storm at sea, with boarding to and again; that is, maintain and preserve our present condition in church, and state, though we increase not, that though we gain no way, yet we lose no way whilst the storm lasts. It is well for us, if, though we be put to take in our sails, and to take down our masts, yet we can hull it out; that is, if in storms of contradiction, or persecution, the church, or state, though they be put to accept worse conditions than before, and to depart with some of their outward splendour, be yet able to subsist and swim above water, and reserve itself for God's farther glory, after the storm is past; only Christ could becalm the storm; he is a good Christian that can ride out, or board out, or hull out a storm, that by industry, as long as he can, and by patience, when he can do no more, over-lives a storm, and does not forsake his ship for it, that is not scandalized with that state, nor that church, of which he is a member, for those abuses that are in it. The ark is peace, peace is good dispositions to one another, good interpretations of one another; for if our impatience put us from our peace, and so out of the ark, all without the ark is sea; the bottomless and boundless sea of Rome, will hope to swallow us, if we disunite ourselves, in uncharitable misinterpretations of one another; the peace of God is the peace that passeth all understanding"; that men should subdue and captivate even their understanding to the love of this peace, that when in their understanding they see no reason why this or this thing should be thus or thus done, or so and so suffered, the peace of God, that is, charity, may pass their understanding, and go above it; for, howsoever the affections of men, or the vicissitudes and changes of affairs may vary, or apply those two great axioms, and aphorisms, of ancient Rome, Salus populi suprema lex esto, The good of the people is above all law, and then, Quod principi placet, lex esto, The pleasure of the prince is above all law, howsoever I say, various occasions may vary their laws, adhere we to that rule of the law, which the apostle prescribes, that we always make, Finem præcepti charitatem, The end of the commandment charity: for, no commandment, (no not those of the first table) is kept, if, upon pretence of keeping that commandment, or of the service of God, I come to an uncharitable opinion of other men.

29 Phil. iv. 7.

30 1 Tim. i. 5.

That so first, Fundemur et radicemur in charitate", that we be planted, and take root in that ground, in charity, (so we are, by being planted in that church, that thinks charitably even of that church, that uncharitably condemns us) and then, Ut multiplicemur, That grace and peace may be multiplied in us", (so it is, if to our outward peace, God add the inward peace of conscience in our own bosoms) and lastly, ut abundemus, that we may not only increase, (as the apostle says there33) but (he adds) abound in charity towards one another, and towards all men, for this abundant and overflowing charity, (as long as we can, to believe well, for the present, and where we cannot do so, to hope well of the future) is the best persuasive and antidote against the woe of this text, Woe unto the world because of scandals and offences; which, though it be spoken of the active, is more especially intended of the passive scandal; and though it be pressed upon us, first, quia illusiones fortes, because those scandals are so strong, and then, quia infirmi nos, because we are so weak, do yet endanger us most, in that respect, quia prævaricatores, because we open ourselves, nay offer ourselves to the vexation of scandals, by an easy, a jealous, a suspicious, an uncharitable interpreting of others.

SERMON C.

PREACHEd at linCOLN'S INN.

PSALM XXXviii. 2.

For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

ALMOST every man hath his appetite, and his taste disposed to some kind of meats rather than others; he knows what dish he would choose, for his first, and for his second course. We have often the same disposition in our spiritual diet; a man may have

81

Ephes. iii. 17.

82 1 Pet. i. 2.

33 1 Thes. iii. 12.

a particular love towards such or such a book of Scripture, and in such an affection, I acknowledge, that my spiritual appetite carries me still, upon the Psalms of David, for a first course, for the Scriptures of the Old Testament: and upon the epistles of St. Paul, for a second course, for the New, and my meditations even for these public exercises to God's church, return oftenest to these two. For, as a hearty entertainer offers to others, the meat which he loves best himself, so do I oftenest present to God's people, in these congregations, the meditations which I feed upon at home, in those two Scriptures. If a man be asked a reason why he loves one meat better than another, where all are equally good, (as the books of Scripture are) he will at least, find a reason in some good example, that he sees some man of good taste, and temperate withal, so do: and for my diet, I have St. Augustine's protestation, that he loved the Book of Psalms, and St. Chrysostom's, that he loved St. Paul's Epistles, with a particular devotion. I may have another more particular reason, because they are Scriptures, written in such forms, as I have been most accustomed to; St. Paul's being letters, and David's being poems: for, God gives us, not only that which is merely necessary, but that which is convenient too; he does not only feed us, but feed us with marrow and with fatness; he gives us our instruction in cheerful forms, not in a sour, and sullen, and angry, and unacceptable way, but cheerfully, in Psalms, which is also a limited and a restrained form; not in an oration, not in prose, but in Psalms; which is such a form as is both curious, and requires diligence in the making, and then when it is made, can have nothing, no syllable taken from it, nor added to it: therefore is God's will delivered to us in Psalms, that we might have it the more cheerfully, and that we might have it the more certainly, because where all the words are numbered, and measured, and weighed, the whole work is less subject to falsification, either by subtraction or addition. God speaks to us in oratione stricta, in a limited, in a diligent form; let us speak to him in oratione soluta; not pray, not preach, not hear, slackly, suddenly, unadvisedly, extemporally, occasionally, indiligently; but let all our speech to him, be weighed, and measured in the weights of the sanctuary, let us be content to preach, and to hear within the com

pass of our articles, and content to pray in those forms which the church hath meditated for us, and recommended to us.

The whole Psalm is a prayer, and recommended by David to the church; and a prayer grounded upon reasons. The reasons are multiplied, and dilated from the second to the twentieth verse. But as the prayer is made to him that is Alpha and Omega, first, and last; so the prayer is the alpha and omega of the Psalm; the prayer possesses the first and last verse thereof; and though the reasons be not left out, (Christ himself settles that prayer, which he recommended to our daily use, upon a reason, Quia tuum est regnum, for thine is the kingdom,) yet David makes up his circle, he begins, and ends in prayer. But our text falls within his reasons; he prays in the first verse that God would forbear him, upon the reasons that follows; of which some are extrinsical, some arising out of the power, some out of the malice, some out of the scorn of other men; and some are intrinsical, arising out of himself, and of his sense of God's judgments upon him and our text begins the reasons of that last kind, which because David enters with that particle, not only of connexion, but of argumentation too, for, Rebuke me not O Lord, for it stands thus and thus with me) we shall make it a first short part, to consider, how it may become a godly man, to limit God so far, as to present and oppose reasons against his declared purpose, and proceedings. And then in those calamities which he presents for his reasons in this text, For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore, we shall pass by these steps; first, we shall see in what respect, in what allusion, in what notifications he calls them arrows: and therein first, that they are alieno, they are shot from others, they are not in his own power; a man shoots not an arrow at himself; and then that they are veloces, swift in coming, he cannot give them their time; and again they are vix visibiles, though they be not altogether invisible in their coming, yet there is required a quick eye, and an express diligence, and watchfulness to discern and avoid them; so they are arrows in the hand of another; not his own; and swift as they come, and invisible before they come. And secondly, they are many arrows; the victory lies not in scaping one or two; and thirdly, they stick in him; they find not David so good proof, as

to rebound back again, and imprint no sense; and they stick fast; though the blow be felt, and the wound discerned, yet there is not a present cure, he cannot shake them off; infixæ sunt; and then, with all this, they stick fast in him; that is, in all him; in his body, and soul; in him, in his thoughts, and actions; in him, in his sins and in his good works too; infixæ mihi, there is no part of him, no faculty in him, in which they stick not: for, (which may well be another consideration) that hand, which shot them, presses him: follows the blow, and presses him sore, that is, vehemently. But yet, (which will be our conclusion) sagittæ tuæ, and manus tua, these arrows that are shot, and this hand that presses them so sore, are the arrows, and is the hand of God; and therefore first, they must have their effect, they cannot be disappointed: but yet they bring their comfort with them, because they are his, because no arrows from him, no pressing with his hand, comes without that balsamum of mercy, to heal as fast as he wounds, and of so many pieces will this exercise consist, this exercise of your devotion, and perchance patience.

First then, this particle of connexion and argumentation, for, which begins our text, occasions us, in a first part, to consider, that such an impatience in affliction, as bring us toward a murmuring at God's proceedings, and almost to a calling of God to an account, in inordinate expostulations, is a leaven so kneaded into the nature of man, so innate a tartar, so inherent a sting, so inseparable a venom in man, as that the holiest of men have scarce avoided it in all degrees thereof. Job had God's testimony of being an upright man; and yet Job bent that way, O that I might have my request, says Job, and that God would grant me the thing I long for. Well, if God would, what would Job ask? That God would destroy me, and cut me off. Had it not been as easy, and as ready, and as useful a prayer, That God would deliver him? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh of brass? says he, in his impatience. What, though it be not? Not stones, not brass; is there no remedy, but to wish it dust? Moses had God's testimonies of a remarkable and examplary man, for meekness. But did God always find it so? was it a meek behaviour towards God, to say, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?

1 Job vi. 8.