and of all that die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus to whom bee ascribed all Might Majestie Dominion and Glorie both now and for ever more Amen This Man of God and faithfull Minister of Christ departed this life upon Friday the 10. of May Anno Domini 1639. neare the end of the six and fiftieth yeare of his age Feb. 25. 1639. Imprimatur THOMAS WYKES Banburies Funerall teares powred forth upon the Death of her late pious and painefull Pastour Mr. William Whately deciphered in this Sympathizing Elogy I am that Orbin which of late did shine An heav'n enlightned starre with raies divine Which did arise within mee and dispence Light life heate Heav'n-infusing influence And went before me steering right mine Eye Vnto the very place where CHRIST did lye He was a Cynosura in my motion To Heaven's bright haven on this worlds vast Ocean Or as the Aegyptian Pharos to descrie The rockes of sinne and errour to mine Eye Hee was my Glorie Beautie Consolation My very soule I but the Corporation I would goe on with bleedings to recite His and mine owne sad fall but I can't write Throbs shake mine hand and griefe my sight destroyes And when I speake ah teares doe drowne my voice Yet will I sigh and give my sorrowes pent Within my breast by mournefull breathings vent Come then speake sighs write teares and sadly storie The dark Ecclipse that hath befell my glorie My Starre is falne and Heavens did so dispose That there he fell where he at first arose The Starres above us thus their races runne Returning thither whence they first begunne But did I say hee 's fallen Stay me there He is translated to an higher spheare Where though to th' world he is obscur'd he may Shine forth unvailed in a purer ray Fixt to an endlesse rest in heavens bright throne Above all starry Constellation But ah alas Death hath dispos'd it so That his rise prooves my fall his weale my woe His weale my woe strange what a change is this My welfare was but now in wrapt in his But thus Death innovates and did he not Tell me that he Commission hath got And warrant for his fact from heavens great King I would have brought him into questioning Ah death what hast thou done Dost thou not care To make a breach which ages can't repaire So rare a Frame in peeces for to take VVhich Heav'n and nature did combine to make A Master-peece For who did ere behold So sound a spirit in so strong a mold Heaven's treasure which within his breast abode VVas by his liberall tongue disperst abroad All Graces gave a meeting in him even To make his breast a little map of Heav'n His lips distilled Manna and he stood Not so for Church-goods as the Churches good His voice it was a trump whose sound was made VVith breath divine which it from Heaven had His life a dayly Sermon which alas Methinkes was measur'd by too short a glasse Ah Death though Painters give thee holes for eyes Yet thou canst see to take the richest prize To hit the fairest mark yet I suspect It was my sinne which did thine hand direct My light had I improov'd it well for gaine VVould have remaind els lights sha'nt burn in vain Yet sure he is not dead for why I find Him still surviving in my breast enshrin'd And who can say that he 's of life bereaven That lives in 's works inpious hearts in Heaven He 's but a sleepe by death undrest not dead Or hath but changd his dresse for he in stead Of these sin-staind ragges of mortality VVeares a pure robe whose length's eternity M. B. EXAMPLE I. OF Adam and Eve AS all other knowledges are conveniently taught by Precepts and Examples so is that best of knowledges the art of living holily Hence it is that as I have instructed you to my poore ability in the Law and the precepts of good life so I doe now intend to set before your eyes the Examples recorded in Scripture of Men both good and bad that by observing the swervings of the one and the right walking of others you may better keepe your owne feete in the streightest paths Onely concerning Examples you must know this thing in generall that no Example at all hath the force of a precept either to binde the consciences of men to any thing as a duty or to restraine from any thing as a sinne because the knowledge of sinne is from the Law and where there is no Law there is no transgression and our care must be to walke in Gods waies not in the waies of any man whatsoever But Example prevaileth alone to perswade the will as a fit argument of Exhortation or Dehortation not as an argument to proove a thing needfull or sinfull Seeing then my duty is to perswade you to all goodnesse and to disswade you from all evill and the Examples of Scripture are undoubted and certaine and they offer themselves as it were unto the sences and so more worke on the will to allure or deterre I thinke it a convenient meanes of helping you in all righteousnesse and against the contrary to make a collection of those Examples of good or bad things which are left us upon record by a divine pen and I will range these Examples according to the order of time wherein they lived so farre as I can informe my selfe thereof by the Word of God And I will begin with Adam and Eve and put them both together because their good and evill was put togeher in practise thereof The Method I intend to take in each person is this I will consider his Birth Life and Death and in his Life I will looke to his carriage and behaviour in respect of the deeds he did good bad indifferent and doubtfull and the things that befell him either prosperously or adversely in benefits or afflictions Now for Adam and Eve because they were the first fountaines of mankind and therefore could not be borne in the same manner as others be for he that is borne must have a Parent and he that hath a Parent was not the first man or woman because his Parent was before him therefore I cannot tell you any thing of their Birth but of their entring into the world by another way which was to them the same in effect that our begetting and birth is to us I will informe you according to the Scriptures for it much concernes us to understand our originall and to know certainely how mankinde came into the world Know then in summe That God made Man of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soule Here is in briefe the Creation of Adam now Adam signifieth red Earth because his body was made of such kinde of Earth and concerning Woman it is noted that God caused a deepe sleepe to fall upon Adam and then tooke one of his ribbes
is a Spirit of prayer and a man carelesse of praying to God doth not trust in God but in himselfe doth not acknowledge his providence nor live by faith in him Let mee quicken you to this duty follow Isaac call on the name of God intreate God for your selves your wives your children the Church the Common-weale all Saints I say recommend all persons and all things to God by servent prayer that he may give you his blessing and all things may be sanctified to you doe this duty daily and constantly We must attaine sprituall strength every day from the workes of the day by daily prayer as we attaine naturall strength daily by the foode of the day Pray well and live well pray ill and live ill By this we have fellowship with God by this we become acquainted with him and make him as it were acquainted with us by this we are made like unto him and draw grace from him and are more and more translated into his image O resolve to be constant in this service and let no temptation of Satan drive you from it or interrupt you in it let no backwardnesse of the flesh cause you to omit it but doe it so well as you be able and whatsoever objections arise breake thorough the same and tell your selves I will doe it heard or not heard accepted or not accepted whatsoever I be what sins soever I shall have I will continue to call on the name of the Lord I will doe my duty let me speede as pleaseth the Lord. Againe it is noted of Isaac Gen. 24.63 that he went out into the field to meditate in the evening This also is an excellent service of God wee are commanded to meditate on Gods Law continually and to meditate on all his wondrous workes For the circumstances of time place manner every man is left to his owne choice but the substance of the duty must be done We must meditate we must exercise our selves in the serious considerations of Gods Word and workes that wee may raise our selves to a fuller knowledge of them and cause our wills and affections to be more subject unto our knowledge Meditation is that which maketh all truths profitable to us without this our knowledge will be but speculative and talking 't will not be practicall and effectuall without this we shall finde no more benefit by our knowledge then by meate undigested that cannot yeeld good nourishment to the body This must increase our knowledge and improove it this must bring it downe from the head unto the heart and so into the life Consider what I say saith S. Paul to Timothy and in other places hee that will a little withdraw himselfe from all other businesses and give himselfe to muse of holy things and take notice of the truth and certainety of them and so confirme his faith in them and then labour with himselfe to be affected with them and draw from them firme and stable resolutions for the well ordering of his life shall finde more progresse in one moneth in the life of godlinesse then he that without meditating doth barely reade and heare for many yeares together you must cover the spiritual seede with earth you must binde the Word to the tables of your hearts you must hide the Word in your hearts If you be slacke and carelesse of this duty your growth in grace will proove exceeding slender Imitate Isaac in this service I know not how a man should come to any stedfast knowledge of his sincerity if he be not one that meditateth on Gods Law So many as are guilty of utter omitting this duty let them bewaile and confesse this sinne of omission and now learne all that would build up themselves in godlinesse to be constant in it Be not discouraged at your imperfections and manifold distractions and great aversenesse All things of this nature are most difficult at the first who reades well at the first going to schoole who writes well at the first setting of pen to paper It is exercise that must perfect our abilities in all such things begin and continue and be not out of heart for failings which the Lord will easily and gratiously passe by and you shall finde the thing more and more easie and more and more comfortable Another particular thing in Isaac was that he was one which feared God his heart stood in awe of God he durst not offend nor crosse him nor oppose himselfe unto his good pleasure So it is noted Gen. 27.33 that when he had unwittingly blessed Iacob and Esau came in after him he feared exceedingly and would not reverse that blessing but said I have blessed him and he shall be blessed and therefore Gen. 31.53 Iacob sweareth by the feare of his Father Isaac that is that God whom his Father feared as in his whole life so especially at that time when he had newly blessed him Isaac calling to minde that God had given the blessing to Iacob saying the elder shall serve the younger and that he had carelesly and fondly gone about to transferre the blessing to Esau out of his carnall indulgence unto him because he was the elder was much afraid to think what a sin he had committed against God and so was restrained from being bold to persist in that carnall purpose but submitting his will to Gods he ratifies that blessing which he had ignorantly pronounced therefore it is said Heb. 11.20 that by faith he blessed Esau and Jacob as concerning things to come It was faith that wrought this feare in him and made him resolute in the blessing given to Iacob the story of this feare you see Gen. 27.33 he trembled exceedingly So it is a good thing to have such an high and reverent esteeme of Gods greatnesse as to make us even tremble very much when we perceive wee have offended him in going about to doe things contrary to his will as Isaac had in attempting to blesse Esau which now hee bethought himselfe of when God had unwittingly directed the blessing to Iacob which himselfe intended to misplace This is a proofe of a soft and tender heart and of an heart uprightly disposed to serve God It is a fruit of a good conscience to check us for sin and stirre up feare in us when we have done amisse so as to stop us from proceeding in our sinnes Demand of your selves have you this feare in your hearts if you have not where is any other grace for it is the beginning of wisdome and without it no grace can grow no corruption can be truly subdued If you have it be thankfull for it and labour to grow in it and to set it on worke more and more particularly as just occasion is ministred If you have sinned if you be about to sinne labour to feare and so to fulfill and worke out your salvation in feare and trembling The Lord our God is a great God and a consuming fire and if we finde our selves to
appointment his lust in all likelihood it was his lust for what other cause should move him I cannot conjecture would not be contained within the bounds of lawfull matrimonie He dares adde a second wife and so bring into the world a painted whoredome a guilded adultery a pretended marriage but indeed a very breach of wedlock For our Saviour Christ telleth us that he which putteth away his wife and marrieth another commits adultery and if that be true as we must confesse for his authority sake that spake it then without all question hee that keepeth his former wife still and will needs take another to her is guilty too of committing adultery The reason is cleare and cannot be denied For if it were not adultery to have more women then one at one time then the taking of another wife upon a causelesse divorce should not deserve that odious title and if it be so poligamy must needs take the same title to it selfe This was therefore a grievous audaciousnesse in this wicked man that hee would leape over the poles as it were which God had fixed The thing was naught and his doing it first before others made it worse in him and made him guilty of their faults that after followed it upon his example For indeed it was quickly taken up and practised in the world insomuch that it continued to the time of Abraham and was practised also by him as a thing not reputed sinfull For when sinne hath gotten yeeres and examples upon its backe it doth many times cease to be counted what it is and goes under the repute of a lawfull thing though it be in it selfe even somewhat evidently unlawfull because partly the minde of man corrupted by the pleasing or profitable effects of it is willing not to thinke it sinne and the judgement is easily sweyed by the will and partly because the example of men doth worke too much to draw unto evill as an heavie thing is easily cast downeward Now to polygamie he addeth a notorious revengefullnesse Having married a couple of women it seemes he found some distempers in them and therefore to calme and over-awe them a little hee falls to breath out revenge with violent threats saying that he would kill a man in his wound or for his wound hee meanes because of wound received and a young man for his hurt or bruise he meanes because of a bruise or stripe given him yea he goes farther and adds that if Caine should be avenged seven-fold then hee seventy times seven fold If any man whosoever he were should hurt him hee should die for it yea were he never so young and lusty a fellow that should offer to smite him it should cost him his life and he would proceede to an higher degree of revenge then that which God himselfe had appointed to Caines murderer viz. hee would be revenged seventy times seven times more that maketh in all almost five hundred times as much more here is passion and pride in all extremity To revenge is to render evill for evill to revenge a thing seven times is to inflict a thing seven times more grievous upon a wrong doer then that which he did to another to revenge seventie times and seven is to lay an evill 490 times more heavie then that received The Lord of Heaven hath cause because hee hath authority to inlarge his punishing justice and to execute a threat of seven times revenge because after such a threat to commit the fault makes it seven degree more faulty as being an audacious despising of his anger and a very setting his threats at naught but for any man to exceede measure so farre in punishing though he were a lawfull Magistrate punishing the malefactor at the complaint and instance of the wronged person it were a great offence How much more then for a private man so farre to exceede all degrees in respect of a wrong done to himselfe Sure he that threatens to be revenged 400 times more then Caine conceived himselfe to be more excellent than Caine 400 times for according to the measure of the parties worth that was wronged must the revenge be increased O how proud a man was hee that durst so farre preferre himselfe above his great grand-fathers Father for so was Caine who being then alive and departed from under the governement of Adam was now the King of all the sonnes that descended from him during his life and the Priest too for Kingdomes and Priest-hoods in those first times went to the eldest of the family by succession These were chiefe Rulers in matters civill and religious He was therefore a very haughty minded man and a very passionate angry man and so a very revengefull man which springeth from pride and and passion These be his faults yet see how good and patient the Lord shewes himselfe unto such a wretch for hee had two sonnes by one wife and a sonne and daughter by the other God gave him the fruit of marriage though he were the first that so shamefully abused marriage for God doth not instantly stretch forth a punishing arme against an offender and these sonnes of his too were very active and profitable men of good parts and account as appeares by their inventions mentioned in the Text. But yet he is not left quite unpunished for his life was unquiet as appeareth by his threatning and bragging what he would doe for such kinde of threats be but boastings of the future time It is not to be doubted of but that his two wives what by the brawles which would fall out betwixt them and their children and what by the stirres that they would make with him each to have him take her part against the other made his life uncomfortable so that hee was faine to see if hee could make the matter a little better by big and violent words to keepe them in awe by feare whom duty could not order Now this is Lamech Let us make some use of his Example even to blame our selves for having committed if wee have committed the like sinnes to his that we may be drawne to repentance which he was never so happy as to performe Secondly to arme ourselves against those sinnes and to abound in the contrary vertues for so it is our duty as Bees doe honey out of weeds to gather good out of bad Examples Come hither then and let mee examine you in Gods name Is there not any amongst you that hath violated marriage worse then Lamech He did sinne by taking two wives The Lawes would punish you for following him in that and would not suffer you to keepe two women under the name of wives have not you therefore falne to flat and downe-right adultery If so repent of this enormity The Lord will not suffer the transgressors of his Covenant to beare it free if repentance doe not stay his hand Yea have not some of you beene Lamechs in making the first breach into a sinne
our selves and scorne and contempt against them to gaze upon the faults and ill carriages of the godly men with whom wee live which is also so much the more aggravated if the reverence which we owe them in regard of their places and love in regard of their neerenesse to our selves have not beene able to withdraw us from such injuriousnesse This is one sinne of Ham cursed Ham the Father of Canaan come and examine yourselves if none of you have acted Hams part against your Parents against the Magistrate against the Minister against any Christian or neighbour Have you not beheld the faults of any such with content and gladnesse in it have you not beene willing to stand thinking of that fault and to make your hearts thereby bold to despise and sleight them to laugh at them and to censure them If this have beene to a person neere and eminent the fault receives great aggravation by that circumstance but if it have beene done to any Christian man though not of such worth or neerenesse or to any man at all it was a wickednesse to be abhorred shewing a most uncharitable disposition for charity rejoyceth not in iniquity that is is not glad to see another commit sinne and withall an heart that is willing to hide its owne sinnes and make them seeme little or nothing and make it selfe bold to commit them still by beholding other like sinnes in other men chiefely such as are bound in duty to be and in reason should be expected to be better then ones selfe hee alwaies sees the faults of others to some mischievous intention and with some evill affection that lookes upon them with an open and earnest eye as taking king some content in this that such and such also be bad as well as himselfe Now if you have runne into such a fault call it to minde and repent of it and know that how great soever the crime was your crime was as great or greater in so beholding Hams thus beholding his Fathers nakednesse was worse then his Fathers discovering himselfe And now I require you to make Ham your warning doe not as he did but as your owne consciences tell you that he should have done Aske thy selfe if thou beest a reasonable man of any judgement what should this sonne have done in such a case should he not have turned away his eyes from looking on such a spectacle should he not have sighed and mourned and said alas alas how hath this befalne my poore aged and godly Father O how was he overtaken with wine that was never wont to exceed himselfe in foode or the like Should he not have prayed God to forgive him and have told himselfe in this wise ah doe thou learne O Cham how weake a thing a man is and how apt to fall into sinne that thy selfe maist learne to be more watchfull and so have cast some garment over the old man to have saved him from further disgrace if any other person might have had occasion to approach him Sure you cannot but yeeld that Chams duty had beene to have carried himselfe thus respectively and pitifully towards his Father doe you as duty bound him to doe not as leudnesse and naughtinesse prompted him to doe Mend his faults and imitate them not be reformers and not followers of what was amisse in him Commiserate the sinnes and falls of other men chiefely Parents Magistrates Ministers Aged men and men of former godly conversation and of vertuous and religious carriage in other things I say commiserate them pray for them lament their weakenesse and their slips take notice of your owne dangers and so wake your selves by their offences But whosoever will contemplate such dolefull sights with gladnesse and insultations saying Aha aha as David speaketh of his Adversaries that man will collect boldnesse to sinne and impenitencie in sinne and a sleighting of righteousnesse and righteous men from such offences and so will stumble and fall and destroy himselfe against those blockes as they may be termed But I come to another fault of Chams He contented not himselfe to see but must also blab abroad what he had seene and tells it not alone to one but to his two Brethren that were without and did not see it He left his Father still uncovered and gets him out of doores to finde Sem and Iaphet and so soone as he met with them reports no doubt laughingly and fleeringly what he had seene like enough adding also words to this purpose to draw them to the like and bid them goe in and they should see such a thing as they would little have thought ever to have seene But let us satisfie our selves to take the fault as it is set downe He told the fault and told it to his two Brethren that were without and needed not to have beene acquainted with their Fathers nakednesse if hee wretched whisperer could have commanded himselfe silence So you have in him that foule sinne of whispering of another mans faults behind his backe aggravated with the consideration of the persons against whom he sinned his Father and towards whom his Bretheren both of them and where even without It is a sinne and wickednesse to scatter abroad the faults of others and to divulge those matters of disgrace against them which a man might easily keepe close if he were master of his mouth and is not bound by any duty to reveale and especially to blab them to such as else would not know them and such as might be most grieved and hurt by hearing them This J say is a sinne it proceedeth either from a twatling laxative humour causing that a man must vent all he knowes and be talking of many things or else from an uncharitable disposition to the party whose name one tenders not his person one loveth not It is hurtfull to the speaker feeding his hypocrisie making him ready to commit the same or the like sinnes and hurtfull to the hearer to infect him or to grieve him and to him of whom report is made to reproach and discredit him and withdraw the heart of the hearers from him It is much aggravated when the thing reported is false and uncertaine taken up upon meere hearesay and the person of whom J speake either my Parent Brother Friend or Superior my Magistrate Master or of note in the Church as a Minister or eminent in goodnesse as this just Noah This was the fault of Cham. I call upon your consciences to find out your sinnes in the like kind if not degree have you not spoken of the faults of your governours or of others to others meerely to disgrace or else meerely to hold up talke when other matter failed Bretheren do not count this a small offence a talebearer a whisperer a revealer of secrets is no small offender Hee doth not walke according to the plaine rule of our Christian Religion doe as you would be done to he doth not bridle his tongue he doth not
walke according to charity He is injurious to the name of another and a wrong doer to the whole world by scattering abroad examples of evill hee shewes himselfe no hater of sinne that loves as it were the smell and favour of it He is a manifest transgressor of Gods Commandement and at last makes himselfe odious to those that heare him and to those that are ill spoken of by him For the hearer cannot choose but discourse thus if hee spare not anothers name whether will he spare mine in another place and therefore I have no reason to trust him or be familiar with him and he whom he hath misreported will heare of it at last and then hee will hate him as a person treacherous and false-hearted and cannot but reason thus with himselfe so long I have lived by him and so neare so often have I beene in his company hee never opened his mouth to admonish me but in mine absence to do me disgrace hee hath not beene sparing It cannot be that he wisheth my good in his heart that useth not his tongue to do me the greatest good that is to reforme but doth imploy it to doe me the greatest hurt he can that is to disgrace me Therefore if you have beene whisperers see the fault and be sorry It is a Cham like trespasse And now charme your tongues I pray you as from all evill language so specially from telling other mens secret sinnes abroad and making that open which might have beene well kept close Whosoever hath made his Brothers faults especially a Parents or the like open to any man if he himselfe might have kept them from that one without sinne hath committed a sinne in so doing Further then wee are moved by the necessity of our duty to reveale other mens offences we are bound in duty to conceale them farther then it would have beene a sinne not to have spoken of them it cannot but be a sinne to talke of them You must not thinke that it is at your liberty to declare your neighbours secret faults when you will your selves you would not have others deale so with you As wee may not lawfully hurt our neighbours body till some necessity of duty bind us so neither his name for the ninth Commandement at least the fift requireth to be as chary of that as the sixt doth to be chary of his body Cease cease to be whisperers above all take heed you bee not worse then Chams for hee spake nothing but what he saw with his owne eyes O do not you dare to speake what you never saw but either conjecture alone of your owne head or have onely heard of others Thus wee have done with Chams fault now let us consider his punishments God cursed him in his sonne Canaan not that himselfe in person was exempted but that the curse should shew it selfe most apparently upon Canaan and that Israel might be more encouraged to goe up against the Cananites a nation antiently cursed of God and his curse standeth in this that he should be a servant of servants not so much to men although that also in that was understood and fulfilled but to Idols to sinne to Satan So Cham by discovering his Fathers fault gets a grievous curse upon himselfe and his posterity O learne to terrifie your selves from this sinne by threatning your selves with this curse Shall J provoke God to curse me and my children after me shall I sow the seed of misery for my selfe and those that are to come of my body hereafter Let Gods severity upon those whereof himselfe hath given us knowledge in the word make us carefull to preserve our selves from their offences and to that let us both acknowledge our owne aptnesse to the same crimes and inability to deliver our selves from them as also crave at the hands of God the gracious helpe of his Spirt to preserve us If any demand But why should the curse fall on Canaan for Chams fault I Answer The Lord hath all the children of all wicked men so farre obnoxious to his justice that it cannot be a wrong in him to punish the Father in the sonnes or the sonnes in the Parents So have we done with Cham. The next bad man of whose badnesse the Holy Ghost takes notice is Nimrod Hee was the fourth from Noah and thus his geneologie riseth Noah Cham Cush Nimrod His name signifieth wee will rebell or a rebell whitherby chance or otherwise given to him of him this one thing alone is noted that hee began to be mighty in the earth Gen. 10.8 hee was a mighty hunter before the Lord insomuch that his name gave occasion to a proverbiall speech if any man would describe a violent tyrannicall fellow he would say as Nimrod the mighty hunter By hunter here is not meant an hunter of beasts but an hunter of men the word translated hunting may well be englished foode or prey and hee may be called a man of prey that is of spoile and booty Hee was the first that affected to erect a Monarchie and to make himselfe a commander over men by force and strength of armes so that his sinne was ambition usurpation tyrannising that is a violent inforcing men to yeeld to his dominion whether they would or not though he had no right or title to command over them for hee was the sonne of Cham who was the youngest of Noahs sonnes and withall accursed of God to be a servant of servants and yet he would make himselfe a commander over others and we have it noted what City he began first to erect his tyrannie in viz. Babel whence it may seeme the plague spoken of afterwards did drive him and yet he left not but went to other Cities and made his dominion still larger and larger Learne of him to take heed of ambition and tyranny J need not to pray you to forbeare a tyrannicall usurpation over Cities and nations but take you heed of that degree of tyranny which is incident to men of your ranke even of carrying out your owne will against equity and right A tyrant is an odious name this mighty hunting made Nimrod infamous he did openly professe and practise it which seemeth to be meant by calling him mighty hunter in the sight of God He cared not for God nor man but openly and in the sight of God and man attempted to subdue the nations and people round about him and to make himselfe a great commander Put away from you ambition vaine glory covetousnesse violence and all those sinnes which are together wrapped up in this one word tyranny so I have done with these two particular sinners I goe on to set before you a troupe of sinners all at once whereof I conceive that Nimrod was the ringleader for it was done at Babylon his City which he built and which he had constituted the head and Metrapolitan City of his dominion The fault you have set downe Gen. 11.2 3 4.
married any without the liking and privity of his Father but took the right and due course gave up himselfe to his Fathers authority and direction and therefore God gave him a good Rebekah indeed a comfortable wife and vertuous woman In this therefore all children are bound also to imitate him Children must take their Parents counsell and direction in matter of marriage and not bestow themselves without their good liking and consent that they may have Gods blessing attending them in their marriage when they honour at once both God and their Parents in obeying Gods Commandement and shewing due respect unto their Parents So did even Ishmael though otherwise a wilde man for it is said of him that his Mother tooke him a wife So did Iacob afterwards His Father blessed him and sent him to Padan Aram to take him a wife of the daughters of Laban his Mothers brother And when Sampson saw a woman of Timnah that pleased him well he spake to his Father and Mother to take the Maide for him who went downe thither and made the match for him Indeed the Parents have more discretion and understanding then the children by reason of their age and experience and therefore it is for the childes good to follow their advice And to whom must the children goe for comfort and helpe in case that any crosse befall them in marriage but onely to their Parents of which comfort and helpe they deprive themselves if they venture upon marriage without them wee know that those God hath not joyned in marriage whom he doth not unite in that estate Now God hath made the Parents his Deputies in this behalfe saying unto them give your daughters in marriage and take sonnes for your daughters and againe you shall not give your daughters to them in marriage nor take their sonnes to your daughters Now how can it be said that God joyned them if their Parents whom hee hath made rulers over them in his steed do not joyne them seeing immediately hee doth joyne none in these our daies Also the children are the goods of the Parents as a part of their possession insomuch that they were also to be sold to pay their debts Wherefore as no bargaine is firme in other kindes of goods without the consent of those that have right unto those goods so neither can this covenant be good without the consent of Parents which have as much right from God in their children as in any other of their goods Wherefore those sonnes and daughters are much to be blamed who have neglected this part of their duty to their Parents and have suffered their blinde and strong passions so farre to transport them that against their Parents consent and counsell they have bestowed themselves in Matrimony and so have transgressed against the plaine commandement of God Such must heartily repent of their sinne and humble themselves before God with much sorrow for their great and wilfull disobedience Parents would not have their children thus to slight and dishonour them yea they take it grievously and are much perplexed with sorrow for their children in this case therefore children should bee much grieved themselves if they have given this occasion of griefe unto their Parents To satisfie mens owne desires and affections without regard to Gods ordinances is a notorious disobedience and bringeth the guilt of a great offence upon the soules of them that have so offended All you that have married in this disorderly manner see that you doe unfaignedly repent of the sinne before God and confessing the fault before him seeke to prevent the curse that must else fall upon you and your children after you for so dishonouring your Parents And you young men and women that be not yet married see that you binde your consciences and resolve your wills to obey this commandement Follow God in your Parents and be not so rash and selfe-willed as to crosse them and follow your owne heads and passions This duty will be easie if you looke carefully to your passions at first and suffer them not to be undiscreetely fixed upon any person untill you have acquainted your Parents with your desires and crav'd their allowance and consent But if a man or maide doe inthrall themselves and intangle others by a disorderly placing of their affections then shall they make this otherwise easie duty hard and impossible to themselves Keepe your selves therefore Masters of your owne hearts and sell not away your liberty through an over-hasty yeelding of your selves to your unruly passions Suffer not your mindes to be drawne away by any meanes but pray God to keepe your hearts in order It is a sinfull love as well as a sinfull passion in any other kinde which troubles an house and makes the children contrary to their Parents and to proove the greatest crosse that may be to them to whom they ought to have beene the greatest comfort Lastly Isaac shewes his due respect unto his Father by joyning with Ishmael his brother in burying his Father for so it is said his sonnes Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machphelah This is the last office that childeren can performe and they must shew their love and duty to them in the honourable performance of this last act as to testifie their love to their Parents so to declare their faithfull hope of the resurrection from the dead For therefore are men with due solemnities committed to the bosome of the earth because they expect their glorious rising againe and they shall not utterly perish and fall as doe the bruite and unreasonable creatures Now see Isaacs carriage towards his mother There was no love lost betwixt them but as Sarah did tenderly love Isaac so did he requite her love with love againe as is manifested in his sorrowfull taking of her death though she lived with him to a great age For so it is written that after Rebekkah was brought unto him and he was married unto her Gen. 24 ult Isaac was comforted after his mothers death intimating that even untill then he was grieved for the losse of her It is a fault therefore in childeren oversoone to forget their dead mothers and to let their remembrance quickly to slip out of their mindes how much more to be weary of their over-long lives and to be glad when the time comes that they must put them into the dust in respect of some paultrey gaine of money of land that they shall possesse when the Father and mother is dead All that desire their parents death for their goods sake which they shall enjoy after them and are glad when they shall change their parents for their goods must needes be called wicked and ungratefull childeren See therefore that you children love even your mothers heartily moderately lamenting their death that you may make it appeare their life was not a burden unto you And so have we seene Isaacs goodnesse towards his parents Looke into his carriage
justifie himselfe his owne cloathes would defile him This righteousnesse standeth in an exact conformity to the Law of God in that a man hath not committed neither is prone and inclined to commit any of the things which the Law doth forbid nor hath not omitted nor is not prone to omit any of the things which the Law doth command but is utterly free from all sinne of omission and commission and hath perfectly fulfilled the Law in all points and degrees Such a righteousnesse since Adams fall was never found but in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ Therfore the Apostle saith If righteousnesse were by the Law Christ were dead in vaine he meaneth that if God appointed us now to come to Heaven for Christs sake upon condition of our perfect fulfilling the Law it would be to no purpose for we should not be saved by his death and after he saith that the Law concludeth all under sinne that the promise through the faith of Iesus Christ may be given to them that beleeve and before he had said If there had beene a Law given which could have given life righteousnesse had beene by the Law so that there was not a Law given that could give life and therefore the Psalmist confesseth that in Gods sight there is no flesh righteous and S. Paul durst not stand to this righteousnesse which was his owne by the Law This Legall righteousnesse it would justifie if we had it but wee have it not for wee lost it in our first Parents in whom all sinned and all died all were made sinfull and mortall creatures and a sinfull mortall creature cannot possibly performe such a Law as was given to a sinnelesse and immortall creature Therefore wee must finde out another righteousnesse by which some men may be called righteous and by which Abel was righteous seeing that by this righteousnesse the Scripture testifieth that neither hee nor any other can be made righteous This is the righteousnesse of faith the righteousnesse of the Gospell the righteousnesse of God the righteousnesse which is by the faith of Jesus Christ even the righteousnesse of God without the Law and the righteousnesse which is by the faith of Jesus Christ Now there is a double righteousnesse taught in the Gospell The one is made ours by imputation and is not ours by inherencie wee never performed it our selves but another performed it for us and we have it imputed to us It is by S. Paul described thus A righteousnesse without workes imputed to the happy man not simply without workes for that is impossible because the Law cannot be fulfilled but by working according to its direction and unlesse the law be fulfilled there is no perfect righteousnesse but a righteousnesse without any workes of ours and therefore without the Law too for the Law accepteth of no righteousnesse but that which is wrought by our selves as it is said of Abraham that hee wrought not but did trust in him that justifies the ungodly Abraham wrought diligently and plentifully how then can it be said that he wrought not hee meaneth that he did not worke that by his owne workes hee might attaine this righteousnesse By this righteousnesse alone we are justified It is the perfect and exact righteousnesse of our Lord Jesus Christ accepted for us and put to our reckoning For he was our surety he tooke our nature hee bare our sinnes hee fulfilled our duty and bare our punishment and so satisfied Gods justice in our roome and is become The Lord our righteousnesse This is the one righteousnesse commended to us by the Gospell To this and this alone we must cleave for the obtaining of remission of sinnes and life eternall at the hands of God By merit of this are we pronounced just by God at his heavenly Tribunall and in the judgement of our owne consciences and hereafter shall be so pronounced openly at the last day to this S. Paul cleaved This the Gospell taught for therein is declared the righteousnesse of God from faith to faith But the Gospell telleth of another righteousnesse that is a companion of this alwaies at the same time and by the same meanes given that this is given and it is a quality inherent in us and wrought in us by the Spirit of God and floweth immediately from our faith The Apostle S. Paul doth describe it plainely saying that Wee must count our selves dead unto sinne but alive unto God and then saith Wee must not yeeld our members as weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sinne but as weapons of righteousnesse to God and saith Wee are become servants to righteousnesse and that wee must yeeld our members servants unto righteousnesse and againe must raigne by righteousnesse unto life eternall It is not the cause of our life but the way to it It is a vertue wrought in us by which we are made able to strive and indeavour and desire to keepe the Law A man till he be justified by faith and reconciled to God is estranged from the Lord and from the life of God and is an enemy in his minde and is dead in sinnes and loves sinne and will not leave it and out of a stiffe and strong bent of will to sinne cannot but serve sinne and will and resolve to continue serving it in one kinde or other Now this is also a righteousnesse of the Gospell and it differs from that of the Law in two things 1. In regard of the degree it is imperfect and defective failing in many things but it is upright and sincere allowes not its failings but with an upright desire striveth to perfection and is still labouring against its imperfections 2. It differs from the righteousnesse of the Law in use for the Law doth require this righteousnesse as an accomplishment of the Covenant of workes to justifie us before God by the merit and worth of it but the Gospell requireth this as an act of obedience alone to shew our thankfullnesse and to proove us truly justified before God because as it is said There is not a Law given which could give life seeing that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and whosoever goes about to put this righteousnesse into the use of justifying him before God I meane of attaining eternall life and remission of sinnes from God by vertue and worth of it that man cannot but be damned because he cannot have the imputed righteousnesse and the inherent both for that purpose If he trust to Christs righteousnesse he cannot trust to his owne if to his owne he cannot trust to Christs seeing S. Paul opposeth them as things contrary saying not having mine owne but Christs which were weakely spoken if a man could have both to the use of justifying yea he saith He that will be justified by the Law is fallen from grace and Christ is become of none effect unto him and by the Law he seekes to be justified that
some Texts of Scripture that shall give you sure arguments of comfort from which if you can conclude your selves Gods people that you are so indeed and not alone in shew your comforts will hold water as it were in the day of death and judgement Ierem 7 5. the Prophet bids them thoroughly amend their waies and their doings and not trust in lying words Loe thorough and universall reformation of heart and life that that is the onely sufficient proofe of being Gods children and such as shall inherit his Kingdome all that can be alledged without this is no better then lying words which will deceive So Iohn did after teach the Jewes Mat. 3.9 Say not wee have Abraham for our Father that Allegation will prove fruitlesse if it goe alone but what must they doe more Bring forth fruits meete for repentance that is frame your selves to a thorough reformation of your hearts and lives and so S. Iohn teacheth Hee that doth good is of God hee that doth evill hath not seene God whosoever he be that makes so good use of those helpes which God hath for that end provided in his Church as to attaine true repentance true amendment of life that is a constant and upright care and endeavour to cast away all transgressions and make him a new heart and a new spirit resolving in nothing to sinne but in all things to walke according to the direction of Gods Word and where he faileth still continuing to lament and confesse it before God judging himselfe and craving pardon and helpe in the name of Christ that man shall be saved that man is a solid Christian that man is not a Cham let him rejoyce in God as a true member of the Church but whatsoever else may be either had or done without this bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance is no more then may be alledged by some Cham or other Therefore againe I beseech you satisfie not your selves with other things but apply your selves to this amendment of heart and life with all speed and with all diligence Let Cham be your warning trust not in lying words And further now that you see in the Arke among the eight persons one Hypocrite who did afterwards evidently discover his hypocrisie learne to know that there will be such in the Church to the worlds end as were also in the family of Abraham Isaac Iacob David Hezekiah and other good men even tares among the wheate and goates among the sheepe and unfruitfull branches in the vine that you may learne as to feare your selves so especially to satisfie your owne hearts and not to be offended by the like accidents in your owne times If a man that hath long lived in an orderly course of life and gotten himselfe the name of a good man and enjoyed many benefits in the Church shall afterwards fall quite away from goodnesse and manifest himselfe to have beene no better then a Cham let not this trouble you nor dismay you neither take you occasion from their wickednesse to condemne either goodnesse it selfe or good men as to say that they be all dissemblers there is never a better in the pack but improve their fall to the making of your selves more watchfull over your selves and prayer-full for your selves and still love and honour Gods Church though some that professe themselves to be lively members of it doe manifest their guile by their utter falling away at the last We have done with the goodnesse of God to Cham in suffering him to live in the Arke Now follow his sins The first sinne which we gather from that which succeeded is this that he was an Hypocrite one that contented himselfe with a bare outward shew of goodnesse and did not labour for the power of it to humble him to discover his secret faults to him and to heale his soule by bringing the Image of God even the divine nature to him which was also the sinne of Caine before and after too of Esau and of Iudas and Achitophel and many others Take you heed of this Brethren take you heed of this Beware that you be not Hypocrites satisfied with some externall shew of religiousnesse joyned with civill conversation of life freedome from grosse sinnes and orderly living to the world-ward but seeke after the soule-spirit of godlinesse which consists in finding out and reforming the corruption of your natures and the secret disorders of your inward man He that so prayeth and heareth that these ordinances make him see and be humbled in the sight of the filthie quagmire of sinne that is within him by which he is carried from God to himselfe and to sinne and the world for his owne sake and labours to have his inside more and more cleansed and reformed and drawne up to God and the things of God this man is a true Christian But he that satisfies himselfe in an outward forme of holy duties and of civill honest conversation not diving to the depth of his heart this man may proove and if he mend not will proove a guilefull Cham at last But now his next sinne is and Ham the Father of Canaan saw the nakednesse of his Father If he had suddenly and occasionally come into the place where Noah lay uncovered and his eyes before he was aware had lighted on that object and he had presently turned away his countenance from it with griefe for his old Parents fault and out of tender compassion that seeing had beene no sinne But the meaning is he gave himselfe to stand and gaze upon his Fathers unbeseeming carriage and unseemely parts so as to delight in it and thereby to stirre up and nourish in himselfe a contempt and slight esteeme of his Father Hee did not see it with pitie and remorse and make the best of it as of a matter of infirmity into which the good old man fell unawares but he beheld it with gladnesse laughter derision jesting sporting at his Fathers nakednesse and misdemeanour This is a great fault to behold the sinnes and offences chiefely of Parents and other superiours and most of all of godly and holy men Fathers of the Church and of Religion as well as of our persons I say to behold their faults with an over-open and a greedy eye with scorne and scoffes and contempt of them and of piety and of goodnesse in and thorough them For this certainely comes from nothing else but a secret dislike and aversnesse from goodnesse it selfe against which we are glad to pick a quarrell and are willing to have somewhat to object against it that wee may hinder our selves from imbracing it and from a gladnesse also to have somewhat to alleadge in excuse of our owne naughtinesse and for the imboldening of our selves to persist in it still without feare It is nothing but hypocrisie I meane a being contented with a false counterfeit goodnesse yea willingnesse to favour and allow our selves in our owne sinnes that maketh us with joy and delight in
it if you have it not yet get it if you have it labour to increase and nourish it by considering his great excellencie and great terriblenesse A third vertue Abraham had obedience that is his will was thoroughly subject to Gods will in all things so that he held this resolution within himselfe that whatsoever God bad him doe that he would doe for which God praised him saying because thou hast obeyed my voice and the Apostle saying he obeyed and went out Obedience is a resolution and indeavour to doe all that God bids because he bids Let us take some speciall acts of obedience wherein Abraham did crosse his reason and his affection and his credit and his profit and all to performe the will of God even therefore onely because God bad him whom he durst not out of feare and would not but out of love follow in all things First God gave him Commandement to leave his Countrey and Fathers house to goe out into a land which he should shew him A strong Commandement leave all thy kindred and goe into a Countrey thou knowest not whither but goe from place to place as I shall shew thee Here seemed no reason in this Commandement but Abraham obeyed it Gen. 12.1 Secondly when he came into the land of Canaan he did not build a Citie nor an house there but dwelt in tents as the Apostle noteth as a pilgrim and a stranger not having possession in it at all so much as a foot God gave him no place of abode but caused him to wander as himselfe telleth Gen. 20.13 This seemed an unhappy and unsetled life and flesh and bloud could not take content in such a kinde of living but because God injoyned Abraham so to live He submitted himselfe and did live so save that onely he bought a place to burie in as being still mindfull of his death A third heavie Commandement he received from God Gen. 17. 10. and 26. God made him to circumcise himselfe and all the males of his family and all that should after be borne when they were eight daies old and he made no question of it To circumcise was to cut off the top of the uppermost skinne of the secret part This seemed the foolishest thing in the world a matter of great reproach which would make him as it made his posterity after to seeme ridiculous to all the world It carried an appearance of much undecencie and shamefullnesse to cause all his servants to discover themselves unto him Much more might have beene alledged against this ordinance what good could it doe what was any man the better because he had wounded himselfe and put his body to that torment yet for all this Abraham disputed not objected not made no contrary allegations but presently the selfe same day tooke himselfe and his sonne Ishmael and all his servants in his house and circumcised them according to the commandement of Almighty God Yet a fourth commandement more tedious and contrary to reason and affection then all these which was of it selfe exceeding grievous in his sight as the Holy Ghost witnesseth that is the expulsion or excommunicating of his sonne Ishmael and of his mother Hagar yet when God commanded him to doe it Gen. 21.12 hee rose up the next morning betimes v. 14. and sent away both the mother and the sonne But last of all he obeyed a commandement that seemed to contradict nature and religion and Gods promise and his owne salvation and the salvation of all men and the truth and honour of God himselfe so that God was said to try him to the utmost in that commandement It was in sacrificing Isaac as the Spirit of God notâ—th Heb. 11. and Gen. 23. God bad him take Isaac and not instantly kill him in the place but goe three dayes journey and not knocke him on the head and there an end but offer him for sacrifice But what was this sonne the sonne of his old-age the sonne of his love which was so deare unto him yea the promised seede in whom it was said In Isaac shall thy seede be called and this sonne he offered after a most melting conference betwixt himselfe and Isaac his sonne all alone Here was an obedience incomparable and unparalable no man ever did the like except our Lord Jesus Christ who offered up himselfe which must needes be dearer to himselfe then Isaac was to Abraham So now marke the excellency of Abrahams obedience hee was obedient for the matter in hard and difficult things for the manner promptly and readily without gaine-saying speedily and presently without deferring and universally without excepting without picking and choosing If you be able to produce such obedience to justifie your faith that it may appeare your faith is a working faith then have you faith indeed and not in word alone but if your faith be not accompanied with an obedience of the same kind though not in the same degree whereby you are able to yeeld your selves to God resolving in all things readily and without delay or murmuring to yeeld unto him how are you obedient how have you faith such a faith as was Abrahams All therefore that say they beleeve as Abraham did but yet obey not as Abraham did yea are wilfull against Gods Commandements refusing to doe knowne duties and to leave knowne sinnes that will not circumcise the foreskin of their hearts nor leave their countrey and Fathers house nor cast out their Ishmaels nor offer up their Isaacs all such are beleevers alone in shew and not in deed Compare your selves with Abraham and if your obedience be not like his I say as before having the same ground extent and properties it is but a counterfeit faith whereof you boast and no true faith Therefore now be earnest with the living God to worke in you true subjection to him and to make you like Abraham his servant for God that wrought his heart to such flexiblenesse will and can performe the same for you Pray him to incline your hearts to his statutes beseech him to write his law in your hearts and to cause you to keepe his Commandements and judgements and doe them And if you find such an obedience though not so great yet that which hath the same ground and strives to attaine the same extent and properties then take comfort and be not afraid to call your selves sonnes and daughters of Abraham for Zacheus was the sonne of Abraham when leaving his greedinesse hee could make restitution and give to the poore Now a fourth vertue in Abraham was religiousnesse for it is said of him that hee built an Altar to God and that hee worshiped God and that he called on the name of God and that he payed tithe of all he had to Melchisedech and this is for our learning We must call upon God we must professe and practise true religion we must offer reall sacrifices on Christ the Altar we must also
Lord then that is a lover of truth and peace doth not likely leave such rebellions unpunished This therefore must cause us to detest much more as a much more plaine and fearefull crime the sinne of rebellion against those more rightfull Kings and Princes to whom we owe more subjection as being both naturall borne subjects and also having tyed our selves by an oath of allegiance and loyalty for the more confirming of us in our duty and stronger tying our consciences to it And the Pope that taketh upon him for his owne advantage you may be sure to dissolve and unloose such oathes dispencing with them and pretending to free mens consciences from the obligation of them and from all danger of sinne by breaking them carrieth himselfe exceeding wickedly and is most extreamely injurious to the consciences of men and to the peace of the world and most impudently bolde against the name of God and the sacred and inviolable power of an oath Bee you advertised that this is to set himselfe above God in undertaking to dispence with an oath taken by the holy name of God which the Lord himselfe did never yet dispence withall for hee that dispenceth with the conscience must be Lord of the conscience and hee that dissolveth an oath must be greater then he that bindeth to the oath and by the oath and that is the living God alone whose Name is invocated in an oath Wherefore abhorre you this man of sinnes impious boldnesse and learne also to abhorre all manner of rebellion learning of Salomon not to meddle with the seditious but to feare God and honour the King and shew all good fidelity and allegiance unto him for conscience Rebellion against our Kings cannot be seperated from rebellion against God and this also is like the sinne of witchcraft or Idols If Israel must beare the yoake of the King of Babell how much more every people of their naturall Liege Lord and Soveraigne And this is the first sin of the Sodomites The next is that when the Lord did scourge them by the hand of Amraphel and his confederates so that they lost the day and many of them their lives and the rest their liberties and their goods and after delivered them againe by the valour of Abraham they were not any whit amended by this chastisement but their wickednesse continued still to make the same out-cry and shrill clamour in the eares of God as he told Abraham before It is a great wickednesse not to profit by corrections Hee that hardeneth his heart being often reproved much more corrected shall surely fall into mischiefe God complaines of Israel why should yee bee smitten any more and againe thy children would receive no correction It is a great provocation to a man against his inferiours if he have punished them for any offence and cannot finde them one whit amended Incorrigiblenesse increaseth wrath in all superiours For first it is a frustration of their hopes and labours and that is tedious Secondly it is a proofe that the offender is utterly heardened in an evill course and that doth stop the way against all further proceeding of clemency and makes justice arme it selfe with vengeance when mercy would be but abused if it should shew it selfe Bee warned therefore to compare your owne selves with these Sodomites and judge betwixt the Lord and your selves if you also have not profited naught by his corrections I will presse the point upon you in respect of every mans owne particular hath not God afflicted thee made thee groane and complaine with losses and crosses and more then one or two calamities and yet after deliverance granted you have returned to your vomit and againe are become wallowers in the mire even giving over your selves to the selfe same crime for which your owne soules did smite you in your miseries and told you plainely that for those very things the Lord sent those testimonies of his displeasure against you so great is that aggravation of thy fault and will cause the Lord to make his rods more smarting and if future amendment upon future and worse crosses doe not come betwixt to cut thee of and destroy thee at once as here you see in Sodome Indeed the most horrible abomination that they did publikely live in required so extraordinary and publike a punishment but the particular fault of one particular man in a matter vile enough though not so loathsome shall surely procure another and a sorer chastisement or else even utter destruction at length Let this admonition enter into your soules and move you to repent now of that hardnesse of your hearts which causeth you not to repent upon a former adversity or else be sure that you shall treasure up wrath to your selves against the day of wrath you that doe presently lie under any hand of God set to the matter of finding out and reforming your offences and be much more earnest with God to make the crosse profitable to you in that behalfe then to remove it from your shoulders And you that have come lately out of a crosse and now are gotten againe into a large place beware of forgetting the hand of God let the present exhortation stirre you up to doe better then the Sodomites Say in your consciences was it not a great folly in them and a just forerunner of their finall ruine that captivity tooke away nothing from their sinnes why will you commit the same sinne which you cannot but condemne in them They had no publike admonishioner amongst them that did continually perswade them to profit by that calamity and putting them in remembrance of the lamentable condition in which they were falne wished them earnestly to study reformation of life God hath made you his people hath setled his ordinances amongst you and ceaseth not daily to remember your of your duty without doubt your sinne in not being bettered by crosses shall offend him 10. times more then that of Sodome and you shall finde by experience that the wilfulnesse is the greater by how much the meanes of reclaiming have beene greater I proceed now to a third sinne and that is their unnaturall filthinesse in offering to commit that foule crime of buggery with the strangers that came to lodge amongst them for a night and were but men as they conceived by their outward behaviour though indeed they were Angels Take notice of the lewdnesse of these worse then beasts and learne to have it in utter detestation First the crime it selfe Secondly the circumstances aggravating the crime The crime it selfe is that base and vile and worse then brutish wickednesse of confounding the sexes which God hath in the creation distinguished For he made the Male and Female but these beasts would needes so much as was in them take away that so necessary and usefull destinction and would have abused Males as if they had beene Females and turned men into women for the satisfaction of their prodigious lust
it not to mee When the rich man refused to sell all and give to the poore upon an extraordinary command from him he lets him goe and admits him not to follow him nay by his words spoken immediately after it is as possible he excludeth him from Heaven for he must needs be understood of that rich man and such as he was Now if not giving of all upon an extraordinary occasion will shut a man out of the Kingdome then the not giving of some convenient quantity upon an ordinary occasion must needs procure the like punishment because the disobedience is equall in both cases The reason is first this is a flat disobedience to most expresse plaine and frequent Commandements There is scarce a duty of the second Table which God hath more plainely laid downe more often repeated more earnestly pressed then this of giving to the poore He therefore that liveth in perpetuall negligence of this dutie and either will not acknowledge it or will not practise it lives in a wilfull and constant rebellion against God Thinke not my Brethren that it sufficeth to proove a man upright if hee doe not live in a sinne of commission that is in the continuance and allowed doing of something forbidden by God Nay if he live in a sinne of omission i. e. in the continuall and allowed neglect of a duty commanded this is not to obey God in all things this shewes ones heart is not universally subject to God This prooveth that some vice hath dominion in him and that he loveth and respecteth something more then God which cannot stand with uprightnesse yea beloved this hypocrisie which is so much over-awed as it were by cleerenesse of knowledge that it scarce dares discover it selfe by taking boldnesse to commit sinnes of commission but knowes how to hold in with sinnes of omission and to give them allowance enough is so much the more dangerous by how much it is lesse discernable For hee seemeth to himselfe to have much to say for himselfe why this duty should not at this and this time binde him because no affirmative precept bindes to all times and so hee will shift it from himselfe in such manner as not to take notice that hee offendeth whence groweth the greatest perill of all Therefore know you that this unmercifullnesse to the poore as prooving that obedience is but partiall and so that the heart is not upright is sure a very great sinne But secondly it declareth that a man beleeveth not the promises of God and so that his faith is not unfained It is sure that as hee which obeyeth not all Gods Commandements obeyeth none so he that beleeveth not all his promises beleeveth none For if we submit to his truth because it is a perfect truth wee must grant that hee cannot lie nor be deceived in any thing and if wee build not our consenting to his words upon his truth that cannot be called faith at all Now God hath made so many so evident so full promises to those that are mercifull to the poore as no other duty almost can alledge for it selfe A promise throughly beleeved must needs produce obedience to the Commandement whereto it is annexed because every man is so truly desirous of his owne welfare that what hee doth stedfastly perswade himselfe will procure good unto him with the paines and cost for that hee will surely put himselfe to the paines and to the cost Hee theerefore that is not mercifull doth not beleeve these promises because hee doth not obey the Commandements to which they be joyned How then doth hee beleeve any other promise So we have prooved him by this argument to be voide of faith and is not that a great sinne which convinceth him to be void of faith in whom it is Further no man hath true charity that hath not a heart to confirme the hand of the poore for S. Iohn makes the conclusion thus Hee that loveth not his Brother whom hee hath seene how doth hee love God whom he hath not seene And hee doth but lie that saith hee loves a man unlesse he be ready to releeve him for S. Paul saith that love is bountifull wherefore S. Iohn is peremptory in this conconclusion saying He that hath this worlds goods and seeth his Brother hath neede and shutteth up his compassion against him how dwelleth the love God That therefore is a great offence which prooveth that a man hath either none or none but counterfeit charity I have shewed you what a grievous offence this is of the Sodomites afore I passe from it let mee shew unto you a necessary distinction of poore men Some are Gods poore as I may terme them some the Divels Gods poore are they whom his hand crossing them or some naturall meere indiscretion of their owne or abundance of charge want of worke or the like hath brought into and doth keepe in poverty The Divels poore are those whom idlenesse wastfullnesse and unthriftinesse doth make poore because either their hands refuse to labour or else they consume it all up superfluously when they have gotten it The former kinde of poore you ought to strengthen and the not strengthening of them is a sinne To strengthen the hands of the latter is to strengthen their sinne and therefore their hands must not be strengthened for S. Pauls Canon is against it He that will not labour shall not eate Now consider every man of himselfe may it not be justly said of you that you doe not strengthen the hands of the poore Are not a number of you in your owne consciences convinced or if you would not winke might bee convinced that you doe not strengthen the poore mans hands When have you with any willingnesse given to any poore man any reasonable quantity Yea how backward are a number of you to give any thing at all Here is such complaining amongst you of your being seised too much one and too much another that it is more then evident you have little will to part with your money to his purpose I know not what skill to use for the fastening of a reproofe upon a niggard I will not so much as strive to doe it therefore But I call upon each of your consciences to become a just and true Judge against you and to finde one your guiltinesse and to give you no quiet till it have made you confesse the fault and blame you for it But I call upon conscience in vaine I feare for the conscience of a niggard is alwaies a bad conscience so inthralled to the love of money that he will not want excuses to make himselfe thinke he need not do that duty by which he should lessen his heape But these excuses shall one day aggravate the sinne therefore whosoever is an offendor in neglecting this duty of strengthening the hands of the poore I pray you give your consciences leave to passe a right sentence upon you viz. that your faith love obedience
to offer his soone or of Isaac in yeelding up himselfe to be offered were greater for a man doth likely love his life as well as he loveth his childe Now Abraham subdued his love of his sonne unto God and Isaac subdued the love of his life to God both notable patternes of sincere obedience This example you reade in Gen. 22.9 when Abraham and Isaac came to the place which God had appointed Abraham built an Altar laid on the woode and stretched forth his hand and tooke the knife to slay his sonne Isaac at that time was of such an age that he might have resisted his Father being old or have got himselfe free by flight from him but he gave up himselfe into his Fathers hands or rather into God hand and yeelded his throate to the stroake of the sacrificing knife Hereby it is apparent that he began to feare God betime in that he would not withhold himselfe from God as his Father did not withhold his sonne O that we could approve our Faith by the like effects of it even by a willing yeelding of our lives to him when he doth call for them and not refuse to die if he should call us unto it for his commandements sake God is the author and Lord of our lives and nothing is more agreeable to reason then that we should be content to give up life and all into his hands from whom we have received life and all things And surely in this case it shall be proved true which our Lord Jesus telleth in the Gospell whosoever will loose his life shall save it As Isaac was partaker of that great blessing wherewith the Lord rewarded Abraham for his obedience in offering of his sonne saying in blessing I will blesse thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee Neither Father nor sonne you see were loosers by yeelding up the one his sonne the other his life into the hands of God But contrarily hee that will save his life shall undoubtedly loose his life for he must necessarily die at some other time as all other men and then his soule shall be lost together with his life because he loved not God better then his life and he that hateth not his owne life in comparison of God shall not be counted worthy of him Let us therefore see that our soules be so thoroughly subjected unto God if ever we desire to be counted the seede of Abraham and the brothers of Isaac But oh how farre short do very many of us come of this obedience for how should any man beleeve that we would readily part without lives for God which will not part with honour or goods or pleasure yea any of our sinnes at his commandement You be not Isaacs if you cannot be content to give up your lives to God how much lesse if you stand with him for other matters farre lesse then life This is the first part of Isaacs goodnesse to God-ward he became obedient to death Secondly he was devoute and religious given to all holy exercises by name to meditation and prayer principall exercises of piety and religious services of God for so it is noted Gen. 26.25 Hee builded an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. Loe here he worshipped God publikely by sacrifices and prayers and though it be not mentioned that he offered or prayed before an Altar at any other time as I remember yet this once naming of his piety is set downe to signifie his constant care in this duty his Father brought him up in it therefore he could say Where is the lambe Indeed the Lord hath abolished such kinde of Altars and such kinde of sacrifices now since the comming of Jesus Christ into the world and offering himselfe once for all as a propitiatory sacrifice to take away the sinnes of the world but yet now also we have an Altar whereof they have no right to eate that partake of those sacrifices Christ Jesus is our Altar who sacrifieth all those services which we offer up unto God by him and our sacrifices are spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ The offering of a contrite and broken heart God doth much esteeme the offering of praises and prayers the calves of our lips done unto God in the name of Christ are very pleasing unto him the presenting of our selves soules and bodies to him is exceeding delightfull yea with doing of good and distributing as with sacrifices God is greatly contented as S. Paul saith these are an odour of sweete savour a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God If a man retire himselfe and considering the death of Christ for sinne doe humbly present himselfe before God confessing his sinnes and judging himselfe for them and labour to lament them with hearty griefe before God as causes of the death of his sonne this is a gratefull sacrifice If hee praise God in the Name of Christ as for all other benefits so for the great blessing of redemption wrought by Christ this also doth give a sweete odour unto God if he even consecrate himselfe to God resolving to walke before him in all upright obedience praying for the Spirit of God to sanctify him that in all things he may please God no Bullocke or Ram can please the Lord so well If he set apart some portion of his wealth to God and give it to releeve the necessities of the Saints this is very sweete incense so that hee trust not in the merit of the worke as if it could deserve any thing for the worthinesse of it but trust alone in Christ for the acceptation of himselfe and it and all his services Would you confirme to your owne consciences that you be true Isaacs Aske your selves then doe you offer these burnt offerings if not you be not as Isaac childeren of the promise if yea you may assure your soules that you be O then study to abound in these services Againe it is noted that he called on the Name of God there and so it is noted Gen. 25.21 that Isaac intreated the Lord for Rebeccah his wife because shee was barren Hee prayed constantly to God for a childe in this also testifying his religiousnesse and his Faith So wee must be carefull to pray to God for all good things we neede for childeren if we want them for good successe in our callings and whatsoever else we neede or desire For God is the giver of all good things and hath commanded us in all things to make our requests knowne unto him and biddenus to pray continually and in all things give thankes so we are bound to pray as much as Isaac Therefore those that are carelesse of worshipping God in this duty according to that description of a wicked man written by David in the fourteenth Psalme they call not on the name of God are not surely the children of God as was Isaac but the children of Satan rather for the Spirit of God
unto him Thou saidst Loe here a sweet patterne for our prayers to God when we feare any crosse First remember the Covenant and promise of God and declare the misery then humble our selves in acknowledgement of our unworthinesse So make our suits boldly and make our moane to God of our dangers and feares and helplesnesse and againe urge him with his promises Had not Iacob been accustomed to pray hee could not have sollicited the Lord after this manner in this extremity Againe in the end of the same Chapter when Christ appeared unto him in an humane likenesse ver 24. He wrastled with him all night for a blessing and would not give over till he had a promise from him though he went limping away the Angel giving him such a crush on the hollow of his thigh in wrastling as made him draw his legs after him by the dislocation or dis-joynting of his hip bone it may seeme it was through the shrinking of the sinew which had that bone in the socket Ah it is an excellent thing as it were to wrastle with God and though hee seeme angry with us and ready to lame us and maime us as yet still to minde our selves of his promises and continue fervent and constant in prayers till at last hee please to answer us and make us know that wee shall prevaile with him If Iacob had not been a devout man well skilled in calling upon Gods name hee could never have maintained in his heart such an invincible resolution as this I will not let thee goe till thou blesse me even then when instead of blessing he had such a wrench as might seeme rather to testifie anger against his importunity then any minde to yeeld unto it Again when he was to send Benjamin unto Aegypt Gen. 43.14 He followed him with his prayers saying God Almighty grant you favour before the Man that he may send away your brother and Benjamin You must not thinke that hee contented himselfe with this short ejaculation but he made his request to God for this great thing in more words and oftner So you see Iacob was a prayerfull man this is one part of religiousnesse O that wee could bee prayerfull O that wee could also make Gods name our refuge at all times which they that doe not can hardly take any true comfort in their estate nor account themselves true Israelites and those that doe shew themselves to bee guided with the same Spirit that Israel Especially let us learne to wrastle with God resolving to continue earnest and importunate and to take no nay in begging for the performance of his promises and for his blessing though we seeme to gaine nothing but that the Lord carries a shew of being angry with us at length wee shall prevaile if wee continue fervent and refuse to give over as our Lord also teacheth by his Parables in the Gospell of a childe a friend and the poore Widdow towards the unjust Iudge Againe you shall see Iacob vowing a vow to God Chap. 28.20 21. verses the summe of which is this that if God would provide him necessaries and preserve him safely in his returne home to his Fathers he would 1. make God his God by adhering to him and worshipping him alone and not imbracing any false God whereof the world was every where full in those dayes Secondly That the Pillar should bee Gods house that is a place of publike worshipping God where hee would openly and solemnly serve him with prayers sacrifices and all fit services And lastly that he would give his tenth to God of all that God should give him Loe you must learne the use of a vow which is required in the Psalme Vow and pay to the Lord. A vow is a binding ones selfe in an oath to God to doe some lawfull thing which is in his power that he may the better attaine to his suits And the use of it is in afflictions to confirme our faith for the attaining of Gods help or in prosperity to testifie our thankfulnesse for a benefit Let us be cautelous what we vow and let us as need and occasion shall offer make vowes to God especially the use of a vow may be to tie our selves from things otherwise lawfull that have been occasions of sins to us or to quicken us to such good duties as we finde our selves most slack in only take heed of vowing rashly and vowing perpetually any thing but what we be bound unto by duty for it is not unfit to binde our selves to needfull and commanded things by a vow as here Iacob voweth that God shall bee his God I say therefore use vowes as just occasion shall serve but not hastily nor in passion for such vowes likely prove mischievous And especially be carefull to doe the things vowed that is to make God your God sticking close to him and abhorring all forreine gods And seeing now the danger is not so great a running after heathenish false gods beware of going after those heart-Idols pleasure profit credit ease Make not the belly your God by loving riches wealth good fare c. more than God and caring for these things more than for the favour and honour of God These bee the most dangerous Idols of our times many a man that abhorres to worship an Image a Saint an Angel doth yet worship Mammon and make the world his God take heed of this Idolatry labour to know love feare trust in obey God to remember him to choose him c. to give him that whole and inward spirituall most needfull most acceptable worship of the heart which shall not cease to be worship even in heaven The other Commandements continue in force during this life of praying reading hearing Sacraments no use in heaven of oath vowes and such a manner of sanctifying Gods name as now in heaven there is no use So in the rest But to know love feare delight in obey there is alwayes use and make God your God in this manner Againe prepare God an house let him have a place of publique service and worship That you have provided to your hands I need but request to keep it in handsome and decent fashion to maintaine it comelily as beseemeth Gods house not as if it were a barne or some out-house Former times you see built goodly and faire houses for God will not you keep them fairely so that they shall be sweet and dry and sightly not in such plight that would bring the imputation of basenesse upon your selves if any of your houses should lie so Can you be at cost to adorne and furnish your owne houses and not Gods For assure your selves these places separated for religious meetings be Gods houses sacred to him dedicated assigned given to him hee hath interest into them If an Idols-Temple be an Idols-Temple that is such an house as an Idoll hath interest in and is sacred with a false and unholy kinde of sacrednesse sure then a Church to God
is Gods Church and such a thing as he is interessed into and is sacred with a true and reall sacrednesse Mine house shall be called an house of prayer to all nations Loe an house of prayer that is of publique worship a part for the whole and this house Gods house and that among all Nations Would you wish a clearer proofe for the warrant of Churches and their sacrednesse but what availes it to keep a Church handsome if you frequent it not O therefore come to Gods house frequent the publique worship there performed The meanest service done amongst us if it be but reading of a Chapter is more noble because not so typicall than the killing of a beast Come therefore to Gods house constantly sure Iacob did not meane that he would set apart a place for publique worship and not come neare it but that his care should be there to worship God O that you would all come frequently to Gods house for conscience and love At least O that the Officers would compell them by feare whom goodnesse cannot bring that so they may bee in good way of being bettered by Gods Ordinances But Iacob vowes to give the tenth of all that God should give him to God even to the maintaining his publike worship in that place for Gods worship will bee costly Himselfe personally can receive nothing but by giving it to his worship and the places and things and persons that belong to his worship it is given to him If there be any amongst you that thinkes examples of holy writ to binde him as it seemes some doe in other things where the matter is such as will put them to no great cost let them aske their consciences Why should not this example binde them as well as any other example That it should bee a typicall ceremoniall and temporall ordinance to give God tithe of all wee have I could never yet heare any reason of any force Some doe straine their wits to finde out a kinde of shadow in it and tell what it may signifie but the Scripture for ought I know doth not give any notice of any such thing You see it was the use afore the Leviticall priesthood and therefore it is not a thing depending upon the Leviticall priesthood Nay the Apostle makes mention of it as a thing due to the eternall priesthood of Melchisedek Therefore why should any man thinke his conscience bound by any other Example and not by this But to me it seemes plaine that Abraham and Iacob would never have observed this portion in measuring out these paiments to God if they had not conceived it a perpetuall and a naturall duty It is surely a morall precept to honour God with our goods and by bringing presents to him Seeing these holy men thought it fit to grant God so liberall a portion why should we not thinke him worthy as much But if you cannot bring your selves to thinke that so much is due to God yet I hope you will make your selves beleeve that surely something must bee due to God and that in a liberall quantity For God is worthy to bee honoured with our goods I trow as much now as ever and doe we honour him if we bring him no present no gift will you therefore be somewhat liberall to God will you binde your selves by vow or without vow freely dedicate some good part of your substance to God and as God blesseth you lay still aside something if you distrust God so much as you thinke he will not reward such a quantity as the Tenth why then with a ninth or an eighth or a seventh or a fifth with something I say that shall shew you are desirous to obey every Commandement and so to prove your selves sincere to God Surely to marke how God prospers a mans labour and then to bee constant in laying aside a good portion for God this shall be none of mine it shall be Gods ready at hand for pious uses to keep up and beautifie Gods house to further Gods worship any way and to relieve the poore members of Christ would make you so rich in good workes and so increase your liberality by exercise as would undoubtedly pull a rich blessing upon you and cause you to have interest into the blessing of having your prayers to runne over with increase Shew your selves liberall to God and be good Iacobs else he that is a niggard to God and will honour him indeed with his lips not with his goods gives others reason to thinke though himselfe be so full of self-love that he will not think so of himselfe that he honours him only with his lips If any say his state is so poore that he cannot I answer God hath propounded this as a meanes to get riches and the poore man hath no reason to thinke that Gods meanes will bee unavaileable But a poore necessitous man that is faine to live of the bounty much what of others must not be a rule for those that have better estates I am verily perswaded that one great cause of many a Christian mans poverty is this he honours not God with his riches and why should God make him rich If we see a man not to honour God with his wit and strength and then God deprive him of wit and strength Doe we not readily impute this crosse to the desert of that sin and why are we not induced to conclude God doth not prosper this man in his estate because he did not honour God with his estate And so much for Iacobs devotion in vowing and the things vowed Now he worshipped God also by sacrifice and performed his vow to God at last Gen. 35.3 I will make an Altar unto God at Bethel who answered me in the day of my distresse and was with me in the way which I went by which it is to be thought that Iacob prayed in his journey when he was benighted in the way and that dreame was Gods answer to his prayer and ver 7. He builded an Altar and called it El Bethel Now this Altar was not without sacrifices and a publike profession of Gods whole worship He made God a house and began there to settle the publike worship of God according to his vow Indeed it was a weaknesse in him to stay so long till God was faine to put him in minde both by a sore crosse and by a Vision of going to Bethel for this end but he was religious and kept his Vow at last O let us keep our vowes let us offer spirituall sacrifices of prayers praises contrite hearts our owne selves almesdeeds and so shew our selves right Israelites or Iacobites Lastly his devotion shewes it selfe in his religious taking of an oath himselfe to Laban and ministring it to his son Ioseph as you see Gen. 31.53 He sware by the feare of Isaac he was carefull to keep him to the true God and swearing by him and that seriously and on a just occasion not lightly and
saying Cursed be their rage for it was fierce and their fury for it was cruell as in the former verse he had said O my soule come not thou into their secret therefore also doth he disinherite them saying I will divide them c. They shall be but a poore and despised Tribe and not inherite an intire portion So likewise for Reuben who had defiled his bed we reade of nothing he said to him before yet on his deathbed he deprives and disinherites him for it Thou shalt not excell meaning shall not have the double portion and preheminence that belongeth to the first-borne because thou wentest up to thy Fathers bed Doe you not thinke that it did put Simeon Levi and Reuben the three eldest sons unto sorrow and shame when they heard these words from their now dying Fathers mouth you have been incestuously lewd Reuben therefore you shall not be mine heire and you Simeon and Levi were furiously revengefull therefore neither shall the blessing bee yours All Parents must learne to admonish and reprove their children for their faults and to chastise them also and shew their dislike of their faults though for some necessary circumstances wee bee not bound to follow Iacob yet for the matter of the duty wee must follow him If our children give themselves to sinfull courses wee must call them to us chide them shew our displeasure against them diminish the testimonies of our love which else wee should shew and by that meanes helpe forward their repentance so much as may be Especially when a man lies on his death-bed hee should not forget then to leave some such words sticking in his childrens mindes as may cause them more seriously to bee humbled that if they have not yet been duly sorrowfull they may then begin to be humbled at the consideration of a Parents dying words if they have yet they may make their humiliation more deep and piercing But for Ioseph and Benjamin he loved them both exceedingly more than any of their brethren Partly because they were the sons of his best beloved wife partly because they were his youngest children dillings as we call them and chiefly because they were the best of his children at least Ioseph was and for Benjamin he was the least evill if he did not shew any great vertue What affection grew towards these in those two former respects is but a thing naturall It is naturall to love the youngest because when they bee young no expectation of more is left and because the elder being growne up have not so much present occasion of being still in hand and of receiving of those kinde of testimonies of love and because the youngest being least able to helpe themselves doe call the Parents heart more towards them It is also naturall to love the children of them very well whose owne selves one hath so loved If therefore one doe follow nature in these particulars he is not to bee blamed Onely this you must observe that Iacobs love to Rachels children made him not neglect Leahs quite or be carelesse of doing for them what became him to doe Take heed you Parents that have had or may have more wives successively though not together that the present wife who if her ill carriage hinder not must needs be best beloved because she is present to receive love and to requite it I say that the present wife make you not neglect or wrong the dead wives children If it doe God may crosse you in the children of the living God hath expresly taken order for this case and given this Commandement in the Law If a man have two wives one beloved the other hated that is comparatively hated lesse loved and children by them both he shall not give the birth right from the sonne of the lesse loved if he be first borne to the sonne of the more loved but shall acknowledge him for the heire which is so though his mother finde lesse favour in his eyes It is a great fault and shewes a man is led by passion not by reason when he suffers his affections to be misguided by such respects as in true judgement should not over-rule them But to love the childe the better for the mothers sake is no way unwarrantable so that it be not with such an excessive love as produceth injury or neglect against the rest Only one thing common now amongst us I must not let passe without a kinde of wondring how it should come to passe that many with us hate the Mother yet dote of the childe or hate the Father yet be fond of the Son Surely either the bad carriage of the Parent quencheth affection or else to loath the roote and love the fruit is a thing no way conformable to right reason But Iacob is much to bee commended for that be loved Ioseph most for his goodnesse Hee was his best sonne and hee amongst all that were come to any growth did shew forth the feare of God early That should rule the love of Parents to their children most of all where they see most holinesse and feare of God there should they beare most affection For as any thing is most lovely so with due reservation of other respects most love should bee shewed as if I have five children all being children and one having most grace should be most loved because grace makes most lovely seeing it proves a man to bee loved of God therefore must that childe be loved more than any of the rest and so in other like respects The most gracious kinsman the most gracious neighbour the most gracious poore man They therefore are even rotten in naughtinesse that love the most godly children least yea that hate such and they are but weake in goodnesse sure whose loves are drawne more by base attractives than by grace Surely the liker we be to God in our love and hatred the better we be and the more unlike the worse Therefore Iacob gave the double portion of Land to Iosephs stock which was one of the dignities attending the first borne and the preheminence of government he gave to Iudah because he knew that Christ the Ruler of the Church was to come of him and so was led by due reason in both his bequests And of Iacobs vertues to his Domesticks you have heard now how he is to strangers We have but two passages of his carriage that way which come to my minde First those that he met withall at Padan Aram when he came thither They were Shepheards men of his owne profession and he curteously saluteth them and carrieth himselfe with a kinde of familiarnesse towards them for he calleth them brethren demands where they dwell enquires of them about his Vncles welfare and gives them husbandly counsell about their cattell and so should every man stand disposed to men as they be men though dwelling many miles distant from him he should shew himselfe amiable meeke loving ready to salute them
punished it severely in Iacob though he did it at his Mothers instigation and that to keep his Father from giving away the blessing How much more must God punish in you that perhaps have done it oftner and that without any such motive and to far worse purposes Come as you have sinned with Iacob repent with him for though the Scripture doth not rehearse his repentance in particular yet because he is commended for faith wee are sure that he could not but repent for so knowne a sin and so I beseech you doe you all that are guilty and you also shall be pardoned And now doe not embolden your selves to sin any of you by the abuse of his example for you see into how great misery this fault cast him but rather learne by him to shun that which cost him so deare Iacob had not a former example to terrifie him as you have his Iacob had not the Scripture as you have to terrifie him Let our hearts resolve to hate a sin and strive against it the more because in others we may see our aptnesse to it And let us beware that we passe not over-hasty censures upon them that have so offended yea though they have herein neglected the checks of their owne consciences We must not judge any man as an hypocrite for any fault that is common to him with Iacob Further Iacob offended in regard of his mother with an excesse of obedience for he was ruled by her against Gods Commandement she bade him dissemble and lie and by her faire words and perswasions he was drawne to commit that great sin of lying It is an easie matter for Inferiours to obey their Governours carnally not in the Lord not with reservation of their duty to God but a little too unlimitedly which is a fault that must needs be very offensive to God But take heed of this sin I beseech you it is a preferring of man before God and an act that doth exceeding highly dishonour God now strive to worke in your hearts such an high esteeme of God that you may be resolute not to sin against him for the sake of any man though never so much your Superiour though never so much beloved But if you have done otherwise be not disheartned but returne unto God with confessions and humble petitions renewing your former purposes and you shall be pardoned For the Lord is at this time as abundant in mercy to all that call upon him as formerly hee was Neither let any man suffer himselfe to entertaine too hard a conceit against another whom he shall see to have been either over-intreated or by threatenings over-borne to doe some evill thing at a Superiours motion but consider thine owne weaknesse and remember that even Iacob did so too and that when he was now past a childe for he was at least sixty yeares when he did this so that no part of the blame can fall on the weaknesse of youth or childhood But in respect of his children some faults he was guilty of First he did excessively love Ioseph and indiscreetly manifest his love unto him so that his brethren discerning it were enviously disposed to him and procured him much misery This is a weaknesse of Parents not alone to overlove some childe above the rest but also to shew it too apparently to the breeding of envy in the hearts of the rest and sometimes pride and self-conceit in him that findes himselfe over-loved and so doth mischiefe both wayes Be instructed you Parents to moderate your affections to your children and to each childe and to moderate the demonstrations of your affections let them not be too vehement too frequent too fondling I know it is in vaine to give this diriction to Parents for they will not see out of the blindnesse that love worketh what is too vehement love and what be too vehement expressions of it and rules to discern it can hardly be given For those of not sparing them in any sin and the like doe discover rather the unsanctity of love in other respects than the excesse It is alone a fleshly not a spirituall love when it will suffer them to sin but it may be excessive though it be not extreamly carnall Pray to God to discover it to you and to reforme it in you It is better to love too much than too little But it is better to shew love too little than to shew it too much especially if it be with partiality Againe Iacob was somewhat tyed towards Benjamin and would not suffer him to goe out of his sight for feare lest evill should betide him by the way and rather endured to be almost starved than to hazzard him in a journey This was a little too immoderate love and feare too but he had lost one son in a journey and he is to bee somewhat more pittied in this feare because of that former losse yet at last he suffered himselfe to be over-perswaded by Iudah Indeed at first he was over-peremptory My son shall not goe downe Take heed of these faults take heed of being so fond and over-fearefull of your children so that you cannot suffer them to take necessary journies lest they may miscarry and be not over-resolute in any thing this I will not doe that I will not doe God may have purposed that that shall be done which thou resolvest shall not be not over-setled in a purpose about things of this nature for against sinfull deeds a man must be resolute and it is better to faile of keeping ones resolution than not to have it and that also strong Further Iacob was a little too wayward with his sonnes when he blamed them for telling the Ruler of Aegypt that he had yet another son we must beware of growing pettish because we be crossed in any thing so as to accuse the faultlesse but in such case rather looke up to Gods hand and condemne not those that are guiltlesse saying it was long of you and why did you so when the thing followed alone accidentally and as we call it by meere chance so that no foresight could discerne or prevent what would follow But Iacob over-lamented Ioseph too and so becomes an example of excessivenesse of griefe which likely will attend upon excessive love One affection put out of tune brings another into the same distemper O take heed of suffering this passion of over-grieving at a childes death though sudden and violent or any other crosse to prevaile over you so that you shall even set your selves to grieve and refuse to take heart to your selves and use your owne reason to comfort your selves The three last things concerning Iacob are his benefits crosses and death Now we must speake of the great benefits which God gave to Iacob which are of two sorts First Spirituall Secondly Temporall The spirituall benefits are of two sorts 1. The chiefe and principall 2. Those that followed hereupon The chiefe spirituall