that sinned are not capable of it The Angels that stand in their first estate never came to miserie and they stand by the providence and love of God But sinfull man maketh God called mercifull and he putteth him to his multitude of tender compassions This is the rock of our refuge our strong Citie of refuge against the pursuer it is our hiding place In nothing doth God comfort us more Therefore be ye merciful with this sicut Sicut pater vester coelestis as your heavenly Father There is nothing that flattereth sinne more and that giveth it growth and vegetation amongst us then the overweening of this mercie Every wicked man can say God hath multitude of tender compassions and his mercies are more then my sinnes it is true But what interest such a one may have in those mercies he little considereth For with the Lord is mercie that he may be feared and that a sinner may apply himself not to continue in his finne presuming upon it but for sake it beleeving it for he that confesseth and for saketh his sinne shall have this mercie Let us therefore begin with David at Confitebor contra me I will confesse against my self and say Peccavi contra Dominum I have sinned against the Lord with a conscience of our sinnes and a sense both of the pollution of them within our selues and of the provocation of Gods due displeasure against us for them Then it will be in season to call for mercie But if we over-weene our own integritie as some justiciaries do Sani non egent medico the whole need no Physitian or if we sinne on in confidence of mercy at last We shall finde that God sitteth in his throne and judgeth uprightly and that the ungodly shall not stand in judgement nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous For the Lord knoweth the way of the just but the way of the ungodly shall perish 3. What effect he desireth of these mercies This is varied in phrase for he is passionate and exceeding earnest with God and plieth him with strong cries and supplications 1. To blot out his transgressions 2. To wash him throughly 3. To cleanse him 1. The blotting out of his transgressions hath reference to the books of God wherein all our transgressions are recorded 1. The book of Gods remembrance 2. The book of our conscience 1. The book of Gods remembrance God is a Seer and there is nothing hid from his eye and he doth consider the sonnes of men his eyes are upon all his wayes There is not a thought in our hearts but he knoweth it long before we our selues know it As he seeth so he remembreth and that we call his book of accounts wherein he recordeth all that is said done or thought that he may judge us according to all that is registred in that book whether it be good or evill He is said to blot us out of that book when our true repentance and his free pardon hath removed our iniquity from us Two Doctrines arise from hence 1. One of terrour all our sinnes are booked and kept upon record 2. Another of comfort they may be blotted out thence 1. Doctr. Knowing the terrour of the Lord we must be wariehow we sinne against him for though we love sinne he hateth it He is a God that loveth not wickednesse neither shall any evill dwell with him Though we sleight sinne and passe it over gainsomely and pleasantly yet he taketh it to heart and recordeth it that he may be able to set all our sinnes in order before us when time comes This is a black book and it will be a fearfull and shamefull thing to behold all our sinnes inventoried together All our idle words vain lascivious malitious false slanderous speeches all our loose thoughts all our vast and unlawfull desires all our ungodly works done all the good duties omitted all the evils we would have done all the imaginations of the thoughts of our hearts are not all these things written in his book We may conceive it by this David hath the honourable memory of walking in all the wayes of God alwayes save onely in the matter of Uriah the Hittite That matter is recorded in this living book of holy Scripture so are many of the infirmities of his holy ones chiefly for terrour of his children that they might feare to sinne against him who keepeth so exact a score of all our transgressions These are called debts and God our creditour keeps his debt-book very perfect The Steward in the parable called his Masters debtors they could tell every man what he owed but who knoweth how often he hath offended We have no hope to pay these debts and therefore we desire mercy to blot them out of the book And if we look back upon the transgressions of our whole life we shall see need not onely of the loving kindnesse of the Lord but of the multitude of his tenderest compassions 2. Another book is the book of our Conscience this also keepeth a record against us It was called of old our inwit for though our appetite and witbe so corrupt that the deceivable lusts of the flesh do often transport us to Gods offence yet our understanding and reason and memorie informe our conscience of our sinnes and that booketh them This book is not so exactly kept as the other because 1. Many sinnes passe us which we are not aware of 2. Many thoughts words and works escape us which we think to be no sinnes our consciences not being rightly informed 3. Many sinnes our memory doth not retein which should give in evidence to our conscience against us 4. The conscience it self may be corrupted benummed seared and so many foule deeds may escape unrecorded Yet for all this if we had no other book opened against us to convince us of sinne but this This alone would call us guilty and expose us to wrath David sueth to have his transgressions blotted out of both these books For if the tender mercies of God should blot his book and the book of our conscience remaine against us we should live upon the rack in a perpetuall torture our spirit wounded within us It is well observed of Cardinall Bellarmine Sciebat David ex actione peccati relinqui in animâ— reatum mortis aeternae David knew that by the acting of sinne in his soul was left the guilt deserving eternall death You may discerne the convulsions and strong cramps of the soul for sinne in David There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne So long as we live in sinne we feele not the pain of it David for ten moneths found no great need of these mercies of God For a sinner during his impenitencie is as a man besides himself but reversus ad se returning to himself then he bethinketh in what case he stands before God Demersus in profundo drowned in the deep the Sea above him seems not heavy Elementa in loco non
foule shame In the Apostles time it was a modest sinne he saith They that are drunke are drunke in the night Now day and night are both guilty of it it is a sinne in fashion meetings of purpose called and intended for it The farewels of friends parting the welcomes of friends returning the celebration of great Festivals as if Bacchus had washt us in the bloud of the grape from our sinnes But God will be justified in his sayings he will declare his justice in his severe punishment of this sinne here and if it be not sincerely repented he hath told us home what he will do No drunkard shall enter into the kingdome of heaven I should lay your sinne to my own charge if I should not let you know the terrour of the Lord in this case The defence of it by the societie of sinners aggravateth the sinne God hateth it so much the more Malum quo communius Sinne the more common the worse 2 He declareth his justice in the performance of his mercie to his elect For even in these examples in my text alledged 1 To Adam he shewed mercy who sinned having onely a Law for his obedience with a penalty threatned in case of disobedience but there was no promise a foot if he should trespasse that Commandment And that made Adam when he had sinned hide himself from the presence of God ashamed and afraid to come in sight But God in free favour did seek him out and before he called him to his answer for his sinne he reveiled mercie in the promised seed When he laid his curse upon the Serpent that tempted him and therefore ever since his time sinners have a way of grace opened in that promise and no sinnes if sorrowed for can evacuate the force of that promise it standeth good to all that truly and sincerely repent So as David saith In judgement he remembreth mercie There he did so in the very sentence of judgement upon the Serpent was the first revelation of mercie to man He had no Obligation of a former promise to binde him to it but it was a free and voluntarie tender of favour growing out of his own perfect and absolute goodnesse In the tender whereof he hath given us strong assurance that if in free favour he would do so much much rather when he had put us in securitie thereof by promise 2 The example of favour to Noah doth justifie God in his sayings for he shewed him much favour after his fatherly correction of his fault 1 In verifying his blessing upon his two sonnes Sem of whom Abraham came and the twelve Patriarches and David and Christ Iesus And to whose tents in the fulnesse of time he invited Japhet and brought in the fulnesse of the Gentiles 2 In accomplishing his curse upon his yongest sonne many yeares after by giving away their Land from them and rooting them out with a violent destruction This performed upon the repentance of Noah which thought it be not in expresse and full termes set forth in the storie yet we may take it so signified when Moses saith And Noah awoke from his wine that is not onely recovered after sleep to sober judgement but to a penitent recognition of his sinne And by the spirit of prophecie he was enlightned to looke into times to come and to foresee the future estate of his posteritie and by the spirit of supplication to desire God for his eldest sonne and by the spirit of faith to beleeve in the resolved goodnesse of God to his second sonne And in all the story of holy Scripture we finde that the sinnes of repentant men though chastened with some temporall roddes of affliction yet never failing of mercie Davids children that transgressed were threatned with the roddes of men but with reservation of favour not to take his mercie utterly from them as from Saul 2 We shall now see how David did beare himself in the wise consideration of these two things 1 When he confest his sinne whereby God was justified in his threatnings of judgement He declareth his own humble patience submitting himself to the holy hand of God q. d. I confesse all my sinnes this my horrible and crying sinne that the world may see thy justice in punishing me and my patience in bearing it Stripes were ordained of purpose for the backs of fools I am one of them and I put my self under thy punishing hand He is content that as he hath made himself an example of a grievous sinner so God should declare in and upon him an example of his severe justice and so be justified in his sayings If God did forbeare all other punishments of our sinne in our own persons in our house and familie in our goods in the necessaries of life in which kindes he ordinarily avengeth himself upon offenders yet if the sinner shall but truly repent him of his sinne repentance it self is a greater punishment then all these There is more in it when it is said of Peter that he went forth and wept bitterly then in the disciples Reliquimus omnia We have left all And Saint Paul felt more smart in the thorne in his flesh and the Angell of the Lord bufferring of him then in all his dangers by Sea and Land his stripes shipwracke imprisonment When our own consciences are upon torture our souls upon the rack when we judge and take vengeance upon our selves it is judgement without mercy We ever feare we underdo Therefore the conscience of his sinne doth beare witnesse to the justice of God and he findeth no fault with his punishment Surely murmurers that repine at the punishing hand of God and think much of his judgements enflame the anger of God more by their resisting his right hand which hath found them out If they went in Davids way to take a just dimension of their sinne and did confesse it contritely to God they would be content that he should declare his justice in their punishment and they would see that he would overcome if he came to be judged Speak thy conscience when thou abusest thy drink to drunkennesse if God punish thee with thirst hast not thou well deserved it If thy meat to surfet if thy strength to wantonnesse c. 2 He sheweth faith For notwithstanding these many and this foule great sinne he beleeveth that God will be justified in his sayings that is declared just in his gracious promises of mercie The sinnes of the elect cannot outgrow the mercies of God nor our offences make his truth faile David is so full of this faith that as he spendeth part of this Psalme in a deploration of his sinnes so he bestoweth also part of it in supplications whereby he declareth his faith VERSE 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me 4. HE recounteth his originall sinne the corrupt fountaine of all his impurities he makes way to it with an Ecce for now he is at the
a way that seemeth good in a mans owne eyes but the end thereof are the wayes of death This is viaâ—on bona the way not good we must turne out of it here repentance beginneth Leave to doe evill Natures way the way of corrupt will the way of our lusts the way of the world are beaten waies many travaile them but these are new waies which are called our owne crooked waies turne out of them 3 The object to the Lord. This may seeme to import very small comfort for transgressors to turne to the Lord for he hath declared himselfe a jealous God and a consuming fire he hath digged a pit for sinners his wisedome cannot but see his lawes broken his holinesse can doe no lesse than abhorre it his justice cannot but punish it To turne sinners to God is to bring stubble to the fire but marke the sequence of my text First he will teach sinners Gods waies and then there can be no danger of their turning to God For Adam when he had turned from God by disobedience it was no wonder that he turned not to God by repentance but fled from his presence and hid himselfe because the way to God was shutup till God himselfe opened it in the promised seed yet there is no record of his turning kept This point affordeth the most comfortable doctrine that we can preach or you heare That a sinner may turne to God and be welcome to him it is the oyle of gladnesse it is the bread that strengtheneth mans heart Manna reconditum the hidden Manna It is a flagon of wine from the Lords Cellar It is the fulnesse and fatnesse and marrow of Gods house It is the living water drawne from the rivers of Gods pleasure which refresh the City magni regis of the great King It is the very extraction and distilment of the two Testaments of the Law and of the Gospell Let a sinner upon survey of his conscience and the detection of his sinne whilest his iniquities are in number and are set in order before him even then in the cold fit of feare resort to the Lord and cast himselfe at his feet and seeke his face There be great reasons for it 1 There is a necessitie in it there is no helpe elsewhere none can forgive sinnes but God onely The Apostles and Ministers of the Word forgive sinnes upon repentance but ministerially they doe pronounce Gods pardon ex officio by their office Therefore the Iewes accused Christ of blasphemy for forgiving sinnes for they knew him not to be God He healeth all our infirmities and pardoneth all our sinnes 2 God though he abhorre sinne yet he loveth the person of the sinner he cannot despise the worke of his own hand he hath sworne by his life that he will not the death of a sinner but rather that he turne to him All the while that he hath his hand in his bosome while he is plucking of his sword out of the sheath while he is whetting of it while he is lifting it up all this while he is expecting our repentance and if we turne not he smiteth home if we doe convert he saith Put up thy selfe into thy scabberd rest and be still He dealeth not withus as with enemies at armes end but forbeareth us and openeth his bosome and revealeth to us the bowels of his compassion The two greatest and dearest loves that are he taketh upon himself to declare his tendernesse over us 1 the love of an husband secondly of a father for under these titles he hath desired to appeare to his Church yet he taketh an holy pride to transcend husbands and fathers in their naturall love for thy Maker is thy husband the Lord of hoasts is his name What husband will receive againe a disloyall divorced wife that hath given her body to be defiled and hath scornefully abused him and borne children to strangers yet God receiveth us after all this wrong yea whilest we are in the height of this sinne he wooeth and courteth us and seeketh our conversion I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speake friendly to her heart Though fathers provoked by disobedient children forget naturall affection and mothers cast off all compassion yet God cannot yea though he doe for a time forbeare yet upon repentance if thou turne to him In the place where it was said ye are not my people there it shall bee said unto them ye are the sonnes of the living God Hee was that father who saw met received and cloathed and welcommed his vnthrifty sonne he sent not after him but when he returned he embraced him Our God is kinder than that father for he sendeth into the farre Country after to seeke us out he sendeth his Prophets Apostles Ministers Ite in universum mundum goe into all the world he riseth early to send them God himselfe offereth his owne wings how often would I have gathered you some parables expresse chiefly what God doth somewhat we should doe The parable of the Prodigall chiefly sheweth quid nos what we The parable of the lost sheepe quid Deus what God 3 We have comfort from Gods often inviting sinners to him nothing shall dismay us for he requireth and commandeth our resort to him with a non obstante nothing hindering and Samuel saith to the people yee have done all this wickednesse yet turne not aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart and Christ saith Come all weary and heavy laden 4 God taketh more pleasure in the returne of a sinner to him then he conceived anger for his departing from him When God had lost Adam by his sinnes the griefe was not so great as his joy was when he recovered him by the seed of the woman The second Adam had twise from heaven proclaimed over him Hic est filius meus dilectus this is my beloved Sonne There is a parable for that more joy for the lost sheepe than the 99. Sinne is an act of depraved nature it is opus nostrum our worke Grace is opus Dei Gods worke he loves his owne workes more than hee hates ours Iacob Satis est vivit filius meus It is enough my sonne is yet alive The father in the parable pleaded and justified the cause of his joy My sonne was lost and is found This shewes the sure mercies of God which declare him God But because of us sinners thou shalt be called mercifull for ubi non est miseria non est misericordia where there is no misery there is no mercy The first sinners were Angels they fell not all and those that fell did corrupt onely themselves there was no propagation of that creature When Adam and Evah fell they corrupted the whole nature of mankinde and this magnified the Creators mercie when he raised up an horn of salvation to preserve a creature whose generations had else beene subject to ruine
the prayses of God with cheerfull intention 2 For himselfe Having received such a benefit hee cannot contain himselfe this new wine of spirituall joy which filleth his vessell must have a vent All passions are lowd Anger chides lowd sorrow cries lowd feare shrieks lowd and joy sings lowd So hee expresseth the vehemencie of his affection for to whom much is forgiven they love much 3 For others Iron whetteth iron examples of 〈◊〉 and devotion affect much and therfore solemne and publique Assemblies doe generally tender the best service to Gâ—â—â—â—câ—â—â—e 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—oketh another â—n◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—ong the Prophets A conâ—â—ieâ—câ—â—â—ce discharged from the burthen and annoyance of sin cannot containe it selfe O 〈◊〉 and I will will you 〈◊〉 5 Justitiam Righteousnesse Here is a Quere why 〈…〉 of the righteousnesse of God for righteousnesse is evere and punisheth according to the rigour of the Laâ—â— 1 We answer that God hath promised 〈◊〉 pardon and it is just with him to performe his promise True repentance h◠〈◊〉 had veâ—â—â—e enough against â—â—â—e to remove it Forty dayes repentance in Niniveh did 〈◊〉 from the sins of soâ—ty and many more years of sin These be the â—â—gons of wine out of Christs own Cellar the comfort that we have of Gods promise and the effect that we feele of our true and unfeined repentance 2 We may discâ—â—ne by his former petition Purgome with Bysop that he had respect to the sacrifice of Christ and the expiation by his bloud and there hee might challenge the righteousnesse of God for it is just sâ—mel punire peccatum once to punish sin it smarted in Christ c. 3 The full solution is by righteousnesse here is understood the whole comprehension of all the attributes of God for so the word is used often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it is used often even to this purpose and for thy righteousnesse sake bring my soule out of trouble Christ lo calleth him O righteous Father The pardon of our sins setteth us in a state of innocencie which maketh the righteousnesse of God our song 6 Tuam thine We sing Gods righteousnesse not our own David had no righteousnesse of his own worth a song none of us have Our righteousnesse never came into fashion all the old testament through the best of Gods Saints have felt the want of it and complained heavily of their poverty that way Wee are well apaid that Christ is made to us of God wisdome to beleeve and know the truth and righteousnesse to justifie us in the sight of our God and sanctification to purge us in some measure from our unrighteousnesse and redemption to save us from the dominion of sin and the curse of the Law So David I will go forth in the strength of the Lord and will make mention of thy righteousnesse onely Rejoyce in the Lord yee righteous let them rejoyce whom he hath delivered whom he hath called whom he hath justified This righteousnesse of God in Christ shall stop the mouth of accusation Who shall lay any thing to the charge c. It is God that justifieth Mercy is that which provideth the remedy for our sins but righteousnesse doth exact the debt to the utmost farthing Christ is our raâ—some and then righteousnesse giveth us the reward of our faith even the salvation of our souls VERSE 15. O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise DAvid having made a large promise in the former Verse Lingua mea cantabit my tongue shall sing bethinketh himself of his naturall impotencie to this service he addeth this petition for Gods help then reneweth his former promise In the former he professeth that his spirit is willing here he confesseth that his flesh is weak To make good his former promise hee craves aid of God here and then reneweth his promise Et os meum annunciabit c. And my mouth shall shew forth c. This Versicle the Church hath chosen to begin divine Service and hath placed it in the next place after the Confession and Absolution as David did in this Psalme for when our sins are removed by our repentance Gods pardon then not till then wee are fit for prayer and prayse The words contain 1 A Prayer 2 A promise 1 The prayer Domine labia mea c. Lord open thou my lips There is a season for all things under the Sun a time to open and a time to shut our lips David saith I will keep my mouth with a bridle I was dumbe with silence I held my peace even from good Yet here he desireth to have his lips opened but hee would have them of Gods opening not his own Hactenus os meum ego aperui ideâ— in vaniloquio peccatum contraxi nunc ui tu aperias defidero quia nihil nisiquod tu suggesâ—erisloqui concupisco I have hither to opened my mouth and therfore in vain-speaking I have sinned now I desire thee to open it for I desire to speak nothing but what thou shalt put in my mouth There is a door of utterance which none but God doth open he keepeth the key he openeth and no man shutteth he shutteth and no man openeth Saint Paul desireth the prayers of the Colossians for us that God would open to us a door of utterance to speake the mystery of Christ That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak For we cannot open this door our selves to speak as we ought to speak Saint Ambrose saith seeing God saith to the wicked Quare tu enarras c Claudit Deus os peccatoris Why dost thou preach c. hee shuts the mouth of the sinner Cujus os Deus aperit hunc peccati absolvit reatu Whose mouth God opens he frees from the guilt of sin Justos decet laudatio Prayse becommeth the upright Non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris Prayse is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner Weigh thy words in a ballance and make a doore and bar for thy mouth The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season If unseasonable speaking to men may make anger wee have more cause to beware wee speake not to God out of time And if God open our lips we are out of that feare for as he openeth our mouthes to speak so his spirit giveth utterance Saint Gregory is very full in this point and saith illius os Deus aperit qui attendit his mouth he opens who observes 1 Quid. what 2 Quando when 3 Ubi where 4 Câ—â— loquatur to whom hee speaks 1 Quid What We must speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in corde the truth in our hearts Our speech seasoned with sâ—lt It must tend to ediâ—ying The heart of the wise guideth his mouth wisely 2 Quandâ— When. How good is a word in due season A word spoken in season is like apples of
it I would give it thee to perswade you to hold nothing you have too precious or deare for God Superstition might over-do in the menaging this principle but true judgement and truth it selfe have established it When the willing hearts of the people brought more then was needfull to the Sanctuary of God curious superstition could have found vent for it all in costly adornments Moses in wisdome set a non plus to their offerings There is a satis an enough in them also And though our willing mindes would tender the whole heap to the service of God our well guided wisdome will remember what is holy and what is comely 2 Gods distaste of this kind of service non desideras non delectaris thou desirest not thou art not delighted with You may demand how this may be Seeing there is so expresse Commandement in the Ceremoniall Law for sacrifices Scriptures require wise Readers else they may be perverted to the Readers destruction as the Apostle saith 1 Then we answer that all the negative propositions in Scripture are not to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their full and peremptory sense Some do include a comparative relation and do intimate the manner and measure of the thing denied Let no man thinke that David doth contradict the expresse law of sacrifices that were to walke contrary to God yea David were contrary to himself if he should absolutely and in peremptory sense deny Gods requiring or his performing sacrifices to God For we all know that David lived in a time wherin sacrifices were in season and himself concludeth this Psalme after this manner thus saying Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousnesse with burnt offering and whole burnt offering then shall they offer bullocks upon thin◠altar Therfore the words of my text are not true in a peremptory but a qualified sense Wee must take heed that we do not set Scripture against Scripture there is no strife of tongus in Gods tabernacle When God saith I will have mercy and not sacrifice he doth not peremptorily deny sacrifice but hee sheweth which of these two do best please him Both but rather mercy then sacrifice For sacrifices be oblations alien◠carnis of anothers flesh but mercy is an oblation nostri cordis of our own heart Therfore Christ saith Go and learn what that means For we must notpress the letter but the meaning of the H. Ghost in that saying So in the words following I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance he came to call the righteous such as were already setled his and to confirm them and to make their calling more effectuall but his chiefe businesse was to call sinners to conversion So when wisdome saith Receive my instruction and not silver he doth not interdict the use and receit of silver but desireth that we should rather give our hearts desires to affect wisdome then riches The following words cleer it and knowledg rather then choice gold and so Christ saith When thou makest a dinner or supper call not thy friends nor thy brethren neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbours but the poore the maime◠the lame the blind Christ directly forbiddeth not the invitation of our friends we have many examples in Scripture to the contrary but he directeth hospitality to the exercise of mercy So Saint Paul He sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospell He doth not directly deny his mission to that for it is his commission Ite praedicate baptizantes Go and preach baptizing And he did not transgresse his instructions when he baptized Crispus and Gaius and the houshold of Stephanas But the chief use of his ministery was preaching the Gospell These examples cleere my text that sacrifice and offerings by fire were not peremptorily refused by God from David but that these outward services which might be performed by Hypocrites were no amends for Davids great and provoking sinne there was somewhat else rather to be done which God would accept better which is set down in the next Verse And we must apply our selves to such srevice as will best please our God 2 Let us consider David as a Prophet of the Lord and this Psalme published for the perpetuall use of the Church and so it hath regard rather to that kinde of service which should ever continue in the Church then to the Ceremonies of the present Law which in Christ should end And so we may say in peremptory sense that God desired not delighted not in sacrifice And referring these words to the time of the Gospel they hold in fulnesse of sense For this we have good warrant sacrifice and offering thou diddest not desire burnt offering and sin-offering hast thou not required Then said I Lo I come c. This hath propheticall reference to the time of the Gospell to the comming of Christ 4 These sacrifices offered according to the Law were the ordinance of God yet the authour saith It is not possible that the bloud of Buls Goats should take away sins 5 Wherfore when he commeth into the world he saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but Corpus aptâsti mihi A body hast thou fitted for me 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Lo I come He taketh away the first that hee may establish the second This cleareth the place well for the words having reference to Christ the onely true and sufficient sacrifice for sin we may say with David non desideras non delectaris thou requirest not thou art not delighted with So distingue tempora distinguish the times and all is well 3 The service of God required both an outward and inward man outward and inward acts of Religion both imposed by the Law The outward service without the inward God desired not The outward served onely to expresse the inward When the outward goeth alone God goeth beyond non desidero non delector I desire not I am not delighted to an hatred and abomination thereof as to the Jews To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me I am full c. When you come Quis requisivit Who hath required them Bring no more vain oblations incense is abomination unto me New Moons Sabbaths solemne assemblies I cannot away with it it is iniquity My soule hateth them they are a trouble to mee I am weary to beare them When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes when you pray I will not heare They that come to reconcile themselves to God for sin must not thinke that God is taken with these outward things In the first sacrifices that we read of in the Bible Cain was refused Abel was accepted For God looked not quid in manu what in the hand but qu◠corde with what heart So David must be understood here that God desired
Impenitents 2. So our thanks-givings are but the sacrifices of fools 3. We cannot heare with profit for good seed must be sowne in good ground 4. We cannot receive the holy Sacrament for pearls must not be given to swine So we are unfit for all acts and exercises of Religion And especially upon our death-beds when we should part with this life Our iniquities shew us quite out of heavens way and we have no warrant to commend our spirits into the hands of God for he receiveth no such souls as turn aside to crooked wayes he leadeth them forth with workers of iniquitie There is none so unhappie as the impenitent sinner For the world cannot be friend him and God will not Who shall then have pity upon thee O Iesus David feels the burthen of sinne importable There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me My wounds stinke and are corrupt because of my foolishnesse I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long S. Augustine very judiciously looketh beyond David in this Psalme and maketh the whole Psalme the complaint of Christ Who though he were free from the infection of sinne yet was he over-laden with the burthen thereof for God layed on him the iniquities of us all So the point is more prest to the conscience of a sinner for if my sinnes could make the soul of Christ heavy to death if my sinnes could make him sweat water and bloud and pray with strong cryes and supplications how blinde must my reason be if I see them not How insensible and dull must I be if I feele not the stench and annoyance the weight and burthen of them For these iniquities do move God to anger and it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of God in his displeasure for even our God is a consuming fire Now we see in Davids example how combersome a few sinnes are and what feare what agony of heart what griefe what shame they bring We have cause to lay this to our hearts for when we shall see our many crying bold presumptuous sinnes together in order before us when our conscience shall tell us not onely that we have received the grace of God in vain but that we have turned the grace of God into wantonnesse and have abused his best â—avours and despised his threatnings At once carrying in our faces Cains frowns and in our heart Cains malice against our brother having Esaâ—s prophanenesse Achans theft Ahabs oppression out-sinning those who are in the holy story the spots and blemishes of their times How doth Sathan benight us if we discerne not our fault and our danger How doth he harden our hearts if we feele not the burthen How doth he benumme and dead the conscience if the lash of our iniquities do not smart upon us We have cause to think upon it now if our Land after so great blessings of God swarme at this day with impious sinnes if Religion hath suffered symonie and oppression pride and drunkennesse Sodome and Gomorrah were modest sinners in comparison of us It will be easier for them one day for we live in the light we have more knowledge of our Masters will then our fathers had Pulpit and Presse have filled the eare and eye with the wayes of life And we are filii tenebrarum sonnes of darknesse still and walk in the paths of death We are hearers onely deceiving our own selves and the more we know of our Masters will the more stripes it will cost us that we have done so little of it we have gathered such drosse to our gold that it will ask an hot fire to refine us God in favour yet forbeareth us expecting our repentance and there is no hope of his love but in that way To fast and mourne for a day to ask God forgivenesse to promise amendment is no more then Ahab may do and it may spinne out the time and put off judgement for a while But plangere commissa to bewail sinnes committed is but a part of repentance and it hath lost the labour and our tears shall never be put into the bottle if after we do committere plangenda commit sinnes to be bewailed Transgressions iniquities sinnes these are our disease and that which threatneth it mortall is our dangerous impenitencie 2. What remedie Mercie this is the soveraigne remedy this heals all diseases but some few drops of this balme will not do it here David knows that God hath sundry vessels of this wine some stronger then other he desireth to draw of the strongest and for quantity he desireth the multitude a great measure and that running over for qualitie his tenderest and dearest compassions Those that are extracted and distilled to the height of strength sinnes of ignorance sinnes of infirmitie and weaknesse sinnes committed with reluctation and resistance the Fathers have called veniall because a small measure of Gods mercy will remove them and their punishment but studied sinnes acted after deliberation and practised upon advise and used to hide and shelter other sinnes have a more provoking qualitie in them to kindle the wrath of God a worse deserving condition to draw that wrath upon us David needs the most the best and strongest of these mercies for his transgressions Saint Augustine Attendis contemptores ut corrigas nescientes ut doceâ—â— confitentes ut ignoscas Thou observest the despisers to correct them the ignorant to teach them the confessours of sinne to pardon them Zacharie calleth these mercies that he beggeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bowels of the mercy of our God Sicut pater miseretur as a father takes pity Christ hath given us a full example of such a Father in the parable of the prodigall Look how high the heaven is above the earth so high is the mercie of God to them that feare him that is nothing in comparison for mercie cannot be numbred This is that which boundeth the waters of the Sea that they do not return to drown the earth This keepeth his fire and brimstone bound up that it falleth not upon our Cities and Towns our persons and cattell to consume them This locketh up the earth underneath us that it doth not open the mouth to swallow us up quick This keepeth the key of his treasures of judgements that they cannot come abroad to destroy and consume the world as Jeremy saith It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not They are new every morning Though he cause griefe yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies for he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men They that love lying vanities forsake their own mercy The mercy of God is called our mercy for God hath no occasion to use his mercy any where else but among the sonnes of men The Angels
delight and expiate it at short warning But such pardons were not afoot in Davids time he confesseth to Nathan and undergoeth a sore penance after Nathan had absolved him Good use might be made of this in the Church If a true Penitent revealing his wounded conscience to some learned and godly Physitian of his soul and declaring his true griefe did establish his repentant heart with the comfort of the Word and receive the benefit of Gods gracious pardon in the way of Gods holy ordinance In businesses of our estate we may heare wise men speak out of experience and reading and observation but it is safest to trust such whose profession and practise in the laws may give us more full satisfaction in all our doubts In diseases of the body reading experience and observation may accommodate men unprofessed to speak rationally and to advise wisely but health is a deare commoditie they do most safely that consult the learned studied and practised Physitian he is the likeliest to direct for our good In the occasions of the soul although many great Scholars have profited to ability to informe the judgement in the truth to convince errour to instruct and comfort yet seeing God hath ordained some in his Church to do this ex officio and hath sent them to teach to baptise to commend the prayers of the Church to him to absolve penitents our using of their ministery in these things is strengthened with warrant and in this case Nathans absolution is as good as on Angels 2 We finde David confessing here to God his wickednesse Nathan hath used all the good and discreet wayes that may be to bring David to a sight and sense of his sinne 1 He shewed him his sinne in a parable borrowing another person to represent to him his sinne 2 He shewed it in the commemoration of Gods manifold favours to him which cannot but shew that God had better deserved of him then to be answered with transgression of his commandments For he might plead Do you thus unkindly requite my love 2 He came to the point and opened his wounds and shewed him the rottennesse and stench of them in an hoc fecisti Thus hast thou done and I held my peace all this while 3 He revealeth to him the purpose of God for his correction by a severe punishment of his faults divers wayes as you have heard This made him cry God mercie and crave aid of Gods tender compassions to wash him For I acknowledge my wickednesse Which teacheth That true repentance ariseth from a knowing and beginneth at confessing our sinne They pray but faintly and weakly for mercy to wash them that do not well discerne and confesse their wickednesse The woman of Canaan that came to Christ for her daughter cries loud for his help the disciples cannot still her Blinde Bartimeus runnes hard and cryes lowd for his sight The woman with the issue of bloud pressed through the crowd as neare as she could to Christ to touch the hemme of his vesture David sometimes cryed till his throat was hoarse Moses prayed till his hands fell All that feele need of help from God and know it no where else to be had will ply him heartily and give him no rest So forceable is the knowledge of our sinnes to put us upon God in importunate eâ—â—lagitations of mercy Such know that there is no state here on earth so unhappy as the state of a sinner Let us never hope for peace in our conscience or favour with God till we come to see and confesse our wickednesse Oh that there were such an heart of piety and holy zeale as to search and try our own wayes and to detect our own sinnes as we have hearts of malice and curiousitie to dive into the transgressions of others I would we could discerne our own beams as clearly as we see the motes in our brothers eye I acknowledge my wickednesse I search no further Let me now turn your eyes upon your own hearts and put you to the search of them to the bottome that you may confesse your wickednesse to God betweene you and him alone For wounds must be searched before they can be cured And then shall you be prepared to heare the story of Christs bitter passions that he susteined for you which shall shortly be recounted to you out of the Gospell by appointment of the Church There you shall see the loving kindnes of God and the multitude of his tender compassions you shal see what need your wounds had of his stripes what need your voluptuous lives had of his dolorous throws and pangs what need your crown of pride had of his crown of thornes what need your crying sinnes had of his strong prayers and supplications what need your deserved curse had of his undeserved crosse If all tears were wiped from our eyes for our selves and that our mouthes were filled with laughter and our tongues with joy yet if we did consider in what liquour we were washt the precious bloud of a Lambe without spot Pilates Ecce homo Behold the man shewing us our Redeemer newly come from his cruell whipping his pretious body the glory of humanity ploughed up with scourges into deep furrows to save our skinnes whole Uox sanguinis the voyce of bloud speaking better things then the bloud of Abel crying for our purification and his dying plea even for his enemies Father forgive them for they know not what they do These and a thousand more considerable passages in his dolorous passion were enough to turn all our harps into mourning and all our organs into the voice of them that weep to make our heads fountains of tears to melt us into passion to distill us into spirit of compassion for him that payed so deare for our souls Sic Deus dilexit mundum misit filium suum dedit unigenitum as August dedit unicum ut non esset unicus So God loved the world He sent his Sonne He gave his onely begotten Sonne He gave his onely Sonne that he might not be his onely Sonne And in the manner of giving Non pepercit filio suo he spared not his sonne he layd upon him the iniquitie of us all Will you finde the cause of all this the roote of bitternesse the gall and wormwood that made his potion so corroding Search your heart for sinne and wash the bloudy wounds of your Redeemer in a bath of compassionate tears your own putrified soars in a bath of penitentiall tears And as Israel brought forth Achan and put him in sight who had trespassed in the accursed thing so let our confession put our transgressions in sight saying with David I acknowledge my wickednesse And with Achan I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done That which undoes Religion and destroyes the fear and service of God and hindereth our repentance and evacuateth all our acts of piety that which maketh the word to us a dead
no good thing And this he chargeth with all his aberrations from the way of God law Not I that is my regenerate part but sinne in me that is my naturall corruption not yet mortified my flesh not yet brought in subjection to the law and will of my God 2 Meum my David owneth his sinne and confesseth it his own Here is our natural wealth what can we call our own but sinne Our food and rayment the necessaries of life are borrowings We came hungrie and naked into the world we brought none of these with us and we deserved none of them here Our sinne came with us as David after confesseth We have right of inheritance in sinne taking it by traduction and transmission from our parents we have right of possession So Job Thou makest me to possesse the sinnes of my youth We plead ancient custome and prescription for sinne for we were never without it since we first came into the world Peccatum meum my sinne is Davids griefe David in piety to God and in charitie to his neighbour did mourn and weep rivers of waters for them that kept not the law But other mens sinnes are not put upon his account and require not his repentance except they were committed by his counsell example or approbation He is now to declare his repentance that extendeth no further then to peccatum meum my sinne This may aggravate a sinne much for as is the person so is the sinne here Meum my toucheth the person of the offender Nehemiah urgeth Should such a man as I flie David was a person take him not beyond his private estate as the yonger sonne of I shal favoured by God defended from the Lyon the Beare from Goliah from the Philistines from Saul and from all his enemies Adams sinne which many sleight as no great matter to draw such a judgement upon all flesh was the greatest sinne that ever was committed by man in respect of the person For being in a state of innocencie and having free-will to do good and in the fresh glory of his creation and in the fulnesse of his makers image and in the fatnesse of the earth the fitnesse of an help meet for him amounting to what could I have done more that I have not done his trespasse was prodigious nefarious abhominable To defile his holinesse to benight his wisedome to corrupt his goodnesse to evacuate his righteousnesse to forget his happinesse and to see God for a fruit having paradise before him and all the fruit at his service his sinne was infectious it did not onely vitiate and deflowre his person it also impoysoned the fountain of bloud which was to propagate a posterity to fill the earth We know that peccatum meum my sinne the sinne of the Angels that fell was so aggravated by the consideration of their persons who fell that God cast them off for ever and reserveth them in chains of darknesse for a great day David a publique person a king Gods king Posui Regeâ— meum super montem sacrum meum I have set my king upon my holy hill of Sion Regis ad exemplum c. David an holy Prophet vices that are sleighted in common persons in men professed holy are twise themselves and Sathan glorieth more in the corruption of a Prophet or Minister of the Word then in many common men God is more offended and the Church more scandaled Let every man judge his sinne by consideration of himself In his person in his place and office in his received favours from God Meum my will so make great weight Meum hath speciall reference here to Davids sinne which doth put him to this penance 1 His lust upon the sight of beauty 2 His adulterie 3 His making Vriah drunk 4 His corrupting of Joab 5 His murther of Vriah 6 His ten moneths impenitencie This is peccatum meum my sinne Every one of these very hainous for lust adulterie and making men drunk and a constant or rather obstinate impenitencie These be sinnes in fashion and many think the better of themselves for them It is the pride of many to boast of their unchast and lascivious lewdnesse of life of their making their companions drunk and no sense of the abuse of Gods good creatures the wrong to God to their neighbour to their own bodies thereby exposed to diseases Beloved if all these if any of these sinnes belong to any of you I charge you not let your consciences save me the labour and do you own it and call it peccatum meum my sinne as David here doth Put it before you in sight and confesse it to God that you may finde mercie If none of these call you guilty search your hearts for that darling sinne Peccatum meum my sinne The pleasant the profitable sinne that reigneth in you You see confession spares not any sinne whatsoever you call meum mine must be all brought forth 3 Coram Before This sinne was now come before as August observeth Sinne is behinde our backs when we are first tempted to it when we first commit it Sathan sheweth the pleasure and profit of sinne but he concealeth the trespasse and the danger thereof 1 It was in sight of God from the first motion and yeelding to it 2 It was in sight of the Devill and his Angels that suggested it 3 It was in sight of those agents of the King who did negotiate it 4 It was in sight of the common man who could not but take notice of it 5 It was in sight of the Church Gods faithfull ones who were much scandalized by it 6 It was in sight of the enemies of God who thereby took great occasion to blaspheme the name of God and his Religion 7 It was in sight of Nathan Gods holy Prophet who was sent of purpose by God to reprove it Nathan charged him Thou diddest it secretly see the deceiveablenesse of Sathan no sinne dare look the light in the face Qui male agit odit lucem He that doth evill hateth the light One of the greatest encouragements to finne is an hope of secrecie and therein for the most part the sinner mis-carrieth for not onely God which hateth the sinne but Sathan also that tempted to it do both finde means to bring it to shame Yet the heart of David was so hardened and his conscience so blinded with the pleasure of sinne that he felt no remorse of it Some sinnes are much more hardly repented then others especially those sinnes which please the naturall man best repented hardest 4 Coram me Before me Now at last his sinne is come to the light of his own understanding to the sting of his own conscience Now he sees what need he hath of mercy Miserere mei Deus c. Have mercy upon me O God Now he sees what commandments he hath despised as Nathan chargeth him Now he sees what offence he hath given to God to his Church What defiling to his own soul and body
adventure them upon the eye of God Yet he is privy to the first suggestion to the first consent elelight procuration action c. all the circumstances of our sinne Never was sinne conveyed so closely as to be concealed from him this David did know and teach and discovereth their vanity that thought they could hide their errour from him Yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Vnderstand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will you be wise He that formed the eye shall not he see c. Achans close theft Rahels stolne gods Laban found them not God revealed to Moses where she hid them Gehezies secret lye and covetousnesse Judahs secret incest all in sight Flatter not thy sinne with hope of secrecie and remember nothing is so bold and facing as sinne Thou doest it in the sight of God his eye is open upon it to discerne and hate it to detect and punish it darknesse hideth not from him VERSE 4. That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and cleare when thou judgest 2. HE cleareth almighty God for having freely and fully confessed his sinnes in generall and in particular this late eminent notorious scandalous and provoking sinne he addeth this Ut justificeris in sormonibus c. That thou mayest be justified in thy sayings Which place is cited by the Apostle and by him we are directed to a right understanding of it What if some did not beleeve Shall their unbeleefe make the faith of God without effect God forbid yea let God be true but every man a ly ar as it is written That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged The Apostle urgeth these words to this purpose to shew that the sinnes of those who return by repentance can no way hinder but do rather advance the justice of God God declareth this justice in two things 1 In accomplishing his threatnings of punishment to correct them with the roddes of men and so these words of David have reference to that threatning of Nathan Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house He confesseth that God is by his open and offensive sinne just in those his words of commination and all the world may see that God is no favourer of sinne in any of his chosen but he hath ready rods to chasten it to which justice he submitteth God hath occasion given him by his confession fession of his sinne to declare his justice in the well deserved punishment of it so farre that when he shall execute that judgement upon him and his house he shall be found cleare from any crueltie 2 But this is not all for David had received many gracious promises of mercie from God to his own person and government and to his posteritie And there might be a feare that this crying sinne of David might reverse these promises and call in those favours of God from him Here David openly confesseth his sinne and declareth his strong faith in those sure promises of God beleeving that though he have sinned against him and done this great evill in his sight yet he will gratiously accept of his true repentance and pardon him his sinne and make good his former promises to him So shall he be declared just in his sayings and promises of mercie and shall be cleare when he judgeth him of violating his truth Whereby it appeares that the elect of God when they fall into any grievous sinne do put God to it to declare his justice both wayes for it is justice in God 1 To performe what he hath threatned and promised 2 To carrie an even hand in the trespasses of his children that neither his justice suffer in bearing with sinne nor his mercie in over-chastening the sinner The Text now thus cleared 1 We have in God two things in his carriage toward his elect in their fals and transgressions 1 His justice in chastening them 2 His mercie in pardoning 2 We have in David two things 1 His humble patience submitting himself to the punishment 2 His strong faith apprehending Gods gratious pardon 1 Of the justice of God It will do well in our reading the stories of the fals and trespasses of Gods Saints if we do withall observe the proceâ—â— of Gods judgements following them He soone taught us what we should trust to in the fall of our first parents For when they had sinned in the forbidden fruit he left them awhile to the mercie of their own accusing consciences and to the scourge of shame and the scorpions of their own feares to cruciate and anguish them Then in the coole of the day he came himself and convented the offenders and in a judiciall session he examined the parties by the evidence of fact And finding them guiltie he pronounced against them a sentence of mortalitie he accursed the earth under them he adjudged the man to labour and sweating for his bread The woman to subjection to her husband and to great anguish in her child-birth That all posteritie might by their example feare the justice of God and refraine from sinne which brought so much evill upon the committer thereof Yet we doubt not of their salvation Noah was drunk once and lay uncovered in his tent his own sonne discovered his shame Noah deserved punishment but his sonne should not have punished him but God used the unnaturall evill affection of his sonne as his rod to punish the sinne of the father I could be full in examples for this proofe that God doth not leave sinne in his Saints unpunished I onely produce these two great examples 1 In the beginners of the first world 2 Another in the repairer of it The first man made in the image of God in holinesse and righteousnesse The second the onely righteous man whom God found in that age I produce them as cleare examples of the justice of God in punishing sinne even in persons most in favour And the rather for the condemnation of their sinnes which now are afoot in the world and are scarcely confest to be sinne 1 The forbidden fruit is desired before any fruit of the garden stolne bread is sweet The name of God which by a speciall law must not be taken in vaine what name so blasphemed Is it not a shame to Religion that after the word had beene freely preached about 60. yeares in the free libertie of the Gospell and the Law of God in Pulpits and in print so learnedly expounded that there should be need of a speciall statute law for conservation of this name from prophanation and to set a corporal punishment or a pecuniarie mulct upon swearers But neither Gods Law nor Acts of Parliament can save that name of God harmlesse I will presse no further instances tell me by this taste whether the forbidden fruit be not most desired 2 For Noahs sinne it was but once drunkennesse and God left it not unpunished with
all sinne both originall and actuall A Sacrament of that purgation wee have in Baptisme which we receive once for all our life though it bee not barely the externall act that cleanseth us but the answer of a good conscience to God To this is added another Sacrament of nutrition by which we are invited to a spirituall feast of the body and bloud of Christ To which our preparation must be a putting on of holinesse But as Iehoshus the high Priest was first stripped out of his filthy raiment and then had cleane cloathes put on So must wee lay aside the old man corrupt with the deceiveable lusts of the flesh before we can be renewed in the spirit of our minde and put on the new man in righteousnesse and holinesse I herefore for our better preparation to this Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ let me commend to you the holy example of David Let us beginne at a search and survey of our hearts for sinne even so deepe as our birth-sinne and originall uncleannesse Let us compare what we are in our inward parts with that which God desireth and the folly that possesseth us with the wisedome which God will give us if we aske it of him then shall we see what favour God hath done us in his holy Sacrament to offer us the benefit of his passion and the sprinkling of his bloud to keepe the destroying Angell from our houses This full example tendreth us all the ingredients in an holy preparation for Gods Table 1 Knowledge both of our disease and the remedy of it 2 Repentance of our sinnes as being sensible of the burthen and wearie of the annoyance of them 3 Faith depending upon God both for his tender mercies to pardon them and for his holy wisedome to prevent our relapsing after repentance into them 4 Charity to our brethren for David after promiseth to teach sinners and to direct them in good waies God can wash without hysope he can teach without the word he can cleanse without Baptisine he can nourish without the Lords Supper But having ordained outward types and signes and Sacraments and meanes for our purgation and nutrition David teacheth us hereto 5 To adde prayer to God not onely for the spirituall grace but for the outward meanes also Teach me by thy word wash me with thine hysope feed me with thy Supper So ought we to pray with David for the power of grace in the outward ordinance of God And that is the way to sanctifie our selves both to the Word and to the Sacrament There is nothing that doth more ineffectuate this blessed Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ to the receivers thereof then their uncleannesse for Pearles are not to be cast unto Swine And we must wash our hands in innocency before we compasse his altar Those corruptions which are within us in our heart are they that doe defile us for out of the heart proceed murthers adulteries drunkennesse strife and envying and these things pollute us These aske a great deale of hysope to sprinckle us with bloud to drench and steepe us in to fetch out the deep steines which they have made in our consciences These removed or our endeavour done to remove them wee may eate of this bread and drinke of this wine that he hath prepared 3 In resumption of this Petition we still see how weary David is of his filthinesse how ambitious of a purification For being yet in the stench and deformity and foulenesse of his sinnes he beleeveth that if he might be of Gods washing he should be whiter than snow Saint Paul biddethus desire the best gifts In things concerning this life wee have no warrant to desire above a competency Agur the wise sonne of Iakeh hath left us his prayer and it is part of our Canonicall Scripture Give me not riches give me not poverty feed mee with food convenient for me Christ hath limited our prayer for daily bread that is the necessaries of this life The Apostle biddeth if we have food and raiment to be therwith content but in the spirituall and eternall favours of God a greedinesse an ambition a covetousnes for the most and best highest of them doth best of all Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse There be degrees and measures of spirituall graces there be divers quantities of them As in the dye of sinne some are crimsin some scarlet so in the wash of repentance some attain to the whitenesse of wooll some of snow As David in the judging of himselfe findeth none so uncleane as he is so in his desire of purging he affecteth the whitest innocency They that have truely tasted the heavenly gift of holinesse here and the joyes of the life to come desire the uttermost of both and we cannot overdoe in coverousnesse of the one or ambition of the other But how doth David promise himselfe this whitenesse above snow Saint Augustine answereth that this innocency is but begun here it commeth not to any perfection in this life but his faith apprehendeth the complement of it hereafter 2 We may conceive in these sicuts these comparisons the fullest measure of innocency that wee are capable of here and hereafter 3 Or we may comfort our selves in dignatione divina in Gods approvement in whose gratious acceptation wee appeare so white because he accepteth us who calleth things that are not as if they were Or we may extend it to the full effect of the bloud of Christ which maketh a perfect work of our purification VERSE 8. Make mee to heare joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce 2. HE prayeth for comfort against the terror of his conscience for his sin wherein 1 We have his griefe his bones broken 2 His suit fac me andire c. Make me to heare 1 In his griefe consider 1 The affliction it selfe bones broken 2 The author hereof Thou 2 In his Petition observe 1 Where he seeketh remedy of God 2 In what way by prayer 3 What is his suit to heare joy c. 4 What effect ut ossa gaudeant that the bones may rejoyce 1 His griefe therein 2 Of his affliction ossa confracta the bones broken This is a figurative speech whereby extreame affliction is often in Scripture expressed Sathan to God of Job Touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face It was Iobs complaint My bones were pierced in me in the night season David useth often to complaine of his bones as there is no rest in my bones because of my sinne his meaning is that the vexation of his conscience for his sinne is as painefull to him as the breaking of his bones How are we deceived in the temptation to sinne in the pleasute of sinne when we drinke it downe like water and hide it under our tongue if ever wee come to repentance of it it will be bitternesse in
effect ut ossa exultent that the bones may rejoyce David had sensuall joy he had the full desire of his heart yet that proved the breaking of his bones and the wounding of his conscience his faith is that God will heale all with his saving grace There is no such joy here below as the forgivenesse of our sinnes and the Ministers of the Gospell in no part of their Ministery doe bring fuller tidings of peace then in absolution of penitents O quà m speciosi pedes c. O how beautifull are the feet c. The wicked man hath none of this peace Blessed is hee whose unrighteousnesse is forgiven c. Let the children of peace comfort themselves all their teares are botteled all their sighes and grones numbred all their bones set and healed the storme of Gods threatnings the tempest of the conscience calmed But none but God can doe this VERSE 9. Hide thy face from my sinnes and blot out all mine iniquities 3. HE sueth for pardon he doubleth his request and varieth the phrase still importunate with God 1 He desireth that God in mercy would not see his sinnes but hide his face as Sem and Japhet looked another way when they came to cover their fathers nakednesse which phrase of hiding the face of God cannot bee literally understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee speaketh after the manner of men for men hide their faces from that which they would not see But the face of God cannot be hid and it is impossible to conceale our sinnes from him impossible for him to put our sinnes out of his sight his eye seeth all things yet David in this phrase doth shew that desiring to be washt and purged hee would have his sinnes now forgotten and no more laid to his charge for as Saint Augustine saith Vnde se Deus non avertit advertit si advertit animadvertit From whom God turnes not away he turnes unto if he turne unto he observes he would have God looke upon him still but not upon his sinnes for that is his suit ne averte faciem tâ—am â—â— me turne not thy face away from me God is said then to hide his face from sinnes when hee pardoneth them and that is Davids suit 1 I observe here that the face of God and our sinnes are incompatible his face is all holinesse and it cannot endure to behold sinne for his soule loatheth it Our sinnes are all workes of darkenesse and cannot endure the light of his face We are very carefull to keepe our grosse sinnes out of the sight of men whose power extendeth no further then our goods our reputation or our life here Christ saith Feare not them that kill the body and can doe no more feare his face who hath power of soule and body to cast them both into hell The face of God is fearefull to a sinner for God threatneth the disobedient to his Commandements I will set my face against you then followeth yee shall be slaine before your enemies Qui odeâ—unt vos regnabunt super vos fugietis nemine persequente they that hate you shall raigne over you ye shall flye no man pursuing you How dare we tempt that face and provoke it against us nothing is hid from the light of it and there is no suggestion more foolish or that declareth us more shallow and simple then Dominus non videbit the Lord shall not see Wee are sure that all our sinnes are seene numbred recorded before his face 2 This phrase to my understanding importeth that as David before prayed to be washt purged and cleansed from his sinnes that they might no more annoy him so he desireth God to turne his face from them that they may no more offend him For a true penitent is more grieved at his offence given to God than at the shame or feare or paine that sinne putteth him to therefore Averte faciem tuam turne thy face away amounteth to a request that God would no more take offence at his sinnes 3 The phrase importeth an absolute and full pardon desired for so long as there is any sinne the face of God must be against it but when he desireth averte faciem turne away thy face he desireth a remove of his sinne which cannot be cleare from his countenance any way but by his gratious pardon for Gods pardon doth extinguish all iniquities so it is equivalent to our petition Dimitte debita nostra Forgiveus our trespasses 2 He resumeth the same Petition and re-enforceth his suit for Gods pardon in a phrase before used verse 1. Blot out mine iniquities which hath reference to the two bookes one of our conscience the other of Gods remembrance in which all our sinnes are recorded ut antè as before Onely here he addeth a request for pardon of all his iniquities that he may have a cleare conscience within himselfe and an even reckoning with God If any shall wonder why David urgeth Gods pardon so earnestly and with such importunity of strong supplications let him know that such offences as provoke God are not easily pardoned we must pray heartily and ply him continually with our requests to have our sinnes remitted for though God be very ready to forgive in respect of his mercy yet he is wise to see some cause for it And a sinner is not capable of mercy presently till his soule hath beene in bitternesse for his trespasse and is humbled before God It is our fault and it corrupteth us much our over-weening of the mercy of God to us for though hee be full of tendernesseâ— yet is he full of holinesse and nothing provoketh him more then our bearing our selves too bold upon his mercies Master Calvine Ubi quis defunctoriè pro remissione vota concipit nondum didicit quam horribilis sit Dei offensâ—o He that slightly prayes for pardon of sinnes hath not yet learned how horrible the offending of God is Saint Augustine commendeth this Petition of David hee saith Bene rogas thou well askest for 1 He opened his owne face and then he desireth God to hide his face his face was opened to behold his sinne For I acknowledge my wickednesse and my sinne is ever before me Si tu peccatum â—uâ—â—â—â— derso ponis dens ibâ— facsem ponit Tu peccatum eâ—â—m ante facioÌ„ pone sivis ut deus auertat faciem suam ab eâ— Sie securur rogas exandiâ— If thou settest thy sinnes behinde thy backe God sets them before his face set thy sinne before thy face if thou wilt have God turne away his face from it So thou safely askest and hee heareth thee 2 He desireth God to blot out all his iniquities out of the booke of his remembrance But he putteth them into this Psalme and commendeth this Psalme to the Master of Musicke and so depositeth the record of it in the perpetuall use of the Church so the greatnesse of the fault is kept in fresh memory of all ages Wee have no
were filled with laughter and our tongues with joy Then they said the Lord hath done great things for us the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce As God is described in the shepheard who recovered his lost sheep and in the woman who found her lost groat and in the father who recovered and received his prodigall sonne with more joy than the shepheard had in his 99. than the woman had in the rest of her money than the father had in his eldest sonne that had alwaies beene with him So a converted sinner delighteth more in God after his conversion then he did before Ibo revertar ad patrens moum I will goe and returne to my father I will goe and returne to my first husband for then it was better with me than it is now A Convert can tell transgressors how his father espied him a far off how he met him upon the way how he fell on his necke and kissed him and bade him welcome how he brought first stolam primam the chiefe garment to cover him how he killed vitulum illum that calfe and had musicke and dancing for joy for his returne One of the greatest feares of a sinner who hath sold God for some vaine pleasure is that God will never be recovered to favour him againe and that is one of the Scorpions wherewith the very Saints of God are scourged Sathan abetteth that feare in them with terrible overtures of the impartiall justice of God and it is the voyce of the wicked of the earth Tush God hath forsaken him and there is none to helpe him David was heart-sicke of this disease Many there be that say to my soule there is no helpe for thee in thy God A true penitent reconciled to God can tell such that they belye the holy one of Israell with the Lord there is mercy that he may be feared He giveth pardon for sinnes and forgiveth all thine iniquities He continueth but a while in anger if a sinner wil not come to him he wil whet his sword he will make ready his bow and prepare his arrowes for execution But if a sinner will forsake his evill wayes and returne to him he will behold him a farre off and meete him upon the way and embrace him with his savour This is the chiefe errand that we have from God to his Church to carry to them the word of reconciliation to preach peace to them that are neare and to them that are farre off liberty to the imprisoned and to such as are opprest the taking off of the yoke He that hath beene scorched with the flames of hell who hath felt the sting of a cruciating conscience who hath beene shaken and shattered with the terror of the Lord and hath found joy and comfort upon his repentance he can testifie for God that he is gratious and mercifull that he may be entreated so David Come hearken to me all ye that feare God and I will tell you what he hath done for my soule There is a Psalme of purpose for it wherein the Prophet magnifieth both his owne miserie and Gods singular mercy with a probatum est so it is experto crede beleeve him that hath found it by experience he tels what he hath comfortably found and the Church hath joy of it Seeing a convert is so fit for this service let all sinners labour to hasten and accomplish their conversion of purpose to doe God this good service in teaching others This would multiply teachers in the Church and turne us all into ministers of reconciliation Every one should teach his neighbour the feare of the Lord. We cannot put our selves in a fairer way to glory for They that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the starres in the firmament Be they Ecclesiasticall or Lay be they such as doe it ex officio out of duty by vertue of a speciall calling or ex charitate from the love they beare to God and their brethren Their reward is with God and they shall eate the fruit of their labours from the tree of life in the middest of the garden It is the nature of goodnesse for Bonum est communicativum sui Good is of a spreading nature bonus malum bonum esse vult ut sit sui similis the good would have the evill to be good that he may be like himselfe We cannot more holily more charitably expresse our conversion to God than by teaching transgressors his waies We cannot want schollers for totus mundus est in maligno positus the whole world is set upon evill what if some say Nolumus scientiam viarum tuarum wee desire not the knowledge of thy waies and hate to be reformed yet others will hearken and even they may by the favour of God be softened to an impression In our evill conversation we were forward enough to draw in others to the societie of our evils to corrupt and pervert good manners So theeves that say we will all have one purse and immoderate drinkers sit together till strong drinke inflame them Me thinkes the Apostle is very reasonable Sicut dedistis membra vestra as you have given your members so give your members I may say to a Convert doe but the same diligence in converting thy brother that thou hast done and used in corrupting him and it will passe currant let thy counsell and example looke that way and thinke thy conversion effected for this The father of mercies and God of all comfort comforteth us in all our tribulation that wee may be able to comfort them which bee in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God The rule holdeth throughout as in consolation so in instruction and in reprehension and in conviction of the conscience As every one hath received any measure of grace from God so let him communicate his knowledge and his grace to others in love remembring that we are members one of another This is the way to advance the building up of the Church of God and to demolish the power of Sathans kingdome None can pleade exemption from this duty for when David the King offereth his service this way who can sit out The more eminent the person is the more effectuall is his teaching and the sooner will transgressors give eare to him See here the wisedome and goodnesse of God how he hath wrought good out of evill for he hath stooped the Majestie of a King to the service of a teacher and hath sanctified the person of a transgressor to the conversion of transgressors The corrupter of his owne waies becommeth a guide to others This also doth encourage our labour for our conversion because it is a new making to us The proofe of it we haue in Saint Paul who no sooner was himselfe converted but he laboured the illumination of such as were in darkenesse the confirmation of the weake and the conversion of all that were in their owne crooked
joy and gladnesse when my broken bones rejoyce c. These words doe further afford a very cleare description of repentance which is the conversion of a sinner to God Et peccatores ad te convertentur and sinners shall be converted unto thee 1 The subject wrought upon sinners 2 The worke to turne them 3 The object to which they are inclined God 4 The author of this conversion 1 The subject Sinners a very crosse unto ward piece to worke on Creation made us Saints our fall transformed us to divels and originally we are no better than the children of darkenesse blinde to all that may please God children of weakenesse unable to performe any good service to God filii irâ— ad pâ—â—am sonnes of wrath fitted for punishment so the name of sinner doth containe 1 A totall corruption of nature deserving 2 A necessary obligation ad poenam to punishment In the one there is pudor maleficii the shame of evill doing in the other is terror judicii the terror of judgement Take a sinner as he is in himselfe without grace sanctifying him and mercy pardoning him he is the vilest and unworthiest of all the creatures that God made in whom the image of God is blemished and almost utterly defaced The Angels that stand in integrity are as they were made and they doe his will who made them The celestiall bodies keepe their places and doe the service for which they are made The Sunne knowes his rising and the Moone her going down The Sunne goeth forth as a Bridegroome and as a Gyant to his race as if these heavenly bodies had reason to doe their makers will so are they guided evermore by the law of their creation The earth and the bruit creatures in their kinde follow the rule of that first law onely divels and men resist it and goe their owne waies to Gods dishonour and their owne hurt The divels in malice to God and in envy to man ever labouring to pervert the waies of God Sinners goe in their owne crooked waies yea they runne violently in them as an hot and fierce horse into the battell Such are we all naturally conceived in sinne and borne in iniquity and after drawing sinne to us with the cords of vanity For our naturall corruption first defiling us and the example of evill infecting us and the temptations of Sathan instigating us and the sweetnesse of the pleasure of sinne enticing us and the custome of sinne hardening us we become abhominable and to every good worke reprobate Miserable men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death And that which maketh our misery most miserable is Israell doth not know My people doe not consider have ye no regard all ye that worke iniquity No they have no regard Let a man ayle any thing in his health by sicknesse or sorenesse he feeles it he complaines of it he seeketh for remedy so Ieremie My bowels my bowels I am pained at the very heart Ezec bias boile Asaes gowt make them very full of griefe Let a man ayle any thing in his estate he is very sensible the poore widow makes great moane to Elisha being in debt Helpe O Lord the King cryes the woman of Samaria in the famine thereof Onely the sinner whose soule is divested of grace habited in sinne in hazard of hell neither feeleth the want nor feareth the danger neither complaineth of what it is nor seeketh remedy David himselfe who had tasted and drunke deepe of the spirituall favours of God lyeth tenne moneths together wallowing in the mire of uncleannesse sleeping in the deep and dead sleepe of sinne and not thinking upon a recoverie A sinner during the time of his impenitencie stands suspended from the holy temple of God which is excommunicatio minor the lesser excommunication The faithfull cry Away from me ye transgressors and God himselfe hideth his face from him There is not amongst vegetables a bramble a thistle things unvalued noxious There are not amongst the animate creatures of the earth not the least of the winged flies in the ayre or the creeping wormes on earth which the unheedy foot of man or beast compoundeth with the earth it goes on but it hath more of God in it than a sinner hath during his impenitencie These are as he made them but a sinner not returning to God hath lost himselfe and Gods image in him is defaced All other creatures stand to health in their owne natures man is diseased morbus est he is all disease It is worth the noting that God corrupted not the nature of any creature to punish the sinne of man he would not lose the glory of omnia bene fecit he did make all well In wrath he remembred mercy for those creatures that are the curse of the earth brambles thistles and thornes are also of singular vertue and use for the good of man onely he used these for roddes to scourge man This it is to be a sinner and such as these was David and upon such he promiseth to worke 2 Opus convertentur the worke shall be converted This is repentance begunne for the impenitent goeth on still in his wickednesse he goeth of himselfe for we may goe downe the hill easily nostro pondere ferimur we are carried with our owne weight The faster and the further we goe in a wrong way the more we erre it is not profectus a going on but aberratio wandring All we like sheep have gone astray errabundâ— vestigia our footsteps are wandring A travailer that regardeth his way and heedeth his journey is still asking the way Therefore the Prophet alluding hereunto biddeth us from the Lord thus saith the Lord Stand upon the waies and behold and aske for the old way which is the good way and walke therein and you shall finde rest for your soules It is no losse of time noâ— hinderance to our speed to stand upon the waies to aske for the good way for they that goe out of that way finde no rest God hath left us certaine guides of our way his word and his spirit let us aske of them the way they will direct us aright Aske the Patriarkes the Prophets the Converts of all times the Sonne of God and his holy Apostles they have gone this way themselves and knew it perfectly these will say haec est via ambulate in â—â— this is the way walke ye in it turne not to the right hand nor to the left keepe on forth right for that is the way of true wisedome They that keepe the right way must take heed of turning Remember Lots wife doe not so much as looke backe but let them that either doe know they goe wrong or doubt whether they goe right stand upon the waies and behold let them looke about them and see if by their owne judgement they can direct themselves but let them not trust that too farre let them also aske for the good way for there is
God is above his law his lawes binde him not neither is his truth or justice prejudiced or any way blemished by his dispensation and indulgences and maintenance of his prerogative His revealed will holdeth in the generall but limiteth him not he will shew mercy on whom he will Neither is he bound to his owne ordained meanes of grace but he can save without them and no doubt he doth also therefore though sinne deserve hell fire yet he may forgive this punishment where he will without violence to his law which much encourageth our turning to God for though it come to a decree yet before the decree come forth it may by repentance be delayed in the very egression the childe may come to birth and no strength to bring it forth And howsoever we finde no way of salvation without the Church nor meanes of grace without Iesus Christ yet let me tell you I dare not say that all those morall heathen who lived in the light of nature onely yet by the law written in their hearts did conscionably performe that which that law did command were certainely damned I will shew you what hope may be There was a law given to Adam poena â—ors punishment death When Adam sinned hee saw nothing but death before him he had no hope of favour God had reserved an unrevealed meanes of mercy in his owne secret wisedome and will It was not a contradiction to the will revealed but a gratious dispensation to declare him all in all Now seeing it is so excellent and so beneficiall a duty to turne to the Lord consider that God hath concluded us all under sinne and that must be the lesson of us all to turne to him What then is required to a perfect conversion to God 1 A search of our hearts for sinne comparing our waies with the rule which is the law of God This is that the just man doth when he meditateth on the law of God day and night for that meditation serveth 1 For information of the judgement quomodo ambulandum how we are to walke 2 For search of our conscience quid feci what have I done 3 For full resolution quid merâ—i what have I deserved 2 Vpon this followeth percussio cordis the smiting of the heart a true sorrow and penitentiall deploration and confession of sinne for he that confesseth shall finde mercy 3 A present holy and constant reformation of life to the uttermost of our power and desire with care and feare for the future all this David here promiseth in peccatores convertentur ad te sinners shall be converted unto thee But how shall this be unto me 4 The Authour of this Here David is modest he beginneth with docebo vias I will teach thy wayes but he saith not et convertam and I will turne he will not take that upon him nor convertent se they will turne themselves he will not promise so much for them Convertentur they shall be turned it must be Gods owne worke turne us and we shall be turned Christ hath delivered us from the extreme rigour and exaction of the law and by the good favour of God it will now suffice that we labour our conversion to God using the meanes by him ordained to that purpose and cherishing in ourselves the good motions of Gods Spirit abstaining from sinne all that we can and declining the occasions thereof and when we finde our selves falling away from him to take our selves in the manner and speedily to cry God mercy for it and to be more warie hereafter by taking heed to our words and thoughts and waies that we may doe no more so If you desire to know whether you doe abide in him or not 1 Examine your selves by the fruits of holinesse and righteousnesse in your selves for Christ saith He that abideth in me and I in him he bringeth forth much fruit 2 You shall know it by your zeale in prayer and the successe thereof for if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall aske what you will and it shall be done unto you 3 By your following the example of Christ in walking as he walked for as the merit of his obedience serveth for our justification so the example of his holinesse advanceth our sanctification for he hath said discite à me learne of me he is a Doctor as Bernard saith Cujus in â—re verbum vitae cujus in more vita verbi in whose presence is the word of life in whose conversation is the life of the word His love his patience his meekenesse and humility his obedience to his father are all exemplarie and Blessed is the servant whom his Master when he commeth shall finde so doing Where we affect and endeavour this way he is assistant to us and will not faile either in the worke to ayd it or in the reward to crowne it VERSE 14. Deliver me from bloud-guiltinesse O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousnesse 6 HE supplicateth in particular for pardon of his late great sinne of bloud in the murther of Uriah 1 Orat he prayes 2 promittit promises In the petition observe 1 Quid petit libera me â— sanguine what he prayes for Deliver me from bloud 2 A quo Deus Deus salut is meae from whom he askes O God thou God of my salvation 1 Quid petit what he asketh here we are directed in our pursuit of pardon to search our consciences for sinne and to crave speciall pardon for such sinnes in particular as doe most disquiet our conscience and offend God and scandall our profession of religion abroad and grieve the Church of God at home Such was this notorious sinne of David the crying sinne of murther the murther of a loyall faithfull servant Though all sinnes are mortall yet they are not all of equall magnitude the circumstances of persons time occasion place motives and such like doe either aggravate or extenuate them This murther of Davids hath full weight a King appointed by God to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shepheard of the people to be the butcher of a subject a preserver of men to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a destroyer He on whose head God had poured his holy oyle to rent gall and wormewood to any subject to turne tyrant A Prophet of the Lord appointed to guide others in the way of life to become a plotter of death This bloudy execution done on a subject so ready to expose his life in defence of his Soveraigne so deserving honourable reward so receiving dishonourable injustice And this to revenge an honest good affection to his Master and to make way for a marriage to conceale a shamefull adulterie a former injurie done also to him in defiling his Subjects bed Some sinnes affected with strong desire and committed with sensuall delight doe charge the conscience after the glosse of their faire seeming is worne off
envious persons because they cannot have their will doe not onely sicken and disease all the joyes of life but choake and strangle them with immoderate vexation If hearts so broken were a sacrifice to God Cain and Lamech and Esau and Ishmael and Absolon might plead for their acceptance with God for in Cains countenance in Lamechs words in Ishmaels lookes in Esaeus teares In Absolons flight wee may discerne what hearts they had no question much shaken and broken with severall vexations because they could not have their will 2 Inward compunction St. Bernard putteth us into the way of it 1 Looking up unto God 2 Looking downe upon our selves 1 Vpon God if we looke we shall finde 1 What he hath beene and is 2 What he is and shall be 1 What he hath beene and is to us 1 Factor a maker for thy hands have made me and fashioned me He made us not we our selves we are wonderfully and fearefully made Wonderfully in respect of the priviledges of man above all his other creatures and fearefully in respect of the danger he was in in case of falling 2 Benefactor for notwithstanding our fall to omit all other his favours Misit dedit filium non pepercit he hath sent he hath giveÌ„ his Son he hath not spared him and by him he offereth life and salvation God is no debtor to us that he should have so immense a summe of favours to pay us Adam would have sought out him in the fresh of the morning if it had been so Let us but cast up the accompt of the favours of God to us that is enough to breake the heart for full shame doth not onely put us out of countenance but out of heart also Ad omnia reus es plaâ—ge per singula thy guilt is universall let thy sorrow be universall There is never a favour by us received from God but it deserveth the thankes and obedience of our whole life Many sinnes are punished onely with shame here the law presumeth that shame will breake the heart and remove the offence Quânam fronte attolle oculos ad vultum patris tâ—â— boni tam malus filius With what fâ—ce do I so wicked a sonne behold the countenance of so good a Father Shame hath this power of breaking the heart because in all ingenuous natures it is joyned with griefe and grief grindeth the heart to powder For how can wee suffer it to have our faces covered with confusion and not to have our soules rent and torne with sorrow when wee consider how unthankfully wee have requited God with evill for all the favours hee hath done for us When he pleadeth What could I have done more for my Vineyard that I have not done and shall say If this had been too little I would have done more yet hee looked for grapes and lo we have brought him forth wilde grapes Can this do lesse then engrieve our soules and charge them with heavinesse even to the death that for our corn and wine and oile for the bread that strengtheneth our harts for the oile that maketh our countenance cheerfull for the wine that comforteth us for rain and fruitfull seasons for peace and prosperity wee should grieve the heart of God and pain him with our sinnes even to repentance that he hath made us 2 Consider what he is and shall be to us 1 Hee is the Lord Jehovah is his name he protecteth us in our being he giveth us laws to regulate our conversation and he saith to every one of us Hoc fac vives Do this and live But we have set his laws light and have cast his Commandements behind our backs We have hated to be reformed God himself the Father of mercies and God of all consolation cannot find out a way for mercy How shall I be mercifull to thee in this God hath risen early to send his prophets to us and they have stretched out their hands all the day long in season and out of season calling upon us to heare his words for they are sweet The wise consideration and remembrance of this exceeding love and patience of God in forbearing us of his wisdome in guiding us leading us like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron compared with our sinfull aberrations and wilfull oppositions to his Law may work upon us these two thoughts which may break our hearts 1 Quid feâ—i What have I done It was Jeremies complaint that there was none in the people that so bethought himself and cryed Quid feci What have I done Who audited his life and called himself to account for his sins but every man ran on in his sin as an horse rusheth into the battaile But even-reckonings doe make long friends If we see upon the accompt that wee have not to pay at least with the servant in the Parable let us aske mercy and crave a further day and promise payment that he may forgive us all the debt 2 With the auditours of Peter Viri fratres quid faciemus Men and brethren what shall we do When our hearts fail us and we are at our wits end and all our cunning is gone in this storm Then Samuel the Lords Prophet will say God forbid that I should â—inne against the Lord and cease praying for you but I will teach you the good and the right way Yea God himselfe shall be thy teacher He hath shewed thee ô man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee May not our hearts melt within us considering the time of light in which wee have lived that our wayes should yet be taxed with darknesse That ignorance should now be charged upon us after wisdome hath uttered her voice so long in our streets and high-wayes and on our house-tops Insomuch as God cryeth unto us in complaint and grief Why will you perish ô house of Israel 2 Consider God as hee shall be the judge of all our wayes of all our words of all our thoughts Shall I not avenge me of such a Nation as this We shall all appeare before the judgment seat of God and every man shall give account to God of himselfe What heart thinketh of this day of this appearance of this account of this judgment but it breaketh like a potters vessell it melteth like the fat of Lambs For when God ariseth and awaketh as one out of sleep as Noah awaked and knoweth what his sonnes have done to him Will not he rain snares to take us that wee may not escape his hail stones and coles of fire The God whom we provoke is a jealous and a terrible God it is a fearfull thing to fall into his angry hands when he ariseth to judge the righteous shall hardly be saved As Saint Bernard saith Instaurat adversumme testes Hee appointeth witnesses against me These are of two sorts it is a breaking of our hearts to heare either of them give in evidence 1 His benefits Victum vestitum usum temporis hujus ante