> 'BSK30 . / Msivtin Utttftctr'g COMPLETE COMMENTARY FIRST TWENTY-TWO PSALMS. NOW FIRST TRANSLATED, BY THE REV. HEJNRY COLE, OF CLAKE HALL, CAMBRIDGE, AND LATE LECTURER OF WOOLWICH, KENT. The memor}'of the just is blessed : but the name of the wicked shall rot. Prov. x. 7. He being dead yet speaketh. Heb. xi. 4. VOLUME 11. Uontion: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY T. BENSLEY, Crane Court, Fleet Street. PUBLISHED BY W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL, STATIONERS' HALL COURT; AND SOLD BT J. EKDEH, NO- 2, NEWGATE STREET. 1826. PIOUS AND LEARNED COMMENTARY OP M^xtin ISLuff^tx FIRST TWENTYTWO PSALMS. vol Iv^ C O M I\l E N T A R Y FIRST TWENTY-TWO PSALMS. P S A L iM XII. TO VICTORY. UPON THE EIGJITH. A PSALM OF DAVID. Concerning this eight-chorded harp we have spoken at sufficient length under Psalm vi. we shall therefore proceed with the text. Ver. \.—Save me, O Lard, fur the saint faikth,for truths arc dinunis lied from the sons of men. It is angry love that speaks in this Psalm : which we call, zeal for God : even as the Apostle also, 2 Cor. xi. 2, speaking with the same feelings says, " I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy." For he is speaking against those who are set over the ministry of the Word among the people of God, and who are teaching their own words to the great destruction of souls, instead of the Word of God ; thus abusing their power of teaching, and corrupting the pure and sincere doctrine of the divine law. Such as these also David had to bear with in his time, and he foresaw that there would be others of the same kind at the time of the coming; of Christ : against these characters Christ inveighs, Matt, xxiii. say- ing, " Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." And again, Luke xi. 52, " Woe unto you lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, (that is, the power of teaching :) ye enter not in yourselves and them that were entering in ye hindered." Whence it is manifest, that this Psalm does not treat of heretics nor of persecutors : unless v. e consider them as the heretics who catch souls by ceremonies and par- ticular works of their own invention, neglecting all the while, faith in God, which ought to be taught at the same time. And of this sort there are many at the present day, and will be still more if the world shall remain, such as our theologians, our lawyers, our religious ones, our popes ; who are destroyed themselves, and destroy others by human science and traditions ; that is, by their specu- lations and their moral works. Nor is the prophet thus indignant alone because these teachers are the most vile, but because they are so many, nay, are almost the only teachers there are to be found ; so much so, that there is scarely any one left who teaches what is right. Whereby it is shewn, that the Psalm itself has reference to some most corrupt age, such as that in the time of Christ, and such as that in which we now live. Hence it is, that David begins with so much zeal, saying, " Save me, O Lord, for the saint faileth." As if he said in the words of Micah vii. 1 — 4, " Woe is me ! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage : there is no cluster to eat : my soul desired the first ripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men ; they all lie in wait for blood : they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man he uttereth his mischievous desire : so they wrap it up. The best of them is a brier, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." In which words, the prophet not only expresses the same feelings as those which are evinced in this Psalm, but also attacks their external show under which they hide all these evils, and wish them to appear good : for the whole is spoken in the spirit, and therefore can be understood by faith only. For many are called merciful men, that is, saints, or men of grace, and men of mercy^ when they are not so : but a faithful man, that is, a man just and merciful by faith, who can find ? For this ex- ternal appearance reigns so universally, and this vvater of the counsel of the wicked is so deep, and their thoughts so profound, that none but a wise man can fathom them : that is, none but the truly just can discern them : all others are deceived by their external appear- ance, their multitude, and their magnitude. And this destruction of the multitude greatly grieved the spirit of this prophet : which is the reason why he thus breaks out, (without any kind of preface, or any thing to gain the attention of the reader previously,) and entreats God for the salvation of the people. The Hebrew has only hosia ; that is "save," or " give salvation ;" not " save we." And the expression " save," or "give salvation," is much more forcible than " save me." Thus the prophet, filled with ardent zeal on account of the people who are perishing, breaks out without any preface, into an earnest and fervent prayer, imploring help of God. " Saint" in this place is hasid, which word Hiero- nymus translated. Psalm iv. 'merciful.' ' The Lord hath made wonderful his merciful one ; ' that is, ' him who has obtained mercy,' or, who is justified by the grace of God, who is saved by faith ; and not by his own works or strength, nor by those of any other men. " Truths are diminished from the sons of men :" that is, truths are not to be found among men ; that is, fidehty or faithfulness is not to be found. For the He- brew language can say, ' there are not faiths in men,' and also, ' God is our saving : ' where we say ' the God of our salvation,' and ' there is no more faith among men : ' according to the common saying of the ancients, ' No trust can be placed any where.' But we can never use 'truth' in the plural number. These things I say, that no one might understand that it is said that truths are perished '/row' or ' 3j/' the sons, as if the sons of men had diminished the truths ; though this also is true. VOL. IV. c But they should know that the preposition * from,' or * by' (a) ought to have been rendered ' among,' or ' from among,' or 'out of,' (inters or de, or ea?,) that the sense might be the same as that of Isaiah Ivii. 1, 2, "The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart ; and merciful men are taken away and none considereth : for the righhteous is taken away from the face of iniquity." And according to that also which we adduced from Micah vii. 2, "The good man is perished out of the earth," &c. For David wishes to say, that there is no longer faith among men, (which is what the Hebrews understand by the term ' truth,') and that the men who are justified by faith have ceased : but that, self-justifying hypocrites, who destroy both themselves and others by their own strength, their own works, their own laws, and their own merits, under the great name and show of salvation, abounded every Avhere. The powerful feeling of the Psalmist here leads him to an hyperbole, or strained mode of expression. There never is a time when there are no saints upon earth, and no believers in Christ: and yet he says, ' The saint has ceased and the just are at an end, and those who please God are no more.' But in this figurative language we all complain at this day ; saying, that there is no faith- fulness among men, and that all things are carried on by deceit. And this unbelief is a proof and an argument of the internal fidelity or faithfulness being extinguished : and thus the tree is known by its fruits. For he thatns faithful to God, is faithful also to man : for without faith and the grace of God, it is impossible but a man will seek those things which are his own ; that is, he will be unfaithful unto man also. And hence, when Micah vii. had said " there is none upright among men," he im- mediately afterwards sets forth the fruits of this bad tree, saying, " Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide, keep the door of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter- in-law against her mother-in-law ; a man's enemies are those of his own house." Yet, though the wqcked are such, they would appear to be any thing but such cha- racters. Ver. 2. — They speak vain things; every one to his neighbour deceitful lips ; they speak with a heart and a heart. The punctuation is in the Hebrew put thus, after " deceitful lips" (labia dolosa.) Wherefore, the question must be asked, what grammatical construction can we make out of the expression "deceitful lips?" For the labia dolosa cannot agree with " they speak or have spoken," (Jocuti sunt) it must have been locuta sunt, if we would keep to the text of our translator. Unless you would say, that the labia dolosa is put in the accusa- tive figuratively; that is, they speak deceitful words coming forth from their lips. But it might be rendered " they speak with deceitful lips." This ambiguity, I think, gives us the liberty of dividing the verse into three members or clauses, and rendering the Hebrew thus, * They speak vanity ; there is a flattering lip in every man to his neighbour ; they speak with a heart and a heart.' That is, every teacher teaches vanity, every man has a flattering lip toAvards his neighbour, and they all speak with a double heart. First, then, we have here, " They speak vain things," or vanity : that is things to no purpose, and which profit nothing unto salvation : which things, however, as we have frequently observed, appear to them to be most useful and most profitable. And that David is not here speaking of private conversations and vain talk, but con- cerning the ministry of the Word, is manifest from that which follows, where he contrasts the Word of the Lord with these vain-speaking deceivers of minds. And that expression, " Every man to his neighbour deceitful lips," is spoken after the Hebrew figurative manner of speech : ' like that Song iii. 9- 10. ' Behold his bed which is Solo- mon's : threescore valiant men are about it : a man, his sword upon his thigh :' where we say, " every man with his sword upon his thigh." And so also, it is said here, ' They speak vanity, every man to his neighbour deceit- c2 ful lips ; ' where we should say, and every one has a de- ceitful lip towards his neighbour : that is, every one flat- tereth his neighbour when he does not speak the Word of the cross truly : for they would not persuade men to their vanities if they did not speak flattering and pleasing things. For what is here translated deceitful, and Psalm v. * they acted deceitfully,' Hieronymus in the latter place renders, and ' they speak lightly with their tongue : ' that is, lightly, softly, and flatteringly. These are they who tickle men's itching ears. And Paul says, after the manner of this Psalm, that there should not be some only of such a description, but that they should be ' heaped :' that is, multiplied, and that the saints should fail : concerning whom enough has been said, Psalm v. and ix. But yet, enough cannot be said, this depravity of nature is so deep and profound, and especially as concerned in these spiritual things, and in all things which pertain unto God : for the Avisdom of the flesh is not subject unto God, nor indeed can be, Rom. vi. P^ And this "heart and a heart," may be referred to the same person : for he is said to speak with a double heart, who thinks one thing and feignedly says another : and it is in this way that I would have the present pas- sage understood. But I \vould also refer it to diflferent persons. For, as by the pure Word of God, Christ makes us to be of one mind in a house, Psalm Ixviii. and brethren to dwell together in unity. Psalm cxxxiii. and as the heart and soul of them that believe on the Lord are one, Acts iv. (for there is but one faith, and one Lord, Ephes. iv, :) so, on the contrary, with the wicked, as the one true faith is the great thing w^anting, it is impossible that they should be of one heart ; they must necessarily abound in party dissensions and pursuits among each other : for there never arose any one sect, but many more arose out of it. Thus in the time of Christ, the syna- gogue had pharisees, sadducees, and esseeans : the Arians gave rise to the Eunomians, and Macedonians : the Donatists gave birth to the Maximinians. And at this day, Aristotle has given existence to the different followers of Scotus, Thomas, and Ocean. Hence it was that the Apostle said, Heb. xiii. 9, ** Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines." And such he de- scribes in another place as being " driven to and fro by every wind of doctrine," and, as " ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." In all such there is never one heart ; though they all agree in this, — to speak vain things ; and every one flatters his own party, and endeavours to confirm his own opinions and dogmas. Hence, I consider that this division of sects is distinguished by this division of heart : as we have it Daniel xi. 27, where he describes the heart of two kings speaking lies at the same table. j f And therefore David uses the plural number that ^ he might not be thought to speak of any one particular sect: for in the 10th Psalm, which respects Antichrist, he speaks almost wholly in the plural number. — And here the force lies in these words, " with a heart and a heart ;" because as to outward appearance they seem to unite together ; that is, against the truth. So Psalm ii. we have it, " The kings of the earth stood up and the elders took counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed :" which characters nevertheless were the most opposed to each other in their different sects ; that is,pharisees and sadduces, Romans, gentiles, and others. This, Sampson prefigured in his foxes, whose tails he tied together while their faces were turned a different way. For the faces of these foxes represent the state of the wicked as they are in the sight of God and of the Holy Spirit ; before whom they are most factious and contentious. And their tails, which are their extremities, represent their appearance in the sight of men ; where they all take counsel and unite together in the fire of persecution to destroy the standing corn of the earth ; that is, to destroy the doctrine and works of faith, or of the Spirit, And it is concerning these that Hosea speaks X. 2, " Their heart is divided; now shall they perish :" where he had just before said, ver. 1, " According to the multitude of his fruit, Israel hath increased the altars :" that is, he is divided into sects. And this it is that causes the prophet to exclaim, ' That the saint is failed :' 10 because there are so many sects, and all set against the truth and devouring the people of God. And who can resist all, when resistance is scarcely to be made against one ? And thus it is with the church at this day, which is continually divided and lacerated by new-found sects, and by the old ones being increased into innumerable 1 parts ; while, in the mean time, the unity of love is |__utterly disregarded. Ver. 3. — Let the Lord destroy all deceitful lips; and the tongue that speaketh p^oud things. For, unless God destroy these locusts, palmer-worms, and canker-worms, as Joel i.4, calls them, all the labour of the saints in such an attempt would be in vain. And it would have been more appropriate if our translator had rendered it, (which the Hebrew would allow him to do,) " The Lord shall cut off:" for the lips and tongue are sometimes cut off: because otherwise, as James says, no one of men can tame the tongue. But David here prays for a spiritural cutting off: which is, that the wicked being changed, (or removed from their office,) might teach something else ; that is, the true wisdom of the cross. But why was it not enough for him to say " deceitful lips," (that is, vain and flattering lips ?) Why does he add " ail?" Why does he add this, but because he wished to have respect unto the multitude of these factions ? And therefore he prays, that not the lips of one only, but of all these factions, and their flatteries might be cut off", because they all speak vain things. And our translator has rightly added the conjunction " and," which is not in the Hebrew. And he has put also Unguam magniloquam ; which in the Hebrew is expressed by two words, ' speaker of proud things,' locutricem magnorum: which we are to understand, not only of great things, (as the wicked are wont to boast much,) but concerning pride, whereby they despise and oppress the doctrine of godliness, and boast- ingly establish their own. — And you may in this way in- terpret the fox's tail, which is large and bushey, but yet has very little real flesh and substance, and is larger almost than the whole body, especially the head : so 11 the ungodly man is greater in his external pomp and appearance than he is in reality. And this animal, which is so remarkable for its cunning and craft, is not vainly used by the scriptures to represent the all-cunning and crafty wisdom of the flesh, which, when engaged in divine things and in the ministry, perpetrates all those enormities which are recorded in the scriptures. Ver. 4. — Who have said, We will magnify our tongues: our lips are from ourselves. Who is our Lord? David here explains what the proud-speaking tongue is, and what it says : that is, it speaks most proudly and contem{)tuously against the doctrine of the righteous, r'irst, we have 'Let us magnify:' that is, Let us strengthen, establish, and confirm our doctrines; and on the other hand, (say they,) ' Let us break their bands in sunder, and cast away their cords from us : ' let us destroy all that the godly build up, let us cast away their yoke i'rom us : let us weaken and restrain their tongue : and let us draw over to our side the people, and the priests of the people. Not that they think that they are acting against the godly ; for they imagine that they are doing God service, when they strengthen and con- firm their proud-speaking tongue, and causing it to be heard by many, as being humble and sincere : so that God must here be left to have and execute judgment. Then we have, " Our lips are from ourselves." Which Hieronymus has rendered ' are with ourselves.' And Augustine, ' in our own power.' But I v/ould ra- ther render it ' Our lips are our own : ' that there might be an emphasis in the latter pronoun ' our own : ' whereby we are to understand them boasting of their power, and of having the key of knowledge. As if they said. Let no one hear any one besides us. We are the leaders and teachers of the people. They ought to listen to us, and, (as the Bulls of our proud popes now swell in the church,) we are the proper interpreters of the scriptures. It belongs to us to frame laws. It is our province to approve and to condemn every man's say- ,^pgs and writings. The power of the Key is with us IS alone. So that by the pronoun " our own " is to be signified, that these ungodly take away from all the power of teaching, judging, and speaking, and arrogate and keep it to themselves alone : though they are, in reality, themselves the most ignorant and wicked of all men upon the face of the earth. And this description I would apply to the men of our age and time ; excepting that they are destitute of the appearance and the fox's tail : for the ignorance and impiety of them are all manifest enough to every one : but there is not one hair of the tail appearing, (that is, knowledge and sanctity,) except the name and reputation of them among the commonalty : and yet they rest more confidently in this name and reputation, than those of old did, who shined most brightly in the out- ward show of sanctitv and knowledge. Hence, the state of the church in our day, is not a little worse than even the description contained in this verse : for now the lips are not denied to belong to the godly by the power of outward show, but by mere violence and tyranny. Thus, when Christ was teaching. Matt. xxi. they said to him, " Tell us : by what authority doest thou these things?" As if they had said, The lips are not thine, but ours. The poMer of teaching belongs to us. And Acts V. 28, " Did we not straitly command you, that ye should not teach in this name ? " And thus did the priests of Anathoth to Jeremiah, Achas to Isaiah, Amasiah to Amos ; and the same did they to all the prophets, prohibiting them to speak ; as if all the lips and the power of so doing belonged exclusively to them. Against whom all the true prophets inveighed ; and though they allowed that power was on their side, yet they declared that they were all in error and all taught what was wrong. But to this they opposed arguments of precedency and of power also, saying, Jeremiah xviii. 1 8, " The law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet." And this is precisely the same way in which they argue in the present day, — from the multitude of the learned, from the greatness of the hearers, from the length oif 13 time, from the unfailing faith of St. Peter, from the universal custom of the church, &c. ; that is, of those who hear their doctrines, for those they call the church. Being puffed up with all these things, they say, The lips are ours, and they prevail : and with these most plau- sible and most specious reasonings, they catch the feel- ings of the people : just as those of old caught them with these three things. The law of the priests; the counsel of the ^vise ; and the word of the prophet. "Who is our Lord ? " — ^The wicked do not say this, as denying that they have any Lord God ; for they most especially boast in him against the godly, and under his name cover over all their own things and blaspheme those of the godly. But they say this, because they will not have the godly preferred before them and heard : for they will arrogate all the power of teaching to themselves. And this interrogative ex- pression of theirs, contains a most manifest and most proud spirit of contention : for by it they persuade both themselves and all their own party that they act rightly : and they accuse all others of rashness : in this way. — Behold, we are the pastors of the people appointed from above, and we are they who must give an account for them : we alone have the power of teaching and of judging those things which are advanced by all others : we therefore ought to be heard by all, and to listen to no one. Because, (say they,) where the majority and eldership is, there must be the power of commanding, and these all others are of necessity bound to obey. But this new prophet, (say they,) lifting his mouth into heaven, wants to teach us : he detracts from all power, and pays no reverence to his elders (as we say at this day :) and he is not content with refusing to hear us, with being disobedient, and with detracting from our authority, but he wants to lift himself up above us, to make us his scholars, and to have absolute dominion over us. — Shall we therefore, (say they,) bear this ? Shall Ave suffer this fellow to rule us ? Shall he give us laws and directions ? And as the Jews said to the blind son, John ix. " Dost thou teach us ? and Psalm iv. " Who will shew us any 14 good ? " And again, Gen. xxxvii. 8, the brethren of Joseph said to him, " Shalt thou indeed reign over us ? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us ? " This, I say, is the all-swelling, all-furious pride of this Moab, — he accuses of pride and temerity the humble endeavours of the godly in their preaching of the Word of God : they say, it is done only to diminish or to repress the power of the great. And therefore, nothing of the truth must be spoken to these great ones at all; or if it be spoken, we must be charged with the crime of not speak- ing it for the truth's sake, but for the sake of insulting the majesty and diminishing the power of the great. Such a matter of necessity is it, that a messenger of the truth must be charged with offending either God, or the great among men. Therefore, their saying " Who is our Lord ? " is the same as if they had said. Cease thou to wish to teach us, and to refuse to hear our words, or to condemn what we advance, for by persevering therein, you will manifest that you want to become not only our master and teacher, but our Lord also. Thus Ama^iiah, Amos vii. 10, sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel : the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land." Be- hold here the prophet is charged with rebellion, and of usurping the dominion, only on account of having preached the truth. What then would be the conse- quence if all our divines (as they ought to do) should openly profess the truth. Though it is also true that the ungodly refuse in truth the dominion of God, they pretend to the directly contrary. And this is manifest, in the first place, from this, — because every proud man, and all the prudent wisdom of the flesh, cannot be brought in subjection to God. And next, as they reject the messengers of the Word of God, and attempt to confound them, they thereby reject God who sent them. As Christ saith, Matt. X.40, "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he 15 that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." And again, 1 Sam. viii. 7, " For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." And in the same manner, Jeremiah saith, v. 12, " For they have behed the Lord, and said, It is not he ; neither shall evil come upon us ; neither shall we see sword nor famine." Hence, they most pertinaceously boast that they have God for their Lord ; and yet, at the same time, with the most maddened pride reject him both in his servants and in his Word. And therefore, this specious show of humility in them, which makes the godly appear to be filled with pride, moves the commonalty to a hatred of true godliness. Wherefore the prophet commands us to look into the godly as they are in spirit : for these, where they are proud and despisers of the Word of the cross, they say, " Who is our Lord ? " how much soever they may outwardly sound forth the praises of God, by their sayings, 'Glory to God alone.' ' In the name of the Lord,' Sec. Ver. 5. — Fo7^ the misery of the needy, for the sighing of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety ; I will act confidently in him. Of this one verse we have made two. It would have been better to have rendered, instead of misery, destruc- tion, that it might apply to the former verse, where the Psalmist had said that the saints had failed, and that truths were diminished, or were finished ; that is, were destroyed ; even unto these low remnants, for the " sigh- ing" of whom the Lord says, that he will " arise." Hence therefore, it is certain that all the saints had not failed, and that it was a strained and hyperbolical expression in the first verse. The prophet, therefore, consoles him- self by faith in the promise of God ; being assured that he will visit the proud contempt of the Word of God, and the desolation of the saints, and of the truth, and that he will save his people : as the following will shew. We have often observed already, that the saints of God are called in the scriptures ^enym and iCBiONiM ; 16 that is, poor and needy : on which account they are held in great com tempt by the proud; are suspected of aiming at power and mastership over them ; and are hated as rebels, irreverend, and disobedient, (as they are called.) What it is for the Lord to arise, we have shewn already. Psalm iii. ; that is, a displaying of his power, * Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God.' And so here we hayp "I will arise and set him in safety." Nor is it without weight that David adds, " saith the Lord :" for thereby the divine promise is commended to us to raise up our faith and hope in an affliction of this kind. For there is nothing more precious in the whole scripture than the promise of God ; for if there were no promise, there would be no place, nor ground, either for prayer, for works, for faith, nay nor for our life, nor for any thing else. For it is the promise of God that sustains and comforts us in all straits of the flesh and of the spirit. Hieronymus renders it thus, ' I will set in safety their help.' But I know not what he means by " their help," for the Hebrew does not seem to have any such thing : and Hieronymus himself translates the same word Psalm X. " despises." For my part, I know not what to say here, but I will give the best rendering that my mind affords. According to my mind, " I will act confidently," is, in the Hebrew, exactly the same expression as that which we find Psalm x. and which is there rendered *' shall rule over;" that is, " He shall rule over all his enemies," as we have observed upon that passage. And therefore it cannot be rendered in this place in the first person, " I will act confidently." Let us therefore give to this middle verse its two members ; for the ^Tst member is this, " I will set him in safety ; " and the second part is, " He speaks to him." The sense of the former member, therefore, is this : For this purpose I will arise that I may put or raise up or establish salvation ; that is, make it firm and stable, and so strong that not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it. I will prepare salvation, and will so save that no one shall be able to condemn, desolate, or destroy my saints any farther. For the expression in the Hebrew 17 is alone and absolute, " I will put ; " that is, I will firmly establish, I will set it upon a firm foundation, I will be founder and establisher of it. Then there is, "in safety ;" that is, this foundation shall not be of riches or of the things of this world ; but it shall be a foundation of salvation : so that they who are placed and set therein, shall be saved for ever, and no one shall pluck them out of my hand. Which truth is like unto that of Isaiah xxviii. " Behold I will lay in the foundations of Zion a chief corner-stone : he that believeth shall not make haste : " excepting, that the expression in the verse before us is more brief and obscure. And there is no doubt that David is here speaking of Christ who is the firm foundation of salvation ; an invincible rock unto all that trust in him, and whose name also is derived from salva- tion ; as it is said here, aschith beisa. 'I will put him in Jesu.' And we are here to understand, that the impious are put in contrast with these saints ; for the wicked are not " put" but are driven about like the wind : nor are they put in safety, but in perdition and ruin, like a house built upon the sand. For this last part of the verse is the Word of promise, which consoles the poor and terrifies the wicked, as I said. The second member will have that sense which the other part of the word of Isaiah has, " He that believeth shall not be confounded." So here " he speaks to him ;" that is, he despises them, and with confidence speaks the Word of faith and of the cross. As it is introduced by Psalm cxvi. and by the Apostle 2 Cor. iv. 13, " Accord- ing as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; so we also believe, and therefore we speak." For those who have their foundation in saving faith and on the rock Christ, are animated to preach the Word of God with all confidence to every one that is willing to believe ; fearing nothing, not even the greatest number, and the most powerful sects of hypocrites that may rise up against them : as we have it recorded by Luke, Acts iv. and as it was fulfilled in the Apostles. But they that are destitute of this faith have not the courage so much as to open their mouth. 18 Therefore, we ought to receive this very short yet very obscure part of the verse before us as a whisper of the Spirit, which was whispered into the ears of David : and that while he was sighing for the devastation of the people of God, and of faith, he received this short oracle in answer : You are asking what remedy God intends for this evil. It is this, " I will set him in safety : he speaks to him." That is, know thou that I have or- dained against this devastation of the saints, a founda- tion which I will place, even Christ : on whom I will build, and in whom I will save my church , against whom they shall not in the least prevail, nor shall they destroy one that believeth in him. Nor am I content with this. For when they shall have been thus saved, they shall come forth into public, and shall speak my Word with all boldness ; by which they shall not only defend them- selves, but shall also destroy their destroyers, and shall convert many who have turned away. And thus, all things may be easily made to harmo- nize. " I will act confidently in him :" that is, I will cause them to act with all boldness in my Word of faith. And thesefore, Luke in the Acts of the Apostles seems to have made particular use of this verse, and that studi- ously ; saying, Acts ix. That Paul preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And again. Acts xiv. " And they abode there for a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord." And again. Acts xviii. Luke says of Apollos, " And he began to speak boldly in the syna- gogue." And it is quite usual with Luke to speak of preaching the Word boldly ; so that it is manifest, that he took the whole of those expressions from this verse, as from a continually used proverb. Leaning, therefore, on this authority, I am inclined to believe that the Hebrew word japia (which. Psalm x. we have explained as signifying ' to bring forward,' 'to appear,' ' to rule over,' ' to despise ;' and which Hiero- nymus has rendered in this place ' help,' to ' meditate with one's self,' and ' to speak,') signifies most properly ' to act with confidence or boldness,' which is the render- ing our translator has given it : and Luke has no other 19 meaning in his ' acting with boldness,' than that the Word was preached will all boldness : and this, according to Psalm cxvi. is ' to believe, and therefore to speak." And this is the same, (though somewhat more obscurely and briefly,) as ' to despise,' ' to rule over,' ' to appear,' ' to meditate,' ' to speak,' and * to have help.' For, by what other power do we despise, rule over, appear, speak, and have help, than by the Word of faith preached with all confidence. For, the wicked rules over his enemies and speaks his word against them with all confidence ; so the godly man rules over his enemies, and speaks the Word of God ao;ainst them with all confidence. By which things, we are again taught that the power of the church is none other than the Word of God, wliich is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, Rom. i. And the rod of the strength of God, Psalm ex. Thus Hosea, i. 7, " But I will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." Wherefore, in a word, the sense of this verse is, that the godly have a two-fold help ; that is, faith and the Word : faith, by which they are saved them- selves ; and the Word, whereby they destroy the un- godly, and multiply the " saints" and the "truths" among the men whom the ungodly desolate. Faith is touched upon, where David says, " I will set him in safety," or ' in saving :' and the Word, where he says, " 1 will act condently in him : " or ' he speaks to him,' (as the Hebrew has it.) And to whom does he ' speak ? ' and who is it that ' speaks?' No person is here mentioned : and therefore the sentence is absolute and general. As if he had said, I will set him in safety, or, I will strengthen him in faith. And behold, this is wrought in him who speaks. For as soon as any one believes, he immediately speaks. In Actsii. we have it. recorded, that as soon as they were filled with the Spirit they began to speak. Nor does the Psalmist mention the person who is spoken to ; this omission is on account of the same generality of expres- sion. " He speaks to him," or 'against him :' that is, so against the wicked, or the ungodly destroyers. And thus when faith comes there is one who speaks and one who hears : and then follows also the gift of faith, both speaking and hearing : by which two things both mercy and truth are multiplied. And observe this also, — that this * setting in safety,' is the work of God alone. But 'speaking to the wicked,' is our co-operation. And therefore, God ascribes the former to himself and the latter to man: which latter nevertheless our translation ascribes unto God, when it says in the first person, " I will act confidently in him." Behold, therefore, how obscure, how brief, and how full this Word is which is contained in the latter part of this verse. It would however be better to insert a conjunc- tion, in this manner, ' I will set him in safety, and he speaks to him ;' to avoid the harshness of the Hebraism. But let no one pass over the order here observed. That 'being put in safety' goes before ' speaking to him,* or ' acting boldly ; ' because we must first believe, and burn, before we can teach and shine, if we would teach with profit and with boldness. For the Word of salva- tion cannot be taught without faith. In the time of per- secution, " I believed, (saith the Psalmist,) and therefore have I spoken. Ver. 6. The speaking of God is pure : silver proved by thejire, proved of the earthy purified seven times. These things are to be understood as spoken in an antithesis or contrast ; wherein he draws a comparison between the words of men and the words of God. He sets forth the words of men as being vain, flattering, and varying ; by which they are not purified, but more and more polluted in spirit, and by which men arc deprived of mercy and truth. But the words of God are repre- sented as chaste, pure, or clean, and rough yet upright, faithful and solid, by which men are cleansed, and by which also mercy and truth are multiplied, and vanity, craft, and discord are destroyed. This verse explains the allegory of silver, which David here uses to set forth the words of God, which he calls 21 silver tried, proved, and puriried seven times : whereas, in the eyes of the godly they are the dregs, the oft-scour- ing, and the ftlth of the ^vorld, by which they think they are polluted and dishonoured. On the other hand, David declares that the words of the wicked are vain, flattering, and variable, whereby they destroy mercy and truth : whereas, they think them to be quite the con- trary. And David has given both these descriptions in the spirit. By the words (eloquia) of the Lord, David does not mean those things only which are written in the scrip- tures, but much more especially those things which are spoken forth by the voice. Even as he had said of the words of the wicked, " They speak vain things; every one hath a flattering lip to his neighbour ; they speak with a divided heart." So, it is not the scripture of God, but the words spoken (eloquia) of God more particularly, which he calls pure. For the scripture does not so much hurt or profit, as the word spoken (eloquium ;) for the voice is the soul of the word. Nor is it necessary to understand by the eloquia Domini, those things only which are written on the scriptures, and then spoken by the voice; but we understand by them all those things which God speaks by man, even without the scriptures, whether he be a fool, or one who is learned : as he often spoke by the apostles, and still does speak by his. Wherefore, these eloquia Domini, or words of the Lord, are when God speaks in us, and not when any thing of the scriptures is brought forward ; for this, even devils and the wicked may do ; in whom, nevertheless, God never speaks : nor are such the eloquia or words of God, but a certain froth of the words of God, like the scum of silver. Wherefore, the remedy of our salvation against the destroyers of the needy and the desolators of the saints in the earth, is the Word of God awakened up against the word of men: which Word, as it is most pure, (as silver purged from its dross proved, and purified seven times,) purifies, makes solid, and proves the heart of man, making the heart like unto itself, that it may not VOL, IV. D 22 savour of any thing that is its own, and upon the earth, but the things which are God's and in the heavens. But the word of men is the mere scum and froth of this silver : it imitates silver under a certain outside form and appearance, but it is vain ; and not only so, but is vanity itself; for it is the mere scum and dregs from Mhich the silver is puritied. That is, the wicked pretend that they teach the words {eloquia) of God : ^^'hereas, they omit its pure, true, and genuine sense, and teach a certain froth, scum, and dregs of it : which, as it is im- purity itself, so it can cleanse nothing, nor does it leave any thing proved by faith : as it is written Isaiah i. 2'2, " Thy silver is become dross ; thy wine is mixed with water." For example sake. — If you should so teach, ' Thou shalt not kill,' ' Thou shalt not steal,' and the like eloquia of God ; as to say, that a man would not kill or commit adultery unless he should kill by the very act, or should not commit adultery unless he fell into the very act ; you would thereby teach an impure, vain, and vague scum, instead of t,he real, sure, and tried silver of the Word : for such an one may commit adultery and mur- der in the will and in spirit, and may not grieve at them when committed by others, but may let them pass by unrebuked, and may even laugh at them, or perhaps, sing of them. Such is the manner, (nios) or rather, such is the death {inors) of men, whereby they are all men of blood. On the other hand, if you teach, that he who prays, or fasts, or does any good word, (according to the sub- stance of the act ; as we are wont to speak,) is a true worshipper of God, or a true keeper of the sabbath, — here again with a deceitful lip you teach scum and dross, for silver; because, the person may either do all these things with an unwilling heart, or with a view to his own advantage : that is, he may do them Avithout the spirit : and thus, he has not truly done them, but is found to be a deceitful man. Hence, this is also the manner {mos) or rather the death Qnofs) of men; where- by they are rendered deceitful men ; for they not only 23 do not reprove these things, but boast of them as virtues, sing of them, and glory in them. And by these things the saint has now ceased, and truth is perished in men. For the law is spiritual : and it is not taught by these vain and deceitful lips, but is rather extinguished. And we say the same of all the other eloqidaox words of God throughout the whole scripture. And it is with a particular design that David made this verse to follow the other that precedes, where he had said, " And he speaks to him :" for he thereby would shew, who it is that speaks, and what it is that is spoken : — namely, that it is God speaking, and speak- ing his pure words {eloquia.) — And, that we may come to grammatical niceties, it is not "pure" that we find in the Hebrew, but "clean;" though "pure" is often metaphorically used for " clean." Nor is the Psalmist to be considered as speaking of mere grammatical clean- ness ; though even this is not wanting to the divine words (eloquia ;) no, nor of sensual or mortal cleanness ; for this may be applied to things impure and shameful. But this cleanness is to be received as signifying that theological and effectual cleanness which alone makes the man like unto itself, and purifies him from all his own impure affections : with which impure affections, none more foully pollute a man than those human and deceitful teachers, who teach their own righteousness, and increase all unclean affections, and moreover, in- flame men and cause them to be puffed up with, and glory in their own filth, and never to be cleansed from it. For the heart, no man is ever cleansed in any other way than by the Word received by faith. According to Acts XV. " purifying your hearts by faith." And Psalm xix. "The law of the Lord is an undefiled law, converting the soul." And again, Psalm li. " Sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be clean." " Tried with fire." Our translator has added " fire: " in the Hebrew it is only sublimated silver, or melted or proved silver : but because this is done by fire, our trans- lator has added fire for the sake of giving it clearness. This " proved of the earth," all consider to be a D 2 S4 Greek expression, who say 'proved or clear of earth, or from earth,' as we say ' clear of blood.' And Hiero- nymus translates it ' separate from earth.' And this " earth," they understand figuratively, in many different ways. But here I am quite blind. It is certain that "earth" (terroi) is in the Hebrew, in the dative case : which might be translated ' to earth,' (ad terrain) rather than ' from earth,' {a terra.) And Reuch- lin says, that .elil, which our translators render "proved" or " tried," is the name of a vessel in which metals are melted. And to this there is added the preposition in : as if one should render the passage thus, ' Silver melted in a vessel of earth ;' or, ' to earth ; ' which has reference both to the earth itself, and to the use of the earth : that is, that use which those may make of the earth who live in the earth; that is, men. — If therefore we receive these things as true, we may here suppose that the pro- phet borrowed an allegory from the custom and prac- tice of silver refiners (which is in frequent use with all the prophets) and applied it mystically to the words of God. For silver is of no use whatever in the earth, unless it be melted and proved, that you may separate the silver from the lamina, or strata or vein. And it cannot be melted in this way but by fire, nor by fire without a vessel. But now let us open up the allegory herein contained. The words of God in the bare letter, and in the under- standing of the flesh, when either written or spoken without the experience of the cross, is silver in the vein only. As Job has the allusion, chap, xxviii. 1, where he saith, " Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they find it." And David also prefigured the same, when he prepared all the materials and expenses for Solomon to build the temple. But this treasure while hidden is of no utility to earthly man. As Ecclesiasticus xx. 30 saith, " Wisdom that is hid and treasure that is hoarded up, what profit is in them both?" that is, until they be brought forth and proved by the oppositions and fightings against them by the wicked, by heretics, and bv devils. 25 And believers are this earthen vessel for melting, in which this treasure is carried and proved : for it pro- duces a powerful contest in the person that carries it, that he might conquer, and might know that wisdom is stronger than all things, Wisdom xvi. And thus the Word of God being proved by the fire and found faith- ful, profits many men by the preaching of those who are proved. And upon this the Apostle touches, 1 ^^r. xi. 19, where he says, " For there must also be heresies among you, (that is fires and melters,) that they which are approved (that is, vessels in which the silver of the words of God is exercised,) may be made manifest,'' being become the salt of the earth and the light of the world : that is, they shine unto those men of the earth who are called to the glory of God ; and thus helped and en- riched by the use of the same silver. This is certainly the meaning of the Hebrew, where it says ' of the earth,' or, 'to the matter of the earth.' And because the ungodly hate this melting or prov- ing of the words of God in themselves, and do not en- dure the offence of the cross, they seek to please men, having become vain talkers, deceitful, deceivers, and unstable. As the Apostle disputes in his Epistle to the Galatians, and as this Psalm saith. The words (eloquia) of God therefore, are neither understood nor profitable, but in those who are mortified and exercised in tribula- tion : that is, unless we be powerfully opposed, and tried, and tempted for the Word's sake : for it is not so much we that suffer, as the Word in us. And to this sense and meaning our translation may be brought, omitting all other glosses. In this way, "proved of the earth;" that is, found by the men on the earth to be faithful, delightful, and well pleasing ; that is, unto those who have known its faithfulness, its power, and its purity by experience, and who trust in it, (having lost all their filthy confidence in all other things which those ungodly teachers hold forth,) and are puri- fied by the all-pure faith of the all-pure Word. And thus earth {terrce) remains most properly in the dative case, as it is both in the Greek and in the Hebrew. 26* " Puritied seven times." Here some understand the expression very deeply, as referring to the seven-fold gifts of the Spirit ; and more deeply than my humble thoughts and understanding of tlie literal meaning will bear. I should understand seven-fold as signifying simply 'most perfectly:' for seven is the number of universality. Nor am I fully assured, that such an ac- cernatiori oi \\\\s iiumbcr would fully touch upon this purification of the silver, which is not purified to the full and to perfection in the melting vessel, but in the ashes of bones, by the application of lead. And how does the wisdom of God work thus wonderfully through- out the world that the lead should be the means of puri- fying the silver? Why thus, — the words of hypocrites, as they are the lead of the silver, so they are very much like the divine w ords : but yet, in the fire of persecution, they so exercise themselves and are exercised also, that as lead vanishes and disappears while the silver is puri- fied ; so, in the end of the world, true wisdom shall shine forth in all its splendour, and the foolishness of the wicked shall become nought, (as the Apostle saith in his Epistle to Timothy.) Thus does the all-specious doc- trine of the ungodly work for the glory of the true doc- trine, and to its own shame and ignominy, while it resists true godliness. And therefore, it would not be at all improper to apply the former purifying of the earthen vessel to tyrannical persecutors, and the latter of lead to heretics and false brethren; who, as lead is mixed with the silver in the same ashes and vessel, are mingled with us within the same church, and are exer- cised in the footsteps of the fathers that are dead, and of the martyrs ; but, without the church, they act like tyrants, and like the bellows do that blow up the fire under the refining pot. Hence we see how the prophet takes all away from works and gives it to faith, while he asserts, that the words of God are clean. And he at the same time most sharply reproves those who seek and desire to be cleansed by works. For of what avail is it to do many works, if after all you arc not cleansed? There is no '27 cleansing but by xhe words of God. And no one is cleansed by the words of God but he that believes. And no one believes but he that suffers passively more than he works actively. By which things it comes to pass, that a life pure and without sin, does not stand in works, but in faith, in the Word, and in enduring sufferings. But why does David compare the words of God to silver rather than to gold ? Love is what is properly compared to gold in the scriptures ; the nature of which, in the tire, is different to that of silver : of which we shall speak hereafter. Ver. 7. — Thou, O Lord, shall 'preserve us : thou shall guard us from this generation for ever. The translator might have said more properly in the optative ' Do thou keep,' and ' do thou preserve : ' for this is properly a prayer of the prophet against the gene- ration of justiciaries. And though 'to preserve' and ' to guard ' do not differ much, yet the Hebrew has " pre- serve" in the latter, and "guard" in the former clause: as Hieronymus also has it. For David prays to be preserved from this generation, after the manner of a pro- hibition, thus, — that we may be prevented from associ- ating Avith them or consenting unto them. And he prays God that his words {eloquia) may be guarded, after the manner of protection, that the ungodly might not pol- lute them. And instead of " thou shalt preserve us,'' it is in the Hebrew " thou shall preserve them;' and it refers to the words of God, as Hieronymus translates it. But it mav also be referred to the saints, as it is in the masculine gender servabis eos. Nor should I reject the acceptation, if any one should understand it as refer- ring to the ungodly : that God would preserve and guard them, that is, that they might not any more speak vain things, nor destroy the saints from the sons of men. And here we see, that it is not our power that can cause the words of God to remain pure, or that can prevent the saints from failing from among men, but the po\\er of God only. " Thou, O Lord, shalt preserve," not We, men, a\ ill preserve. Thus Christ saith, ' The 28 harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.' And he has com- manded us to pray the same in the Lord's prayer, where he has taught us to pray for "our daily bread : " that is, the uords (eloquia) of God. But we, laying aside prayer, and trusting to literature, to our abilities, and to our studies, act in security, until we ourselves become those speakers of vain things, and that impious and ungodly generation from which David here prays to be guarded. Hence we collect, that though this Psalm may most properly be applied to the time of Christ, as all such scriptures may; vet, as this generation shall not pass away till all these things shal; be fulfilled, they apply to all times and ages. And truly in our age the Turks, the Jews, and ceremonialists, most greatly increase this generation, and have supplanted almost all faith and all the Word of faith. And against these there is nothing that we can do but pray unto the Lord of the harvest, that he would arise, put us in salvation, and speak to them. Ver. 8. — The wicked walk round about: according to thy highness thou hast multiplied the sons of men. The verb " hast multiplied " is not in the Hebrew. Hieronymus renders the passage thus, — 'The wicked walk round about ; the most vile of the sons of men are exalted.' I believe this verse has never been brought forth out of darkness by any one : nor that on which we have just spoken, " Proved of the earth." I confess my ignorance with respect to both these passages, and I think all those that have written before me must do the same. For the one part of it, our translator has given us, " according to thy highness;" but the pronoun thy is superfluous. Hieronymus has it * when they are ex- alted.' It is manifest, therefore, that Che Hebrew is a word that signifies ' highness.' I think it is the primitive and active verb rom, that is, 'has exalted,' or 'has lifted up.' And therefore, according to my judgment, it 29 should be rendered thus, ' As he has exalted the vilest out of the sons of men.' For where we have " hast multiplied," the Hebrew has zylloth in the feminine gender , which signifies vile, abject, light men ; such as gluttons and frequenters of brothels : for, by the He- brews, those who are devoted to feastings and luxury are called zolelim in the masculine gender. So that the sense will be. This generation has sur- rounded the ungodly teachers, and walk together with them ; even as it has exalted and wished to have those who are the vilest of the sons of men, or among the sons of men : that is, this generation gather about them ungodly disciples, and exalt the most vile to be teachers : so that they are, like teachers like disciples : the blind lead the blind, and both fall into the ditch. And if this verse was ever fulfilled at any time, is it not most truly fulfilled at this day ? For, who in our day is put at the helm of ecclesiastical matters but the very dregs of the world ? That is, such as the world can neither use nor derive any benefit from ? And this is what our ingrati- tude has justly merited. And here again we see, that to these ungodly teachers is ascribed the care of the belly, as we have it, Psalm v. " Their throat is an open sepulchre." And the Apostle saith, " Whose god is their belly," and calls them by that most odious name " gluttons," who look after nothing but eating. Nor is it in vain that in the Hebrew word zylloth there is one letter Lamed wanting, and the letter Vaf in the verb crym : as if to shew, that each was only a thing in appearance and not in reality ; because they are not truly exalted, and they would have themselves con- sidered to be any thing but gluttons. But these things we M ill leave to the curious and those who wish to spend time upon them. Our translation may be harmonized with this sense thus, — The wicked walk round about, that is, there are many surrounding and surrounded, both ungodly dis- ciples and ungodly teachers ; and they walk and per- severe in their Mays. * For thou hast multiplied the 3.0 sons of men according to thy highness : ' that is, thou liast exalted to places of power, not the sons of God, l>ut the sons of men ; and of those, not the few and the good, but the many and those who are the most vile among them. Some of the fathers refer sons of men to the chil- ;ates of hell were just about to swallow him up, and thrust him down into the eternal pit : as David saith in another place, " Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me." Wherefore he here also prays, ' that he might not sleep in death : ' that is, that he might not die, and might not lie dead in eternal death. This same thing he expresses more at large, Psalm vi. thus, " For in death there is no remem- brance of thee : in the grave who shall give thee thanks ?" Contrary to which is that expression, Psalm iv. " I shall rest in peace together, and sleep." For while the light of the Lord's countenance is lifted up upon him, the man is joyful, and dies in peace. But when God turns his face away and leaves the man to fluctuate in his own counsels in his soul, he is filled with sorrow, fearing lest he should die in death : that is, lest he should be hurled and driven headlong as by a whirhvind into the all- terrible and eternal confusion^ 39 Wherefore, this verse is the Hght of the whole Psahn \ jilainly shewing that this temptation is in the most high matters of faith, hope, and love : >vhere distrust, despair, hatred, blasphemy, and the like terrible things of hell and of the damned, contend in the most bitter conliict with this faith, hope, and love. For lust, ange/, pride, and covetousness will have nothing to do with purity, mildness, humility, and bounty : nay, the rage of all corporal persecution, fire, famine, sword, and ignomin}^ must be combined together against these supposed evils. Hence, we are here to understand, that David feared death most especially on this account, because, there was not only no praise of God in it, but hatred and blasphemy; and these it was that he so much abhorred and shuddered at. Ver. 5. — Lest m'me enemij should say, I have pre- vailed against him. Those that trouble me will rejoice if I be moved. . As this is one verse in the Hebrew, the sense will be clearer if we put a conjunction in the middle, for the sake of elucidating the repetition : in this manner, ' Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him, and mine enemies should rejoice because I am moved.' For the expression, I have prevailed over him, or have prevailed against him, is thus rendered. Psalm cxxix. 2, " But they have not prevailed against me." And we also call this prevailing against any one. For the enemies boasting that they have prevailed, and the persecutors exulting that the saint is conquered, is the same thing; which would be the case if he should sleep in death. And it is the same thing that is said against these characters, Psalm vi. 8, " Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity : (that is AVEN, or pain,) for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." And again, ' Lest mine enemies should rejoice over me : for when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.' For here he expresses the same thing, and almost in the same words ; as is quite manifest. This is the exulting and boasting of devils ; such ex- E 2 40 ultations and boastings as they poured forth out of the mouths of the Jews on Christ crucitied : "If thou be the Son of God come down now from the cross," " Save thyself," *' Let him deUver him now, if he will have him." Here it is that the enemy exults : as David had com- plained in the 4th verse. And therefore, he prays that this may not be the case, or that it might not be the case for ever. For, if this is most hard to be borne when wrought by men in their trifling victories over us with respect to temporal things ; how much more and unspeakably terrible must be the confusion that is caused by devils in their victories over us in eternal things ? ' For this is the extreme of all evils, as it is said, Wo unto the conquered, when to their evils and aflflictions there are added ignominy, insult, and boasting : for this galls more terribly than the very fight, nay worse than the slaughter and the fall.' If this be the case, there- fore, we may know what the state of the case is with the conquered when in confusion about eternal things. But it may be asked, how can devils exult, who, as we believe, bear about their damnation with them every where ? This I leave to be explained by others : there are numbers of examples, that they have exulted at the fall of the saints : but even if there w ere no such ex- amples, yet the authority of this scripture would be suf- ficient to establish the truth of the thing in the minds of the believing. Ver. 5. — But I have hoped in thy mercy; my heart hath rejoiced in thy salvation. Ver. 6. — / will sing unto the Lord, who hath re- warded me good things ; and I will sing praises unto the name of the Lord Afost High. All this is one verse in the Hebrew ; and the last clause, " I will sing praises unto the name of the Lord Most High," is added from Psalm vii. 17. P'or the Hebrew concludes the verse thus, " Who has rewarded me good :" or to render it word for word, ' For he hath returned upon me.' Hence, the first part of the verse has three members or clauses, " I have hoped in thy 41 mercy/' " My heart hath rejoiced in thy salvation," and *' I will s'lrni unto the Lord :" concerninj:!; which feeHnjjs we have spoken abundantly, Psalm v. David seems to put these things as a contrast to, and in opposition to, the boasting of his enemies. As if he iiad said. They exult and boast that they have pre- vailed, and that I have yielded as being vanquished. — But I do not boast of my strength, but of thy mercy ; and I exult, not in my victory, but in thy salvation, (or, thy saving,) whereby thou hast saved me, an unworthy creature, who deserved any thing but such a favour ; and this thou hast done through thy mercy. — And there is a powerful emphasis in the expressions "thy mercy" and " thy salvation." Hereby, is inculcated, that which is repeatedly en- forced on account of hypocrites, and those that know not God : namely, that there is no one who is not found a damnable sinner before God ; that there is no one who can stand before the face and sting of these devils, how holy and full of good works soever he may be, all which works they immediately make to be nought by their powerful accusations ; and that no one will ever obtain salvation, but he, who, despairing of all his own merits and worthiness, apprehends the only and all-free mercy of God by faith and hope, and firmy holds it fast, trust- ing that he shall be saved by that, and can be saved by that only. So that all singing must be, not to ourselves, but unto God alone, who saves us, undeserving any such thing, by his mercy only ; in which salvation the heart may rejoice. For if any thing else availed unto salva- tion besides the mercy of God, David would without doubt have shewn it here. Nay, he confessed that all the counsels of his soul, in which he considered of his merits also, brought him nothing but grief and pain. Therefore, mercy alone is what we must have : it will suffer nothing to be joined with it in which the man may hope at the same time. For this ^ould be for the feet to vary and to halt between two ways, and, for us to worship, like the Samaritans, God and an idol at the same time. Whereas, no one can worship God but by 42 a pure and alone faith in his mercy. If it be not so, we cannot sing unto God only ; nor shall we give thanks unto his grace alone, but unto our idol also which has wrought together wnth God. But God forbid such a thing at this ! " For he hath returned." — We are not here to dream of merits^ of dignity, or condignitij, or congruity ; as M'e generally understand this verb "returned" to signify. For as all this is given through mercy only, and freely bestowed upon the undeserving, the singing praise and thanks are due to the giver. But when the reward is givett-tGLjuerits, without mercy, nay, from a demand of justice, there, the praise and singing are due to the worker, and not to the giver. But the impious teachers who hold forth the latter pest of doctrine, extinguish all exultation of heart, and all sweetness of God in men, and take away all his praise. As it is said, ^Micah ii. 9, " The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses : (that is, from their conscience rejoicing in the salvation of the sweet mercy of God,) and from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever." It is a truth, confirmed by the experience of all men, that those rejoice in, sing of, and bless a benefactor, who know that they have been freely and immeritedly helped by him. How much more should this be the case with God and our thanks to him ! How much more should we understand his benefactions to us and give him thanks ! Especially, when the man knows that for all those things which he lost under his temptations, or seemed to lose, — for all such losses he afterwards received double from the hand of God. Wherefore this returning or rewarding implies rather a loss of merits than an acquirement of them, if you look at the meaning of the scripture : or rather, it is an exchange of things: ^hile God kills by making alive; brings men to a knowledge of their being sinners when he justifies them ; and, in a word, takes away all things that he may return or give in reward all things. And they who have not this knowledge of the cross, are com- pelled to be agitated with those thoughts and dreams 43 about getting a stock of merits, \vhich may be recompensed Avith rewards of dignity, cofulignitj/, and congruiti/, even by God himself. For even that exultation of the Apostle, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of glory, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day,"' I should rather consider as having reference to his adversaries than to his own merits : in this way, As God is a righteous judge he will reward me with, or return unto me, a- crown for the dung and filth with Avhich the world confounds me at this day. And there- fore, for the glory of the ungodly in which he exults at this day, he will in that day give him in return, shame and contempt. So that he signities, that the one shall be taken away and the other given to the saint; and that by the free mercy of God. As Joshua the high j)riest, Zdchariah iii. is stripped of his filthy garments, for which Satan accused him, and clothed with a change of raiment ; as it is there recorded. And that expression, which we render ' to me,' (mihi) and which is in the Hebrew alai, ' upon me,' (.super me) is the same expression as that which we have above, '' How far shall mine enemy triumph over me?" And Psalm vii. 8, " According to my innocence upon me." Where we should more properly have rendered the passage, ' According to my innocence to me ; ' than by that rendering which we taught and took from Hiero- nymus : for the same expression signifies only motion to a place ; as we have it also. Psalm xxxviii. 16, " When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me." And so also it is, Psalm vii. 8, " Judge me according to my innocence upon me;" or "judge toward me," or, "to me:" so that " to me," or " upon me," is to be joined with the word ^* judge," and not to " innocence." 44 PSALM XIV. TO VICTORY : OF DAVID. Ver. 1. — The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, and have become abominable in their doings : there is none that doeth good, no not one. This is all one verse in the Hebrew, and the clause " no not one," is superadded in this place, because we have it once only, and that is at the end of the third verse. The Hebrew runs thus, ' The fool hath said in his heart. There is no God. They have done corrupt and abominable doings : there is none that doeth good.' Here fool is put by the figure synecdoche, for the whole people, because it follows in the plural number " they." This Psalm is taken out of Gen. vi. where it is said in similar words — that the earth was corrupt by the sons of men ; and that the Lord looked down upon the chil- dren of men, and iniquity, or badness, (which in the Hebrew is hamas; that is, injury, violence, and op- pression,) had prevailed. Here David says, that the people were "devoured :" and hence the series of his- tory, contained Gen. vi. will beautifully illustrate this Psalm : because it either describes the prevailing of the generation of the ungodly by a like corruption, or foretels that it shall thus prevail : for such a generation always exists, though it may rage and prevail more at one time than at another. David, therefore, is not speaking at all about the per- secution of the godly nor about false teachers : but the intent and scope of the Psalm are to describe and set forth the manners and the life of sinners, or of the cor- rupt generation. — That all men are sinners and evil who are destitute of, and act without, grace : for such live only in pride, lust, rapine, fraud, murder and the like ; though such strive always to colour over these things, or neglect to observe them. And it is to this same point that Paul quotes the Psalm, Rom. iii. - - , '^ ' ' 'Z Here, the first evil, which is the fountain-spring of all the other evils, is, ignorance of God : for he that sins against the first commandment must transgress every one of the others. And as all the commandments hang and depend upon the first, and are from it regulated and formed, so there is no one that is violated in more ways nor by more men than the first commandment. And we may easily see how very few good men there are among the sons of men, and that there is none that doeth good. For although all may not commit adultery and murder in the act, nor satisfy lust in the act, yet all sin the same sin of unbelief against the first command- ment : and, when opportunity is given, they satisfy lust, kill, and commit every evil. And therefore, every son of Adam is this Nabal : that is, this " fool" and idolater, being ignorant of God ; as it is here said. But we are not here to understand that such know nothing whatever of God : for Paul teaches, Rom. i. * that the name of God is manifestly known by all :' for if there had not been an inextinguishable knowledge of the divinity implanted in the minds of all men, idolatry would never have^been found. For why did they wor- ship idols, but because they all had a persuasion that there was some God ? Why did they ascribe divinity to men and to devils, and thus turn the truth of God into a lie, if they did not believe and know that there was a divinity or God ? Or why did they presume to worship those men and devils, if they did not ascribe to them some existing divinity ? They knew therefore that there was a God or divinity. But they erred in this : — They turned the truth of God into a lie ; and, on the other hand, a lie into the truth of God. That is, that which w^as truly God they ascribed unto man, or to the crea- ture ; and, on the contrary, that which was not God, or a lie, they ascribed unto God. This they did then, and this they still do, who, not understanding the work and Word of God, blaspheme them and ascribe them to devils. And their own devices, whether it be their words or their works, and even suggested by the devils, they ascribe unto God : and this is the most frequentof all evils. Vv*-' 46 For those who are described Gen. vi. are not repre- sented as being so ignorant of God that they knew nothing of him, for Noah a preacher of righteousness preached God unto them. But, said God, " i\Iy spirit shall not remain in these men for ever, because they are flesh:" or, as the Hebrew has it, 'My spirit shall not always judge or strive in these men : ' that is, he has not his operation in them, because they reject the crucifixion of the flesh, and therefore they will not endure the judg- ment of my spirit. By which words, whether spoken through Noah, or (which I the rather believe) through others also, God designed the same thins as that which is spoken in this Psalm: — namely, he publicly and openly declares that such are flesh, and without, and destitute of, the Spirit : that is, abominable and corrupt, not one of them doing good, no, not one. David therefore, here speaking in the Spirit, and easily searching into their thoughts, and their reins, and heart, says, that this Nabal denies God, not in word, nor in gesture, nor in external pomp, (wherein he boasts that he knows God even better than those who truly love him,) but in his heart : that is, in his inward thoughts and feelings : which darkness is immediately followed by a darkness of mind, which prevents him either from thinking, speaking, or acting rightly concerning God : as it is said Psalm xi. and Paul to Titus, chap. i. " They say that they know God, but in works deny him." They therefore alone have God, who believe in God by a faith unfeigned. All others are fools, and say in their heart " There is no God." The other evil, (that is, the great river or flood, rather, of evils,) which proceeds and flow s out of this fountain of unbelief, is all their doings ; (that is, whatever they think, are wise about, savour, say, do, establish, or act in any way ;) all these are corrupt and abominable. As if he had said with Paul, Tit. i. 15, " Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled." And thus he briefly in one word declares and sets forth the life of the unbelieving : as it is written also, Rom. xiv. " What- 47 soever is not of faith is sin." For the word /ELI la, which is here rendered " doings," (as we have it also Psalm ix, " Tell among the people his doings,") is a general noun, and signifies all things that any one may do, such •as, counsels, attempts, words, works, and so, all things that a man can do which we understand to be approved and well pleasing unto God when done in faith, and corrupt and abominable when done in unbelief. For the Apostle, Tit. i. 15, when he gives the reason why there is nothing pure to the impure, and why their mind and conscience is defiled, gives none other than this, — that they were unbelieving or destitute of faith, and for that reason abominable, and unto every good work reprobate. \Vhat then will those say here who have hatched up a something about works morally good, and works neuter 1 They will do nothing but work doings corrupt, abominable, defiled, unclean, and destitute of faith. For works not meritorious and yet not demeritorious, 7iot sins and yet not merits, are all one and the same thing. And yet, it is in this way and with these terms that these miserable deceivers speak, extinguishing the fear of God, and flattering and pleasing men, and all the while setting aside the grace of faith. But the Apostle withstands all such even upon their own grounds, Rom. xiv. where he saith, ' That every thing which is not of faith is sin.' For these men make their conscience faith : and therein they speak well and healthfully ; not less so, than Caia- phas prophesied : excepting that, they do not understand what they themselves thus say, even as also Caiaphas did not understand what he said. For if a man does any thing in act or life which he does not believe pleases God, that is, which is contrary to his conscience, he builds unto hell. And therefore, all their works and doings which they do contrary to their conscience, that is, which are not of faith, or, which they do not believe are well pleasing to God, — all such works they build up unto hell. And this is most true ; for every Christian man ought to believe that all which he does pleases God. ^ 48 CONCERNING FAITH AND WORKS. As this place calls upon us to speak of Faith and Works, we must indulge in a few observations : as we have done before concerning Hope and Passions, Psalm v. and we shall do the same concerning Love and Kind- nesses, in its proper place. First of all, this is certain, — that of all the command- ments of God, tlie first, highest, and greatest is, that which is written in the first place in the Decalogue of Moses, " I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt : thou shalt have no strange gods before me,"&c. The proper works of which command- ment (the elicited and immediate works as they call them) are, to believe in, to hope in, to love, and to fear God, and those things which are of God. These works the teachers of our day call elicited habits and acts. And therefore, having fallen into a dead letter, they consider external works to be these habits* and acts ; such as, praying with the lips, bending the knee, and other cere- monies of that kind. And being blinded with this theo- logy, they cannot understand the words of the divine scripture, where they teach concerning the work of God, faith, hope, love, and fear. For the greater part of the whole scripture tends to this, — to set forth and commend the work of God, that is, faith: as in Isaiah v. 12, " But they regard not the work of the Lord." ' And John vi. 29, " This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." And again Psalm Ixxxi. 8, *' O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me ; there shall no strange god be in thee ; neither shalt thou worship any strange god." As if he had said, This shall be the work and the worship of God, — if thou shalt believe or hear ; that is, faith is the true service, and the first work of the first commandment. Wherefore, he that would understand the scriptures, must leave all the philosophical ways of theologians, and 49 must understand this term, the work of god; and learn to apply it with as much force to the internal acts of the soul, (which they call elicited acts,) as they have applied it to the external acts, (vvhich they call com- manded and ??iediate acts,) or, (which shews their blind- ness to be the more awful,) which they apply to the works of the creation ; which are wrought of God out of, and independent of, all men. But as that man who omits the first precept, and yet keeps all the other works, both divine and human, does nothing at all : so, he does nothing at all, who does all that he does, or omits all that he omits, without faith in God. For, as the first precept is the measure, standard, rule, and virtue of all the other precepts ; from which first precept, as from the head, all the other pre- cepts hang, and receive life and influence : so faith, the work of the same precept, is the life, power, and virtue of all other works, and is, in the greatest truth, that universal reality, which is the one thing needful in all things : so that, no work is good, unless faith be the operating spring of it : nay, unless it be wholly imbued and anointed with faith as with a new leaven. And there can by no means be faith, unless there be a certain living and undoubting mind, whereby the man is assured, with all certainty, that he pleases God, and has him as a propitious and pardoning God in all things which he does and carries on ; propitious in good things, and pardoning in evils. For what is faith if there be not this state of mind ? And the Apostle proves true faith to be such as this in many examples, Hebrews xi. And Christ, in the Gospel, when he is about to display his power, generally asks them first, whether they believe that he is able and willing to do it. And therefore, it is written of him. Matt. xiii. that he could not do many works in his own country because of their unbelief. And, Matt. xvii. he says, that his disciples could not cast out devils because of their unbelief. From this we may see whence that word of the Apostle flowed, Rom. xiv. " Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." And that of Titus i. 15, " But even their mind 50 and conscience is defiled." And why is this ? because I "they are destitute of faith ; and it is faith alone that \i purifies the heart, (Acts xv.) and fulfils all the com- I mandments of God. Observe this, therefore, ' In every work of thine beHeve,' ' Faith is the keeping of the com- mandments of God.' But is not this a new kind of thing to the theologians of our day ? And that also is equally new w hich we have, Eccles. ix. 7, " Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy Avine with a merry heart : for God now accepteth thy works ;" where the Hebrew is, KIKEBAR RAZA HA^LOHIM ETH MA.ESECHA. But this BAR may be variously rendered, thus, ' For thy works are like a son (or elect, or pure,) which pleaseth his father.' Or thus, ' Thy works are like the works of a son that pleaseth his father.' So that the meaning of the whole is, ' Be thou always joyful and happy, know- ing, that whatsoever thou doest, is, in the approbation of God, like the actions of a chosen and beloved son in the sight of his father. And in this way also it is expressed, Malachi iii. 17, "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels ; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." And then it follows in the same passage, Eccles. ix. " Let thy garments be always white ; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity : for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun." Here, "garments" and "oil" (though many understand them, not improperly, to signify works and joyfulness,) may, I think, be received as having a literal signification : because there was a custom of putting on white gar- ments upon days of rejoicing, and dark or black gar- ments or sackcloth upon days of mourning, and espe- cially among the people of the nation in the midst of whom Solomon wrote: so that, these "garments" and "oil" signify the circumstances of joy, both with respect to the food and the clothing. And thus also Christ saith, ]\Iatt. vi. " But thou, when thou fastest, anoint 51 thy head and wash thy face : " that is, be of a glad and cheerful countenance. — Those, therefore, act most perniciously, ^^ho, pro- fessing themselves to be teachers illuminated by foith, deny that this faith is necessary at all times, and in every w ork : and they hatch up and frame out to us a general kind of faith sleeping in the habit, or rather a dead faith, which for the time elkits the act of heUcr'nig. But what time a\ ill they defme for this act ? Is it only during the time of immediate exercise ? But what a great folly possesses them, if they compare faith and its work with the use and nature of all other virtues? By this they would make it to be the case, that, because we cannot at all times pray, read, visit the sick, and help the weak; nay, because we cannot do any one work perpetually and continually, therefore, (as they think,) faith must be subject to the same change as the works, sometimes working or actino;, and sometimes resting or doing no- thing: not understanding, that under all the change and variety of works faith remains the same, believing and being confident in every w^ork, that it pleases God, or rather, that he is pardoning and propitious. It is an error, therefore, to put faith and its work upon a footing with the other virtues and works. For this faith must be held as being exalted above all these things, and as being a sort of general and inaccessible influence above all works ; by the moving and agency of which it is that all works which are done by man move, act, flourish, and please God. Thus Samuel, 1 Sam. X. 6, ' And the Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. When, therefore, all these signs are come unto thee, do whatsoever cometh into thy hands ; for God is with thee.' So, in faith, all works are equal, howsoever they may present themselves unto us to be done : for faith alone is the work of all Avorks. But wheresoever a diflerence of works is made, there either faith is wanting, or else, the difference only ap- pears to be such in the eyes of those w ho are ignorant in these matters. For when a man believes in God, 6^ whether he fasts, or jjrays, or serves a brother, it Is all one and the same : for he knows that he serves and pleases God equally, whether his works be great or small, precious or vile, short or long. Nor does he in particular choose any one work, nor does he reprobate any one ; but, as Samuel said to Saul, he does what- soever comes into his hands to do. But where there is not this faith, there will be always found a fermenting toil of distinguishing, choosing, and rejecting works ; while such, with an impious opinion, believe, that by such a work they shall please God more, and by such a work less : which iniquity is full of labour, toil, and soli* citude ; in the Hebrew called aven and amal, as we have abundantly shewn before. The impious folly of these men is a certain spiritual simony ; they wish to buy God with works. For what they do is this : — they suppose, that in doing and after doing these works, they shall have faith in God ; and thus, they make God to be appeased and rendered pro- pitious by their works : whereas, we ought to have God propitious to us first by faith, and then, in that faith to do good works : that thus, that which pleases God may be of preventing grace, and not of our own power and merits. For no one can please God because he does good works ; but he does good works because he pleases God. So that, the cause of the works being good, is the faith by which a man knows that he pleases God : but works are not the cause of that faith which pleases God. And hence it is impossible, but that those must trust more in their own works than in God, though (as hypocrites always lie) they boast that they trust in God alone. And thus they always remain reprobate concerning faith, yet always pretending that they trust in God. It is past all belief how secret, deep, and great this evil of the human heart is : for it not only clothes and feeds itself with its own works with an in- superable and desperate perverseness, but boasts of the title and value of that very faith which it directly mili- tates against, and flatters itself in the possession of it. David prayed against this, Psalm li. " Create in me a 53 ckan heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me." And Psalm xix. 13, " Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me : then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." If any one could but see how many of the most specious and showy work-mongers this iniquity destroys, he would then understand that of Eccles. viii. 10, "And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the place where they had so done." In a vvord, there is not an evil more natural to man nor to be rooted out with more care, than this subtle presumption, which always strives to be before-hand with God and to render him propitious by its own works. From which natural enormity have proceeded also all those impious dogmas and doctrines in the church, by which men are driven on to works and indulgences in order to appease God and to make satisfaction for their sins, entirely setting aside faith. And I believe that this radical evil and all-specious idol of the spirit, (as we have it called, Psalm xxxii.) is never extinguished, no, nor even known until a man has been exercised with those deeper tempt- ations of death, hell, conscience, (or, faith and hope,) and predestination, and others of the same kind. All other things rather increase than take away this natural evil, even though they may be the greatest of virtues or works. And the same destruction attends them also who deny that all works done without faith are sins, as we have shewn before. For if you should say by way of question, whether a good work (as they may call it) when done in the pursuit of adultery, murder, or theft, or, when done in rebellion or disobedience, would not be a sin ; they would without doubt answer, that it was a sin. Why then do they ascribe so much goodness of workincr to the man that sins against the first command- ment and does his good work in disobedience towards God, (that is, in unbelief,) — why. I say, do they ascribe so much goodness to such an one as to say that his work VOL. IV. F 54 is not a sin ? Are not, then, disobedience with respect to God and unbelief as great sins as the pursuit or intent of adultery, and the neglect of chastity ? But the sin of unbelief is deep, and of all the most natural, nay, committed by nature herself: concerning which David says, " All men are liars : " the natural man cannot acknowledge this sin in himself: but as to the sins of the flesh, such as theft, murder, and human rebellion, they are wrought by the grosser parts of the senses and the body, and therefore they are easily under- stood by his higher faculties, the soul and the under- standing : whereas, the soul itself cannot perceive the incomparably greater sin and " beam" that is in its ovvn eye, though it so easily perceives the ''mote" that is in the body's eye. Such is the nature of hypocrites and of all who are unclean in spirit, until they have been exercised and tried by the powerful and spiritual perils of death and hell. In this same way, lime grows harder and colder until water be poured upon it. And hence, the wise man rightly saith that the beginning or fountain-spring of sin, or rather the principal and greatest of all sins, is departing from God : of which the members, as it were, are rebel- lions, lusts, murders, thefts, and every thing that comes under the name of sin. By which things God, as it were, admonishes us to think and consider thus, — if these things are so great and so foul, how great and foul must be the manifold and many-mouthed head and spring of all these foul streams ; that is, unbelief itself ; which is the very palace from which they all proceed, and which renders dead every work that is done, by its very touch and look. What then are a number of good works without faith, but, (as Christ says,) a whited sepulchre, which within is full of dead men's bones, and all iilth and iniquity. And here also that common saying about ' putting and taking away the bar,' falls to the ground. For if to commit adultery, to steal, and to kill, be to ' put the bar,' how many good works soever a person may do, and howsoever he may dispose himself; how much more 55 will not believing in God be * putting the bar,' though a man in the mean time may do never so many of his good works? For the commandment to believe in God, is of far greater weight and importance than not to commit adultery, and not to steal or kill. Wherefore, the omission of faith which is commanded in the first table, far exceeds in enormity the commission of any of those sins> which are prohibited in the second table. Thus, as unbelief is the fountain of all evils, and prevents any good work, or, if the work be done, renders it pol- luted, and makes the man prone to every sin ; so, on the contrary, faith is the fountain of all good, and will not permit any thing evil to be done, or, if any thing evil be done, immediately takes it away and cleanses the man, and renders him prone to all good works. Hence, when Adam and Eve had sinned, they immediately felt lust, or the fruit of their unbelief and sin in their mem- bers : whereas, in John vii. 38, it is on the contrary written, " He that believeth in me, as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters."" And 2 Tim. ii. 19, it is written, *' Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Wherefore, let us firmly hold that the first precept is the head and foundation or beginning of all the other precepts^ and that its fruits or fulfilment is the head and beginning of all works ; and also, that the moral phi- losophy of the Peripatetics errs altogether from the way, which saith, ' That by doing just and temperate things we are rendered just and temperate.' But not so ye ungodly ! not so ! But we must be made just and tem- perate first, and then do just and temperate things. And we are made just or righteous by that faith which believes that God is propitious unto us; and this is the faithy that God has commanded, saying, " I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have none other gods but me." For as we believe so it is done unto us. For faith is not here deceived : he is rather deceived who fears this, or doubts or hesitates to believe it. But you will say, How can it be that I can believe that in all works I please God, or that God is always F 2 56 and continually propitious to me, ^^hen I must some- times talk, eat, drink, and laugh with my neighbour, nay, sometimes joke also and enjoy the mutual conso- lation of pleasant converse ? And what if I sometimes sin in the very act, and even run into some great fall of MTath, lust, and evil concupiscence? And who is that man who does not sometimes offend in word, as James says in his Epistle ? Nay even you yourself also teach that there is sin or defilement in every word. Can, then, sin and pollution please God ? I answer : First, with respect to the works of familiar intercourse. — Hypocrites, who have confined the works of God within their narrow straits, are rigid and impla- cable censurers of those works which are done by honest and proper familiarity and friendship : such as lively converse and society, acute and witty observations and sayings, a pleasant and jocund laugh. For I do not here mean scurrilous remarks, profane laughing, or filthy con- versation : because not even the human rules of living allow of such things as those. But as this life cannot pass without society, it certainly becomes thee to believe, that thou pleasest God when thou speakest to thy brother with a jocund countenance, when thou invitest him to pleasantry by a cheering laugh, and when thou some- times delightest him with a facetious or shrewd remark. For this is that "gentleness" (yjirja-Toryjs) commended by Paul, Gal. v. 22, which they call kindness and sweetness of conversation, and which the same Apostle, 2 Cor. vi. 4, commands us to shew forth, saying, " In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience," &c. ; and afterwards, ver. 6, " by kind- ness, in the Holy Ghost ;" m here he adds " in the Holy Ghost," that this kindness, companionableness, or plea- santry may not, as it is often wont to do, degenerate into levity, and effuse scurrility, and a certain licence to say any thing and do any thing, until, out of this kindness, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, they make a deadly familiarity, M'hich is the fruit of the unclean spirit of man. Thus it is read of St. Bernard, that when he wished to comfort a brother who was dejected in mind, 57 he jested with him by putting his foot out and holding it so as to throw him down, and then said that he did it * otiosus sed non otiose' And if any thing of sin (as we are always to fear is the case) has crept in through ignorance, it is overcome by- that faith in God, by which we believe that we so please him, that he pardons what of sin there may be in us ; for he always shews himself to be unto us that which v.e believe him to be. And secondly, with respect to manifest or outward sms. — I would say that of Proverbs xxiv. 16, "A just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, but the wicked falleth into mischief." For the wicked man differs from the just in this. The wicked believes that he pleases God by his works and overcomes thereby : and hence, when he falls he never rises again, because he has no other way of rising up again than by his works, whereby he may please God and turn him to his own wishes, as he imagines : and as he cannot do this, and therefore cannot find any peace of heart, he of necessity falls into despair. But the just or righteous man, who knows that God has not only promised and previously made provision, but has also pre-commanded above all works, faith and hope in him, does not rise up again, because he trusts to and rests on his own works, nor does he lie and there remain because he has fallen ; but, mindful of the promise and precept of God, he keeps the propitious mercy of God before his eyes j which God has com- manded him to do, where he has said, " I am the Lord thy God," &c. And this is what David did. Psalm xxvi. 3, " For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes : and I have walked in thy truth." Thus he was sus- tained and supported by the Word and precept of God, that he might not rush with the wicked into the evil of desperation. And, as the wicked and the righteous strive in a different, yea, in a contrary way, so do they aim at a different end. The wicked strives by his works to run upon God ; but the just desires to come forth from God and be begotten again by faith. The former pro- poses to himself, to do away with the necessity of God's 58 righteousness by the works of his own strength; the latter sets before him the mercy of God which may heal all his infirmities. And these things ought to be exactly as they are between a father and a son. For the son, if he has at any time done wrong, fears indeed his father, but does not let go his confidence in his father's loving- kindness ; and yet he is ready with humble confession to bear the paternal discipline. As we have shewn from Malachi iii. 17, " And I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." And Psalm Ixxxix. 32, 33, " Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Never- theless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." Here, I would prudently and purposely pass by all those questions of recent theologians : — such as, ' Whe- ther faith perishes Avith mortal sin?' and 'What mortal sin is?' Such things, I say, I would purposely pass by, because such are not properly matured in these matters: they know not what faith is, or what mortal sin is : but they arrogate to themselves the power of determining with how great a sin faith can stand or cannot stand, and take that determination out of the hands of God. But " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," Psalm xxv. 15. In the third place, with regard to the sin in good works. — I lay it down as an established truth, that there is no good work of our own whereby we can please God. Hence the church prays, ' O Lord judge me not according to my doing, for I do nothing worthy of thy sight.' And again, ' So that wherein we cannot please thee by our doings,' &c. And this is the glory and grace of faith, — that it alone is the work that is well-pleasing unto God, which work makes all our works well-pleasing unto him, and takes out of the way all that are dis- pleasing unto him. For if all our other works were not sins and displeasing unto God, there would be no need of faith to take them out of the way. Wherefore, we may learn from the virtue itself, and from the necessity of faith, that we must ever despair of all our own works. 59 and, setting before us the mercy of God, to struggle with the judgment of God: as James saith, ii. 13, " And mercy rejoiceth against judgment:" that is, mercy glo- ries over judgment ; and faith in the mercy of God for justification, is more powerful than the fear of the judg- ment of God, for the condemnation of our conscience. Wherefore, we have always a cause for fear, since all that we do of ourselves is evil, and of itself, dam- nable. But again, under this same fear we have always occasion for believing, and of fighting against the fear of the judgment of God, by faith in his mercy, and of triumphing and glorying in that faith and its conquest : so that the words of the Psalm may be fulfilled, " The Lord is well pleased with them that fear him, with them that hope in his mercy." And so also John saith, 1 Epist. ii. 1,2, " And if any man sin, we have an advo- cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is the propitiation for our sins." And again, the same Apostle saith, chap. iii. 20, " For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than one heart, and knoweth all things," &c. From all these things, therefore, it will plainly appear, what and how we ought to think of ceremonies, and how far we ought to use them. Concerning which cere- monies, as there have been various disputations, even by the ancient fathers ; and as they are at this day adorned and set off by many, and, on the other hand, utterly despised and set aside by many, — as this is the case, we will here speak a httle concerning them. First of all, it is certaiix that in the New Testament there was only one ceremony divinely instituted, that is, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; and this was ap- pointed, that the people might assemble together to hear the Word and to pray. In which ceremony also, those who had been converted and instructed by the Word, having partaken of the holy bread, might be confirmed and comforted. All other ceremonies have been insti- tuted and increased by ecclesiastical decrees ; until they have made the church at this day to be nothing but a 60 heap of mere ceremonies, while all the commands of God are utterly cast out. Wherefore we ought here to learn, that we are not to decline to the right hand nor to the left : that is, that we are neither to be too much taken up with ceremo- nies, nor too much to despise them ; but, keeping the right and middle way, at a proper time to observe them, and at a proper time to disregard them. In which matter there is no one thing that can more safely, faith- fully, and surely direct us than faith and love themselves, — These, I say, will lead and direct us far more surely, faithfully, and safely than all the Dispensations, Epieikiai, and Interpretations of all the popes and all the learned men put together. Let this then be an established certainty : — that this life cannot possibly be lived without ceremonies. For as we are in the body and in the midst of temporal things, we cannot avoid differences of times, works, places, duties, persons and other things. And as the Apostle saith, (Rom. xii. and 1 Cor. xii.) there is one body, but many members, and all members have not the same office. And, if you take away all ceremonies, where will remain any government, power, rule, magis- terial authority, or office ; or, in a word, any adminis- tration in the world whatever? For you cannot rule your house nor family, nor even your children, unless you allot certain times, places, and duties, and perform those duties with certain ceremonies ; nay, you cannot even properly exercise and direct yourself without cer- tain hours, places, and occupations. And indeed, your body will not permit you to live otherwise than thus, even as far as its well being and health are concerned. For what can you do, or how can you live, if you ap- point to yourself no time, no place, no work, no duty, and no personal engagements. Moreover, what are the external works themselves of the commandments of God and of the whole gospel, but certain ceremonies? What are praying, fasting, watching, labouring with the hand, helping our neigh- 61 bour, &c. but certain ceremonies? Profane ceremonies, however, or political laws and rites in secular things, or customs, or by what other name soever they may be called, are much more required, and, of necessity, many and various. But sacred ceremonies and ecclesiastical rites, or (as they are called) rites in spiritual things, are much more perilous : because it is so natural to conceive a vain contidence in these kind of works when they are duly performed, and a foolish fear because of them when they are omitted : that is, there is a most defiled state of conscience in either respect. And here, that faith which a man has in God, is in great waves of peril if there be not a faithful and wise servant of the Lord who knows how to separate the precious from the vile. For if the man has begun to trust in those ceremomies when performed, or to dis- trust when they are not, faith has perished ; which faith ought to use those ceremonies as a rider does a horse. But the case is, that these ceremonies themselves now reign which ought to be things quite subservient ; and as it is said, Eccles. x. 7, " I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth." There is a danger, I say, lest the ceremonialist should trust that he pleases God on account of his ceremonies, being deceived by a false appearance of things, and because he is employed in those things which pertain unto God. Which peril, in temporal things, is very little or none at all ; and it is so plain and common a thing, that he who is inflated and puffed up in these ceremonies is even marked out among men for his foolish confidence, or, as it is called, (f)tXavTia, because all such pride and confidence are among the common things of the world. Wherefore, we are to use ceremonies in faith and love, that they may be useful ; without vvhich faith and love, they cannot but be hurtful and leading to perdition. For if all other good works are destructive when done without faith, how much more shall those works lead to perdition which are only done in the performance of ceremonies appointed of man? — And works and cere- monies are then done in faith and love, where they are 62 not done from any urging necessity, nor because they are good, nor because they are commanded, but, when they are done in a freedom of spirit : that is, when the man has a persuasion that he pleases God even in those things which are indifferent in themselves : thus mailing, by this his faith, that an advantage to him, which M^as neither a benefit nor a loss in itself; and making that good, which in itself had no goodness at all. And he is moved to do this, not because he thinks to procure many merits to himself in these things, but, for this cause only, — because he must of necessity live in the body, which cannot be done without ceremonies ; though he himself does not stand in any need of these ceremonies, being abundantly filled with merits by his faith only. And another reason is, because he must of necessity have his life and conversation with them who have need of profane ceremonies in the administration of the perishable things of this world, or, with the weak- lings and little ones of Christ, who have need of the sacred ceremonies under which they are to be brought and nourished up asunder schoolmasters of the corporal law, until they themselves grow up into the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as Peter saith. For the Christian man is a debtor to both from love, and required to attemper himself to the manners of those with whom he lives. Nay, he is not only to attemper himself to these ceremonies and manners, but also, through their means, to serve those characters, lest his foolishly used confidence should despise the weak, or the secular, and political government, and thus ofiend both, which is contrary to love. Thus Christ, Matt, xvii, that he might not offend the Roman publicans or tax-gatherers, commanded Peter to pay a stater as tribute. And Paul, Titus iii. 1, com- manded that the saints be put in mind " to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work." And we have the same Rom. xiii. and 1 Pet. ii. 13, " Subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake : whether it be to the king, as supreme," &c. Not that these things are necessary unto the justification of the faithful, whose rigliteousness Christ is, but that in love they may serve all men, and that, by this good example they may call and allure over unto Christ the unbelieving and evil; and that, as Paul saith, Titus ii. 10, " They may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things : " and may, as he saith 1 Cor. x. ' Please all in all things:' even as the Apostle himself says, that he pleased all in all things, not seeking that which was profitable to himself, but that which was profitable to all, that they might be saved. And here no one has liberty to boast that he knows that all things are neuter, and indifferent, and lawful to him, and that it is faith alone that justifies ; because the Apostle has long also provided against this ; saying, 1 Cor. viii. 1, " We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." And again, chap. X. 9.3, " All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient." And again, ver. 29, " Por why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience ?" Why then are all things lawful and yet not expedient? Be- cause all do not know that all things are lawful. And therefore, my knowledge cannot be judged nor con- demned by another man's ignorant conscience. My knowledge, therefore, ought to submit itself for a time and to serve his ignorance, nor ought it to be puffed up against him ; so that the love that serveth his ignorance or weakness of conscience, is better than the knowledge puffed up that condemns and domineers over his igno- rance. Even as Christ died for us for a time, in order to be sub^crvient to our sins and infirmities, as we have it taught, Rom. v. And to this we ought to be moved by the considera- tion, that this knowledge of ours renders us safe, so that the works of ceremonies cannot hurt us when we know that we are justified by faith. And again, we ought to be moved to this, by the knowing that we have good things in Cl:rist, and have no longer to labour under con- siderations and thoughts about the manner in which we may be justified. And therefore, all our life from hence- 64 forth should be Hved to the benefit of our neighbour : as Christ lived for us ; and, as we do all other things for their good, much more should we attend to these indifferent ceremonies for their good. And therefore, we owe no man any thing but to love one another : and by this love it comes to pass that all things whatsoever we do are good ; and yet, we seek not to be justified by our works; and this is to be a Christian. I will now only add one thing, and bring these ob- servations to an end. — If any one shall perceive that he has a confidence or trust in the works of ceremonies, let him be bold, and at length cast them off: and in this let him not wait for any dispensation or power from the Pope : for in these matters every Christian is a pope and a church to himself: nor should any thing be decreed concerning him, nor should he abide by any thing that is decreed, which can in any way lead his faith into peril. But if he shall wish to communicate with his neighbour upon this matter, in order that he may be rendered the more certain by his word, (accord- ing to that scripture, " If any two of you shall agree upon earth concerning any thing," &c. Matt, xviii.) he does well. These thing I have said, because I know how per- tinacious and closely cleaving an evil a confidence in our own works is, and how pernicious a thing the super- stition of human laws is to the sincerity of faith. — Behold, therefore, how free all things are unto us by faith ! and yet all things are subservient with us because of love : so that there is at the same time the servitude of liberty, and the liberty of servitude; because we owe no one any thing but to love one another. Thus Christ saith, John x. 9, " I am the door: by me if any man enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." The 'going into' Christ, is faith which brings us into the riches of the righteousness of God, by which righteousness we now satisfy God and are justified and righteous, wanting no works whatever to form a righteous- ness for ourselves. And this 'going out' is love, which causes us, thus clothed with the righteousness of God, 65 * to lay ourselves out for the service and benefit of our neighbour, and to the exercising of our own bodies, in order to be enabled to supply the wants of another's poverty : so that they being drawn by us, may with us enter into Christ. For as Christ came out from God and drew us, seeking nothing of his own in all his life but only ours ; so, when we have entered in by faith, we ouoht also to cro in order to draw and attract others, seeking nothing else but that we may serve all, and save many, together with ourselves. But to return to the Psalm, it is sufficiently manifest that nothing is pure to the unbelieving; but, because they are flesh, and the Spirit of the Lord reigneth not in them, all their pursuits are corrupt and stinking, and are such as flesh is ; namely, foul, polluted, corrupt, abominable ; and this they manifestly appear to be, not only in death, but also in life, by their many and mul- tifarious corruptions. — In the Hebrew, however, both these verbs are active, " They have corrupted and made abominable (abominaverunt) their works" (if we may so speak). Or rather, we may make the verbs transitive, thus, " They have done corrupt and abominable doings:" for it is the same verb as that which is found Gen. vi. " All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth ;" that is, had made their way corrupt. And here, even our neutralists will admit, that every way of fools is corrupt and abominable. And the Psalmist adds, " And there is none that doeth good, no not one:" whereby he teaches, that there is nothing good in man at all, but that they are wholly evil. Ver. 2. The Lord looked down from heaven ivpon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. This verse is thus delivered after the manner of Moses, Gen. vi. ; for he had there said, " And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth." Again, " When God saw that the earth was corrupt."' For David wishes, by the use of the same verb, to express a sameness of state in the world : that, 66 as those of his day evinced the same corruptions and evils as those before the flood, so they might be de- scribed and reproved in the same words; but, for another end ; for the former were destroyed by a deluge, but the latter are called to a knowledge of their sins, that they might be saved through the better flood of baptism. For this is what Paul sets forth, Rom. i. ii. and iii. reproving all of sin, both Jews and Greeks, that God might have mercy upon all. And hence, this Psalm concludes with a sweet promise, saying, " Who will give the salvation of Israel out of Zion? When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be right glad." And here, the Lord is said to look down from heaven upon the children of men ; contrary to the ignorance of the fool, who saith, " There is no God." As if the Psalmist had said. There is not only a God, but he also sees, nay beholds and observes all things, that is, by his sight he penetrates into and marks all things. And then, that no one might imagine that those fools and men of corrupt doings are men in a certain corner of the world, (that is, those men among whom there is no one that doeth good,) he speaks in a general way unto all ; saying, that the Lord looks down from heaven, and from thence beholds and observes all men, and that no one lies hid from him: so we have it Gen. vi. *' And he saw that the whole earth was corrupt." And he says " the children of men," that we may thereby equally understand the whole of mankind. In which words, two things are tacitly implied. The o?ie is, that there is one Son of Man only, by whom alone the children of men are justified : on whose account it is, that the scripture uses this mode of expres- sion, ' sons (or children) of men,' vvhen it would express universality. For he is the Son of Man, but not the sons of men ; and ail the rest are the sons of men and sinners, born and conceived in the sins of men. For the mouth of the Holy Ghost is humble and gentle : because, when he would represent men as most pesti- 67 lential, he rebukes them as being so by the mild appel- lation of ' sons, or children gf men.' In which expression, though gentle and mild, is fully comprehended all the ^/> misery and evil of man. . — - The othei' thing is, that men appear to be one thing in the si^ht of God and another in the sigrht of men. In the sight of God no flesh living glories or boasts, as the Apostle saith, Rom. iii. : thereby beautifully shewing, that both these views of men are to be considered in the present verse of this Psalm ; where it is said, that the Lord passed this judgment looking down from heaven, and not man looking upon the earth. For men do not see in each other, at least not in all, that these doings are corrupt, but even praise them, and sometimes pro- claim them forth with great glory and honour, — such as their abilities, their arts, their deeds, and their moral virtues, (as they call them.) But, among all those other things, do they not celebrate the most of all that which is the w orst of all ? For who does not rank the glory of wars (that is, the shedding of human blood,) as the highest summit of excellence among men ? What are Homer, Virgil, and the rest of the poets, but the most bloody and most cruel proclaimers, inflamers, and boasters, of the most terribly murderous tyrants, and of those who have been the most savage shedders of human blood and destroyers of the human race ? So much so, that there is a peril, if a Christian man read these books, lest he should imbibe a delight in this blood-thirsty glory ; or lest, being caught w^ith the honied eloquence that sets forth these slaughters of the human race, nay, being carried away by an innate thirst for human blood, he should be led to make it his greatest pleasure to murder and destroy. To pass by, therefore, and say nothing about all filthy-tongued and lascivious poets, — would not the chil- dren of men, if they were clear in every other respect, be plainly proved to be most- blood-thirsty to a man, from their delight in war only? For only consider how great this fury and darkness must be when men rejoice in slaughter, bloodshed, murder, and all that 68 chaos of evil which war brings on, when all ought rather to weep tears of blood ; and especially where the war is carried on, not by the command of God, but from the mere lust of reigning and possessing ; as the gentile nations did of old, and still do; and as^we Christians (with shame be it spoken !) do at this day, who are the people of peace, and the children of God. And again, the Hebrew here says, by a transitive verb, ' The Lord made to look down :' whereby it is shewn, that the Lord not only looked down himself, but made others to look and observe also : that is, he revealed all this to his prophets, who might declare to the children of men what they are, and what they ought to do before God. If this had not been the case, how could Noah have known that the earth was corrupt before God ? how could he have known it if God had not revealed it unto him ? And this is what the scripture tacitly declares, when it says, ' The earth was corrupt before God:" he saith 'before God:' because, before men, it seems to be quite the contrary. Hence, faith is necessary to understand these words, even as the same faith is also necessary for Paul to be believed where he accuses all men openly as sinners, as being destitute of the glory of God, for he speaks the same things by revelation. " To see if there were any that did understand or seek after God." — There is here no conjunction, or, in the Hebrew it is inserted badly. The conjunction a?id, how- ever, should be put here, though it is not in the Hebrew, on account of the idiom of that language ; for the sense is a copulative sense, " understand and seek after." The Hebrew, language is full and copious in words, \\hich signify understanding, knowing, being wise in, &c. the exact distinction and difference between which I shall not take upon me to set forth. The prophet seems to describe these children of men as ' fools,' because there is no one instructed nor wise among the children of men. As if he had said not only those are fools who are less informed and instructed among the sons of men, but those also who prate much, 69 understand nothing, because they never have known any thing, by the taste of spiritual Hfe and experience. And I am moved to tal