III. What a Holy Silence Doth Not Exclude
lii. The third thing is to discover what a holy, a prudent silence, under affliction, doth not exclude. Now, there are eight things that a holy patience doth not exclude.
1. A holy, a prudent silence under affliction, doth not exclude and shut out a sense and feeling of our afflictions, Psa. xxxix. Though he was dumb, and laid his hand upon his mouth, ver. 9, yet he was very sensible of his affliction: u Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity,” ver. 10, 11. He is sensible of his pain, as well as of his sin; and having prayed off his sin in the former verses, he labors here to pray off his pain. Diseases, aches, sicknesses, and pains, are all the daughters of sin; and he that is not sensible of them as the births and products of sin, doth but add to his sin, and provoke the Lord to add to his sufferings, Isa. xxvi. 10, 11. No man shall ever be charged by God for feeling his burden, if he neither fret nor faint under it; grace doth not destroy nature, but rather perfecteth it; grace is of a noble offspring, it neither turneth men into stocks or into stoics; the more grace, the more sensible of the tokens, frowns, blows, and lashes of a displeased Father. Though Calvin, under his greatest pains, was never heard to mutter or murmur, yet he was heard often to say, How long, Lord, how long? A religious commander being shot in battle, when the wound was searched, and the bullet cut out, some standing by, pitying his pains, he replies, Though I groan, yet I bless God I do not grumble. God allows his people to groan, though not to grumble. It is a God-provoking sin, to be stupid and senseless under the afflicting hand of God. God will heat that man’s furnace of affliction sevenfold hotter, who is in the furnace, but feels it not. “Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart,” Isa. xlii. 24, 25. Stupidity lays a man open to the greatest fury and severity.
The physician, when he finds that the potion which he had given his patient will not work, seconds it with one more violent. If a gentle plaster will not serve, then the surgeon applies that which is more corroding; and if that will not do, then he makes use of his cauterizing knife. So when the Lord afflicts, and men feel it not; when he strikes, and they grieve not; when he wounds them, and they awake not: then the furnace is made hotter than ever; then his fury burns, then he lays on irons upon irons, bolt upon bolt, and chain upon chain, until he hath made their lives a hell. Afflictions are the saints’ diet-drink; and where do you read, in all the scripture, that ever any of the saints drank of this diet-drink, and were not sensible of it?
2. A holy, a prudent silence doth not shut out prayer for deliverance out of our affliction. Though the Psalmist lays his hand upon his mouth, in the text, yet he prays for deliverance; w Remove thy stroke away from me,” ver. 10; and ver. 12, 13, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.” “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray,” Jam. v. 13. “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,” Psa. 1, 15. Times of affliction, by God’s own injunction, are special times of supplication. David’s heart was more often out of tune than his harp; but then he prays, and presently cries, u Return to thy rest, O my soul!” Jonah prays in the whale’s belly, and Daniel prays when among the lions, and Job prays when on the dunghill, and Jeremiah prays when in the dungeon, &c.; yea, the heathen mariners, as stout as they were, when in a storm, they cry every man to his god, Jonah i. 5, 6.* To call upon God, especial-
* It is an old saying, Qui nescitorare, discat navigare: He that would learn to pray, let him go to sea.
ly in times of distress and trouble, is a lesson that the very light and law of nature teaches. The Persian messenger, (though a heathen,) as iEschylus observeth, saith thus: “When the Grecian forces hotly pursued our host, and we must needs venture over the great water Strymon, frozen then, but beginning to thaw, when a hundred to one we had all died for it: with mine eyes, saith he, I saw many of those gallants, whom I had heard before so boldly maintain there was no God, every one upon his knees, and devoutly praying that the ice might hold till they got over.” And shall blind nature do more than grace? If the time of affliction be not a time of supplication, I know not wThat is.
There are two kinds of antidotes against all the troubles and afflictions of this life, namely, prayer and patience; the one hot, the other cold; the one quickening, the other quenching. Chrysostom understood this well enough, when he cried out, It is more bitter than death to be spoiled of prayer: and thereupon observes, that Daniel chose rather to run the hazard of his life, than to lose his prayer. Well, this is the second thing; a holy silence doth not exclude prayer. But,
3. A holy, a prudent silence doth not exclude men’s being kindly affected and afflicted with their sins, as the meritorious cause of all their sorrows and sufferings.* “Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord,” Lam. iii. 39, 40. “Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yea, twTice, but I will proceed no further,” Job xl. 4, 5. “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinneu against him,” Mic. vii. 9. In all our sorrows we should read our sins; and, when God’s hand is upon our backs, our hands should be upon our sins.
It was a good saying of one, I hide not my sins, but I show them; I wipe them not away, but I sprinkle them; I do not excuse them, but accuse them: the beginning of my salvation is the knowledge of my transgression. When some told prince Henry, that darling of mankind, that the sins of the people brought that affliction on him; O no, said he, I have sins enough of my own to cause that. I have sinned, said David, but what have these poor sheep done? When a christian is under the afflicting hand of God, he may well say, I may thank this proud heart of mine, this worldly heart, this froward heart, this formal heart, this dull heart, this backsliding heart, this self-seeking heart of mine; for that this cup is so
* Read Ezra ix., Neb. ix ., Dan. ix., Psa. li., Job vii.
bitter, this pain so grievous, this loss so great, this disease so desperate, this wound so incurable; it is mine own self, mine own sin, that hath caused these floods of sorrows to break in upon me. But,
4. A holy, a prudent silence doth not ex elude the teaching and instruction of others, when we are afflicted. The words of the afflicted stick close; they many times work strongly, powerfully, and savingly, upon the souls and consciences of others. Many of Paul’s epistles were written to the churches when he was in bonds, namely, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Collossians, Philemon. He begot Onesimus in his bonds, Philem. 10. And many of the brethren in the Lord waxed bold and confident by his bonds, and were confirmed, and made partakers of grace, by his ministry, when he was in bonds, Phil. i. 7. 13, 14. As the words of dying persons do many times stick and work gloriously, so many times do the words of afflicted persons work very nobly and efficaciously. I have read of one Adrianus, who, seeing the martyrs suffer such grievous things in the cause of Christ, asked, What was that which enabled them to suffer such things? and one of them named, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God bath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Cor. ii. 9. This word was like appies of gold in pictures of silver; for it made him not only a convert, but a martyr too, Prov. xxv. 1 1. And this was the means of Justin Martyr’s conversion, as himself confesseth. Doubtless many have been made happy by the words of the afflicted; the tongue of the afflicted hath been to many as choice silver; the words of the afflicted many times are both pleasing and profitable; they tickle the ear, and they win upon the heart; they slide insensibly into the hearers’ souls, and work efficaciously upon the hearers’ hearts. u The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious,” (or grace, as the Hebrew hath it, and so Hierom reads it,) Eccl. x. 12. The words of the mouth of the wise man are grace. They minister grace to others, and they win grace and favor from others; gracious lips make gracious hearts; gracious words are a grace, an ornament to the speaker; and they are a comfort, a delight, and an advantage to the hearer.
Now, the words of a man’s mouth are never more gracious than when he is most afflicted and distressed. Now you shall find most worth and weight in his words. Now his mouth speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment, for the law of the Lord is in his heart, Psa. xxxvii. 31. Now his tongue is a tree of life, whose leaves are medicinal, Prov. xii. 18. As the silver trumpets sounded joy to the Jews in the day of their gladness, Numb. x. 10, so the mouth of a wise man, iike a silver trumpet, sounds joy and advantage to others in the days of his sadness.
The heathen could say, When a wise man speaketh, he openeth the rich treasures and wardrobe of his mind: — so may I say, When an afflicted saint speaks, oh! the pearls, the treasures that he scatters! But,
5. A holy, a prudent silence doth not exclude moderate mourning, or weeping, under the afflicting hand of God. u And Hezekiah wept sore;” or as the Hebrew hath it, “wept with great weeping,” Isa. xxxviii. 3. But was not the Lord displeased with him for his great weeping? No: UI have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years,” ver. 5. God had a bottle for his tears as well as a bag for his sins. There is no water so sweet as the saints’ tears, when they do not overflow the banks of moderation. Tears are not mutes; they have a voice, and their oratory is of great prevalency with the Almighty God. And, therefore, the weeping prophet calleth out for tears. “Their heart crieth unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest, let not the apple of thine eye cease,” Lam. ii. 18. Upon which words, saith Bellarmine, “Cry aloud, not with thy tongue, but with thine eyes; not with thy words, but with thy tears; for that is the prayer that maketh the most forcible entry into the ears of the great God of heaven. When God strikes, he looks that we should tremble; when his hand is lifted high, he looks that our hearts should stoop low; when he hath the rod in his hand, he looks that we should have tears in our eyes; as you may see by comparing these scriptures together, Psa. lv. 2; xxxviii. 6; Job xxx. 26 — 31. Good men wTeep easily, saith the Greek poet; and the better any are, the more inclined to weeping, especially under afflictions; as you may see in David, (whose tears, instead of gems, were the ornaments of his bed,) Jonathan, Job, Ezra, Daniel, &c. How (saith one) shall God wipe away my tears in heaven, if I shed none on earth? and how shall I reap in joy, if I sow not in tears? I was born with tears, and I shall die with tears; and why then should I live without them in this valley of tears? There is a time to weep, as well as there is a time to laugh; a time to mourn, as well as a time to dance, Eccl. iii. 4. The mourning garment among the Jews was the black garment, and the black garment was the mourning garment.” Why go ye mourning?” Psa. xliii. 2. The Hebrew word signifies black, u Why go in black?” Sometimes christians must put off their gay ornaments, and put on their black, their mourning garments, Exod. xxxiii. 4 — 6. But,
6. A gracious, a prudent silence doth not exclude sighing, groaning, or even roarings, under affliction. A man may sigh, and groan, and roar, under the hand of God, and yet be silent; it is not sighing, but muttering; it is not groaning, but grumbling; it is not roaring, but murmuring, that is opposite to holy silence. You may see much of this by comparing the following scriptures, Lam. i. 4, 11. 21, 22; Psa. xxxi. 10; Jer. xlv. 3; Exod. ii. 24; Job xxiii. 2; Psa. vi. 6. “And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage,” Exod. ii. 23. uLord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee,” Psa. xxxviii. 9. “By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin,” Psa. cii. 5. “And my roarings are poured out like the water,” Job iii. 24. “I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart,” Psa. xxxviii. 8. u My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” Psa. xxii. 1. “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long,” Psa, xxxii. 3. He roars, but doth not rage; he roars, but doth not repine: when a man is in extremity, nature prompts him to roar, and the law of grace is not against it; and though sighing, groaning, roaring, cannot deliver a man out of his misery, yet they do give some ease to a man under his misery. When Solon wept for his son’s death, one said to him, Weeping will not help: he answered, Alas! therefore do I weep, because weeping will not help. So a christian many times sighs, because sighing will not help; and he groans, because groaning will not help; and he roars, because roaring will not help. Sometimes the sorrows of the saints are so great that all tears are dried up, and they can get no ease by weeping; and, therefore, for a little ease they fall a sighing and groaning; and this may be done, and yet the heart may be quiet and silent before the Lord. Peter wept and sobbed, and yet was silent. Sometimes the sighs and groans of a saint do, in some sort, tell that which his tongue can in no sort utter. But,
7. A holy, a prudent silence doth not exclude, nor shut out the use of any just or lawful means, whereby persons may be delivered out of their afflictions, 2 Kings v. 10 — 14; Matt. iv. 6, 7; xxii. 4, 5. 8; Luke xiv. 16 — 24; Acts xxvii. 24, 25. 31. God would not have his people so in love with their afflictions, as not to use such righteous means as may deliver them out of their afflictions. “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another,” Matt. x. 23. When
Peter was in prison, the saints thronged together to pray, (as the original has it,) Acts xii. 12; and they were so instant and earnest with God in prayer, they did so beseech and besiege the Lord, they did so beg at heaven’s gate, ver. v, that God could have no rest, till, by miracles of power and mercy, he had returned Peter as a bosom-favor to them. “And, after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him; but their lying in wait was known of Saul; and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket,” Acts ix. 23 — 25. The blood of the saints is precious in God’s eye, and it should not be vile in their own eyes. When Providence opens a door of escape, there is no reason why the saints should set themselves as marks and butts for their enemies to shoot at. The apostles desire the brethren “to pray for them, that they may be delivered from unreasonable men; for all men have not faith,” 2 Thess. iii. 1, 2. It is a mercy worth seeking, to be delivered out of the hands of absurd, villanous, and troublesome men.
Afflictions are evil in themselves, and we may desire and endeavor to be delivered from them, James v. 14, 15; Isa. xxxviii. 18 — 21. Both inward and outward means are to be used for our own preservation. Had not
Noah built an ark, he had been swept away with the flood, though he had been with Nimrod and his crew on the tower of Babel.
Though we may not trust in means, yet we may, and ought to use means; in the use of them, eye that God that can only bless them, and you do your work. As a pilot that guides the ship hath his hand upon the rudder, and his eye on the star that directs him, at the same time; so, when your hand is upon the means, let your eye be upon your God, and deliverance will come. We may tempt God as well by neglecting of means, as by trusting in means. It is best to use them, and, in the use of them, to live above them. Augustine tells of a man, that, being fallen into a pit, one passing by falls a questioning of him, what he did there, and how he came in? Oh! saith the poor man, ask me not how I came in, but help me, and tell me how I may come out. The application is easy. But,
8. Lastly, A holy, a prudent silence doth not exclude a just and sober complaining against the authors, contrivers, abettors, or instruments of our afflictions. “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works,” 2 Tim. iv. 14. u Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one,” 2 Cor. xi. 24. They inflict, saith Maimonides, no more than forty stripes, though he be as strong as Samson; but, if he be weak, they abate of that number. They scourged Paul with the greatest severity, in making him suffer so oft the utmost extremity of the Jewish law, when they that were weak had their punishment mitigated. “Thrice was I beaten with rods,” ver. 25; that is, by the Romans, whose custom it was to beat the guilty with rods.
If Pharaoh make Israel groan, Israel may make his complaint against Pharaoh to the Keeper of Israel, Exod. ii. If the proud and blasphemous king of Assyria shall come with his mighty army to destroy the people of the Lord, Hezekiah may spread his letter of blasphemy before the Lord, Isa. xxxvii. 14 — 20. It was the saying of Socrates, that every man, in his life, had need of a faithful friend and a bitter enemy; the one to advise him, and the other to make him look about him: and this Hezekiah found by experience. Though Joseph’s bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, yet Joseph may say, that the archers (or the arrow-masters, as the Hebrew hath it) have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him, Gen. xlix. 23, 24. And David sadly complained of Doeg, Psa. lii. Yea, Christ himself (who was the most perfect pattern for dumbness and silence, under the sorest trials) complains against Judas, Pilate, and the rest of his persecutors, Psa.
(JO THE MUTE CHRISTIAN
lxix. 20 — 30, &c. Yea, though God will make his people’s enemies to be the workmen that shall fit them and square them for his building, to be gold-smiths to add pearls to their crown, to be rods to beat off their dust, scullions to scour off their rust, fire to purge away their dross, and water to cleanse away their filthiness, fleshliness and earthliness; yet may they point at them, and pour out their complaints to God against them, Psa. cxlii. 2 — 7. This truth I might make good by above a hundred texts of scripture; but it is time to come to the reasons of the point.