thy soul) must be shaked and shivered by violent sickness, before that soul can go out, and when it is thus gone out, must answer for all the imperfections of that body, which body polluted it, and yet, though this soul be such a loser by that body, it is not perfectly well, nor fully satisfied, till it be re-united to that body again; when thou rememberest, (and, oh, never forget it) that Christ himself was heavy in his soul unto death, that Christ himself came to a Si possibile, If it be possible, let this cup pass; that he came to a quare dereliquisti, a bitter sense of God's dereliction, and forsaking of him, when thou considerest all this, compose thyself for death, but think it not a light matter to die. Death made the lion of Judah to roar; and do not thou think, that that which we call going away like a lamb, doth more testify a conformity with Christ, than a strong sense, and bitter agony, and colluctation with death, doth. Christ gave us the rule, in the example; he taught us what we should do, by his doing it; and he pre-admitted a fearful apprehension of death. A lamb is a hieroglyphic of patience, but not of stupidity. And death was Christ's Consummatum est, All ended in death; yet he had sense of death; how much more doth a sad sense of our transmigration belong to us, to whom death is no consummatum est, but an in principio; our account, and our everlasting state begins but then. Apud te propitiatio, ut timearis; in this knot we tie up all; With thee there is mercy, that thou mightest be feared3. There is a holy fear, that does not only consist with an assurance of mercy, but induces, constitutes that assurance. Pavor operantibus iniquitatem, says Solomon 84; Pavor, horror, and servile fear, jealousy, and suspicion of God, diffidence, and distrust in his mercy, and a bosom-prophecy of self-destruction; destruction itself, (so we translate it) be upon the workers of iniquity; Paror operantibus iniquitatem; and yet says that wise king, Beatus qui semper Paridus; Blessed is that man that always fears 5; who, though he always hope, and believe the good that God will show him, yet also fears the evils, that God might justly multiply upon him; blessed is he that looks upon God with assurance, but upon him 83 Psalm cxxx. 4. 84 Prov. xxi. 15. 85 Prov. xxviii. 14. self with fear. For, though God have given us light, by which we may see him, even in nature, (for, He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea) though God have given us a clearer light in the law, and experience of his providence upon his people throughout the Old Testament, though God have abundantly, infinitely multiplied these lights and these helps to us in the Christian church, where he is the God of salvation, yet, as he answers us by terrible things, (in that first acceptation of the words which I proposed to you) that is, gives us assurances, by miraculous testimonies in our behalf, that he will answer our patient expectation, by terrible judg ments and revenges upon our enemies, In his righteousness, that is, in his faithfulness, according to his promises, and according to his performances of those promises, to his former people; so in the words, considered the other way, in his holiness, that is, in his ways of imprinting holiness in us, he answers us by terrible things, in all those particulars, which we have presented unto you; by infusing faith; but with that terrible addition, damnabitur, he that believeth not, shall be damned; he answers us, by composing our manners, and rectifying our life and conversation; but with terrible additions of censures, and excommunications, and tearings off from his own body, which is a death to us, and a wound to him; he answers us by enabling us to speak to him in prayer; but with terrible additions, for the matter, for the manner, for the measure of our prayer, which being neglected, our very prayer is turned to sin. He answers us in preaching; but with that terrible commination, that even his word may be the savour of death unto death. He answers us in the sacrament; but with that terrible perplexity and distraction, that he that seems to be a John, or a Peter, a loving, or a beloved disciple, may be a Judas, and he that seems to have received the seal of his reconciliation, may have eaten and drunk his own damnation. And he answers us at the hour of death; but with this terrible obligation, that even then I make sure my salvation with fear and trembling. That so we imagine not a God of wax, whom we can melt, and mould, when, and how we will; that we make not the church a market, that an over-homeliness and familiarity with God in the acts of religion, bring us not to an irreverence, nor indifferency of places; but that, as the militant church is the porch of the triumphant, so our reverence here may have some proportion to that reverence which is exhibited there, where the elders cast their crowns before the throne, and continue in that holy and reverend acclamation, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power"; for, (as we may add from this text) By terrible things, O God of our salvation, doest thou answer us in righteousness. THE FIFTH OF MY PREBEND SERMONS UPON MY FIVE Psalms. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. It is well said, (so well, as that more than one of the fathers seemed to have delighted themselves in having said it) titulus clavis, the title of the Psalm, is the key of the Psalm; the title opens the whole Psalm. The church of Rome will needs keep the key of heaven, and the key to that key, the Scriptures, wrapped up in that translation, which in no case must be departed from. There, the key of this Psalm, (the title thereof) hath one bar wrested, that is, made otherwise, than he that made the key, (the Holy Ghost) intended it; and another bar inserted, that is, one clause added, which the Holy Ghost added not. Where we read, in the title, victori, to the chief musician, they read, in finem, a Psalm directed upon the end. I think, they mean upon the latter times, because it is in a great part, a prophetical Psalm of the calling of the Gentiles. But after this change, they also add resurrectionis, a Psalm concerning the resurrection; and that is not in the Hebrew, nor anything in the 86 Revel. iv. 11. place thereof. And, after one author in that church' had charged the Jews, that they had rased that clause out of the Hebrew, and that it was in the Hebrew at first, a learned and a laborious Jesuit*, (for truly, schools may confess the Jesuits to be learned, for they have assisted there; and states, and council-tables may confess the Jesuits to be laborious, for they have troubled them there) he, I say, after he hath chidden his fellow, for saying, that this word had ever been in the Hebrew, or was rased out from thence by the Jews, concludes roundly, Undecunque advenerit, howsoever those additions, which are not in the Hebrew, came into our translation, authoritatem habent, et retineri debent, their very being there, gives them authenticness, and authority, and there they must be. That this, in the title of this Psalm, be there, we are content, as long as you know, that this particular, (that this Psalm by the title thereof concerns the resurrection) is not in the original, but added by some expositor of the Psalms; you may take knowledge too, that that addition hath been accepted and followed, by many, and ancient, and reverend expositors, almost all of the eastern, and many of the western church too; and therefore, for our use and accommodation, may well be accepted by us also. We consider ordinarily three resurrections: a spiritual resurrection, a resurrection from sin, by grace in the church; a temporal resurrection, a resurrection from trouble, and calamity in the world; and an eternal resurrection, a resurrection after which no part of man shall die, or suffer again, the resurrection into glory. Of the first, the resurrection from sin, is that intended in Esay, Arise, and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Of the later resurrection, is that harmonious strain of all the apostles in their creed intended, I believe the resurrection of the body. And of the third resurrection, from oppressions and calamities which the servants of God suffer in this life, some of our later men understand that place of Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in my flesh I shall see God'; and that place of Ezekiel all understand of that resurrection, where God saith to the prophet, Son of man, can these bones 1 Leo Castr. VOL. III. 4 live? Can these men thus ruined, thus dispersed, be restored again by a resurrection in this world? And to this resurrection from the pressures and tribulations of this life, do those interpreters, who interpret this Psalm, of a resurrection, refer this our text, (Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.) Consider how powerfully God hath, and you cannot doubt, but that God will give them a resurrection in this world, who rely upon him, and use his means, whensoever any calamity hath dejected them, ruined them, scattered them in the eyes of men. Say unto the Lord, that he hath done it, and the Lord will say unto thee, that he will do it again and again for thee. We call Noah, Janus, because he had two faces, in this respect, that he looked into the former, and into the later world, he saw the times before, and after the flood. David in this text, is a Janus too; he looks two ways, he hath a prospect, and a retrospect, he looks backward and forward, what God had done, and what God would do. For, as we have one great comfort in this, that prophecies are become histories, that whatsoever was said by the mouths of the prophets, concerning our salvation in Christ, is effected, (so prophecies are made histories) so have we another comfort in this text, that histories are made prophecies; that whatsoever we read that God had formerly done, in the relief of his oppressed servants, we are thereby assured that he can, that he will do them again; and so histories are made prophecies: and upon these two pillars, a thankful acknowledgement of that which God hath done, and a faithful assurance that God will do so again, shall this present exercise of your devotions be raised; and these are our two parts. Dicite Deo, Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works! (that part is historical, of things past) in multitudine virtutis, In the greatness of thy power, shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee, (that part is prophetical, of things to come.) In the history we are to turn many leaves, and many in the prophecy too, to pass many steps, to put out many branches in each. In the first, these; Dicite, say ye; where we consider first, the person that enjoys this public acknowledgement and thanks 6 Ezek. xxxvii. 3. |