sinnes are forgiuen thee as heere Nathan doth vnto Dauid and yet thou not feele that it is so wee must not therefore bee so discouraged as to thinke wee want that grace alwaie which we cannot Therefore Dauid craues not onely mercy but sense of mercy feele It is now cleare what is the benefit which DAVID here craues To wit not mercie only that he hath sought before but the sense of mercie also make me to heare ioy so that I may feele it For all the inward senses of the soule are in feeling to heare the Lord to see him to tast how good he is is no other but to enioy him and to feele his consolations It is thy praise ô Lord that thou speak'st peace to thy Saints among the rest speake peace vnto mine heart also O what a ioy was it to that man sicke of the palsie when he heard that voice thy sinnes are forgiuen thee And such like to that sinfull woman when shee heard goe in peace thy faith hath saued thee And how was the soule of that conuerted sinner comforted in the middes of the dolors of death when he hard that voice This night thou shalt be with me in paradise This is the exceeding great Great comfort that God not only forgiues our sinnes but telles vs they are forgiuen loue of the Lord toward his children that he hath not only prouided a sure saluation for them through the remission of their sinnes in Christ Iesus but also seales vp in their heart the testimony thereof by his Holy Spirit of adoption and that for their present consolation least they should bee swallowed vp of heauinesse through continuall temptations Though he speake not to all his children as hee did to Daniel by an Angell O man greatly beloued of God nor as he did to the blessed Virgin Marie haile Marie freely beloued yet doth hee witnesse the same to the hearts of his children by an inward testimonie when they heare it they are aliue when they want it they are but dead their soule refuses all other comfort whatsoeuer That the hones which thou hath A troubled mind sore weakneth the bodie broken may reioyce By these Basil vnderstands Ossa animae spiritualia that is as saith Sauanarola and others Vires animae rationalis but as this agrees not with this sense so there is no reason why it should be enforced Dauid his words Psalme 32. serues for a commentarie to this there hee complaines that through extremitie of the anguish of his Spirit the moisture of his body was turned into the drought of Sommer now the marrow we know is the strength of the bones these being so extenuate no maruell his flesh consumed his skinne was parched his face withered his sight dimmed his knees enfeebled and the whole externall man greatly weakned the Spirit of a man sayes Salomon will sustaine his infirmitie but a wounded spirit who can beare it Of this let vs learne that if The miserable state of the wicked who must beare the burden of their owne sinnes the sight of sinne presented to the godly from a iust accusing conscience doe so terrifie them and breede them such excessiue trouble as for a time doth sorely torment them In what state shall the wicked be when the Lord shall present their sins to them wake their conscience vpon them not in mercie as he doth to his owne but in wrath not for a time but for euer O what anguish and remedilesse tribulation shall be vnto them the dayes of wicked mens sinning are compared to the time of a womans conceiuing but the daies of their punishment are compared to the time of her trauelling they conceiue their sinnes with wantonnesse and pleasure but shall beare them with dolor vnspeakeable their dolors shall exceede the dolor of a woman for shee knowes once to bee deliuered of her paine either by life or death but the wicked shall neuer bee lighter of their sinnes nor bee deliuered from the anguish of their accusing conscience from which most miserable condition the Lord deliuer vs for Christ Iesus sake VERSE 9. Hide thy face from my sinnes and put away all mine iniquities DAVID yet from Guiltinesse of sin soone contracted not so soone put away God the fourth time seekes the remission of his sinnes the gilt of sinne is soone contracted but not so soone gotten away wee are happie if the examples of other men may learne vs to be wise he was a man deerely beloued of God and yet how manie requests makes hee before he can get his heart assured of mercy but the presumption Foolish are they who thinke they may get mercy for a word of this age is so great that men feare not to offend the Lord because they thinke mercie may be gotten for a word But let men remember that fearful sentence which the L. pronounc't vpon the people of the Iewes for the abuse of his mercy When they fast I will not heare their crie And againe Thougb Moses and Samuel stood before me yet mine affection could not be toward this people that so our hearts may be humbled with holy feare which may restraine He that seekes not to hide his sinnes prouokes the Lord to inquire it vs from offending our God vpon presumption of mercy Hide thy face All Dauid his care when hee had committed his sin was to hide it from the Lord for this cause he committed murther and slew Vriah thinking if he were not aliue to perceiue it his iniquity should neuer come to light Now he sees it with a vaine labor Vriah is dead but the angry countenance of God looking vpon his sinne troubles him As the fish called Sepia casting forth a black liquor out of hir mouth of purpose to lurke vnder it doth therby giue notice to the fisher of the place wherin they shall finde hir so foolish man while he thinks to hide one sin by another doth but cast himself the more opē to the eye of God who then looks most narrowly to a sin when man most craftily labours to conceale it Euery sinner in sinning takes frō God the praise of righteousnes as if the Lord were like him were not a God that loues righteousnesse and hates iniquity But he that thinkes to hide Hee that seekes to hide his sin from the Lord makes an idole of him his sinne from the Lord when he hath done it takes also from him the praise of wisedome and makes the Lord so far as he may like an Idoll of the Nations that hath eyes and sees not And therefore the Lord as he will be auenged of euery one that offends so principally vpon them who scorne him by hiding their sinnes from him Woe be to them that seeke in deepe We to such to hide their Councell from the Lord their workes are in secret and they say who sees it At this time Dauids sin was vnknowen to the world no lyuing No man knew Dauids
the conscience of their sinne In the primitiue Church The maner of publike repentance in the primitiue Church such as had giuen publike offences were not receiued without publike repentance and humiliation yea they made supplication to all the assembly Volo veniam reus speret petat Ambr. de paeniten li. 1. ca. 16. cum lachymis petat populi totius fletibus vt ignoscatur obsercret cum secundo vel tertio fuerit dilata eius communo credat remissius se supplicasse I will that he that is guilty hope for mercy that he seeketh it with teares and mourning of the whole people and if twice or thrice his receiuing to the communoin be refused to him let him thinke that hee hath praied more slackly then he should and so humble himselfe more intirely then hee hath done And againe to the same purpose he saies If thou hadst a doe to satisfie a man whom How foolish are they who hauing committed publicke sinnes refuse to make publike repentance thou hadst offended how many wouldest thou request to sue for thee at his hands Now seeing thou hast to seeke reconciliation with God why imploiest thou not the praiers of all his his people Vbi nihil est quod pudori esse debeat nisi non fateri cum omnes simus peccatores For among vs nothing should be a matter of shame seeing wee are all sinners but not to confesse our sinnes Vbi ille laudabilior qui humilior iustior qui abiectior Heere hee is most worthy praise who is most humble and hee is most iust who is most contrite and deiected for sinne Fleat itaque pro te mater Ecclesia let therefore thy mother the Church mourne for thee But if men who haue offended This is because they are not touched with the sense of sinne were touched with the sense of sinne as Dauid was they would not be ashamed as publikly to confesse it and seeke mercy as he did For as I said hee found himselfe straited with his own sinnes Infernus quidam animae rea est Conscientia a guilty conscience is a hell to the soule and a sore prison not like other prisons for wheresoeuer the guilty man goes he carries his prison with him and this is the equity of Gods iudgements who inwraps sinners in their sinnes and bindes them with the coardes of their own trangressions whereof they cannot complaine And this appeareth out of How sinne binds and captiues a man his owne words when he saies Deliuer me His speech tels he found himselfe captiued Two manner of waies doth sinne strait and bind any man first by the commanding power of it for then it oppresseth a man in such a sort that hee can neither eate nor sleepe till he obey it An example of which tyranny we haue in Ammon many mo Next by the controlling or accusing power thereof whereby in such sort sinne committed so straites a man that it suffers him not to heare nor thinke of any other thing but of her accusations onely whereby the soule of man is filled with restlesse feares and horrible perturbations Now at this time Dauid was not troubled with the commanding power of sin but onely with the tormenting accusing power thereof and from it heere hee praies the Lord to deliuer him From blouds The word is plural from blouds Noting vnto vs how Dauid found euery Innocent blood when it is shed fals not to the ground but biaes on the head of him that shed it drop of Vriah his bloud a burden vnto him By the phrase of holy Scripture the bloud of him that is shedde is said to lie vpon his head that shed it It seemeth vnto men that the bloud of the man slaine is spilt on the ground but the spirit of God saith that it lieth on the man slayer A fearefull thing the bloud which before was in the body of thy neighbour to conserue his life thou hast now taken it vpon thy head to procure thy death and to crie vnto God for a vengance against thee If this were considered it might serue for an awe-band to keepe murtherers from hasting as they do to shedde innocent bloud And albeit Dauid was farre Many waies may men be guilty of sinne albeit by their own hands they doe it not from Vriah when he was slain for the one was in Ierusalem the other in Rabbah of the Ammonites yet the burden of that bloud lieth heauy on him because hee was the man who counselled Ioab how to slay him with the sworne of the Ammonites Many waies haue men whereby to excuse themselues in their sinne specially if they did not euill with their owne hands if they were farre off when the turne was done but you see how little all these auaile where the conscience cannot excuse a man O God of my saluation So the godly stile the Lord not onely Praise of our saluation properly belongs to God because he is the author of the beginning but of the progresse also and perfiting of our saluation he not onely gaue life to our soules when we were dead in sin but he keepes our soules in life we fall and he raiseth vs vp we wander and he recalls vs we sinne daily and he forgiueth vs. And it is for these renewing mercies wherby the Lord euery day saues vs from a thousand deaths in which otherwise we should perish that we praise the Lord as the God of our saluation giuing him this glorie with the Apostle The Lord hath deliuered vs from so great a death he doth deliuer 2. Cor. 1. vs in whom also we trust that yet hereafter he will deliuer vs. For the time past he hath deliuer'd for the time present hee doth deliuer and for the time to come he will deliuer vs In all these respects wee reioyce in him as in the God of our saluation Againe hee acknowledges Many great deliuerances receiue the godly but the greatest is deliuerance from sinne that the deliuerance of a man from his sinnes is not a worke of mans Power No it requires the powerful hand and sauing health of the mighty God of our saluation Many great deliuerances hath the Lord giuen to his annointed hee saued Noah from the deluge of waters Lot from burning in Sodome he saued Israel in the Red sea and Ionas in the Whales belly he saued Daniel from the Lyons and Peter that he did not sinke when he walked in the water but the deliuerance of a man from the hands of Satan and sinne is a greater work then any of these let vs be thankefull to our God for it So shall I sing a soule oppressed God hath fitted the exercises of his worship for our state and borne downe with the terrors of sinne cannot sing to the praise of God a Christian in that estate answers al that find fault with him as the Israelites of old did the Caldees How can Psal 97. wee sing a song
a mocking of God to pray him to looke vpon that which is not in thee to pray him consider that which thou neuer consideredst thy selfe learne therefore when yee sing this Psalme of Dauid to take on so neare as yee may Dauid his disposition though yee haue not sinned as he did yet looke vnto your other sinnes and be ye humbled for them otherwaies your confession of sinnes shall be but a profession of sinne to say with Dauid against thee only haue I sinned and then either to haue no remorse for sin or no confidence in Gods mercie shall profit thee no more then the confession of Saul or Iudas I haue sinned said the one I haue sinned in betraying innocent bloud said the other their confession was somewhat like Dauids their heart no way like Dauids And it is certaine that the Lord Radicem attendit non florem Haue mercie on me What Wher Sinne persues no refuge but to mercie was Dauid his estate when hee brake out in these words yee may see out of the 32. Psalme his conscience being wakned by the ministrie of Nathan hee is so terrified with the liuely sense of his sinne and sight of that wrath which by it he had deserued that his bones were consumed and the moisture of his body turned in the drogth of Sommer In this perplexed estate the first comfort that he findes is by looking vp to the mercie of God Naturall men may maruell No external comfort can sustaine a man troubled for sinne what is this that should haue troubled Dauid so sore was he not King of Canaan his sinnes were murther and adulterie but was there any in the Land to put him to an Assize was there any to punish him what needed hee to feare But hee himselfe tells thee what ailed him the hand of God was heauie vpon him night and day the Lord had erected a Tribunall in his owne conscience and did there sit and iudge him wher no man might iudge him there the Lord conuicted him of sinne and threatned him with terrours for sure it is all the comforts of the world if thou hadst them in one cannot sustaine thee when God in thy own cōscience persecutes thee for sinne examples are Balthasar and Dauid The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmitie but a wounded spirit who can beare it And therefore Dauid sore Dauids appellation from God to God straitned with the iudgement of God turnes him to the mercie of God hee findes no other thing whereupon to relie his faith he can get no other gripe whereby to hold him that hee fall not in the pit of desperation but this mercie O Lord in regard of thy power thou art inuincible who can resist thee who can indure the stroke of thine hand In regard of thy wisedome thou art all-seeing nothing can be hid from thee In regard of thy iustice thou art most holy canst not bee corrupted in none of these can I finde comfort the only hope of mine heart is in thy goodnesse and mercie so that now hee flees ad cōmunem peccantium Chrysost portum to the common harbor of all poore penitent sinners who are tost too and fro with the tumbling thoughts of an accusing conscience threatning more fearefull death then the raging waues of the Sea to Ionas neuer can settle nor rest til they come within the Port of God his mercie euen so here doth Dauid terrified with Gods iudgement before which hee could not stand he appeales to Gods mercie tanquam ab inferiori sede ad superiorem as the higher bench wherein the glorie of God shineth most eminently for mercie reioyses against iudgement Iam. 2. 13. When we heare that Dauid Nothing in the world to be esteemed miserie but only iniquitie and others of Gods Saints crie for mercie we must remember that this includes a humble cōfession of their miserie and what was Dauids miserie which he craues to bee cured by God his mercie hee tells you in the end of the Verse no other but the miserie of sinne Nathan 2. Sam. 12. 10. had threatned him with the sword that he should make his Sonne who came out of his bowels a scourge vnto him but Dauid counts none of these his miserie for which hee craues mercie his miserie is his iniquitie and the mercie he craues is the putting away of his iniquitie This blinde age counts bodily infirmities want of temporall things miserie but sinne they count no miserie blinder then the Egyptians of old who esteemed sheepe-heards abhominable but Idolaters not abhominable but indeede it is farre otherwaies wert thou so poore as Lazarus filled with biles in thy bodie from head to foot as Iob was yet if thou bee freed from sin thou art freed from miserie and bee the contrarie wert thou so rich as that glutton clad in purple and faring delicately euery day 〈◊〉 thou health and honor and all the comforts of the world after the desire of thine owne heart if yet thou bee in thy sinnes the end shall declare thou art a miserable creature This will be manifest at the Euen the wicked at the last shal feare finde more then death length in all the wicked that their miserie is not in sicknesse nay not in death it selfe but in an euill conscience guiltie of sinne though now they abhor nothing but death esteeme sinne but a pastime the day is cōming wherin they shal seeke death not find it saying hills and mountaines fall vpon vs and couer vs they shall be glad to be smothered to the death and to suffer the greatest miserie that can come to their bodies vpon condition they were freed from the miserie of an euill conscience which sinne hath brought vpon them But howsoeuer this miserie A comfortable meditation of Gods mercie of Dauid was exceeding great he espies in God by the eye of faith a greater mercie to cure it and therefore cries hee for mercie according to the multitude of his commiserations O Lord I know that whatsoeuer is in thee is thy selfe thy mercie is no lesse then thy selfe Cum sis misericors quid es nisi ipsa misericordia Hieron Sauanarola seeing thou art mercifull what art thou but mercie it selfe and what can mercie doe but thine owne worke canst thou denie thy selfe canst thou depart from thine owne nature what is the worke of mercie but to take away miserie here am I Lord before thee a miserable man and my greatest miserie is my sinne doe thy owne worke O Lord cure my miserie with thy mercie shew the vertue of thy mercies vpon mee abyssus abyssum inuocat abyssus miseriae inuocat abyssum misericor diae one deepe calls vpon an other the deepe of miserie calls vpon the deepe of mercie greater is the deepe of mercie then the deepe of miserie let therefore the deepe of thy mercie swallow vp the deepe of my miserie and put thou away mine iniquitie On me Dauid
the pleasures of the Paradise of a good Conscience a seede of Sathan a peece of leauen that sowreth and infecteth all it comes among turning sweetest things into bitter It is but a small thing to looke to soone done in the twinckling of an eye but hath an enduring sting and produceth manifold and great euill effects it perturbeth all being but one and spoyle man of the comfort of all God his creatures miserable men bewitched with the deceipt of sinne drunken with the present false pleasures therof cannot beleeue this it is but a pastime to them to doe wickedly but let them know it shall turne to bitternesse in the end But of this more in the third verse where hee complaines that his sinne was euer before him The word that in this petition God hath his accompt Booke wherein the debts of men that is their sinnes are Registred Dauid vseth is Machah signifiing a scraping a blotting out hee alludes as it seemes to the maner of them who haue their accompt Bookes wherein they write vp their debts whereof they purpose to haue paiment although they spare for a time wherupō Dauid sayeth I know Lord thou hast thine owne accompt Booke wherein thou writest the transgressions of them with whom thou mindest to enter in iudgement according to that The sinne of Iuda is written with a Penne of yron and Iere. 17. the point of a Diamond Let not O Lord my debt stand Registred there but of thy mercie put it and blot it out I haue done enough for my part to put my owne name out of the Booke of life and insert it in the Roll of them that must come to iudgement I know there is a standing decree in thy Booke That death is the wages of sinne If my sinne stand in thy Register I am but a dead man Lord quicken me forgiue me my trespasse and put away the Colos 2. 13. hand-writing of thy ordinance which is contrarie to me But here let vs marke how The bookes are two the booke of his Science and the booke of our Conscience it is that the Lord putteth sinne out of his two-fold Register First out of the booke of his owne science hee putteth the sinnes of his children vtterly both the gilt and the memorie of them hee putteth away so that out of his accompt booke hee scrapes our debt cleane away that it appeares not againe according to his promise I will remember their sinnes no more But out of the Register of our conscience hee putteth the gilt the accusing and tormenting power of it but abolisheth not vtterly the remembrance of it He reserues some monument of our sinnes in our memorie after that they are forgiuen partly to humble vs when wee looke backe vnto them and partly to preserue vs from committing the like in time to come And further we see how Dauid Blind are they who thinke they can make satisfaction to God for their debts acknowledgeth his debt was more then hee was able to pay and therefore disclaiming his owne sufficiencie hee appeales to Gods mercy beseeching the L. to blot it out for he had not to pay it It is a pitiful blindnesse in the aduersaries of the truth that teacheth poore people to leane vnto mans satisfactions which they must make to God for their sinnes either here or in Purgatorie how wilt thou satisfie that infifinite maiestie of God for thy manifold sinnes Ille figulus tu Ber. Scr. de quadrup debito figmentum When thou hast giuen vnto him all that thou art able either by doing or suffering Nonneistud est sicut stella ad solem gutta ad fluuium What is it but as if one should compare a Starre with the Sunne or a drop with a riuer Nemo est qui millesimae imo nec minimae parte debitorum suorum valeat respondere I see it was blindnes and so it is whatsoeuer shew of learning bee in them who maintaine it if they knew how great is the debt that man oweth vnto God they would say with Bernard There is none in the world able to answere the thousand part nay not the smallest part of that Debt which man oweth vnto God Away therefore with that blasphemous word of humaine satisfaction for except the Lord haue compassion on vs and for Mattb. 18. 27. giue the debt there remaines nothing for vs but to be pined in prison for euer And this also is to bee obserued By three words Dauid expresseth his sin to shew the greatnesse thereof how Dauid making mention of his sinne contents him not with one word but changes there sundrie words to expresse it whereof the one Pashang signifieth defection and rebellion the other Gnauah signifieth peruersuesse or crooked doing the third Chatta signifieth to erre or wander from the marke Men who do weigh sinne in the balance of consuetude can neuer knowe the weight of it they esteeme it but a light thing but godly men who weigh it in the balance of the Sanctuarie and examine it according to the rule of the word find it such a horrible euill as wherein manifold euils doe concurre VERSE 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquitie and cleanse me from my sinne DAuid insists and Three things which make feruent Prayer in other termes hee repeates his former petition There are three things which make earnestnes and feruencie in prayer First Conscience of sinne Secondly feare or sense of wrath Thirdly ardent desire of mercie these three were at this time strong in Dauid and therfore sends hee vp feruent and strong petitions to God More particularly we learne Sinne a vile vncleannesse here that Sinne is a filthynesse which defiles a man there is no vncleannesse can make vs so vile and abhominable in the eyes of man as sinne maketh vs in the eyes of God what more vile thing in the world then a Menstruous cloth If euen our righteousnesse bee like vnto it as Esay witnesseth I pray you whereunto shall our vnrighteousnesse be compared or what similitude can be gotten sufficiently to expresse it Now as it is an vncleannes indeed would to God we could so esteeme of it we can suffer no vncleannes in our bodies but incontinent we wash it away Neither can abide it in our garments but without delay wee remedie it yea the smallest vncleannesse in the vessels that serue vs for meate and drinke makes our very foode lothsome vnto vs But alas wee haue not halfe of that care to keepe our Soules and Consciences cleane from the filthy pollution of sinne nor yet to wash them in that Fountaine opened to DAVIDS house for sinne and for vncleannesse when we haue defiled them And yet a great necessitie to doe so lies vpon vs for we are No part can we haue with Christ if he wash vs not warned that no vncleane thing can enter into heauenly Ierusalem That answere giuen by the Lord Iesus vnto Peter Ioh. 13. 8. stands