lays his own hand upon his mouth. So Aaron, beholding the hand of God in the untimely death of his two sons, holds his peace, Lev. x. 3. The sight of God in this sad stroke is a bridle both to his mind and mouth, he neither mutters nor murmurs. So Joseph saw the hand of God in his brethren's selling of him into Egypt, Gen. xlv. 8, and that silences him.
Men that see not God in an affliction, are easily cast into a feverish fit, they will quickly be in a flame, and when their passions are up, and their hearts on fire, they will begin to be saucy, and make no bones of telling God to his teeth, that they do well to be angry, Jonah iv. 8, 9. Such as will not acknowledge God to be the author of all their afflic- tions, will be ready enough to fall in with that mad principle of the Manichees, who maintained the devil to be the author of all calamities ; as if there could be any evil of affliction in the city, and the Lord have no hand in it, Amos iii. 6. Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions, will, with David, lay their hands upon their mouths, when the rod of God is upon their backs, 2 Sam. xvi. 11, 12. If God's hand be not seen in the affliction, the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.
Secondly, It includes and takes in some holy, gracious apprehen-^ sions of the majesty, sovereignty, dignity, authority, and presence of that God under whose afflicting hand tve are: Hab. ii. 20, 'But the Lord is in his holy temple : let all the earth be silent/ or as the Hebrew reads it, ' Be silent, all the earth, before his face.' When God would have all the people of the earth to be hushed, quiet, and silent before him, he would have them to behold him in his temple, where he sits in state, in majesty, and glory : Zeph. i. ' Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God/ Chat not, murmur not, repine not, quarrel not ; whist, stand mute, be silent, lay thy hand on thy mouth, when his hand is upon thy back, who is totus oculus, all eye to see, as well as all hand to punish. As the eyes of a well-drawn picture are fastened on thee which way soever thou turnest, so are the eyes of the Lord ; and there- fore thou hast cause to stand mute before him.
Thus Aaron had an eye to the sovereignty of God, and that silences him. And Job had an eye upon the majesty of God, and that stills him. And Eli had an eye upon the authority and presence of God, and that quiets him.1 A man never comes to humble himself, nor to be silent under the hand of God, until he comes to see the hand of God to be a mighty hand : 1 Pet. v. 6, ' Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.' When men look upon the hand of God as a weak hand, a feeble hand, a low hand, a mean hand, their hearts rise against his hand. ' Who is the Lord,' saith Pharaoh, ' that I should obey his voice?' Exod. v. 2. And until Pharaoh came to see the hand of God, as a mighty hand, and to feel it as a mighty hand, he would not let Israel go. When Tiribazus, a noble Persian,1' was arrested, at first he drew out his sword and defended himself ; but when they charged him in the king's name, and informed him that they came from the king, and were commanded to bring him to the king, he yielded will- ingly. So when afflictions arrest us, we shall murmur and grumble,
1 Lev. x. 3 ; Job xxxvii. 13, 14 ; 1 Sam. iii. 11, 19. * The favourite of Artaxerxes II. — G.
300 TIIK MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. 9.
and struggle, and strive even to the death, before we shall yield to that God that strikes, until we come to see his majesty and authority, until we come to see him as the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Isa. xxvi. 11, 12. It is such a sight of God as this, that makes the heart to stoop under his almighty hand, Rev. i. 5. The Tliracians being igno- rant of the dignity and majesty of God ; when it thundered and light- ened, used to express their madness and folly in shooting their arrows against heaven threatening-wise.1 As a sight of his grace cheers the soul, so a sight of his greatness and glory silences the soul.2 But,
Thirdly, A gracious, a prudent silence, takes in a holy quietness and calmness of m/i/nd and spirit, under the afflicting hand of God. A gracious silence shuts out all inward heats, murmurings, fret tings, quar- relings, wranglings, and boilings of heart : Ps. lxii. 1, 'Truly my soul keepeth silence unto God, or is silent or still ;' that is, my soul is quiet and submissive to God ; all murmurings and repinings, passions and turbulent affections, being allayed, tamed, and subdued. This also is dear in the text ; and in the former instances of Aaron, Eli, and Job. They saw that it was a Father that put those bitter cups in their hands, and love that laid those heavy crosses upon their shoulders, and grace that put those yokes about their necks ; and this caused much quietness and calmness in their spirits. Marius bit in his pain when the chirur- geon cut off his leg.3 Some men, when God cuts off this mercy and that mercy from them, they bite in their pain, they hide and conceal their grief and trouble ; but could you but look into their hearts, you will find all in an uproar, all out of order, all in a flame ; and however they may seem to be cold without, yet they are all in a hot burning fever within. Such a feverish fit David was once in, Ps. xxxix. 3. But cer- tainly a holy silence allays all tumults in the mind, and makes a man ' in patience to possess his own soul,' which, next to his possession of God, is the choicest and sweetest possession in all the world, Luke xxi. 19. The law of silence is as well upon that man's heart and mind, as it is upon his tongue, who is truly and divinely silent under the rebuking hand of God. As tongue-service abstracted from heart-service is no service in the account of God ; so tongue-silence abstracted from heart-silence is no silence in the esteem of God. A man is then gra- ciously silent when all is quiet within and without, Isa. xxix. 13, Mat. xv. 8, 9.
Terpander,4 a harper and a poet, was one that, by the sweetness of his verse and music, could allay the tumultuous motions of men's minds, as David by his harp did Saul's. When God's people are under the rod, he makes by his Spirit and word such sweet music in their souls, as allays all tumultuous motions, passions, and perturbations, Ps. xciv. 17-19, Ps. cxix. 49, 50, so that they sit, Noah-like, quiet and still; and in peace possess their own souls.
Fourthly, A prudent, a holy silence, takes in an humble, justifying, clearing and acquitting of God of all blame, rigour and injustice, in oil the afflictions lie brings upon us ; Ps. li. 4, ' That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest,' that is,
1 Herodotus. 2 Animus cujusque est quisque, the raiud is the man.
3 Query, M. Marius, the friend of Cicero? — G. * Of Lesbos, the father of Greek music. — G.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 301