Exposition of the Principal Scriptures Used in our English Liturgy, Part 6 – Part 7
Psalm. 51. 15.
Lord open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
AS man is a little world in the great, so the tongue a great world in the little.fHieron. poster. exposit. in Psal. 119. … Nihil habet medium, aut grande malum est, aut grande bonum. If good (as Eunapius said of that famous Rhetorician) a walking librarie, a whole Vniuersitie of edifying knowledge: but if bad (asgCap. 3. 6. S. Iames doth tell vsus) a world of wickednesse. NohPlutarch. Aesop. better dish for Gods iPars optima digna quae sit hostia. Prudent. hym. de R…man. marty….publike seruice, when it is well seasoned: againe, none worse when ill handled.
So that if we desire to be doore-keepers in Gods house, let vsus intreat God first to be a doore-keeper in our house, that he would shut the wicket of our mouth against vnsauory speeches, and open the doore of our lippes, that our mouth may shew forth his praise. This was Dauids praier, and ought to be thy practise, wherein obserue three points especially:
Who: the Lord.
What: open my lippes.
Why: that my mouth may shew thy praise.
For the first; man of himselfe cannot vntie the strings of his own stammering tongue, but it is God only which openeth akColos. 2. 3. doore of vtterance. When we hauehave a good thought it is (as the schoole doth speake) gratia infusa; when a good word, gratia effusa; when a good worke, gratia diffusa. Man is as a locke, the spirit of God as a key,lApocal. 3. 7. which openeth and no man shutteth; againe, shutteth, and no man openeth. He did open the heart of Lydia to conceiue well, Acts 16. the eares of the Prophet to heare well, Esay 50. the eies of Elishaes seruant to see well, 2. Kings 6. and here the lips of Dauid to speake well. And therefore whereas in the former verse he might seeme too peremptory, saying, my tongue shall sing of thy righteousnesse; he doth as it were correct himselfe by this latter edition, and second speech: O Lord, I finde my selfe, of my selfe, most vnable to sing or say, but open thou my lips, and touch thou my tongue, and then I am sure my mouth shall shew thy praise.
This doctrine sheweth in generall our dependance on God, inmActs 17 28. whom we liue, and moue, and hauehave our being; from whom only commethnIames 1. 17. eueryevery good and perfect gift.
Man is Gods image: Gen. 1. 26. SomeoDid…us de la Vega. con. 7. super Psal 4. …nitential. & Ol…aster in cap. 1. Gen. translators vse the word which signifieth a shadow. Now as an image or a shadow doth onelyonly mooue as the bodie whereof it is a likenesse; when the body doth stretch forth an arme, the shadow presently hath an arme; when the bodie doth put foorth a legge, the shadow hath a legge. So man in all his actions, as a shadow depends on God, as the sole foundation of all hispDan. 5. 23. being.
In more particular, this ouerthroweth allqLocus contra Pelagian…s, vti Genebrardus in loc. workemongers, and (if I may so speake) babling word-mongers. If a man cannot open his owne lips to praise God, much lesse direct his owne heart to please God: if not able to tune his tongue, let him not presume to turne his soule.
And if a man cannot open his mouth aright, let him not picke it with a false key, but rather pray with Dauid in the 141. Psalme: Set a watch O Lord before my mouth, and keepe the doores of my lips. As it is absurd in building to make the porch bigger then the house; so, monstrous in nature, when wee commit burglarie, breaking the doores and pulling downe therEcclesiasticus …8. 24. barres of our mouth, that the narrow passage may be made wide for our bigge words, and high conceits. A foule fault when our words are either too many, or too mightie: Ecclesiastes 5. 1.
2. Point what: Open my lips.
Dauid sPsal. 14. 5.elsewhere thinkes our mouth too much open, and S.tCap. 3. 8. Iames that our tongue is too glib and vnrulie. Lingua facilè volat, & ideo facile violat (saithuSerm. de Triplici custodia manus, linguae, cordis. Bernard.) In old age, when all other members are dull and stiffe, thexErasmus com. de lingua▪ & August. lib. 10. Confess. cap. 37. quotidiana …ornax est humana lingua. tongue notwithstanding is quicke and nimble. What neede any then pray for opening their lippes? I answere with the Prophet Ieremie, chap 4. vers. 22. They are wise to doe euill, but to doe well they hauehave no knowledge. Men hauehave tongue enough to speake ill, an open mouth to blaspheme God, and slander their neighbour; but like Plinies Astomi, no mouth, no lippes, no tongue, possessed with a dumbe diuell when they should speake well.
Hierome,yIn locum. Basil, Euthymius, and other ancient Doctors obserue, that naturall corruptions, and actuall sinnes are the very rampiers which stop this free passage. So Dauid himselfe doth expound himselfe, vers. 14. Deliuer me from blood guiltinesse, O God, and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousnesse. His vnthankfulnesse did crie: his adulterie crie: his murther crie vntounto the Lord for reuenge: but alas, himselfe was mute, till God in exceeding great merciemercy did stop the …outhes of his clamorous aduersaries, and gaue him leaue to speake.
Here we note the great wisedome of the Church assigning this place to this versicle in this booke: namely, before the Ps…es, Lessons and Collects: and yet after the Confession and absolution of our sinnes, insinuating that our mouthes are silenced only by transgression, and opened only by God: and therefore when wee meete together in the Temple to bee thankfull vntounto him, and to speake good of his name, wee must craue first, that according to the multitude of his rich mercies; hee would pardon all our old sinnes, and then put into our mouth a new song: that, as the seruice is holie, the time holie, the place holie; so we likewise thezPulchra non est la…s in ore …. Hieron. in. loc. persons holie, who sing, Holy, holy, holy, &c.
Deus faciat t…m commodum, quàm Ecclesia fecit accommodum. Our fathers in this imitated the learned Hebrew Doctors, inioyning that this verse should be said at the beginning of eueryevery prayer, inaGenebrardus in locum. tractatu Berachoth: that is, their Liturgie, being the first part of the Talmud, as Pet. Galatinus lib. 1. cap. 5. do Arcanis: & Saxtus Sene…sis Bibliothec. lib. 2 pag. 121.
My lips] A part for the whole, sufficient abilitie to praise God: Ex abundant…abMat. 12. 34. cordis os loquitur. He doth intreate God then, as before, for a cleane hart, and a right spirit, that hiscM…sculus in locum. old ioyes of conscience may bee renued, and all the whole man throughly repaired, a gooddLuc…s Lossius in locum. desire to begin, a ready will to continue, a constant resolution to end in Gods holie seruice.
The key of the mouth ought not to stand in the doore of the lippes, but to be kept in the cabinet of the minde.
ForeEcclesiasticus 21.…6. the heart of fooles is in their mouth, but the mouth of the wise is in their heart. Dauid therefore doth desire first a newfverse 10. soule, then a new so…g. The tongue is ambassadour of the minde; as often as we speake without meditation before, so often the messenger runneth without his errand. And idle words are not little sinnes, of which one day wee shall giuegive greatgMat. 12. 36. account.
The mind then and the mouth must goe together: in ciuill communication, hee that will not speake idlely, must thinke what he speakes; and he that will not speake falsely, must speake what he thinks. In holy deuotion, God must be praised vponupon w…llhPsal. 150. 5. tuned Cymbals, and loud Cymbals, in his quier: first tune well, a preparedi… heart, then …ound well▪ a cheerfull tongue like thekPsal. 45. 2. pen of a ready writer. Albeit mentall praier at sometime, and in some place, be sufficient: yetlThom. 22 …. qu…st. 83. art. 12 vocall, in Gods publike worship, is necessary, to stir vp and blow the coales of zeale both in our selues and others. Open lips in open seruice.
Why: 3. part.
That my mouth may shew thy praise. That as ofmRom. 11. 36. thee, and through thee, and for thee are all things; so to thee may be prais… for euermore. See Pater Noster.
God is of himselfe, and in himselfe so great, so good, as that we cannot any way detract or adde to his glory. Nec nAugust. in Psal. 134. Non … benedictione, nec in…uitur maledict. nostra. Id. … in Psal. 66.…elior si …, nec deterior si vituperaueri…. I answere, though we cannot make Gods praise greater in it selfè, yet we may make it s…eme greater vntounto other; it is our du…ie to she…forth his praise in all our words and actions too: for albeit we cannot make a new God, and a new Christ, (as the Papists d…e) yet o…r good example, and gratious speech, may make l…t…le Christ a grea… Christ; occasion all those with whom we conuerse to magnifie the Lord now, who little regarded him before. See the ….
This annunciation of praise consists of often repetition and particular enumeration of Gods especiall goodnesse towards vsus. oIn locum tom. 8. fol. 339.Augustine therefore doth glosse the text thus: La…dem tuam, qu…a creatus s…m. Laud…m t…am, quia vt consi…erer iam monitus sum. La…dem tuam. quia peccans non derelictus sum. Laudem tuam, quia vt secur…s essem mundatus sum.
pHugo Cardinal. …n. Luc. cap. 10. 27.Hugo c…mprehends all, which concernes vsus all, in foure words: God is to be praised, qui Creator … esse, Conseruator in esse, Recreator in … Glorificator in optimo esse: qui qAugust. de lib. arbitrio lib. 3. cap. 15.non reddit Deo faciendo quod debet, reddet ei, patiendo quod debet.
The whole text doth teach all men generally the language of Cana…n uEsay 19. 18., that is, what and how to speake, that their mout… may glorifie God, and edifie their brethren. Especiall… Pastors toxEsay 50.…. minister a word in time to the weary; so to tune their notes, as that they may be like apples ofyProu▪ 25. …. gold … of …iluer. In all their sermons to preach Iesus for Iesus. hunting not after their owne, but his glory Lord open my lips that my mouth may shew not My praise, but Thy praise, saith Dauid.
Gloria Patri.
THis Hymne is of good credit, and great antiquity.zDe religiare Christian. … cap. 19. Ramus acknowledgeth ingenuously both. It is a paraphrastticall exposition of that excellent spe…ch, Rom. 11. 36. aEx notat patrem…pe… filium: in spir sanct. Lombard. lib. 1. s…t dist. 36. & Augustin. de Trin. lib. 6. cap 10.Of him▪ and through him, and for him are all things, to him be glory for euer, Amen: vsed in the Church to manifest our sound iudgement in matter of doctrine concerning the sacred Trinitie. We must (saithbEpistol 78. & Melanct. exposit. symbol, Nice…. tom. 1. fol. 403. Basil) as we hauehave receiued, euen so baptize, and as we baptize, euen so beleeue, and as we belieue, euen so giuegive glory. Baptizing we vse the name of the Father, of the Sonne, of the holy Ghost: confessing the Christian faith, we declare our beliefe in the Father, and in the Sonne, and in the holy Ghost: ascribing glory to God, we giuegive it to the Father, and to the Sonne, and to the holie Ghost. And howsoeuer Anabaptisticall Antipodes, out of their ambitious humour to contradict all other, and heare themselues only speak, would hauehave thrust out of the Church all solemne set formes of holy seruice: yet Gloria Patri stands still, and like a true Martyr doth shew the greatest counteuance in lowest estate.
For antiquitie, such as looke lowest affirme that it was ordained first bycAlcuinus lib. de offic. diuin. Damasus, ann. Dom. dFlorilegus fol. 104.376. Others, that it was enacted in that famous Councell of Nice, consisting of 318. Bishops vnderunder Constantine the Great, an. eMagdeburg. Cent. 4. col. 617.320.
…aebadius in lib. aduersus Arrian. insinuates, that it was vsed in the Church long before. The curious in this point may further examinefDe Missa lib. 2. cap. …6. Bellarmine, and that Oxenford of learning, Master RichardgEcclesiast. polit. lib. 5. § 42. Hooker.