Two and twenty sermons of Master John Calvin In which sermons is most religiously…Two and twentie sermons of Maister Iohn Caluin In which sermons is most religiously…

Before I was troubled I went wrong: but now I keep thy word.

Before I was troubled I went wrong: but nowe I keepe thy worde.

Here David signifieth that he was more daunted, then ever he was, because God corrected him: As if he had said, In ⟨p. 77⟩very deed, O Lord, amongst all the rest of the benefits which I have already alleged, this is one, that thou hast made me to know my self through affliction: lo, it maketh me to keep thy commandments. Now when we tell God thus of the graces which he hath bestowed upon us that we might be prepared to serve him, it is for this cause that he might increase and augment them more and more in us, until such time as he hath brought them to their perfect end. Now we have to note in this matter, the order which David keepeth, O Lord, sayeth he, I confess that I have erred. The first point, is this confession which he maketh: for when God findeth us to be untamed and hard to be kept in array, it is meet that this our stubbornness should be pulled down, and he to show his authority over us, to the end we might soon after feel his clemency. And therefore, David knowing that he was once very wild and untamed, and had not walked in such fear of God as became him, confesseth, that although he had been taught, yet that it was needful for God to set him in array, and to keep him in good order. O Lord saith he, I confess that I have erred, yea and that was before thou haddest chastised me: but now I keep thy commandments. By this he signifieth in effect, that which I have touched: to wit, that he was already prepared in this wisdom of the knowledge of God: yet he always prayed that he would augment this grace in him, and confirm him therein until such time as he were throughly made perfect. In the mean while we have to note, that David was not a man altogether wickedly bent, ne yet so untamed as a great number of the contemners of God are. It is very true that he committed very grievous and extreme offences, were it but this adultery which he committed with Bethsabe Uriah his wife, which was so horrible an act, as that he deserved even for that to be utterly forsaken of God. And after that, he became so proud when he would have mustered the people, as that he was violently carried with a vain