TWO SERMONS VPON THE ACT SVNDAY BEING the 10th of Iuly 1625. Deliuered at St MARIES in Oxford PSAL. 133. 1. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie OXFORD Printed by I. L. and W. T. for WILLIAM TVRNER Anno Dom. 1625. DAVID'S ENLARGEMENT THE MORNING SERMON ON THE ACT SVNDAY Preached by HENRY KING Inceptor in Diuinity one of his MAIESTIES Chaplaines in Ordinary PSAL. 18. 36. Thou hast enlarged my steps vnder mee that my feet did not slip DAVID'S ENLARGEMENT PSAL. 32. VERS 5. I said I will confesse my sinnes or transgressions vnto the Lord. And thou forgauest the iniquitie of my sinne THis Text hath two generall parts The first records Dauids Repentance The second Gods mercy to him The former part containes these seuerall circumstances 1 A resolution I said 2 The Act resolv'd vpon Confession I will confesse 3 The Subiect of that confession Sinnes or transgressions 4 Their pluralitie or the Extent of his confession not sinne but sinnes A terme implying both their generality and number For although the Septuagint read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew is sinnes 5 Their propriety which he assumes to himselfe Mea my sinnes 6 He specifies the Confessor vnto the Lord. In the latter part I onely obserue two circumstances 1 the Readinesse and Propension and speed of Gods mercy He sayes he will confesse c. and presently Tu remisisti Thou forgauest 2 his Bounty set downe in such termes as may convey vnto him the most liberall pardon Iniquitatem peccati the very formality of the Sin not my sinne but the Iniquity of my sinne too both the Act and the Obliquity both the Guilt of the sinne and the Punishment due vnto it The contemplation of a religious worke doth much affect a good man and howsoeuer the Act onely crownes him yet the purpose delights him I was glad saith Dauid when men said vnto me we will go into the house of the Lord. See with what pious Alacrity he vtters his intentions to an Act of Religion it doth him good but to speake of it And here you may discerne as much Alacrity in his intended repentance when he records the very determination that which at first was either barely design'd by his thoughts or at most but said I said Words in Gods Method are the Introduction to Deeds His Fiat was the Seminary of all being for he said onely and it was done That man who sayes well is engaged to equall his words else like a Bankrupt he forfaits that good opinion his pretences and speeches had wonne St. Augustine sayes Verba sunt folia Words are as leaues and in good trees leaues are the pledges of fruit that ensues He that onely speakes and does not is not a fruitfull Christian rather he is like a Sycomor whose issue is nothing but a lease This is not enough Fructus quaeritur saith the same Father God expects from vs what Dauid here exhibites fruit not leafe or not leafe without fruit He sayes deuoutly and from those seeds a repentance to a new life springs I said I will confesse c. Istud diâ—ere nihil aliud est quam secum deliberare It is a Deliberation or it signifies as much as Decernere Constituere to purpose or to resolue Resolutions are the Moulds wherein Actions are cast and no man can define a Deed better then to call it the effect of what our purpose had contriued And euery purpose is a silent Dialogue betwixt the Soule and her Faculties by whose consent that which we resolue is established For man is a Theater wherein are many subtile spectators waiting vpon euery action He is a short Modell of a Common-wealth Each Sense is an Agent each Faculty an Officer Hee hath his Common-Pleas in his Common sense his Chancery in the Conscience he hath his Proiectors and those as busie as the State hath any Thought and Phantasie and the quicke Imagination The Memory is his Recorder and lastly the Tongue is the Speaker in this Assembly who reports those Acts which which are designed I said But our Intents doe not alwayes come to publication nay they do not alwayes need it and then the office of the tongue is not required A resolution may sometimes speake without the Organs of vtterance it may be intelligible it may be audible and yet not vocall As Saint Ambrose speakes of Susanna Conscientia loquebatur vbi vox non audiebatur In religious purposes that determine in God and in which there is no parties interested but God and the soule there is no necessity to vse words Words are but the Interpreters of our mindes one to another but as Midwiues that deliuer our thoughts and howeuer betwixt Man and Man this verball trafficke be necessary yet betwixt vs and God that sees our thoughts before the tongue hath formed them into syllables or set the stampe of language vpon them it is not so He reades vs in the power of speech and not onely in the Organs which actuate that power Hee is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so well acquainted with the heart that he dictates to it as it doth to the tongue And therefore hee that vnderstand our words whilest they are in Principijs in their concepon and parentage whilest they are yet Intra causas lodged and couched within their causes as Saint Augustine expresseth it Vox mea nondom in ore erat auris Dei iam in Corde erat He I say that knowes our thoughts not onely before we vtter them in words but before wee our selues know what we shall next thinke cannot need a Dixi I said to informe him of our purposes since his intelligence precedes our thoughts hee cannot but take his information from them better then from our words and so the sense of the Text will hold as well in a Cogitavi as one Translation of ours reades it I thought I will confesse as in a Dixi I said For in Gods apprehension they are all one and no way distinguisht saue in a little Priority of time for thoughts are words elder Brothers and the Dialect they speake is our Mother tongue the originall language of Mankinde which neuer yet suffered confusion When the tongues were dispersed at Babel the thoughts were not and howsoeuer each Nation be distinguished in his peculiar speech we all thinke alike euen as anger and laughter haue the same wayes of expression in all parts of the world So that this Dixi was not so much the language of Dauids Tongue as of his Heart Corde pronunciare erat He spake vnto God in his Thoughts which are the most constant most vnalterable dialect and therefore most proper to expresse the certainty of that Act which followes vpon this Resolution in the next part His confession I said I will confesse c. 2 Sinne is the weightiest of all sorrowes the Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The thing that presseth downe
of the land which was Sampsons stratagem with foxes firebrandes to burne the Philistimes corne Or wheÌ„ they cut off the convoies block vp a beleaguered towne so that it cannot take in new prouisions which is the new militarie discipline of these times when by breaking the staff of bread and causing cleannes of teeth the enemies prevaile more then by their owne courage and force of armes Or else when in times of peace aud plentie our great Corne-masters will make a dearth by hoording vp their graine that they may the better enhance the price of it Suffering the bowells of the poore to be emptie while their store-houses are full and with a pittiles eye beholding their needy brethren whil'st they cannot but knowe that mise and ratts and other vermine revell in their garners There are other waies in which the hand of man may concurre to a famine Therefore David refusing those two vnder that phrase submits himselfe here to the Pestilence by submitting himselfe to the hand of the Lord. And of the Lord alone that he would visit immediatly without deputing or substituting any vnmercifull creatures to that worke of vengeance For he is facile and exorable slow to conceiue a wrath and loath to execute it when it is conceiued in rigor and strictnes For his mercies are great Which is the strong Inducement and Reason of Dauids choice to cast himselfe vpon the Lord. And obserue his emphaticall expressions He doth not say mercie but mercies in the plurall more then one Not few mercies but many mercies nor many litle but many and great mercies nor there a stoppe but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very many in their number very great in their dimensions Nay they are not onely many and great but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very many great and tender mercies as the Septuagint well render the Originall Not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very bowells of motherly compassion for which the Evangelist's oftimes use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His mercies are extended according to the extension of all our miseries and elevated according to the elevation of our sinnes Be they neuer so many neuer so weightie yet the mercies of the Lord are ouer all his workes and ouer all those which we may most properly call our workes It is a high degree of mercie that although I haue offended in many things yet I might haue fallen into more and more foule transgressions had not his mercie restrain'd me It is an addition of mercie that the Lord who spared not the Angels which kept not their first estate but presently cast them downe from Heauen is long suffering towards me and expects my returne to him almost at mine owne leasure Non continebam à sceleribus tu á verberibus abstinebas He farther enlargeth his mercy when this long expectation and forbearance brings mee to repentance and that hee toucheth my heart with compunction and remorse Againe when his mercie leaues me not in an vnfruitfull repentance in the bitternesse of my soule buâ— accepts of it and seales vnto me the comfort of the remission of my sinnes Yet he followes this with another giuing me the power to amend my life and hereafter to walke more cautelously Nether are his mercies yet shortened but new euery morning nay euery moment minute in that he giues me constancie and perseuerance that I fall not into a recidiuation a relapse Lastly there is the height of mercy when he giues me a miserable sinner who am not worthy so much as to lift vp mine eyes to heauen an assured hope of obtaining heauen Here are seauen degrees of mercy like those seauen loauâ—s wherewith thousands were refreshed And I might with St Bernard gather vp many baskets full of the fragments of each of them But what heart can comprehend what discourse can containe those many very great and tender mercies that know no other bounds but aeternitie The mercie of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting ab aeterno per praedestinationem in aeternum per glorificationem Great are the mercies of the Lord euen in his executions of Iustice 1 That he will at all shew vs so great a testimonie of his loue as to correct vs. Quos amo arguo That Ezech. 16. 42. I will be no more angry is an euident token of the Lords greatest anger Tunc magis irascitur cum noâ— irascitur Let fauour be shewed to the wicked hee will not learne righteousnes sayth the Prophet Isa. 26. 10. The presumptioÌ„ of impunity will breed impudence in sinning and that not stay till it haue brought in most fearefull impenitency Super omnem irammiseratio ista as St. Bernard exclames such forbearance such conniuence is beyond all vengeance Let then this mercy of the Lord first shew it selfe that he will be pleased to disciplinate and correct vs and not leave vs to our owne corrupt imaginations not giue vs ouer to the inuentions of our owne hearts and in the second place he will not forget to be a Father of mercies towards vs in the measure of his corrections It is a fearefull thing indeede to fall into the hand of the Lord but it is then onely when his left hand of Clemencie doth not know what his right hand of iustice and seuerity purposeth to inflict But such iustice without mercy onely attendes those that haue reiected and conteâ—ned both Otherwise there is euer a hand of mercie either ready to stay the hand of the Lords seuerity towards the paenitent as the Angell held Abrahams hand when he was striking or at the least to breake the force of the blowes to moderate and temper them according to our patience As the Prophet Habbakuk makes it his petition In wrath remember mercy so our last translation hath it but the vulgar makes it a confident perswasion Cum iratus fueris misericordiae recordaberis Indeede wee haue Gods owne word nay his oath for it as Dauid had Once haue I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lye vnto Dauid If his children forsake my law I will visit their iniquity with the rod with stripes but it shall be In Plagâ—s filiorum hominum with no more cruell stripes then humane infirmitie can beare as we read the same promise repeated Misericordiam autem non auferam Neuerthelesse my mercy louing kindnesse shall not depart from them Behold then what consolations Dauid had in the many mercies of the Lord the same are still stretched out ouer vs if as he was a maÌ„ after Gods heart we be after Dauids What euer calamitie or pressure be vpon vs we must keepe holy Iobs aequanimitie and good temper to receiue evill as well as good from the hand of the Lord. But when the visitation is particularly discerned to be the Plague as Dauid here desired when we see that the hand of the Lord is vpon those houses
sancti gratia saith S. Ambrose He that knowes all things is ignorant only of wayes to delay his Mercies which are as instant as his worke was in the first Creation Said and Done at once How doe his winged blessings out-flie our suites chiding our sluggishnes in that no diligence we can vse is able to keepe pace with him nor our earliest importunity speedy enough to ouertake his bounty who giues oftner then we can aske and more then we haue capacity to apprehend 'T is not enough that he tarry till we come vnto him vnlesse he preuent vs by comming vnto vs ere we set out that he suspends his blessings till we seeke him vnlesse he first seeke and call vpon vs as he did vpon Eliah What doest thou here Eliah that he stay till our petitions wooe him vnles his favours first sollicite vs and giue vs cause to thanke him not to aske He thinkes his goodnes hath no aduantage no victory ouer our necessities if he should onely heare vs when we call vnles as he prophesses by his Prophet Esay Antequam clametis ego exaudio he begin to vs and make our answeare before we speake He thinkes his mercy would proue tardy if it expected our suit vnles he granted it before our motion Therefore in the 2 Sam 12. when Nathan admonishes Dauid of two great sinnes he no sooner in a religious humiliation deiects himselfe crying He had offended but the Prophet speedily raises him with the comfortable tidings of his Absolution and in such a Phrase as if God had antedated the pardon before the sinne was committed For he tells him the Lord hath also put away thy sinne Not he will or does but already he hath put away thy sinne You may perceiue a gratious hast too in the remission of his sinne in this place he but confesses and God forgiues him nay saith S. Austin he makes no confession but a promise onely Non iam pronunciat sed promittit se pronunciaturum ille iam dimittit He sayes he will confesse and vpon that promise God immediatly grants him a large pardon Turemisisti Thou forgauest the iniquity of my sinne The extent of his grace is as large as vnlimitted as his mercy is sudden God as he is no slow dilatory God so neither is he a sparing close-handed God as he doth not suspend his fauours or hang long in the deliberation of his pardon to sinners so neither doth he giue them in a lame imperfect fashion but large and full and ample as is himselfe In quo omnis plenitâ—do who is the spring of all bounty He doth not veniam dimiâ—iare distribute his mercy by halfes keepe men betwixt life and death panting betwixt hopes and feares as if he should send a pardon when the prisoner is halfe hanged no Non de dimidiâ sed perfectâ remissione hîc disserit Propheta God doth not lease his pardons for life onely adiourning the short punishment in this world with a purpose to inflict it aeternally in the next His hand is not so scant non arctatur non clauditur fine nullas habet metâ—s Diuina clementia saith Bernard And Hierome in his translation dates this remission with a semper to signifie the duration the continuance of it which is as long and lasting as his goodnes that hath none end Nor yet doth he remit the Eternall punishment and retaine a Temporall to be paid in this world in an imposed pilgrimage or a purgatory hereafter Non solum excluditur satisfactio sed Purgatoriâ—m boldly saith a writer Therefore one of our English Translations reads Thou forgauest the punishment of my sinne Let those then that list to be abused commute or sine for their release at Rome suffer the Pope to pare their saluation and take fees out of Gods Pardons which he bestowes freely we will receiue our Absolution neerer hand and lesse wasted in the carriage Let our Israel trust in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercie and with him is plenteous Redemption Copiosa Redemptio a bounteous remission for he shall wipe out all our sins neither take vengeance on vs in this life nor in the life to come If he do lay a crosse a calamity vpon vs in this life as he did vpon Dauid for the scandall he brought vpon Israel by Vriahs death and the adulterating of his wife afflict vs as he did him in the losse of a child or send a Pestilence to scoure the land as he did his In which sense Euthymius sayes of him Mors remissa est sed noxa vel damnum exigebatur per subsecutas calamitates Yet for all this God doth not inflict this Sub ratione poenae as a vengeance but a chastisement not as a punishment but a fatherly Correction not as a Minister of his wrath but an euidence of his loue For he chasteneth the Children whom he best loues And so you see he corrects the bitternes of his Iudgements with intermingling mercy amongst them Pellit pestem à peste saith one he takes out all malignity from his iudgements as S Paul saith he pluckt out the sting of death O mors vbi aculeus tuus Last of all he doth not onely remit the punishment of the sinne and reteine the Guilt treasuring vp that in diem irae to presse against vs in the last day but he forgiues that too he doth not quench the flame and leaue a sparke behind to kindle his wrath or to incense him hereafter no Tu remisisti iniquitatem peccati mei Thou forgauest the very iniquity of my sinne the enormity the Obliquity as Aquinas calls it So that Intempestiuâ— est hîc Poenae Culpae distinctio that distinction of the punishment and of the guilt is friuolous and out of season here God forgiues the sinne at the very roote And as Elisha when he cured the waters cast salt into the springs so God to make a perfect cure by his Absolution heales vs at the heart because that is the roote of sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Septuagint thou forgauest the iniquity the impurity of my heart Thus you may perceiue there are no Arrerages left in Gods Audit he forgiues both the Guilt of the sin the punishment both the suit the damages for he requires nothing but a true confession If we confesse he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs. This makes a full expiation and attonement for all our sinnes Therefore he that confesses and repents as it were Levies a fine with God to cut off all punishment in the present or in the world to come For this Remisisti is â— remisisti in aeternum our euerlasting quietus est a generall acquittancc for the breadth and extent of it like his mercy which is exceeding broad exceding large and againe like vnto his mercie for the duration and date of it which endureth for euer I am at my farthest euen lost and
where Domine miserere is set to keepe the doore Neuerthelesse as in Samsons riddle Out of the eater came meate out of the strong came sweetenesse so from the greatest terrours of this deuouring disease much hony and sweetenesse and comfort may bee extracted if we first know the causes of the Pestilence The Physicians of the body seeke the causes in nature and assigne two An outward from the contagion of the aire An inward from the constitution of our bodies But the Physitians of the Soule make their search beyond nature and for the true outward cause looke aboue nature to the will and Prouidence of Allmightie God for the inward cause looke belowe nature vpon the corrupt will Sinne of man Both these Dauid here acknowledged within him Peccauivalde without him and aboue him it was Manus Domini Both which he comprehendes Ps. 38. 2. 3. Thine arrowes stick fast in me thy hand presseth mee sore there is no soundnesse in my flesh nor rest in my bones Why because of my sinne And from both these wee may take many soueraigne Praeseruatiues 1 Whatsoeuer befalls vs in the time of Pestilence comes from the hand of the Lord by his will and permission Let vs not therefore like angry dogs which runne after the stone that is throwen at them behold with impatience and murmure the prints of Gods arrow which â—lyes by day but looke to that hand that sent it and be huÌ„bled vnder Gods hand And in the 2d. place let vs perswade our selues that whatsoeuer comes from the Lord shall tend to our good and saluation All things worke together for the good of them that feare him Peccata quoque saith St. Aug. Our sinnes wrought that vnspeakable good when they occasioned the comming of a Redeemer who wrought the good of our saluation 30 and odd yeares here vpon earth And they still worke for our good in calling for chastisements which are good for vs. But in the 3d. place The deserts of our sinnes doe farre goe beyond all our most insupportable sufferings How much more then are we to magnifie the Father of mercies that neuer deales with his children according to the proportion of their transgressions And if that God of pure eyes did not behold iniquitie in vs his hand would neuer be heauy vpon vs. Therefore 4thly If we desire to prevent the infection of the Pestilence we mnst flye the nfection of our owne concupiscence and purifie our hearts by faith and vnfained repentance For it is the first degree of madnes Nolle quempiam à malis suis iustè quiescere Deuâ— iniustè a suâ velle vltione cessare To expect that the Lord should rest from his most just worke of punishing vs if we will not rest from our owne vniust workes of provoking him Thus perhaps we may divert the Pestilence from our persons And as our Kingly Prophet coÌ„forts himselfe and all the godly A thousand may fall at our side ten thousand at our right hand yet it shall not come neere vs. But if it be approch't so neere that we are not neerer to our selues that it is euen vpon vs there is neuerthelesse balme in Gilead there are remedies at hand Iob praescribes a cordiall Hope euen aboue hope Though he slay me yet I will trust in him St Luke himselfe being a Physitian but from the mouth of a greater praescribes an excellent diet which is Patience In your patience possesse yee your Soules St Iames Prayer which is a medicine both purgatiue and praeseruatiue Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any sicke let him call others to pray with him This will either remooue the Plague from vs or vs from the Plague What then dost thou feare O man of litle faith Doth solitarinesse affright thee because thou art an vnwilling Heremite in a peopled citie shut vp froÌ„ the society of freinds acquaintance Thou foole Angels will be thy Guardians and the Lord himself thy Keeper to make thy bed in all thy sicknes Doth Death appale thee Aristotle's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bildad's King of Terrors Why this is thy Debt to Nature thy Passage to Glory And what though the Pestilence be appointed one of Death's Collectors and Tole-gatherers to gather thee to the rest of thy Fathers This may separate thy soule from thy body but in S. Paul's confidence What shall bee able to separate thee froÌ„ the loue of God in Christ Iesus Let vs therefore willingly cheerefully with holy Dauid submit our bodies to fall into the hand of the Lord to fall by his hand into the mouth of the graue so long as we may securely with Dauid commend our spirits into the hands of the same Lord. But let me not fall into the hand of man I shall giue you this Negatiue part of his Resolution in few words The hand of man is his power and his power becomes formidable by his Malice Why boastest thou in mischeif O mightie man Dauid had oftentimes the experience of this malicious power of men as in that Psalme he coÌ„plains of Doeg's ealumnies and elswhere of Saul's furie and Sheba's treacherie nay his owne sonne Absalom's conspiracy Shimei's cursing and railing and the like No wonder then if he so feelingly except against the hand of man For in the Originall it is set downe by way of petition with vehemence and importunitie Incidamus obsecro Let vs I pray It shall be a great courtesie and happines to fall into the hand of the Lord but by no meanes into man's hand Albeit he puts them into the ballance and this be but the hand of Adam which is the word in the Originall weake fraile corruptible contemptible vaine man nay vanitie it selfe that the hand of Iehova the Lord of power and strength But the goodnes of the Lord endures continually as it followeth in that before-alleaged 52. Ps. This goes hand in hand as an inseparable companion with his power whereas man's power is seldome seene in so good company And did not the Lord set limits to the malice of man like to the raging sea thus farre shalt thou goe and no farther did not he shorten and direct the power of man better then he intends it No flesh could be saued Doe not we heare S. Paul speake of one man biting and deuouring another Doth there not stand vpon record an encounter of his with beasts at Ephesus Homo homini lupus Man is a Wolfe a Panther a Tiger most vnnaturall to his owne kinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When he is once flesht with bloud he becomes as insatiable as the Horse-leech He was at the first created milde and gentle but afterwardes he tooke this ill qualitie from him who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a manslayer from the beginning There is manus Linguae the hand or power of the tongue Let me not fall into the power of man's