1 2 Kings v. 14, 15 ; Mat. iv. G, 7 ; xxii. 4, 5, 8 ; Luke xiv. 16-24 ; Acts xxvii. 24, 25, 31. * Heylin Cosm. 1. iii.
312 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN [P.S. XXXIX. 9.
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. Eighthly, and lastly, A holy, a prudent silence, doth not exclude a just and sober complaining against the authors, contrivers, abet- 1 >rs, or i iisf rn mnitu of our afflictions : 2 Tim. iv. 14, 'Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil ; the Lord reward him according to his works.' This Alexander is conceived by some to be that Alexander that is mentioned, Acts xix. 33, who stood so close to Paul at Ephcsus, that he run the hazard of losing his life by appearing on his side ;l yet if glorious professors come to be furious persecutors, Christians may com- plain : 2 Cor. xi. 24, ' Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one.' 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, whenas they that were weak had their punishment mitigated : ver. 25, ' Thrice was I beaten with rods,' 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 blasphe- mous 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. 14-21.
It was the saying of Socrates, that every man in this 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 arm 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 ehotat him, and hated him: Gen.xlix. 23,24. And so David sadly complained of Doeg, Ps. cix. 1, 21 ; yea, Christ himself, who was the most perfect pattern for dumbness and silence under sorest trials, complains against Judas, Pilate, and the rest of his persecutors, Ps. 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 goldsmiths 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, Ps. exxxii. 2-18. 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.
IV. Why must Christians be mute and silent under the greatest afflictions, the saddest providences, and sharpest trials that they meet "•/'/// in this world ? I answer,
Reason 1. That they may the better hear and understand the voice of the rod. As the word hath a voice, the Spirit a voice, and conscience
1 Calvin in loc. assumes this, designating him as one mnrtyris propinquus ; and Trapp adds, Brooks-like, 'A glorious professor may become a furious persecutor.' — G.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 313
a voice, so the rod hath a voice.1 Afflictions are the rod of God's anger, the rod of his displeasure, and his rod of revenge ; he gives a commis- sion to his rod, to awaken his people, to reform his people, or else to revenge the quarrel of his covenant upon them, if they will not bear the rod, and kiss the rod, and sit mute and silent under the rod : Micah vi. 9, ' The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name : hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.' God's rods are not mutes, they are all vocal, they are all speaking as well as smiting ; every twig hath a voice. Ah ! soul, saith one twig, thou sayest it smarts ; well! tell me, is it good provoking of a jealous God ? Jer. iv. 18. Ah! soul, saith another twig, thou sayest it is bitter, it reacheth to thy heart, but hath not thine own doings procured these things ? Rom. vi. 20, 21. Ah! soul, saith another twig, where is the profit, the pleasure, the sweet that you have found in wandering from God ? Hosea ii. 7. Ah ! soul, saith another twig, was it not best with you, when you were high in your communion with God, and when you were humble and close in your walking with God ? Micah vi. 8. Ah ! Christian, saith another twig, wilt thou search thy heart, and try thy ways, and turn to the Lord thy God ? Lam. iii. 40. Ah ! soul, saith another twig, wilt thou die to sin more than ever, and to the world more than ever, and to relations more than ever, and to thyself more than ever ? Rom. xiv. 6-8; Gal. vi. 18. Ah! soul, saith another twig, wilt thou live more to Christ than ever, and cleave closer to Christ than ever, and prize Christ more than ever, and venture further for Christ than ever ? Ah ! soul, saith another twig, wilt thou love Christ with a more inflamed love, and hope in Christ with a more raised hope, and depend upon Christ with a greater confidence, and wait upon Christ with more invincible patience, &c. ? Now, if the soul be not mute and silent under the rod, how is it possible that it should ever hear the voice of the rod, or that it should ever hearken to the voice of every twig of the rod ? The rod hath a voice that is in the hands of earthly fathers, but children hear it not, they understand it not, till they are hushed and quiet, and brought to kiss it, and sit silently under it ; no more shall we hear or understand the voice of the rod that is in our heavenly Father's hand, till we come to kiss it, and sit silently under it. But,