most orthodoxe Fathers of the Church in their own words For he citeth Ireneus Ciprian Reticius Olimpus Hispaâ— Hilar. Ambrose Innocentius Gregor Basil Magnus Chrysost and Jerome which is a full cloud of sacred witnesses of antiquity beleeving and teaching the same doctrine This upon the Text in hand Saint Augustine doth clearly avouch Nunquid David de adulterio natus erat quid est quod sie dicit nisi quia trahitur iniquitas ab Adam Nemo nasâ—itur nisi trahens poenam trabens meritum poenae Was David born in adultery Why speaks he so but because iniquity is drawn from Adam There is none born which draws not punishment drawing that which deserves punishment He urgeth the words of the Apostle Corpus mortuum est propter peccatum propago sumus corporis mortui The body is dead by reason of sinne We are the off-spring of a dead body Julian the Pelagian did urge against originall sinne the honourable state of Matrimony So Saint Augustine chargeth him Tu autem dicis nuptias sine dubio damâ—ari ab omni sit liberum obligatione peccati But thou sayest The condemning of marriage is no sinne But marriage was ordained and the blessing of propagation was given before the sinne of Adam And marriage is honourable among all men and the bed undefiled The sinne of Adam did not discommand marriage nor reverse the blessing of encrease And Saint Augustine upon this Psalme doth answer Opus hoc castum in conjuge non habet culpam sed origo peccati trahit secum debitam poenam Non enim maritus quia maritus mortalis non est aâ—t aliunde nisi peccato mortalis est Matrimoniall function is without fault but originall sinne draws with it the punishment due to it For the husband as a husband brings not death nor any way but by sinne God provided a remedy the seed of the woman against sinne and suffered humane infirmity to passe on that he might shew mercie where he pleased But you may demand what any spirit of contradiction can alledge against Davids disert confession of his formation and conception in sinne Our Anabaptists answer That it is a question whether his confession here intend himself or his mother It was a poore shift to busie our thoughts about such a question for why should David confesse any thing here concerning his mother If any why not both parents This confession must have coherence and correspondence with the former I acknowledge my wickednesse my sinne is ever before me But what if it concerne him Then thus he confesseth and desireth God to consider whereof he was made of dust weak flesh unable to resist the tempter when the Law came unto him through which weaknesse he was overcome This is that which we call originall sinne this Carentis justitiae wanting of righteousnesse this impotencie to all good acts this seed of corruption which is the teeming and pregnant spawne of all sinnes But they would have it that as Christ because he had our flesh and was made sinne yet was no sinner So David though confessing himself conceived in sinne was not by conception and birth a transgressour To which we answer 1 That the comparison is blasphemous between Christ and David for Christ was conceived by the holy Ghost David in the ordinary way of flesh 2 That we call not originall sinne transgression of the Law in origine for that is the definition of actuall sinne For originall sinne is defined 1 Est corruptio naturae à prima perfectione It is the corruption of nature from the first perfection 2 Est corruptio naturae hominis quae efficit ne vere obediamus legi Dei nec simus sine peccato It is the corruption of humane nature which makes us unable to obey Gods Law that we cannot be without sinne 3 Est ignorantia inmente concupiscentia in carne It is ignorance in the minde and concupiscence in the flesh 4 But the fullest is this It is an hereditarie corruption of nature which bringeth forth in us the works of the flesh and proneth us to all evils and thereby doth fasten upon us a guiltinesse whereby we are in desert and danger of the wrath of God And this is the sinne which David here confesseth which began with him in his very conception But they alledge that the words of David may have reference not to himself but to his mother Then we must understand him thus that David doth not confesse sinne as a fault but as a punishment and so it hath regard to curse I will multiply the sorrows of thy conceptions So he onely meaneth his mothers punishment for the fall and his weaknesse through the fall That weaknesse we call originall sinne But why David in his repentance should repent his mothers punishment we cannot so well discerne for true repentance hath respect not to the punishment deserved but to the sinne deserving it Therefore these poore flashes of humane wisedome which is carnall sensuall and diabolicall cannot elude the evidence of truth that David bewailing his sinne doth repaire to the root of it in his conception confessing the first seminarie of this weaknesse to begin there But our Anabaptists urge further that if the matter of which David was made was tainted with sinne Then was also the matter of which Christ was made tainted with sinne for he was conceived in the wombe of a mother We reply That he was conceived by the holy Ghost and it was an holy thing that was born in his mother so the Angel saith to her They reply that then Christ was not true man for he was not born of the substance of his mother We answer That Christ was born of the very substance of Mary and that in his miraculous generation by the holy Ghost the substance was not changed but the qualitie of it For when David prayeth after for a new heart he doth not desire to have the substance of his heart changed but the qualitie thereof that of a sinfull and unclean heart it may be made a pure and holy heart a fit Temple for the holy Ghost to dwell in Thus I hope I have to any sober judgement cleared both our received doctrine of originall sinne and the interpretation of my Text against these old and new Pelagians and so the confession of David standeth good that beside his actuall transgressions of the Law he standeth guilty before God of originall uncleannesse from which corrupt fountain all his streames of actuall iniquities do derive I will now fortifie this doctrine with plain demonstrations of the truth from the Scripture 1 Wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom all have sinned Neverthelesse death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after Adams transgression Saint Augustine understandeth this sinne to be that originall sinne that David here complaineth of for
our hearts are purged by that faith Verbum lavat non quia dicitur sed quia creditur The word washeth not because it is spoken but because it is beleeved 2 God washeth us by the water of baptisme which is therefore called the Laver of our new birth Which though it be received but once in our life as the Nicene Creed saith I beleeve one Baptisme for the remission of sinnes Yet it is available for our whole life and the vertue of it extendeth to our last gaspe thereof The Sacrament of Baptisme is for our new birth and as S. Augustine noteth As we are born once for our life so new born but once For the Lords Supper is renewed being for nutrition But the gift of God is without repentance David needed not a new circumcision after his fall his repentance renewed the vertue and power thereof 3 We are of Gods washing by the faith of Christ in his bloud which cleanseth us throughly from all sinnes That is the true and perfect lavatorie the fountain which God set open to the house of David and the inhabitants of Ierusalem that is to the whole Church of God for sinne and for uncleannesse For He gave himself for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquitie and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 3 Cleanse me See how fervent David is in his prayer he reneweth the same petition for his purification he hath but changed the phrase the suit is the same it was to be washt throughly but he expresseth it to the effect that he may be clean Sinne of all pollutions is the foulest it maketh uncleane eyes uncleane hands foule feet foule consciences A little washing of foule hands doth but foule them more we must wash till we be clean No unclean thing shall ever enter into the new Ierusalem So soone as the Angels had sinned they were cast out of Paradise aloft And so soone as Adam had sinned he was cast out of Paradise below So soone as Cain had sinned he was cast out of the presence of God and became a vagabond on the face of the earth The pure in heart shall see God who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart Therefore make me clean wonder not that David is so importunate with God for his full purgation from his sinne being so sensible of the danger of his impuritie For the reason why our uncleannesse remaineth upon us unpurged and we continue untroubled at it is we are not enough sensible of the foulnesse that defileth us or the danger that it brings along with it Some of us pretending holinesse can be well content and can pray to be washt but we affect not a perfect cleannesse We have some sinnes that bring in profit as usurie symonie bribery fraud lying perjurie and such like Some that put us forward in the world as ambition pride flatterie c. Some that give us pleasure and delight as adultery fornication immoderate eating and drinking chambering and wantonnesse c. Some that please our malitious disposition as revenge secret inâ—idiations cunning under minings satanicall libellings and wit-blasts c. David is for cleannesse he would have no remaine left upon his conscience of any unrepented sinne Wash me throughly and make me clean It is true penitence to forsake and abhorre sinne all kinde of sinne and to let no iniquitie have dominion over us We cannot so long as we live here put away sinne so that no remaines shall annoy us If we can quite the dominion of sinne that we suffer it not to reigne in our mort ll bodies this is our utter most And so long as sinne dwelleth in us not a received inmate but a violent intruder we shall finde that the Spirit of God will aid us so against it that as the Spirit in us doth daily grow with the increasing of God so the flesh will loose ground and the old Adam will grow weaker and weaker Our wounds which now stink and are corrupt through sinne will be so clean washt that there will be way made for healing of them up Medicus est offer ei mercedem Deus est offer ei sacrificium Is it a Physitian offer him a reward is it God offer him sacrifice The Prophet hath found out one alter in this Psalme Cor contritum a contrite heart VERSE 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sinne is ever before me 2 HIs confession wherein 1. He at large and in a generalitie confesseth his sinnes For I acknowledge my transgressions 2 He sheweth the motive to this confession a perpetuall sight of his sinnes 3 He considereth both the generalitie of his sinnes and this last speciall sinne in the offence by it given 4 He recounteth his originall sinne the fountain of his corruption 5 To aggravate his digression he compareth himself in a state of sinne with that condition which God exacteth of him and which he will hereafter work in him 1 His confession at large After a â—ight and sense of sinne in the work of repentance confession followeth 1 David confessed to Nathan sent of God to him to charge him with his sinne and that authoritie Christ left in his Church in the new Testament with the Priests therof Whosoever sinnes you remit they are remitted unto them absolution is not rightly administred but upon a faire evidence of a true and serious repentance Which must begin at confession and therefore the power of absolution doth suppose a duty of confession The abuse of confession in the Church of Rome hath gotten it an ill name some of them having many times corrupted it to their own ends to ransack the consciences of men and to romage the hearts of men to finde how they may serve their turns Yet was it an holy institution in the intendment thereof that a man should often survey all his thoughts and words and actions Censure them with griefe tremble at them with fear confesse them with shame cure them with good counsell expiate them with some revenge extinguish them with full purpose of amendment of life and establish their hearts with some healing comforts from the holy Word of God administred as cordials from our souls Physitians But as Auricular Confession hath been sometimes practised it is a kinde of encouragement to sinne for beleeving as some do that their confession and penance and absolution doth wash them throughly from all their iniquities and cleanse them from all sinne They spare not to commit all kindes of sinne in trust of this remedie making the remedie of sinne a provocation to sinne Like those mountebanks that in sight will wound themselves to shew the vertue of their salve and drink poyson in confidence of their antidote Penances also have been sometimes so easie and perfunctorious as they may make a sport at sinne study it with deliberation practise it with
no good thing And this he chargeth with all his aberrations from the way of God law Not I that is my regenerate part but sinne in me that is my naturall corruption not yet mortified my flesh not yet brought in subjection to the law and will of my God 2 Meum my David owneth his sinne and confesseth it his own Here is our natural wealth what can we call our own but sinne Our food and rayment the necessaries of life are borrowings We came hungrie and naked into the world we brought none of these with us and we deserved none of them here Our sinne came with us as David after confesseth We have right of inheritance in sinne taking it by traduction and transmission from our parents we have right of possession So Job Thou makest me to possesse the sinnes of my youth We plead ancient custome and prescription for sinne for we were never without it since we first came into the world Peccatum meum my sinne is Davids griefe David in piety to God and in charitie to his neighbour did mourn and weep rivers of waters for them that kept not the law But other mens sinnes are not put upon his account and require not his repentance except they were committed by his counsell example or approbation He is now to declare his repentance that extendeth no further then to peccatum meum my sinne This may aggravate a sinne much for as is the person so is the sinne here Meum my toucheth the person of the offender Nehemiah urgeth Should such a man as I flie David was a person take him not beyond his private estate as the yonger sonne of I shal favoured by God defended from the Lyon the Beare from Goliah from the Philistines from Saul and from all his enemies Adams sinne which many sleight as no great matter to draw such a judgement upon all flesh was the greatest sinne that ever was committed by man in respect of the person For being in a state of innocencie and having free-will to do good and in the fresh glory of his creation and in the fulnesse of his makers image and in the fatnesse of the earth the fitnesse of an help meet for him amounting to what could I have done more that I have not done his trespasse was prodigious nefarious abhominable To defile his holinesse to benight his wisedome to corrupt his goodnesse to evacuate his righteousnesse to forget his happinesse and to see God for a fruit having paradise before him and all the fruit at his service his sinne was infectious it did not onely vitiate and deflowre his person it also impoysoned the fountain of bloud which was to propagate a posterity to fill the earth We know that peccatum meum my sinne the sinne of the Angels that fell was so aggravated by the consideration of their persons who fell that God cast them off for ever and reserveth them in chains of darknesse for a great day David a publique person a king Gods king Posui Regeâ— meum super montem sacrum meum I have set my king upon my holy hill of Sion Regis ad exemplum c. David an holy Prophet vices that are sleighted in common persons in men professed holy are twise themselves and Sathan glorieth more in the corruption of a Prophet or Minister of the Word then in many common men God is more offended and the Church more scandaled Let every man judge his sinne by consideration of himself In his person in his place and office in his received favours from God Meum my will so make great weight Meum hath speciall reference here to Davids sinne which doth put him to this penance 1 His lust upon the sight of beauty 2 His adulterie 3 His making Vriah drunk 4 His corrupting of Joab 5 His murther of Vriah 6 His ten moneths impenitencie This is peccatum meum my sinne Every one of these very hainous for lust adulterie and making men drunk and a constant or rather obstinate impenitencie These be sinnes in fashion and many think the better of themselves for them It is the pride of many to boast of their unchast and lascivious lewdnesse of life of their making their companions drunk and no sense of the abuse of Gods good creatures the wrong to God to their neighbour to their own bodies thereby exposed to diseases Beloved if all these if any of these sinnes belong to any of you I charge you not let your consciences save me the labour and do you own it and call it peccatum meum my sinne as David here doth Put it before you in sight and confesse it to God that you may finde mercie If none of these call you guilty search your hearts for that darling sinne Peccatum meum my sinne The pleasant the profitable sinne that reigneth in you You see confession spares not any sinne whatsoever you call meum mine must be all brought forth 3 Coram Before This sinne was now come before as August observeth Sinne is behinde our backs when we are first tempted to it when we first commit it Sathan sheweth the pleasure and profit of sinne but he concealeth the trespasse and the danger thereof 1 It was in sight of God from the first motion and yeelding to it 2 It was in sight of the Devill and his Angels that suggested it 3 It was in sight of those agents of the King who did negotiate it 4 It was in sight of the common man who could not but take notice of it 5 It was in sight of the Church Gods faithfull ones who were much scandalized by it 6 It was in sight of the enemies of God who thereby took great occasion to blaspheme the name of God and his Religion 7 It was in sight of Nathan Gods holy Prophet who was sent of purpose by God to reprove it Nathan charged him Thou diddest it secretly see the deceiveablenesse of Sathan no sinne dare look the light in the face Qui male agit odit lucem He that doth evill hateth the light One of the greatest encouragements to finne is an hope of secrecie and therein for the most part the sinner mis-carrieth for not onely God which hateth the sinne but Sathan also that tempted to it do both finde means to bring it to shame Yet the heart of David was so hardened and his conscience so blinded with the pleasure of sinne that he felt no remorse of it Some sinnes are much more hardly repented then others especially those sinnes which please the naturall man best repented hardest 4 Coram me Before me Now at last his sinne is come to the light of his own understanding to the sting of his own conscience Now he sees what need he hath of mercy Miserere mei Deus c. Have mercy upon me O God Now he sees what commandments he hath despised as Nathan chargeth him Now he sees what offence he hath given to God to his Church What defiling to his own soul and body
Adams was actuall and death reigneth not but where sinne reigneth The same Apostle finding in his understanding enlightned and in his zeale inflamed and in his will rectified by the Spirit of God good motions to serve God uprightly yet those discouraged and ineffectualled in him often he chargeth all this upon his corrupt nature which he calleth Peccatum inhabitans Sinne dwelling in him Vers 20. Lexmembrorum the law of his members Vers 23. Corpus mortis the body of death Vers 24. The flesh Vers 25. With my minde I serve the Law of God with my flesh the law of sinne This the Author to the Hebrews doth call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sinne that doth so easily beset and inviron us For this little Infants unborne and new borne are subject unto death and to charge death without a charge of sinne would call the judge of all the world unjust That there is originall sinne and that David here complaineth of it we have made it cleare Now observe that David in his repentance to make it full doth apply all his sinnes to the multitude of Gods tender compassions For a full confession maketh way to a full absolution When Jeremiah advise thus to search and try our wayes first and then to turn to the Lord he intendeth that we must examine our hearts in this search to the bottome and go so farre back in this inquisition as to the mother sinne the primitive and originall masse of corruption which empoysoneth our nature which cancreth our manners and in time gangreneth our whole conversation mortally to the very dominion of sinne David doth so for here he looketh back so farre as to his first conception and diggeth so deep as the root of his sinne For he chargeth all his transgressions upon this beginning of sinne which indeed in all the children of Adam is not onely a naturall pollution defiling us but it is a corrupt seed shooting out in time into a blade and bearing a full eare of actuall prevarications Therefore no man knoweth his own heart and let no man be so bold of his own strength to promise resistance to such temptations as have corrupted others It is the Apostles good counsell Brethren if any man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse considering thy self lest thou also be tempted In which words The considering of thy self is no other then the wise remembrance of thy originall corruption for there is tinder in thee apt to take fire from a little spark There is in Sathan both cunning and malice enough with his temptations to strike this fire The Apostle useth a fit word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si anticipetur for sometimes we are by sensuall motives perswaded and by semblance of good deceived or by entisements of pleasure or profit allured to evill When the Serpent as with Eve disputeth with us and corrupteth our judgement darkeneth our reason blindeth benummeth or deadeth our conscience and so we not onely take but gather and give the forbidden fruit Sometimes Sathan catcheth us by surprise and with a sudden temptation having all opportunities for sinne to friend he overtaketh us and embarketh us in some trespasse before we have leasure to advise our selves So was Troy taken at last by a cunning stratageme Victâ—mque quamvis videat Vix or edit sibi potuisse vinci She saw her self orecome by foes Yet scarse beleeves she what she knows Thus was David here caught he was at leasure in peace in glory and power at ease his mind now quiet his breasts full of milk his bones of marrow and walking on the leads of his house his eye no sooner was fastened on the beauty but his heart was fired with lust after Vriahs wife he enquired of her sent for her defiled her prevented and surprized with a sudden temptation This he imputeth to his naturall corruption by his originall and birth sinne So some that have ever made conscience of an oath yet upon a sudden passion sometimes rap out a fearfull oath to Gods great dishonour and their foule offence So some that make conscience of giving Suum cuique to every one his own yet upon an opportunitie offering them anothers goods upon faire termes of likely secrecie have robbed a neighbour I have upon like occasion given examples of this work of corrupt nature in the sonnes of men in Hazael who brought a present from Benhadad to Elisha to demand whether his master should dye of that disease The man of God looked Hazael so stedfastly in the face that Hazael was out of countenance but the man of God wept And when Hazael demanded why weepeth my Lord He answered Because I see the evill that thou wilt do to the children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire and their yong men wilt thou destroy with the sword and wilt dash their children and wilt rip up their women with childe And Hazael said But whâ—t is thy servant a dogge that he should do this great thing Yet presently he returned to his master brought him comfort of his recovery and on the morrow he took a thick cloth and dipt it in water and spread it on his face that he dyed He reigned in his stead and did like a dogge all that evill c. When Christ said one of his twelve should betray him Judas was one of them that demanded with the rest Nunquid ego Domine Is it I Lord But a sudden temptation surprised him Then entred Sathan into Judas Iscariot And he went his way and communed with the chiefe Priests and Captains how he might betray him unto them Most memorable is the example of Peter whom Christ forewarned of his denyall of him A thing so farre from Peters heart that he took it ill to be so charged he protested against it and vowed to dye with him or for him rather then he would deny him Yet being in the high Priests Hall when Christ was ill used there for feare of his own skinne he denyed and forswore him thrice This body of sinne we do all alwayes beare about us and therefore we passe the time of our so journing here with feare for which of us may not be thus surprised For there is no kinde of sinne which our heart abhorreth most but we are in danger of it by reason of our naturall corruption wherefore Christ taught us to pray Et ne nos inducas in tentationem And leade us not into temptation Therefore a wise man feareth and departeth from evill but a foole rageth and is confident Folly is rash and goeth on inconsiderately and trusteth to his own strength We live in perpetuall danger by reason of this naturall corruption for the Spirit hath his eclipse and often upon our grieving him leaveth us in our own wayes that we may see our naturall impotencie to that which the Law requireth of us and be so much the more
Whatsoever we do against God we do it against our selves Whatsoever we do evill is against God it opposeth his will it resisteth his word and commandment it valueth the pleasure of sinne more then his favour and exchangeth God for a vain delight Is not this an high offence 3 He putteth it home Tibi soli peccavi against thee alone have I sinned Some question is made how David can say Soli Thee alone Did not he offend Vriah in defiling his bed in sending for him to colour his adultery in taking him home under a pretence of entertainment to make him drunk After all to procure his death did he not sinne against Bathsheba to defile her Did he not sinne against Joab to make him a murtherer Did he not sinne against his own body to destroy the temple of the Lord and to defile a vessell of holinesse with uncleannesse Did he not trespasse the Church which was ashamed and grieved at his aberration Did he not trespasse his double unction of King and Prophet how then doth he say Tibi soli against thee alone Mr. Calvin doth two wayes answer this question 1 That he had done this sinfull act secretly and so had none to make his peace withall but God who onely knew the offence This doth not help for Joab knew that he was an instrument of Davids injustice he knew he had defiled his own body she knew And no question but it was resented of many But this Psalme was made for the use of the Church after all was out against him 2 That he denyeth not the full extent of his fault but making his confession to God he declareth what did most cruciate and disquiet his conscience onely this that he had sinned against God and provoked his anger against him This may passe for a good solution of the question for the sinne against God extendeth to both Tables of the Law and when we trespasse our own selves or our neighbours we sinne mainly against God in both The full extent of our sinne is onely against God Every sinne hath a branching and dispersion like so many brooks running into one maine streame all empty themselves into the Sea all finally wrong God Mr. Calvin addeth his own judgement Tibi soli against thee alone Howsoever the secrecie of my sinfull acts may keep it out of sight from some and the flatterie of others may cast excuses or defences upon it and the charity of others may like Sem and Japhet cast a garment upon it to hide it may connive at it or pardon it To thee I have sinned thou doest know it and it appeares onely to thee in the full and true proportion I cannot hide it from thee This also may be well received He addeth that he nameth God onely because God onely hath the vengeance in his hand and he is in no danger but of him For who on earth hath power to chasten Kings for sinne but God onely There was no Pope above Kings in David's time The high Priest a type of Christ was nothing so great a man as the Pope the Vicar of Christ But the truth is when Christ came to reveale himself then began Sathan first to lay claime to all the kingdomes of the earth and the power to dispose of them and he made Christ a great offer to give them all to him But what Elisha would not Gehezi his man would what Christ refused his Vicar sticks not to accept of after Saint Augustine cleareth the doubt another way Tibi soli peccavi quiatu solâ—ss sine peccato ille justus punitur qui non habet quod puniatur Against thee onely have I sinned because thou alone art without sinne That just one was punished who had nothing in him to be punished Some reade to thee onely Peccavi I have sinned because none but he can pardon sinne as God saith I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake I best may satisfie my own judgement with reference of this complaint of David to the reproof of Nathan Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evill in his sight David striketh here at the root of his sinne from whence all his other iniquities and transgressions and sinnes of which he complained derived themselves It was my sinning against thee in the contempt of thy word that hath undone me and made me a prey to Sathan He that in the Serpent found that way to undo the first Adam in Paradise by drawing him away from the word he ever since hath tried that conclusion with all his posteritie and hath much advanced his kingdome by it he tryed the same way with Christ in the wildernesse but he kept him to the word Scriptum est it is written And therefore he tryed him by the word and urged Scriptum est it is written to him hoping by the word to have recovered him from the word And ever since his great agents especially Hereticks and Schismaticks are great Textmen This clearing of the words of David pointeth us to the beginning of all sinne in us which is at swarving from the word of God David found it so dangerous that the whole 119. Psalme is aymed at that sinne Vers 1. and 2. he pronounceth them blessed that walk in this way and keep his testimonies Vers 3. They do no iniquitie c. Vers 4. he urgeth Gods commandment for this to keep his precepts diligently Vers 5. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes 8. I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly His desire to the word his comfort from the word his joy in the word his estimation of the word his love to the word all the Psalme is full of these holy meditations We may all confesse in this respect with David that we have sinned against God onely for having the word in that plentie and so many helps by hearing and reading to take benefit of it Our ungodly lives testifie that we depart from it Which of our sinnes doth the word of God favour which doth it not threaten with losse of the kingdome of heaven as the Angels that sinned lost their habitation and Adam his paradise for departing from that word Israel Gods darling people lost their Canaan and first ten Tribes were lopt from the Church then cut off from the state and carried away and never heard of The remaine lost all and live now in dispersion it is our sinne and we begin to stinke in the nosthrils of God heare and feare And done this evill in thy sight 2 Here is the boldnesse of his sinne wherein let us consider 1 The person I. 2 The commission done 3 The trespasse evill 4 The particularity this 5 The daring of it in thy sight 1 Of the person It is againe prest and may not be omitted in our consideration For let every one consider his own person in all his delinquences and he shall finde so much more quarrell
foule shame In the Apostles time it was a modest sinne he saith They that are drunke are drunke in the night Now day and night are both guilty of it it is a sinne in fashion meetings of purpose called and intended for it The farewels of friends parting the welcomes of friends returning the celebration of great Festivals as if Bacchus had washt us in the bloud of the grape from our sinnes But God will be justified in his sayings he will declare his justice in his severe punishment of this sinne here and if it be not sincerely repented he hath told us home what he will do No drunkard shall enter into the kingdome of heaven I should lay your sinne to my own charge if I should not let you know the terrour of the Lord in this case The defence of it by the societie of sinners aggravateth the sinne God hateth it so much the more Malum quo communius Sinne the more common the worse 2 He declareth his justice in the performance of his mercie to his elect For even in these examples in my text alledged 1 To Adam he shewed mercy who sinned having onely a Law for his obedience with a penalty threatned in case of disobedience but there was no promise a foot if he should trespasse that Commandment And that made Adam when he had sinned hide himself from the presence of God ashamed and afraid to come in sight But God in free favour did seek him out and before he called him to his answer for his sinne he reveiled mercie in the promised seed When he laid his curse upon the Serpent that tempted him and therefore ever since his time sinners have a way of grace opened in that promise and no sinnes if sorrowed for can evacuate the force of that promise it standeth good to all that truly and sincerely repent So as David saith In judgement he remembreth mercie There he did so in the very sentence of judgement upon the Serpent was the first revelation of mercie to man He had no Obligation of a former promise to binde him to it but it was a free and voluntarie tender of favour growing out of his own perfect and absolute goodnesse In the tender whereof he hath given us strong assurance that if in free favour he would do so much much rather when he had put us in securitie thereof by promise 2 The example of favour to Noah doth justifie God in his sayings for he shewed him much favour after his fatherly correction of his fault 1 In verifying his blessing upon his two sonnes Sem of whom Abraham came and the twelve Patriarches and David and Christ Iesus And to whose tents in the fulnesse of time he invited Japhet and brought in the fulnesse of the Gentiles 2 In accomplishing his curse upon his yongest sonne many yeares after by giving away their Land from them and rooting them out with a violent destruction This performed upon the repentance of Noah which thought it be not in expresse and full termes set forth in the storie yet we may take it so signified when Moses saith And Noah awoke from his wine that is not onely recovered after sleep to sober judgement but to a penitent recognition of his sinne And by the spirit of prophecie he was enlightned to looke into times to come and to foresee the future estate of his posteritie and by the spirit of supplication to desire God for his eldest sonne and by the spirit of faith to beleeve in the resolved goodnesse of God to his second sonne And in all the story of holy Scripture we finde that the sinnes of repentant men though chastened with some temporall roddes of affliction yet never failing of mercie Davids children that transgressed were threatned with the roddes of men but with reservation of favour not to take his mercie utterly from them as from Saul 2 We shall now see how David did beare himself in the wise consideration of these two things 1 When he confest his sinne whereby God was justified in his threatnings of judgement He declareth his own humble patience submitting himself to the holy hand of God q. d. I confesse all my sinnes this my horrible and crying sinne that the world may see thy justice in punishing me and my patience in bearing it Stripes were ordained of purpose for the backs of fools I am one of them and I put my self under thy punishing hand He is content that as he hath made himself an example of a grievous sinner so God should declare in and upon him an example of his severe justice and so be justified in his sayings If God did forbeare all other punishments of our sinne in our own persons in our house and familie in our goods in the necessaries of life in which kindes he ordinarily avengeth himself upon offenders yet if the sinner shall but truly repent him of his sinne repentance it self is a greater punishment then all these There is more in it when it is said of Peter that he went forth and wept bitterly then in the disciples Reliquimus omnia We have left all And Saint Paul felt more smart in the thorne in his flesh and the Angell of the Lord bufferring of him then in all his dangers by Sea and Land his stripes shipwracke imprisonment When our own consciences are upon torture our souls upon the rack when we judge and take vengeance upon our selves it is judgement without mercy We ever feare we underdo Therefore the conscience of his sinne doth beare witnesse to the justice of God and he findeth no fault with his punishment Surely murmurers that repine at the punishing hand of God and think much of his judgements enflame the anger of God more by their resisting his right hand which hath found them out If they went in Davids way to take a just dimension of their sinne and did confesse it contritely to God they would be content that he should declare his justice in their punishment and they would see that he would overcome if he came to be judged Speak thy conscience when thou abusest thy drink to drunkennesse if God punish thee with thirst hast not thou well deserved it If thy meat to surfet if thy strength to wantonnesse c. 2 He sheweth faith For notwithstanding these many and this foule great sinne he beleeveth that God will be justified in his sayings that is declared just in his gracious promises of mercie The sinnes of the elect cannot outgrow the mercies of God nor our offences make his truth faile David is so full of this faith that as he spendeth part of this Psalme in a deploration of his sinnes so he bestoweth also part of it in supplications whereby he declareth his faith VERSE 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me 4. HE recounteth his originall sinne the corrupt fountaine of all his impurities he makes way to it with an Ecce for now he is at the
head of sinne That we were all in Adam in the day of his creation needeth no proofe for out of him was the woman created and of them made one flesh by marriage was all mankinde propagated So that these first parents of our flesh did stand or fall to the benefit or losse of all their posteritie But man stood but a while in honour and by his fall he not onely corrupted his own person but his nature whereby there remained an infection of sinne to the pollution of the whole nature of mankinde This the Apostle hath affirmed disertly In Adam all dye that is all are subject to the law of mortality and all are under the curse of the law for the second death God concluded all under sinne that is both the infection of sinne and the punishment thereof David speaketh here of his originall sinne in the pollution thereof and confesseth that from that root of bitternesse this and all his other sinnes derived Therefore he confesseth the beginning of it not onely at his shaping and formation in the wombe when God gave his body a composition in the wombe and set every member and part of his body in the proper place but he goeth higher to his first conception In peccato fovit me in sin she nourisht me his first warmth which put the first natural heat to the radicall moisture of which we are created This appeares in the difference between the first man created and the first generated for â—f Adam it is said In the image of God made he him But de primo generato of the first begotten for in the account of the Genealogie he reckoneth not Cain who was gone from the presence of God nor Abel who was by Cain murthered But the Genealogie begins at Seth of whom we reade And Adam begat a sonne in his own likenesse after his image and called his name Seth. For Cain he needed not to say so for the corruption of his foule heart shewed him borne of corrupt seed But Seth was one of the holy Fathers of the Church yet begotten in the image of Adam now corrupt and not in the image of God as Adam was created How could it be otherwise for our first parents being defiled who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one The Fathers with full consent referre that speech of Iob to our originall sinne as Pineda upon that place recounteth and quoteth them I should not need to prove this point of originall sinne having so cleare evidence for it as my Text in hand But that the Pelagians long ago denyed any such sinne or naturall corruption affirming Verba Pelagii Ut sine virtutâ— ita sine vitio procreamur atque ante actionem propriae voluntatis id solum in homine est quod Deus condidit The words of Pelagius That as we are begotten without vertue so without vice and before the acting of our own wils that onely is in man which God made Saint Augustine long ago took this heresie to â—ask and learnedly confuted it But of late Ann. 1620. there was a Pamphlet stolne out in print and vented from pocket to pocket by some Anabaptists at home who yet refuse to be so called In this the heresie of Pelagius is revived and originall sinne denyed and peremptorily it is affirmed that no sinne is derived from our parents We take say they from Adam vanity corruption and death This vanity is onely a weaknesse and impotencie in nature to know and do the duties of the Law of God But they deny it to be sinne Their reason is Adam was made of the earth we were made of Adam Adam was made of the earth onely in respect of â—iâ— body for God first made the body and then infused the soul in it The body was free from sinne the soul a spirituall substance infused by God was also free from sinne so Adam was created without sinne But we were no otherwise made of Adam then Adam was made of the earth and we were no more in Adam when he sinned then Adam was in the earth before his creation First according to the body Adam had no commandment given him till he had understanding to embrace it and will to receive or refuse it Adam sinned not till he departed from the commandment They conclude hence that we receiving nothing but our flesh from Adam cannot sinne till we have understanding to know what is commanded us ergo no originall sinne To all which we answer That the flesh which Adam took from the earth was pure for so was the earth But the flesh that we take from Adam is tainted with sinne And true it is that no actuall sinne can be committed without the Law But we may be guilty of originall impuritie without prevarication of the Law Adam had onely the matter of his body from the earth we derive more from Adam For whereas as God breathed into the body of Adam all at once the breath of lives We live three lives The life of plants in our vegetative The life of bruits in our sensitive The life of Angels in our rationall soul Philosophers and Phisitians and the learned Scholars of nature do resolve that we traduce two of these lives from our parents the third is immediately both created and infused by God The proper seat of originall sinne is in the sensitive part of man and that corrupteth our reason and as it groweth faster then our rationall doth so it over-groweth it and keepeth it down untill our new birth doth cut it and keep it short and the good Spirit of God give us strength to resist it and to subdue it This God himself hath in both Testaments fully detected in two holy Sacraments first Circumcision This was to be administred so soone as an infant was capable of it even after the first criticall day and that part of the body was chosen for this Sacrament which might best shew our generation unclean it was a Sacrament of purgation the impuritie of our naturall generation In the new â—estament the Sacrament of Baptisme was instituted to the same purpose And where our Anabaptists do charge us that by our doctrine of originall sinne we bring upon infants a danger of eternall death and thereby we revive that wicked Proverbe The fathers have eaten fowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge We regest this calumny upon them in just imputation For when they confesse that we traduce from our parents vanity corruption and death these are the punishments of sinne and if we have no sinne of our own it is our parents sinne and so our teeth are on edge for their sowre grapes The doctrine of originall sinne was ever taught in the Church and when Saint Augustine did meet with the Pelagian heresie denying it he opposed it strongly and because the adversary urged the faith and doctrine of certaine Hereticks denying originall sinne S. Augustine produceth the constant contrary asseverations of the
and purged doth seeme to declare in him 1 A Conscience sensible of his pollution and weary of it 2 Aâ—ervency of spirit breathing importunity with God in strong cryes and supplications to remove the annoyance of it 1 A conscience throughly touched with sense and remorse of his sinne for he hath beene earnest with God already in this Psalme before for this and hath begd of God to blot out his iniquities that they might not remaine upon record against him to wash him throughly and cleanse him from his sinne and now he reneweth and re-enforceth his petition to the same purpose The reason I conceive to be because he hath now beene deepe in the confession of his sinne and in contemplation of the holinesse and purity of God and of that integrity which he exacteth of us For if our thoughts could be at leiâ—are to thinke effectually of these things we should apply our desires more to the servcie of God and to the declining of evill wee should finde our sinnes sit blushing in our faces and bleeding in our wounded consciences The tendernesse of the heart would yearne at any offence done to him from whom we receive so much good and the terrour of his power who is able to doe us so much hurt and the shame of requiting him unthankfully who hath declared so much patience in our aberrations would worke upon us to love and feare and seeke him with all our hearts Now we may see in David an holy wearinesse of his evill wayes we may feele sinne a burthen oppressing him we may see it a pollution annoying him no rest in his bones because of his sinne Wee may also discerne some present effect of that wisedome which God had taught him which beginneth at the feare of God to eschew evill and doe good 2 Note the fervency of his spirit in this importunity of his strong supplications He that feeleth want of any thing good for him will not be said nay The unjust Iudge that feareth neither God nor man shall have no rest till he doe his poore petitioner justice The Disciples cannot still nor drive away the poore woman that petitioneth Christ for her distressed daughter The diseased of all sorts did pursue Christ for remedy The paralitique is let downe through the roofe of the house to be presented to Christ This teacheth us fervency in prayer for the fervent prayer of the just prevaileth with God It is the Apostles precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore he must be washt and purged till he may be cleane and he must be of Gods washing for who else can finde out all the secret conveiances of sinne who but he can sound the heart and search it to the bottome none but he can purge this temple of our bodies and whip out the defilers of it and make a denne of theeves an house of prayer againe 2 Yet more to shew his pollution he desireth to bee washt with hysope wherein he hath respect to the ceremoniall purgation used in the Law for the cleansing of a Leper Sinne is a leprosie and as the leprosie was purged with hysope dipt in bloud so must sinne bee purged with the sprinckling of bloud But the first mention that I reade of the use of hysope doth interpret this suit of David best for in the institution of the Passeover in the land of Egypt they were commanded to kill a Lambe and it is said And ye shall take a bunch of hysope and dip it in a bason in the bloud and ye shall strike on the upper dore post and on the two side posts with the bloud that is in the bason This sprinckling of bloud with a bunch of hysope was a type of the bloud of the Lambe without spot Christ Iesus used for 1 Purgation to remove the pollution of sinne 2 For propitiation to remove the punishment of sinne to keepe the destroying Angell from our houses and to establish safety there against all euill Saint Peter directeth his Epistle to the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit and sprinckling of the bloud of Iesus Christ for if the bloud of Bulles and Goates and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the uncleane sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe to God without spot Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God so that we may say of David in this Petition that hee is now come To Jesus the mediatour of the new Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory doe referre this Petition to the humility of Christ in his passion whereby wee are purged Surely Dauid had respect onely to the bloud of Christ for his purification from sinne for all the lotions and purgings of the old law did looke that way and were representations and types of that full purgation which was to be accomplished by the bloud of Iesus Christ for though temporava iatasunt the times are changed yet fides una faith is one and the same But give me leave to search somewhat deeper into this mystery for Davids last confession was of his originall sinne And this Petition following it so close calleth to my remembrance a Law of purgation of uncleannesse mentioned with hysope dipt in water to sprinckle the tent the vessels and the persons of such as were uncleane which I conceive to be a type of our Christian Baptisme which Christ instituted as a remedy against originall sinne and which the Apostle calleth the Laver of our new birth Cardinall Bellarmine was before me in this meditation Aperit unum ex occultis mysteriis divine sapientiâ— quòd videlicet tempore novi testamenti aspergendi essent homines aqua munda in Baptisme He opens one of the hidden mysteries of divine wisedome that in the time of the new Testament men were to be sprinckled with pure water in Baptisme Both wayes the bloud of Christ is the liquor of our purification and David so many yeares before the fulnesse of time in which he came actually to performe the worke of our redemption by the saerifice of his bloud did by faith apprehend both this remedy and the full effect of it for it was ever the way of our cleannesse since the fall of Adam and therefore Christ is called agnus occisus ab origine mundi the Lamb slaine from the beginning of the world The grace of the holy Ghost inwardly purging the conscience from sinne by the application of the bloud of Christ was not perceptible by the sense and reason of man Therefore it pleased God in the law to relieve their weakenesse with externall types figures and representations Sacraments of strong signification to make these things more demonstrable The body of these is Christ and it is his onely bloud by which we are washed from
that the purse hath saved the life yet that is but the price of intercession But the Kings pardon onely saveth life It is so in the state of our soules sinne is a capitall fault and the wages of it death and no way of escape from this just judgement but by Gods gratious and free pardon We cannot purchase a mediation at any rate to availe us without true and unfained repentance and then we have but one Mediatour to the Father and he must purchase our pardon with his bloud he must be wounded for our transgressions and we must be healed by his stripes and hee must dye for us that we may live in and by him Let Papists seeke heaven by their righteousnesse at their owne perill For my selfe I am so farre from trusting to any merits of our owne workes that I dare resolve that if the salvation of all mankinde had beene put to the plunge that Sodome was at with the other Cities to finde tenne righteous from Adam to the last man that shall stand upon the earth all mankinde must have perished for want of tenne such I dare adventure further in resolution that if the bringing one good worke before God done in all the generations of men performed without any tast or taint of sinne might save all mankinde I except none but Iesus Christ I doe beleeve that he that searched Jerusalem with candle and lanterne even his seven eyes which tunne to and fro through the whole earth cannot finde out one such good and perfect worke the caske distasteth the liquour who is he that doth good and sinneth not who doth good and sinneth not in the very good he hath done To make a worke perfectly holy is one thing to make it meritorious is another If no good work we doe can come from us holy it is not possible it should aske wages Our corruption of nature sprinckles every word worke and thought of ours with some graines more or lesse of our old Adam for as we consist of flesh and spirit ever conflicting there is of both in all we are or have it cannot bee otherwise for the imaginations of the thoughts of our heart are onely evill continually and from that neast these birds doe flye Adultery Fornication Strife c. But if wee could doe any worke holy and pure â—â—oâ—n blame yet there goeth more to it then holinesse to make it meritorious 1 It is required that we be able to doe it of our selves for no thankes to us for any good we doe if he land us the faculties and abilities of doing it 2 It is required that hee which deserveth should doe something for the benefit of him of whom he deserveth but our well-doing extendeth not to God 3 It is required that hee which meriteth doe his good worke out of his owne free will ex mero motu non ex debito meerely by his owne mooving not as of due debt For what we doe of duty we pay we doe not give 4 It is required that the reward bee proportionable to the worke for else whatsoever is more is gift not wages They that wrought all day deserved their penny they that came late had more gift then wages eternall life is too much reward for any service wee doe This putteth workes of supererogation quite out of countenance to name them is to shame them Micah 6. 6. Where withall shall I come before the Lord burnt offerings Calves of a yeare old Will the Lord bee pleased with thousands of rammes or with tenne thousand rivers of oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgressions the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule Hee hath shewed thee c. To doe justly to love mercy to walke humbly before thy God The way of repentance and crying God mercy is the way of humility we cannot pay our debt we cannot buy out our fault we have nothing to give our plea is miserere have mercy we can finde no way out of our sinnes but by Gods gratious and free pardon This is not so easie a favour obtained as many thinke for suppose the pardon were obtained and sealed for God have mercy yet there is no moment of our life in which we doe not forfeit it and therefore we must renew it continually When you pray say Pater noster dimitte nobis Our Father forgive us and semper orate pray alwayes Be sure to renew your pardon by repentance and prayer continually especially at such times when we come to the house of God to the Table of God now wash us throughly O Lord now O Lord have mercy upon us now purge us with hysope now hide thy face from our sinnes and blot on t all our iniquities Now make us heare joy and gladnesse which thou impartest to us in the Sacrament of thy sons passion Our Church service is holily accommodated to this for we beginne at the words wherein God maketh us heare of joy and we humble our selves to God in a contrite deploration of our sins O Lord heare us from heaven and when thou hearest shew mercy VERSE 10. Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me 4. HE prayeth for newnesse of life Here also he doubleth his petition and changeth the phrase 1 For his heart the seat of his affections 2 For the holy Ghost to sanctifie him throughout in his body soule and minde In the first observe 1 His suit is for the heart 2 He desireth that cleane 3 He wisheth it so by creation In the second 1 His suit is for the spirit 2 He would have that right 3 He would have it by renovation 1 For the heart there breed adulteries murthers and all other sinnes as Christ hath taught us and that was the neast of all his sinnes The message of God by Nathan descended into the secrets of his heart there he hid the word he saith before Thou requirest truth in the inward parts he found his heart no fit habitation for truth as it was It is our chiefest care to looke to the heart because Christ asketh that of us for himselfe My sonne give me thy heart The Church of the Iewes in tender care for the Church of the Gentiles complaineth We have a little sister and she hath no breasts what shall we doe for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for that is how shall wee doe for her when Christ shall be speake her for a Spouse for himselfe That should be our care every one for his heart wee have a foule and uncleane heart what shall we doe for it or how shall we answer when Christ saith My sonne give me thy heart Our care therefore must be for it to prepare it so that we may neither be ashamed nor afraid when Christ calleth for it to present him with it Here Salomon adviseth well Keep thy heart above all keeping for out of it are the issues of life This heart of ours hath many
departed from the word of the Lord in sparing the life of an enemy David in taking away the life of a friend Had he not cause to feare at least an equality in his punishment whom he had exceeded in his sinne no question but God giveth his graces with his holy callings and we hazard the withdrawing of them from us when we embrace sinne Wee finde examples too frequent in all sorts of men that they doe lose by their falling into sinne the graces of God which commonly doe follow their lawfull callings When Kings leave good counsell and embrace enemies of their state to the grievance and vexation of the Common-wealth on when they turne sensuall and attend onely their loose delights God taketh from them the spirit of government When Ministers study nothing but riches or honour or follow pleasures God taketh from them the spirit of prophecie In ordinary mechanicall and manuall professions many excellently able in their way perish and drowne their abilities in idlenesse in gaming in drinking c. Yet when any of these come againe to themselves and refraine these evill courses the spirit of God returneth againe to them and they doe well Saul had many graces of the spirit but the maine hee wanted and the other he lost and that example putteth David into this suite Spiritum sanctum tuum ne ausera◠take not thy holy spirit from me VERSE 12. 2. SUpplicat he prayeth for herein also hee is double and desireth two things first restitution secondly confirmation 1 His restauration Restore to me the joy of thy salvation he meaneth that inward spirituall joy which before he had in the faith of his salvation For having fallen so foully and thereby deserved so ill at the hands of God hee was jealous of himselfe that he had lost the favour of God and the salvation of his soule The word in the originall hath Jesus in it The joy of thy Iesus for he beleeved that Iesus the Saviour should come of his seed That was joy to him and his sinne did shake his faith therein ne Deus ei offensus subtraheret quod pacatus promiserat formidavit hee feared lest God offended should withdraw that which being pleased he had promised So before him Saint Augustine understood David Redde exultationem salutaris tui i. Christi quis enim sine illo sanari potuit nam in principio erat verbum tempora variata sunt non fides restore the joy of thy salvation that is of Christ For who can bee saved without him the times are changed not faith Our observations from hence are 1 That Davids joy was in making sure of his salvation he had now made experience of a carnall and sensuall joy he findeth it loathsome and defiling and the end bitternesse therefore he returnes to the pursuit of that joy So in a better minde the Church said I will goe and return to my first love for then it was better with me than now The truth is there is no such joy here as in the favour of our God and the faith of our salvation with him David once said Thou hast put gladnesse in my heart more then in the time that their corne and wine and oyle increased This is our summum bonum our chiefe good and upon our deathbeds we hearken to them that speake comforts to us of our salvation when we must part with all here But the Apostle would have it the maine care and businesse of our whole life to worke out our salvation with feare and to make our election sure As the Sea-man regardeth so the businesse within boord as alwaies observing the way of his ship and also looking to his Chart and Compasse for the accomplishing of his voyage In the comforts and joyes of life in things temporall we ever hope that to morrow will be better than to day and when that comes we fall short still Deterior semper posterior dies seldome comes a better But for the joy of our salvation the more we taste of it the more we thirst after it and as we grow in grace we increase in spirituall joy and as our tast so our desire of eternall life doth increase that we thinke long till we appeare before our God in Sion 2 Sinne depriveth us of this joy for when our conscience accuseth us of having done that which displeaseth our God how can we hope that he who is not the God of our obedience should be the God of our salvation Sinne is a thing so hatefull to God that his soule abhorreth it Adam the first sinner hid himselfe Caine beleeved himselfe banisht from the presence of the Lord. The spirit of God departed from Saul sinne turneth our prayers into it selfe If I regard wickednesse in my heart Dominus non exaudiet me the Lord will not heare me sinne turnes our praises of God into the sacrifice of fooles There can be no peace to the sinner so long as we continue in a state of sinne without search of Gods gratious pardon wee are in the deepe pit if we then despaire the pit shutteth its mouth upon us if yet we hope there is no health in our bones because of our sinne till God hath sealed our pardon and that his spirit doe witnesse with ours that wee are in his favour Doe not our owne corruptions and the evill counsels of the ungodly and the temptations of Sathan worke strongly upon us when they prevaile against the joy of our salvation We under value that joy very basely when we change it for any other that holds out in number weight and measure that filleth the measure full and presseth it downe and maketh it runne over Dic animae meae salus tua sum say to my soule I am thy salvation let mee have thy word for that and then as Saint Augustine saith hic ure hic seca here burne here cut me we shall not feare them that kill the body for if wee had all the joyes of the world we could hold them but during this life this joy survives our death Satietie of other joyes breeds surfet of this thirst beati qui esuriunt c. blessed are they that hunger c. Whereas David desireth to be restored to this joy we see our evill condition we cannot tell when we be well when we have joy the best and truest joy that can be we part with it for vanitie of vanities and when we feele the want of it we complaine It is the weakenesse of our judgement we cannot value good things so priceably in the possession of them as in the subduction Carendo magis quà m fruendo by wanting more then enjoying is an old rule of our imperfect reason Godlinesse should ever be joyned with contentednesse and our desires should be limited to our enjoyings when wee affect any thing beyond Gods allowance we are often abated in the allowance and our vast and unlawfull desires are corrected by withdrawing from us the good that
joy is not yet full 2 That the knowledge of such conversation here would adde to their joy 3 That God is free to fill up their measure how farre and in what kinde Ignoramus we know not 3 Gratum in instituto acceptable in the thing it selfe No comfort to piety or charity like to communication The liberall man is in his trim quando distribuit when hee gives in such chests reponit thesauros Christ layes up his treasures It is my joy to say my bread my wooll my friends my purse my hand my letter made such a one In charitie aurum mâ—um in altari Domini my gold upon Gods Altar Of all the friends we have we esteeme them best that have converted us from sinne to righteousnesse by reforming the errors of our judgement or the vices of our conversation He that of a poore man makes me rich he fitteth me for this world He that of a wicked lewd lascivious man makes me godly fitteth me for this life and that which is to come for godlinesse hath the promises of both We hold our calling and meanes by this service we doe it ex officio out of duty We lift up our voyces like trumpets to tell the house of Iacob their sinnes not to shame but ad dignam emendationem to amâ—nd them No calling requireth more integrity more fidelity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is sufficient none hath a greater reward our reward is with God yea God is our exceeding great reward We have the office and name of Iesus servabis teipsum quite audiunt thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee They that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine like starres he telleth the number of these starres and calleth them all by their names 4 Gratum Deo acceptable to God he is emblemed in the father of the Prodigall Bring my sons from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth Good Ministers undergoe a great hazard in this service for if any perish in his sinne for want of our warning his bloud is upon us Ob. But doth not David presume to promise this Sol No our labour is not in vaine in the Lord for 1 If some sinners like the high way non recipiunt bonum receive not the good as they that hate to be reformed sinne raigning in them crying Nolumus scientiam viarum tuarum non possunt audiri strepitus in domo We desire not the knowledge of thy wayes they cannot bee heard there is a noyse in the house Christ would gather them noluerunt they would not 2 If some like stony ground receive seed and it wither for want of moysture 3 If some receive it with joy and the cares or pleasures of life choake it 4 Yet there is some good ground which cultured and well ploughed and stirred by the sharpe coulter of the law watered with the teares of their teachers and the dew of heavenly grace will take the seed and bring forth fruit Saint Ambrose to Monica Saint Augustines mother impossibile est ut filius harum lachrymaruÌ„ pereat it is impossible that the sonne of these teares should perish True it is many conneâ—s little thanke for labouring their conversion yea theâ— are angry with us for it Thou thankest him that putteth thy stray beast into the way why art thou offended with him qui teipsum vellet reducere aberrantem which would bring thee thy selfe backe going astray Bonam vis domum uxorem bonam cur non teipsum bonum thou wouldst have a good house a good wife why not thy selfe good Let us cut a passage through all impediments with zeale and faith and love beleeving that this good worke cannot miscarry True it is that good workes exact our uttermost of performance propter se for themselves successus est extra nos the successe is out of our power yet our hope and faith may cheerefully look to the successe Davids faith hath ground 1 From the fitnesse of him to teach 2 From the acceptablenesse of the worke 3 From the dignity of the subject vias tuas thy wayes 4 From the auxiliarie cooperation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-workers with God From this passage observe God hath sundry wayes to teach 1 By Catechisme so Lois and Eunice did teach Pauls Timothy The Creed oratio dominica lex Lords prayer the Law Three Sermons teaching credenda petenda agenda things to be beleeved to be asked to be done 2 By reading the Word these are sure oracles able to make thee wise to salvation Moses of old time hath in every Citie them that preach him seeing he is read in the Synagogue every Sabbath day 3 By Sermons giving the sense of the word dividing and applying it aright Where able men are wanting the Church provideth Homilies profitable In Conc. Vasensi Anno 444. Si presbyter infirmitate prohibente non potuerit prâ—dicare Sanctorum patrum Homiliae à Diaconis recitentur If the Priest by reason of infirmity cannot Preach let the Homilies of the holy Fathers be repeated by the Deacons Some hold good preferments in the Church that are very sicke of an impotency to that service these have this helpe Preaching learnedly and conscionably by laboured Sermons hath ever had great honour and hath great efficacie but Cavete quomodo audiatis take heed how ye heare There may be danger in the failing of the Preacher in judgement or discretion For some vent their fancies for truth their owne selfe flatteries for the spirit of consolation their owne furies for zeale their owne spleene for reprehension and turne the bread of life to gravell Try the spirits si ex Deo if they be of God as they of Berea Scrutamini Scripturas search the Scriptures 4 Here is another kinde of teaching when converted sinners turne teachers This is the rich mans suit si unus â— mortuis if one from the dead Benhadads servants shewed comfort to their drooping Master saying We have heard that the Kings of Israell are mercifull men If one of them could have said it by any experience or a King in his case had found it so how had he comforted him David could say Dicam quid fecit animae meae I will tell you what he hath done for my soule I was in misery and he helped me I sinned foully provokingly scandalously I continued in sinne impenitently At last I was chidden I was sorry I was ashamed I cryed God mercy he heard me forgave me and received me to favour They that speake from hearing reading or contemplation speake not so to the heart as they that have had experience Give me a grieved man comforted let him tell his owne tale There is no oratorie no varnish or guilded speech wrought and laboured by the sweate of art that may compare with his plaine tale He hath cor in linguâ— his heart in his tongue no musicke like his voluntarie David will loose no time Then will I teach then when I heare of
a way that seemeth good in a mans owne eyes but the end thereof are the wayes of death This is viaâ—on bona the way not good we must turne out of it here repentance beginneth Leave to doe evill Natures way the way of corrupt will the way of our lusts the way of the world are beaten waies many travaile them but these are new waies which are called our owne crooked waies turne out of them 3 The object to the Lord. This may seeme to import very small comfort for transgressors to turne to the Lord for he hath declared himselfe a jealous God and a consuming fire he hath digged a pit for sinners his wisedome cannot but see his lawes broken his holinesse can doe no lesse than abhorre it his justice cannot but punish it To turne sinners to God is to bring stubble to the fire but marke the sequence of my text First he will teach sinners Gods waies and then there can be no danger of their turning to God For Adam when he had turned from God by disobedience it was no wonder that he turned not to God by repentance but fled from his presence and hid himselfe because the way to God was shutup till God himselfe opened it in the promised seed yet there is no record of his turning kept This point affordeth the most comfortable doctrine that we can preach or you heare That a sinner may turne to God and be welcome to him it is the oyle of gladnesse it is the bread that strengtheneth mans heart Manna reconditum the hidden Manna It is a flagon of wine from the Lords Cellar It is the fulnesse and fatnesse and marrow of Gods house It is the living water drawne from the rivers of Gods pleasure which refresh the City magni regis of the great King It is the very extraction and distilment of the two Testaments of the Law and of the Gospell Let a sinner upon survey of his conscience and the detection of his sinne whilest his iniquities are in number and are set in order before him even then in the cold fit of feare resort to the Lord and cast himselfe at his feet and seeke his face There be great reasons for it 1 There is a necessitie in it there is no helpe elsewhere none can forgive sinnes but God onely The Apostles and Ministers of the Word forgive sinnes upon repentance but ministerially they doe pronounce Gods pardon ex officio by their office Therefore the Iewes accused Christ of blasphemy for forgiving sinnes for they knew him not to be God He healeth all our infirmities and pardoneth all our sinnes 2 God though he abhorre sinne yet he loveth the person of the sinner he cannot despise the worke of his own hand he hath sworne by his life that he will not the death of a sinner but rather that he turne to him All the while that he hath his hand in his bosome while he is plucking of his sword out of the sheath while he is whetting of it while he is lifting it up all this while he is expecting our repentance and if we turne not he smiteth home if we doe convert he saith Put up thy selfe into thy scabberd rest and be still He dealeth not withus as with enemies at armes end but forbeareth us and openeth his bosome and revealeth to us the bowels of his compassion The two greatest and dearest loves that are he taketh upon himself to declare his tendernesse over us 1 the love of an husband secondly of a father for under these titles he hath desired to appeare to his Church yet he taketh an holy pride to transcend husbands and fathers in their naturall love for thy Maker is thy husband the Lord of hoasts is his name What husband will receive againe a disloyall divorced wife that hath given her body to be defiled and hath scornefully abused him and borne children to strangers yet God receiveth us after all this wrong yea whilest we are in the height of this sinne he wooeth and courteth us and seeketh our conversion I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speake friendly to her heart Though fathers provoked by disobedient children forget naturall affection and mothers cast off all compassion yet God cannot yea though he doe for a time forbeare yet upon repentance if thou turne to him In the place where it was said ye are not my people there it shall bee said unto them ye are the sonnes of the living God Hee was that father who saw met received and cloathed and welcommed his vnthrifty sonne he sent not after him but when he returned he embraced him Our God is kinder than that father for he sendeth into the farre Country after to seeke us out he sendeth his Prophets Apostles Ministers Ite in universum mundum goe into all the world he riseth early to send them God himselfe offereth his owne wings how often would I have gathered you some parables expresse chiefly what God doth somewhat we should doe The parable of the Prodigall chiefly sheweth quid nos what we The parable of the lost sheepe quid Deus what God 3 We have comfort from Gods often inviting sinners to him nothing shall dismay us for he requireth and commandeth our resort to him with a non obstante nothing hindering and Samuel saith to the people yee have done all this wickednesse yet turne not aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart and Christ saith Come all weary and heavy laden 4 God taketh more pleasure in the returne of a sinner to him then he conceived anger for his departing from him When God had lost Adam by his sinnes the griefe was not so great as his joy was when he recovered him by the seed of the woman The second Adam had twise from heaven proclaimed over him Hic est filius meus dilectus this is my beloved Sonne There is a parable for that more joy for the lost sheepe than the 99. Sinne is an act of depraved nature it is opus nostrum our worke Grace is opus Dei Gods worke he loves his owne workes more than hee hates ours Iacob Satis est vivit filius meus It is enough my sonne is yet alive The father in the parable pleaded and justified the cause of his joy My sonne was lost and is found This shewes the sure mercies of God which declare him God But because of us sinners thou shalt be called mercifull for ubi non est miseria non est misericordia where there is no misery there is no mercy The first sinners were Angels they fell not all and those that fell did corrupt onely themselves there was no propagation of that creature When Adam and Evah fell they corrupted the whole nature of mankinde and this magnified the Creators mercie when he raised up an horn of salvation to preserve a creature whose generations had else beene subject to ruine
murder destroyeth the body and spilleth the bloud on the earth like water which cannot be gathered up againe Adultery increaseth the world though with an illegitimate issue murder depriveth the world of a legitimate Here adultery defiled a woman but murther lost the state of a faithfull servant Adultery is an act of peccant nature murther is against nature contrary to humanity Sâ—vire in propriam speciem to be cruell against our own kinde is hainous and therfore lay more heavy upon the conscience of the offendor was more offensive to God and man and needed more speciall deprecation 4 Sins are much weighed according to the measure of comfort given to them and therfore such sins as are done upon a sodain temptation be commonly no other then sins of infirmity Satans surprizes and our overtakings Such was Davids adultery for he was idle he walked on the roof of his house Vidit concupivit accersivit convenit c. He saw desired sent for her confers c. caetera quis nescit the rest who knows not But his other sin a deliberate act of study a premeditated mischief seen and allowed Here was fulnesse of malice depth of cunning fairest pretexts of high favour all to palliate a close designed practice against the life of a faithfull servant Sins on the by are often more hainous then the maine sin As here the making Uriah drunke and killing him worse then the adultery So when we have deceived a neighbour in bargaining the maintenance and supportation of our deceit by lying and swearing defileth the conscience more then the first sin Sinnes that come on for the shelter and occultation or for the defence and justification of any sinne weigh twice their own weight because they seem to make sins out of measure sinfull Adultery should have beene declined but being committed it should have been presently repented but when in stead hereof sin is added to sinne that over-measure of iniquity is more then the first transgression Therefore here wanted not cause from the monstrous provoking condition of this sin to put in a speciall caution by prayer against it that it destroy not utterly 5. When David purposed to build an house to God which was before this fall of his God refused his offer Thou hast shed bloud abundantly thou hast made great wars thou shalt not build an house to my name because thou hast shed much bloud upon the earth in my sight If the bloud of lawfull warre shed in the quarrell of God and his Church did foule Davids hands and made them unfit for that work No question but now David doth consider how he hath shed the bloud of warre in peace How he hath defiled his hands with innocent bloud wilfully shed which taketh from man the privilege of Gods Altar And the conscience of this might well stirre him up to this particular request To be delivered from blouds all serveth to admonish us 1 To be very carefull how we do charge our consciences with deliberate sinnes for they cleave fast and they weigh heavy Repentance hath somewhat to doe to put them off So long as wee go no further then the evill wee would not do and commit sin with reluctation and griefe wee are within the verge of mercy But when once wee commit 〈◊〉 with greedinesse and delight and beare out one sinne with another we forget and forsake quae ad pacem what concerns our peace 2 To do our best to preserve the life of our brother It is our bloud that runs in his veins he is caro de carne nostra flesh of our flesh and calls Adam and Eve father and mother as well as we The vexation that David sustained for this sin may discourage any man to have bloudy hands There is no conveyance to hide and conceal it and grace is hardly obtained to pardon it 2 Promittit hee promises And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousnesse 1 Quod promittit that hee promises 2 Quid what 1 Quod that This may beare a double construction 1 As a vow Lingua mea my tongue c. 2 As a declaration of the effect of that deliverance desired 1 Votum a Vow These be noble and holy great and good thoughts As Araunah spake like a King to David when he offered him his Floore Oxen c. So David speaks like a King to God when he promiseth to do somwhat for him All receive daily benefits of donation of condonation every one desireth his owne turne served but few think of returning to give thanks as the tenth of the Lepers Many seeke the face of God for such things as they want spirituall or temporall few bethink Ego autem quid Domino What shall I render to the Lord David joyneth Petition and Promise with a conjunction copulative Liberame lingua mea Deliver me and my tongue c. They should not part Beneficium Benefit Officium Duty With us one good turn asketh another and they speake to purpose who when they request do also promise And it is happy for us that we have to do with one that may be entreated to doe us favours and to expect our retribution after Thankfulnesse is a great loser by our times 1 It hath got an ill name for bribes and all gifts either to buy or to corrupt justice are called thankfulnesse 2 It hath not the libertie it had it had wont to be free now forced 3 Onely it hath got place for it had wont to follow a benefit now it commonly goes before it Nothing loseth us the favour of God more then our barrennesse If like the earth wee would bring forth an harvest for the seed sowed in us if like the Sea wee did evaporate If like rivers we did return to our Sea whence we came we might have spem augustiorem a fuller hope but commonly we are sepulchra beneficiorum graves of benefits 2 These words may be understood onely to declare the effect of Gods pardon for the joy of it will set him a singing and the favour of it will set him a worke to magnifie the righteousnesse of God It is Davids owne rule O give thanks to the Lord Let the redeemed of the Lord say so But indeed the Prophet here desireth God to set his instrument in tune that hee may sound his prayse For till God deliver him from the foulnesse of sinne he is unclean and cannot be admitted in chorum into the number of singers God will refuse him as before What hast thou to do to declare it But if God be pleased to remove all his sins then he shall be a fit instrument to sound the prayse of God Therefore Augustine Admonet non ut deponat praedicationem sed ut assumat poenitentiam obedientiam It is not as if he ceased to prayse God but that he takes to himself repentance and obedience Ex bono thesauro bona Good things from a good treasury God looked on Abel and his
of God 3 A wandring unsetled life 4 Terrour of conscience Observe the effect upon himselfe for 1 He repineth at the justice of God for inflicting too much punishment 2 He despaireth of the mercy of God he neither hopeth nor asketh Gods pardon 3 He lookes for retaliation whosoever meeteth me will kill me he holdeth himselfe now no better than a man of death The reason why God declared himselfe so soon so quick so sharp an avenger of murther is because hee is author of life and conserver of it Iob giveth him that title the preserver of men and he cannot beare it that hee taking care of all to preserve their lives men should unsive one the other In the plantation of Paradise he set in the middest of the Garden a tree of life not onely a Sacrament but an instrument of life It was one of his quarrels with the old world For the earth is full of violence because of men Therefore when he renewed the world after the floud hee exprest his care of mans life Surely the bloud of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of every man and at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man Whosoever sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed for in the image of God made he man Cains conscience thought this just when he said whosoever meeteth me wil kill me This was after established for a law whosoever killeth any person the murtherer shall be put to death Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murtherer which is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death he giveth two reasons of this severe law 1 For bloud defileth the land and the land cannot bee cleansed of the bloud that was shed therein but by the bloud of him that shed it The Iewish Doctors interpret this law thus The avenger of bloud cannot pardon wilfull murther because the bloud shed is not the possession of the avenger of bloud i. e. of the Magistrate but it belongeth to God 2 For I the Lord dwell among the children of Israell This agreeth well with their exposition of the Law God taketh this into his owne judicature his peremptory law must stand Salomons doome is A man that doth violence to any mans person to bloud shall flye to the pit let no man stay him God unpriviledgeth him Thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may dye In overt acts of murther this law is cleare and just There be covert acts as when our hand is not the actor but our instigation and proxie as in Naboths case whom Ahab murthered by a coloured processe and in Davids case here Consent and approbation in the Court of conscience extendeth so farre as drawing in a party as principall So Paul confest that he slew Stephen who saâ—e by and kept the garments of them that stoned him Yet God favoured the lives of such as by misadventure without malice which our law calleth Chance-medly had shed bloud he priviledged Cities of refuge for them to flye unto where they continued till the death of the high Priest then they had liberty Which shewed that involuntary murther needed the expiation of the death of Christ our high Priest For shedding of bloud in our owne defence for preservation of our lives in an assault nature reason religion and the lawes under which we live doe all excuse it Yet there ought to be a tendernesse in us to favour life as much as may be because the law of God is so expresse proximum ut teipsum love thy neighbour as thy selfe but wilfull murther is my Text. Davids fault was no lesse and against the vengeance of that sin he here prayeth For engagements to duels which in point of honour do often inflame great spirits to bloudy executions Let us wisely weigh the matter and we shall finde manifest injurie maintained on one side professed revenge on the other both naught The heinousnesse of this sinne of bloud thus detected in culpa poena in the fault and punishment Our use of this point is 1 A caution ne fiat let it not be 2 A remedy post factum when it is The first I confesse is not in my Text yet seeing how heavy this sinne lay upon the conscience of David we may deduce this use of it knowing the terrour of the Lord to admonish all men to looke to the law non occides thou shalt not kill For these things are written for our learning as the Apostle applyeth the commemoration of the old sinnes of Gods people to them to whom he wrote Not to lust after evill things not to be idolaters not to commit fornication not to tempt Christ not to murmure as they did so we may admonish not to shed bloud as many have done Take heed of murther I may use the words of Gamaliel Lest haply ye be found even to fight against God for it is against God 1 In his law not occides thou shalt not kill 2 In his image for man is so 3 In his Magistrate who beareth not the sword in vaine he weareth it as a defender of thy life and as an avenger of thy bloud 2 For remedy post factum after the sinne committed David was a King and in no danger of temporall lawes to avenge the bloud by him shed and it was carried so cunningly as he appeared not to it But had Zimri peace who slew his Master or had David any peace who slew his servant he repaireth to God by holy devotion and prayer to be delivered from blouds for this bloud had defiled him If bloud doe make the land uncleane in which it is committed it doth much more defile the person guilty of it till it be avenged And surely now we come to the reason why David doth not before pray Lord forgive remit or pardon but wash wash throughly make mee cleane wash me with hysope blot out all my sinnes For bloud defileth it is no ordinary pollution it is a foule steine it will not easily out it is a crimosin a scarlet dye No man can ever wash out that tincture no man can pardon that sinne We may say as our Saviour doth with men this is impossible but with God all things are possible hee must be sought by prayer libera me deliver me The words of Davids petitioâ— libera me Deus deliveâ—â—e O Lord doe shew that David is in durance for this is â—â—x Captivi the voyce of a captive He is in laqueo diaboli in the snare of the divell so the Apostle calleth the guilt of sin and before hee calleth it the condemnation of the divell The divell hath his snares like a cunning fowler as well as his pawes being a roaring Lyon he maketh snares of our owne sinnes to hold us fast and David himselfe saith of God Vpon the wicked
he shall raigne snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest 1 Snares to hold them then if they be not delivered follow fire and brimstone and they cannot escape This is the case of a sinner if he repent not if God pardon not hee is in the snare of Sathans temptation he is in the snare of divine vengeance let him therefore cry aloud for his deliverance that he may have his feet in a large roome The wicked lay snares for the righteous but God either preventeth them that their soules ever escape them or else he subventeth them The snares are broken and we are delivered No snares hold us so fast as those of our owne sinnes they keepe downe our heads and stoope us that wee cannot looke up a very little ease they are to him that hath not a seared conscience 2 A quo petit from whom he askes Christ directeth us to say Pater noster qui es in coelis Our Father which art in heaven libera nos à malo deliver us from evill David directeth his prayer to God the God of his salvation This prayer is like to speed 1 Oratio plana an open prayer It is confession and prayer for in that he prayeth to be delivered from bloud-guiltinesse he pleadeth guilty to the evidence of bloud Confession hath a great efficacie to induce mercy prayer of great force to obtaine it Here they are in composition and they shew that the two punishments of sinne shame and feare are upon him Confession sheweth his shame prayer sheweth his feare of Gods anger and just vengeance so it is oratio plana an open prayer 2 Legitima lawfull It is an honest lawfull request his soule is Gods for he saith all soules are mine hee desireth deliverance of their soule 3 Plena full He desireth two things herein to be delivered from the sinne of bloud ne relabatur lest he relapse into it from the vengeance due to that sinne ne corruat lest he perish by it so it is oratio plena 4 Recta right Hee knowes that this is a sinne which none but God can pardon he hath not left the dispensation of pardon of this sinne to any subordinate Magistrate on earth he hath deputed under him an avenger of bloud no pardoner therefore he directeth this prayer onely to God so it is oratio recta it goes the right way as he saith I will direct my prayer to God and will looke up 5 Fidelis faithfull It is full of confidence for he calleth God to whom he addresseth himself the God of his salvation My Saviour my King my God challenging a propriety and interest in him so it is oratio fidelis 6 Fervens earnest It is full of zeale and holy earnestnesse and importunitie as appeareth in the â—ngemination here used O God he resumeth it and taketh better hold of him Thou God of my salvation 1 O God is a good invocation for hee heareth prayers 2 Yet to distinguish him from all false Gods hee is so particular as to single him from all other thou God 3 And to magnifie him and to reenforce his Petition he calleth him Deum salutis the God of Salvation which expresseth him able to deliver him for it is his nature and his love and his glory to be a preserver of men 4 And to bring home this joy and comfort into his own heart he addeth salutis meae of my salvation So it is oratio fervens and the Apostle telleth us that such a prayer prevaileth much with God For God may be a Saviour and a deliverer and yet we may escape his saving hand his right hand may skip us Wee can have no comfort in the favours of God except we can apply them at home rather we may thinke on God and be troubled I finde that in David himselfe My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so farre from helping me and from the words of my roaring 2 O God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent This would never have troubled him if he had seene that all had fared alike if he had heard none complaine but it followeth Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou diddest deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered But I am a worme and no man despised c. His enemies upbraided him he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver Let him deliver him c. But a stedfast faith laying hold on God as my salvation the decreer the worker the giver of my salvation that armeth me against all the malice of the world against all the sinnes of my soule against all the divels of hell Why art thou so sad c. Confidam in Domino ipse mihi salus I will trust in the Lord he is my salvation But here is a Quaere why David doth in particular desire to be delivered from the sinne of bloud and mentioneth not his great sinne of adultery for which hee did commit that murder That that sin was the fulnes and height of his transgression as the Apostle saith when sin is finished it bringeth forth death so that is the comprehension of the whole transgression If he be freed from that he is câ—â—ere of all When Judas made confession of his sinne hee saith no more but I have finned in betraying innocent bloud that passeth for a full confession yet he sinned in covetousnes also for so one of our Ancients saith Auaritia Christum vendidit Covetousnesse sold Christ yet because his treason was the finishing and full growth and stature of his sin that comprehendeth all the rest The word blouds here used is by Saint Augustine Saint Gregory and others interpreted according to the frequent use of Scripture to contain our whole naturall corruption In multis sanguinibus tanquam in origine peccati multa peccata intelligi voluit In many blouds as in the originall of sin hee would have understood many sins Ad peccata respiciens looking to his sinnes plus dicit he saith more Caro sanguis non possidebunt regnum Dei Flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Refert ad Vriae caedem referri dicit ad omnia ejus peccata mortaâ—iâ— Hee hath reference to the murder of Uriah and saith that all his mortall sinnes are to be referred to it So Saint Gregory and after them Master Calvine Both Davids sins were sins of hot bloud First bloud enflamed with lust Secondly bloud enflamed with anger and revenge Here was the right bloud of lawfull marriage extinct by murder a propagation of illegitimate bloud added by adultery Uxor a wife became mulier ahenea a brazen-fac'd woman a shamefull and hatefull title So both sins here contained 3 The greater sin is here named for murder is a more hainous sinne then adultery Adultery defileth the body that may be thoroughly washed and made clean but