but if thou leave all till till, then, it may prove a heavy business. So if thou have repented before, and settled thyself in a religious course before, and have nothing to do then, but to wrestle with the power of the disease, and the agonies of death, God shall fight for thee in that weak estate; God shall imprint in thee a cupio dissolvi, St. Paul's, not only contentedness, but desire to be dissolved; and God shall give thee a glorious resurrection, yea an ascension into heaven before thy death, and thou shalt see thyself in possession of his eternal kindom, before thy bodily eyes be shut. Be therefore St. Cyprian's peripatetic, and not his clinic Christian; a walking, and not a bed-ridden Christian; that when thou hast walked with God, as Enoch did, thou mayest be taken with God, as Enoch was, and so walk with the Lamb, as the saints do in Jerusalem, and follow him whithersoever he goes; that even thy death-bed may be as Elias' chariot, to carry thee to heaven; and as the bed of the spouse in the Canticles, which was lectus floridus, a green and flourishing bed, where thou mayest find by a faithful apprehension, that thy sickness hath crowned thee with a crown of thorns, by participation of the sufferings of thy Saviour, and that thy patience hath crowned thee with that crown of glory, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall impart to thee that day.

SERMON LXXIX.

PREACHED AT ST. PAUL'S.

PSALM XC. 14.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days

THEY have made a rule in the Council of Trent, that no Scripture shall be expounded, but according to the unanime consent of the fathers: but in this book of the Psalms, it would trouble them to give many examples of that rule, that is, of an unanime consent of the fathers, in the interpretation thereof. In this psalm, Bellarmine, in his Exposition of the Psalms, finds himself

perplexed; he says, (and says truly) Hieronymus constanter affirmat, Augustinus constanter negat, St. Hierome doth confidently and constantly affirm, and St. Augustine with as much confidence, and constancy deny, that this psalm, and all that follow to the Hundreth Psalm, are Moses' Psalms, and written by him. And this diverse constancy in these two fathers, St. Hierome and St. Augustine, shake the constancy of that canon, which binds to a following of an unanime consent, for that canon to be found. Bellarmine expedites himself herein, that way, which is indeed their most ordinary way amongst their expositors, which is, where the fathers differ, to adhere to St. Augustine. So he doth in this point; though most of the ancients of the Christian church, most of the rabbins of the Jews, most of the writers in the Reformation, take it to be Moses' Psalm, and that way runs the greatest stream, and nearest to a concurrence. And thus far I have stopped upon this consideration, whether this be Moses' Psalm or no, that when it appears to be his psalm, and that we see, that in the tenth verse of this psalm, man's life is limited to seventy years, or at most to eighty, and then remember, that Moses himself, then when he said so, was above eighty, and in a good habitude long after that, we might hereby take occasion to consider, that God does not so limit, and measure himself in his blessings to his servants, but that for their good and his glory he enlarges those measures. God hath determined a day, from sun to sun, yet when God hath use of a longer day, for his glory, he commands the sun to stand still, till Joshua have pursued his victory. So God hath given the life of man, into the hand of sickness; and yet for all that deadly sickness, God enlarges Hezekiah's years: Moses was more than fourscore, when he told us, that our longest term was fourscore.

If we require exactly an unanime consent, that all agree in the author of this psalm, we can get no farther, than that the Holy Ghost is the author. All agree the words to be canonical Scripture, and so from the Holy Ghost; and we seek no farther. The words are his, and they offer us these considerations; first, that the whole psalm being in the title thereof called a prayer, A Prayer of Moses the Man of God, it puts us justly, and pertinently upon the consideration of the many dignities and prerogatives of that part of our

worship of God, prayer; for there we shall see, that though the whole psalm be not a prayer, yet because there is a prayer in the psalm, that denominates the whole psalm, the whole psalm is a prayer. When the psalm grows formally to be a prayer, our text enters, O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days: and in that there will be two parts more, the prayer itself, O satisfy us early with thy mercy, and the effect thereof, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days. So that our parts are three; first prayer, then this prayer, and lastly the benefit of all prayer.

For the first, which is prayer in general, I will thrust no farther than the text leads me in, that is, that prayer is so essential a part of God's worship, as that all is called prayer. St. Hierome upon this psalm says, Difficillimum psalmum aggredior, I undertake the exposition of a very hard psalm, and yet, says he, I would proceed so in the exposition thereof, ut interpretatio nostra aliena non egeat interpretatione, that there should not need another comment upon my comment, that when I pretend to interpret the psalm, they that hear me, should not need another to interpret me: which is a frequent infirmity amongst expositors of Scriptures, by writing, or preaching, either when men will raise doubts in places of Scripture, which are plain enough in themselves, (for this creates a jealousy, that if the Scriptures be everywhere so difficult, they cannot be our evidences, and guides to salvation) or when men will insist too vehemently, and curiously, and tediously in proving of such things as no man denies; for this also induces a suspicion, that that is not so absolutely, so undeniably true, that needs so much art, and curiosity, and vehemence to prove it. I shall therefore avoid these errors; and because I presume you are full of an acknowledgment of the duties, and dignities of prayer, only remember you of thus much of the method, or elements of prayer, that whereas the whole book of Psalms is called Sepher Tehillim, that is, Liber Laudationum, the Book of Praise, yet this psalm, and all that follow to the hundredth psalm, and divers others besides these, (which make up a fair limb of this body, and a considerable part of the book) are called prayers; the book is praise, the parts are prayer. The name changes not the nature; prayer and praise is the same thing: the name scarce

changes the name; prayer and praise is almost the same word; as the duties agree in the heart and mouth of a man, so the names agree in our ears; and not only in the language of our translation, but in the language of the Holy Ghost himself, for that which with us differs but so, prayer, and praise, in the original differs no more than so, tehillim, and tephilloth.

And this concurrence of these two parts of our devotion, prayer and praise, that they accompany one another, nay this coincidence, that they meet like two waters, and make the stream of devotion the fuller; nay more than that, this identity, that they do not only consist together, but constitute one another, is happily expressed in this part of the prayer, which is our text; for that which in the original language is expressed in the voice of prayer, O satisfy us, &c., in the first translation, that of the Septuagint, is expressed in the voice of praise, Saturasti, Thou hast satisfied us; the original makes it a prayer, the translation a praise. And not to compare original with translation, but translation with translation, and both from one man, we have from St. Hierome's works two translations of the Psalms; one in which he gives us the psalms alone; another, in which he gives them illustrated with his notes and commentaries. And in one of these translations he reads this as a prayer, Reple nos, O fill us early with thy mercy, and in the other he reads it as a praise, Repleti sumus, Thou hast filled us, &c. Nay, not to compare original with translation, nor translation with translation, but original with original, the Holy Ghost with himself, in the title of this psalm, (and the titles of the psalms are canonical scripture) the Holy Ghost calls this psalm a prayer, and yet enters the psalm, in the very first verse thereof, with praise and thanksgiving, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. And such is the constitution and frame of that prayer of prayers, that which is the extraction of all prayers, and draws into a sum all that is in all others, that which is the infusion into all others, sheds and showers whatsoever is acceptable to God, in any other prayer, that prayer which our Saviour gave us, (for as he meant to give us all for asking, so he meant to give us the words by which we should ask) as that prayer consists of seven petitions, and seven is infinite, so by being at first begun with glory and acknowledgment of his reigning in

heaven, and then shut up in the same manner, with acclamations of power and glory, it is made a circle of praise, and a circle is infinite too, the prayer and the praise is equally infinite. Infinitely poor and needy man, that ever needest infinite things to pray for; infinitely rich and abundant man, that ever hast infinite blessings to praise God for.

God's house in this world is called the house of prayer; but in heaven it is the house of praise: no surprisal with any new necessities there, but one even, incessant, and everlasting tenour of thanksgiving; and it is a blessed inchoation of that state here, here to be continually exercised in the commemoration of God's former goodness towards us. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, says David'. What voice? the voice of his prayer; it is true; In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, says David there. And not only then, but at noon and at night he vows that sacrifice; evening and morning, and at noon will I pray, and cry unto thee. But David's devotion began not, when his prayers began; one part of his devotion was before morning; At midnight will I rise, to give thanks unto thee O Lord, says he3, doubtless when he lay down and closed his eyes, he had made up his account with God, and had received his quietus est then and then the first thing that he does when he wakes again, is not to importune God for more, but to bless God for his former blessings. And as this part of his devotion, praise, began all, so it passes through all, I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall be continually in my mouth. He extends it through all times, and all places, and would fain do so through all persons too, as we see by that adprecation which is so frequent with him, O that men would therefore praise the Lord, and declare the wondrous works that he doth for the children of men!

:

If we compare these two incomparable duties, prayer, and praise, it will stand thus, our prayers besiege God, (as Tertullian speaks, especially of public prayer in the congregation, Agmine facto obsidemus Deum) but our praises prescribe in God, we urge him, and press him with his ancient mercies, his mercies of old: by 'prayer, we incline him, we bend him, but by praise we bind

1 Psalm v. 3.

3 Psalm cxix. 62.

2 Psalm Lv. 17.

Psalm xxxiv. 1.