I. A Sevenfold Silence

I. For the first, What is the silence here meant? I answer, There is a seven-fold silence.

1. There is a stoical silence. The stoics of old thought it altogether below a man, that hath reason and understanding, either to rejoice in any good, or to mourn for any evil. But this stoical silence is such a sinful insensibleness, as is very provoking to a holy God, Isa. xxvi. 10, 11. God will make the insensible sinner sensible, either of his hand here, or of his wrath in hell. It is a heathenish and a horrid sin, to be without natural affection, Rom. i. 31. Of this sin Quintus Fabius Maximus seems to be guilty, who, when he heard that his mother and wife, whom he dearly loved, were slain by the fall of an house, and that his younger son, a brave, hopeful young man, died at the same time in Umbria, never changed his countenance, but went on with the affairs of the commonwealth as if no such calamity had befallen him. This is a sottish insensibleness, Job xxxvi. 13. If the loss of a child in the house be no more to thee than the loss of a chick in the yard, thy heart is base and sordid, and thou mayest well expect some sore awakening judgment. Aristotle speaks of fishes which, though they have spears thrust into their sides, yet awake not. God thrusts many a sharp spear through a sinner’s heart, and yet he feels nothing; he complains of nothing. These men’s souls will bleed to death. Such stupidity is a curse, which many a man lies under. This stoical silence, which is but a sinful sullenness, is not the silence here meant. 2. There is a politic silence; many are silent out of policy. If they were not silent, they would lay themselves more open, either to the rage and fury of men, or else to the plots and designs of men; to prevent which, they are silent, and will lay their hands upon their mouths, that others may not lay their hands upon their estates, lives, or liberties. “And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched. But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace,” or was as though he had been deaf, 1 Sam. x. 26, 27. This new king, being but newly entered upon his kingly government, and observing his condition to be but mean and low, his friends but few, and his enemies many and potent, sons of Belial, that is, men without yoke, (as the word signifies,) men that were desperately wicked, who would neither submit to reason nor religion, nor be governed by the laws of nature, nor of nations, nor yet by the laws of God; this young prince, in order to prevent sedition and rebellion, blood and destruction, prudently and politically chooses rather to lay his hand upon his mouth, than to take a wolf by the ear or a lion by the beard. He therefore turns a deaf ear to all they say; his unsettled condition requiring silence. But this is not the silence the text speaks of.

3. There is a foolish silence. Some fools there be, that can neither do well nor speak well; and because they cannot word it, neither as they would nor as they should, they are so wise as to be mute. “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding,” Prov. xvii. 28. As he cannot be wise that speaks much, so he cannot be known for a fool that says nothing. There are many wise fools in the world. There are many silly souls, who, by holding their tongues, gain the credit and honor of being discreet men. He that doth not discover his want of wisdom, by foolish babbling, is accounted wise, though he may be otherwise. Silence is so rare a virtue, where wisdom doth regulate it, that it is accounted a virtue where folly doth impose it. Silence was so highly honored among the old Romans, that they erected altars to it. That man shall pass for a man of understanding, who so far understands himself as to hold his tongue; for though it be a great misery to be a fool, yet it is a greater, that a man cannot be a fool but he must needs show it. But this foolish silence is not the silence here meant.

4. There is a sullen silence. Many, to gratify a humor, are sullenly silent. These ;are troubled with a dumb devil, which was the worst of all the devils you read of in the scripture, Mark is. 17 — 29. There is a generation amongst us, who., when they are under the afflicting hand of God, have no mouth to plead with God, no lips to praise God, no tongue to justify God; these are possessed with a dumb devil: and this dumb devil had possessed Ahab for a time: “And Ahab came into his house, heavy and displeased, and laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread,” 1 Kings xxi. 4. Ahab’s ambitious humor, his covetous humor, being crossed, he is resolved to starve himself, and to die of the sullens. A sullen silence is both a sin and a punishment; oo devil frets and vexes, wears and wastes the spirits of a man like this dumb devil, like this sullen silence. But this is not the silence here meant.

5. There is a forced silence. Many are silent perforce. He that is under the power of his enemy, though he suffer many hard things, yet he is silent under his sufferings, because he knows he is liable to worse. He that hath taken away his liberty, may take away his life; he that hath taken away his money, may take off his head; he that hath let him blood in the foot, may let him blood in the throat, if he will not be still and quiet; and this works silence perforce. So when many are under the afflicting hand of God, conscience tells them, that now they are under the hand of an enemy, and the power of that God whom they have dishonored, whose Son they have crucified, whose Spirit they have grieved, whose righteous laws they have transgressed, whose ordinances they have despised, and whtise people they have abused and opposed; and that he that hath taken away one child, may take away every child; he that hath taken away the wife, might have taken away the husband; he that hath taken away some part of the estate, might have taken away all the estate; and he who hath inflicted some distempers upon the body, might have cast both body and soul into hell-fire forever; he that hath shut him up in his chamber, may shut him out of heaven at pleasure.

Thoughts of these things make many a sinner silent tinder the hand of Gad. The eye that sin shuts, afflictions open. But this is but & forced silence. Such was the silence of Philip II. of Spain, who, when his invincible Armada, that had been three years a fitting, was lost, gave command that, all over Spain, they should give thanks to God &nd the saints that it was no more grievous. As the cudgel forces the dog to fee quiet and still, and the rod forces the child to be silent and mute; so the apprehensions of what God hath done,, &nd of what God may do, force many a soul to be silent. Bat this is not the silence hem meant. A forced silence is rro silence m the <eye of God.

6. There is a despairing silence. A despairing soul is a terror to himself; he hath a hell in his heart, and horror in his conscience. He looks upwards, and there he beholds God frowning, and Christ bleeding; he looks inwards, and there he finds conscience accusing and condemning him. He looks on the one side of him, and there he hears all his sins crying out, We are thine, and we will follow thee, we will go to the grave and to judgment with thee, and from judgment we will go to hell with thee. He looks on the other side of him, and there he sees infernal fiends, in fearful shapes, amazing and terrifying him, and waiting to receive his despairing soul as soon trNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 27

as she shall take her leave of his wretched body. He looks above him, and there he sees the gates of heaven shut against him; he looks beneath him, and there he sees hell gaping for him; and, under these sad sights, he is full of secret conclusions against his own soulv. There is mercy for others, saith the despairing soul, but none for me; grace and favor for others, but none for me; pardon and peace for others, and none for me; blessedness and happiness for others, but none for me. There is no help, there is no hope, no, Jer. ii. 25; xvii. T2. As that despairing Pope said, The cross could do him no good, because he had so often sold it. Now under these dismal apprehensions and sad conclusions about its present and future conditionp the despairing soul sits silent, being filled with amazement and astonishment. “I am so troubled that I cannot speak,” Psa. lxxvii. 4. But this is not the silence here meant. But,

7. Lastly, There is a prudent silence, a holy, a gracicms silence, that springs from prudent principles, from holy principles, and from gracious causes and considerations; and this is the silence here mennt. And this I fully discover in my answers to the second question, which is this,