Sermons (LXXX Sermons etc.); Holy Sonnets

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I hot hid. I said, I • vill confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. TH[S is the sacrament of confession  so we may call it in a sale meaning; that is, the mystery of confession: for truc confession is a mysterious art. As there is, m!/stery of iniquity , so there is , m!lst«ry of the kingdom of learen . And the mystery of the kingdom of he,ven is this, That no man cornes thither, but in  -* 1 Sain. iii. 1!. t 2 Thess. il. 7.  Matt. xxii. I.

550 ,asxcneu w, os tas [sert. vi sort as ho is a notorious sinner. One mystery of iniquity is, that in this world, though I multiply sius, yet the judge canner punish me, if I tan hide them frein other men, though ho know them; but if I coufess them, he tan, he will, he must. The mystery of the kingdom of heaven, is, that only the declaring, the publishing, the notifying, and eonfessing of my sins, possesses me of the kingdom of heaven  there is a case, in which the notoriety of my sins does harm; when my open sinning, or my publishing of my sin, by way of glory in that sin, casts a scandal upon others, and leads them into temptation; for se, my sin becomes theim, because they sin my sin by example, and their sin becomes mine, becae I gave the example, and we aggravate one another's sin, and both sin both. But there is a publication of sin, that both alleviates, nay annihilates my siu, and makes him that haros sin, Almighty God, love me the better, for knowing me te be sue a sinner, than if I had net told him of it. Theretbre de we speak of the mystery of eontssion; tbr itis net delivered in one rule, ner practised in one act. It this confession of David's, (I acbnou'lededm/sin unto tkee, c.) Ve shall sec more than se  for, though out two parts be but the two acts, David's aet, and God's act, confession and abs lution, yet is there more than onc single action te bc considered in eaeh of flem. For first, in the first, there is a reflected act, that David doth upon himselt before he corne te his colffession te God; something David had donc, before he cmne te sa)ç I rill cofes, as he did cooEès, before God for[are the iniuitp of his tin. New that which he did in himselt and which preeeded his contçssion te God, was the tumJëci, I acknou'led[/ed nl sin; which was net his briuging it te the knowledge of God by way of eoufession, for, (as you sec by the method of the Holy Ghost, in the frame of the text) it preeeded his purpose of confessing, but it was tho taking knowledge of his sin in himself, it was his first quiekening, and inanimation, that grace gave his seul, as the seul gives the child in the mother's womb. And then in David's act upon himself, tbllows the xn oferui, I hare net hid mine iniqni(o, none of mine iniquities frein mine own sight: I have displayed te myself, anatomized mine own eonscieuce, left no corner unsearched, I ara eome te z perfect under»tanding of mine own case, non operui, this is David's act upon himself, the recalling, and reeolleeting of his sins, in his own memory. Anti thon finding the number, tho weight, and so, the oppression of those sins there, ho considers where ho may discharge himself of them; and dixi, says David, which is n svord that implies both deliberation, and resolutiofi, and exeeution too; I thought what was best to do, and I resolved upon this, and I did it; l)ixi confit«bor, That I woulti mak  truc,  full,  hearty confessiou to God of all those silm; for such we sec the elemems and tho extent of his conthssion tobe; ho will confess l-'eccata, Transgressions, Sins; neither by an over-tenderness, and diffidenee, and oerupulosity, to eall things sins, that,are nog so, nor by indulgent flattering, and sparing of himself, to tbrbear those things whieh are truly so; ho will eonfess Peccata,,S'in», m,d Peccata sua, ttis sins; First, S'tta, tha is, A sel, erpetrata, IIe will aeknowledge them to have proceeded, and to bave been committed by himselt; ho will no impute them fo any other cause, least of all to God; and thon, 8tta, iton all«na, ho will confess sins that are his own sins, and uot meddle with the sins of other mon, tiret appertain hot to him. This is he subject of his confession, sins, nd his sbts, and thon, 1-'eccata sua l)omino, tlia sins unto th« Lord, both in that consideration, that all sins are comlnitted against the Lord, and in that also, that confession of all sins is to ho ruade unto rhe Lord; and lasfly, ail this, (as St. tfierome reads this text, and so also did our Ibrnlcr translation) Adrersum e, Ayaint himself that is, without any hope of relief, or reparatiou in himself. He begins to think of his own sinful state, and he proceeds to a particular inquisition upon llis conscience, there is his preparation, Then he considel'S, and thereupon resolves, and thereupon proe ceeds to confess tllings that are truly sins, and then all them as his own, without ilnputing them to others, if flmy be lfis own, without meddliug v;ith others, and these to the Lord, against whom all sin is committed, and to whom all confession is to bo directed; and all this still agaiust himself, without auy hope ri'oto himself. All this is in David's action, preparatorily in himselt; and then declaratorily towards God, and do but make up ouf first part. In the otller, which is God's act towards David, the absolution, the remission, the forgiveness, we shail conder rst the fness; for, it is bath of the sin, and te punishment of the sin, for the word imports bath, and our two translations bave expressed it between them, tr that which one translation cas the iniquity  te sin, the other cails tepuMment; and then we hali eonsider the seasonableness, the speed, the aeeeleration of G's merey, in the aboelution, for in David it is but actua incoatua, and aau, coaummatua in God, David did but y, I 11 eonfess, and God forgave the iniquity, and the punishment of his sin. Now as this distribution is paraphrase enouéh un the text, sa a little larger paraphrase upon every pieee of the oraphrase, will be as mueh as wi fall into this exereise. For, as you sec, the branches are many, and fu of fruit, and I ean but shake them, and leave every one to gather his own poion, to app]y those notes, whieh may toast adçanee his edifieation. First then in this mystery of confession, we eonsider David's refleeted aet, his preparatory act, preeeding his confession to God, and transaeted in himself, of whieh the first motion is, the nature.tci, I aeknowledged in myself, I came to a feeling in myseif, what my sinful condition was. This is out quiekening in our regeneration, and second birth; and till this came, a sinner lies as the chaos in the be#nning of the ereation, before the,irlt " God ad m.ored upo te face " te rater, dark, and oid, and 'itoutform; he lies, as we mav conceive, out of the autho of natul story, tho slime and mud of the river ïlus to lie, beforo the sun-beams strike upon it; which after, by the heat of those beams, produces several shapes, and fatras of creatures. Sa tiii this first beam of grace, which we consider here. strike upon the oeul of a sinner, he lies in the mud and slime, in the dregs and lees, and taar of his sin. He cannot sa much as wish, that that sun wod shine un him, he doth hot sa much  know, that there is such a sun, that hath that influence, and impression; but if this first beam of grace enlighten him fo himself, reflect him upon himse, otumfacit, (as the text says) if it aequain him with himself, then, as the creatures in the creation, then, as the new creatures at 'ilus, his sins begin to take their fatras, and their specifications, and they appear to him iu their paicular true shapes, and that which he hath in a general naine, called pleasnre or wantonness, now cal]s itsel£ in his conscience, a direct adultery, a direct incest; and that which he hath called frugality, and providence for family and posterity, tells him plainly, My naine is Oppressiou, and ] am the spirit of co'etousness. Many rimes men fall into company, and accompany othet to houses of riot and uncleanness, and do hot so much as know their sinful companions" names; nay thcy do hot so much as know thc names of the sius that they commit, nor those circumstances in those sins, which vary the very naine and nature of the sin. But then, OcMos, qtos cul],a clt«««dit, pa, na «q)erit , Those eyes, which sin shut, this first beam of grace opens, whcn it cornes, and works eflctually upon us; till tbis seasou of grace, this sinncr is blind to the sun, and deaf to thuudcr. A wild ass, tat is nsed to the wilderness, and snèt up wind at er il«aso'e, in er occa'ion «o ca t««rn «r acay'? An habitual sinner, that doth hOt stumble, but tumble, as a mighty stone clown a hill, in the ways of his sin, in his occasion, who can turu him  In his rage of sin, what law eau withhold him But says the prophet thcre, of that wild ass, 4H they that seek ber, ciH hot ceary themselv; fi'iends, magistrates, preachers, do but weaff themselves, and lose their labour, in endeavouring to reclaim that sinner; but • bi ber monh, th/shall.find ber, says the pml)het; that is, say our expositors, when she is great and unvieldy. Some such mouth, God of his goodness brings upon this sinner; some sickness, some judgment stops him, and flen we find him; God by his ordinance, executed by us, brings him to this otam]èci, into company with himself, into an acquaintance and conversation with himself, and he secs his sins look with other faces, and he hears his sins speak with other voices, and he finds them to call one another by other uames: and wheu he is thus corne to that consideration, Lord! hov bave I mistaken myself, ara I, that thought myself, and passed with others, for a sociable, a pleasurable man, and good eompany; ara I a leprous adultcrer, is that my naine  Ara I, that thought myself a frugal man, and a good husband; I, whom fafllers would recommend to their children, aud say, Mark hov he spares, how he grows up, how he gathers, ara I an oppressi»g extortioner, is that mv uame? Blessed be  Ggo9".  Jeç il. 24.

thy naine, O Lord, that hast brought me to this notumf«ci, to know mine own naine, mine ovn miserable condition; he will a]so say, May that blessing of thine enlarge itself farther, that as I ara corne to this notumfe¢i, to know that I mistook myse]f ail this while, so I may proceed to the no operui, to a perfect sifting of my conscience, in all eorners: which is David's second motion in his net of preparation, and out next consideration, I acJ'nowled,jed my sin, and I hid none, disguiscd none, non operui. Sometimes the magistrate is informed of an abuse, and yet l,roeeeds to no farther search, nor inquisition. This word iraplies a sifting of the conscience. He doth hot only take knowledge of his sins, thau 'hcn they discover themselves; of his riot and voluptuousness, than when he bums in a ïever oecasioned by his surfcits; nor of his lieentiousness, than when he is under the anguish and smart of corrosives; nor of his watefulness and pride, than when he is laid in prison for debt: he doth hot seek his sins in his belly, nor in his bones, nor in his purse, but in his conscience, ad he uufolds tht, rips up that, and enters into the privatest, and lalOSt remote corners thereof. And there is much more in this negative circumstance, no olerui, I hid nothing, than iii the former aeknowledgment, notum feci, I took knowledge of llly Sill. SVhen they sent to sift John Baptist, whether he were the ('lrit, becattse he was willing to vive them ail satistion, he expressed himself so, He cooEèssed, and denied hot, and aid, I ara hot the Chri.t «. So when Joshut pressed Achan, to confess his trespass, he presses him with this negative addition,,S'kow me «ltat tltou lta»t donc, and Mde it not; that is. disguise nothing that belongs to it. For, the better to imprint  confidence, and to remove all suspicion, men to their masters, wives to their husbands, will confess SOluething, but yet oleriunt, thev hide more. Those words, In »ultitt«line z"irtutis tuw, Throu91 t/w 9reatness o3" thy power, thine en«mies ltall submit , St. Jerome, and the Septuagint belote, and Trelnellius after, and all that bind thenlselves to the Hebrew lettel', read it thus, xllentientur tibi ininici tui, hen thy power is howed upon them, when thv hand lies upon them. tkine ene»H« eill lie unto theê, thev wiil " John i. 20. " Jo.h. vii. 19.: Psalm Lxi. 3.

8ERo LVI.] PENITENTIAL PSALMSo 555 counterfeit • confession, they will acknowlede seine sins, but yet oerh«nt, thcy bide, they cover others. Saul in the defeat of the Amalekites resered seine of the fattest of the spoil , nd bein deprehended, nd reprehended, he saitl he intended it for sacrifice: many times, men in great place, abuse their own seuls with that imagination, or palliation, that they de God good service in some sin, and tlmt they should more hurt the cause of God, if they should proeeed earnestly te the punishment of those that oppose it, than if they let them lone, and se leave lavs unexeeuted, and God's truth endangered. But David's issue was, no iniquitas, not olerui, I left none iniquity unsearehed, I hid none. But anything serres us, for u cover of sin, even frein  net, that every man secs through, te such a eloud of da'kness, as none but the prince of darkness, th,t cast that cloud upon us, eau sec us in it, ner we sec oursel'es. That we should hide lesser sins with greter, is net se strauge; that in n adultery, we shotdd forget the cit'eumstanees in it, and the pt'aetiees te eome te it. But wo hide greater sins witlx lesser, with a manifold, and multiplied throng and eloud of lesser sins, all cornes te an indiffereney, and se we sec net great sius. Easiness of conversation in a woman, seems no great harm; adorning themselves te please those with whom they eonve'se, is net mueh more; te hear them, vhom they are thus williug te l,lease, praise them, and magnify their perfeetions, is little more than that; te allov them te sue, and solicit tbr the possession of that which they have se much prai.ed, is net mueh more neither; ner will it seem much at la.t, te give them possession of that they sue ïo'; nay it will seem  kind of injustice te deuy it them. We hide lesser sins with greater, greater with lesser; nuy we hide the devil with Go«l, we hido ail the week's sins with  Sabbath's solemnity; and as in the Roman chul'ch, they poisoned God, (when they had ruade their b'ead God, they poisoned the emperor with that bread) se this is. possessing of God,. maki»g the devil te enter into God, when ve hide our sins with ami outward sanetity, and eall God te witness and testit) te the congregation, that we are saints, when we are devil.; for this is  subormng of God, and drwing of God into  perjury. We hide our sins in his hou.e, by h.vpo-  1 Sain.

crisy, ail our lires, and we hide them at our deaths, perchance xvith an hospital. And truly we had need do so, when we bave impoverishcd God, in his children, by our extortions, and wounded him, and lamed him, in them, by out oppressions, we had need provide Goal an hospital. As men that rob houses thrust in a child at the window, and he opens greater doers for them, so lesser sins make way for greater. De mlnimls no curer lex, The law is fain to pass over small fitults; but De mhdmis cm'at That light of grace, by which a simxer disposes himself to confession, must diseover every sin, and hide none, suflr none to hide itself, nor lie hidden under oflers. When God speaks so much of Behemoth, and Leviathan ', the great land and sea oppressors, he calls us to the considcratiou of the insupportableness of great sins; but in the plains of Egypt by ail, and loc«sts, and llce, little and contemptible things, he calls us to the consideration of thcse vernfin of the soul, lesser and unconsidered sins. David had not accomplished his work upon hinself, his reflected, his preparatory aet, till he had made both those steps, wtumfecl, non ope'ui, first I took knowledge of my sinfld condition, and then proceeded to a particular inquisition of my conscience, I too knowlede of mi1 sin, and mine iniqnity I bave hot hid, ad the he çs fit to think of an aceess fo God, by eonfeion, Di.vi cofltebor, &c. Tllis word, Dixi, amar, 1 said, is a word that implies first meditation, deliberation, eonsidering, and thel upon such lnediration, « resolution too, and execu6on after ail. When it is said of God, dixit, and dLcit, God said tllis, and said that, in the first crcation, Cace e coflltes trelfftum , Do not think that God uttered any sound; his speaking was inward, his speaking w thinking. So David uses this word in the pcrson of another, Dixit insO)iens, The bol bath soid, that is, in. corde, soid in his beau't, that is, thought that th«re is to (¢od  There speaking is thinking; and speaking is resolving too. So David's son Solomon llSeS the word, Behold, I lmTose to build a bouse unto tke Zord", where the Wol.d is, I Sçrl, I will do it., speaking is determining; and speaking is exeeuting too, Dixi custodia», I said I will take  Job xl. & xii. w Bsil.  Psalm v. 1. t I Kin v. 5.

eeJ fo y ays TM, that is, I will proceed and go forward in the paths of God. And such  premeditation, such a preconsideration, do all our approaches, and accesses to God, and all our acts in his service require. God is thc roc of out salvation Goal no occasionM God, no accideutal (od; »either will God be served by occasion, nor by accident, but by a constant devotion. Our communication with God must hot be in interjections  that corne in by chance; ]or out devotions ruade up of parenthesis, that might be left out. They err equally, that nmde a God of necessity, and that ruade a God vf coutingency: they that with the Manichees, make an ill God, a God that forces men to do all the ill that they do, and they tht with the Epicures, make an idle God, an indifferent God, that cares hot what is donc; God is hot destiny; then there could be no rewrd, nor punishment; but God is hot fortune neither, for then there were no Providence. G bave given reason only to mau, it were strane tlmt man should exeoeise tht reason, in all his moral and cidl actions, and only do the acts of God's worship casuaIIy  to go to court» to Vestminster, to thc exchange, for ends, and to corne to church, by chance, or for company, or for some collateral respects, that have no relation to God, hot to think of our confession, till the priest have called upon us, to say after him, lVe bave erred and strayed Jom th 9 ags like lost sheel», to corne for absolution, as Nebuchadnezzar came to Daniel ', for the interetation of his dream, who did not only hot understand his dream, but hot remember it,,S'omnhtm us fitgit ab eo, He did hot only not know what his dream meant, but he did hOt know what his dreanl was, hot to consider tlle nature of eonfeion, aud absolution, hOt to consider the nature of the sins we should confess, and be absolved of, is a stupidity against David's practice here; dixit, he said, he meditated, he considered, God's service is no extemporal thing. But then di.'it, he resolved too, for so the word siaifies, cousideration, but resolution upon it; and then, that he resdved, he executed. This is uot only David's dixit lu corde, where speaking is thinking, nor only Solomon's di«i oedcabo, I remlved how I might build, but it is also the prodigal's dizi reertar, I said  p xxxix.!.  Dan. ii. .

c/ll yo fo ny fater , a resolving and executing of that resolution for that, that execution crowns ail. How many think to corne hither, when they wake, and are hot ready when the hour cornes . Anà even this morning's omission is an abridgment, or an essay of their whole lires, they think fo repent everv day, and are hOt ready when the bell tolls. It is weil said of God's speaking, in the Creation, it was Dictio practica, de.finitira, imleratia «, It was an actual speaking, a definitive, an imperative speaking; and, Dicto absolit w.,?otium , His saying he would doit, that is, his meaniug to doit, was the verv doing of if. Our relious duties require meditations, for God is no extemporal God: those produce determinations, for God must not be held in suspense; and they flow into executions, for God is not an illusible God, tobe carried with promises, or purposes onlv; and all those links of this relious chain, consideration, resolution, exeeution, thought, word, and practice, aro made out of this golden word, Amar, di«i, I said I will do if. And then. Dixi co»fitebor, I considered that mv best way xvas to confess, and I resolved to do so, and I did it; Dixi contebor. Itis but a homely metaphor, but if is a wholesome, and a useful one, Confessio «ornitus , Confession works as a rotait; it shakes the frame, and it breaks the bed of sin  and it is an case to the iritual Stolnach, fo the conscience, fo be thereby disburdened. If is an case fo the sinner, to the patient; but that that makes it absolutely neeessary, is that it is a glory fo God; for in ail my spiritual actions, appreciations, or depreeations, whether I pray for benefits, or against calamities, still my Alpha, and Omega, my first and last motive, must be the glory of God. Theretbre Joshua says to Achan, My so», yire I pray tee, ylory uto te Lord God of Lrad, and make cofe»ion unto im ». Now, the glory of God arises not out of the eonfessing; but because every truc confessing is aceompanied with a detestation of the sin. as it bath seprated me from God, and a sense of my reunion, and redintegration with God, in the abjuration of my former sins. (for, to tell my sin by way of a good talc, or by boasting in it, though if be a revealing, a manifesting, is hOt a confession) in every truc confession God hath » Luke xv. 12. e Cajêtan. 7 Ami,rose. e Origen. » Josb. ii. 19.

sgR. Lvl.] »E.ITETAL VSALUS. 559 glory, because he bath a strayed soul, re-uuited to his kingdom. And to ad'ance this glo, David confesses eccata, sins which is our next considerafion, I stid I «iR coess m sins unto t Lord. Firat he resenta his ate, all is not well; then he examines himself, thus and thus it stands with me; then he conslders, flen ho resoh'es, then he executes, he confesses, (so far we are gone) and now he confesses sius. For, the Phafisees, (though he pretended a confession)was rather an exprobration, how much God had been beholden to him, for his Sabbaths, for his altos, for his tythes, for his fasting. David confesses sins; first, such things as were truly sins. For, as the element of air, that lies hetween the water, anti the tire, is sometimes condensed into water, sometimes rarefied into tire: so lies the conscience of man between two operations of the devil; aometimes he rarefies if, evaporatea if, tiret it apprehenda nofifing, feels nothing to be sin, sometimes he condenses it, that everything falls and sticks upon it, in the nature, and takes de welght of ain, and he misinterprets the indifferent actions of others, and of his owu, and destroya ail use of Christian liberty, all conversation, all recreation, and out of a false fear, of being undutiful to God, ia unjust to all the world, and to his own souL and consequently to God himself, who, of all notions, would not be recelved in the notion of a cruel, or tyrannical God. In an obdurate conscience that feels no sin the devil glories most bu in the over-tender conoeience he practises most; that is his trimnphant, but this is militant church; that is his Sabbath, but this is his six day¢ labour: h the obdurate he hath induced a security, in the scrnpulous and over-tender he is working for deseration. There are few things in the Scrlptures, which the Holy Ghost hath expresoed in so many names, as sin; sin, wicbednes, iniuit«, transgressions, offenceg, many, mauy more; and ail this, that thereby we might refleet upon ourselves often, and sec if out particular actions fell hot under some of thoae namea; but then, lest thia should over-intimidate us, therÇ are as many names given by the Holy Ghost, fo the law of God; law, statutes, ordinances, corenants, testinony, precqt, and ail the test, of which there is some one af least, repeated in every verse of de hundredth aud ninetcenth Psalm; that thereby we miht still bave a rule to measnre, and try out actions by, whether they be sins or no. For, as the apostle says, e  wt 'nown sin, OE e ad ot 'nown t« so-there had been no sin if there hal been no law. And therefore that soul that feels itself oppressed under the burden of a vow, must bave recourse to the law of (od, and sec whetber that vow fall under the rule of that law; for as an over-tender conscience may call thiugs sins, that are hot, and so be afvid of-thins that neçer were, so may it also of things that were, but are not now; ofsuch sins as were truly sins, and fearful sins, but are now dead, dead bv a true repentance, and buried in the sea of the blood of Crist Jêsus, and sealed up in that monument, under the seal of reconciliation, the blessed Sacrament, and yet rise sometimes in this tender conscience, in a suspicion and jealousy, that God bath hot truly, hOt fully forgiven them. And as a ghost, which we think we sec, affrights us more than an armv that we do see: so these apparitions of sins, of things that are not against any law of God, and so are hot sins, or sins that are dead in a true repentance, and so bave no being at ail, by the Devil's practice work dangerously npon a distempered conscience; for, as God bath given the soul an ilnagination, and a fancy, as xvell as an undêrstanding, so the devil imprints in the conscience, a false imagination, as well as a fearful sense of true sin. David confesses tins, sins that were truly sins. But the more ordinary danger is, in out hot calling those things which are truly sins, by that naine. For, as sometimes when the baptism of a child is deferred for state, the child dies unbaptized: so the sinner defers the baptism of his sin, in his tears, and in the blood of his Saviour, offered in the blessed Sacrament, till he die nameless, nameless in the Book of life. It is a character, that one of the ancientest poets gives of a well-bred, and wêll-governed gentlenmn, that he would hot têll such lies as were like truths, hOt probable lies; nor snch truths as were like lies, hot wonderful, hot incredible truths; it is the constancy of a rectified Christian, hOt to call his indifferent actions sins, for that is to slander God, as a cruel (;od; nor to call sins indifferent actions, for that is to undêrvalue God, as a negligent God. God doth not keep the conscience of man upon the rack, in a continual torture and stretching: but God doth hot stupify the conscience with an opiate, in an insensibleness of any sln. The law of God is the balance, and the criterium; by that try thine actions, and theu confess; David did so; Teccata, he confessed sins; nothing, that was not so, as such; neither omitted he anything, that was so. And then they were 19eccata sua, his sins, I said, [ will coufess my sins unto the Lord. First, sua, Ms sns, that is, à se eTet»ta, sins vhi& he confesses to have been of his voluntary comnfitting  he might, and did hOt avoid them. Vhen Adam said, by way of alienation, and transferring hs fault, The woman whom thou yawst me; and the woman sid, The serent deceive me; Goal took this, by way of information to final out the principal, but hot by way of extenuation, or alleviation of their faults; every Adam eats vith as much sweat of his brows, and every Eve brings forth her children with as much pain in her travail, as if there had been no serpent in the case. If a man sin against God, who shall plead for him  If a man lay hic ins upou fle scient, upon the devil, it is no plea, but if he lay them upon God, it is blasphemy. Job finds some ground of  pious expostulation with God, in that, Iy fle8h is hot b»ss, nor my stre»yth stones; and such as I ara, thou hast ruade me; why then dost thott set me ttp as a mar" to shoot at? But Job never hopes for case, in any sueh allegntion; thou hast nmde my soul a cistern, and then poured tempttions into it; thou hast enfeebled it vith denyiug it thy 'aee, ld tllen put a giant, a necessity of sinning upon it. My sins are mine own; the sun is no cause of the shadow my body casts, nor God of the sins I commit. David conffsses hic sins, tlmt is, he confesses them to be his; and then he confesses hb, he meddles hot with flose that we other men's. The gistvate and the minister are bound to conslder the sins of others; for their sins beeome quodammodo nostra, in some  ours; if we do hot reprove, if the magistrate do hot correct those sins. Ail men are bound to confess, and lainent the sins of the people. It was then when Daniel was in that exevcise of his devotion, cossiçq his sin, and the sin  hb TeoT& ', that he received that eomfort from the angel Gabriel; and yet, even then, the first thing that fell uuder Iris confession, was his owa m Gon. ifi. 12.  Dan. ix. 20. VOL. 1I. 2 0 sin, ny tin, and thcn, tle dn of y e[e. When Josephs brethren cae to a sense of tat sin, in havin sold im, none them transfers the sin from imsc]f, neither doth ny of thcm dischare any of the test of that sin; tey ail take ail; Tey said fo o»e anotker, says that text, we, all we, are erily yuilty, and tkeroEore is this distress corne tpon «, upon us all; national ealamities are indueed by generM slns, and where they fal], we eannot  ehme the ]aity, as to free the elergy, nor  ehae the peop]e, as to ri'ce the magistrate. But as great sums arc raised by little personal eontributions; so a ]ittle truc sorrow from every soul, would make a great sacrifice to God, and a few tears fronl ever 3" eye, a deeper alld  saler oea, aut this island, than that that doth wall it. Let us therefore never say, that it is Allena ambitlo, The immoderate ambition of a pretending monareh, that endangers us, that it is Aliena peçdia, The falsehood of perfidious neighbours that bath disappointed us, that it is Allena fortuna, The growth of others who bave shot up under out shelter, that nlay overtop us; they are Teccata nogtra, our own pride, our own wantonness, our own drunkenness, that lnakes God shut and close his hand towards us, withdraw his former b]essings from us, and then strike us wifll that shut, and elosed, and heavy hand, and multiply ealamities upon us. Vhat a parliament nleets at this hour in this kingdom How many sueh eommittees as this  how many such eongregations stand, as we do here, iu the presenee of God, at this hour And what a subsidy should this state receivo, and what a sacrifice sllotId (od receive, if every particular man would but depart with his own beloved sin  We dispute what is our own, as though we wouhl but know what to give. Alas, our sins are our own, let us We them. Our sins are our own: that we confess; and we confess them, according to David's method, Domiw, to the Lord; I will cofess «»y sb,s to te Lord. After he had deliberated, and resolved upon his course, what he would do, he ever stayed upon the person, fo whom; his way being conft.ssion, he stayed hot loug in seeking his ghostly Father, his coufess.r, co{'t«bor Do»d»o. And first, p«ccaa Do»do, that his sins were sins against the Lord. For, as every fiE'll. L'¥'I.] PENITENTIAL IALMo 563 sin is  violation of a law, so eve violation of a ]aw reflects pon flic ]aw-maker. It is te saine offence to coin  penny, and  piece; te saine to conterfeit the se of a subçoen, as of a pardon. The second table was writ by the hd of Goal, as wdl as the first; and the majesty of Goal, as he is the lawgiver, womded in an adultery, and a theft, as well as in an idolatry, or a blasphemy. It is hOt enough to eonsider the deformity and the foulness of an action so, as that an hone man would hot have donc it; but so as it violates a law of GM, and his majesty in that law. The shame of men, is one bridle, that is cast upon ns. It is a moral obduration, and in the suburbs, next door to spiritnal obduration, fo be voicproof, eensurproof, hOt to be afraid, nor ashamed, what the world says. He that relies upon his Pla«o dotal, Though the world hic, I give myself a plaudit at home, I ha'e him at my table, and her in my bed, whom I,vould bave, and I tare hOt for rmnour; he that tests in such a plaudit, prepares for a tragedy, a tragedy in the amphitheatre, the double theatre, this worhl, and the next too. Even the shame of the world should be one, one bridle, but the strongest is the other, Peccata Domino, To consider that every sin is a violation of the majesty of (1od. And then 6'o(fitebor Dombo, says David, I will co(EEess «ny sins to the Lord; si»s are not eonfeed, if they be not eonfessed to him; and if they be eonfeased to him, in ce of neeessity it wiil uffice, though they he confessed to no other, lndeed, a confession is dimeted npon God, thongh it be ruade to his minister: if God had appointed Iris angels, or his saints to absolve me, as he bath his miniers, I would confess to them. Joshua took hot the jurisdietion out of God's hands, when he id to Aehan, Gire flory tnto the God of lsrael, in makin tk coession to him and ter me nou', what thou hast dotw, and bide if hot ri'oto The law of the leper is, Tkat he shall be brottçht ttto the priest; men eome not willingly to this manifestation of themselves; nor are they to be brought in ehains,  they do in the Roman ehurch, by a neeessity of an exoet enumeration of all their sins: but to be led with that sweetness, with which out church proeeeds, in apinting sick persos, if they feel their consciences n vit. v. 2.

56 RACH.V WON rn IssU. LU. troubled th any weighty matter, to make a special confession, and to receive absolution at the han of thc priest  and then to be remembered, that every coming to the communion, is as serious a thing as our transmiation out of this world, and we should do as much here, for the settling of our conscience, as upon out death-bed; and to be remembered also, that none of ail the reformed churches ha'e forbidden confession, thouh some çractise it le than others. If I submit a cause to the arbiterment of any nn, to end it,,cmdum oluntatem, says the law, How he will, yet still Arbitrium est arbitrium boni rirl, His will must be regulated by the rules of common honesty, and general equity. So when we lead men to this holy ease of discharging their hea T spirits, by such private confessions, yet this is still limited by the law of God, so far as God bath instituted this power by his Gospel, in his church, and far from "inducing mongst us, that torture of the conscience, that usurpation of Godes wer, that spying into the counsels of princes, and supplanting of their purposes, with which the church of Rome hath bn deeply charged. And this useful and unmisinterpretable confession, which we speak of, is the more recommended to us, in that with which David shuts up his act, (as out of St. Hierome, and out of out former translation, we intimated unto you) that he doth all this Adrerum se, I will coss my sins uto the Lord, aainst myse; the more I find confession, or any relious practice, to be against myself, and repugnant to mine own nature, the faher I will go in if. For, still the Adrersum me, is Cure Deo; The nmre I say against myself the more I vilify myself, the more I glorify my G. As St. Chrysostom says, e'ery man is a Satan to himself, as Satan is a tempter, every man can mmpt himself; so I will be ontaneus »«atan, as Satan is an accuser, an adversary, I will accuse mysel[: I consider often that passionate humiliation of St. Peter, Exl à me Domine, He fell at Jesuç knee, ççin 9, eTart from ne, for I ara a siul man, 0 Lord'; and I ara often ready to say , and more; depa from me, 0 Lord, for I am sinful enough fo infect thee; as I may perseeute thee in thy ehilen, so I may infect thee in thine ' Luke v. 8.

ordinances; depart, in withdrawing thy word from me, for I ara corrupt enough to make even thy saving Gospel, the savour of death unto death; depart, in withholding thy sacrament, for I ara leprous enough to taint thy flesb, and to make the balm of thy blood, poison to my soul; depart, in withdrawing the proteetion of thine angels from me, for I ara vieious enough to imprint corruption and rebellion into their nature. And if I ho too foul for God himself to eome near me, for his ordinanees to work upon me, I ara no companion for myself, I must hot ho alone with myself; for I ara as apt to take, as to give infection; I an a reeiproeal plague; passively and aetively eontagious; I breathe eorruption, and breathe it upon myself; and I am tho Babylon that I must go out of, or I perish. I ara hot only under Jaeob's ]Vou dlynus, ]Vot worty tle leat of ail ty mercies'; nor only under the centurion's ffo» di.quus, I ara hot worth!! that tltou shouldest conte utder my roof *c, that thy spirit should ever speak to my spil'it, (which was the form of words, in which every coin municant rcceived the sacrameut, in the primitive church, Lord, I ara ot worthy tkat thot shotth[est enter.utder  roof;) nor only undcr the prodigaFs -hron dçamts, _hot u'ortky to be called thy son**; neither in the filiation of adoption, for I bave deserved to be disinherited; nor in tbe filiation of creation, for I have deserved to be annihilated; but xVon diynusprocumberê**ç I ara hot worthy to stoop down, to rail down, to kneel before thee, in thy minister, the almoner of thy mercy, the treasurer of thine absolutions. So far do I confess adrersum me, against myself, as tbat ] confess, I ara not worthy to confess, nor to be admitted to my access, any approach to thee, much less to an act, so near reconciliation to thee, as an accusation of myself, or so near thy acquitting, as a self-condemning. Be this the issue in all contl'oversies, whensoever any new opinions distract us, be that still thought best, that is most adrersum nos, most against ourselves; that that most lays fiat the nature of man, so it take it hot ¢luite away, and blast all virtuous endeavours; tbat that most exalts the graco and glory of God, be that the truth; and so have you the whole mystery of David's confession, in both his acts; pre-

566 »R^Cnn çPO "rE [SR. LVL prtory, in resentin his sinful conditio in general, aud sur- Æying his conscience in particular; and theu his deliberation, his resolution, his execution, his confession; confessiou of truc sins, aud of them only, and of ail them, of his sins, and ail this to the Lord, and ail that against himself. Tiret which w proposed for tl]e second paoE, must fall into the compa of a conclusion, and a short one, that is God's aet, Thou oryave» to This le a wide door, aud would let out armies of instructious to you; but we 'ill slmt up this door, with these two leaves thereof, the fness of God's mercy, e firyie t]e i ad te ui»kmett; aud the seanablenes the acceletion of his mercy, in this expression in out tcxt, that David's is but actu» iw$oatus, he says he will coes, and God's is Actus cosummatus, Tltou foryare3t, thou hadst already fondirent the iniqtity, and punishment of my sin. These will be the two leaves of this door; and let the hand that shuts them be this and. this particle of connexion which we bave in the text, I said, and tou did»t. For thouh this relniSsion of sin be hot presented here as au eflct upon that cause of David's confession, (it is hot delivered in a 7ttia, and an eçoo, because David did this, God did that; for man's 'i leads hot the will of God, as a cause, who does all his acts of mercy for his mercy's sake) yet though it be hot au effect, as from a cause, yct it is at least as a cosequent from an occion, so assured, so infaitle, as let anv man coness as David did, and he shall be sure to be foiven as David w. For thouh this forgiveess be a flower of mercy, yet the foot rows in the justice of God  if we acknowledge out si, he is faithful and just to forgive us oui. sin*; it grows out of his faithfulnes as he bath vouchsafed to bind hilnself by a promise, ad out ot his justice, as he bath recei'ed a full stisfactiot for aH our sins. So that this hand, this and, in out text, is as a liment,  a sinew, to connect and knit together that lorious body of God's preventing re, and his subsequent grace; if our confeion corne betweeu and tie the kot, God, tlmt moved us to that act, vill lerfect ail. Here ente the fulnes of lis mel'cy, at oe lcaf of this doer;

well exprcssed st out door, in that Ecce to, et pul»o a°, Bchold, I ntand at the door and knock; for, first he cornes; here is no mention of out calling of him befvre; ho comen of himself; and then he suffers net us te be ignorant of his coming, he contus no, an that he manifests himselt; Ecce, Behold; and then he expectn net that we should wake with that light, and look out of ournelven, but he knocks, solicits us, at least, with seine noise at our doors, home calamities npon out neighbours; and again he appearn net like a lightning that lasses avay as soon as it is neen, that no man tan read by it, ner work by it, ner ]ight a candlo, ner kiudle a coal by it, but he stands st the door, and expects us; all day; net only with a patience, but with a hunger te effeet his purpose upon us, he would come in, and sui» with us, accept our diet, our poor endeavours; and then, would haro us sup with him, (as it in thcre added)would feast un with his abundant graces, which he brings evcn home te out doors; but those he does net give us at tlm door; net till we haro let him in, by the good use of hin former grace; and as ho oflr this fulness of lais morcy, by these means beforo se by way of pardon, and remisnion, if wo have been defective in opening the door npon his standing and knocking, this fulness is ful]y expres.ed in this word of this text, as our two trauslations, (neithcr departiug frein the natural signification of the word) haro rendered it. The word is tho saine hero, in David's sweotness, as in Cain's bitterness, []aro; and we cannot tell, whether Cain spcak thero of a punishmcnt too great te be borne, or of a sin too great te bo pardoned'; ner which David means here; it fills p the messure of God's mercy, if we take him te mean both. God, upott confession, forgives the 1)unishment of the sin; se that the jun terrer of hell, and the imaginary terrer of purgatory, for tho next xvorld, is taken away; and for this world, what calamities and tribulations noever fa]l upon us, after these confessions, and renaissions, they have net the nature of punishments, but they are fatherly corrections, and medicinal assistances, against relapses, and have their main relation and prospect upon the future. For net only the sin itself, but the iniquity of tho sin, is said te be forgiven; God keeps nothiug in lais mind against the last ao Rev. iii. 20. a Gen. iv. 13.

day; but whatsoever is worst in the sin» the renom, the nity of the sin, the violation of his ]aw, the affrontings of his majesty residing iii that law, though it have been a winking at his light, a resisting of Iris light, the ill nature, the malignity, the iniquity of the sin is forgiven. Only this remains, that God extinguishes net the right of a third person, ner pardons a murder se, as that he bars another frein his appeal: net that his pardon is net fid], upon a fu]l confession, but that the confession is no nore fid], if it be net accompanied with satisfaction, that is, restitution of ail unjustly gotten, than if the confession lacked contrition, and truc sorrow. Otherwise the hfiqnity of the sin, and the punishment of the SiR, are both fully pardoncd. And se we bave shut one leaf of this door, the fulness; the other is the speed, and acceleration of his mercy, and that leaf we will clip te, in a word. This is expressed in this, David is but ai his dioeit, and God at his remisit; David was but saying, nay, but thinking, and God was doing, nay perfecting his work. Te the lepers that cried out for mercy, Christ said, Go, show yourselves te the priest*; se he put them into the way; and they weut, sa)-s the text; and as they went, they xvere healed upon the xvay. 1o man cornes into the vay, but by the illumiuation, and direction of Ood, Christ put them into the way. The cured out of the way; no man that separates himself frein the church; ner in thc way neither, except he go; if he lire negligently, and trust only upon the outward profession; ner though ho go, except he go aecording te Christ bidding; except he conferre himself te that worship of God, and te those means of sanctification, which God bath instituted in his church, without singularities of his own, or traditions of other men's inventing, and imposing. This, this submîtting, and confornling ourselves te God, se as God bath commanded us, the purposing of this, and the endeavouring of this, is our dixit in the text, out saying that xve xvill de if, and upon this dixit, this purposing, this endeavouring, instantly, immediately, inkllibly follows the misit, God will, God does, God hath forgiven, the iniquity, and the punishment of the sin.

Therefore fo end all, Pour ott tky keart liI'e water before the face o/ the Lord. No liquor cornes so clearly, so absolutely from the vessel, hOt oil, hOt milk, hOt wine, hOt honey, as that it leaves no faste behind; so may sweet sins; aud therefore pour out, savs the prophet, hOt the liquor, but the heart itsel', and take a new heart of God's naking; for thy former heart was never so of God's making, as that Adam had hOt a hand in it; and his image was in it, in original sin, as well as God's in the creation. As liquors poured out leave a taste and a smell behind them, imperfected confessions (and who perfects his confession.) leave ill gotten goods sticking upon thine heir, and they leave a taste, and a delight to think, and speak of former s4ns, sticking upon thyself; but pour out thy heart like water; all iii inpressions in the very root. And for the accomplishnlent of this great mystery of godliness by confession, fix thy meditations upon those word.% and in the strenh of thenl, corne now, (or when thou shalt be better strenhened by the meditation of them) to the table ot the Lord, the Lord looketh upon men, and if any say, I bave sinned , and perve¢ed that which was right, and it profited me hOt, he will deliver his sonl fronl going down into the pit, and his lire shall sec light; and it is added, Lo ail these things worketh God twice and thrice. Here is a fulness of consolation, first plenary, and here is a present forgiveness; if man, if any man say, I bave sinned, God doth, God forgives; and here is more than that, an iteration, if thon fall upon infirmity again, God will on penitence more carefully performed, forgive again. Tbis he will do twice, or thrice, says the Hebrew; our translation might boldly say, as it doth, This Goal will do often. But vet if God find dolum in s]irittt, an over-confidence in this, God cannot be mocked; and therefore take heed of trusting upon it too often, but especially of trusting upon it too late. And whatsoever the Holy Ghost may mean by the twice or thrice, be sure fo do it once, do it now, and receive thy Saviour there, and so as he offers himself unto thee in these his ordinances this day, once, and twice, and thrice, that is, in prayer, in preaching, in the sacrament. For this is thy Trinity upon earth, that must bring thee to the Trinity iu heaven: to which Trinity, &c.

For this shall eve T one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall net corne nigh unto him.

Yov would net be weary of reading a long, conveyance, in which the land were given te yourselves; ner of a long will, in which the body of the estate were bequeathcd te you. Be net weary, if at any time your patience be exercised seine minutes beyond tho threescore, seine time beyond the heur in these exorcises, for wo exhibit the con'eyauce, in which the land, the land of promise is ruade yours, and the testament in which even the testator himself is bcqueathed te you. But leacies must be demanded, and otentimes sued for; and in this text you are directed how te corne by it, by prayer, (For tli, sl«ll erery one, 'c.) and you are encouraed in the suit by the value of that you are te recover, by the eflèct of prayer,,çt«rely in tle.toods of yreat u'ater tey «( wt corne niyt te ldm: and these two, the way and the end, tho mauner and the matter prayer and the benefit thereof, will be out two parts. And in the first of these, the duty of prayer, thouh we be elsewhere commanded te ray co»tinu«(ly , yet for all that contiuual disposition, wo bave here certain limitations, or rather ideed preparations, lest that which we call prayer shou]d net be se, and theso are four: for tiret, it is but omis s«nct«s, e'ery éodly man shall pray, for the pryer of the wicked turns te sin; and thon the ob.ject of ])rayer, te whom it must be directed, is limited, it is lut ad te, unto thee ho shall pray, beyond him we cannot go, ad ho that prays short of him, te any on this side of God, falls short in his prayer; and in a third consideration, the subject the matter of his prayer is limited too, it is but lropter loc, for this _hall ho i,ray, that is for that -hich bath |»cen formerly expres»ed, net whatsoever out dcsircs, or oui"

anguih, and vexation and impatience presents or suggests to us and lastly, the time is limited too,  tenor« oportno, In  time when thou myest be found. In these four, we shall determine tht first part, the duty; and in the second fle reward, the benefit, which is deliverance, (8urely in the floods  yreat waters tkey ekag hOt corne nço kim) we shall see first, that the world is dihwium aquarum, a delu.e of water-floeds that threaten ail; but yet though worldly ealamities be of that spreading, and diflhsive, and oveowing nature, uo approa'imabit, thero are places that it eannot eome to, roeks that it cannot shake, hills tht it eannot overflow; God bath so ereeted the goldly tht he is a no dtra, a nk to this sea; it shall not eome near him; and this David establishes with that seal of infallibility, Surely,,S'ttl// i tke floode 'yreat watere tkT »hag hot corne niyh ki». And these be the steps by whieh we shall lead you to the greatest hal,piness, that is, deliveranee from all afflictions, and that by the noblest means, and the fairest way, that is, familiar conversation with God by pïayer. Into out first part, the duty of prayeç we shall make out entry with this eonsideration, That our religious duties, in their pweepts, are for the most part aeeompanied xvith reasons to induee us to the performance thereof: oe fiw et i¢«; Do this, says God; do it, bec,use I eommand it, at least do it, beeause if thou do if, thou shalt lire for ever. And so, Be no jbryehl to entertai etranyers, Jbr thereby ome bave entertained a»yel utawar« ; here the reason of the preeept la example; others have prospered that xvay, therefore walk thou in it. God illustrates his preeepts, eomments upon his oxvn text, mueh by example. First, to raise us to the best height, God makes himself out example,,b'icut Pater, Be kol ae your Father in heare is holy: then, beeause we cannot reaeh to that, he makes men like ourselves (at least, sueh as we should be) otr example, Sieur Elia», Elias u'ae a man etdeet to like pasione ae «e are, and ke pral/ed tkat it mOhg ot raitt., tend it rained hot, and that it miyht, and it didL If we be hot able to eonform ourselves to the singularity of oae particular nd transeemlant man, he sends us to the whole body of good men, his ervnt, 6'icut propketa., Take, my bvethren, the prolket»,  ]leb, xifi. 2. a Jam v. 27.

for  ea»l  I tienc. nation, o be a dcclination, and that we cnst those looks, which he nmde upward iowards him, downwrd towards the creature, he sends us to creatures of an iobler nature, e aformcam, Go t the nt, do as she doth» be as industrious in thy business, as sbe is in he. And then, as in inclining us fo good, so also for voidin of sinful courses, be leads çuidam eorum, Be wt idolators as some of them, wr ]brnicatom, nor tempters " 6'hrist, nor murmurers, as some of t£em'. And as tbat apostle begins that catalogue there, «o, These are examples to ts, «o be ends it thus also, These thiçqs came unto them]br exampies: God suflrs the wicked fo proeeed in their sin, and he poufs down his judgments upon them for their sins, hOt on]y for their punishment, but therefore, that they might be examples to us. Now if Gd raiso a glory to himself in the destructiu of the wicked, if he make the wicked in their ruin, even miuisters in his church, that is, edifiers, and instructors of others, by their own ruin, if their ruin be a sensible catechism, and  visible sermon for the edifylng of others, how much more doth it conduce fo his glou", that the righteousne, and holy conversation of his minisrets, md prophets shonld be a lantern to tbe feet of his people Tbis is ail that David promioes in tbankfidne for tbat mey which he asks of God, this is tiret that ho sks; eaore me to the joy qt" thy saleation ", Et cofirma me,Tiritu principali, Establish me t'itk thfree,Sirit,,iritu mnnco, savs St. Hierome, Vith thy liberal, fly bountiful Spirit; this is mueh that David asks; and what will David do for God This; I «ill teach th way/uto the eicked, and sinners shall be conrerted unto thee. And this is that which St. Pul apprehended to bave moved God, to use his service in the church: kr this cause eas I rece&ed to mtrcl, that Jesvs Chri.¢t skouM flmt show ztnto me ail loço stbring; but that was hOt all; but as it follows there, Ç»to the exanle of them, t.hich skall in rime to corne beliere in kim tnto eternal lfe. ]t is au unexpremible eomfort to have been God's instrument, for the eonveion of other by the power of preaehing, or by a holy and exemplar lifo in any eaing. And with this eomfort David proeeeds in the recommendation of this duty of pra.yer, a and * 1 Cr. x, » Psal. ci. 12.  1 T. i. 16.

ERo LVIIo] PEIITEITIAL PSALIS. 73 nlght I have lt thy hand on me, I hare knou'led9 ny »in unto thee, and thou forgavt the ini9uit of my in; thus it stood with me, and by my example, For thi» shall every one tkat i» 9odly pray unto tkee, i a tlme «hen thou mayest be found. First then, the person fllat hath any aceess allowed him, any title fo pvay, is he that is 9odl!t, holy. Now, Omni» »anctu», e»t omnis baptismate »anctcatus: Those are the holy ones whom God will hear, who are of tlle household oî the faithful, of the communion of saints, matl'ieulated, eng'affed, enrolled in the ehurch, by that initiatory saevament ofbaptism; for, for the house of God, into whieh we enter by baptism, is the ]lOUSe oî pl'ayer; and, as out of the avk, whosoever swam best, was not saved by his swimming, no more is any moral man, out of the ehureh, by his pvaying: he that swum in the floed, swum bnt into mo'e and mo'e water; he that prays out of the ehureh, pl'ays but into more and more sin, beeause he doth not tablish his prayer in that, Grant this for out Lord and Sviour Cln'ist Jesus' sake. It is true then, tht these holy OlleS, whose prayer is aeeeptable, are those of the Chvistian ehureh; only tlley; but is it all they  Are ail their prayers aeeeptable  There is a second eoneoefion neeessay too: hot only to bave been sanetified by the ehureh in baptism, but a sanctification in a worthy reeeiving of the other saeranlen toe; a lire that pleads the first seal, baptism, and claires the oçher seal, the body and blood of Christ Jesus: we know the wise man's eounsel, eoneerning propitiation, Be hot without fear . Though thon have reived the propitiatory Soel'ament of baptism, be afraid that thou hast not 11. Vill the milk that thou suekedst from  wholesome nurse, keep thee alive now  Or eanst thou dine upon last year's llleat to-day  He flat hath that tiret holiness, the holiness of the eovenant, the hdiness of baptism, let him pray for more. For Omnis »anctu», is Quantumcumque »anctu», How holy soever he be, that holiness will hot defray him all the way, but that holiness is a faiv letter of evedit, and a bill of exchange for more. Vhen eanst thon think thyself holy enough  when hou hast cashed thyself in snow-e«ter in penitent tears  (as the best purity of this lire is expressed) why, even then, Abominabuntur te veêtimenta t«a, Thine ow clotke» »hall  ierome.  Ecclus, v. 5.

»mke thee obomble . Is ail well, when thon thinkest ail well why, ll te ays of a an are clean i i owt eyes, b««t the Lord weiet the spirit ». If thine own spirit, thine own conscience accuse thee of nothing, nothing unrepented, is ail why, I know wthig @ myse yet ara I wt tkere@ justed". If is Ood only that is surveyor of thy holiness, and, Behold, ke [ound no stedfastness in kis servants, and laid folly,«pon a»9e; how much wre in tkem, tkat dwell in bouses 'clay, wkose [oundation is in the dust"?,S'ordet in conspectu wterni dudicis", Vhen that eteal ffudge cornes to value out transitory, or imaginary, out hollow, and rusty, and rotten holiness, ordet quod intentioneful9 operantis, Even that whieh had a goo lustre, good speeiouness, not only in the eyes of men that saw if, who might be doeeived by my hypoerisy, but in the purpose of him that did it, beeomes base, more alloy than pure metal, more corruption than devotion. Though ffaeob, when he fled from his father-in-law, Laban, were free enough himself, from the thcf of Laban's idols, yet if was dangerously pronouneed of him, lVith u'homsoer thouflndest thy9ods, let kim hot lie": for, his own wife, Rhel had stolen them: and Uaro cornu.r»; Thy wife, thy flesh, thy weaker may insinuate nmeh sin into thine aetions, even when thy spirit is at strongest, and thou in thy best confidence. Only thus these two cases may iffer; aehei was able to eover those stolen idols front ber father's finding, with that exeuse, The custom [ women is corne tpon me; but thou shalt hOt he able to eover thy stolon sins, with sayiug, The infirmity of man is eome upon me, I do bnt as other men do; though thou have that degree towards sanetifieation, that thou siu hot out of presumption, but out of infirmity, though thou mayest in a modified sense fall within David's word, Omnis sauctus, A holy man, yet every holy and godly man must pray, That even those infirnfities may be removed too. qui

anetiflcatur, #anetificetur adk.tc: IIe tkat i# holt, let Idm be holy #till"; no only so holy still, bu still more and more holy. For, beloved, as in the firmament, of those sars whieh are redueed into eonstellations, and into  eertainy oç shapes, oç figures, and images, we observe some fo be of one greatness, some of another, we observe divers magnitudes in ail them, but fo all those other stars, which are not reduced into those forms, and figures, we allow no magnltude at al], no proportion af all, no naine, no consideration: so for those blessed souls vhich are collected into their eternal dwelling in heaven, which bave their immoveable possession, position af the right hand of God, as one star differs from another in glory, so do these saints which are in heaven; but whilst men are upon this earth, though they be stars, (saints of God) though they be in the firmament, established in the true church of God, yet they bave no magnitude, no proportion, no certainty, no holiness in themselves, nor in anything formerly done by Goal in their behalf, and declared to us; but their present degrees of godliness give them but that qualification, that they may pray acceptably for more; he must be so godly before he pray, and his prayer nmst be for more godliness; and ail directed to the right object of prayer, to God. Uto thee shali ere»7/one that is.qodl U pray, which is out next, thc second of out four considerations in this first part. Ad te, fo God, because he can hear; and then ad te, fo God, because he can give. Certainly it were a strange distemper, a strange singularity, a strange circularity, in a man that dwelt at Windsor, to fetch all his water at London-bridge: so is it in him, that lires in God's presence, (as lle does, that lires religiously in his church) fo go for all his necessities, by invocation fo saints. David was willing to be our example for prayer, but he gives no example of scattering our prayers upon any other than God. Christ Jesus was willing fo give us a fuie for prayer: but if he had intended that his rule should bave been deflected and declined to saints, he would have taught us to say, Frater wster qui es in cvelis, and hot only _Pater wster; fo pray fo out bretbren which are there too, and not only to out Father which is in heaven. If any man bave tasted at court, what it is fo be over ' Rcv. xxii. 11.

welcome to the king hielî, nd wh if is to spek to another to speak or him he will bless that lmppins o hving an immedite aecess to (od himsel in his pryers. They ht corne so low down the stam, as we id before, to London-bridge, they will go lower, and lower, to Gravesend too; they that corne to mints, they will corne  the images, and relic» of saints toe; they corne to a bracklsh water, between salt and foesh, and they corne at lt, to be swallowed up in that sea which bath no limit, no bottom, that is, to direct all their devotions to such saints, as have no certainty, not ouly hOt in their ability, we know hOt what those ints tan do, but hOt in their history, we know not that such as they pray to, are saints; nay, we know hOt whether they ever were at all. So that this may be idolatry, in the strictest acceptation of the word, idol; idolum ,iMI est¢ let that be truc, which they say, and in their sense, ont imag are not idols, for an idol is nothing, repreoents nothing, but our images are the images of men that once were upon the eah. But that is not throughout truc; for they worship images of those who never were; Christophers, and other symbolical, and emblem tical saints, which never lived here, but were, and a yet nothing. But let them be te saints, how will they make it appear to us, that those saints tan hear us  Vhat surety tan we have of it  Let us rather pray to him. who we are sure tan hear, that is first, and then sure he tan give that we pray for, that is next. The prayer here, is forgivene of sins; and tan saints give that$ The hosannas, and the hallelujahs, and the Gloria in excelsis, Glor in hearen, peace upon eart, çood will amonst men, these are goed and cheerful notes, in which the choir of heaven are exercised; cherubims and seraphims, prophets and apostles, saints and angels, bless God and benefit men by these: but the Remittuttur peccata, T.ç sins are Jbrçiren tee, is t high a note for any creature in eah or heaven, to reach to, except where it is set by God's own hand, as it is by his commiion to his minister, in his church, and there only, in the absolution given by his ordinance to every penitent sinner. e see that phre, Dimittutur peata, Tyt sins are forgiren tee, was a spicious word, even in the mouth of Christ himself, amongst the Scribes that would hot believe his divinity; when Christ id to him

SER. LVII.J PENITEN'TIAL PffALMSo that had the palsy, My son b of o c««r, y d cm th«: the Scribes cried out, He blaemed: it strikes any man to hear of forgiveness of sins, from any but God. It was hot hardcr thing to say, F[a lx, than to y, Di»dunurTecta hot barder to bring liht out of drkness by creation, thon to brig a cloa thiny out of uncleanness ' by conveion; for, who tan do that And therefore when the king of Aram sent Naaman w the king of Israel, to take order for the curing of his bodily lepro, the king of Isroel ren his clothes, and said, Ara • a goal, to 'ill and to gie lfe The power even of temporal lire and death, is proper to God; for, as witehes think sometimes tha they ];iii, when they do no, and are therefore as eulpable, as they did;  a tyrannous perseeutor, so a passionate judge, so pcrjured witness, so a revengef quarreller, thinks ho takes away the life of his enemy, and is guilty of that murder in the eye of God, though the blow be truly from God, vhose judents are ever just, though nom ever doelared. Let them noyer say, that they ask hot these things, temporal or spirituM, at the hands of those saints; for, expressly, literally, as the words stand, and sound, they do ask even those very things; and if the ehureh have ny other meaning in those prayers, the misehief is, that they never teaeh the people, by preaehing, what that their served meaning is, but lea'e them to the very letter of file prayer, fo ask those flfings, which, if they eould hear, yet the saints eould hot give. And when the prayer is nmde aright, dieted to G himself, yet here in our text it is limited, Propret  For this, this flm was spoken of before, eer one that is godl skall pra «nto thee. ow what is this this? for that is out third eonsideration. 8i a quq petenda, sed o quoE petet, da petis , If thou eome fo the right market, bru buy unwholesome herbs there, if thou eome fo the apotheeary's shop, and ask for nothing but poisons, if thou' eome to God in thy prayer, and ask only temporal blessings, whieh are blessings only in their use, and may be, and are narily snares and eneumbranees, then is this direction of Dafid's Propret , or tkis skall I«e pra, transgressed. For, Tlds, as  Job xiv.  2 Kin v. 7.  Aulste. VOL. ll. 2 P

578 VF^r rvos  [SEm LV[L appears in the words immediately beforc the text, is, Teforir ess of te u»isment, ad ortie iniuitl of mtr i; eh is  inexpressible a comfort, to that soul that bath estled with the ingnation of God, and is now refreshed and released, as whoever should go about to dcribe it, should diminish if; he hath if hot that thinks he tan utter it. It  a blessed eomfort fo find my  in that state, as whe I last reeeived the sacrament with a good conscience: if I enjoy that peace now, that is, the peace of a religious, and of a wise conscience; for there is a wiom of the conscience, hot to run into inite ples and doubts but imponert flnem litibus, to le a fine in bar of aH seruples, and didenees, and fo rest in the peaee and aeess of remission of sins, after due means for the obtaining thereof; and ther fore if I be as well now, as 'hen I reeeived this is a blessed degree of blesseess. But yet there is one eloud in this case, ab oecuRis, my soeret sins, whieh even mine ox narwest inquisition extends hot to. If I eonsider myself to be as well as I was at my baptism, when I brought no actl sin, and had the hand of Crist to wash away the foulness of original sin, can I pray for a better state than that  Even in that there was a cloud too, and a eloud that bath thunder and lightning in it, thatfomespeccati, that fuel and those embers of sin, that are but raked up, and hot trod out, and do boeak forth upon eve temptation that is presented, and if they be hot effectuaHy oppose shall agavate my eondemnation, more than if I had never en baptized. But Dad coneeives sueh a forgiveness here, as carries up the soul to the eontemplation of that ate, whieh it had before the fart of Adam. Itis hot this present s of a eold dehvering, and a owsy hearing of the meages of od; if is hot my yesterday's sin, nor my sins since my last repentanee, that are forven me, but my sin eommitted six thound years before I was bo, my sin in Adam, before any promise, nay, before any apprehension of any need of a lessiah; I ara so resred, that now by the application of the merits of my edeemer, I am as weH as I should bave been, though there had never been any use of a edeemer, no occasion given by me in Adam, of the incarnation and passion of Cist gesus. The comfort of being pr sentcd to G as halent  Adam, then when God breathed a see. WL] »emTT,e ses. 579 soul into him, yea as innocent as Christ Jesus himselF, when he breathed out his soul to God; oh how blessed is that soul tht cnjoys it, nd how bold that tonue tht goes bout to express it This is the blessedness which Oie godly atoEin to by pryer, but hot by every sudden Lrd, Lrd, or every occasional holy interjection, but by serious ryer, invested, with that other circumstnce that remains, In te»ore oortuno, 1 a tiw wke tkou »ayest be found. This rime is not those horw atiw, ora canonicw, those fixed hours in the oman church, where men are bound to certain prayers at certain hours. ot that it is inconvenient for men to bind themselves to certain fixed rimes of prayer in their private exercises; and though hot by such a vow, as that it shall be an impiety, yet by so solemn a purpose, as that it shall be a levity to " break it. I bave known the gretest Christian prince, (in stylo and title) even at the udience of n ambassdor, at the sound of a bell, kneel down in our resence and pray  and God forbid, he should be bhmed for doing so; but to place  merit in oboeing those times as they do, is hot a right underanding of this time of nding. or is it those transitory and interloeutory pryers, which out of cusmm and fashion we mke, and still roceed in our sin; when we pretend to pek to God, but like comedians upon  tage, turn over out shoulder, and whisper to the devil. lVen you stretcl o« your ads, ] u'ill ide »ine eyes; «en you (d'e nayrays, ] u'ill  ear; for your ands are blood °. And if they be fu]l of blood, they can te it no more; if they be full of the blood of oppression, they cn lay no hold upon the blood of propitiation. adw ayit 9uodwnite , He moeks God, that repents and sins over those sins every night, that every day he repents. The stle says so too, He mat'e» a mock of te Eo OE God, and cruc¢s &ira ayain. This only is truc repentnce, Planyere  lanyenda  commitere , To bewail our sins, and forbear the sins havv bewailed. either alone will serve  which deludes many. Many think they do enough if they repent, and yet proceed in thcir sin; and maily think they do enough, if they forbear their

580 PREACHED UPO-' THE [$EI. LVI|. sin now, thouh they never repent that wh]ch is pa; both are illu, oth deceitful distempers. Lacesit judic, ui posita mthfactione qtwrit prih onorari , He doth but proe voke and exasperate the Judge, that solicits him for heaven, belote he bath appeased his anger by repentanee for former sins: for this is to call for costs bofore he be diseharged. These then are hot the times of finding God; but what are  Genemlly itis Manèot«tio ermodii ', The rime of the gond is the rime of finding God now when God bath vouchsafed induer« ominem, to put on m in his incarnation, and enabled us induero Deum, to put on him in the Sacraments; to stay with us here upon cash, and to carry us up with him in his cension to heaven; when he is ruade one body th us, and bath ruade ris one spirit with hlm, how tan we doubt of a fit time to final him  Christ's time was always; for even under the law, Goal says, I are eard thee in an accei»ted time, and in the day of salration hare I succoured tee; bnt this doth the Hoir Ghost apply to the time of the gospel, Behold now the acTted tlme, beholt ww the dç salration '. The rime then of the goal is the rime of finding: but now, all rimes are not alike, calamities are a good rime. When I fond trouble, and »orroc, ten I called pon the ame ŒEE the Lord, aying, [ beseech tee, 0 Lord, delirer my oulL This is a good rime, but it is somewhat a dark time; the withdrawing of God's countenanee from us; the Etians when they deprehended their danëer, said, lVe ill ffy from te face CE Israd"; but whither [ The »ca returned, and the Egytptian.s.ed ayainst it, and periked. We may be benighted, benb by calamitie and they may as we deject us as raise m. Joab psued Abner hofly, vehemently; Abner asks, what, $çue ad internecionem, hag the strord derour for erer'? Joab answered, (as the Vulgare reads those wos) I'rit Dominus, si locut fuis mane, As the Lord livd, if thou had»t opoken in te mm'ni, in the mornbtg erery man ad d«parted. If we tutu to the Lord in the morning, in the benning of an affliction, tho Lord turns his tierce th from m; but if wo and out long, and bend not m Aute.  Aute. » Iah XLix. ff. 2 Cr. . 2.  Poe. cxvL 4.  ExooE xiv. 2.     under is correction he ursues ad «reci»wm, struction by obduration. So then the mnifcsttion of tho gospel that is, thc helt»s which God oflrs s, more than Jews, or Gentiles, in tlm miistry oï the ospel, 3ad c ordiances of his church, God; and voe unto us, if wo seek him hot wilst he afforJs us the he]ps; and then the timc of aiction, when God thrcatcns to hide his face, but hth not yet hidden it, but awakens calamity, is  time of findin God. But the best and thc clcarcst timc is in the sunshine, tlmn when ho ppea»s to us in the warm nd cheeNul splendeur of temporl blessiags upon us; then whea thou hast  good estate, and goed childrcn te let it desccnd upon; then when thou ht good health, and a good profession te exereise thy strength, and thy labours in; then when tho dishes upon thy table are doubled, and thy cup overfloxvs, and the hungry and thirsty seuls of the poor de net only feed upon the crumbs under thy table, and lick up the overflowings of thy cup, but divide dishes wid thee, and enter into the midst of thy bowls; then when thou hast temporal blessings, (that is Goffs silver) and his grace te nso those blessings well, (that is God's gold) then is tho best rime of fiading the Lord, for then ho looks upon thee in the sanshine, ami then thy thankfu! acknowledgment of former blessings is the most efltual prayer thou canst make, for the eontinuance, and enlargement of them. In a word, then is a fit timo of finding God, whensoever thy conscience tells thce he calls te thee; for a rectified conscience is tho word of God; if that speak te thee nov this minute, new is thy time of finding God. That ww, that I named then, that minute is pt; but God affoMs thee another row; ho speaks again, he speaks still, and if thy conscience tell thce that ho speaks te thee, new is that rime. This word of God, thy conscience wiH present unto thee, but tiret one condition, which Moses presented te God's pcople, and that is, that thou seek Zord u'ith all tlty lteart, and ail thff sotd% It is a kind of denying tho infiniteness of God, te serve him by pieces, and rags; God is net infinite te me, if I think a discontinued service will serve him. It is a kind of denying the unity of God, te joia other gods, pleasure, or profit with him; ho is not ono God to me, if I join other associates, and assistants to him, saints, or angels. It is a kind of diflïdence in Christ, as though I were hot sure that he would stand in the favour of God still, as though I were afraid that there might rise a new favourite in heaven, to whom it might concern me to apply myself, if I make the balance o even, as to serve God and lammon; if I make a complimental visit ofGod at his house upon Sunday, and then plot with the other faction, the xvorld, the flesh, and the devil, ail the week after. The Lord promised a power of seeking, and an infallibility of finding; but still with this total condition, Ye sh«/! seêk me, and.ve hall)qnd me, because ye hall seek me cith all your heart m. This he promised for the future, that he would do; this he testified for the house of Judah, that he had donc, Judah souakt him u'ith a whole desire, and he was round of them, and the Lord pare them test round about : and the Lord shall give you test round about; test in your bodies, and test in your estates; test in your good naine with others, and test in your consciences in yourselves; test in your getting, and test in your enjo)àng that you bave got, if you seek him with a whole heart; and fo seek him with a whole heart, is hot by honest industry fo seek nothing else (for God wears good elothes, silk, and sort raiment, in his religious servants in courts, as well as eamel's hair, in John Baptist in the wilderness; and God manifests himself fo man, as well in the splendour of princes in courts, as in the austerity of John Baptist in the wilderness) but to seek God with the whole heart, is fo seek nothing with that primary, and radical, and fundamental affection, as God; fo seek nothing for itself, but God: not to seek worldly things in exees, beeause I hope, if I had them, I should glorif'y God in them; but first fo find established in myseff a zealous desire to glorify God, and then a modest desire of means to be able to do it. And for this, evet one that is holy shall pray unto thee, in a time when tho,e mayest be.roun. And o we bave donc with out first part, and the ïour pieces that eonstitute that, the person, omnis sanctus, every godly man; that is, »ancti)qcatus, and sanct/icandus, ho that is godly enough z Jer. xxix. 13. a 2 Chron. xv. 15.

to pry ad pry tht he my be more godly: ad the ojecç oç pryer, a  od Mone çor od lone OEn heur, d od alone tan give; d he the subjoe of prayer, , /», his hch David express, forgivens of the punishment, and of the iniquity of sin, in which respect, (that David proposes and specificates the subject of prayer) we are fairly directed rather to accustom ourselves to those prayers, which are recommended to us 1)y the churd;, than to extemporal prayers of others, or of our own ehsion; and lastly, the rime of finding God, tllat is, thon when we seek him with a whole heart, seek him as principal, and thon receive temporal things, as accessory, aud conducible to his glory. Thus much hath fallen into the first part, the duty of prayer; a little remains to be id of the bencfit here assured, S'trely, i the floods OE great waters they slall hot ome niyh uuto kim. Taking the waters, either distributively, to every one that is godly, or collectively,  St. Hierome does to the wllole church, the use will be M1 one. The Holy Ghost who is a direct worker upon th¢ soul and conscience of mau, but a metaphorical, and figurative cxpreer of himself, to the reason, and undcrstanding of man, abounds in no metaphor more, thau in calling tribulations, waters: panicuhrly, he would briny in waters pon ]rus , and, he wo«ld pour out his wrath ulwn his enemies, like waters '. Neither doth lle only intimate temporal, but spiritual afflictions too, in tlle naine of waters. And as St. Hierome uuderstands this whole place of the church, collectively, so St. Augustine nnderstands these waters, fo be variw doctrinoe, those diverse opinions, that disquiet and trouble the church. And though the church of God were built upo, a bill, and compassed, and environed, and fenced vith the blood of him that built it, and defended and guarded by the vigilancy of the apostles; yet into this Jcrusalera did these waters break, even in the apostle's rime, as we see by those severM, those manifold, those contradictory heresies, that sprung up then. Crist and his apostles had carried two waters about his church: the water of baptism, that is Hmen eclcsiw, and j«n«ta sacranentorum , the first ferry, by which we aa Ezck. xxvi. 3, a Hosea v. a Austinc, pass into the church; and by this water came three thousand, and rive thousand et once te the church, upon particular serinons of St. Petcr. And thon Christ gave anothcr water, by which, they cŒEme te another absolution frein actuel sins, tho water of contrite tcars, aud repentnce, which he had promised belote, [ will pour cleau water upon you, and you shall be clean Se. And by this water came Peter himself, when his faith had failed, and by this water came Mary Magdalen, when ber life had been defiled. But yet for ail these waters, other waters soaked in, and corrupted them eady; for, for baptism, the disciples of Simon Magus almulled Christ's baptism, and baptized in Simon's nme; and his disciple Menander annulled thc baptism of Christ, and Simon, and baptized in his own name. And then, for the other water, repentante, the heretics drained up that shrewdly, when they took way ail benefit of repentance for sins committed after baptisln. David denies hot, nay David assures us, that collectively, the whole church shall be beuten upon with waters. Vatcrs multiplied; Aquw multw, Many waters; so the Vulgute reads this, that we translate here, great waters. So multiplied heresies. The excellcncy of the Christian religion is, that it is verbum abbreviatum, a contracted religion; ail the ¢redenda, ail that is to be believed, reduced to twelve articles of the creed; all the speranda, ail that is fo be hoped for, prayed for, expressed in seven petitious, in the Lord's Prayêr; all the agenda, all that is to be donc in it, comprised in ten commandments, in the decalogue. And then out blessed Suviour, though he would take uway none of the burden (for it is an easyyoke, and a lightburden))'et he was pleased to bind it in a less room, and a nmre portablc form, when he re-abridged that abridgment, and recontracts this contracted doctrine, in those two, Lofe God, and lofe thy neihbout. And then the devil hath opposed this abridgmcnt by inultiplication, by many waters, many heresies: for, it is°easy to observe, that in every article of the creed, there bave been at least a dozen heresies. And in those articles, which were most credible, most evident, most sensible, most ail of; many more heresies upon the hmnanity of Christ, than about Iris divinity; and then, as in matters of faith, so for lnatter of manners, there a6 Ezck. x.xxvi. 25.

was scarce anything so foui and so obscene, which was hot taught by some heretics, to be religious and necessary; things wllich c'nnot be excused, things which may hot be named, madc by the gnostics, essential and necessary in the consecration of the sacramcnt. And then, when these waters of death were in a good part dried up, these gross errors in faith and manners were reasonably well overcome, then came in those waters of traditional doctrines in the Roman church, which are so many, as that they overflow even the water of lire, the Scriptures themselves, and suppress, and surround them. Theretbre does David, in this text, call these many waters, diluvi«tm, a flood of great waters; many and violent. For this word satacl, inndans, signifies vehemence, eagerness, and is elegantly applied to the fierceness of a horse in battle, inudans in bellum , A horse that overftows the battle, that rushes into the battle. Thereïore speaks the prophet " waters fidl of blooà; what seas of blood did the old persecutions, what seas bave later rimes poured out, when in thc Roman church, their own authors will boast of sixty thousand slain in a day, of them that attempted a reformation in the rimes of the ,Valdenses! Surely, says out prophet, these waters shall be, heresies there shall be. And no man may look for such a church, as shall bave no xvater; evermore there will be some things raw, and unconcocted in cvery church; evermorc some waters of trouble and dissension, and a man is hot to forsake a church, in which he hath received his baptism, for that. But waiving this gcneral, and collective application of these waters to the church, and to take it as the letter of the text invites us, ornnis sa»wtts, surely every godly man shall find these waters, many waters, floods of many waters; for affliction is out daily bread; for we cannot lire in this worltl a spiritual liïe, without some kind of affliction: for, as with long ïasting we lose out stomachs, so by being long nnexercised in tribulation, we corne to lose our patience, and to a murlnuring when it falls upon us. For that last petition of the Lord's Prayer, Zibera nos à malo, Delire" «s from eril, may, as some interpret it, suppose that this evil, that is mal«m  Jcr. viii. 6. a Isaiah xv. 9.

affliction, will certainly îall upon us; and then we de net se much pray te be delivercd frein it, as te be delivered in it, net that afflictions my net corne, but that they may net ovcrcome, when they corne, that they may net be ineffectual upon us. For, it was durus serine, a barder and an angrier speech than it seems, whcn God said te his people, Vhy should he be smitten any more 8°? Vhy should I keep you at sehool any longer! Why should I prepare physie, or study your reeovery by eorreetions any fltrther . Vhen Goal was wearied with their afflictions, and they were net, this was a heavy case; he afflieted them ferry years together in the wilderness, and yet he says, Ferry years lon.q was I grieved with this generation: he never says, they were grievcd, but he was with their stupidity; they murmured, but they sorrowed net te any amendment. Se they perverted this word,_Non approximabunt, They shall net corne ni.qh thee, they shall net affect thee; that they must de; we must be sensible of God's corrections; but yet there is a good sense, and a p]entiful comfort, in this word of out text. Te the godly man, noa ol)- proxlmabtnt, the floods of reat waters, though waters, though floods, though great floods, they shall net corne nigh him; and that is out last xvord, and final conclusion. Consider the church of God collectively, and the saints of God distributively, in which Babylon you will, in thc Chaldean Babylon, or in tlle Italian Babylon, and these waters de corne nigh us, touch, and touch te the quick, te the heart. But yet as David intends here, they touch net us, they eome net nigh us; for we hare treasures in earthen vessels'°; they lnay touch thc vcssel, but net the treasure. And this is literally expressed in the text itself, n(n approximabant eum; net that they shall net corne near his house, or his lands, or his children, or his friends, or his body, but non eum, they shall net corne nigh him. For, for.the church, the peace of the church, the plenty of the church, the ceremonies of the church, they are sua, but net illa, they are hers, but they are net she. And these things, riches and cercmonics, they may be washed off" with one tide, and cast on with anothcr, discontinued in one age, and re-assumed in another, divested in one ehurch, and dirested in another, and yet the churches, she in her fundamental doctrines never touchcd. And so for us, a wave nmy wash away as much as Job lost, and yet hot corne nigh us; for if a heathen could say, lix es nostra voco, That outward things werc scarce worthy to be called ours, shall Christian cM1 them hOt only his, but himself, so as if they be lost, he is lost . How long will a medal, a piece of coin lie in the water, bcfore the stamp be washed off.  and yet how soon the image of God, of his patience, his longanimity defaced in us by every billow, every affliction. But for t]le saints of God it sbal] not be so; surely it shall hot. They shall stand against the waters, and the ses dmll sec i, and fly, and Jordaa ahaI[ turned 6ac]', and the world shaH say, 1Vat ailed thee, 0 ses, tltat thou fleddest, 0 Jordan tlat t)}ou turned bacg'«Æ For they that kuow not the power of the Almighty, though they envy, 3-et shall wonder, and stand amazed st the deliverance of the righteous.,Sto, et pulso, says God of himself, I stand at the door and God will not break open doors to give thee a blessing, as well as he lox'es thee, and as well as he loves lt, but will have thee opcn to him: much more will he keep temptations at the door; they shall hot break in upon thee, except thou open. This then was that, which David clsewhere apprehended with fear, The sorrows of the.qrare compassed me about, and the snares of death overtook me'; here they were near him, but no worse. This is that that hc prays deliverance from, Let hot the watêr:flood drown mê, nêither let the deelP swallow me up ". And this is that God assures us all that are his, lVhen thon passest throtçqh the waters, I will be with thee, and throu[/h the floods that they do hot thee "». Maintain therefore a holy patience in all God's visitations: accept your waters, though they corne in tests; for he that sends them, Christ Jesus, had his flood, his inundation in blood; and whatsover thou sufferest from him, thou suffcrest for him, and glorifiest him in that constancy. Upon those words, Tres sunt, there are three that bear witness, the,S'Tirit, arul wetter, and blood, St. Bernard taking water there, (by way of allusion) for affliction, saith, though the spirit were witness enough without water, or b]ood, yet vix aut aunquam inreniri arbitror,S'piritum sine aqua, • l Psalm cxiv. 3.  Rev. iii. 20. a Psahn xviii. • ' Psalln Lxlx. 15.  Isaiah xliii. 2.

 PREACHED UPON THE PENITENTLkL I)SALMS. [SEIo LVII. e ayuine, we ]ack oe o the seals o the spirit, if we lack (3o's corectios. We cosider three waters in out blessed Saviour; he wept over Jerusalem; de thou seoer thy sinful souk He sweat in the garden; de thou se too, it eating thy bread in the sweat of thy brows, in labouring sincercly in thy calling. And then he scnt water and blood out of his side, being dead, which was,./bns triusque sacramenti "6, the spring-hcad of buth Sacraments; de thou also rcfresh in thy seul, thc dignity which thou receivedst in the first sacramcnt of baptism, and thcrcby corne worthily te the participation of tho second, and thcrcin the Holy Ghost shall give thee, the scal of that secnrity, which he tenders te thee in this text, Non apioroxim«bunt, IIuv great water-floods soever corne, they skall hot corne niyk tkee, hot nigh that, whieh is thou, that is, thy faith, thy soul, and though if may swallow that, by whieh thou art a man, thy life, it shall net shake that, by which thou art a Christian, thy religion. Amen. «' At, gnstinc.