to be saucy, and make no bones of telling God to his teeth, that they do well to be an gry, Jonah iv. 8, 9. Such as will not acknowledge God to be the author of all their afflictions, 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.

2. It includes and takes in some holy, gracious apprehensions of the majesty, sovereignty, dignity, authority, and presence of that God, under whose afflicting hand we 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. 7. "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 all eye to see, as well as all hand to punish. As the eyes of a well-drawn picture are fast

ened on thee which way soever thou turnest; so are the eyes of the Lord, and therefore thou hast cause to stand mute before him.

Thus Aaron had an eye to the sovereignty of God, Lev. x. 3. and that silences him. And Job had an eye upon the majesty of God, Job xxxvii. 23, 24. and that stills him. And Eli had an eye upon the authority and presence of God, 1 Sam. iii. 11-19. and that quiets him. A man never comes to humble himself, nor to be silent under the hand of God, till 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, said Pharaoh, that I should obey his voice? Exod. v. 2. And till 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 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 willingly. So when afflictions arrest us, we shall murmur, and grumble, and struggle, and strive even to the death, before we shall yield to that God that strikes, till we come to see his majesty and authority, Isa. xxvi. 11, 12. till we come to see him as the King of kings, and Lord of lords,

Rev. i. 5. It is such a sight of God as this, that makes the heart to stoop under his almighty hand. The Thracians being ignorant of the dignity and majesty of God, when it thundered and lightened *, used to express their madness and folly in shooting their arrows against heaven, threatening-wise. As a sight of his grace chears the soul, so a sight of his greatness and glory silence the soul. But,

3. A gracious, a prudent silence, takes in a holy quietness and calmness of mind and spirit, under the afflicting hand of God. A gracious silence shuts out all inward heats, murmurings, frettings, quarrelings, wranglings, and boilings of heart, Psal. Ixii. 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 clear in the text, and in the former instance of Aaron, Eli, and Job; they saw that it was a Father that put those bitter cups into 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 chirurgeon cut of his leg. Some men, when God cuts of 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 * Herod.

would 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, Psal. xxxix. 3. But certainly a holy silence allays all tumults in the mind, and makes a man in patience to possess his own soul, Luke xxi. 19. which, next to his possession of God, is the choicest and sweetest possession in all the world. 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, Isa. xxix. 13. Matth. xv. 8, 9. so tongue silence abstracted from heart-silence, is no silence in the esteem of God. A man is then graciously silent, when all is quiet within and without.

Terpander, a harper and a poet, was one that, by the sweetness of his verse and music, could allay the tumultuous motions of mens 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, Psal. xciv. 17. 18, 19. Psal. cxix. 49. 50. so that they sit, Noah like, quiet and still, and in peace possess their own souls.

4. A prudent, a holy silence, takes in an humble justifying, clearing, and acquitting of Godofall blame, rigour, and injustice, in all the

afflictions he brings upon us, Psal. li. 4. "That thou mayst be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest ;" that is when thou correctest*. God's judging his people, is God's correcting or chastening of his people, 1 Cor. xi. 32. “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord." David's great care, when he was under the afflicting hand of God, was to clear the Lord of injustice. "Ah Lord" saith he, " there is not the least shew, spot, stain, blemish, or mixture of injustice, in all the afflictions thou hast brought upon me; I desire to take shame to myself, and to set to my seal, that the Lord is righteous, and that there is no injustice, no cruelty, nor no extremity in all that the Lord hath brought upon me." And so in Psal. cxix. 75. 137. he sweetly and readily subscribes unto the righteousness of God in those sharp and smart afflictions that God exercised him with: "I know, O Lord that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgements." God's judgements are always just; he never afflicts but in faithfulness. His will is the rule of justice; and therefore a gracious soul dares not cavil nor question his proceedings. The afflicted soul knows, that a righteous God can do nothing but that which is righteous; it knows that God is uncontrollable, and therefore the afflicted man puts his mouth in the

* Plato calls God the horn of plenty, the ocean of beauty, without the least spot of injustice.