was her shame more laid open to the world by many amongst us who for their great pains have no better reward then to be called his Shavelings This they saw and their heart waxt hot within them and at last this fire kindled which is now ready to consume us Before they whisper'd in secret now they speak it on the house-top before they husht up their malice in silence now they noise it out by the drum Enemies to the Ark enemies to the Church enemies to Government and Order enemies to Peace which particulars make up this entire sum INIMICI DEI enemies to God But now what if we see RELIGIONIS ERGO written upon their designs and that this Rebellion was raised and is upheld for the cause of God and Religion shall we then call them Gods enemies who fight his battels who venture their lives for the common cause for Christs Vicar for Religion for the Church for God himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All they intend is good Nihil malè sed rem sacram facio So said Cillicon I do no evil I do but sacrifice when he betrayed a City Let us rise up in arms let us cut the heretiques throats let us destroy them that they be no more a Nation It is no harm at all but an acceptable sacrifice to God Sed quid verba audio cùm facta videam what are words when we feel the smart of their blows All this will not change their title nor blot their names out of the Devils Kalender out of the number of those that hate God For a man may be an enemy to God and yet do some things for Gods sake And it is too common a thing in the world sub religionis titulo evertere religionem to cry up Religion when we beat it down The Father well said Many good intentions are burning in Hell Multa non illicita vitiat animus It is true indeed The mind and intention may make a lawfull action evil but it cannot make an evil action good Propose what end you please set up Religion the Church and God himself yet Treason and Rebellion are sins which strike at his Majesty No enemies to those who stroke us with one hand and strike us with the other who dig down the foundation and then paint the walls We may observe when Reason and Scripture fail them they bring in the Church at a dead lift and when they are put to silence by the evidence of the Truth then they urge the Authority of the Church and make this word to be like Anaxagoras his Mâ—ne in Aristotle to answer all Arguments The Church is their scarre-sun by which they fright poor silly souls from their faith The Church must make good Purgatory Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints c. And indeed this is the best and worst Argument they have And as they make it an Argument for their grossest errors so they have learnt to make it an excuse for Treason for Rebellion for Murder And to the Church they are enemies because they love the Church Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Such heart and life and bloud doth the fair pretence of the Church and Religion put into wicked men so desperately do they fight against God under his own colours No sin I will not say venial but meritorious drawn on for the advantage of the Catholick cause But for all these glorious pretences enemies they are and Haters of God and to bring in the third appellation wicked persons not sinners of an ordinary rank but gyant-like sinners who fight against God with a high hand Now there is a great difference saith Hilary inter impium peccatorem betwen a Sinner and a Wicked man For every wicked man is a sinner but every sinner is not a wicked man Et carent impietate qui non carent crimine and they may be guilty of sin who are not guilty of Impiety The justest man alive falls seven times a day but this fall is not a rising against God not contumelious to his Majesty But the wicked make sin their trade nay their Religion Deum non ex Dei ipsius professione sed ex arbitrij sui voluntate metiuntur saith the same Father They measure God not by those lines by which he is pleased to manifest himself but by their own perverse will They entitle his Wisdom to their fraud his Justice to their rebellion his Truth to their treason He could not have given us a better mark and character of these men What pretend they the Holy cause the Honour of God the Liberty of Conscience the promoting of Religion and these pretences make the fact fouler and their rebellion more abominable because they thwart the plain definitions and the evident commands of God and break his Law under colour of doing his will Nec minoris est impietatis Deum fingere quam negare It is as great impiety and wickedness to frame a God unto our selves as to deny him to feign a God who will applaud sin countenance murder reward rebellion and crown treason So that to conclude this these men may well bear all these titles of Enemies of Haters of God of wicked persons If there were ever any such in the world these are they But to drive it yet a little more home There is not the like danger of enemies when they are sever'd and asunder as when they are collected as it were into one mass and body not so much danger in a rout as in a well-drawn army Vis unita fortior Let them keep at distance one from another and their malice will not reach to the hurt of any but themselves but being gathered and knit together in one band their malice is strong to do mischief to others The rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against Psal â— his anointed Paquine renders it fundati sunt were founded Before they were but as pieces scatter'd here and there but being gather'd gather'd together they have a foundation to build on While the vapours are here and there dispersed upon the earth they present no appearance of evil but when they are drawn up into the ayr and are compact they become a Comet and are ominous and portend shipwracks and seditions and the ruine of Kings and Common-wealths And such a Comet hangs over us at this day in which we see many thousands are drawn together not by virtue of the stars or any kindly heat from heaven but by an irregular zeal and a false perswasion that they can do God no better service than to destroy us Before they were gathered together in mind and resolution but that was but as the gathering together of a heap of stones in a field now they are knit together as in a building And now we may cry out with the Prophet Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to have Psal 102. 13. mercy upon her yea the appointed time is come When God's enemies when they
kingdome consists not in meats and drinks but in joy unspeakable even the joy of the holy Ghost prevent us with thy mercy that we fall not But if with David we fall in mercy restore us Seal unto us the forgiveness of our sins and fill our hearts with this joy The Tenth SERMON 2 COR. VI. 1. We then as workers together with him or as helpers beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain WE begin as the Church beginneth And we cannot begin better nor chuse a more exact method then that we find in domo doctrinae as the Chaldee Paraphrase calls the Church upon the first of the Canticles in the house of wisdome and learning No method to the method of the Church nor any language so delightful to the child as the language of the Mother We need say no more The autority of the Church makes good the choice of my Text. But yet we cannot but observe the wisdome of the Church in fitting the Text to the Time For as it is one commendation of an Orator apta dicere to fit his speech to the matter he speaks of so is it also opportuna dicere to level and apply it to the time The Orator will tell us Non idem signorum concentus procedente ad praelium exercitu idem receptui carmen An alarum and a retreat have different notes nor is the sound of the Trumpet the same when we bid battel as when we leave it This time of Lent these thirty six dayes which is Quadrage sima propriè dieta as Bellarmine speaks the whole time of our clean Lent the Church of Christ hath cull'd out and set apart as the tith of our dayes saith St. Bernard as the tith of the year saith Aquinas as the tith of our life saith Gerson wherein she calls upon her children in a more especial manner not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Julian speaks to wage war with their belly and appetite by fasting and abstinence but to fight against themselves their irregular desires and inordinate lusts to make a retreat from Sin and to fight the battels of the Lord of hosts I confess as Clemens speaketh of a Christian mans life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole term of it should be a feast a holy day unto the Lord wherein he should continually offer up the sweet-smelling sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving so the Lent of a Christian man should take up not forty dayes only but all the dayes and hours of a Christian man But since we are so willing to forget our selves and suffer our souls to gather rust since few men would faste at any time if there were not statum jejunium an allotted time of fasting the Church calls upon us in the words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold now is the accepted time now an occasion worth the laying hold of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now is the day of salvation a time of fasting to prepare our selvs for the great Feast a time of Lent to prepare us for Easter And as it is prescribed the Jews Deut. 20. 2. that when they were come near unto the battel the Priest should come forth to encourage the people And in all ages Captains have had their Orations to their Souldiers quibus animos addant to make them bold and stout in the battel So doth the Church bring in St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzene speaks the Captain and Champion of all the faithful Souldiers of Christ Jesus bespeaking the Corinthians and in them the whole Christian world throughout all Generations now at this time to put on the armor of light and as they have given up their names unto Christ so to receive regium characterem the Imperial mark and character of Christ to engrave it not on their arm but on their heart non desinere esse quod esse dicuntur as the Imperial laws require of Governors and Guardians of Cities not to leave off to be what they are said to be to please him who hath chosen them to be 2 Tim. 2. 4. Souldiers to labor but as good Souldiers and in the words of my Text To receive the grace of God but that is not all so to receive it that they receive it not in vain I know this Text by Bellarmine and others is applyed to this time of Lent And so it may very well For by this we are taught the right use of Fasting and how to improve this time this short time this fleeting time these forty dayes to Aeternity it self But being unwilling to draw the words from their native and primitive sense and intending to make that the subject and work of the next day and now only to glance at it by the way I will take the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they ly in St. Paul and in that sense which he first intended And then I may call my Text St. Pauls fidei-commissum his Legacy which he leaves as a feoffment in trust to all posterity Breviarium totius Evangelii a Breviary of the whole Gospel a short Catechisme for Christians which whoso learns by heart is a true Gospeller indeed Not to receive the grace of God in vain is signaculum super brachium a signet upon the arm and signaculum super cor a seal upon the heart the true seal and character of a Christian Ecce panem parate fauces as St. Bernard saith Behold here is the bread of life Take it down by attention and digest it by meditation and practise And with me consider first the Duty proposed by way of negation shall I say or caution Receive not the grace of God in vain For the Civilians will tell us Vetita quadam exceptione corrigunt quae jubentur A negative precept by a kind of cautelous exception doth restrain and correct a positive To receive the grace of God is a Christians best Recipe for with it he receiveth all things It is his Wealth to supply his poverty his Strength to establish his weakness his Happiness to sweaten all the misery of the world It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a catholick remedy against all evil But not to receive it in vain is a restriction a direction how we should receive it It is not in the gift but in the hand not in the meat but in the stomach not in the physick but in the Recipiatis not in the grace but in the receiving of it Volenti est salus nolenti supplicium saith St. Augustine As I receive it it may be my physick and as I receive it it may be my poyson Great care then to be had to the Recipiatis how we receive it But then in the second place consider St. Paul's Motive or Insinuation He draws his argument ab officio from his high calling and dignity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We as fellow-workers together with God exhort and beseech you We who have obteined a dignity above the very Angels
Charity takes the bill and sets down quickly and writes Fifty And if thy vessels be quite empty she cancels the bill and teareth the Indenture But it is as true too that Charity begins at home and he that provides not for his own family is worse than an Infidel These precepts of our Saviour non consistunt in puncto are not to be read in that narrow compass they lye but have their certain latitude Let my Charity shine forth like the Day but not to darken the lustre of Justice Let her stretch out her hand to the furthest but not to reach at the Sword of the Magistrate And as they mistake our Saviour so would they take upon them to teach him A trick the world hath long since got To be angry with Gods Providence To teach his Wisdom To guide his Hand and as he in Photius To put their own shape upon the Deity and to confine and limit God to their own phansie If that be thwarted the most blessed Peace is but tumult the most gracious Government tyranny and Order it self disorderly Why should Christ become man say some He might have satisfied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his bare naked Divinity If he will take flesh and redeem he may do that and not satisfie say others And saith the Cardinal God had not dealt discreetly if he had not establish'd a visible and infallible a universal Catholick and yet particular Church And if God be Judge of all men and Deus ultionum what need then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these counsel-tables and seats of judgment and the dread and horror of an earthly tribunal What use of a Sword in the hand of a Magistrate I have grappled you see with a mean adversary but I found him in my way and could not well balk him I leave him to that censure of the Philosophers on those who should deny either Worship to God or Love to Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He should smart under the Authority he denies and be confuted with the edge of that Sword he questions But we shall meet with Gyants indeed Not a Sword you see but they snatch at If they meet with two at once Ecce duo gladij both theirs And they take them and put them into the hand of that Man of pride and he fights against Authority Sword and Bearer King and Caesar Christ and all They read these words as we do And this Sword is secular Power with them too But then this Power is a subordinate and dependent Power this Sword is a sword at will as we say a sword which like Josephs brethrens sheaves to his sheaf must bow and make obeysance to the high Priests Sword And the Magistrate is left palsy-strucken and the Sword tottering in his hand a breath a frown of the supreme Head disarms him But oh the artifice and slight of Satan The Conclusion is He must be disarmed but the first Proposition is He beareth his sword For by these degrees and approaches they reach at it The First step is He beareth the sword and therefore he must be able to wield it and therefore he must have some Master of defence the Pope forsooth to instruct him and therefore he must guide his arme by his direction and strike as he prescribes If he misplace his blow he must be corrected if he be incorrigible he must be disarmed There is the last Syllogismus verè destructivus a bloudy destructive Syllogisme Inauguration is the Medium Deposition inferred This is a Chain to bind Kings in and the first link is Power Here is a Building ruin'd by the Foundation which should sustain it and the Magistrate disabled by his Commission Thus hath the yielding Devotion and forward Piety of some Christian Emperours warmed and animated the Bishops of Rome and made them active to question that Power which once did shelter them and then the Sword became their port and argument which was before their terror For look back and behold them temporibus malis when persecution raged they were no Sword-men then You might see them in another posture a borer in their eyes a whip on their backs no Sword but what was drencht in their own bloud and their Crown was Martyrdom Or look and behold S. Paul here pleading the right of this Magistrate upholding that Sword which he was to feel adoring that Power he sunk under and bowing to Majesty when the throne was Nero's It is the gloss of a Jesuite upon the Apostle but he glosseth too upon that Gloss Ecclesia non subvertit Regna The Ephod and the Robe suit well The Church thwarts not secular Power nor is one sword drawn to break another but both together glitter in the face of Disobedience to strengthen the pillars of a Kingdom Let then both swords be drawn together the one to pierce through the heart the other to drink the Luke 35. 2. bloud of the wicked the one to cut out those causarias partes animae those Deut. 32. maims and bruises of the soul the other to cut off the ungodly from the earth the one to hang over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that laboratory and work-house of the soul that no Babel be erected there no curious piece of guile shap'd there no refuse silver come there no works of iniquity set up there but then Vengeance lying at the door and the other sword ready if they come forth and appear to abolish them to pull down that Babel to break those carved pieces to dash those plots to demolish these works The one to guide us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in things pertaining to God the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in matters of this present life We have now put the Sword into the Magistrates hand It is now time to proceed and place the NON FRUSTRA upon the sword Having setled Authority in its proper subject our next task must make good that it is not there in vain Our second part Those actions which are irregular and swarve from the rule the Philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 odious frivolous actions to no purpose Nec quid nec quare No reason can be given why they should be done Adultery to night is pleasure to morrow my disease Murder is now my thirst anon my melancholy Here is a Frustrà indeed I am more vain than Vanity it self But the Quare the Wherefore to me and you have silenced me But those things which are laid and driven to a right end will admit a Quare Wherefore the sword Wherefore Authority The Apostle is ready and meets you with an answer That we may lead a quiet and 1 Tim. 2. 2. peaceable life in all godliness and honesty That every man may sit under his own vine and under his own fig-tree that the poor man may keep his lamb and the jawbone of the oppressor be broken that Peace may shadow the Common-wealth and Plenty crown it There is scarce
one Quare resolved with so many Answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil This is not a matter of jest but earnest For would you have divers Families drawn into one body politick This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very bond and tye of Society Would have the Laws kept This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a watch a guard set upon the Laws Nay would you have any Laws at all This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law-giver For as Julian calls the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Child of Justice so may we call it the child of Authority For as Authority nurseth and defendeth and strengthneth it so it was the Midwife which brought it forth and the Mother too which conceived it When it was in semine in principiis when it lay hid in the lap of the Law natural Authority framed and shaped and limb'd it gave it voice and taught it to speak its own language but more audibly declared expounded amplified it and was its interpreter Will you have a Church Authority gathers it Would you have the Church continue so a Church still and not fall asunder into Schisms nor moulder into Sects nor crumble into Conventicles Authority is the juncture the cement the Contignation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pale the fence the wall of the Church keeping it so that neither the Wolf break in nor the Sheep get out that neither Heresie undermine the bulwarks without nor Schisme raise a mutinie within Such an accord and sympathy there is between the Secular and Spiritual Sword between the Church and body Politick that if the one be sick the other complains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Socrates at the same time If the Common-wealth swell into tumors and seditions you may see the marks and impressions thereof in the Church and if the Church be ulcerous and impostumate you may see the symptomes and indications in the body Politick So that now we may well render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non sine causa There is good cause good reason that a Sword should be held up that Authority be established And to this Non frustrà we may add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority is not onely not in vain but profitable And we may now ask not onely Quare but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely Wherefore but What profit is there And we can answer and resolve with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much every manner of way For let Cities talk of Charters and Tradesmen of gain let Scholars speak of learning and Noble-men of honour let the Church sing of peace to the Common-wealth and the Common-wealth echo it back again to the Church Attribute these to what you will this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is all This is Isaiahs nayle in a sure place on which hand both Laws and Church and Common-wealth If you but stir it you endanger if you pluck it out and remove it you batter all And this argument ab utili quite shuts up Frustrà 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is profitable is good and that which is good is not in vain But to step one degree further To this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Necessity to Profit Profit may lead me Necessity chaineth me I run and meet with Profit but I am forced and pluckt by Necessity And if it be not onely well it should be so but be so as that it cannot be otherwise then is it not in vain It not Profit yet Necessity excludes Frustrà And necessary Authority is not so much on Gods part as on ours For as Aquinas speaks of the natural Temple Propter Deum non oportuit Templum fieri God had no need of a Temple made with hands but Man had need that God should have one so God could have redeemed us by his own immediate absolute Soveraignty he could have govern'd us without a Sword but it was not good for Man to be so govern'd We were gone away from God and set our selves at such a distance that it was not good he should come too nigh us And therefore St. Basil calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his love to Man that as he had drawn Heaven as a curtain and made it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the veile of his Divine Majesty so in all his operations and proceedings upon Man he is still Deus sub velo God under a veile hidden but yet seen in dark characters but read silent and yet heard not toucht but felt still creating the world by conserving it I say Necessity hath put the Sword into the hand For God appears through other veils by other Mediums but we hide the face and will not see that light which flasheth in our eyes He is first sub velo naturae under the veile of natural impressions speaking to us by that Law which Tertullian calls legem naturalem and naturam legalem and speaking in us but at a distance preventing us with anticipations dropping on us and leaving in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those common notions and practick principles To love God hate evil To worship God and the like domi nascuntur To do as I would be done to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is my contemporary my domestick born and bred with me I received it with my first breath and it will live in me though I attempt to strangle it it will live with me though I would chase it away Non iniquitas delebit saith Augustine These things are written with the finger of God and Sin it self cannot blot them out But though I cannot blot them out I may enterline them with false glosses though I cannot race them out I may deface them My Envy may drop on them my Malice blur them and my Self-love misplace them On this foundation of Innocence I may build in bloud on this ground-work of Justice I may set up Oppression I may draw false consequences from these true principles I must do good I do so to my self when I wrong my neighbour I must shun evil I think I have done that when I run from goodness Like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Aristotle those stiff and stubborn defendants to what is first proposed we easily yield assent but at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we hunt-out tricks and evasions We are all Sophisters but it is to cheat and delude our selves And now if we read these principles in the worlds corrupt edition if unjust man may be the Scholiast thus they lye see and read them INJURIAM FECISSE VIRTUTIS EST to do injury is vertue To oppress is power Craft is police Murder is valour Theft is frugality The greatest Wisdom is not to be wise to salvation And therefore in the second place God presents himself again under another Medium sub velo legis scriptae He would be read as it were in tables of stone And in these tables he writes and promulges his Law Moral Will this
and diametrically opposed Frustrà is placed è regione point blanck to the Magistrate For the Apostle lays it down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he puts a Non a negation between them He speaks it positively and he speaks it destructively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he beareth not the sword in vain The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Duty and the Power the Office and the Definition the same That which should be so is so and it is impossible it should be otherwise say the Civilians For at this distance these tearms naturally stand But when we read a corrupt Judge a perjured Jurer a false Witness we have conciliated them and made up the contradiction These terms naturally stand at a distance we must then find out something to keep them so to exclude this Frustrà to safeguard the Magistrate that he bear not the sword in vain And we need not look far For it is the first thing we should look upon and the Philosopher pointeth it out to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to propose an end Non agitur officium nisi intendatur finis say the Schools I stir not in my duty if this move me not and I faint and sink under my duty if this Continue not that motion And down falls the Sword with a Frustrà upon it if this uphold it not I am but Man and my actions must look out of themselves and beyond themselves I have not my compleatness my perfection my beatitude within my self and therefore I must take aim at something without my self to enfeoff and entitle me to it Now the Magistrate hath divers ends laid before him First that first and architectonical end the Glory of God and then that which leads to that the Peace of the Church and that which procures that the Preservation of Justice and that which begins that the proper work of Justice it self to stand in the midst between two opposite sides till he have drawn them together and made them one to keep an equality even in inequality to use the Sword not only rescindendo peccatori to cut off the wicked but communi dividundo to give Mephibosheth his own lands to divide to every man his own possessions Then the NON FRUSTRA is upon the Magistrate as well as upon the Sword when the Law is not only the edge of this Sword but flabellum justitiae a fan to blow and kindle up Justice in the breast of the Magistrate that it may warm and comfort the oppressed but to the wicked become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a consuming fire When he layeth not these ends aside and instead thereof placeth others for the Glory of God some accession and addition of Honor to himself for the good of the Commonwealth the filling of his Coffers for the Peace of the Church the avoiding of a frown for the right of the oppressed his own private conveniencies and for the Truth Mammon There are many ends you see but that is most pertinent to our present purpose which the Apostle sets down in this Chapter Terror to the wicked Security of the good Justice on both sides And first the Magistrate like God himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 governs us by that which is adverse to us curbeth the transgressor by the execution of poenal laws which St. Basil calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purging cleansing refining fire even of that other fire which when it breaks forth is Lust Adultery Murder Sedition Theft or what else may set the Church and Commonwealth in a combustion And in the next place this end hath its end too For no Magistrate doth simply will the affliction and torture of the offender or punish only to shew his autority but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath an end for that too His Power rests not in the evil of punishment but looks further to the good of amendment and to the good of example not to the taking off heads but piercing of hearts not to binding of hands but limiting of wills not to the trouble of the sinner but the peace of the Commonwealth This is the very end of Punishment to destroy that proclivity and proneness to sin which every evil action begets in the very committing of it Lay the whip upon the fools back and slumber is not so pleasant bring him to the post and he unfolds his arms Set up the Gibbet the Gallants sword sticks in his scabberd exact the mulct and he hath lost the grace of his speech and half his Gentility Let the sword be brandisht and Sin is not so impudent but croucheth and mantleth her self and dares not step forth before the Sun and the people Gird then the sword upon the thigh O most mighty You who are invested with this power remember the end Remember you were placed with a Sword hostire iniquitatem in a hostile manner to pursue the wicked to run after the oppressor and break his jaw and take the prey out of his mouth to destroy this Wolf to chase away the Asp the poisonous heretick to cut off the hands of Sacriledge to pierce through the spotted Leopard And in doing this you perform the other part You defend and safegard the innocent The death of one murderer may save a thousand lives and the destruction of one traiterous Jesuite as many souls Qui malos punit bonos laudat The Correction of the evil is the Commendation nay it is the buckler the castle the defense of the good And it may prove too the Conversion of the wicked The bloud of one Wolf may work an alteration and change of another the Leopard may come to dwell with the Kid the Wolf may feed quietly with the Lamb the Lion may eat straw like an Ox and the Asp play with a Child Isa 11. The poenal Statutes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 copies and samplers and a Judge must do as a Painter doth saith Plato follow and imitate his forms and draughts Where the Law is drawn in lines of bloud he must not lay on colours of oyl Where the Law shews the offender in chains he must not present him at liberty Where it frowns he must not draw a smile nor Timanthes like draw a veil as not able to express that frown No he must take his proportions and postures from the Law Oppression must be portrayed with its teeth out Murder pale and wounded to death Idleness whipt the common Barretter with papers in his hat He must similem pingere not a Man for a Beast not a Dog for a Lion not a Fox for a Wolf not Manslaughter for Murder not Usury for Extorsion not Deceit for Oppression not a sum of daily incursion for a devouring one He must not depose and degrade a gallant boystrous sin and put it in a lower rank to escape unpunished with a multitude The neglect hereof brings in not only a frustrà but a nocivum with it It is hurtful and
Person to blemish and deface his Calling and Profession Nor can our Freedom by Christ priviledge us for we must submit quasi liberi as free and quia liberi because we are free For to this end we are made free that we should work all righteousness and not make our Freedom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cloak of maliciousness that by obeying of Kings and Governours we may be the Servants of God This is the sum of these words In them there be divers circumstances observable which we cannot handle now We will therefore confine our meditations and consider the Object which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every humane ordinance which hath here its distribution into Superior and Infeferior first the King secondly those Governours which are sent by him and are his Vicegerents 2. What is meant here by Submission 3. The Motives to win us to the performance of this Duty One is drawn ab autoritate from the Authority of God himself whose Deputys Kings and Governours are We must submit for the Lords sake another ab utili from the Good and Benefit we receive from them in the punishment of evil doers and the praise and encouragement of those that do well Of these in their order and first of the Object Submit your selves to every ordinance of man What this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this ordinance of man this humane creature is there is some dispute and by divers hands it hath been fashion'd and shaped as it were into divers forms Some have tender'd it as a Law as a Constitution made by man Others have presented it as a Man though not invested with Authority and so have made every man both a King and a Subject a King to receive honour and a Subject to give it every man being bound by Christianity as by a Law to esteem every man his Superior and better than himself Some take it for the civil Power it self which though it be ordained of God and so is his creature yet it was first received and approved of men and so may be said to be a humane constitution à Deo saith St. Paul because all power is derived from God humana creatura saith St. Peter because even Nature it self hath taught men this lesson That two are better than one and that every family and every man is most safe in a collection and Society which cannot subsist but by a mutual dependance Eccles 4. 9. and a friendly subordination of parts where some are govern'd and others bare rule To reconcile all we may observe that rule in St. Augustine Turpe est disputantibus in verborum quaestione immorari cùm certamen nullum de rebus remanserit It is a thing not seemly to dwell long upon the words and to contend and criticize thereupon when the sense is plain Though we cannot separate the Power from the Man whose power it is yet it is plain by the distribution which follows that it cannot be meant of the Power but of the Man upon whose shoulders the Government lyeth For we cannot properly say of Power that it is either King or his Deputy It is very probable what a late writer hath observed that by this phrase the name of Magistrate is exprest in general and that St. Peter calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a creature as the Latines say creare consulem to make or create a Consul and that he stiles him a humane creature not that the Magistrate hath his Authority from men but because Magistrates themselves who are endowed with this Authority are men So that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath reference not to the Efficient cause but to the Subject to the Man in Authority who is the creature of God from heaven heavenly Nor indeed is it much material which sence we take but that the words will bear this last better then the other For as the man is such is his strength and as the Magistrate is such is his Power They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and bear so near a relation that they cannot subsist but together And St. Paul joyns them together and makes them one For whom he calls Rulers in one place he calls the higher Powers in another They are humane creatures as being men and formen but in respect of their power neither of men nor by men further then their consent No 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could the Pythagoreans say Kings and Governours are creatures of Gods making And we may say of them as the people spake of Paul and Barnabas Gods are come down to us in Acts 14. the likeness of men Now this humane ordinance or creature if you take it for the Power it self is still the same and though it be conveyed by divers subordinations unto divers yet it differs no more then Water in the chanel doth from what it was in the fountain For as the King rules in nomine Dei in the name and place of God so doth the lower Magistrate judge the innocent and punish the offendor but withall in nomine Regis in the Kings name But if we take it for the Magistrate himself then it hath degrees of Sub and Suprà 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supreme and transcendent The Rulers and Governours which are sent and appointed by him move in a lower sphere and as the Stars differ from one another in glory For as we say in Logique that the middle Species is the Genus in respect of a lower yet but the Species in respect of the Genus so Magistrates in comparison of Inferiors are publick persons and yet again but Private men in respect of him who is Supreme There is indeed a derivation but no equalizing of power Regis absolutum Dominium the Kings Dominion is absolute under God theirs who are sent concreditum delegatum dependant and by way of delegation For the King is in the Kingdom as the Soul in the Body And the Philosopher will tell us Anima est ubi animat The Soul is wheresoever it hath its operation And so is the King wheresoever he ruleth For he sends his Governours and by them conveigheth and lets forth himself into every corner of his Kingdom His house is the Tent whilst the Captain is a commanding the Province whilst the Deputy is a governing the Tribunal whilst the Judge is a sitting the Consistory whilst the Bishop is a censuring And there is no place hid from his power but his power is every where where his Laws are in force For these Governours are taken in in partem curarum to ease the King of his burden not in partem imperij to share with him in his Supremacy The King then or Emperour is still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his sublimity in the very Zenith of state and admits none to be above him or in the same altitude He is the first compassing wheel others are carried about by his motion moving as the Kings Law moves and as
you up to the Councels Mat. 24. 9. and scourge you in their Synagogue And they shall put you out of their Mark 13. 23. Synagogue Behold I have soretold you all things In the former Chapter where he sends his twelve Apostles and in this where he appoints other seventy also as he indued them with power to do miracles and autority over all Devils so doth he also arm them with the foreknowledg and praemeditation of those evils which would affront them in the way and might slacken and retard them in the performance of their Duty ut eò minùs perturbent venientia quo magis fuerint praescita saith Gregorie In that being Darts foreseen they might lightly pass by and being shown before they came they might come wit less pomp and terror that by foreknowledg of them they might have power also over them to cast them out as they did the Devils And good reason there was that our Saviour who knew their he 〈…〉 and what was in man should prepossess them with the thought of what was likely to ensue For the Disciples having received Legative autority from Christ and being armed with the power of working miracles and casting out devils might well have fed themselves with Hope of fair weather and of welcome whithersoever they enterd and with a high conceit that all men must needs vail and submit to them who had power to subdue even the devils themselves For can Flesh and Bloud stand out against that name through which Hell it self is made subject A conceit than which nothing could have been more pernitious it being incident to most men to bury all Thought of their Duty in the remembrance of their power and dignity to dream of kingdoms when they should be up and awake to do their office and so at last they strip themselves of all succour and ly naked and open to those injuries and calamities which must needs take off their courage and slug their obedience because they come unlookt for and so surprize them in a pleasant dream What Christs embassadours to be sent without purse or script to speak and wish Peace to that House which will not give them welcome to tell men of a Kingdom and be shut out of doors to cast out Devils and find men as malitious as those Devils they cast out to cure diseases and for a reward to receive a wound this is Durus sermo a hard saying to men in autority to men who go about doing good who carry health and blessings along with them whithersoever they go I say a hard saying who can bear it a saying not well digested but wondred at to this day We pray but thou hearest not We fast but thou regardest it not We give our Bread and receive a Stone We pipe and no man danceth We mourn and no man lamenteth Our Patience is derided our meekness is trod under foot our humility is scorn'd Do we not many times say in our hearts with those Mal. 3. 14. It is in vain to serve the Lord There is no profit in keeping his ordinances But this is to forget the Things which our eyes have seen This is to forget God and what he hath told us For he hath told Deut. 4. 9. us before that Prayer and Fasting and Alms have their End when they have not their end Prayer may be heard and accepted and not Granted for to obtain is not the only end of Prayer Fasting may appease God and yet not remove the plague Thy Alms may be abused and trod under foot and yet come up before God God hath presented his Gifts and Graces as glorious as the Sun and Lights but he hath prognosticated and foretold us of cloudy dayes and tempestuous weather which shall darken and obscure them He hath promised to hear our prayers but that he grants them not alwaies is for our sakes He hath promised to crown every good deed but not in this life Therefore let us comfort our selves when our expectation is frustrate seeing nothing befalls us which was not foretold Let us consider upon what condition and terms we gave up our names unto Christ to do what he commands though we see no fruit at all to paint though there be no increase There hath no Temptation taken you but such as is common to man saith St. Paul There hath nothing befallen us which was not 1 Cor. 10. 13. foretold Why do we slug and fail in our Duties Why do we bow under the very shadow of terrors and are crest-faln at the sight of that evil which comes towards us when we are working of wonders curing diseases and preaching of Peace Beloved Distrust and Impatience will never tread upon Serpents and Scorpions nor pass through the power of the enemy to the end of the Duty Hearken not to the found of many waters but to the voice of the Prophet Look not on the grim visage of that evil that haunts you in the performance of your Duty but remember the word that Christ hath said unto you He told you of Contempt but which should make you Honourable of Persecution which should make you blessed of Serpents â—ut such as should not hurt you of Wolves but such as you should overcome with the meekness of a Lamb. Remember what he hath told you and then into whatsoever House you enter whether it be the Habitation of Peace or House of the wicked whether it be a House at unity within it self or a House divided whatsoever it be deliver you your message Into whatsoever house you come say Peace unto it Which is the Form prescribed or the Salutation Peace be to this House And Paece be to this House is a fit Salutation for them to use who were Disciples and Embassadours to the Prince of Peace For as Tully spake of a certain Embassadour That he did senatûs faciem secum afferre autoritatem reipublicae that he brought with him the countenance and presence of the whole Senate and the autority of the Commonwealth from whence he was sent so the Disciples of Christ were to speak in the stead and person 2 Cor. 5. 12 of Christ and carried about with them his autority and therefore they were to use his language that form of words which they had heard from him and that Salutation which he had put into their mouths For 1 This was most proper for him that sent them Decet largitorem pacis haec Salutatio sayth Cyril from him who gives peace who is our Peace who is the Joh. 14. 27. Ephes 2. 4. Isa 9. 6. Prince of Peace no fitter Salutation than Peace 2 It is most proper for the Gospel which they were to preach which is a Gospel of Peace This was Christs first gift when he was born Peace on Earth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his last gift when he was to dy Peace I leave with you My peace I give Joh. 1â— 2â— unto you For this he was layd in
and slow of Understanding When we have spent our selves in study and searching of natural things yet with all this sweat with all this oyl we purchase not so much knowledge as to tell why the Grass which grows under our feet is rather green than purple and can we then hope to dive into supernaturals and find out those causes which God hath lockt-up in his secret treasures It ought to be betwixt God and us as it was between St. Augustine and his Scholar Who having opened many points unto him tells him that if he had given him no reason at all of such things as he had written yet the authority and credit which he ought to have with him should so far prevail with him as to make him take them upon his word without any further question It was a wise saying of Terentius in Tacitus to the Emperor and it saved him both his life and goods Non est nostrum aestimare quem supra caetera aut quibus de causis locaveris tibi summum rerum judicium nobis obsequii gloria relicta est It is not for subjects to examine whom thou hast raised or for what causes the judgment of things belongs unto Majesty but duty and obedience commend a Liege-man The same consideration must poise and ballance a Christian that he totter not in the doubtful and uncertain circumvolution of things It is sufficient for us that we know God hath made Wisd 11. 20. all things in number weight and measure and whatsoever he saith or doth must be taken for true and just although we can assign no reason nor probability why he doth it The whole Book of Job doth drive at this very Doctrine For when Job was on the dunghil full of sores and botches his friends instead of bringing comfort put-up a question and instead of helping him ask the question Why he should be thus handled as to stand in need of their help His friends through ignorance of the Providence of God lay folly and iniquity to his charge Job stoutly defends his innocencie and is as far to seek as his friends why Gods hand should be so heavy on him At last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God himself comes down from heaven and puts an end to the question He condemns both Job and his friends of ignorance and imbecility and tells him that it was not for them to seek a cause or call his judgments in question For this were to darken counsel by words without judgment Canst thou saith God bind the sweet influences of the Pleides or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou send lightnings Job 38. 2. that they may go and say Here we are If the Emperor will be higher than God saith Tertullian coelum debellet captivum ducat vectigalia imponat let him conquer heaven lead it captive and put a tribute upon it If any man will trace out those wayes which are past finding out let him also command God himself and teach him to govern the world if not let him lay his hand on his mouth and proceed no further It concerns not us to know how Gods Providence worketh It is enough that we know he is our Father although he discover not his love by any outward token of distinction When he heals his children he is a Father when he wounds them he is a Father and when he kills them he is a Father Manet dissimilitudo passorum etiam in similitudine passionum saith St. Augustine Where the penalties are alike the patients are not God sees a difference though the world do not distinguish them The Gold and the Dross lye both in one fire yet the Artist puts the one into his treasury and flings the other on the dunghil The Wheat and the Chafs are both under one Flayl yet the one is for the granary the other for the fire It is the wisdome and providence of our heavenly Father not to manifest his love by these outward tokens of distinction nor as Jacob to give that son which he loves best a gayer coat then the rest It is his property 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to find means when all mens inventions do fail and to bring great things to effect by those wayes which flesh and bloud may think would hinder them to bring light out of darkness and good out of evil to take his children out of that mass of evil where they seemed to be wrapt up eternally A day will come quae malè judicata rejudicabit wherein aâ— crooked judgments shall have justice against them when secret things shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as naked and open as an Ox which is cut down the back when we shall plainly see what we are bound to believe That in this confusion God can distinguish That in misery and affliction and in death it self he is our Father In most things the consideration of a fatal Necessity brought the very Heathen to this moderation that they either did lay-down the opinion of evil or else put-on a patience which was equal to it but Christians have a better help to remove Opinion not Necessity but the Will of their Father What cup can be bitter which he drinks to us What can be Evil which his Goodness consecrates What matter is it what labyrinths and windings we find in the course of our life when God doth lead us Do we ask whether he leads his children He leads them unto himself Do we ask by what wayes Why should we ask the question The traveller is not bound to one path nor the mariner to one point Salebrosa est via sed vector Deus The way perhaps is rough and uneven but God is our guide and wheresoever we are we are still in the hand of our Father I have dwelt too long upon this one word But I could not but somewhat enlarge my discourse upon the Providence of God because I see a secret kind of Atheism lurks in the world that many men call God their Father but prefer their low and sordid cares before his Providence as if â—e were a Father indeed but such a one as doth not provide for his children The rich man thinks none miserable but the poor and the poor meets with his humor and thinks none happy but the rich Riches is become the God of this world and hath so blinded mens eyes that they cannot look up unto their Father which is in heaven I will give you a plain demonstration That for which any thing is esteemed must needs be of an higher estimation it self Now experience will teach us Caelum venale Deúmque that men daily venture their souls and God himself for riches and plenty that Virtue is not lookt upon in raggs and that Vice is even adored in purple that the one is placed in a good place at the upper end of the table when the other must stoop and sit down under the foot-stool I will not conclude with St. James Are you not partial in your selves but