Eighty Sermons, penitential psalms · Sermon 53
SERM. LIII. Preached upon the Penitentiall Pſalmes.
PSAL. 6.4, 5.
Returne, O Lord; Deliver my ſoule; O Lord ſave me, for thy merciemercy ſake.
For in Death there is no Remembrance of thee; and in the Grave, who ſhall give thee thanks?
WEE come now to the Reaſons of theſe Petitions, in Davids Prayer; For, as every Prayer muſt bee made with faith, (I muſt beleeve that God will grant my Prayer, if it conduce to his glory, and my good to doe ſo, that is the limit of my faith) ſo I muſt have reaſon to ground a likelyhood, and a faire probability that that particular which I pray for, doth conduce to his glory and my good, and that therefore God is likely to grant it. Davids firſt Reaſon here is grounded on God himſelfe, Propter miſericordiam, Doe it for thy mercy ſake; and in his ſecond Reaſon, though David himſelfe, and all men with him, ſeeme to have a part, yet at laſt we ſhall ſee, the Reaſon it ſelfe to determine wholly and entirely in God too, and in his glory, Quoniam non in morte, Do it O Lord, For in Death there is no remembrance of thee, &c.
In ſome other places,Propter miſericordiam. Pſal. 40.11. David comes to God with two reaſons, and both grounded meerely in God; Miſericordia, & veritas, Let thy Mercy and thy Truth alwaies preſerve me. In this place he puts himſelfe wholly upon his mercy, for mercy is all, or at leaſt, the foundation that ſuſtaines all, or the wall that imbraces all. That mercy, which the word of this text, Caſad imports, is Benignitas in non promeritum; Mercy is a good diſpoſition towards him, who hath deſerved nothing of himſelfe; For, where there is merit, there is no mercy. Nay, it imports more then ſo, For mercy, as mercy, preſumes not onelyonly no merit in man, but it takes knowledge of no promiſe in God, properly; For that is the difference betweene Mercy and Truth, that by Mercy at firſt, God would make promiſes to man, in generall; and then by Truth, he would performe thoſe promiſes: but Mercy goeth firſt; and there David begins and grounds his Prayer, at Mercy; Mercy that can have no pre-mover, no pre-relation, but begins in it ſelfe. For if we conſider the mercy of God to mankinde ſubſequently, I meane, after the Death of Chriſt, ſo it cannot bee properly called mercy. Mercy thus conſidered, hath a ground; And God thus conſidered, hath received a plentifull, and an abundant ſatisfaction in the merits of Chriſt Jeſus; And that which hath a ground in man, that which hath a ſatisfaction from man, (Chriſt was truly Man) fals not properly, preciſely, rigidly, under the name of mercy. But conſider God in his firſt diſpoſition to man, after his fall, That he would vouchſafe to ſtudy our Recovery, and that he would turne upon no other way, but the ſhedding of the blood of his owne and innocent and glorious Son, Quid eſt homo, aut filius hominis? What was man, or all mankinde, that God ſhould be mindfull of him ſo, or ſo mercifull to him? When God promiſes that he will be mercifull and gracious to me, if I doe his Will, when in ſome meaſure I doe that Will of his, God begins not then to be mercifull; but his mercy was awake and at worke before, when he excited me, by that promiſe, to doe his Will. And after, in my performance of thoſe duties, his Spirit ſeales to me a declaration, that his Truth is exerciſed upon mee now, as his mercy was before. Still, his Truth is in the effect, in the fruit, in the execution, but the Decree, and the Roote is onelyonly Mercy.
God is pleaſed alſo when we come to him with other Reaſons; When we remember him of his Covenant; When we remember him of his holy ſervants, Abraham, Iſaac, and Iacob; yea when we remember him of our owne innocencie, in that particular, for which wee may be then unjuſtly purſued; God was glad to heare of a Righteouſneſſe, and of an Innocencie, and of cleane and pure hands in David, when hee was unjuſtly purſued by Saul. But the roote of all is in this, Propter miſericordiam, Doe it for thy merciemercy ſake. For when we ſpeake of Gods Covenant, it may be miſtaken, who is, and who is not within that Covenant; What know I? Of Nations, and of Churches, which have received the outward profeſſion of Chriſt, we may be able to ſay, They are within the Covenant, generally taken; But when we come to particular men in the Congregation, there I may call a Hypocrite, a Saint, and thinke an excomunicate ſoule, to be within the Covenant; I may miſtake the Covenant, and I may miſtake Gods ſervants, who did, and who did not dye in his favour, What know I? We ſee at Executions, when men pretend to dye cheerefully for the glory of God, halfe the company will call them Traitors, and halfe Martyrs. So if we ſpeake of our owne innocency, we may have a pride in that, or ſome other vicious and defective reſpect (as uncharitableneſſe towards our malicious Perſecutors, or laying ſeditious aſperſions upon the juſtice of the State) that may make us guilty towards God, though wee be truly innocent to the World, in that particular. But let mee make my recourſe to the mercy of God, and there can bee no errour, no miſtaking.
And therefore if that, and nothing but that be my ground, God will Returne to me, God will Deliver my ſoule, God will Save me, For his mercy ſake; that is, becauſe his mercy is engaged in it. And if God were to ſell me this Returning, this Delivering, this Saving, and all that I pray for; what could I offer God for that, ſo great as his owne mercy, in which I offer him the Innocencie, the Obedience, the Blood of his onelyonly Son. If I buy of the Kings land, I muſt pay for it in the Kings money; I have no Myne, nor Mint of mine owne; If I would have any thing from God, I muſt give him that which is his owne for it, that is, his mercy; And this is to give God his mercy, To give God thanks for his mercy, To give all to his mercy, And to acknowledge, that if my works be acceptable to him, nay if my very faith be acceptable to him, it is not becauſe my works, no nor my faith hath any proportion of equivalencie in it, or is worth the leaſt flaſh of joy, or the leaſt ſpangle of glory in Heaven, in it ſelfe, but becauſe God in his mercy, onelyonly of his mercy, meerely for the glory of his mercy, hath paſt ſuch a Covenant, Crede, & fac hoc, Beleeve this, and doe this, and thou ſhalt live, not for thy deed ſake, not nor for thy faith ſake, but for my mercy ſake. And farther we carry not this firſt reaſon of the Prayer, ariſing onelyonly from God.
There remaines in theſe words another Reaſon,In morte. in which David himſelfe, and all men ſeeme to have part, Quia non in morte, For in death there is no remembrance of thee, &c. Upon occaſion of which words, becauſe they ſeeme to imply a lothneſſe in David to dye, it may well be inquired, why Death ſeemed ſo terrible to the good and godly men of thoſe times, as that evermore we ſee them complaine of ſhortneſſe of life, and of the neereneſſe of death. Certainely the rule is true, in naturall, and in civill, and in divine things, as long as wee are in this World, Nolle meliorem, eſt corruptio primae habitudinis, Picus Heptapl. l. 7. proem.That man is not well, who deſires not to be better; It is but our corruption here, that makes us loth to haſten to our incorruption there. And beſides, many of the Ancients, and all the later Caſuiſts of the other ſide, and amongſt our owne men, Peter Martyr, and Calvin, aſſigne certaine caſes, in which it hath Rationem boni, The nature of Good, and therefore is to be embraced, to wiſh our diſſolution and departure out of this World; and yet, many good and godly men have declared this lothneſſe to dye. Beloved, waigh Life and Death one againſt another, and the balance will be even; Throw the glory of God into either balance, and that turnes the ſcale. S. Paul could not tell which to wiſh, Life, or Death; There the balance was even; Then comes in the glory of God, the addition of his ſoule to that Quire, that ſpend all their time, eternity it ſelfe, only in glorifying God, and that turnes the ſcale, and then, he comes to his Cupio diſſolvi, To deſire to be diſſolved, and to be with Chriſt. But then, he puts in more of the ſame waight in the other ſcale, he ſees that it advances Gods glory more, for him to ſtay, and labour in the building of Gods Kingdome here, and ſo adde more ſoules then his owne to that ſtate, then only to enjoy that Kingdome in himſelf, and that turnes the ſcale againe, and ſo he is content to live.
Theſe Saints of God then when they deprecate death, and complain of the approaches of death, they are, at that time, in a charitable extaſie, abſtracted and withdrawne from the conſideration of that particular happineſſe, which they, in themſelves, might haye in heaven; and they are tranſported and ſwallowed up with this ſorrow, that the Church here, and gods kingdome upon earth, ſhould lack thoſe meanes of advancement, or aſſiſtance, which God, by their ſervice, was pleaſed to afford to his Church. Whether they were good Kings, good Prieſts, or good Prophets, the Church loſt by their death; and therefore they deprecated that death,Eſay 38.18. and deſired to live. The grave cannot praiſe thee, death cannot celebrate thee; But the living, the living, he ſhall praiſe thee, as I doe this day, ſayes Hezekias; He was affected with an apprehenſion of a future barrenneſſe after his death, and a want of propagation of Gods truth; I ſhall not ſee the Lord, even the Lord, ſayes he. He had aſſurance, that he ſhould ſee the Lord in Heaven, when by death he was come thither; But, ſayes he, I ſhall not ſee him in the land of the living; Well, even in the land of the living, even in the land of life it ſelfe, he was to ſee him, if by death he were to ſee him in Heaven; But this is the loſſe that he laments, this is the miſery that he deplores with ſo much holy paſſion, I ſhall behold man no more, with the Inhabitants of the world; Howſoever, I ſhall enjoy God my ſelfe, yet I ſhall be no longer a meanes, an inſtrument of the propagation of Gods truth amongſt others; And, till we come to that joy, which the heart cannot conceive, it is, I thinke, the greateſt joy that the ſoule of man is capable of in this life, (eſpecially where a man hath been any occaſion of ſinne to others) to aſſiſt the ſalvation of others. And even that conſideration, that he ſhall be able to doe Gods cauſe no more good here, may make a good man loath to die. Quid facies magno nomini tuo? Joſ. 7.9.ſayes Ioſhuah in his prayer to God; if the Canaanites come in, and deſtroy us, and blaſpheme thee, What wilt thou do unto thy mighty Name? What wilt thou doe unto thy glorious Church, ſaid the Saints of God in thoſe Deprecations, if thou take thoſe men out of the world, whom thou hadſt choſen, enabled, qualified for the edification, ſuſtentation, propagation of that Church. In a word, David conſiders not here, what men doe, or doe not in the next world; but he conſiders onelyonly, that in this world he was bound to propagate Gods Truth, and that that he could not doe, if God tooke him away by death.
Conſider then this horrour, and deteſtation, and deprecation of death, in thoſe Saints of the old Teſtament, with relation to their particular, and then it muſt be, Quia promiſſiones obſcurae, Becauſe Moſes had conveyed to thoſe men, all Gods future bleſſings, all the joy and glory of Heaven, onelyonly in the types of earthly things, and ſaid little of the ſtate of the ſoule after this life. And therefore the promiſes belonging to the godly after this life, were not ſo cleere then, not ſo well manifeſted to them, not ſo well fixt in them, as that they could, in contemplation of them, ſtep eaſily, or deliver themſelves confidently into the jawes of death; he that is not fully ſatisfied of the next world, makes ſhift to be content with this; and he that cannot reach, or does not feele that, will be glad to keepe his hold upon this. Conſider their horrour, and …eteſtation, and deprecation of death, not with relation to themſelves, but to Gods Church, and then it will be, Quia operarii pauci, Becauſe God had a great harveſt in hand, and few labourers in it, they were loath to be taken from the worke.
And theſe Reaſons might, at leaſt, by way of excuſe and extenuation, in thoſe times of darkneſſe, prevaile ſomewhat in their behalfe; They ſaw not whither they went, and therefore were loath to goe; and they were loath to goe, becauſe they ſaw not how Gods Church would ſubſiſt, when they were gone. But in theſe times of ours, when Almighty God hath given an abundant remedy to both theſe, their excuſes will not be appliable to us. We have a full cleerneſſe of the ſtate of the ſoule after this life, not onelyonly above thoſe of the old Law, but above thoſe of the Primitive Chriſtian Church, which, in ſome hundreds of yeares, came not to a cleere underſtanding in that point, whether the ſoule were immortall by nature, or but by preſervation, whether the ſoule could not die, or onelyonly ſhould not die. Or (becauſe that perchance may be without any conſtant cleerneſſe yet) that was not cleere to them, (which concernes our caſe neerer) whether the ſoule came to a preſent fruition of the ſight of God after death or no. But God having afforded us cleerneſſe in that, and then bleſt our times with an eſtabliſhed Church, and plenty of able work-men for the preſent, and plenty of Schooles, and competency of endowments in Univerſities, for the eſtabliſhing of our hopes, and aſſurances for the future, ſince we have both the promiſe of Heaven after, and the promiſe that the gates of Hell ſhall not prevaile againſt the Church here; Since we can neither ſay, Promiſsiones obſeurae, That Heaven hangs in a Cloud, nor ſay, Operarii pauci, That dangers hang over the Church, it is much more inexcuſable in us now, then it was in any of them then, to be loath to die, or to be too paſſionate in that reaſon of the deprecation, Quia non in morte, Becauſe in death there is no remembrance of thee &c.
Which words, being taken literally, may fill our meditation, and exalt our devotion thus; If in death there be no remembrance of God, if this remembrance periſh in death, certainly it decayes in the neerneſſe to death; If there be a poſſeſſion in death, there is an approach in age; And therefore, Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth. Eccleſ. 12.1.There are ſpirituall Lethargies, that make a man forget his name; forget that he was a Chriſtian, and what belongs to that duty. God knows what forgetfulneſſe may poſſeſſe thee upon thy death-bed, and freeze thee there; God knows what rage, what diſtemper, what madneſſe may ſcatter thee then; And though in ſuch caſes, God reckon with his ſervants, according to that diſpoſition which they uſe to have towards him before, and not according to thoſe declinations from him, which they ſhew in ſuch diſtempered ſickneſſes, yet Gods mercy towards them can worke but ſo, that he returnes to thoſe times, when thoſe men did remember him before. But if God can finde no ſuch time, that they never remembred him, then he ſeales their former negligence with a preſent Lethargy; they neglected God all their lives, and now in death there is no remembrance of him, nor there is no remembrance in him; God ſhall forget him eternally; and when he thinkes he is come to his Conſummatum eſt, The bell tolls, and will ring out, and there is an end of all in death, by death he comes but to his Secula Seculorum, to the beginning of that miſery, which ſhall never end.
This then which we have ſpoken, ariſes out of that ſenſe of theſe words, which ſeems the moſt literall; that is, of a naturall death. But as it is well noted by divers Expoſitors upon this Pſalme, this whole Pſalme is intended of a ſpirituall agonie, and combat of David, wraſtling with the apprehenſion of hell, and of the indignation of God, even in this world, whilſt he was alive here. And therefore S. Auguſtine upon the laſt words of this verſe, in that Tranſlation which he followed, In inferno quis conſitchitur tibi? Not, In the grave, but In hell, who ſhall confeſſe unto thee? puts himſelfe upon this, In Inferne Dives confeſſus Domino, & oravit pro fratribus, In hell Dives did confeſſe the name of the Lord, and prayed there for his brethren in the world. And therefore he underſtands not theſe words of a literall, and naturall, a bodily death, a departing out of this world; but he calls Peccatum Mortem, and then, Caecitatem animae Infernum; He makes the eaſineſſe of ſinning to be Death, and then, blindneſſe, and obduration, and remorſleſneſſe, and impenitence, to be this Hell. And ſo alſo doth S. Ierome underſtand all that paſſionate deploring of Hezekias, (which ſeems literally to be ſpoken of naturall death) of this ſpirituall death, of the habit of ſin, and that he conſidered, and lamented eſpecially his danger of that death, of a departing from God in this world, rather then of a departing out of this world. And truely many pieces and paſſages of Hezekias his lamentation there, will fall naturally enough into that ſpirituall interpretation; though perchance all will not, though S. Ierome with a holy purpoſe drive them, and draw them that way. But whether that of Hezekias be of naturall, or of a ſpirituall death, we have another Author ancienter then S. Auguſtine, and S. Ierome, and ſo much eſteemed by S. Iereme, as that he tranſlated ſome of his Works, which is Didymus of Alexandria, who ſayes, it is Impia opinio, not an inconvenient, or unnaturall, but an impious and irreligious opinion, to underſtand this verſe of naturall death; becauſe, ſayes he, The dead doe much more remember God then the living doe. And he makes uſe of that place, Deus non confunditur, Heb. 11.16.God is not aſhamed to be called the God of the dead, for he hath prepared them a City. And therefore reading theſe words of our Text, according to that Tranſlation which prevailed in the Eaſterne Church, which was the Septuagint, he argues thus, he collects thus, that all that David ſayes here, is onelyonly this, Non eſt in morte qui memor eſt Dei, Not that he that is dead remembers not God, but that he that remembers God, is not dead; not in an irreparable, and irrecoverable ſtate of death; not under ſuch a burthen of ſin as devaſtates and exterminates the conſcience, and evacuates the whole power and work of grace, but that if he can remember God, confeſſe God, though he be falne under the hand of a ſpirituall death, by ſome ſin, yet he ſhall have his reſurrection in this life; for, Non eſt in morte, ſayes Didymus, He that remembers God, is not dead, in a perpetuall death.
And then this reaſon of Davids Prayer here, (Doe this and this, for in death there is no remembrance of thee) will have this force, That God would returne to him in his effectuall grace, That God would deliver his ſoule in dangerous tentations, That God would ſave him in applying to him, and imprinting in him a ſober, but yet confident aſſurance that the ſalvation of Chriſt Jeſus belongs to him; Becauſe if God did not return to him, but ſuffer him to wither in a long abſence, If God did not deliver him, by taking hold of him when he was ready to fall into ſuch ſins as his ſociableneſſe, his confidence, his inconſideration, his infirmity, his curioſity brought him to the brinke of, If God did not ſave him, by a faithfull aſſurance of ſalvation after a ſin committed and reſented, This abſence, this ſlipperineſſe, this pretermitting, might bring him to ſuch a deadly, and ſuch a helliſh ſtate in this world, as that In death, that is, In that death, he ſhould have no remembrance of God, In hell, In the grave, that is, In that hell, In that grave, he ſhould not confeſſe, nor praiſe God at all. There was his danger, he ſhould forget God utterly, and God forget him eternally, if God ſuffered him to proceed ſo far in ſin, that is, Death, and ſo far in an obduration and remorſleſneſſe, in ſin, that is, Hell, The Death and the Hell of this world, to which thoſe Fathers refer this Text.
In this lamentable ſtate, we will onelyonly note the force, and the emphaſis of this Tui, and Tibi, in this verſe; no remembrance of Thee, no praiſe to Thee; For this is not ſpoken of God in generall, but of that God, to which David directs the laſt and principall part of his Prayer, which is, To ſave him; It is to God, as God is Jeſus, a Saviour; and the wretchedneſſe of this ſtate is, that God ſhall not be remembred in that notion, as he is Ieſus, a Saviour. No man is ſo ſwallowed up in the death of ſin, nor in the grave of impenitence, No man ſo dead, and buried in the cuſtome or ſenſeleſneſſe of ſin, but that he remembers a God, he confeſſes a God; If an Atheiſt ſweare the contrary, beleeve him not; His inward terrors, his midnight ſtartlings remember him of that, and bring him to confeſſions of that. But here is the depth, and deſperateneſſe of this death, and this grave, habituall ſin, and impenitence in ſin, that he cannot remember, he cannot confeſſe that God which ſhould ſave him, Chriſt Jeſus his Redeemer; he ſhall come, he ſhall not chuſe but come to remember a God that ſhall damne him, but not a ſaving God, a Ieſus.
Beloved in the bowels of that Jeſus, not onelyonly the riches, and honours, and pleaſures of this world, and the favour of Princes, are, as Iob ſpeaks, Oneroſi conſolatores, Miſerable comforters are they all, all this world, but even of God himſelfe (be it ſpoken with piety and reverence, and far from miſconſtruction) we may ſay, Oneroſa conſolatio, It is but a miſerable comfort which we can have in God himſelfe, It is but a faint remembrance which we retaine of God himſelfe, It is but a lame confeſſion which we make to God himſelfe, Si non Tui, Si non Tibi, If we remember not Thee, If we confeſſe not Thee, our onelyonly Lord and Saviour Chriſt Ieſus. It is not halfe our worke to be godly men, to confeſſe a God in generall; we muſt be Chriſtians too; to confeſſe God ſo, as God hath manifeſted himſelfe to us. I, to whom God hath manifeſted himſelfe in the Chriſtian Church, am as much an Atheiſt, if I deny Chriſt, as if I deny God; And I deny Chriſt, as much, if I deny him in the truth of his Worſhip, in my Religion, as if I denyed him in his Perſon. And therefore, Si non Tui, Si non Tibi, If I doe not remember Thee, If I doe not profeſſe Thee in thy Truth, I am falne into this Death, and buried in this Grave which David deprecates in this Text, For in death there is no remembrance of thee, &c.