Works, Book 1 · Discourse 9
DISCOURSE IX.
PSALM 8. 2.
Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength, because of thine Enemies; that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger.
THESE words are alledged by our Blessed Saviour, Matth. 21. 16. and three more of the verses following this by S. Paul, to prove that Christ must reign till he had subdued all his enemies under his feet: As Heb. 2. 6. &c. fully; v. 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5. For thou hast made him little lower than the Angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thine hands; thou hast put all things under his feet. Again, 1 Cor. 15. 24. Christ (saith he) shall deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death. 27. For he hath put all things under his feet. Psal. 8. 2.This is the quotation; for it follows presently, When he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him.
How principal a part of the Argument of this Psalm, what is in these two places cited by S. Paul contains, every man may see that reads and compares them. But how it should be consonant to the meaning of the Psalm, seems very difficult to apprehend. For he that reads the whole Psalm, would think it were nothing else but a description of Man's excellency, whom God had made next to the Angels in Dignity, and given him dominion over all things he had made. For so after those words, Thou hast put all things under his feet, it follows immediately, All sheep and oxen, yea and the beasts of the field, the fowls of the Air, and the fishes of the Sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Sea. But what is the dominion over these to subduing of Enemies, which the Apostle cites it for? or how is that which is a description of mankind in general, a Prophecy of Christ in special?
Some therefore, as in other citations of the Old Testament, so here also, betake themselves to the covert of an Allusion; namely, That the Apostle only borrows the words of the Psalmist, to express his own, and not the Psalmist's meaning. But howsoever this may have place in some other allegations of the Old Testament, which are for Illustration or Exornation only; yet when the Testimony is brought for proof and Demonstration, as this is, it can in no wise be admitted. For how can that Testimony be of force to conclude any thing, where not the Author's meaning is brought, but his words only made use of? Others therefore say, That whatsoever is spoken of the Dignity and Excellency of Man in general, is to be understood by way of eminency of Christ, the chief of the sons of men. This indeed is something, but not enough. For what is the Dignity of man in regard of his Dominion and Lordship over the creature, to conquering and subduing of Enemies? which is that the Apostle seeks to demonstrate thence.
Well, to hold you no longer in suspence, the Key of the interpretation of this Psalm, and the ground of S. Paul's accommodation of that passage [Thou hast put all things under his feet] to Christ's victory, is to be sought in the words I have now chosen; Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings, &c. which being first alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel, in defence of that acclamation given unto him by his followers, Hosanna, (that is, Save now) to the Son of David; (which the Pharisees thought too high an attribute to be deferred to flesh and bloud) this application thereof by Christ himself gave the Apostle good warrant to interpret the Psalm as he did, and to ground a Demonstration thereon.
I shall therefore divide my Discourse into two parts: First, I will shew the meaning of the words as they stand in the Psalm; and secondly, make it appear that our Saviour in the Gospel cites them according to that meaning.
The whole drift therefore of the Psalm is to praise and glorifie God for the dignity wherewith he hath invested Man: What is man (saith he) that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little (or not much) lower than the Angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. This glory and honour is exemplified in two particulars: First, in that God hath ordained Man, even that weak and feeble creature, Man, to subdue and conquer his Enemies; which is that my Text expresses in the words before named, Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength, because of thine Enemies, that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger. Secondly, in that he hath made man the Lord of all his Creatures; Thou hast made him (saith he) to have dominion over the works of thine hands: then follows, as it were the summing up of both, In a word, Thou hast put all things under his feet. For having ordained him both the Champion to conquer thine Enemies, and made him at his Creation the Lord and Ruler of the works of thine hands, Quid reliquum est? what honour couldst thou have given him which thou hast not? Lord, (therefore) what is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Where is to be observed, that the Corollarie, Thou hast put all things under his feet, comes in before his time, namely, before the description of this exemplification of man's dominion over the creature was fully ended; as if the Prophet out of admiration, could hold no longer from telling us the sum of that Dignity wherewith man was invested. Thou hast made him (saith he) to have Dominion over the works of thine hands, and so, one way or other, Thou hast put all things under his feet. Then follows the other part of the Description, All Sheep and Oxen, over these thou hast made him have Dominion, the Beasts of the field, the Fowls of the Aire, and the Fishes of the Sea: whereas in direct order it should have stood thus; Thou hast made him have Dominion over the works of thine hands, over all Sheep and Oxen, the Beasts of the Field, and Fowls of the Air, and Fishes of the Sea; and so in the upshot, Thou hast put all things under his feet.
For this last particular of man's Dignity, to have Dominion over the Creatures, it is so plainly and evidently intended in the Psalm, that I shall need speak no more of it: I return therefore to the former, to make it clear also, That God ordained man, not only to exercise Dominion over the visible creatures, but to be the Champion to conquer and subdue his Enemies: Which is the drift of the words I have chosen for my Text.
Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings (saith he) that is, of Mankind, who springs from so weak and poor a beginning as of Babes and Sucklings; namely, out of the mouths of Babes, not in sensu composito, but diviso, of such whose condition is to be Babes and Sucklings: Not that they should exercise this strength he speaks of, to quell the Enemy and the Avenger, while they were Babes; but that this power should be given to such whose condition was to be such. And this is marvellous enough, that God should advance so weak a creature, and of so despicable a beginning, to such a power, as to grapple with the Enemy and overcome him. But behold, there is yet something more admirable, namely, that this should not be done by the strength of his Arm, but by the breath and power of his Mouth; Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength, because of thine Enemies, &c. What Enemies? Thine, saith the Psalmist, and such too as are Vltores, Avengers, the Enemies of both God and Mankind. And who are those but Satan and his Angels, those Principalities and Powers of the Air, those foreign, and Rulers of the Darkness of this world, as S. Paul speaks? For when Mankind is the one party, what can the other be but some Power that is not of Mankind? Besides, who are the Enemies both of God and Mankind but these? and of mankind especially; I will put Enmity (saith God to the Serpent) between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: hence he is called Satan, the Adversary or Fiend, and the Enemy foreign Behold I give you power, (saith our Saviour to the seventy Disciples, Luke 10. 19.) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the Enemy; Your Adversary the Devil (saith S. Peter.)1 …p. 5. 8. And this is he (as I conceive) who is here called the foreign the Enemy and the Avenger; man's tormentor: which words being found again in the 44. Psalm v. 16. may, for ought I know, by warrant of this place, be taken for the same Enemy, and the usual distinction altered, and the place read thus, By reason of the Enemy and the Avenger, all this (to wit, the Calamity and confusion he spake of before) is come upon us; that is, by the malice of Satan. Now that such Enemies as these should be subducd by an Arm, yea, by a Mouth of flesh, is a thing which might justly make the Prophet cry out, Lord, what is man, &c.
Now that this which I have given is the true meaning of this place, may be gathered from S. Paul's inculcating the word Enemy, when (1 Cor. 15. 24. &c.) he demonstrates out of this Psalm, that Christ, before the end, shall abolish foreign, all rule, and all authority, and power; For he must reign, saith he, till he hath put all Enemies under his feet: The last Enemy which shall be destroyed is Death: and then he alledges for his proof that Corollary in this Psalm, For he hath put all things under his feet. But in all this Psalm there is no mention of Enemies, or subduing them, but only in the Verse I have in hand; which unless it be thus expounded, S. Paul's allegation from hence will be too narrow to prove what he intendeth.
HAVING thus cleared the words I chose for my Theme, I shall not need spend much time to shew you how directly and literally the purport of them was fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation: You have, in part, heard such Scriptures already as do evince it. The sum is this: The Devil by sin brought mankind under thraldom, and became the Prince of this world, himself with his Angels being worshipped and served every where as Gods; and the service and honour due to the great God, the Creator of heaven and earth, cast off and abandoned: and all this to receive at last, for reward, eternal woe and everlasting death. To vanquish and exterminate this Enemy, and redeem the world from this miserable thraldom, the Son of God took upon him, not the nature of Angels, (which might have been the Enemies matches) but the nature of weak and despicable Man, that grows from a babe and suckling. Who (saith Esay, in that famous Prophecy of Messiah) hath believed our report? and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? (namely, that works such powerful things by weak means:) For he shall grow [foreign] as a tender plant or sucker; Chap. 53 1, 2.(it is the very word here used in my Text for a sucking child, and translated by the Seventy foreign) and as a root out of a dry ground, that is, a small and little one.
This is that whereof S. Paul discourses so divinely in the Epistle to the Hebrews: To which of the Angels said he at any time, Heb. 1. 13.Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? Chap. 2. v. 5.For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak: but unto him of whom it is said, What is man, that thou art mind…ul of him, &c?V. 6. Again, We see Iesus, who was made little lower than the Angels, V. 9.(that is, was made man, that's the meaning) for the suffering of death, crowned with Glory and Honour: what can be so plain as this?Luke 1. 74. It is the Son of man by whom in part we are, and more fully shall be, delivered out of the hands of our enemies, that we might serve the true God without fear; as Zachary sayes in his Benedictus. It is the Son of man that delivered us from the power of darkness, Col. 1. 13. The Son of man, that spoiled Principalities and Powers, and made a shew of them openly, Col. 2. 15. It was no Angel that did all this, but the Son of man; even as was prophesied from the beginning, when the Devil first got his Dominion, that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's head.
Nor is this all; For this Son of man enables also other Sons of men, his Disciples and Ministers, to do the like in his name. The seventy Disciples in the Gospel returned with joy,Luke 10. 17. saying, Lord, even the Devils are subject to us through thy name: Yea, not these only, but as many as fight under his Banner against these Enemies have promise they shall at length quell and utterly subdue them; yea, at that great Day shall sit with their Lord and Master,1 Cor. 6. 2, 3. to judge and condemn them. Do ye not know, saith S. Paul, that the Saints shall judge the world? know ye not that we shall judge Angels?
Lastly, This victory, as for the event, so for the manner of atchieving it, is agreeable to our Prophecy: Forasmuch as Christ our General nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms, but by the power of his Word and Spirit, which is the power of his Mouth, according to my Text, Out of the mouth of Babes, &c. Hence, in the*Chap. 1. 16. & c…ap. 19. 15, 21. Apocalyps, Christ appears with a sword going out of his mouth: In the 2 Thess. 2. 8. it is said, He shall consume that wicked one (that is, Antichrist) with the Spirit of his mouth: Esay prophesies, Chap. 11. 4. that the Branch of Iesse should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips should slay the wicked; that is, he does all nutu & verbo, by his word and command, as God made the world: By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Hoast of them by the breath of his mouth… Psal. 33. 6. So doth Christ vanquish his enemies, and enable his Ministers to vanquish them, Verbo & Spiritu oris, by his Word and the Spirit of his mouth, according to that Hos. 6. 5. I have hewed them by my Prophets, and slain them by the words of my mouth.
I come now to the Second thing I propounded; namely, to shew that our Saviour in the Gospel, when he cited this place, alledged it for and according to this, and no other, meaning.Matth. 21. 15, 16. The Evangelist relates it thus; When the chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things that Iesus did, and the children in the Temple crying, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? how they ascribe the power of salvation (which is God's peculiar) to thee who art a Son of man? Is that solemn acclamation of Save now, wherewith we are wont to glorifie God, fit to be given to thee? Our Saviour answers, Yes; For have ye not read, (saith he) Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength? Consider what that means: You will wonder perhaps, that a thing so plain could be taken in a differing meaning; for it is commonly supposed to be alledged only to prove that children should glorifie Christ, whilest the great ones of the world despised him. And there are two things which have occasioned this mistake, and drawn the sense awry. The first is, because the Seventy (according to which the Evangelist reads this place) in stead of strength translate here foreign praise, Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained praise. Secondly, because those that made this acclamation are said to have been foreign Children, When they saw the wonderful things which Iesus did, foreign, and the Children crying in the Temple. To the first I answer, Our Saviour alledged not the words of the Psalm in Greek, but in Hebrew; where it is foreign … Strength, which is the constant signification thereof through the whole Bible, and never Praise: nor do the Seventy themselves ever translate it otherwise, save, as it seems, in this place. But whatsoever the use of the word foreign be otherwise, it must be here regulated by the Hebrew verity, according to which our Saviour alledged it, and must signifie not simply Praise, but Robur praedicandum, or Robur laude dignum, Robur celebrandum, Strength worthy to be celebrated or praised, or the like. To the second, That they are called foreign Children who made this acclamation of Hosanna to our Saviour, I answer, Be it so; yet I am sure they were no Babes and Sucklings, but of reasonable years: How then would our Saviour's quotation have in such a sense been pertinent? Besides, Young children are not properly called foreign, but foreign. Again, the Pharisees found no fault with the speakers, but with the thing spoken, which they thought too much for a man; and therefore our Saviour, when he alledged this Scripture, answered to that, and intended not to apologize for the speakers. Fourthly, In all reason, those who cried here Hosanna in the Temple, were the same company that brought him crying Hosanna all the way thither: But these (saith S. Mark)Mark 11. 9. were of the multitude which followed him; as S. Luke, Luke 19. 37.of the multitude of the Disciples; who also tells us, that the*V. 39. Christ calls his Disciples foreign. Iohn 21. 5. Pharisees, who were offended thereat, bad him rebuke his Disciples. foreign therefore here signifies either Christ's Disciples, or the retinue which followed him, and brought him up thither as a King: Take which you will, you shall not fasten upon foreign any notion other than usual. I shall not need to tell you, that the Disciples of the Prophets are called the Sons of the Prophets, that is, foreign or that Herod's Courtiers, Matth. 14. 2. are termed his foreign He said foreign, This is Iohn the Baptist, &c.