretion is acceptation of persons. Ihce ornais sapientia, ut in ha¢ parte ntdla nobis sit, Let this be all out wisdom, to proceed in this way, this foolishness of preaching, in season, and out of season. In God's name, let us fall within that danger, if we must needs, that if the poor man speak, they say, XVllat fello,v is this « . XVe are fellows in this service, fo God's angels, to the Son of God Christ Jesus, vho is vour Higll Friest, and we îellow-workmen with him, in your salvation: and, as long as we tan escape that imputation, somc man hohleth llis tongue, because he hath not to answer ", that either we know not what to say to a doubtful conscience, for out ignorance, or are afraid to reprchend a sin, because we are guilty of that Sill onrselves; hov far states, and commonwealths nmy be silent in connivancies, and îorbearanees, is hot out business nov; but for us, the ministers of God, 'w nobis, si non evaçodizemus, woe be unto us, if 'e do hot preaeh the Gospel, and we have no Gospel put into out hands, nor into out mouths, but a conditional Gospel, and therefore we do not preach the Gospel, exeept we sza. LV.] 'EmTS rsAs. 539 preach the judgments belonging to the breach o? those conditions: a silence in that, in us, would?ail under this complaint, and confession, Because I was silent, these calamities fcll upon me. It becomes hot us to think the worst of David, that he was fallen into the deepest degree of this silence, and negligence of his duty to God: but it becomes us well to consider, that if David, man according to God's heart, had somo degrees of this ill silence, if is easy for us to lmve maay. For, for the first degree, we hve it, and scarce discern that we have it: for out first silence is but an omission, a not doing of out religious dutics, or an unthankfulness for God's particular benefits. Vhen Moses s,'tys to his people, Tke Lord ehall.fi.qht for you, et vos tacebitis, and you shall hold your pêac.e , there Moses meaus, you shall hOt need to speak, the Lord will do it for his own glory, you may be silent. There it was future thing; but the Lord hath fought many battles for us: he bath fought for out church against superstition, for out land against invasion, for this city against infection, tor every soul here against presumption, or else aoainst desperation, Dominus pu.onarit, et nos silemus; the Lord hath fought for us, and we never thank him. A silence belote, a hot praying, hath hot always a f.ult in it, because we are often i-norant of out own necessities, and ignorant of the dangers that bang over us; but a silence after a benefit evident]y received, a dumb ingratitude is inexcusable. There is another ill silence, and an unnatural one, for it is a loud silence; it is a bragging of out good works; it is the Pharisee's silence, when by boasting of his fastings, and of his altos, he forgot, he silenced lais sins. This is the deviFs best merchant: by this man, the devil gets ail; for his ill deeds were his belote; and now, by this boasting of them, his good works become his too. To contract this, if we lmve overcome this inconsideration, if we bave undcrtaken some examination of out conscience, yet one survey is not enough; Delicta quis intelll9it% Vho can understand his error . How many circumstances in sin vary the ver:}- nature of thc sin . and then, of how many coats, and shclls, and super-edifications doth that sin, which we think a single sin, consi.,.t When we bave passed many scrutinies, many inquisitions zi l'xod, xiv. 14. lasal, xix. 12.
of the conscience, yet there is never room for a silence; we can never get beyond the necessity of that petition, Ab occidtis, Lord cleanse me from mv secl,et sins we shall ever be guilty of sins, which we shall forger, hot only because they are so little, but because they are so great; that which should be compmiction, will be consternation; and the anguish, which, out of a natural teiidei'ness of conscience, we shall ]lave at the first entering into those sins, will make us dispute on the sin's side, and, for soiim present case, and to give out heax3" soul breath, we will find excuses for them; and at last slide and wear into a customary practice of them: and t|iough we caimot be ignorant that we do thein, yet we shall be ignorant that they are siiis; but rather make theii thh]gs indiflèrent, or recreations necessary to maintaiii a cheerfuliiess, and so to sin on, for fear of despairiug iii our sin8, and we shall never be able to shut out mouths against that petition, ab occultes; for, though the sin be manifest, the various circumstances that aggravate the sin, will be secret. And properly this was David's silence: he confesses his silence to have been E.r doloso spiritu, Out of a spirit, in which,vas dcceit; and I)avid did hot hiie, directly, and determinately to deceive God; but by endeavouring to bide his siu froln other men, and from his own conscience, he buried it deeper and deeper, but still undei" more and lnore eili.U. He.ilellCeS his adultel'y, but he suiothers it, he bm'iei it under a turf of h)Tocrisy, of dissiniulation with Ui'iah, that he might bave gone home, and covered his sin. He silences thi. hypocrisy; but that must bave a larger turf to cover it; he buries it under the whole body of Uriah, treacherously lnurdered; he silellCeS that lnurdel', but no turf,vas large ellough to cover that, but the defeat of the whole army, and al'ter all, the blasphenling of the nanle and power of the Lord of hosts, in the ruin of the army. That sin, which, if he would bave carried it upward towards God, in confession, would bave vanished away, and evaporated, by silencing, by suppressing, by burying multiplied, as col'n buried in the earth, multipliei into mally ears. And, though he might (perchance for his fal'ther punishment) overcome the remembrance of the first sin, he might bave forgot thc adultery, and feel no pain of that, yet still being put to a new, and new sin, still the last sili that he did to cover the test, couhl hOt choose but appcar to Iris conscience and call upon him for another sin fo covcr that howsoever he nfight forget last yer's sins, yet yesterday's sin, or last night's sin will hardly be forgotten)'et. Ami t|lerefore, Tollite vobiseum verba, says the prophet, 0 lsrael return unto the Lord; but how . Take unto you words, and turn unto the Lord "°. Take unto you your words, words of confession; take unto)'ou lais word, the words of his gracious promises; break your silence when God breaks his, in the motions of his Spirit, and God slmll break off his purpose of inflicting calamities npon you. In the mean time, when David was hot corne so far, but continued silent, silent from confession, God suffers hot David to enjoy the benefit of lais silence; though he continue his silence towards God, yet God mingles ru.qt«m c«m Mletio, for all lais silence, he cornes to a voice of l'oaring and howling, whela I was ileut, my roariçq consumed me; so that here was a great noise, but no music. Now Theodoret calls this ttuyitum COmlunctionis; That it was the inchoation of his repentance, which began diflldently, and with ibarful vociferations; and so some of out later men understand it «; that because David had confinued long in lais sin, when the ice brake, it brake with the greater noise when he returned to speak to God, he spake with the more vehemence. And truly the xvord haa.q, r«yiit, thougk it signify properly the voice of a lion, yet David uses this word roarbg, hot only of himself, but of himself as he was a type of Christ: for this very word is ila the beginning of that Psalm, which Christ repeated Ul)On the cross, or, at least begun it, ]Iy God, mg God, why hast thou forsaken me, and why art thou so f«r from the 'olce ofny roarin£/«? So that, 'oarin.q, may adroit a good sense, aud does hot always imply distemper, and inordinateness; for, in Christ it could hot; but does it hot in our text In our former translation it might stand in z good sense, where the two actions are distinguished in rime, thus, ll'he I keld my to.a«e, or, when I roared, whether I kept or broke silence, ail was one, no more case in one, tlmn the other. But with the original translation, it cannot be so, whieh is, ll'hen I hem o llos. xiv. 2. t Bellarmine. « Psal. xxii. 1.
roariff, this and this fe upon me: they were concomitant actions, actions intermixed, and at the saine time when he was silent, he roared too; and therefore that that he calls is hot voice of repentance, for if he had been comc to that, then he had broken his foer silence, for that d[ece was a hot contssing, a hot repenting. This is then that miserable condition which is expressed in David's case, (thouh God delivered David from any deadlv eflct of it) that he had occasion of ravDg, of «llny, (as the Scripture speaks often) thouh he -ept dIece: that he w at never the more ease, for ail his sins: the eases that he laid hold on, were new sins in themsel'es, and yet they did hot ease him of his other sins: he kept silence, and yet was put to exclamations. And how many examples cau ve present to oselves, in out own memory, where persons which have iven themse]ves ail libey to fore writins, to subom witnesses, to forswear themselves, to oppress, to murder other to make their ways easier to their ends, and yet have, for all this, though the hand of justice bave hot fallen upon them, seen their whole estates consume and moulder away Vhen men out of thelr ill-grounded plot, and pe'erse wisdom, think themselves sale in the silence and secroey of their sins, God overtakes them, and confounds them, with those two fearful blows, those two thunderbolts, he brins them to exclamations, to vociferations, upon fortune, upon friends, upon servants, upon riwls, and competitors, he brings them to a roaring for their ruin, ever nmn was thus dealt withal as I ara, never such a conspiracy as aainst me. And this they do, all day, says David here, Truy y rar- Dç ll d/. ]t was long so with David; a day as lon as two of their days, that bave days of six months David in this dark, dead silence, before he saw dy, or returned to seakin. Vith those tht continue their silence a day, the roaring continues ail day too; all their lires, they bave new occasions of lamentations, and yet al] this reduces them hot, but they are benihted, they end their lire vith fearful voices of desperation, in a roaring, but still in a silence of their sins, and transressions. And this is that that falls first under his confession, roariç vith sile.ce, pain, and shame, and loss, but ail without confession, or sense of sin. And then, that v,'hich falls next under his acknowledgment, is the vehement working, the lamentable effect of this silence and roarln9, inveteration of bones incineration of his whole substance,.lly bones are waxen old, and ny noiture turned ito te drout of summer. Both these phrases, in which David expresses his own, and prophesies of other such sinner»s misery, have literal, and a spiritual, a natural, and a moral sense. For first this affliction of this silenced and impenitent sinner though it proceed hot from the sense of his sin, though it brought him hot yet to a confession, but fo a roaring, that is, an impatient repining and murmuring, yet it had so wrought upon lais body, and whole constitution, as that if drunk up his natural, and vital moisture;,S'Tiritus tristis exsiccarat , as Solomon speaks, A broken spirit had dried him up; His da!le were consumed like smoke, and hls bones were but'nt like a kearth«; and that marrow and fittneee, in whieh, he says, he had sueh satiefaction, at other rimes, u'as exhausted ". This is the tnisery of this impenitent sinner, he is beggared, but in the devil's serviee, he is lamed, but in the devil's wars; his moisture, his blood is dried up, but with lieentiousness, with his overwatehings, either to deeeive, or to oppress others; for, as the proverb is truc, Phtres 9ula uam 91adiue, The throat euts more throats than the sword doês, and êating starves more men than fasting does, because wastefulness induces penury at last, so if ail our hospitals were well surveyed, it would be Ibund, that the devil sends more to hospitals than God does, and the stêws more than the wars. Thus his bodily moisture was wasted, literally the sinner is sooner infirme¢l, sooner ¢leformed, than another man; but there is an humidum radicale of the soul too: a tênderness, and a disposition to bewail his sins, with remorsêful tears. When Peter had denied his toaster, and heard the cock crow, he did hot stay to make recantations, he did hot star to satisfy them, fo whom he had denied Christ, but he looked into himself first, £'levit amare, says the Holy Ghost, He wept bitterly; his sonl was hot withered, his moisture was hot dried up like summer, as long as he cold wecp. The learned oet ' bath given some character some expression of the desperate an irremediable state of the reprobate, when he calls Plutowm illacrymabilem; There is the mark of his incorrigibleness, and so of his irrecoverableness, that he cannot weep. A sinfid man, an obdurate man, a stony heart may weep: marble, and the hardest sorts of stones weep most, they lmve the most moisture, the most drops upon them: but this cornes hot out of thcm, hot fmm withiu them; extrinsical occasions, pain, and shame, and waut, may bring a sinner to sorrov enough, but it is hot a sorrow for his sins; all this while the miserable sinner weeps hot, but the miseral)le man, all this while, though he bave winter in his eyes, his soul is turned into the drought of summer. God destroyed the first world; and all flesh with water: tears for the want, or for the loss of friends, or of temporal blessings, do but destrov us. But God begun the new world, de Cristian church, ith water too, vit] the cr ment of ba])tism. Pursue his example; begin thy regeneration with tears; if thou bave frozen eyes, ,ou hast a frozen heart too; if the rires of the Ho]y Ghost cannot thaw thee, in his promises, the tire of hell will do it much less, whieh is a tire of obduration, hot of liquefaction, and does not me]t a sou], to pour it out into a new aud better form, but hardens it, nails it, confirms it in the old. Christ bids you that your transmigration out of this world be not in cold days of indevotion, nor in short davs of a ]are repentance. Take heed too, that your flight be uot in such a summer as this; that your transmigration out of thms world be hot in such a dw«t of s«mmer, as David speals of here, That the soul bave lost ber h«mM«m 'adicale, all her tenderness, or ail expressing of that tenderness in the sense of her transgressions. So did David see himself, so did he more foresee in others, that shou]d farther incur God's displeasure, than he (by God's goodness) had done, this exsiccatiou, this incineration of body and soul; sin bur and turns body and soul ¢o a cinder, but hot such a cinder, but that they can, and shall both burn again, and again, and for erer. And the dangerous effect of this silence and roaring, David expresses iu another phrase too, I¢eterarerut ossa, That * Horace. « 5Iatt. xxiv. 20.
SEIt,. LV.] PEN|TENTIAL PSALMS. bones u'ere waxen old, and consu»wd; for so that word bala signifies, Your clothes are hot v:axed old UlOOn you, nor your stoes waxed dd,on vour feet "8. In the consuming of these bones, as out former translation hath it, the vehemenee of the afflietlon is presented, and in the waxin.q old, the eontinuance. Here the rulo fails, S'i lonya le,Sa, si yraeis brebis, Çalamities that last long, are light, and if" they be henry, they are short; both ways there is some intimation of ome esse. But God suffers hot this sinner to enjoy that esse; od will lay enouh upon hi body, fo kill another in a week, and 3"et he hall pant many years under if. As the way of his blessing is, Mpprdend«t tritura indemiam, Your inage sl, all reacl to your lresting, a,d your tlresldn.q to Vour oig '; so in an impenitent inner, his fever shall reach to a frenzy, his frenzy to a eonsumption, his eonsumption to penury, and his penury fo a wearying and tiring out of all that are about him, and Ml the sins of his youth shall meet in the anguish of his body. But that is hot all; Etlam animw membra sunt, says St. Basil, The soul bath ber bones too; and those are out best actions; those, which if they had been well done, might bave been called good works, and might ha'e met us in heaven; but when a man continues his beloved sin, when he is i» doloso s¥iritu, and deals with God in false measures, and fidse weights, makes deceitful confessions to God, his good works shall do him no good, his bones are co,sumed, hOt able to bear him upright iii tbe sight of God. This David sers in himself, and foresees in others, and he sers the true reason of ail this, Quia a.a.qrarata marins, Because te and of God lies heaV upon Mm, which is another branch of his confession. It was the safety of the spouse, That his left lad was under fier ead, arM tlat Iris rilt land embraced ler»°: and it might well be her safety; for, Per l«eram rira prccses,¥er dextram wterna ded.qnatur, says St. Gregory, His left hand denotes this, and his right the other lire: out happiness in this, out assurance of the next, consists in this, that we are in the hands of God. But here in our text, God's and was eary pon li»; and that is an s Dent. xxix. 5. Levit. x_xvi. o Cant. ii. 6. VOL. 1[.
546 PXC.D rlo Tr. [sE. LV. action of pushing away, and keeping down. And then when we seo the eat power, and the great indignation of God upon the Egyptians, is expressed but so, 2Diyltus 2Dei, The.f;nyer of God is in it.l, How heas.'y an affliction must this of David be esteemed, 9uando ay.qrarata rnanus, when his whole hand was, and was heav.v npon him. Here then is one lesson for all men, and another pecnliar to the children of God. This appertains to all, That when thev are in silento, in a seared and stupid forgetting of their sins, or in doloso »piritn, in hall confessions, hall abjurations, hall detestations of their sins; the hand of God will grow heavy upon them. Tell your chihb'en ofit (says the prophet) and let.¢/ou" ckildren tell their children, and let their children tell another yeneration, (for this belongs to all) Tkat u'hich i ft of the palmer-«orm, the grahopper ohall eat, and that that he leader, the canker-worm shall eat, and the 'eidue f the canker-worm, the eaterpillar. Th hand of God shall grow heavy upon silent sinner, in his body, in his health; and il" he eoneeive a eomfort, that for ail his siekness, he is rieh, and therefore eannot çail oî help and attendance, there cornes another worm, and devours that, faithlessness in persons trusted by him, oppressions in persons that have trusted him. faeility in undertaking for others, corrupt judges, hea-y adversaries, tempests and pirates at sea, unseasonable or ill nmrkets at land, costly and expensive ambitions at court, one xvorm or other shall devour his riches, that ho eased himself upon. If he take up another conffort, that though health and wealth deeay, though he be poor and weak, yet he hath learning, and philosophy, and moral constancy, and he eau content himself with himself, he tan make his studv a court, and a fcw books shall supply to him the societv and the conversation of many t?iends, there is another worm to devour this too, the hand of divine justice shall groxv heavy upon him, in a sonse of an unprofitable retiredness, in a disconsolate melancholy, and at last, in a stulfidity, tendig to desperation. This belongs to ai1, to all non-confitents, that think hot of confessing their sins at ail, to all semi-confitents, that confess them to halves, without purpose of amendment, A.ograrabitur manus, The hand of God will grow heax-y upon thcm every way, and »l Exod. s iii. 19.
SEIIo LV.] PENITENTIAL SS. 547 stop ever isue, ever ])ostern, every salle, ever means of eseape. Bu tha whieh s peeu]]ar to the ehildren of God, is, that hen the hand of God is upon them, they shall know if fo be he hnd of God, and take hold even of that oppressing hand, and hot let it go, till they have received a blessing from it, that is, raised themseh'es even hy that heavy and oppressing hand of his, even in that affliction. That when God shall fill theirfaces with shame, yet they shall seek hisface; yea, when God shall bill Mm, yet he will tr«st i God, and see" ]Hm; and (as the prophet carries it farther) C««m iu.reàit«r ltredo, when rottenness enters into their bones, yet they shall rest even in that daff of trouble , of dissolution, of putrefaction. God shall call upon them, as he did npon Judah, Trit«ra mea, et filions arew, 0 my tlreshiny-]lace, and te son. of nyoor », thon whom I bave beaten and bruised with my flails, when I bave threshed, and winnowed, and sifted thee by these afflictions, and by this heavy hand, still thon shalt tïx thy faithful eyes in heaven, and see room reseved there for thee, amongst those, wlffcl corne out of yreat tribulations, and hae ruade tl«eir lon.q robes white i the blood of the Lanb; t.ho skall tkerefore du'ell in tke ntidst of them, and 9orern tkem, and lead them to tke lieb.lfountains of waters, and wi;pe away all tears from their eyes . Even upon his own childrên, his hand shall grow heavy, but that heaviness, that weight shall awake them, and that hand shall guide them, to, and in the ways of peace and reconciliation. And this both dal/and niiht, as out text says, that is, both in the day of their prosperity, and the night of their ad-ersity. Even in prosperity, the child of God shall feel the hand of Goal grow hea' npon him: he shall find, guiltiness of hot llaving employed those temporal benefits to their right use; he shall find the pbtit laqueos , a shower of snares to have been poured down upon him; occasions of sin; occasions of falling into sins himself; occasions of drawing others, and of huying those souls with his money, which Christ Jesus had a preemption of, and had bought them before with his blood: he sha]l find the hand of God in adversity, and love if, because it shall deliver him; he shall Psahn .xx_xiii. " Y'salm rxxvii. -" Habak. iii. 16. -" Isaiah xxi. 10. lier. xiv. 17. 7 Psalm xi. 6.
£nd his hand in prosperity, and be afraid of it, beeause that prosperity hath belote, and may again lead him into temptations. To end M1; all this, the Holy Ghost, by the pen of David, seals with the last word of this text, sêlah. A word of uneertain sense, and signification; for the Jews themselves do hot know exaetly, and eertainly what it signifies; but deriving this selah, from selal, which signifies Attollere, To lift up, they think it tobe but a musical note, for the raising of the voire, at that part of the Psalm, where that word is used; as, indeed the wol is never used in the Bible, but in the Psalms, and twiee in one ehapter, in the prophet Habakkuk 8, whieh is a musical, a metrieal chapter. In the Latin translation, and in the Arabic translation of the Psahns if is clean left out, beeause they were hot sure how fo translate if aright. But, to speak upon the best grounds in the grammar of that language, and upon best authority too, the word signifies a vehement, a pathetieal, a hyperbolleal asseveration, and attestation, and ratification of something said before. Sueh, in a proportion, as out Saviour's Amen, Amen is, téril!/, erily I ay unto you; such, as St. Paul's fideli sêrmo, with whieh he seals so many truths, is, This is a.tàithful sayln9; sueh, as that apostle's Coram Domino is, with whieh he ratifies many things, Before tke Lord I apeak it; and sueh, as Moses" tTro ego, and Vivit Dominus, As I lire saith the Lord, and As the Lordlietk. And therefore, though God be in ail his words, yêa, and amen, no word of his ean perish in itself, nor should perish in us, that is, pass without observation, yet, in setting this seal of selahto this doctrine, he bath testified his will that he would have all these things the better understood, and the deeplier imprinted, that if man eoneeal and smother his sins, selah, assuredly, God will open that man's mouth, and if shall hot show forth his praise, but God will bring him, ad ru9itum, to feal'ul exelamations out of the sense of the affliction, if not of the sin; sêlah, assuredly, God will shiver his boues, shake his best actions, and diseiver their impurity; selak, assuredly, God will surfer to be dried up M1 his moisture, all possibility of repentant tears, and ail interest in the blood of Christ Jesus; elah, assuredly, God's hand shall be heavy upon Hab. iii. 3 & 9.
him, and he shall hOt diseern if to be his hand, but shall attributo 311 fo false causes, and so place all his comfort in false remedies; he shall leave out God ail day, and God shall leave out him all night, all his everlasting night, in which he shall never sec day more. Eelah, Assuredly, verily, anaen, _Fidelis sermo, This is a faithful, an infallible truth, Coram ])omino, Before the Lord, Viit lominus, As the Lord liveth, as Moses, as Christ, as St. Paul testify their, David testifies his doctrine, all between God and man is conditional, and where nmn will hot be bound, God will hot be bonnd neither; if mau invest a habit and purpose of sinning, God will study ajud-maent against that man, and do that, even in Israel, which shall make all our ears fo tingle », and all our hearts fo ache; till that man repent, God xvill not, and when he does, God will repent too; for, though God be not man, that he tan repent,)'et that God, who for man's sake became man, for our sakes, and his own glory, will so far become man again, as upon man's true repentance, to repent the judgqnents intended against that man.