^ It is not every " speaking in the heart " [the literal transla- tion of the words] that the Psalmist here engageth to ; for the fool speaks in heart, and saith in his heart, " There is no God " : the epicure speaks in his heart, and saith, " I shall never be moved " : the atheist speaks in his heart, and saith, " Tush, God hath forgotten, he will never see it." And these persons to whom David speaketh, if we hit the occasion of the Psalm aright, were ready enough to say in their heart, " We will none of David, and nothing to do with the son of Jesse " : but the text enjoineth such a conference in the heart, as that the matters betwixt a man and his own heart may be debated to the very utmost, — that the heart may be so put to it in communing with it, as that it might speak its very bottom.^
^ Behold, beloved, among yourselves, and regard and wonder marvellously ; for I can tell you a sad story in your ears, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. I have lived these forty years, and somewhat more, and carried my heart in my bosom all this while, and yet my heart and I are as great strangers, and as utterly unacquainted, as if we had never come near one another. And is there none, in this congregation, that can say the like ? He spake very good sense, and much piety in it, that complained that he had lived so many years above threescore, and had been a student in the Scripture all his time, and yet could never attain
1 J. Lightfoot, Wm-ks, vi. 99,
198 THE FOUR ACTS OF RELIGION
to take out that lesson in the first verse of the nine-and-thirtieth Psalm, — " That he should not offend with his tongue." But it is to speak a thing of monstrousness and amazement, to say that a man should live so long a time as I have done, — nay, as some do, to threescore, to fourscore years, — and yet never to get into acquaintance and to communication with their own hearts ! who could believe such a report ? and yet, how common is this amongst men ! ^
5. It is not mere worldly self-communion that the Psalmist recommends. It is not the far-seeing prudence of the man of the world, meditating upon his pleasures and his gains. It is not the self-complacency of the self-righteous, seeking out grounds for trusting in himself that he is righteous, and despising others. It is not the morbid self-contemplation of one merely gazing upon the workings of his own mind as he would watch some delicate machinery, without earnest resolves of self-amendment.
^ " Self-anatomy " may surely be either good or evil ; to be free from it altogether, as is the case with many of the noblest women, is no doubt a blessing, and suited to their nature. I much doubt whether it be the same with men ; a more distinct introspec- tion of owT own motives and feelings seems natural to us, and we are likely to go wrong without it. On the other hand, it is apt to become a dangerous and " morbid trick," when its predominance makes the judgment chiefly analytical ; then we come practically to look upon ourselves as a collection of wheels and springs, moved mechanically by " motives," and we are suspicious and jealous of ourselves in a way the reverse of true Christian humility and watchfulness, misinterpreting our best and noblest impulses, either by persuading ourselves that they are merely imaginary or by resolving them into corrupt wishes. We then act in the same way towards others, especially those who may be in, or may be brought into, any near relation to ourselves, mistrusting in them all that is not comprehensible. Yet I doubt not that self-anatomy is in some form needful to deliver us from carnal delusions ; and wisely-tempered self-consciousness, if it has its miseries, may also bring blessings unspeakable both on ourselves and on those who have it not.^
(1) It is, first, the effort of the mind by grace to draw away its thoughts and its affections from earth to heaven ; from the things which are seen to realities unseen except by faith. It
1 J. Lightfoot, JForJcs, vi. Ill, - Life of F. J. A. Hort, i. 166.
PSALM IV. 4, 5 199
is surely not by mere accident that the sin which ruins souls is so often described in Scripture as the " forgetfulness of God."' " The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." They cannot indeed finally and for ever banish the remembrance of God completely from their minds. They only wish they could. But they do their best. And so they set their affections on things below. They drown the remembrance of heaven and hell and death and judgment by the never-ceasing clamour of earthly cares and carnal lusts, in which they plunge themselves day by day, and all day long. He, then, that would avoid their sin and danger must have his seasons of stated religious self-communion ; when he may close his eyes upon the things of time and sense, and suffer the Spirit of God to draw up his mind to thoughts of the things eternal : when he may renew his strength to " use this world, as not abusing it " by secret acts of communion with that God who " is a Spirit."