Latest / Sermons on Psalm 119 / 023 - Sermon 22 Verses 169-176

Transcript

023 - Sermon 22 Verses 169-176 · Sermons on Psalm 119

0:00
Speaker 1: Sermon twenty two of Sermons on Psalm one hundred and
0:05
Speaker 1: nineteen by John Calvin, translated by Thomas Stocker. This LibriVox
0:12
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Thouve, let my complaint
0:17
Speaker 1: come before THEE, O Lord, and give me understanding according
0:20
Speaker 1: to thy word. Let my supplication come before THEE and
0:24
Speaker 1: deliver me according unto thy word. My lips shall speak
0:27
Speaker 1: of thy praise. When thou hast taught me thy statutes.
0:32
Speaker 1: My tongue shall treat thy word for all thy commandments
0:35
Speaker 1: our righteousness. Let Thine hand help me. For I have
0:38
Speaker 1: chosen thy commandments. I have longed for thy saving health,
0:42
Speaker 1: O Lord, and in thy law is my delight. Let
0:45
Speaker 1: my soul live and it shall praise THEE. And thy
0:48
Speaker 1: judgments shall help me. I have gone astray like a
0:51
Speaker 1: sheep that is lost. Seek thy servant, for I do
0:55
Speaker 1: not forget thy commandments. These eight last verses, which are
1:00
Speaker 1: the knitting up of the whole Psalm, to show unto
1:02
Speaker 1: us that which we oftentimes have before seen to wit
1:06
Speaker 1: that David his chiefest desire was this to be duly
1:10
Speaker 1: and truly instructed in the Word of God, and therein
1:13
Speaker 1: to be confirmed for he took such pleasure in it,
1:15
Speaker 1: as that all the rest was little or nothing worth
1:17
Speaker 1: unto him. In respect of the same. Now, it is
1:20
Speaker 1: very true that he hath already sufficiently spoken of this matter.
1:23
Speaker 1: And yet that which he presently addeth is not superfluous,
1:27
Speaker 1: especially if we consider in what sort our carnal desires
1:30
Speaker 1: rule us. For that is it which letteth us that
1:34
Speaker 1: we can not only have the fervency which David had
1:38
Speaker 1: to seek thoroughly to profit in the school of God,
1:40
Speaker 1: but we scarcely have so much as any small desire.
1:44
Speaker 1: And therefore, as I have already said, we are too
1:46
Speaker 1: too much nuzzled in our earthly affections. Wherefore this is
1:50
Speaker 1: a lesson which ought many times to put us in mind,
1:53
Speaker 1: that if we will pray unto God according unto His will,
1:56
Speaker 1: we must not come unto him with a desire of
1:58
Speaker 1: our own to say whatsoever cometh in our brain. Yea,
2:02
Speaker 1: and to leave out the most principal part. But we
2:05
Speaker 1: must begin with this saying, to wit that it would
2:07
Speaker 1: please God so to instruct us as that our life
2:10
Speaker 1: may be squared according to His law, and we cleave
2:13
Speaker 1: so unto it as not to come with a double
2:16
Speaker 1: and twofold heart. Although we are to strive against the
2:20
Speaker 1: world and our own nature, yet must we remain constant
2:23
Speaker 1: in this chiefly to love the word of God. And
2:26
Speaker 1: therefore for this cause David here saith, let my complaint
2:29
Speaker 1: come before the O Lord, and give me understanding according
2:32
Speaker 1: unto Thy word. When he speaketh of his complaint, which
2:35
Speaker 1: he here maketh unto the Lord, he showeth that he
2:38
Speaker 1: made no cold prayer unto God, as we many times,
2:41
Speaker 1: and as it were, daily do bart with great vehemency.
2:45
Speaker 1: I cannot deny but that an hypocrite may very well
2:48
Speaker 1: make complaint with a loud noise and thrust out his wizend.
2:52
Speaker 1: But David, having here consideration of God, meaneth not to
2:55
Speaker 1: make an outward show before men. Wherefore that he cried
2:58
Speaker 1: out aloud impoorth as much as an earnest testimony, wherewith
3:02
Speaker 1: he was pricked forward. Now by this we see that
3:05
Speaker 1: he chiefly desired that which he craveth to it to
3:09
Speaker 1: have God to instruct him and to give him understanding.
3:12
Speaker 1: And in desiring this gift of God, he confesseth that
3:15
Speaker 1: he was of himself a very wretched blind soul, that
3:18
Speaker 1: he never understood anything. Yea, although he had the lure
3:21
Speaker 1: in his hands which he might read, wherein was contained
3:25
Speaker 1: a true perfection of all wisdom. Yet that he still
3:28
Speaker 1: continued even like a poor, miserable, blind wretch, except God
3:32
Speaker 1: enlightened him. So then let us understand that this is
3:35
Speaker 1: an especial gift which God bestoweth upon us, when he
3:38
Speaker 1: openeth our eyes to make us understand that which has
3:42
Speaker 1: showed us in his word, whether we read it or
3:44
Speaker 1: that it be preached unto us. Yea. And let us
3:47
Speaker 1: not here make any exception, thinking ourselves to be more sharp,
3:51
Speaker 1: witted or abler than David was. But let us rather
3:54
Speaker 1: know that if he needed to beseech God to give
3:56
Speaker 1: him understanding, that we, for our parts have as great need,
4:00
Speaker 1: So then it cannot be chosen, but that when God
4:03
Speaker 1: hath delivered unto us his word and declared his will
4:06
Speaker 1: therein contained and for performance hereof enlighteneth our hearts by
4:10
Speaker 1: His Holy Spirit. For other ways we shall have our
4:12
Speaker 1: ears beaten in vain. And then the doctrine which we
4:15
Speaker 1: have heard will do us no good. Now that which
4:18
Speaker 1: followeth according unto Thy word may two ways be set
4:21
Speaker 1: forth according unto thy word, that is to say, that
4:24
Speaker 1: thou wilt make me wise, and after what manner, that
4:27
Speaker 1: I be altogether ruled by THEE, and do that which
4:30
Speaker 1: thou commandest. This is a very true saying, for by
4:33
Speaker 1: this we are admonished to hear God speak, and we
4:36
Speaker 1: again must suffer Him to have dominion over us, and
4:40
Speaker 1: not to be overtaken with this foolish arrogancy, And say,
4:44
Speaker 1: I have knowledge enough, I need not so much teaching. Wherefore,
4:48
Speaker 1: when as God shall have spoken the word, let us
4:50
Speaker 1: pass it simply and without gainsaying. This sentence, then, which
4:54
Speaker 1: I have spoken, is very true. But yet it agreeth
4:57
Speaker 1: not with the meaning of David, nor yet with thee
4:59
Speaker 1: plain of the text. For he craveth here two things,
5:03
Speaker 1: the one in the first verse, the other in the second.
5:05
Speaker 1: He saith in the first verse, let my complaint come
5:08
Speaker 1: before THEE, that I might be instructed according unto thy word.
5:11
Speaker 1: And afterward he addeth, let my supplication come before THEE
5:15
Speaker 1: and deliver me according unto thy word. It is very
5:18
Speaker 1: true that he useth two sentences, but yet they are
5:21
Speaker 1: not without a marvelous grace in one self same signification.
5:26
Speaker 1: And by this repetition. We may the better perceive that
5:28
Speaker 1: David meant not but to have God do grant either
5:31
Speaker 1: of both his requests, according to the promises which he
5:34
Speaker 1: had made him. See then, what the natural sense is
5:37
Speaker 1: of the first verse, O, Lord, give me understanding, as
5:40
Speaker 1: thou hast promised. And this is according unto the rule
5:44
Speaker 1: which we have heretofore touched, that we ought not to
5:47
Speaker 1: crave of God anything whatsoever, without it be that which
5:51
Speaker 1: he hath promised. Yea, so that we be assured of
5:53
Speaker 1: His will. It is very true that God dealeth very
5:57
Speaker 1: familiarly with us, when as he calleth us to come
6:00
Speaker 1: unto him, as the Father calleth his children, suffeth us
6:04
Speaker 1: to pour abroad all our affections unto him, and to
6:06
Speaker 1: unburthen them, as it were in his lap, as the
6:09
Speaker 1: scripture maketh mention. And yet he meaneth notwithstanding that we
6:13
Speaker 1: should hold this modesty, not to crave of Him anything
6:16
Speaker 1: whatsoever that seemeth good in our own eyes, but to
6:18
Speaker 1: discern of that which best liketh Him. And how shall
6:22
Speaker 1: we know that forsooth by his promises? Wherefore we must
6:26
Speaker 1: be well assured of our prayers, and not to crave
6:28
Speaker 1: of God at a wild adventure, this thing or that.
6:31
Speaker 1: But we must beseech Him and be certain and sure
6:33
Speaker 1: that He will hear us. And how may this be done?
6:37
Speaker 1: Seeing that no man hath been of his counsel to
6:40
Speaker 1: say that we have any such certainty, except He himself
6:43
Speaker 1: had told us that it is his pleasure to grant us.
6:46
Speaker 1: So then it is requisite that all our prayers be
6:49
Speaker 1: conformable unto the promises of God. That we gather together.
6:52
Speaker 1: I say, out of the Holy Scripture, all whatsoever he
6:55
Speaker 1: hath promised us to the end. We may that way
6:58
Speaker 1: have an entrance to make our supplications and prayers unto him.
7:03
Speaker 1: Now it remaineth for us to know whether David had
7:05
Speaker 1: the promise alone made unto him by God, or else,
7:08
Speaker 1: whether it be common unto us all no doubt of it.
7:12
Speaker 1: God spake not to David as a private man, but
7:14
Speaker 1: to declare in general that he would not miss to
7:17
Speaker 1: instruct all those which come unto him in humility, and
7:20
Speaker 1: to ask nothing by it according unto his word. Since
7:24
Speaker 1: then it is so that God hath spoken to us
7:26
Speaker 1: in general, declaring that he is ready to play the
7:29
Speaker 1: part of a schoolmaster. If we will become as his scholars.
7:33
Speaker 1: We may then say with David, O, Lord, give me
7:35
Speaker 1: understanding according to thy promise. Now we are here briefly
7:39
Speaker 1: to mark two notes. The first is that we are
7:42
Speaker 1: advertised to acknowledge our ignorance and rudeness. For if we
7:45
Speaker 1: crave of God to be made wise, and then we
7:48
Speaker 1: think to become wise through our own industry and power,
7:51
Speaker 1: this is a mere mockery. We must then acknowledge ourselves
7:55
Speaker 1: to be unprovided both of wit and reason. If we
7:58
Speaker 1: will make this request in truth to wit, to have
8:01
Speaker 1: God to give us understanding, and thus much for the
8:05
Speaker 1: first point, for the rest, we ought to know that
8:07
Speaker 1: God desireth but to receive us with this condition to wit,
8:10
Speaker 1: even when we shall be humbled and cast down. For
8:13
Speaker 1: otherwise we will never abide to be instructed whatsoever holy
8:16
Speaker 1: scripture we have, because that in it he saith that
8:20
Speaker 1: it is his office to teach the humble and meek,
8:22
Speaker 1: That it is, as it were his very proper nature,
8:25
Speaker 1: to open the eyes of the blind, and to instruct
8:28
Speaker 1: those which are altogether ignorant, to gather together the strayed sheep,
8:31
Speaker 1: and to bring them to the haven of salvation. When
8:34
Speaker 1: as they are in the way of perdition. Since then
8:37
Speaker 1: it is so that God taketh all this upon himself.
8:40
Speaker 1: Let not us doubt but that he will hear all
8:43
Speaker 1: our requests. But what we see how cold we are,
8:47
Speaker 1: for we are so hindered with the things of this
8:50
Speaker 1: world as that we leave out the principle. Now, after
8:53
Speaker 1: that David had declared what he chiefly desired, he goeth
8:56
Speaker 1: on and saith, my lips shall speak of thy praise.
9:00
Speaker 1: Thou hast taught me thy statutes. Here he prosecuteth that
9:04
Speaker 1: which he began with all at the first, that is
9:06
Speaker 1: to show that he would not be unthankful, but that
9:09
Speaker 1: he would acknowledge the benefits of God. It is very
9:12
Speaker 1: true that when we come unto God, it is not
9:14
Speaker 1: anything needful for us to make great outward shows, as
9:18
Speaker 1: though He knew them, not perfectly enough as of himself.
9:21
Speaker 1: But thus he meaneth that when we pray, he would
9:23
Speaker 1: have us to say that we will never hereafter be
9:25
Speaker 1: unthankful unto Him. And this needed not neither but to
9:29
Speaker 1: the end, the better to stir us up to do
9:31
Speaker 1: our duties. And this also maketh us to pray with
9:35
Speaker 1: a bolder courage to feel the fruit which shall come
9:38
Speaker 1: unto us, when as we shall have obtained that which
9:41
Speaker 1: we have craved and desired. David, then, in saying here
9:45
Speaker 1: my lipso Lord shall speak of thy praise, when thou
9:48
Speaker 1: hast taught me thy statutes, he meaneth that he shall
9:51
Speaker 1: be disposed to praise God with open mouth. Now, why
9:55
Speaker 1: speaketh David after this manner? In thus doing he taketh
9:58
Speaker 1: upon him and stirreth up himself to such an acknowledgment
10:02
Speaker 1: as he protesteth to make. And it is as if
10:05
Speaker 1: he had said, go too. Now, when as God shall
10:08
Speaker 1: have showed me this favor to instruct me, what is
10:11
Speaker 1: then my duty to do? Forsooth I must even then
10:14
Speaker 1: praise Him for that I ought to be there too,
10:16
Speaker 1: the more stirred up, and to be greatly occasion therein.
10:21
Speaker 1: And since I desire God to teach me, what fruit
10:23
Speaker 1: shall I reap thereby? When as He shall have called
10:26
Speaker 1: me under the way of salvation, I shall then have
10:29
Speaker 1: wherefore to sing praises unto His Holy name, knowing the
10:33
Speaker 1: grace which He hath bestowed on me. See then, how
10:36
Speaker 1: that in this protestation David speaketh not to bind God
10:40
Speaker 1: through any recompense or service, but only stirreth himself up
10:43
Speaker 1: and priketh himself forward, as it were, with a spur,
10:46
Speaker 1: to the end he might be the better disposed to
10:48
Speaker 1: receive the benefit which God had promised him, and that
10:51
Speaker 1: he might know that this benefit ought not to be
10:53
Speaker 1: an occasion to make him unthankful unto him from whom
10:56
Speaker 1: he received it. Howbeit we are here brief to consider
11:00
Speaker 1: of two points. The one is that as God hath
11:03
Speaker 1: liberally bestowed upon us his graces, so much the more
11:06
Speaker 1: ought we to be ready to praise and magnify Him forever.
11:10
Speaker 1: For surely this is all the recompense that we are
11:13
Speaker 1: any way able to yield him. If so be it
11:15
Speaker 1: may be called recompense, howbeit he accepteth it thankfully under
11:19
Speaker 1: his title, as the scripture thereof maketh mention. Since then
11:22
Speaker 1: it is so, if we will not that the benefit
11:25
Speaker 1: which God hath bestowed upon us turn itself into condemnation
11:28
Speaker 1: by reason of our unthankfulness, let us be well advised
11:31
Speaker 1: to discharge ourselves towards Him. And so, when as He
11:34
Speaker 1: shall have laid open his goodness upon us, let us
11:37
Speaker 1: not be forgetful of it. Neither yet let our mouths
11:40
Speaker 1: be closed up, but even to acknowledge the same unto him.
11:45
Speaker 1: And thus much as touching the first point, the second
11:48
Speaker 1: is that he which shall be well and duly instructed
11:51
Speaker 1: in the Word of God, let him show it yea,
11:54
Speaker 1: in glorifying his name all the days of his life. They, then,
11:57
Speaker 1: which are so cold in praising of God, do right
12:00
Speaker 1: well show that they never felt what the power of
12:03
Speaker 1: the Word is. And why so, because it is impossible
12:06
Speaker 1: for us to have any taste of the Word of
12:08
Speaker 1: God to receive thereby any instruction, but that we must
12:12
Speaker 1: needs be moved and ravished. Therewith to sing praises unto
12:15
Speaker 1: His glorious name, whatsoever he be, then that shall show
12:19
Speaker 1: himself negligent. Herein sufficiently enough declareth that he knoweth not
12:23
Speaker 1: what the Word of God is, albeit he protest himself
12:27
Speaker 1: to be a Christian. Let us now come to those
12:30
Speaker 1: which are not only dumb themselves, but that which is
12:33
Speaker 1: also worse, which would shut up the mouths of others
12:36
Speaker 1: to the end, it might not be lawful for them
12:38
Speaker 1: to praise God. And yet forsooth these men are so
12:42
Speaker 1: shameless as that they would notwithstanding be taken for good Christians.
12:46
Speaker 1: But by these means they declare themselves to be the
12:48
Speaker 1: deadly enemies of God, yea worse than the very devils.
12:52
Speaker 1: And why so forsoth they think it not enough that
12:56
Speaker 1: they have profited nothing in the school of God. Neither
12:59
Speaker 1: yet are they contented to show the way to do
13:02
Speaker 1: well unto others. But they would have all the world
13:04
Speaker 1: to be like unto themselves, that there should never mention
13:08
Speaker 1: be made of praising God. And yet in the meanwhile,
13:10
Speaker 1: as I have already said, this word Christian shall stand
13:12
Speaker 1: them in never a penny. Now, without all doubt, God
13:17
Speaker 1: disalloweth of all those which will not give themselves to
13:20
Speaker 1: sing praises unto His majesty, and that will not stir
13:23
Speaker 1: up their neighbors to do the like, that they might
13:26
Speaker 1: show themselves to have studied His word. But let us
13:30
Speaker 1: be well assured that it is not enough to open
13:32
Speaker 1: our mouth and to sing praises unto Him with the tongue,
13:35
Speaker 1: but it must also come from a well affected heart.
13:38
Speaker 1: For David telleth us not here that he will solemnize
13:41
Speaker 1: the praises of God, but in addressing himself unto God,
13:44
Speaker 1: he protesteth before him, that he will sing praises unto him.
13:48
Speaker 1: And in speaking this he right well knoweth that his
13:51
Speaker 1: heart must needs be disposed thereto. Wherefore, when as we
13:55
Speaker 1: would magnify the name of God, as appertaineth, let us
13:58
Speaker 1: not deliver it out with the mouth only, But our
14:01
Speaker 1: heart also must be set there too, and that it
14:04
Speaker 1: agree therewith to make a sweet harmony. If this be so,
14:07
Speaker 1: all our life, by little and little shall be answerable
14:10
Speaker 1: there too, that it shall be no untruth which we
14:13
Speaker 1: have pronounced with our mouth. Now he addeth a sentence
14:17
Speaker 1: which is very short to it. My tongue shall treat
14:19
Speaker 1: of thy word. And why, because all thy commandments saith
14:23
Speaker 1: he are righteous. In this verse he showeth that, after
14:27
Speaker 1: he hath been well instructed, that he himself will also
14:30
Speaker 1: travail to bring others, by little and little to the
14:33
Speaker 1: like knowledge. Lo here his full pretense, but yet the
14:38
Speaker 1: better to express his affection that he hath to draw
14:40
Speaker 1: on his brethren and neighbors to the knowledge of God
14:43
Speaker 1: and of his truth. He useth this word to sing,
14:46
Speaker 1: not contenting himself to speak after a plain manner, but
14:49
Speaker 1: expressing that he will sing aloud and clear, that he
14:52
Speaker 1: will make his word to resound, that it might be heard, yea,
14:56
Speaker 1: that it should be a thing as notoriously known as
14:59
Speaker 1: the very common soul. Longs. Now, since it is so
15:02
Speaker 1: that David speaketh after this sort, let us now see
15:05
Speaker 1: what our duty is. For, as I have already said,
15:08
Speaker 1: heretofore he bragged not of his own power, but the
15:11
Speaker 1: Holy Ghost hath set him before us instead of a
15:14
Speaker 1: glass to the end it might serve us for our
15:17
Speaker 1: better instruction. Now, when as we shall have known the
15:20
Speaker 1: truth of our good God, what is there then for
15:23
Speaker 1: us to do? Forsooth? We must not hold fast this
15:25
Speaker 1: treasure as it were locked up in a chest, but
15:28
Speaker 1: communicate His graces unto others. Yea, And do the best
15:31
Speaker 1: we can to draw on the miserable, ignorant people to
15:34
Speaker 1: the service of God, and to carry about with us
15:36
Speaker 1: the doctrine to publish it to all men, when as
15:39
Speaker 1: it is committed unto us as a treasure, and to
15:42
Speaker 1: bestow the gift which we have received upon our neighbors,
15:45
Speaker 1: according to that measure of faith which God hath given us.
15:49
Speaker 1: Howbeit this order is far off from us, For if
15:52
Speaker 1: there be but three words of the Word of God spoken,
15:55
Speaker 1: we will soon be weary of it. Nay, we shall
15:57
Speaker 1: not hear it spoken of at this day. It is
16:01
Speaker 1: so far off that it is talked of both at
16:03
Speaker 1: the table, in the way and everywhere, as that we
16:06
Speaker 1: can hardly abide that, even for fashions sake, the preaching
16:08
Speaker 1: of it be kept. And although it be here lawful
16:11
Speaker 1: to speak in the pulp at one hour in the
16:13
Speaker 1: name of God, yet shall you have a great number
16:16
Speaker 1: of dogs which will not stick even to girn at it,
16:18
Speaker 1: as if God were too too much privileged. It is
16:21
Speaker 1: very far off to have every man to apply himself
16:24
Speaker 1: to sing the commandments of God and his whole word,
16:27
Speaker 1: and for us to have our ears beaten with it.
16:29
Speaker 1: Now whence cometh this unthankfulness? Verily, because we never tasted
16:34
Speaker 1: of that which David here addeth all thy statutes, saith
16:37
Speaker 1: he are righteous. If we did thoroughly know what equity
16:40
Speaker 1: and pureness there is in the statutes of God, without doubt,
16:44
Speaker 1: we should be more earnest to learn, hold and show
16:47
Speaker 1: them unto others than Heretofore we have been so then
16:51
Speaker 1: all day, which make no account to instruct their neighbors,
16:54
Speaker 1: and do not esteem of the knowledge and faith which
16:56
Speaker 1: they have received. Do hereby show that they will not
16:59
Speaker 1: render the right righteousness to God as to him appertaineth
17:02
Speaker 1: accordingly as it is contained in His word, and as
17:05
Speaker 1: He himself showeth it therein. Now David, by and by addeth,
17:10
Speaker 1: let Thine hand help me, for I have chosen thy commandments.
17:15
Speaker 1: He yet returneth to that which before he had said
17:18
Speaker 1: of deliverance. For after he had required to be taught
17:21
Speaker 1: of God, he said, Oh, deliver me. Yea, he right
17:24
Speaker 1: well knew that if he had not him for his protector,
17:27
Speaker 1: that he should always remain as it were in death.
17:30
Speaker 1: Now he addeth, let Thine hand help me. And why so,
17:34
Speaker 1: for I have chosen saith he thy commandments. When he
17:38
Speaker 1: desireth God to help him with his hand, he confesseth
17:41
Speaker 1: his want, and that he was as a man which
17:44
Speaker 1: needed help, even as though he had never had more need,
17:48
Speaker 1: and that it was not in him to deliver himself,
17:51
Speaker 1: neither could he find it in any of his creatures.
17:54
Speaker 1: And therefore, except God had stretched forth his hand, see
17:58
Speaker 1: how David had been utterly cast away. Now this confession
18:02
Speaker 1: here is very profitable for us, For which of us
18:05
Speaker 1: is he that can be without afflictions, and that is
18:08
Speaker 1: able to say I have all things that are necessary.
18:12
Speaker 1: It is most true that we are more careful for
18:14
Speaker 1: that which concerneth our bodies and this present life, than
18:17
Speaker 1: for that which is required for the salvation of our souls.
18:21
Speaker 1: If we stand in need of meat and drink, if
18:23
Speaker 1: we be sick, if we be in danger of any
18:25
Speaker 1: plague or war, that stirreth us and toucheth us to
18:28
Speaker 1: the quick. But when we are pressed with any evil,
18:31
Speaker 1: we abuse ourselves and lift ourselves up in such a
18:34
Speaker 1: fond presumption as that we think we have some power
18:37
Speaker 1: to do this, and that we then make ourselves believe
18:40
Speaker 1: that we are very well able to defend ourselves, although
18:43
Speaker 1: not wholly, yet at the least partly. And therefore we
18:47
Speaker 1: ought so much the rather rightly to mark the sayings
18:50
Speaker 1: of the scripture, where it is said unto us that
18:52
Speaker 1: it is the hand of God that must help us
18:54
Speaker 1: to the end that every man may learn to know
18:56
Speaker 1: his need, and that we had all need to be
18:59
Speaker 1: defended by this heavenly power, so that we are all
19:02
Speaker 1: cast down into the bottomless depth. Without it pleaseth God
19:06
Speaker 1: to stretch forth his hand to help our necessities, and
19:09
Speaker 1: thus much for this. Now, when David setteth down the
19:12
Speaker 1: reason that he had chosen the commandments of God, he
19:15
Speaker 1: did it not to extol any dignity or worthiness of
19:18
Speaker 1: his own. Wherefore, then, forsooth even to show that he
19:23
Speaker 1: waited for his aid and help from the hand of God.
19:27
Speaker 1: And therefore they which persuade themselves at adventure that God
19:30
Speaker 1: heareth their prayers, and yet have this foolish hope with
19:32
Speaker 1: them to find help at the hands of His creatures,
19:35
Speaker 1: refuse the hand of God as much as in them lieth,
19:38
Speaker 1: and so by that means shall never find him to
19:40
Speaker 1: be favorable unto them. And for this cause, David saith,
19:44
Speaker 1: I have chosen the commandments of God, that is to
19:46
Speaker 1: say that all his whole liking was in them. And
19:50
Speaker 1: this saying importeth a very great matter, and much greater
19:54
Speaker 1: than at the first sight. It seemeth why doth David
19:57
Speaker 1: rather set down this word election or choice than any other.
20:01
Speaker 1: I have chosen thy commandments. It is because we are
20:05
Speaker 1: always carried with perverse affections, and because we cannot make choice,
20:08
Speaker 1: neither can we hold us to that which is best.
20:11
Speaker 1: Every man will gladliest desire that thing which is meetest
20:14
Speaker 1: for his own ease and quietness. To be short, every
20:17
Speaker 1: man desire us to be happy. We are nothing indifferent
20:21
Speaker 1: herein For the very wicked in the world, and the
20:23
Speaker 1: most vile persons will say, I would have that which
20:27
Speaker 1: were good and meet for me. Howbeit we cannot choose.
20:29
Speaker 1: But even the very worst we shall very well have
20:32
Speaker 1: a natural desire which shall carry us, as it were,
20:35
Speaker 1: to one self same end. But we cannot keep the
20:38
Speaker 1: way every man goeth out of it. One man will
20:42
Speaker 1: choose this thing, another that, and in this choice we
20:45
Speaker 1: are all confounded. One will choose goods, lands and possessions,
20:49
Speaker 1: another great trade of merchandise. Another will come unto dignity
20:53
Speaker 1: and into credit. Some one man will be given to
20:56
Speaker 1: leachery and be wholly carried that way. Another will yield
20:59
Speaker 1: himself to some other filthiness, as to drunkenness, in temperancy
21:02
Speaker 1: and wantonness. See then, how we all make choice of
21:06
Speaker 1: that which is naught. And for this cause David saith
21:09
Speaker 1: that he chose the commandments of God to it that
21:11
Speaker 1: although he was a mortal man subject to a great
21:14
Speaker 1: number of wicked affections, yet that he never trusted his
21:17
Speaker 1: own flesh, neither yet obeyed his lusts to choose nothing
21:20
Speaker 1: but vanity and that which might withdraw him from the
21:23
Speaker 1: right way and lead him to destruction. But that he
21:26
Speaker 1: made a good, wise choice to it, that he held
21:28
Speaker 1: himself to the commandments of God. So then, let us
21:32
Speaker 1: learn to make a good choice, when as God shall
21:34
Speaker 1: present unto us his word, when as he shall offer
21:37
Speaker 1: himself so liberally on his part as to look for
21:39
Speaker 1: nothing at our hands, but that we should come to
21:42
Speaker 1: seek him, and that he presenteth himself before us. Let
21:45
Speaker 1: not us be deceived nor carried away by the deceits
21:48
Speaker 1: of Satan, through the corruptions which he layeth wide open
21:51
Speaker 1: before our eyes. Let us not be so foolish as
21:54
Speaker 1: to stay ourselves upon matters of nothing, and to leave
21:57
Speaker 1: that which ought to be the most principal wherein lieth
22:00
Speaker 1: all our felicity and salvation. It followeth I have longed
22:06
Speaker 1: for thy saving health, O Lord, and in thy law
22:08
Speaker 1: is my delight. This sentence comprehendeth all whatsoever we have
22:13
Speaker 1: already touched, and is the only confirmation thereof. For he
22:16
Speaker 1: saith that he hath longed for the saving health of God,
22:20
Speaker 1: and how is that? For it seemeth that every man
22:22
Speaker 1: might say as much, and so that David had no
22:24
Speaker 1: more than the very faithless. For if we shall ask
22:27
Speaker 1: a desperate man, yea even a very half devil, and say,
22:30
Speaker 1: wouldst not thou have God to be thy savior? He
22:33
Speaker 1: will make answer and say yes, forsoth lo what answer
22:37
Speaker 1: we shall find in the mouths both of great and small,
22:40
Speaker 1: of good and bad. Now, David, his meaning is to
22:44
Speaker 1: make a great protestation, and such a one as a
22:47
Speaker 1: very few can make in truth. For we suppose him
22:50
Speaker 1: to be all our saviors. And yet we seek our
22:53
Speaker 1: saving health at a wild adventure. And every man will
22:56
Speaker 1: have regard to his own considerations and providence when there
23:00
Speaker 1: shall arise any question of our maintenance here in this
23:03
Speaker 1: present life? Do we believe that God must keep and
23:05
Speaker 1: preserve us, and that it is He indeed which maintaineth
23:08
Speaker 1: us herein whence cometh it that we have so mighty
23:12
Speaker 1: evil consciences, whence cometh all de seats, frauds, excess, cruelties, injuries, violences,
23:18
Speaker 1: and all such like. What is the cause that maketh
23:20
Speaker 1: us to live with such evil consciences? But because we
23:23
Speaker 1: do not believe that God will give us our daily bread.
23:26
Speaker 1: We desire God to feed us, and yet we will
23:29
Speaker 1: have the devil to do it. Insomuch that there are
23:32
Speaker 1: very few which at this day think that that which
23:34
Speaker 1: they have cometh from God. So then it is very
23:37
Speaker 1: far off from the thought of our hearts to say,
23:40
Speaker 1: O Lord, I have desired thy saving health, for instead
23:43
Speaker 1: of attending upon God, to have him to guide, defend,
23:46
Speaker 1: and help us at all times whensoever that we have need.
23:50
Speaker 1: Instead of this, I say, what do we every man,
23:52
Speaker 1: as I have said, seeketh for his saving health at
23:55
Speaker 1: a wild adventure? We should rather seek for it in
23:58
Speaker 1: hell than to have our eyes lifted up into heaven
24:00
Speaker 1: to call upon God and to seek for our saving health,
24:03
Speaker 1: both of body and soul in Him. So then there
24:07
Speaker 1: are very few which are able to say, as it
24:10
Speaker 1: is here set down, O Lord, I have longed for
24:12
Speaker 1: thy saving health. If they will not lie, and we
24:16
Speaker 1: see the impudency of hypocrites, which will make mighty great
24:20
Speaker 1: brags enough. But yet for all that, it is no
24:22
Speaker 1: small matter. As I have already said, to trust altogether
24:26
Speaker 1: in God, and to say that it belongeth to Him
24:29
Speaker 1: to guide us that we run to Him, and have
24:31
Speaker 1: there our refuge, both for soul and body. Now, then
24:35
Speaker 1: he addeth in thy law is my delight to signify
24:39
Speaker 1: how we ought to demean ourselves, not to hope for salvation,
24:42
Speaker 1: nor yet to wish for it otherwise than from God
24:45
Speaker 1: alone to it. When as we have taken delight in
24:48
Speaker 1: His law, it is meet then that we tame and
24:51
Speaker 1: bridle our affections, that we sever them from all other
24:55
Speaker 1: our desires, and say that in looking upon His word,
24:58
Speaker 1: and in cleaving there too, we take there our repast,
25:01
Speaker 1: and in it do truly joy. For whensoever we shall
25:05
Speaker 1: be brought unto this point, it will stand us in
25:07
Speaker 1: nothing to seek our saving health in God. And why so,
25:11
Speaker 1: because we see none other thing in all the Holy scripture,
25:14
Speaker 1: but so many promises where God so gently biddeth us,
25:17
Speaker 1: and where he declareth unto us that He is most
25:19
Speaker 1: ready to receive us, that he looketh for none other
25:22
Speaker 1: thing at our hands, but that we should seek him,
25:25
Speaker 1: and that he thrusteth himself forward and presenteth himself even
25:29
Speaker 1: before us. The scripture, I say, is full of this
25:32
Speaker 1: doctrine to show unto us that God is ready to
25:35
Speaker 1: help us, when as we shall take pleasure in His law.
25:38
Speaker 1: We may very well then long after the saving health
25:41
Speaker 1: of God, when as we shall in truth, hath sought him.
25:45
Speaker 1: But what we see very few whose hearts are so
25:47
Speaker 1: confirmed as to say that they will hold the right
25:50
Speaker 1: way whatsoever cometh of it. And therefore see here consequently,
25:54
Speaker 1: why God disappointeth us and helpeth us not as we
25:57
Speaker 1: gladly desire to beholpen. Now he addeth, let my soul live,
26:02
Speaker 1: and it shall praise Thee, and let thy judgments help me.
26:05
Speaker 1: He always pursueth his purpose. But here he coupleth together
26:09
Speaker 1: two things which before he severed. When he saith, let
26:14
Speaker 1: my soul live. That is always as he hath said
26:17
Speaker 1: that he seeketh his saving health of God, and longeth
26:20
Speaker 1: after it he saith not I will that my soul live.
26:24
Speaker 1: But hath recourse under God, knowing right well that he
26:27
Speaker 1: is the keeper of his life. And therefore puteth it
26:30
Speaker 1: into his hands, and leaveth thee keeping thereof unto him,
26:33
Speaker 1: as appertaining only unto him. And after he saith that
26:37
Speaker 1: he will give him thanks for that his life shall
26:39
Speaker 1: be prolonged. Now Here we see to what end the
26:42
Speaker 1: faithful ought to desire to live in this world, to
26:45
Speaker 1: wit that they might praise God. As it hath been
26:47
Speaker 1: also spoken in the other places, and chiefly without going
26:52
Speaker 1: far in the song of Hezekiah. For there as in
26:56
Speaker 1: the hundredth and thirteenth sum and as it were in
26:59
Speaker 1: the Song of Jonah, it is showed that if we
27:02
Speaker 1: must live, we must not live, for to live, as
27:05
Speaker 1: we say, and to have none other regard neither yet
27:08
Speaker 1: to say, I will only live to eat and drink
27:11
Speaker 1: and to dwell here in this present world. But we
27:13
Speaker 1: must go yet farther to wit. We must live to
27:15
Speaker 1: the end to praise God. So that if this be
27:18
Speaker 1: wanting in us, let us wish to be an hundredth
27:20
Speaker 1: of feet under the ground, that we may be never
27:23
Speaker 1: more spoken of. Lo, I say, how our life shall
27:27
Speaker 1: be blended and agreeable unto the will of God to it,
27:30
Speaker 1: when as we bend ourselves to none other end but
27:33
Speaker 1: to praise and magnify His holy and blessed name. Now
27:37
Speaker 1: in the meanwhile, David addeth, oh, let thy judgments help me.
27:40
Speaker 1: This is it which he had in effect before spoken
27:43
Speaker 1: of the saving health of God. For he setteth the
27:46
Speaker 1: judgments of God against all the helps which men and
27:48
Speaker 1: the faithless are in any way able to invent for
27:51
Speaker 1: the seeking of God. For they suppose that they shall
27:53
Speaker 1: be very well hope and elsewhere, when as they shall
27:56
Speaker 1: have their pretty shifts, to think that the creatures shall
27:59
Speaker 1: be sufficient enough to help them. When then these worldlings
28:02
Speaker 1: think to bring it so about to be defended without
28:05
Speaker 1: the aid of God, they must needs be deceived in
28:07
Speaker 1: forgetting the judgments of God. To it his providence, whereby
28:11
Speaker 1: He use us to rule the world. As we must
28:13
Speaker 1: be fully assured that He holdeth the ungodly in a bridle,
28:17
Speaker 1: when as they skirmish and forcibly set themselves to hurt
28:20
Speaker 1: the good and innocent, And that it is to repress
28:23
Speaker 1: the malice of those which torment his because He hath
28:26
Speaker 1: taken them into his hand and protection. See then, how
28:30
Speaker 1: the faithful ought to put themselves to the judgments of God,
28:33
Speaker 1: to wit to this providence by which all is disposed
28:36
Speaker 1: and governed. It is very true that God may very
28:39
Speaker 1: well arm all his creatures to defend and maintain us.
28:42
Speaker 1: But yet must we not cease for all that to
28:45
Speaker 1: feel His hand and to behold it by faith, when
28:48
Speaker 1: as it shall help us, we must not cease to
28:51
Speaker 1: see this providence which is hidden from the faithless, because
28:54
Speaker 1: their spirits are wreathed up in horrible darkness. To be short,
28:58
Speaker 1: let us not cease to attribute all help which we
29:00
Speaker 1: shall feel from the hand of God unto his judgments,
29:03
Speaker 1: although he hath inferior means to help us. Now in
29:07
Speaker 1: the end, David concludeth, I have gone astray, like a
29:10
Speaker 1: sheep that is lost. Seek Thy servant, for I do
29:13
Speaker 1: not forget Thy commandments. Here we might think it very
29:16
Speaker 1: strange why David saith that he hath strayed like a
29:19
Speaker 1: lost sheep, Seeing that he addeth that he hath not
29:22
Speaker 1: forgotten the commandments of God, and that we have already
29:25
Speaker 1: seen by so many goodly protestations that it was his
29:28
Speaker 1: whole delight to serve God yea, and that it was
29:31
Speaker 1: to him more dear than gold and silver. And how
29:34
Speaker 1: is it then that he now compareth himself unto a
29:37
Speaker 1: lost sheep. For to make plain this hard point, it
29:40
Speaker 1: is commonly said that David confesseth himself to be a
29:42
Speaker 1: strayed sheep yea, notwithstanding the great desire that he had
29:46
Speaker 1: to please God to govern his whole life aright. And
29:49
Speaker 1: yet that he ceased not to err. This saying is
29:52
Speaker 1: very well verified in himself. For although that this appertaineth
29:56
Speaker 1: not under the whole life of David, yet he had
29:59
Speaker 1: a terrible fall and was like a poor lost beast
30:01
Speaker 1: in the sin which he committed with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife.
30:05
Speaker 1: For it seemeth that he had then forsaken God, and
30:08
Speaker 1: that he was, as it were, a lost man. He
30:11
Speaker 1: might then very well say that he had highly and
30:13
Speaker 1: mightily erred like a lost sheep. But this might be
30:17
Speaker 1: taken more properly that David respected not the time wherein
30:19
Speaker 1: God had called him and set him in a good way,
30:22
Speaker 1: but rather respected his own natural estate and condition. And saith, o, Lord,
30:26
Speaker 1: what am I of myself? Without thou guidest me alas
30:31
Speaker 1: what had become of me? In what case had I been?
30:34
Speaker 1: Where should I have first begun? David then might very
30:38
Speaker 1: well make here protestation of such his condition, as is
30:40
Speaker 1: common with us, For this is a general thing amongst us, all,
30:44
Speaker 1: that we all go astray like wild and forlorn beasts,
30:47
Speaker 1: until such time as God repareth and amendeth us. For
30:51
Speaker 1: in what case shall God find us? When as he
30:53
Speaker 1: chooseth us unto himself, do not we swerve from the
30:57
Speaker 1: way of salvation? We are not only in a man
31:00
Speaker 1: mountains and deserts, but also drowned overhead and ears even
31:03
Speaker 1: to the bottomless depths. So then David and we with
31:09
Speaker 1: him may very well say that we are lost sheep
31:11
Speaker 1: until such time as God showeth himself to be our
31:14
Speaker 1: shepherd and giveth us the grace to follow him. And
31:17
Speaker 1: yet there is another reason which made David to call
31:20
Speaker 1: himself a lost sheep. And this is the very true meaning,
31:23
Speaker 1: and the most natural to wit, because he was deadly
31:26
Speaker 1: pursued of his enemies, and was so hardly and grievously
31:29
Speaker 1: persecuted by them, as that he was like unto a
31:32
Speaker 1: poor chaste sheep, who, seeing the wolf to pursue him,
31:35
Speaker 1: fleeth from him into the mountains, thinking there to hide himself.
31:41
Speaker 1: Lo here a poor sheep which shall escape the throat
31:43
Speaker 1: of the wolf. He is so heartily afraid that if
31:46
Speaker 1: he find a well, he will sooner leap into it
31:49
Speaker 1: than to go on any farther, for he knoweth not
31:51
Speaker 1: what to do, nor what shall become of him, being
31:54
Speaker 1: thus mortally pursued, and therefore David, saying that he hath
31:58
Speaker 1: erred like a lost sheep, referred it not unto his sins,
32:01
Speaker 1: to say, O, Lord, I have offended. I have strayed
32:03
Speaker 1: from the way of salvation. But he saith, O, Lord,
32:06
Speaker 1: I know not what shall become of me here. Then
32:09
Speaker 1: we now see what the natural meaning of this text is,
32:12
Speaker 1: whereupon we must chiefly stay ourselves. Although the doctrine which
32:16
Speaker 1: I have already touched be very good and profitable, Yet
32:19
Speaker 1: must we have respect unto the meaning of David. I
32:22
Speaker 1: have then erred, saith he like a lost sheep. Now
32:26
Speaker 1: he saith, Oh, seek thy servant, for I do not
32:29
Speaker 1: forget thy commandments. When as we shall enjoin these two
32:33
Speaker 1: things together, that David forgot not the commandments of God,
32:36
Speaker 1: and that he hath erred, we shall find how greatly
32:39
Speaker 1: he was given to the serving of God, that he
32:41
Speaker 1: desired it from the bottom of his heart. And yet
32:44
Speaker 1: was he not without extreme affliction. Yea, he was so
32:47
Speaker 1: void of help as that it seemeth he could not
32:50
Speaker 1: choose but to spare of his saving health. When then
32:55
Speaker 1: we see such an example, have not we very good
32:57
Speaker 1: occasion to take courage? Although God sufferth us many times
33:01
Speaker 1: to be even extremely persecuted. For if this came to
33:05
Speaker 1: pass in David, who was so excellent a man as
33:07
Speaker 1: we have spoken of, let not us think to be
33:10
Speaker 1: greatly a privileged than he. But let us chiefly consider
33:13
Speaker 1: to be patient in our afflictions, seeing that God thereby
33:16
Speaker 1: mean us to make proof of our faith and patience,
33:19
Speaker 1: and will cause it all to turn unto our salvation.
33:23
Speaker 1: And this is it which David concludeth withal, O, Lord,
33:26
Speaker 1: seek thy servant, signifying that he staith himself chiefly upon
33:31
Speaker 1: the protection and safeguard of God. And see how we
33:34
Speaker 1: must order ourselves in this behalf. For if we can
33:36
Speaker 1: stay ourselves upon Him, when as we shall be persecuted,
33:40
Speaker 1: and beseech him to seek us, we must not doubt
33:43
Speaker 1: but that He will make us to feel his help yea,
33:46
Speaker 1: and that we shall obtain our salvation when as we
33:48
Speaker 1: shall there seek it according unto this holy doctrine. Let
33:53
Speaker 1: us prostrate ourselves before the Majesty of our good God,
33:56
Speaker 1: in acknowledging our offenses, beseeching him that it would please
33:59
Speaker 1: him to make us feel them better than heretofore we
34:02
Speaker 1: have done, and in the meanwhile that it would also
34:05
Speaker 1: please him to help all our miseries, and to give
34:09
Speaker 1: us this sovereign remedy to it, to be purged of
34:11
Speaker 1: all our wicked affections, that the Law might reign wholly
34:15
Speaker 1: in us, have full possession both of our thoughts and desires,
34:18
Speaker 1: and of all whatsoever else there is in us, and
34:21
Speaker 1: we to be so governed by it, as that, forsaking
34:24
Speaker 1: all the things of this world and of this present life,
34:26
Speaker 1: we crave and desire none other thing but to cleave
34:29
Speaker 1: unto our good God, and to be wholly conformable unto
34:32
Speaker 1: His holy will. And although we are now nuzzle in
34:35
Speaker 1: a great many of vices and imperfections, and subject to
34:38
Speaker 1: a great number of calamities, yet for all that, let
34:41
Speaker 1: us know that we are very happy, so long as
34:44
Speaker 1: we shall be under His protection and safeguard, looking always
34:48
Speaker 1: for the salvation which he hath promised us, until such
34:51
Speaker 1: time as he hath granted us a full enjoying thereof
34:54
Speaker 1: to behold him face to face in his heavenly kingdom,
34:57
Speaker 1: which now we see here below as it were in
34:59
Speaker 1: a arkish glass, that he will not only et cetera.
35:06
Speaker 1: End of Sermon twenty two. End of Sermons on Psalm
35:12
Speaker 1: A hundred nineteen by John Calvin, translated by Thomas Stocker,