shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better a milstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea As there is a distinction of the greatest in the kingdom of heaven verse 4 to note that these things could not be spoken of Christians universally for then received and receiving should be confounded and still the same so to shew it could not be meant of many in each Kingdom or Church that should by us be thus received it follows in the singular number in the fifth verse Who so shall receive one and so in the sixth verse Who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me c. By which last expression of believe in me as we finde children in the litteral sence excluded so may we finde our obedience to Christ to be unquestionably due to such our rightful Superiours as are Christians and believing on him But because Christ himself had formerly foreseen that our owne natural pride and lusts would ordinarily draw us both to Antichristian disobedience against our Superiours and unto neglect of the dutyes of love and charity to our neighbours it was the occasion of his expressions that he came to send fire on earth and that he came not to send peace c. For in that consideration he here saith that it must needs be that offences must come but then he also gives a wo to them by whom the offence cometh and admonisheth that it were better to cast from us those lusts and enticements hereunto although they be as deer to us as our owne hands or eyes then we should be in danger of hell by dispising one of these little ones who were by office to prevent and decide those offences and breaches of charity which our lusts should produce And that because they having charge of flockes committed unto them from Christ who came to save that which was lost so it was also their duty to regard the strayings of every particular sheep in their foulds and it came thereupon to be the will of God that none of these little ones should parish that is perish by violence and insurrection The farther proof that these phrases of little and least were parabolically meant of persons to be substituted in Christs power appears in that through all the three forementioned Evangelists the immediate following discourses do set out unto us the plain description of some persons by Christ in that sort owned Saint Mark and Saint Luke do it as of one that had no direct mission from him who yet is by Christ owned because he did his works of power in his name and owned also according to Saint Marke under the same expression for obedience as he had formerly set downe to the little Children viz. whosoever shall offend c. Nay Saint Mark takes in that discourse of him that acted in Christs name and authority so as he intermingles it with the description of these little ones as all one And to ascertain us that by them he intended his Disciples and his succeeding deputyes he directs his speech of receipt to them directly Whosoever shall give you a Cup of water to drinke in my name because ye belong to Christ Verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me c. by that means making them and these little ones all one As for Saint Matthew he sets downe the description of the Apostles power of the keyes immediately after the discourse of these little ones so that by setting downe the chief mark of the power of the Churches head next we have farther instruction that both discourses belong to the same person Our Saviour in setting downe the office of the Churches heads under these notions of little ones and little Children and of defining their duty of humility answerable thereunto might have allusion unto the like manner of expressions used by his typical Father David who was usually personated as the Churches head as we find it expressed in the 131 Psalm saying My heart is not haughty c. and again surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his Mother my soul is even as a weaned child And as thus he answers for his mind and inward behaviour so is it to be noted that himself as the Paragon king was in his person very little whereas his predecessour Saul was not onely haughty but also higher then others by the shoulders and so not so fit as David to be one of these little ones by our Saviour spoken of And indeed this caveat for humility given by our Saviour to such as were to succeed as heads and guides in the Christian Church is but the same in effect that was given in the Jewish Church to be put in practise by their Kings that his heart be not lift up above his brethren And although our Saviour do thus set downe obedience to the Church heads under the notion of little ones to take off occasion of their pride yet that he intended such persons as should be in greater charge then ordinary appears notably by his telling us by way of terror of their power namely that in heaven their Angels do alwayes behold the face of God that is they have in regard of their great trust amongst us their eminent guardian Angels appointed By which we may know how to interpret Saint Paul concerning the Angels which should be judged at the last Judgement that is that such of them as had been more particularly trusted with the guardianship of particular Churches should give accompt thereof to these that had formerly been heads of Churches themselves as to the Apostles and the like And that we were to distinguish these little ones or the Churches rulers here spoken of from her other members commonly called Children but without the addition of little will farther appear by the observation of what was spoken of before For unless we so construe them I see not how that discourse can be direct in answer to the Disciples question of who shall be greatest that is whom he would make governor over the rest which is in three places done And although he deny them this power over one another yet doth he not theirs or others having it over ordinary Church-members upon condition they must be converted from pride and become humble and little before God And by the word little thus received may we interpret that speech of our Saviours concerning Iohn the Baptist He that is least in the Kingdome of heaven is greater then he For as by the kingdome of heaven we are to understand the Church because in heaven it self every one shall not be greater then he so are we not to understand that every one here either should exceed in greatness him that was the greatest of those which were born of
Where by Judgement and Justice we must suppose the Power of life and death meant and included as other Nations have formerly granted it to Fathers also According to which power formerly given Gen. 9.5 we finde Judah sentencing his daughter-in-Law to be burnt upon suspicion of whoredome which he did both as Father to his own Family and also by the Prerogative of Elder Brother as being every mans Brother in his own Family By which power he afterwards again acquitted her knowing himself to be the man involved in equal guilt even as the adopted elder Brother David did afterwards upon like occasion Therefore for Abraham to have killed his son was not to have exceeded his rightful power for had it so been God would not have commanded and Abraham not knowing any intention of diverting him might have bogled at it But for more full explanation why one person and no more should have power in each Family the reasons being the same shall be discoursed in the title of Soveraignty and other places of Government Monarchical For this Dominion being scarce anywhere absolute in that relation but all Families being included in other Soveraignties the duties of those subordinate thereunto cannot be determined otherwise then by saying they owe their obedience to him in all things not prohibited by such as are superior unto them both Against those that make the institution of the family the eldest as fitting best that ancient thinness of people we shall not contend much though we might instance in the Government of God himself and that of Michael the Arch-Angel among the good and of the devil as Prince among the bad as also that Adam before he had family was by God made Monarch of all Creatures below and of Eve also But for answer to such as hold it barely natural or at least more natural or reasonable then that of Kings I shall first say That if by most natural they mean that practice which is common to men and sensitives also they shall finde the contrary in many instances For when there is any association of Birds Beasts or Fishes it is always under one remarkable Commander of that Flock Herd or Shoal And as for that Government of Family it is among none of them nor can be for except some sorts of Fowl they have not their proper Females and so must want the propriety of the young whereby to make their family And Fowl we see as soon as their brood can flye beat off them and part with one another all becoming strangers And from the coupling and payring of the Fowle we cannot conclude for marriage unless therewith we say that the having more then one wife is unnatural And then for the natural subjection of the females many kindes of them speak the contrary Insomuch as the designation of number and the power over Wives is not natural and constant but political and differing And as for the Males equal care of the yong ones nurture practised in some Fowl it ariseth from his extraordinary assurance of propriety in the brood for from the time of their first congression to her hatching he is never so absent from his Hen as to endanger his jealousie Yet all those Cocks that have more Hens then one though there be no other Cock in the company to cause suspition beat and hate the young And then as for the way of being a servant appropriate to one another in any sort no Creature knows it Come we now to men we hear of Nations practising and some men of reputation propounding the natural community of Wives and so overthrowing Families both which do yet entertain Monarchy The like we may say of the Amazons who have no Families and yet have Monarchy But now if by saying the Government of a Family under one head is natural they mean thereby reasonable we agree and that for the reason heretofore and hereafter to be given namely for unity of Government in Commonwealths which Reasons are most of them so agreeing to both that they shall not need recital And truly when I have impartially considered how both of them have foundation from Divine Authority and political prudence I can lay the mistake of this partiality onely to this that such as write hereof are usually themselves Fathers of Children Masters of Servants or Husbands or likely to be so and then to strengthen the duties of all those relations as in order to themselves we may finde good reason And therefore are not onely all those Texts of Scripture looking that way taken in without any to oppose them but Nature is also brought as its first groundwork so confidently that one would think God Almighty might have spared his Precepts But on the other side Kings are not themselves writers and if they did as in justification of their own Power and subjects Duty it would be called partiality because so many have interest against him And if any of the Subjects out of Conscience of Truth and for the subjects good too if they well considered it write in defence of Monarchy and its power not onely such as have prejudice by being under other forms but other subjects also that have all of them their particular interests and hopes by encrease of liberty will accuse him of flattery For a Monarch is a head above them and so remains the object of continual envy and trouble as eclipsing them all which if away they in democratick equalities if some of them be not more ambitious might be all Monarchs both absolute over their own families and as they could make faction over others also whereas now they of their family and others may appeale in case of oppression Another prejudice against Monarchs is for that their subjects being numerous they must trust the guidance of them in many things to others against whose pride as knowing them to be but their fellow subjects the repine is greater then if the Prince as the Master should act himself all whose miscarriages comes ever to be laid to the fault of the Government it self by such as would be rid of it Which unjust censures or revilings come again through secresie of offendors amongst a multitude or through multitude of offenders as considered in themselves to be unespied or unpunished by the Prince whereas the paucity in the Family enables the Master to act by his own knowledge and quickly to discover complaints which you may well think he will for his credit sake by power or craft smother at least you may think that if he do write or speak of the Masters duty it shall not be in a language as to involve or tax himself As thus in Government of persons so in matter of propriety there is another great prejudice arising to the Monarch above the Master of the Family and that from the same inconvenience in number of subjects also Which is that the Master in regard of his smaller charge can hold all the distributions of his fortune that are alotted to the
protection when their Offices are invaded as the Prince is to the Fathers and Monarchs again being not unanimous and active in upholding each others rights as Fathers are it is no wonder if we finde here and there an Anarchical Kingdom even daring to profess themselves so which Families do not But would Monarchs take the common interest to heart as Fathers do and be as vigilant to preserve their neighbors power as others are to overthrow them they would finde that it would be the steadiest course to maintain their own power at home and that when other Kingdoms could never have been known successful in enterprising their Kings subversion their subjects would never undertake it no more then the Children or Servants of a Family dare for the like cause attempt the like against their Father and Master The main reason that Subjects usually have to desire such Change being the example of such or such a neighboring people as have thriven therein and so making fortune and success the onely judge of right and wrong they do proceed accordingly all stories telling us that until Anarchies came into the world such a thing as limited Monarchy was not in being Let us now again see their likeness in Rebellions and its pretences The Wife if she be of greater spirit then to be confined in her proper employment takes occasion from her Husbands remisness or too great trust in her to enlarge her power in the Family and to encroach on her Husbands also With these she lays Obligations and raises dependances as to her self and having now as she believes gotten strength to stand alone or above her Husband she becomes more insolent and open Which if it shall awake him to curb by his just power then comes she to spread through the Family the charge and power she hath She saith That the power of the head of the Family grew from the Family for as the Family was in greatness or power so was the head thereof also and therefore that they as the fountains of power might use the same to their just vindication from oppression She saith that as all kindes of good is increased by communication so the good of the whole Family is to be preferred in reason to the single good of any one especially since as the case now stands that one seeks but his own hurt also led and blinded with evil Counsel In which case necessity of self-preservation will not onely justifie but duty to their Master requires the other members to joyn in a course to force these from him and take the charge of his person and Government themselves She tells them that a Family as a Family hath foundation on the Wife and that as without Religion well instructed there could be no firm obligation for subjects obedience so without a Wife no Children no Family and so no Master thereof Besides though truly she is loth to say so much her self yet her Husbands late disrespect and forwardness to cross her makes her fear as men are now easily enclined to heresie so he hath turned his affection to some other women and therefore she would divorce her self from him that so he might be as excommunicate in his Family For although it is true that obedience is to be given to him by the Law of God yet again it is as true that he is to keep Gods Laws as well as we if not we must obey God rather then men Nay when he hath neglected his duty to his Family in not providing for them as this man hath done Saint Paul expressly saith He is worse then an infidel Now whether it be not fit that one that hath denied the Faith an Infidel nay worse then an Infidel should not onely be excommunicated but put from Government she thinks none can doubt But above all through her Husbands often absence about other imployments and remitting the directive part of Government to her in many particulars she lays the greatest claim to make herself as it were Governor in chief leaving to her Husband as pertinent to him that hath none but the coercive part the honor and authority only of a subservient officer that is to execute punish according to her determination and censure No otherwise then as the popish and Presbyterian Clergy upon advantage of their sole exercise in the Office of publike instruction do come to believe at last they are supreme and uncontrolable herein and do thence infer that as the body is to be subservient to the mind so the Prince or Civil Magistrate as they call him ought with his coercive part of Government to be reckoned but as subordinate and Ministerial to what they in their spiritual capacities shall enjoyn Not remembring that all that external jurisdiction and power she exerciseth in tâ—e Family is subordinate and to be acknowledged as derived from his supreme headship even as done by her as his Wife in his family by vertue of that choice and designation he then made at the time he personally ordained her to be his Wife and so consequently took her into this consortship and share of power For although the positive power and honor belonging to her as a mother and Mistris of a family be to be derived from God onely even from the sacramental efficacy of marriage and Ordination it self yet since it cannot be imagined that the constitution of a less and subordinate power was intended to be the overthrow of a greater therefore should she have considered that she is negatively in all things by him restrainable in the execution thereof Nay more in those things which she acts as Mistress of the Family over any but her own Children she is to hold her self as well impowered as restrainable by him although in respect of that obedience or honor rather which her own children give her she be not to acknowledge any humane derivation therein but is impowered as mother both by the Laws of God and Nature and that in chief where no other head or Monarch is With these and such like insinuations she may be supposed to win Children and others of the Family into a faction and association with her by whose help she may be able to work her ends For although women be rather more desirous of Government then men yet they wanting bodily strength are forced to draw in others to their assistance by setting up of their interests also Thus Children shall be won in by hope of some parity of power with the Father as well as Peerage among themselves for by the Text of Fathers provoke noâ— your children to wrath they would both have the duty of Fathers implyed of not commanding more to their Children then what they are willing to act for fear of angring them and also that being provoked by their Father it was just and reasonable for them to prosecute this wrath of theirs unto the abating his power for the future Then the Children when they meet with an easie and
were to fight against God and his purpose and to have Rehoboam beaten were to countenance rebellion in people But if you look to the fruit of these Concessions in David you will finde him the fittest instance for retaliation in both kindes whether you respect him as a gracious Prince or an indulgent Father as may appear by some instances formerly given The like will all other stories do being but confirmations of this Maxim That those people that have largest Immunities and Liberties are ever the most seditious for more and that civil war and rebellion doth not arise from want of Liberty and Freedom in the Subjects but from having too much That is from Princes intrusting so great a portion of Soveraign power into their hands under colour of giving them Liberty as shall encourage and enable them to stand in open opposition and defiance against him and his remaining Authority for more and by degrees to demand or rather command all if they shall think good For as it comes to pass with all such prodigal persons as well Princes as others as use or know no other way for gaining love and credit then by wasting of that whereby it should have had foundation and continuance they in the end finde that as before their estates was the cause of their Loves so this being now gone the other would fail also And therefore they should beforehand have considered that what was the onely mean to their desire should have been the chiefest object of their care lest in the end they come to finde that too great liberality unto private and undeserving beggers makes them but publique and unpittied beggars themselves Even so when Princes are soothed up with the specious shews of winning love by condescension and parting with the fundamental rights of Soveraignty to please and gain the people they must now expect that what directed their love to them while they had it will be a cause of want of love being parted with They must consider that since the different love and respect of Princes above others was but in regard of their different power whereby it also came to pass that what was beneficially by them done was therefore more meritorious as less constrained abate them then this power of doing so or otherwise and how shall the love and thanks to Princes differ from that of other men And since Government as Government requires the administration and execution of things according to the will of the Governors when as the pretended government by love respects onely the desires of the loved how can it then be government And Princes so governing that is by the will of the governed as he and they are in their wills different so must one necessarily be the overthrow of another Wherefore if fear and reverence be not made use of but Subjects always courted by loving condiscentions Experience as well as Reason tells us that his Authority will stand on fickle ground Nor do Princes hereby onely offend against interest but Duty also to wit against that prime and incommunicable trust of power from God to them derived to enable them to govern their subjects according to his Laws When they beyond their own Commission to give or the peoples capacity to receive shall strive to dis-invest themselves of so inherent a propriety and by a strange and preposterous way of proceeding endeavor to invert Nature Reason and all kinde of Order and Rule to their own ruine by this setting the commanded above the Commander and making the Subject not subject Whereof what other sequel can we expect but that as a punishment justly deserved and most adequate and congruous to such an offence all Insurrections and Rebellions against them from hence most naturally should proceed So that when it shall once come to pass that either fear to enjoyn or command what he knows to be fit or the hopes for countenance or assistance in what he believes otherwise shall so far work on his resolution as to make his Subjects the objects of his fear and courtship he shall finde that what is hereby for the present gained will come to him at so dear a rate as upon the issue to endanger and cost him his whole estate whereas Nations under absolute Soveraigns are in respect of these but seldom observed to rebel For as when the childe hath once so far prevailed over his indulgent Father as that his wanton appetite cannot be satisfied without the enjoyment of what is offensive to others nay not without those very morsels and what else belongs to the necessary sustentation of the Parent which must now be the only object and remedy of its peevishness it wil be found that as this too great kindness was the cause this stubbornness so it will at last prove a lessening of respect and duty in the childe and the childe will thereupon also be more truely called the guide of the Father then the Father of him And seldom have the Concessions of Princes any other fruit then to be invitations to new demands till at last Subjects have so wholly freed themselves from the more milde and tolerable government of one that through the greedy pursuit of such natural and universal liberty as is with government it self inconsistent they again fall into the perfect slavery of Anarchy where every man is oppressed of his neighbour and instead of one have many Tyrants to disturb them The usual issue of all unhappy people grown wanton with too much Liberty where the commonnels and easiness of former grants is made the onely rule for desiring and obtaining new Petitions which come at length to be reckoned as acts of duty not of grace But to these in brief it may be answered if they may not be denyed why do they petition if they may why do they rebel And having so far considered Rebellion in its prime cause the division of Soveraignty we will examine it by its usual pretences and give some answers In the mean time I shall desire such as may conceive these last passed discourses or others elsewhere used to be impertiment for a Treatise where Subjects and not Princes parts are to be set forth to consider that I intend not here to shew Kings what to do but to shew Subjects what to obey And if this encroachment of Subjects on the Prerogatives of Princes be well considered it will be found no less needful to be propounded to their consideratitions in regard of the inconveniences thereof inticing them to Rebellion then in regard of that proneness again which Princes do hereupon take to fall into acts of Tyranny insomuch as all tyrannous and severe regiment may be observed to have arisen either to remove or prevent this danger tyranny being nothing else but soveraign revenge or severity according to the presumption of injury past or to be feared The evil of Anarchy and benefits of Government have ever been in all mens eys so apparent that none have been hitherto found so
thus the more vigorous and appearing party of any nation or people is to carry with it the reputation of the whole people so also is the more eminent and active person of each faction and party to carry with him the reputation thereof also as having as much more courage then the rest as they had above others of the Nation Even as when in any man there is such a prevalent compliance and association of several vertuous inclinations and affections as to make him to be deemed just honest valiant temperate or the like yet the merit and force thereof can never be equally ascribed to those several considerations and affections by which these vertuous acts or habits were performed or acquired but the same is still eminently and chiefly to be applyed to the prevalence of some one more natural inclination of that particular party as to sense of honor conscience reputation frugallity c. which in each of those acts did most from strongly operate And now comes policy to its perfection other governments without a King looking like a Pyramis without a vertical point For the people diffusedly considered and contradistinguished are of no force or availe to others or themselves but serve onely for the foundation When they associate they make some appearance above ground As the heads of factions grew fewer and fewer so the work riseth in beauty till it come to its vertical point of unity But then though government is founded on force yet it is not so often on inbred force as foraign For albeit dominions have usually natural bounds as seas rivers mountains c. or artificial as walls forts c. to keep them from mutual invasion yet since as to the generality of mankind these are but particular associations for self-ends it is also warrantable for any of these foraigners as hope of gain or fear of damage shall direct if divine law or particular contract hinder not to use such force and to take such caution of others as shall serve for their content and security And as this is most usual so more reasonable then the other For first here was no precedent common government over them both to whose decision they stood bound Then there is seldom such enmity as in homebred factions whereby the prosecution comes to be more milde from the victor and more tollerable in the vanquished both for that and also because the insolence of fellow subjects seems usually more heavy then of strangers Then again homebred factions divide unity already settled but this makes unity by joyning two dominions So then there is no remedy but that in all matters of civil subjection and interest we are to submit to that politick governor we are born under though we had no more hand in the choice of him then of our own fathers yet as to a person of more general concern by duty and interest we stand much more bound to his authority And as we have nothing but the credit of our mother to assure us our right father so nothing but the ordinary rule of providence to set up our right King therefore possession doth as strongly binde us to our reputed Prince as reputed father For as Christ was obedient to his parents in all things though he knew his father was not indeed so so like him we must be to our present Prince although a foraginer and having no right but conquest it being indeed the onely rule of providence in this kinde succession depending thereon and election having been never general and free but onely sometimes made semblance of for flattery and engagement of the people And the same we may say of their expulsion also it being usually done on a suddain and not upon deliberate and full consent but only by a prevailing party or faction And yet all Kings conquering and governing by fear must be supposed the voluntary head of his own party whereby he prevails and rules which it is probable is as great as any that elects or deposeth Kings And as general willingness is not necessary to make the entrance into government lawful so neither is continued general willingness more necessary to make the exercise lawful in general then is particular willingness to obey him in every particular for that general willingness must arise from particulars and these may vary according to occasion And if any yet think strange that force onely should have been at first the usual distinguisher of this property and right as thinking that by Gods particular Precepts peaceable division might have been made they are to consider that after the time that God was more immediately conversant amongst men in the disposal of their worldly affairs and government at which time the Lord at first divided the earth amongst the Nations he is not in his recess to be again expected as apparently and immediately intermedling in rectifying those confusions which our stubbornness and rebellions have brought And this both for the reasons heretofore mentioned for this recess from government and also because if God should have immediately appeared in sharing proprieties how should his Justice and more true knowledge of our differing deserts have been able through each ones covetousness and pride to have past to our liking Whereas now we may complain of fortune or our own weakness but not of his partiality And yet we must not imagine him as an idle spectator For though governments by the appearing uncertainty of victory and conquest seem thus cast into the lap of Fortune yet the disposition is Gods And he it is that as surely sets up Kings now as he did Nebuchadnezzar Cyrus Darius and others of old And Conquest or fear thereof the usual ways for disposing Kingdoms he by his Providence as particularly now disposes as of that lot which the Children of Israel cast at their formal election of Saul For as we formerly mentioned that the positive right of Dominion in the elder brother was at first grafted upon the natural stock of force as supposing him ordinarily most able so we are now to consider that the right of Dominion being transferred again to the elective primogeniture of kingship which is not amongst Christians openly by God determined to any line or person under the Gospel as formerly to Saul and David it must therefore fall out that it is to be determined the secret way of divine Election and Providence manifested by the common and meer natural rule of force and strength of body which must now make known and decide that personal or lyneal right unto this Office amongst men which is by divine Providence appointed And it must therewithal follow that the person so gaining possession is to have rightful claim unto all those Prerogatives which conquest can afford being not otherwise to be limited then by the Laws of God his own Conscience and sense of honor For as the decision of right and Justice between two contending subjects depends as to them on the determination of the Prince so
because it is the onely foundation for other foundation then this can no man lay and this foundation every man must lay or else all the faith and obedience to be framed thereupon will come to nothing For although their be other articles as depending on this and incident to our Christian profession which ought to be believed also even as all things by God proposed as truths are yet to add them as of themselves necessary to salvation it is to Christ and Christian faith as high derogation as to add circumcision or other observations as necessary to salvation in our Christian obedience And as for our obedience outward we are freed from those many rites ceremonies and observations of the Jewes which God in particular favour of the Jewish Nation had appointed most of them being but shadows of Christ himself and of that great and plain way which by the Gospel should be revealed Nay the very judicial part though instituted by God himself for that government bindes us not as positive laws but as useful presidents upon like occasion that is to say where their and our causes were alike which is not binding as such or such laws formerly made and authorised by God but as parts of the general law of reason For as unto them God was immediate lawgiver and being given before Kings was both God and King so was the litteral observation of them in both respects necessary that is as religious and as civil duties also For both were the same to them because God at that time undertaking the managery of the Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Estate made both one then no otherwise then his remitting both to the Prince makes both of one sort now that is under the same chief relation to duty and obedience namely that of conscience But because of Gods express undertaking herein to them it was do this and live but unto us for whom those directions were not particularly made by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified As Gods rule to them was outward and litteral so were his promises and threats for performance temporal and respecting this life onely Wherein they failed as needs they must their failing was expiated by sacrifice pointing at a Saviour to come to fulfill these things for them but Christ being now come and having fulfilled all righteousness the observation of the letter is released as to direct divine authority and we Christians standing bound but to the general precept of love and charity are referred for our particular managery and guidance therein to the higher powers whom we are to obey not onely for wrath but also for conscience sake not onely for fear of that present temporal punishment they may infflict as meer men in authority but out of conscience also of preservation of our owne innocence in preservation of our obedience to God in them All which in the Epistle to the Hebrews is plainly signified where God is brought in speaking of the difference of the Jewish and Christian Covenant and obedience according to the many Prophesies to that purpose and saying Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt that is not like as it was whilst I gave them particular precepts for all their outward duties and did lead them in all their affairs my self as if I should have taken them by the hand But this course God now changeth because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord that is because I found humane frailty so great that these litterall commands could not be kept therefore now I will put my laws into their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me even from the least to the greatest that is by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts all shall be taught of God and by his Spirit led into all fundamental and saving truth so that by being all taught of God to love one another which is the life and soul of the moral law they shal by keeping that one precept of love keep the whole law But for our direction outward therein we are not come unto a mount that might not be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempests that is to hear them from such a mountain which was made inaccessible through these terrible apparitions that accompanied Gods presence thereon and the sound of a Trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more for they could not endure that which was commanded That is neither are we now to be terrified as by hearing God speaking with his owne voice to our outward ears but we for our outward direction are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jurusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels that is to the present Church militant and to such as do therein instruct us as Gods Messengers by their Angelical doctrine And to the general assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect that is unto the Catholick doctrine of the Church assisted by God the judge of all and attested by those many Martyrs which like their Captain are made perfeâ—t by suffering And then that both these may be made beneficial to us and to our salvation we are come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel And these Gospel duties of love and obedience we shall find to be the verry errand also of him that was to conclude the Law and the Prophets and to be Christs forerunner as it is most fully though mystically expressed by the Prophet Malachy and also by Saint Luke in their descriptions of Iohn the Baptist his office and message The first of these duties is couched in these words He shall turn the hearts of the Father to the Children that is he shall prepare them to entertain the loving of one another in as high degree as the Father doth his Child And then secondly for performance of the duty of obedience whereby to make this love to be advantagious it is added by Malachy and the heart of the children to their Fathers the which Saint Luke expounding to mean the disobedient to the wisdome of the just doth plainly shew that the preparation of the Gospel of peace and the way to make ready a people prepared for the Lord was by bringing them into such a state of
our love made perfect that is brought to its issue that we may have boldness in the day of judgement for there is no fear in love that is no fear of future torment because of their Faith and assurance gathered through present obedience And if we consider the persons unto whom more particularly this description of Antichrist is addressed as most concerning them it will give us full light and confirmation herein For the warning hereof is particularly given to the Apostles or heads of Churches under the notion of little Children a loving term which this beloved Disciple useth to difference them in imitation of his Master as formerly noted saying Children it is the last time c. And that the persons comprised under this notion of little Children were different from others whom he therefore stiles my Children and my Beloved c. because he hath begotten them in the Faith appears in that he writing particularly to Gaius salutes him under these notions And the matter comprehended under these different addresses will by its difference shew the difference of persons thereby meant And therefore when we finde little Children spoken to before Fathers it must shew some of higher rank for if we should have thought him to have proceeded with the instruction of the lower rank first then young men would have been spoken to next and Fathers last of all But by writing to those little Children first twice over and that under such descriptions and representations as were to them most proper must shew that they were different persons from these Fathers and young men and from those he calls my little Children Brethren Beloved and the like all which are indifferently used when he is to express those duties which may generally concern all men And because some of those admonitions and duties may also concern all in a second degree which are given to the heads of Churches under the notion of little Children therefore do we not finde them set down in restrictive terms And this not onely in regard of that common engagement to mutual love and obedience they as others are concerned in but also in regard care is always taken not to make the difference too plain whereby persons in Authority might be too proud or the mystery of Antichristianism too much revealed Which may be the reason why our Saviour speaking of these things would not give St. Peter a direct answer when he asked Lord speakest thou this Parable to us or even to all but goes on with the description of their duties as Stewards or Rulers over Gods houshold not letting them know their own power it is like till after his Resurrection that he spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God So that when he says My little children I write unto you that ye sin not and then tells them that if they do they have an Advocate with the Father we are to conceive them to be such as he had newly converted to the Faith and so needed instruction to know that Christ was the propitiation of sins Wheras the others because they more fully had known the Father according to Christs former Promises might be said by vertue of that washing they had from him and many exhortations made for loving one another and keeping his Commandments to have their sins forgiven for his names sake or to be more remarkably sanctified by the promised spirit of truth and by Gods word to be left in their trust By which means also they come to have higher degree of illumination into this mystery of Antichrist according to the following words but ye have received an Unction from the Holy One and know all things For no doubt in the number of all those truths they were to be guided into they should have the revelation of this mystery more then other men which was it is like some of those many things Christ had to say unto them which were not fit for their knowledge till after Christs Ascension At which time they might be supposed to expect revelation from the Holy Ghost in that particular concerning Christs Glory according to that Promise He shall glorifie me for he shall recive of mine and shall shew it unto you which we may presume to import something of eminence and power by the following words all things that the Father hath are mine therfore said I he shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you Twice we see the word is used of shew it unto you whereby we may conclude it was not the Unction of power onely but of Revelation of something concerning the exercise of that Power and Function And this may be farther evinced by the following words where his departure is made an Argument of his greater manifestation unto them Again a little while and ye shall me because I go to the Father that is as at by my departure ye shall be sent by me as I was sent by my Father so shall ye also have farther knowledge concerning your Mission and of those cross accidents which shall accompany it In which respect this spirit of truth shall be to them also a spirit of joy when they shall be enabled to endure those indignities from the world which shall come unto them by reason that Christs name is more remarkably set on them then on others And therefore since this anointing could not but teach them of these things in the next mention of little Children these heads of Churches are spoken to by way of exhortation to be notwithstanding abiding in him that is to be keeping themselves like good Stewards in the just execution of their charge according to his commandment that then when he shall appear they may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming as expecting his sentence of well done thou good and faithful servant c. And further also if that abide with them which they heard from the beginning then shall they continue in the Son and in the Father That is the Power and Unction from them received shall be both their director and protector According to that former saying of our Savior to his Disciples if ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love As for the next verse it contains also an assurance to them of uprightness or justice in the execution of their Offices whilst they continued as obedient Children to him that was the Fountain of Justice or Righteousness If ye know that he is Righteous or just ye know that every one that doth righteousness or Justice is born of him that is such as are his particular seed for righteousness sake and are by him entrusted for administration of justice or righteousness are by his power and grace so illuminathed and upheld that the righteousness of their acts is not to be questioned by any below them For
such commands as will cut off the chief branches of our quarrels he now by saying Thou shalt not covet kills them in the root For because I cannot commit external upon another but what I had first approved and contrived in my self even so if I had not first by covetous desire invaded my neighbours property in my thoughts I should not have attempted his disseisin by act or force which force will then occasion resistance resistance quarrel and quarrel death And this death being against the whole course and rule of Gods providence Multiply increase and replenish the earth and in the noblest race of his Creatures man we may see plain reason why God should be so careful in giving these and other Rules for our preservation and why to enforce those Rules the better he should be so express and careful of his own honour and service as their ground and foundation Nor doth the Moral Law and Old Testament look this way onely but Gospel-Precepts by comparing those cardinal vertues of Faith Hope and Charity and giving to Charity the precedence as their end do teach us the same thing also For though Faith was enjoyned in the first place it was not for its pre-excellence but because as my belief of Deity or hope of Heaven stands in measure and degree increased or remitted so in proportion my practice in Precepts of Charity will follow Which vertue of Charity being the end thereof and the true substance of al other Graces they without it come to be reckoned but as sounding brass and tinkling Cymballs For as we before shewed that Gods glory is the end of all things and of man more especially so we must according to the precepts and rules of Charity take care of the life and welfare of our neighbor as we tender in any sort the glory and service of God And to the end this peace and safety may be the better acquired submit to the authority of such as have the soveraignty and command over us which shall now be our next discourse CHAP. VIII Of the Master of the Family THe discourses hitherto have been to shew the end of Government which is Peace and the foundation of it unity and subjection and the tye and Authority for both which is Religion For without this how could Nature have set one man above another And if reason grounded on such agreement and consent as before supposed should have done it yet what Obligation for continuance longer then the same reason of respective good that set them up should in the same measure make it reasonable for continuance For the same natural tye of self-seeking that caused men to submit at one time would be as available and just for them to take contrary course at another nor could Contract or Paction be then in force because a stronger Obligation then seeking our own could not be had Therefore untill the fear of an irresistable Power for punishing this breach was added that first conceit of mine own particular benefit which caused me to make my promise would also warrant me if I saw cause to break it Nor can fear of punishment from those to whom I submitted or fear of suffering my self by consequent or example from others prevail otherwise then as in my apprehension over-poyzing that benefit I expect which if yet by force fraud faction or other practice I can secure my self against and avoid the best course for my self is the most justifiable And until a positive Law comes from God to state and make sin sin there cannot be but folly there may be and is if through neglect or weakness I stray from Nature and prefer anothers benefit to mine own by any tye above self-consideration For Man considered in meer Nature must be presumed as inculpable in pursuit of his desires and remove of obstacles as all things else though like them it should extend to the death of the Oponent For that which warrants the end warrants the means and except the difference be made else how be they greater or less they are equally allowable And till Religion be Conscience or fear of guilt cannot be Therefore we may see just cause that God himself should come in with his Commands amongst us and enjoyn us so often to make him our onely fear for Precepts or Religion as they give us great light what to do in policy so are they the onely strong Obligations to make it valid Because from hence it comes to pass that men considered in Nature as self-seekers onely and thereby destructive to one another are now by policy made to do the same still and therewith to promote that good of others also so that whilst it is impossible without Natures subversion but for individuals as such to minde their own benefit onely they have now their hopes and fears arising out of all things to be done or omitted in their power so increased by promises and threats annexed to divine Precepts that the guidance of divine light and not of our own must be the choice of our reasonable Will Therefore if I do injure or do not love my neighbour as my self as God Commands I do thereby not love my self as Nature enjoyns and do in committing sin against Religion commit also folly against Reason by so much injuring my self And so again for keeping Commerce and Society He that sweareth to his neighbour and disappointeth him not though it be to his hinderance shall have the greatest of rewards And so further for honoring and obeying of Parents and Princes how many are the rewards and threats running that way So that should we not by natural Reason be led to see and follow those our benefits arising by obedience to those politick Governments yet out of natural prudence when such large good or evil to fall on our particulars is annexed we cannot without self-prejudice refuse And therefore being now come to set these Monarchies on their true foundations we will speak more particularly of their Powers and Jurisdictions beginning with the Father of the Family who in his less Territory is a little Prince as the other is a Master of a greater Family In the treating of this Oeconomical policy it is not to be expected that I should in this place descend to particulars so far as to set out the respective duties of all the Members of the Family one to another more then I do in Kingdoms but onely to set out the power of the Governor thereof and the grounds of the others obedience and that upon the like grounds of Reason and Scripture as I do in the other So that in the confirmation of the power of this Master whereby Children and Servants were to obey in all things we finde in holy Writ those many Precepts for perfect obedience and that Abraham had it as well in his power as duty to command his children and houshold to keep the way of the Lord and to do judgement and justice
now you will say that nurture and education after birth is voluntary and so obligatory And truely so say I too because in nature as to her equity it is in the mothers power to expose it if she will yet it is not so in Religion for direct precept obligeth the parents to nurture and education of them thereby proving the duty more positive then natural And then what shall we say of children as they are usually nursed elsewhere what shall their duty go to the nurse No you will say the nurse is paid by the parent if so then if this education and nurture be not done as a duty from the parent in respect of Gods precept there lies an obligation but for so much as the cost is But then againe if an exposed or other acquired infant be adopted and taken in and instead of being nourished for money is it may be bought from the parent with money to which parent lies the greater obligation If any speak of the affection of parents to the young this is strong indeed in the female but not lasting enough to make a family of But if the male have any thing hereof it is increased as the conceit of his propriety is For males of other Creatures use it not because the female onely knoweth her brood and men love their children not as they are really so but as they believe them so wherein no revealing natural sympathy leads them but opinion which many times deceives them as shall be more fully discoursed in the title of property But what is this to the natural duty of children to parents Truely this affection runs so coldly upwards and so differently that if God the Law and the Parents authority kept them not in duty when they were of equal power they might naturally enough if the example of other Creatures might be trusted use force against any assault For as each individual is by nature furnished as aforesaid with competent ability to preserve and maintain it self therefore the youngling that as yet wants strength and understanding so to do is in natures account not fully separate from the individual of the female but this being now effected it is then by natural course to follow self-guidance as the parent did before And lastly as for the power of a Master over his Servants if they be hired none will I presume doubt but that it is political and pactional Indeed the government over slaves is natural depending on force and here pactional or political precepts meddle not leaving them to the Lords dispose in as high a degree of propriety as any other goods But now while we have been thus vindicating Monarchy against such as would not have one in a Commonwealth to be as natural a government as that of one in a family if any should think what hath hitherto been spoken is to take off the reputation and authority of the Father or Master of the Family or to weaken the obedience of any under him they quite mistake our intent for our aime is to strengthen it that therewith the other having the same end and foundation and that more general and strong might be therewith strengthened also For as all power is from God so all obedience must run in respect of his commands either express to himself or such as he hath delegated and though he gave to Kings and Fathers so large a portion of his power as to enable them in their governments here to be assisting unto him in the course of humane providence yet they are not to Idolize themselves but to think that since they are no otherwayes set up then by his authority that therefore those under them are not subjected in that degree by nature but by his precepts for as all things should refer to his glory so the neerer we come in our expressions of it the better Whereupon I conceive that the Master of a Family challenging obedience by Gods direct and many precepts to that purpose given is upon more warrantable ground then relying on nature and referring to God from thence as at greater distance And as this will be if well considered a stronger obligation to duty for wives children servants c. so it will be therewithal more noble also if when as voluntary Agents they may expect reward of their performances from God that enjoyned them then if out of innate brutish principles common to them with other Creatures their reward went not higher then their direction We therefore say that the head of the family hath the true power of a Monarch in himself and where he is out the jurisdiction of anothers Soveraignity is a Soveraign himself and may judge sentence and execute according to Gods and his own laws wife children or servants as truely as the greatest Prince For as some Families may be greater then some kingdomes so the same person at the same time may be a Monarch or Soveraign and yet but head of one family even as Abraham though he might want unction Coronation or other Ceremonies to entitle him a King yet had the same authority at home and force abroad as had those other four victorious Kings which he with his own military servants overcame Therefore we will now compare the power and exercise of this government to Monarchy as hereafter we shall that of Monarchy to this The father we will compare to the King and so he is to have all those royal prerogatives where he is absolute and independent that enable a Governor in chief namely the Office of supream Judge with its attendants the power of making and interpreting his own Laws that is to have aswell the power to instruct and direct what to do as the sword of Justice to punish those that shall do otherwise and in all these cases to have the last appeal c. For if wife children or servants or a faction of them shall take upon them to decide controversies or to make interpret or execute laws to that purpose without or beside him and not allowing any their fellows of the family liberty to appeal to him as supream the unity peace and government of that family is broken and lost Then as the Monarch makes Magistrates so the Master hath power to appoint what Stewards Bailiffs Receivers and other Officers he thinks good without the leave of any of the same family Then as the King lets out the stock and wealth of his Kingdom in several properties for the good of the whole kingdome that is for encrease of the publike stock by private managery so the Master entrusts the wife children or servants as he sees occasion taking of them as the use of the family requires such proportions as he thinks fit whether it be tenth or twentieth part of the encrease which answers the taxes in kingdomes So lastly hath he power over their liberties and personal services for his own or the families occasions But these and other similitudes of jurisdiction will be spoken of more largely
of having truly served God and my neighbour although to the world it were not otherwise apparent then by my suffering for both And the like condition no doubt will be found in all dutiful sufferings by all that can lay aside all malice hypocrisie guil anger and evil speaking and can as new born babes with patience and humility commit all to him that judgeth righteously even these I say if they have but tasted that the Lord is gracious and found the fruits of that blessed and promised Comforter shall quickly feel the sting of worldly afflictions so taken out by him that hath undergone and overcome them for him that in the midst of Prisons and Confinements they shall sing with more real solace and delight in their magnimous sustentation of any injury or Cross then their adversary can do in the infliction of his revenge For be it never so great yet when I by my patience have proved my self Superior in all that his malice could reach unto I shall thereby at once both repel his strokes and also return them upon himself to the redoubling of his angry and revengeful torment even to see himself thus miserably defeated by my resolution When as on the other side also he cannot but deny his own want of courage and true fortitude in being so highly sensible or affected with a mistaken small or occasional injury as to lead him to this fruitless reparation And then further Patience having had its perfect work so as not only to suffer the spoiling of our Goods but even to glory in tribulation it will estate men in a condition of outward felicity also For as none but children are satisfied with the strokes which are given to the stones against which they fell so when besides insensibility through patience our adversaries shall perceive us advantaged by such misuage he will then leave to do us evil even for fear of doing us good And as thus in single persons so will this height of fortitude be prudentially found the steady and true promoter of Political and State interest as well as of all vertue besides For how can Justice Honesty or any true vertue be duly expected while terror of any sort shall stand up to amate the Actor from Execution And since in wordly Dispensations the gain of one must be the loss of another and since again the fear or hope of rewards from great and rich men prevails most will not hope of gain and fear of opposition continually endanger justice and bring on the oppression of the poor For say men what they will no man as a natural man can have that degree of fortitude as not to be many times awed by political greatness or personal courage And could we suppose some person informidable so as in things of inconcern to himself he could dare to act according to the true sense of Justice must it not still follow that when again his interest is mixed therewith the same want of true fear must render him as partial to himself So that in a meer natural man you cannot so place fortitude as to make it always a Vertue whereas he that hath God in all causes for his second and Judge making him his onely fear as on the one hand he will not fear what flesh can do unto him so on the other side will he always fear what he doth unto them By which means being habituated to a steady Vertuous deportment in all his actions he shall finde honesty even in this worlds respect to prove the best policy Inasmuch as all advantage and gain in that kinde arising according to the value of trust and employment his approved fidelity and integrity will so far advance him herein as to make honor and preferment attend him as his due The proof and discourse of all which as the sure Crown and reward of Devotion Humility and Patience takes up by Precepts and Examples the greatest part of Holy Writ it self as if on purpose to shew us that its chief aim were to exhort and encourage us herein And the humble and devout searcher of the Scriptures shall be sure never to return empty of this blessing whereas he that is not grounded in love but carries with him the spirit of Pride and â—ontention returns usually ten times more the Childe of the devil then before But that which most of all is the occasion of this present discourse and comes neerest our present business is to let Subjects hereby see that that degree of submission and Patience I had formerly commended unto them was a state of happiness as well as duty and that especially for Christian subjects towards Christian Princes Against whom Anger Malice and Revenge in all their degrees must most of all be laid aside Whatsoever we suffer from them we must look upon as coming from him that set them up in this high power and who hath their hearts so always in his hand as to turn them which way he pleaseth either making them instruments of his anger upon us or tryals of our trust and Patience towards him Whereupon we cannot more lawfully think of retaliation and resistance towards them against whom there is no rising up then against God himself for in vain expect we the reward of suffering wrongfully if we allow them not a power of doing so and that beyond any warrantable restraint of ours Those evils that come from the hands of others without Authority from them I may prevent or resist as mine own discretion and Conscience shall direct with consideration had to the Precepts of Love and Charity and in this kinde we commonly make a Vertue of necessity But where lawful Authority doth impose the ties of publike Charity and Obedience do both lye upon me and although I may do my best by petition or perswasion to alter his Will from prosecution yet can I not at all use mine own will for resisting him therein All which will not prove of great difficulty to him that shall remember his Saviours prophesie that in the world we should have afflictions and that promise also annexed therewith in me ye shall have peace This man I say in hope of that high price and reward which is set before him will be ever running his race with all cheerfulness And while he is running to that heavenly Goal it will be easie for him to read the hand of Providence to be many times writing and engraving Characters of temporal advantage also out of those malicious plots of his enemies no otherwise then as it was with Joseph who through envy being sold and put from home was thereby delivered from famine and brought into a richer soyl and greater preferment elsewhere whereupon he might now have power to express true goodness in returning good for evil And upon a discreet examination he shall also generally finde that these Crosses were but the effects of love and put in his way like so many pauses and stops to
he sits not down disconsolate under the burthen for he knows who hath called him to the combate and he will be thereupon always ready to entertain it He was not he knows born for himself onely nor can the sense of injuries to himself draw him from being publikely beneficial even although he get nothing but reproach for his labour as knowing that through this difficulty also his reward will be higher He he is still looking into all these things with the eys of love and publike Charity whereby he stands always magnanimous and resolved to undergo any thing for the good of those that bear the image of their Master and that according to such rules as those that have publike charge under him shall direct For each true Christians love and patience must through his obedience to the head of his own Church make useful that general end of humane peace and preservation for which Christian Patience was by Christ himself enjoyned to the whole Church and therefore he sits not down sullenly and discontentedly like a stubborn childe under his task and duty that will act no more because he cannot do as he likes Because he findes himself crossed in what is enjoyned him to do or in the measure thereof he will therefore by way of murmur and regret run into the extream thereof Because he hath been in the world crossed therefore like those children that are fallen out with their play-fellows he will hide himself and play no more And as thus his Patience could not have continued and been rightly steered without Charity so neither Charity without it It is not as we said every natural propension and voluntary beneficence that can of it self be called the labor of love for that may be the pleasure of love and Pride may be its Parent But when nature shal be holpen by the grace of obedience when that Patience that was enjoyned for publike benefit shal also wait on publike direction then comes he to give a lively testimony of the Grace of Regeneration For he knows he may decline harm but cannot duty Nature obligeth us to one Religion to the other Where he is strucken on the right cheek where the spirit of the Ruler doth rise upon him he must not leave his place the performance of Loyalty and Service to his rightful Superior although that he know that through false information he is for the present bent against him as know that he is thereunto called by him that hath his heart in his hand and can turn it which way he pleaseth Therefore now when I shall have so far subdued rebellious Nature as to submit unto and undergo my task with patience not as out of necessity but out of duty When our of no other reason but because God hath commanded it I shall obey what is enjoyned me and what I might with my first Parents finde Arguments against in a presumptuous knowledge of good and evil then it is that the strong man begins to be bound by a stronger then he When in the exercise and expression of my Love and Charity I suffer not my self to be swayed by interest or natural propension in the choice of the object or apportioning of my love but can be content as being in Christ now born again and through Grace become a new creature to love all men as bearing Gods image and more especially Christians and such as are made conformable to the image of his son and that without the exclusion of any under the apprehension of enemies or differing from me in judgement or opinion then it is that I may esteem my self renewed in the spirit of my minde and may gather a well grounded assurance of particular mercy and adoption for that as Christianity is by this sign of the Cross differenced from other Religions so may I by this my discreet and obedient taking of it up assure my self that more then Nature or Chance hath confirmed me herein For if in love to Christ and the Peace and welfare of his Church a Christian can be for a while content to be in subjection to these his Fathers in the flesh he thereby gives the best proof that he will much more be willing to be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live Even to that God who as an earnest of the acceptance of his endeavors had assisted him with his Grace of illumination and perseverance herein and thereby assured him of a blessed release and restoration into the glorious liberty of the sons of God when he shall have fought his fight and finished that his course of cleansing which was by divine Providence appointed him in the Purgatory of this life Not that we would be hereby thought bounding that inexhaustible riches of Gods mercy as though it stood confined to these or the like means in the appointment of particular mens salvations but as setting down the best proofs of a true and well grounded Faith where these things are practicable For although Faith cannot be good without Works nor Works without Christian Obedience yet God forbid we should exclude infants from salvation for want of them I say therefore that there is no true confidence and glory save in the Cross of Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world even until I come to be a new Creature by bearing in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus And as many as walk according to this rule that is endeavouring to reform the rebellion and stubbornness of the world by their own exemplary Patience Peace be on them and Mercy and upon the Israel of God By the passed discourses we may gather how corrupted and depraved nature comes to be perfected and restored by Grace we may see how that former way we had with other natural Agents of glorifying God in our contents and pleasures being forfeited we come now through endurance of afflictions to arive at such a state of delight abstracted from sensuality as to be enabled in the condition of new Creatures to honor him in a supernatural way in such measures as naturally we could not do For we taking on us our own guidance and so not being content with the enjoyments of what delights natural sense did outwardly afford common to us with other sensitives and also not trusting to general Providence like other things but rather to our own contrivances and stocks of Propriety could not be rightly said in the exultations of pleasures thence proceeding to be thanking and praising God like them who in their simplicity of not undertaking to know the particular Author of their benefits or have stores of their own did as his Creatures and workmanship expresly though not intentionally praise him in every thing they did but then most when as sensitives in their singings playings and other ways of rejoycings they did most eminently confess and acknowledge his bounty and goodness by this their more lively resentment of benefit In regard whereof
thou didst receive it why dest thou glory as if thou hadst not received it that is since Christ hath given his power in the Church to us in chief and to all others as subordinate why should they act without us as though they had not received it from us Why should you in your popular fancy of underived power thick to raign as Kings without us For although we have suffered our selves to be accounted weak and despised that ye might be strong and honorable and also to try if by any means we might win you yet it is not to deny that we have as your father just power to command you and therefore I write not to shame you for your neglect but as my beloved sons to warn you that I may not have occasion to come with a rod but in love and in the Spirit of meekness as I have always done And therefore although S. Paul do now beseech them to be followers of him as the only way to be of the same mind and of the same judgement yet it is but what he might as an Apostle of Christ have been bold in and have commanded them in Christs name and what they as commanded in the Lord that is by the stewards of the Mysteries of God nay as labourers together with God in this building and husbandry ought to obey And therefore is it that S. Paul faith I praise you brethren that ye remember me in all things and keep the Ordinances as I delivered them to you even as I the Disciple or Follower of Christ have by vertue of my Mission from him appointed you Not as some would have it follow me no farther in any thing then you find me following Christ because this had been to overthrow all he had said before and to have given new toleration to schism under pretence of following Christ For if men be not followers of those their Supreme Heads that are followers of Christ but will make divisions by honouring God their own way then will the Author of peace be made the Author of confusion whilst some in their publike worship have a Psalm some a doctrine a Revelation and Interpretation c. to the overthrow of all true publike worship and service for want of uniformity No otherwise then if the same person in the manner of his return of thanks and service to God should be distracted in himself and not wholly intent on the thing he is about for as there are private benefits for which we are separately to be thankful so are there national ones to in which our prayers and praises are to agree by publike appointment And this is the reason why writing to the Ephesians of our publique duties of praising God he presently enjoyns them submission as the only means to make it right and uniform Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting your selves one unto another in the fear of God which is the same with let every soul be subject unto the higher power because they are of God And so he goes on to state obedience in all the present Christian relations that is of wives children and servants as unto Christ and as to the Lord and not to men But by his beginning with the duty of wives and staying so long upon it we may well conceive him to have herein a particular drift to set forth under the figure of womens obedience to their husbands as their heads each Churches obedience to its Husband or Head under Christ who is the head of the whole Church his spouse of which more hereafter As for the authority of that office of Priesthood so far as related to sacrifice and legal Ceremonies none make doubt of its abolition under the Gospel Whose Ministers or Preachers being now Ministers of the Spirit not of the letter themselves can by no pretence as heretofore shewed claim external jurisdiction and obedience As for the other office of Prophet it had indeed a continuance for some time in the Christian Church whilst it was in its weak condition as a necessary means to give them and their guides direction what to do in their continual distresses Thus is S. Pauls bands and ensuing death prephesied to happen in those times For as there could not under a good space of time be a sufficient number of able persons found to receive Ordination and so to be disposed of for the peculiar care of Churches as now but in this their unsetled and weak condition Christ himself by the means of the promised Holy Ghost being necessitated extraordinarily to endue men with several gifts for general edification in the absence of humane learning it was no wonder if this gift of prophesie did many times come along therewith since all proceeded from the same spirit Yet although this gift of prophesie were thus necessary to be held up from Christ for the support and direction of his Church during her weakness and infancy yet being usually accompanied with the gift of Doctrine and Instruction also it afterwards came to pass that Prophesie and Doctrine did come to signifie the same thing as in that place where it is said No prophesie of scripture is of private interpretation And indeed the predictions themselves were but instructions for those they were addressed unto how to guid themselves according as those events should happen So that it being but instruction in an object and busisiness more remote it was no wonder that the notion of Prophet came afterwards to signifie the same with the Preacher as also the word Prophesie the same with Doctrine even as the Minister or Deacon to comprehend the like function of instruction also But however even in those times there was still subordination nor was it in the power of those Prophets or any other to take on them to settle any Doctrine or Church order against or without Apostolical leave namely the leave of that general Father or Head of the Church under whom they had received their first Christian foundation and who was thereupon as a Master builder to have power over each workman that undertook their spiritual edification As was intimated to the Corinthians where S. Paul complains of this abuse in the practices of such as had ventured to build on that foundation without leave which he as head of the Church had first laid saying according to the grace of God given me have I laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take beed how he buildeth thereupon And this right of Government and Authority to be given to those persons from and under whom they had been taught and brought to Christianity we may find noted in those two forementioned places to the Hebrews where the first admonition for obedience to such
be For since these injust and oppressive acts are usual amongst men nay since in all kinde of judicature and dealing one party or another will think himself defrauded or oppressed if therefore divine Justice should interpose in all cases where wrong were done it must also proceed to reparation of the party wronged upon him that did it to the utter disheartening and defeat of humane Judicature where many times for want of sufficiency of judgement or information wrong sentence is given against their Wills Or should God appear but in some more remarkable occasions of redress how would their discontent be hereupon increased who were not in their distresses so righted and relieved also Each one being to be presumed to carry as partial a valuation of his own merits and to be as impatient in the sense of his own sufferings as he must be presumed to be separately persceptible of them by his proper Understanding and sense and not that of another It must therefore come to pass that either God Almighty by his remarkable appearance in some mens Causes must consequently leave others but so much the more discontented or else altering that more majestick way of Providence and Government he now exerciseth descend to judge in every case whatever Which done what neerer hope of general content since even therein the Verdict and Sentence can but pass on one side still and must thereupon leave the other as it were directly discontented with God himself and it will besides submit the justice of his proceedings to the censure of every one also Whereas now the party that by prosperity enjoys the things of this world is not at all taken off from the acknowledgement of Gods supreme guidance and favour and the other laying his misfortunes on humane partiality and corruption is the more stirred up to seek and relye upon supernatural redress and sustentation the sense of affliction and oppression here being by divine Providence made the most ordinary and effectual means of any for the bringing men to be Religious and to acknowledge both himself and his goodness as heretofore declared And then again why may we not from example in our selves finde reason on the other side to conclude both for Gods existence and Providence and that even from this his concealment from present sense in this case likewise For is it not usual with Parents Masters and persons in Authority out of design to reap to themselves the highest assurances they can of the loves and faithfulness of their Children and Servants wholly to leave unto their full dispose the execution of some Commands and Directions and then so to withdraw and conceal themselves as that the parties put in trust herein shall suppose them without the compass of any knowledge of theirs whether they have in these things done their duties or no And again is it not with them usual as to fix this tryal upon such objects and imployments wherein they had first used such Providence and circumspection that in case of failance of duty the evil thereby to happen should neither be general nor great so also it is usual not to take notice of the performance or neglect of duty in the present act but to suspend the reward and punishment thereupon due to be expressed in a fuller measure afterwards Even so may we conceive of God Almighty as on the one side trying our love and respect to him through these great obscurities and difficulties so also respiting our punishments or rewards till the world to come Beyond all which as that divers necessary regard which humane preservation doth require should be thereunto continually had with due respect to men as they are either naturally or politickly to be considered will in the conduct of these things lay such an exigence of having both a continual and steady and yet of a secret and impartial care so when it shall be well weighed it will be found a work proper and superable by Almightiness onely between things and actions in themselves so jarring and enterfering to carry so even and respective a hand to both that man shall neither be pined through want of care in one nor suffocated through indulgence in the other Should that natural thirst to pursue and obtain things pleasurable be unto men permitted as unto other Sensitive Agents without any stint of positive Rule or Law how soon as heretofore shewed should we finde this heady pursuit of each ones delight to prove each ones torment and ruine Or if again in all the actions and emergencies of mans life he should be onely considered as a sociable Agent and by strict rules of polity be wholly limited in his desires and attempts by the good of others and not permitted to follow in any thing his own pleasure must it not then follow that as each single man did by this way of restraint come to be defeated of his separate content so consequently must all men want it since all must needs want that which no one man could have And thereupon that natural way of serving and honoring that great God of all beneficence must for want of relish and more fresh resentment of the particulars of his bounty come to be smothered or lost As the necessity therefore of having regard to both is the reason on the one hand of all those natural instincts and abilities and of those large affordments of the Creature for mans use and delight so on the other hand is it the cause of all those positive Edicts and Precepts whereby in reference to Society we come to be directed and bounded in their use When therefore we finde God Almighty in the general way of sustentation of his Creation both working at distance and also by second Causes and yet doing it so strongly and assuredly as to manifest both care and Almightiness in him through weakness of the intermediate Agent and constancy of operation so in rules of Government and Society and in those ways and directions to be set for mens restraint it was on the other side likewise expedient that he should be no more apparently and convincingly express then in the other but ordinarily to submit and entrust to his Authorised Deputies the execution of those affairs which he held necessary for prosecuion of that course degree of providence which was by him appointed In the atchievement whereof as the Prince or Magistrate without his supreme influence and sustentation could be no more effectual to preserve mankinde politikely then second Causes could of themselves preserve them naturally so would it seem partial and destructive for God to appear more express in one then another as well as it would be a derogation to his Almightiness to be ordinarily express and personally working in either sort Even as we see in Kings and Governors the greatest difficulty to rest in their even carriage between acts of severity or indulgence in such ordering of positive Laws for preservation of mans life that through their abundance or
womb do when we would make shew of letting them fall put their bodies and parts into posture of resistance and aversion not against falling it self as knowing the danger or damage to follow thereupon but because they find their present posture strange and uneasie And therefore for want of the like sustentation to be left under them they are teady to catch at new hold and support For to a childe new born that hath not apprehended the difference of sights the fright of falling from a precipice will be but equal to that of falling out of its Nourses lap And children receive displeasure at first from lying on any thing that makes them not sensible of a like general and equal sopport they had in the womb And therefore we find them laid on beds and laps made even and yet hardly enduring the unequal application of arms or legs under them until they are so swadled up that these partial supports seem thereby to be equal and even For the motion of gravity or propriety of place being a necessary property of all bodies and their parts it will follow to be soonest and so consequently most universally known Therefore this strugling of children is caused through sense of feeling to avoid a present injury it now feels through uneasiness and not out of innate conception of danger as some do think For if such instincts and knowledge were then would children be afraid of drowning or burning or the like This instance hath been prosecuted to give occasion to discover how we may come to be habituated and affected to certain postures in the exercise and enjoyment of our minde and will as well as of our bodies and how that thereupon those restraints which Government imposeth upon our liberties in the one most cause reluctance and desire of release as well as in the other and that sense and experience of alteration and discomposure is the cause of dislike in our wills aswel as our bodies When therefore these things are ascribed to nature it must be understood of secondary or acquired nature For children or creatures new born for want of experience and observation stand affected from no sense but that of feeling Nor do the objects of other senses please or displease at first unless they imprint and move so violently as to induce feeling by affecting the heart and other parts and habits of the body by means of those inward pares of nerves Whereupon the humors and parts within do heighten as it were by their proper experience the relish of that figure or object in the brain to like or dislike after the rate they stood themselves formerly made sensible thereof from it And therefore time and experience being required to make fear or other passions strong we find that mandkind till they come to ripeness and tryal stand not apprehensive or averse to Government After which sense and knowledge of its use and benefit and also of his own suffering thereunder makes him proportionably contented or reluctant Proportionably I say for that as Reason and Religion do out of sense of duty more or less bear sway over the more natural and bodily sense of suffering and restraint of will so will Government be to each one more or less offensive there being but these two great motives for children and subjects obedience sense of benefit and interest and sense of conscience and duty For want of true experience and knowledge whereof the family as well as the Kingdom comes to be troubled with mutinies and insurrections even for that ignorance and incogitancy of the benefit or harm to arise to themselves by obedience or the contrary leaves them to be lead by the present sense of trouble in being guided by the direction of another which must thereupon come to be by them that are not able to apprehend their own advantages by peace and submission nor that their benefits are reciprocal interpreted as done out of private interest and design of their Prince and father only Nor need we wonder that in the course of our lives Custom should bear such sway since life it self is but custom that is a Methodical and Customary motion of an active spirit which by means of his circular and regular course is diverted from eager pursuit of penitration and ascension For the heat of the Sun or parental body by degrees turning into spirit or ayr such portion of seed or first matter as is apt to sublime this spirit according to its lighter nature grows presently motive and restless as seeking a more high and open habitation but partly out of similitude of the matter whereof it was bred and the similitude and constancy of the same degree of heat it now hath to that which begot it and partly through the present succession of skinny enclosure arising from the slymy nature of the matter it self and partly through those other inclosures of skins and shels in Wombs Eggs c. it is invited and contented at length to satisfie its proneness to direct upward motion with this circular passage as being from habit cozened to take and choose this easier way rather then to press earnestly any more to that direct course in which it had been so often diverted by such high difficulties And as this Spirit is by reason of its tenuity made motive and naturally desirous of enlargement and aire so again by reason of its smaller and more indifferent degree of sublimation as being generated by that moderate heat of the body of a substance which is neither suffered to addle through cold nor harden through heat it is therefore kept so well allayed as to be retarded both in ability and desire of penetration Which is also holpen on by the closeness of those vessels and cells where it is contained and by the likeness and proximity of that matter whereof it is generated and wherewith it is accompanied which is not only the same with that whereof it was begotten but also is but one degree beneath it in thinness For it is to be supposed that the Chylus being turned into blood as it doth attain some degree towards sublimation it self So also that most attenuated and concocted spirit which is in the cells of the brain doth likewise still retain a good degree towards condensation even so as according to course and vicissitude to be again apt to be turned back into sâ—eam and so into blood Like as also the blood on the contrary stands ready and affected to turn into steam and so into spirit in their circulation and passage up and down the body In which course of Version and Transmutation they are holpen by the mediation of the humour remaining in the arteries being as it were a mixture of spirit and blood caused through the refinement of the blood in its passage through the heart Whereupon we find that nature hath provided a thicker coat for them then for that thicker blood which is contained in the veins even as the finer animal spirit