to be jealous over our selves with a godly jealousie would not only work in us a due consideration of our wayes that so we might amend them if there be cause but would be also of right use to prevent two notable pieces of sophistry two egregious fallacies wherewith thousands of us deceive our selves The former fallacy is that we use many times especially when our enemies do us manifest wrong to impute our sufferings wholy to their iniquity whereof we should do wiselier to take some of the blame upon our selves Not at all to excuse them whose proceedings are unjust and for which they shall bear their own burthens But to acquit the Lords proceedings who still is just even in those things wherein men are unjust Their hearts and tongues and hands are against us only out of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that superfluity of maliciousness wherewith their naughty hearts abound and for to serve their own cursed ends which is most unjust in them But the Lord sundry times hardneth their hearts and whetteth their tongues and strengtheneth their hands against us in such sort to chasten us for some sinfull error neglect or lust in part still remaining in us unsubdued which is most just in him 32. For as I touched in the beginning a mans heart may be right in the main and his wayes well-pleasing unto God in regard of the general bent and intention of them and yet by wrying aside in some one or a few particulars he may so offend the Lord as that he may in his just displeasure for it either raise him up new enemies or else continue the old ones As a loving father that hath entertained a good opinion of his son and is well pleased with his behaviour in the generality of his carriage because he seeth him in most things dutifull and towardly may yet be so far displeased with him for some particular neglects as not only to frown upon him but to give him sharp correction also Sic parvis componere magna Not much otherwise is it in the dealing of our heavenly Father with his children We have an experiment of it in David with whom doubtless God was well pleased for the main course of his life otherwise he had never received that singular testimony from his own mouth that he was secundum cor a man after his own heart yet because he stepped aside and that very foulely in the matter of Vriah The Text saith 2 Sam. 11. that the thing that David had done displeased the Lord and that which followed upon it in the ensuing chapters was the Lord raised up enemies against him for it out of his own house 33. The other fallacy is when we cherish in our selves some sinful errors either in judgement or practice as if they were the good wayes of God the rather for this that we have enemies and meet with opposition as if the enmity of men were an infallible mark of a right way The words of the Text ye see seem rather to incline quite the other way Indeed the very truth is neither the favour or disfavour of men neither their approving nor opposing is any certain mark at all either of a good or of a bad way Our Solomon hath delivered it positively and we ought to believe him Eccl. 9. that no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them It is an error therefore of dangerous consequence to think that the enmity of the wicked is an undoubted mark either of truth or goodness Not only for that it wanteth the warrant of truth to support it which is common to it with all other errors but for two other especial reasons besides The one is because through blinde selfe-love we are apt to dote upon our own opinions more then we ought How confidently do some men boast out their own private fansies and unwarranted singularities as if they were the God! The other reason is because through wretched uncharitableness we are apt to stretch the title of the wicked further then we ought How freely do some men condemne all that think or do otherwise then themselves but especially that any way oppose their courses as if they were the wicked of the world and Persecutors of the godly 34. For the avoiding of both which mischiefs it is needful we should rightly both understand and apply all those places of Scripture which speak of that Opposition which is sometimes made against truth and goodness which opposition the holy Ghost in such like places intended not to deliver as a mark of godliness but rather to propose as an Antidote against worldly fears and discouragements That if in a way which we know upon other and impregnable evidences to be certainly right we meet with opposition we should not be dismaid at it as if some strange thing had befallen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beloved think it not strange saith S. Peter concerning all such trials as these are as if some strange thing had hapned because it is a thing that at any time may and sometimes doth happen But now to make such opposition a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mark whereby infallibly to judge of our wayes whether they be right or no as some out of the strength of their heat and ignorance have done is to abuse the holy Scriptures to pervert the meaning of the Holy Ghost and to lead men into a maze of uncertainty and error We had all of us need therefore to beware that we doe not like our own wayes so much the better because we have enemies it is much safer for us to suspect lest there may be something in us otherwise then should be for which the Lord suffereth us to have enemies 35. And now the God of grace and peace give us all grace to order our wayes so as may be pleasing in his sight and grant to every one of us First perfect peace with him and in our own consciences and then such a measure of outward peace both publick and private with all our enemies round about us as shall seem good in his sight And let the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep our hearts and mindes in the knowledge and love of him and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord And let the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the holy Ghost be upon us and upon all them that hear his word and keep it at this present time and for evermore Amen Amen AD AULAM. Sermon III. NEWARKE 1633. 1 Pet. 2.17 Honour all men Love the Brotherhood 1. WHen the Apostles preached the Doctrine of Christian liberty a fit opportunity was ministred for Satans instruments to work their feats upon the new-converted Christians false Teachers on the one side and false Accusers on the other For taking advantage from the very name of Liberty the Enemies of their Souls were ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to teach them under that pretence
fumum accepit fumum vendidit as it is in the Apothegme Or in an Epigram I have heard of two Dunces and their disputation Attulit ille nihil rettulit ille nihil we are yet upon even terms and that can deserve no great imputation of folly 17. Indeed should we speak of our bodies only these mortal corruptible vile bodies as we finde them termed by all those Epithets or look upon our whole nature as it is now embased by Sin or even taken at the best and set in comparison against God in one of which three respects it must be understood where ever the scriptures speak of our worthlesnesse or nothingnesse there might then be some place for these allegations But take the whole Man together soule as well as body yea chiefly that and state him as he was before he was sold as so we must do if we will give a true judgement of the fact and compare it but with other creatures which is but reasonable and then all the allegations aforesaid are quite beside the purpose The Soule is a most rich indeed an inestimable commmodity Preciosa anima saith Solomon Prov. 6. the precious Soule So he saith but that speech is somewhat too generall he doth not tell us how precious Indeed he doth not for in truth he could not it is beyond his or any mans skill to give an exact praisment of it There is somewhat bidden for it Mic. 6. But such a contemptible price that it is rejected with scorn though it seem to sound loud thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle He that alone knew the true worth of a soule both by his natural knowledge being the eternall wisdom of God and by his experimental knowledge having bought so many and pai'd a full price for them our blessed Redeemer the Lord Iesus assureth us there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the universal world affordeth not a valuable compensation for it Mat. 16. We will rest upon his word for this as well we may and spare further proof 18. And then the inference will be clear that there never was in the world any such folly as sin is any such fools as sinners are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he said and Solomon putteth the soole upon the sinner I am not able to say how oft That we should thus sell and truck away these precious souls of ours the very exhalations and arrachements if I may so speak of the breath of God not estimable with any other thing then with the precious blood of God and that not for the whole world which had been to our incomparable disadvantage no nor yet for any great Portion thereof but for a very small pittance of it whereof we can have no assurance neither that we shall hold it an houre and which even whil'st we have it and think to enjoy it perisheth in the using and deceiveth our expectations Which of us laying the promises to heart can do less then beshrew his own grievous folly for so doing and beg pardon for it at the hands of God as David did after he had numbred the People I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away mine iniquity for I have done very foolishly 19. And the more cause have we most humbly to beg pardon for our baseness and folly herein by how much less we are any way able to excuse either of both it being our own voluntary act and deed For so is the next Particular Ye have sold your selves Naturally what is blameworthy we had rather put off upon any body else light where it will then take it home to our selves Translatio criminis the shifting of a fault is by Rhetoricians made a branch of their Art We need not go to their schools to learn it Nature and our mother-wit will prompt us sufficiently thereunto we brought it from the womb suck'd it from the breasts of our mother Eve This base and foolish act whereof we now speak how loath are we to own it how do we strive to lay the whole burden and blame of it upon others or if we cannot hope to get our selves quite off yet as men use to do in common payments and taxes we plead hard to have bearers partners that may go a share with us and ease us if not à toto yet at leastwise à tanto and in some part But it will not be Still Perditio tua ex te it will fall all upon us at the last when we have done what we can 20. We have but one of these three wayes to put off a fourth I cannot imagine By making it either Gods act who is the original owner or Adams act who was our Progenitor or Satans act who is the Purchaser If any of these will hold we are well enough Let us try them all It should seem the first will for is there not Text for it How should one of them chase a thousand saith Moses except their rock had sold them Deut. 32. and God was their rock So David Psalm 44. Thou hast sold thy people for nought and sundry times in the book of Iudges we read how God sold Israel sometimes into the hands of one enemy and sometimes of another Very right But none of all this is spoken of the sale now in Question it is meant of another manner of Sale which is consequent to this and presupposeth it God indeed selleth us over to punishment which is the sale meant in those places but not till we have first sold our selves over to sin which is the sale in this place We first most unjustly sell away our souls and then he most justly selleth away our bodies and our liberty and our peace and our credit and the rest 21. Let us beware then whatsoever we do that we do not charge God wrongfully by making him in the least degree the author of our sins or but so much as a party or an accessory to our follies either directly or indirectly Himself disclaimeth it utterly and casteth it all upon us Esay 50.1 Which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you if it were my deed deal punctually tell me when and where and to whom But if it were not why do you lay it to my charge Behold for your iniquities have you sold your selves It was meerly your own doing and if you suffer for it blame your selves and not me 22. Hâc non successit We must try another way and see if we can leave it upon Adam For did not he sell us many a fair year before we were in rerum naturâ And if the Father sell away the inheritance from his unborn childe how can he do withall and if he cannot help it why should he be blamed for it Must our teeth be set on edge with the grapes our grand-father ate and not we It must be confest
be carried away Greater is he that is in you saith S. Iohn that is Christ then he that is in the world that is the Devil Christ came into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the Devil and he did atchieve what he came for he hath destroyed them And amongst his other works he hath destroyed this Purchase also wrung the evidences out of his hand even the handwriting that was against us and having blotted defaced and cancell'd it took it out of the way nayling it to his Cross. 28. Such was his Power his Love secondly not less which made him as willing as he was able to undertake this work of our redemption In his love and in his pitty he redeemed them Esay 63.9 There is such a height and depth and length and bredth in that Love such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every dimension of it as none but an infinite understanding can fathom Sic Deus dilexit So God loved the world But how much that so containeth no tongue or wit of man can reach Nothing expresseth it better to the life then the work it self doth That the Word should be made Flesh that the holy one of God should be made sin that God blessed for ever should be made a curse that the Lord of life and glory should suffer an inglorious death and poure out his own most precious blood to ransom such worthless thankless graceless Traitors as we were that had so desperately made our selves away and that into the hands of his deadliest enemy and that upon such poore and unworthy conditions O altitudo Love incomprehensible It swalloweth up the sence and understanding of Men and Angels fitter to be admired and adored with silence then blemished with any our weak expressions 29. I leave it therefore and go on to the next his Right When de facto we sold our selves to Satan we had de jure no power or right at all so to do being we were not our own and so in truth the title is nought and the Sale void Yet it is good against us however we may not plead the invalidity of it for so much as in reason no man ought to make advantage of his own act Our act then barreth us But yet it cannot bar the right owner from challenging his own wheresoever he finds it And therefore we may be well assured God will not suffer the Devil who is but malae fidei possessor an intruder and a cheater quietly to enjoy what is Gods and not his but he will eject him we have that word Iohn 12.21 Ejicietur now is the Prince of this world cast out and recover out of his possession that which he hath no right at all to hold 30. Sundry inferences we might raise hence if we had time I may not insist yet I cannot but touch at three duties which we owe to God for this Redemption because they answer so fitly to these three last mentioned assurances We owe him Affiance in respect of his Power in requital of his Love thankfulness and in regard of his Right Service First the consideration of his Power in our Redemption may put a great deal of comfort and confidence into us that having now redeemed us if we do but cleave fast to him and revolt not again he will protect us from Sin and Satan and all other enemies and pretenders whatsoever O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee Esay 43. If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again as he is an unwearied sollicitor and will not lose his claim by discontinuance Let us then look to that Cornu salutis that horn of salvation that God hath raised up for us in Christ our Redeemer and flie thither for succour as to the horns of the Altar saying with David Psalm 119. I am thine oh save me and we shall be safe In all inward temptations in all outward distresses at the hour of death and in the day of judgment we may with great security commit the keeping of our souls to him both as a faithful creator and as a powerful Redeemer saying once more with David Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Psalm 31.6 31. Secondly the consideration of his love in our Redemption should quicken us to a thankful acknowledgment of his great and undeserved goodness towards us Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand of the enemy Psal. 107. Let all men let all creatures do it but let them especially If the blessings of corn and wine and oyl of health and peace and plenty of deliverance from sicknesses pestilences famines and other calamities can so affect us as to provoke at least some overly and superficial forms of thanksgiving from us how carnal are our minds and our thoughts earthy if the contemplation of the depth of the riches of Gods mercy poured out upon us in this great work of our Redemption do not even ravish our hearts with an ardent desire to pour them out unto him again in hymns and Psalms and songs of thanksgiving with a Benedictus in our mouths Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people 32. Thirdly the consideration of his Right should bind us to do him service We were his before for he made us and we ought him service for that But now we are his more then before and by a new title for he hath bought us and paid for us and we owe him more service for that The Apostle therefote urgeth it as a matter of great equity you are not your own but his therefore you are not to satisfie your selves by doing your own lusts but to glorifie him by doing his will When Christ redeemed us by his bloud his purpose was to redeem us unto God Rev. 5.9 and not to our selves and to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 and not to it And he therefore delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might the more freely and securely and without fear serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Luke 1. which being both our bounden duty and the thing withall so very reasonable we have the more to answer for if we do not make a conscience of it to perform it accordingly He hath done his part and that which he was no way bound unto in redeeming us and he hath done it to purpose done it effectually Let it be our care to do our part for which there lie so many obligations upon us in serving him and let us also do it to purpose do it really and throughly and constantly 33. Thus is our Redemption done effectually it is also done freely which is the only point now remaining Not for price nor
for their strayings to bring them to repentance for their sins to make them more observant and careful of their duty thence-forward to exercise their faith and patience and other graces and the like Such as were those distresses that befell the whole people of Israel sundry times under Moses and in the dayes of their Iudges and Kings and those particular trials and afflictions wherewith Abraham and Ioseph and Iob and David and Paul and other the holy Saints and servants of God were exercised in their times 5. Both the one sort and the other are called Iudgments but as I said in different respects and for different reasons Those former plagues are called Gods Iudgments because they come from God not as a loving and merciful father but as a just and severe Iudge who proceeding according to course of Law giveth sentence against a malefactor to cut him off And therefore this kind of judgment David earnestly deprecateth Psalm 143. Enter not into judgment with thy servant for then neither can I nor any flesh living be justified in thy sight These later corrections also or chastenings of our heavenly father are called Iudgments too When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord but in a quite different notion Because God proceedeth therein not with violence and fury as men that are in passion use to do but coolely and advisedly and with judgment And therefore whereas David deprecated Gods judgment as we heard in that former notion and as Iudgment is opposed to Favour Ieremy on the other side desireth Gods Iudgment in this later notion and as it is opposed to Fury Correct me O Lord yet in thy judgment not in thy fury Jer. 10. 6. Now we see the severall sorts of Gods Iudgments which of all these may we think is here meant If we should take them all in the Conclusion would hold them and hold true too Iudicia oris and judicia operis publick and private judgments those plagues wherewith in fury he punisheth his enemies and those rods wherewith in mercy he correcteth his children most certain it is they are all right But yet I conceive those judicia oris not to be so properly meant in this place for the Exegesis in the later part of the verse wherein what are here called judgments are there expounded by troubles seemeth to exclude them and to confine the Text in the proper intent thereof to these judicia operis only but yet to all them of what sort soever publick or private plagues or corrections Of all which he pronounceth that they are Right which is the predicate of the Conclusion and cometh next to be considered I know O Lord that thy judgments are right 7. And we may know it too if we will but care to know either God or Our selves First for God though we be not able to comprehend the reasons of his dispensations the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the judgments are right it may satisfie us if we do but know that they are his Tua will infer recta strongly enough for the Lord who is righteous in all his wayes must needs be so in the way of his judgments too 1. Mens judgments are sometimes not right through mis-informations and sundry other mistakings and defects for which the Laws therefore allow writs of Errour appeals and other remedies But as for God he not only spieth out the goings but also searcheth into the hearts of all men he pondereth their spirits and by him all their actions are weighed 2. Mens judgments are sometimes not right because themselves are partial and unjust awed with fear blinded with gifts transported with passion carried away with favour or disaffection or wearied with importunity But as for God with him is no respect of persons nor possibility of being corrupted Abraham took that for granted that the judg of all the world must needs do right Gen. 18. And the Apostle rejecteth all suspicion to the contrary with an Absit what shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Rom. 9. 3. Mens judgments are sometimes not right meerly for want of zeal to justice They lay not the causes of poor men to heart nor are willing to put themselves to the pains or trouble of sifting a cause to the bottome nor care much which way it go so as they may but be at rest and enjoy their ease But as for God he is zealous of doing justice he loveth it himself he requireth it in others punishing the neglect of it and rewarding the administration of it in them to whom it belongeth The righteous Lord loveth righteousness Psal. 11. 8. And then secondly in our selves we may find if we will but look enough to satisfie us even for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too so far as is meet for us to expect satisfaction The judgments of God indeed are abyssus multa his wayes are in the sea and his paths in the deep waters and his footstops are not known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soon may we lose our selves in the search but never find them out Yet even there where the judgments of God are like a great deep unfathomable by any finite understanding his righteousness yet standeth like the high mountains as it is in Psalm 36. visible to every eye If any of us shall search well into his own heart and weigh his own carriage and deservings if he shall not then find enough in himself to justifie God in all his proceedings I forbid him not to say which yet I tremble but to rehearse that God is unrighteous 9. The holy Saints of God therefore have ever acquitted him by condemning themselves The Prophet Ieremy in the behalf of himself and the whole Church of God The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandement Lam. 1. So did Daniel in that his solemn confession when he set his face to seek the Lord God by prayer and supplications with fasting and sack-cloth and ashes Dan. 9. O Lord righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as it is this day to our Kings to our Princes and to our fathers because we have sinned against thee verse 7. and again after at verse 14. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth for we obeyed not his voice Yea so illustrious many times is the righteousness of God in his judicial proceedings that it hath extorted an acknowledgment from men obstinately wicked Pharaoh who sometimes in the pride of his heart had said Who is the Lord was afterwards by the evidence of the fact it self forced to this confession I have sinned the Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked Exod. 9. 10. They are then at least in that respect worse then wicked Pharaoh that
on that behalf But he that suffereth for his errour or disobedience or other rashness buildeth his comfort upon a sandy foundation and cannot better glorifie God and discharge a good conscience then by being ashamed of his fault and retracting it 21. Seventhly hereby we expose not our selves onely which yet is something but sometimes also which is a far greater matter the whole Reformed Religion by our default to the insolent jeers of Atheists and Papists and other profane and scornful spirits For men that have wit enough and to spare but no more religion then will serve to keep them out of the reach of the Laws when they see such men as pretend most to holinesse to run into such extravagant opinions and practises as in the judgement of any understanding man are manifestly ridiculous they cannot hold but their wits will be working and whilest they play upon them and make themselves sport enough therewithal it shall go hard but they will have one fling among even at the power of Religion too Even as the Stoicks of old though they stood mainly for vertue yet because they did it in such an uncouth and rigid way as seemed to be repugnant not only to the manners of men but almost to common sence also they gave occasion to the wits of those times under a colour of making themselves merry with the Paradoxes of the Stoicks to laugh even true vertue it self out of countenance 22. Lastly for why should I trouble you with any more these are enow by condemning sundry indifferent things and namely Church-Ceremonies as unlawful we give great scandal to those of the Separation to their farther confirming in that their unjust schisme For why should these men will they say and for ought I know they speak but reason why should they who agree so well with us in our principles hold off from our Conclusions Why do they yet hold communion with or remain in the bosome of that Church that imposeth such unlawful things upon them How are they not guilty themselves of that luke-warme Laodicean temper wherewith they so often and so deeply charge others Why do they halt so shamefully between two opinions If Baal be God and the Ceremonies lawful why do they not yield obedience cheerful obedience to their Governours so long as they command but lawfull things But if Baal be an Idol and the ceremonies unlawfull as they and we consent why do they not either set them packing or if they cannot get that done pack themselves away from them as fast as they can either to Amsterdam or to some other place The Objection is so strong that I must confesse for my own part If I could see cause to admit of those principles whereon most of our Non-conformers and such as favour them ground their dislike of our Church-Orders and Ceremonies I should hold my self in all conscience bound for any thing I yet ever read or heard to the contrary to forsake the Church of England and to fly out of Babylon before I were many weeks older 23. Truely Brethren if these unhappy fruits were but accidentall events onely occasioned rather then caused by such our opinions I should have thought the time mis-spent in but naming them since the very best things that are may by accident produce evil effects but being they do in very truth naturally and unavoidably issue therefrom as from their true and proper cause I cannot but earnestly beseech all such as are otherwise minded in the bowels and in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ and by all the love they beare to Gods holy truth which they seem so much to stand for to take these things into their due consideration and to lay them close to their consciences And as for those my brethren of the Clergie that have most authority in the hearts of such as byasse too much that way for they only may have some hope to prevail with them the rest are shut out by prejudice if I were in place where I should require and charge them as they will answer the contrary to God the Church and their own consciences that they would approve their faithfulness in their ministry by giving their best diligence to informe the judgments of Gods people aright as concerning the nature and use of indifferent things and as in love to their souls they are bound that they would not humour them in these their pernicious errours nor suffer them to continue therein for want of their rebuke either in their publick teaching or otherwise as they shall have opportunity thereunto 24. But you will say If these things were so how should it then come to passe that so many men pretending to godliness and thousands of them doubtless such as they pretend for it were an uncharitable thing to charge them all with hypocrisie should so often and so grievously offend this way To omit those two more universal causes Almighty Gods permission first whose good pleasure it is for sundry wise and gracious ends to exercise his Church during her warfare here with heresies and schisms and scandals And then the wiliness of Satan who cunningly observeth whither way our hearts incline most to looseness or to strictness and then frameth his temptations thereafter So he can but put us out of the way it is no great matter to him on whether hand it be he hath his end howsoever Nor to insist upon sundry more particular causes as namely a natural proneness in all men to superstition in many an affection of singularity to goe beyond the ordinary sort of people in something or other the difficulty of shunning one without running into the contrary extreme the great force of education and custome besides manifold abuses offences and provocations arising from the carriage of others and the rest I shall note but these two only as the two great fountains of Errour to which also most of the other may be reduced Ignorance and Partiality from neither of which God 's dearest servants and children are in this life wholy exempted 25. Ignorance first is a fruitful mother of Errour Ye erre not knowing the scriptures Matth. 22. Yet not so much grosse Ignorance neither I mean not that For your meer Ignaro's what they erre they erre for company they judge not all neither according to the appearance nor yet righteous judgment They only run on with the herd and follow as they are lead be it right or wrong and never trouble themselves farther But by Ignorance I mean weakness of judgment which consisteth in a disproportion between the affections and the understanding when a man is very earnest but withall very shallow readeth much and heareth much and thinketh he knoweth much but hath not the judgment to sever truth from falsehood nor to discern between a sound argument and a captious fallacy And so for want of ability to examine the soundness and strength of those principles from whence he fetcheth
to justifie themselves will not stick to repine even at God himself and his judgments as if he were cruel and they unrighteous like the slothful servant in the parable that did his master no service at all and yet as lazy as he was could blame his master for being an hard man Cain when he had slain his righteous brother and God had laid a judgment upon him for it complained of the burden of it as if the Lord had dealt hardly with him in laying more upon him then he was able to bear never considering the weight of the sin which God in justice could not bear Solomon noteth it as a fault common among men when by their own sinful folly they have pulled misery upon themselves then to murmur against God and complain of his providence The folly of a man perverteth his wayes and his heart fretteth against the Lord Prov. 19. As the Israelites in their passage through the wilderness were ever and anon murmuring and complaining at somewhat or other either against God or which cometh much to one against Moses and Aaron and that upon every occasion and for every trifle so do we Every small disgrace injury affront or losse that happeneth to us from the frowardness of our betters the unkindness of our neighbours the undutifulness of our children the unfaithfulness of our servants the unsuccesfulness of our attempts or by any other means whatsoever any sorry thing will serve to put us quite out of patience as Ionas took pet at the withering of the gourd And as he was ready to justifie his impatience even to God himself Doest thou well to be angry Ionas Ey marry do I I do well to be angry even to the death so are we ready in all our murmurings against the Lords corrections to flatter our selves as if we did not complain without cause especially where we are able to charge those men that trouble us with unrighteous dealing 11. This is I confess a strong temptation to flesh and bloud and many of Gods holy servants have had much ado to overcome it whilest they looked a little too much outward But yet we have by the help of God a very present remedy there-against if blinde self-love will but suffer us to be so wise as to make use of it and that is no more but this to turn our eye inward and to examine our selves not how well we have dealt with other men who now requite us so ill but how we our selves have requited God who hath dealt so graciously and bountifully with us If we thus look back into our selves and sins we shall soon perceive that God is just even in those things wherein men are unjust and that we have most righteously deserved at his hands to suffer all those things which yet we have no ways deserved at their hands by whom we suffer It will well become us therefore whatsoever judgments God shall please at any time to lay upon us or to threaten us withall either publick or private either by his own immediate hand or by such instruments as he shall employ without all murmurings or disputings to submit to his good will and pleasure and to accept the punishment of our iniquitie as the phrase is Levit. 26. by humbling our selves and confessing that the Lord is righteous as Rehoboam and the Princes of Iudah did 2 Chron. 12. The sence of our own wickednesse in rebelling and the acknowledgment of Gods justice in punishing which are the very first acts of true humiliation and the first steps unto true repentance we shall find by the mercy of God to be of great efficacy not only for the averting of Gods judgments after they are come but also if used timely enough and throughly enough for the preventing thereof before they be come For if we would judg our selves we should not be judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. But because we neglect it and yet it is a thing that must be done or we are undone God in great love and mercy towards us setteth in for our good and doth it himself rather then it should be left undone and we perish even as it there followeth When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world And this is that faithfulnesse of God which David acknowledgeth in the later Conclusion whereunto I now pass 12. And that thou of very faithfulnesse hast caused me to be troubled In which words we have these three points First David was troubled next God caused him to be so troubled last and God did so out of very faithfulness No great newes when we hear of David to hear of troubles withall Lord remember David and all his troubles Psal. 132. Consider him which way you will in his condition natural spiritual or civil that is either as a man or as a godly man or as a King and he had his portion of troubles in every of those conditions First troubles he must have as a man Haec est conditio nascendi Every mothers childe that cometh into the world falleth a childs-part of those troubles the world affordeth Man that is born of a woman those few dayes that he hath to live he shall be sure to have them full of trouble howsoever In mundo pressuram saith our Saviour In the world ye shall have tribulation Never think it can be otherwise so long as you live here below in the vale of misery where at every turn you shall meet with nothing but very vanity and vexation of spirit 13. Then he was a Godly man and his troubles were somewhat the more for that too For all that will live godly must suffer persecution and however it is with other men certainly many are the troubles of the righteous It is the common lot of the true children of God because they have many outflyings wherewith their holy Father is not well-pleased to come under the scourge oftner then the bastards do If they do amisse and amisse they do they must smart for it either here or hereafter Now God meaneth them no condemnation hereafter and therefore he giveth them the more chastening here 14. But was not David a King and would not that exempt him from troubles He was so indeed but I ween his troubles were neither the fewer nor the lesser for that There are sundry passages in this Psalm that induce me to believe with great probability that David made it while he lived a yong man in the Court of Saul long before his coming to the Crown But yet he was even then unctus in Regem anointed and designed for the Kingdom and he met even then with many troubles the more for that very respect And after he came to enjoy the Crown if God had not been the joy and crown of his heart he should have had little joy of it so full of trouble and
through him onely it is that we are made the sons of God by grace and adoption As many as received him to them he gave power to be made the sons of God Iohn 1. If we be the sons of God we are made so but he is the Son of God not made nor created but begotten I go to my Father and to your Father saith he himself John 20. Mine first and then and therefore yours also He is medium unionis like the corner stone wherein both sides of the building unite or like the ladder whereon Iacob saw Angels ascending and descending All entercourse 'twixt Heaven and Earth God and Man is in and through him If any grace come from God to us it is by Christ If any glory come from us to God it is by Christ too Unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Iesus Ephes. 3. And this shall suffice to have spoken concerning the former amplification briefly because it seemeth not to conduce so much nor so nearly to the Apostles main scope here as doth that other which now followeth respecting the manner With one minde and with one mouth 27. Wherein omitting for brevities sake such advantages as from the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might be raised for farther enlargement observe first that whereas he nameth two instruments wherewith we are to glorifie God the one inward the Minde the other outward the Mouth he nameth the inward first The minde must be first and before the mouth in this service Else we shall incur that reproof in the Prophet Esay as well as the Pharisees did to whom our Saviour applyeth it in the Gospel This people draweth near me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their hearts have they removed far from me Or that other in Ieremy 12. in words not much unlike Thou art near in their mouth but far from their reins David calleth his tongue his glory Psalm 108. for this reason as I conceive among others because the chiefest employment he had for it was to glorifie God with it But if when his tongue was so employed his minde had not gone with it if he had not roused up himself that is his heart and his minde for the minde that 's the man as well as his tongue Awake my glory awake Lute and Harpe I my self will awake right early the best musick of his tongue with Lute and Harpe to boot had been no better then sounding brass or a tinckling Cymbal God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exact critick in spelling and examining the thoughts of our hearts most accurately He mindeth us how we minde him in all our services And will no more take himself to be honoured by us when we cry Lord Lord or as the Pharisee God I thank thee if our mindes the while be aloof off hankering after the world or our own base lusts then Christ took himself to be honoured by the souldiers that put a reed into his hand instead of a Scepter and bowed the knee before him saying Haile King of the Iews and then presently spat upon him and smote him on the head Let us be sure then if we mean God should have any glory from us in all our addresses and services to take our minds along with us 28. But then observe secondly that though the minde is to go first yet the mouth must bear a part too We may not think we glorifie God sufficiently if with the heart we beleeve in him unlesse with the mouth also we be ready to confesse him David therefore professeth very often in the Psalmes that he would performe his services to God with his mouth and lips Open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew thy praise My soul shall be satisfied as it were with marrow and fatnesse whilest my tongue praiseth thee with joyfull lips and in many other places Nor indeed can it be otherwise for if the inward parts be right set the outward will follow of themselves A full heart cannot but overflow when time serveth out of its own abundance and if there be much heat there it will break out at the lips My heart was hot within saith David and whiles I was musing the fire kindled and at last I spake with my tongue Psal. 39. And in another Psalm as his heart was busie enditing of a good matter his tongue was as the pen of a ready writer to take it as fast as his heart could dictate it Heart and Tongue Minde and Mouth both must joyn together and if there be any thing else in us besides that can contribute any furtherance to the worke it must in too and all little enough to glorifie our Maker 29. Observe thirdly and principally for the weight of the Amplification lieth most there that God is much glorified by unity peace and concord This observation ariseth clearly from the main scope of the words He had exhorted them at large to study to be like-minded and he prayeth in the verse next before that God would grant them so to be Why so might one say or to what end all this Even for this end saith he that ye may with one minde and with one mouth glorifie God Which argument were of very little force if unanimity and like-mindedness were not a thing very subservient to Gods glory What an honour is it to the God of Israel when all Israel commeth in as one man to do him worship God hath bestowed guifts upon his Church and disposed the persons therein into several ranks administrations and offices with admirable variety Not that they should jarr and clash one against another and pull every one from other what they can for themselves for that would soon bring all to confusion first and then to destruction But that each should sustain other and mutually supply out of their several stores the wants each of other for the better preservation of the whole and the more comfort of the several parts As the variety of instruments and voyces is so far from hindering the musick that it maketh it up for what else is musical harmony but concordia discors variety in consort the musick could not be either so ful or delightful without some variety But then care must be had of two things first that the instruments be well in tune not only each within it self but well timed also one to another and then that the minstrels agree to play the same lesson 30. If either of these be wanting all the musick is marred For the tuning if any one single string of any one single instrument in the whole consort should be out of tune though but a little say it be no more difference then a flat and a sharp aures eruditae ferre non possent Any thing that is tolerable will passe among country-people but the least discord in the world will offend a choise and
shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed but leave that wholy to their father to whose care it properly belongeth We are very meanly perswaded of our heavenly fathers affection towards us and of his care over us if we dare not trust him as securely for our daily provisions who knoweth that we stand in need of all these things about which we so needlesly trouble our selves Enough it is for us in all things by supplications and prayers for what we want and thanksgivings for what we have to let our requests be made known unto him and then to be careful for nothing any farther but to cast all our care and our burden upon him and doubtles he will not suffer us to lie and perish but will take us up take care of us and nourish us 31. Neither thirdly let us droop or be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow as if some strange thing had befallen us upon the faile of any earthly helps or hopes whatsoever If our Fathers and Mothers affection be not towards us as we think it should if they have entertained worse thoughts of us then we deserve if they have not discretion and foresight to give us meet and orderly education and to provide us means fortable thereunto if they be fallen into want or otherwise disabled from doing for us what formerly they intended or we expected if they be taken from us before we be growen up If our friends whom we trusted have proved unfaithful and shrunk from us when we had use of them if those proportions of wealth honour reputation liberty or whatsoever other worldly conveniencies and contentments we have formerly enjoyed be pared away to very little or even to nothing we have yet one reserve that we dare rest surely upon one anchor of hope that will hold in despight of all the World even the goodness and faithfulness of our gracious Lord God To him have we been left ever since we were born and he hath not hitherto failed nor forsaken us but hath preserved us in being in such a being as he who best knoweth what is fit hath thought fit for us It is our fault if this experience of the time past do not breed in us hope for the time to come and that a lively hope a hope that will never shame either him or us even this That he Will also be our guide unto death that he will not fail us or forsake us henceforth for ever but will preserve us still in such a condition as he shall see good for us Persecuted we may be and afflicted but forsaken we shall not be 32. We ought therefore to possesse our souls in patience whatsoever shall betide us in the World and not to consult with flesh and blood in seeking to relieve our selves in our distresses by engaging in any unworthy or unwarrantable practise or by siding partaking or but basely complying with the workers of wickedness that we may eat of their dainties Is it possible we should be so ill advised as to think to escape the storm when it approacheth towards us by making shipwrack of a good conscience If we go after lying vanities and such are all creatures all men lyers all things vanity do we not ipso facto forsake our own mercy and wilfully bring ruine upon us The short and sure way is when any danger any distress is upon us or maketh towards us to run to our heavenly Father as young birds do to their dam for succour He will gather us under his wings and we shall be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be our shield and buckler If we commit our wayes to him cast our selves upon him by a through relyance resigne all our desires wills and interests into his hands he will certainly bring to pass aut quod volumus aut quod malumus either what we like best or what he knoweth is best 33 Only let us resolve to perform our part do faithfully what he commandeth shun carefully what he forbiddeth suffer patiently what he inflicteth and we may then be confident he will perform his part to the uttermost That when all the World forsaketh us he will take us up take us into his care and protection here and if by patient continuance in well-doing we seek it take us up at the last into the fellowship of that glory and honour and immortality and eternal life which his onely beloved Son hath purchased and his ever-blessed Spirit consigned to all them that love him and put their trust in his mercy To that onely beloved Son and ever-blessed Spirit together with the eternal Father three persons and one undivided Trinity be rendered by us and the whole Church all the kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen AD AULAM. Sermon XV. Luk. 16.8 For the children of this world are in their generation wiser then the children of Light 1. THe fore-going verses contain a Parable this the Application of it The Parable that of the unjust Steward a faithless and a thriftless man He had wronged his master without any benefit to himself as prodigals are wont to do other men harme and themselves no good The master coming at length and with the last to have some knowledge of his false-dealing dischargeth him his office and calleth on him to give in his accounts The Steward awakened with that short and unexpected warning began now to think in good earnest what before he never thought of to purpose what should become of him and his for the future he knew not which way in the world to turne himself to get a living when he should be turned out of service He had not been so provident a husband as to have any thing before hand to live upon He could not frame to handle a spade he had not been brought up with pains-taking And for him that had so long born sway in such a house and like enough with insolence enough now to run craving a small piece of money of every traveller by the high-way or stand at another mans door begging a morsel of bread shame and a stout heart would not suffer him to think of that Well something he must do and that speedily too or starve He therefore casteth about this way and that way and every way and at last bethinketh himself of a course and resolveth upon it to shew his Master a trick at the loose that should make amends for all and do his whole business He therefore sendeth for his Masters debtors forthwith abateth them of their several sums and makes the books a â—ree in hope that having gratified so many persons by such large â—batements some of them would remember it sure though others should prove ungrateful and make him some part of requital for the same The Master vexed to see himself so palpably cheated and knew
in peace and take their rest suspecting no harm because they mean none theeves and robbers are up and abroad spreading their nets for the prey and watching to do mischievously They that were against Christ were stirring in the dead time of the night and marched with swords and staves to apprehend him when they that were about him though bidden and chidden too could not hold from sleeping two or three hours before Martyres Diaboli How slack we are to do God any service how backward to suffer any thing for him and how they on the other side can bestir them to serve the Devil and be content to suffer a kinde of martyrdom in his service The way sure is broad enough and easie enough that leadeth to destruction yet so much pains is there taken to finde it that I verily believe half the pains many a man taketh to go to Hell if it had been well bestowed would have brought him to Heaven 21. Thirdly the children of this world are marvellous cunning and close to carry things fair in outward shew so far as to hold up their credit with the abused multitude and to give a colour to the cause they manage be it never so bad Partly by aspersing those that are otherwise minded then themselves are and dare not partake with them in their sins in what reproachful manner they please wresting their most innocent speeches and actions to an evil construction and taking up any slanders or accusations against them whether true or false they matter not so they can but thereby render them odious to the world Partly by their hypocrisie stealing away the hearts of well-meaning people from those to whom they owe honour or subjection and gaining reputation to themselves and their own party 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is Rom. 16. with faire speeches and specious pretences the glory of God the asserting of liberty the propagation of the Gospel the reformation of abuses and the like Right Pharisees by their long-winded prayers winding themselves into the opinions of some and estates of others The main of their care is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set the fairest side forward to enoile a rotten post with a glistering varnish and to make bright the outside of the vessell whatsoever nastiness there remaineth within Thus the grand rebel Absolon by discrediting his fathers government pretending to a great zeal of justice and making shews and promises of great matters to be done by way of reformation therein if the supreme power were setled upon him did by little and little ingratiate himself with the people ever easily cheated into rebellion by such smooth pretences insensibly loosen them from the conscience of their bounden allegiance and having gotten together a strong party engaged them in a most unjust and unnatural war against his own father and their undoubted Soveraign 22. Lastly the children of this world the better to effectuate what they have resolved upon are at a marvelous great unity among themselves They hold all together and keep themselves close Psal. 56. They stick together like burs close as the scales of Leviathan And although they be not alwayes all of one piece but have their several aims and act upon different particular principles yet Satan well knowing that if his kingdom should be too much divided it could not stand maketh a shift to patch them up so as to make them hang together to serve his turn and to do mischief Herod and Pilate at some odds before must now be made friends Pharisees and Sadduces sectaries of contrary opinions and notoriously factious either against other will yet conspire to tempt Christ. The Epicurians and the Stoicks two sects of Philosophers of all other the most extremely distant and opposite in their Tenents and Doctrines came with their joynt forces at Athens to encounter Paul and discountenance Christianity And to molest and make havock of the people of God the tabernacles of the Edomites and Ismaelites the Moabites and the Agarenes Gebal and Ammon and Amalek with the rest of them a Cento a rhapsody of uncircumcised nations could lay their heads together with one consent and combine themselves in confederacies and associations Psal. 83. Faciunt unitatem contra unitatem To destroy the happy unity that should be among brethren they that were strangers and enemies to one another before grow to an unhappy cursed unity among themselves 23. Thus whilest Christian men who profess themselves children of light by their improvidence sloth simplicity and dis-union too often suffer themselves to be surprised by every weak assault and so to become a prey both to their spiritual and temporal enemies the children of this world the while by their subtilty industry hypocrisie and unity do shew themselves so much beyond the other in all points of wisdom and prudence in their way that we cannot but subscribe to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the truth of the sentence here pronounced by our Saviour that certainly the children of this world are wiser in their generations then the children of light 24. But then for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be not satisfied how it should come to pass that they are judged the wiser For that First they have a very able Tutour to direct them the Old Serpent Wisdom belongeth to the Serpent by kinde he hath it by nature Be ye wise as Serpents And that wisdom improved by the experience of some thousands of years must needs increase and rise to a great proportion Now this Old subtil serpent infuseth into the children of this world who are in very deed his own children also semen serpentis the seed of the serpent some of his own spirit is not that it think you which in 1 Cor. 2. is called Spiritus mundi the spirit of the world and is there opposed to the spirit of God I mean some of his own serpentine wisdom Not that wisdom which is from above that is from another alloy and is the only true wisdom indeed but that which is from beneath which S. Iames affirmeth to be earthly sensual divelish From this infusion it is that they do patrissare so right having his example withall to instruct them in all the Premises Their providence in forecasting to doe mischief they learn from him he hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his devises and his methods his sundry subtil artifices in ordering his temptations with the most advantage to ensnare us Their unwearied diligence from him who never resteth compassing the earth and going to and fro in it as a hungry lyon hunting after prey Their double cunning both in slaundering others and disguising themselves from him who is such a malicious accuser of others to make them seem worse then they are that he hath his very name
excuses which he pretendeth in his own defence Whether they have justae excusationis instar and will bear a good and sufficient plea or be but rather shifts devised to serve a present turn more for outward shew then real satisfaction within Which is that Iudicium cordis the judgement of the heart whereunto Solomon as I told you referreth over this pretension Behold we knew it not to receive its first and most immediate trial Doth not he that pondreth the heart consider it What the tongue pleadeth is not a thing so considerable with God as how the heart standeth affected 29. For the approving his heart therefore in this business before him that knoweth it perfectly and is able to ponder it exactly let every Magistrate and other Officer of justice consider in the fear of God First whether he hath been willing so far as his leisure amidst the throng of other his weighty imployments would permit to receive the petitions and with patience to hear the complaints of those poor men that have fled to him as to a Sanctuary for refuge and succour Iob professeth himself to have been a father to the poor and he is a very unnatural father that stoppeth his ears against the cryes of his children or so terrifieth them with his angry countenance that they dare not speak to him Solomon in the twenty ninth of this book distinguisheth a righteous man from a wicked by this that the righteous considereth the cause of the poor but the wicked regardeth not to know it He that rejecteth their complaints or beateth them off with bug-words and terrour in his looks either out of the hardness of his heart or the love of ease or for whatsoever other respect when he might have leisure to give them audience if he were so minded and to take notice of their grievances cannot justly excuse himself by pleading Behold we knew it not But I must hasten Let him consider Secondly whether he have kept his ear and his affection equally free to both parties without suffering himself to be possessed with prejudices against or to be carried away with favourable inclinations towards the one side more then the other He is too little a Iudge that is too much either a friend or an enemy Thirdly whether he hath used all requisite diligence patience and wisdom in the examination of those causes that have been brought before him for the better finding out of the truth as Iob searched out the cause which he knew not without shuffling over business in post-haste not caring which way causes go so he can but dispatch them out of the way quickly and rid his hands of them Fourthly whether he hath indeed endeavoured to his power to repress or discountenance those that do ill offices in any kinde tending to the perverting of justice as namely Those that lay traps for honest men to fetch them into trouble without desert Those that sow discord among neighbours and stir up suites for petty trespasses and trifles of no value Those that abett contentious persons by opening their mouths in their behalf in evil causes Those that devise new shifts to elude good Laws Lastly whether he hath gone on stoutly in a righteous way to break the jaw-bones of the Lions in their mouths and to pluck the spoil from between their teeth by delivering them that were ready to be slain or destinated to utter undoing by their powerful oppressours without fearing the faces of men or fainting in the day of their brothers adversity He that hath done all this in a good mediocrity so far as his understanding and power would serve though he have not been able to remedy all the evils and to doe all the good he desired may yet say with a good conscience and with comfort Behold we knew it not and his excuse will be taken in the judgment both of his own heart and of God who knoweth his heart whatsoever other men think of him or howsoever they censure him But if he have failed in all or any the premises though he may blear the eyes of men with colourable pretences he cannot so secure his own conscience much less escape the judgment of God before whose eyes causeless excuses are of no avail Which is the last of the three points proposed whereunto I now proceed 30. The judgment of a mans own heart is of great regard in utramque partem then the censures of all the men in the world besides Better the world should condemn us if our own hearts acquit us then that our hearts should condemn us and all the world acquit us This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience saith S. Paul The approbation of men may give some accessioâ—â— to the rejoycing the other being first supposed but the main of it lieth in the testimony of the Conscience This is the highest tribunal under heaven but not absolutely the highest there is one in heaven above it St. Paul who thought it safe for him to appeal hither from the unjust censures of men yet durst not think it safe for him to rest here but appealeth from it to a higher Court and to the judgment of the great God 1 Cor. 4. It was a very small thing with him to be judged of mans judgment So long as he knew nothing by himself so long as his own heart condemned him not he passed not much for the censures of men Yet durst not justifie himself upon the acquital of his own heart He knew there was much blindness and deceitfulness in the heart of every sinful man and it were no wisdom to trust to that that might fail He would up therefore to a higher and an unerring Iudge that neither would deceive nor could be deceived and that was the Lord. I judge not mine own self saith he but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Even so here Solomon remitteth us over for the triall of our pretended excuses from our mouthes to our hearts and from our hearts unto God If thou sayest Behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the hearts consider it c. As if he had said No matter for thy words look to thy heart If thou pretendest one thing without and thy conscience tell thee another thing within thou art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast and condemned by the sentence of thine own heart But if thy heart condemne thee not the more indeed is thy comfort and the stronger thy hope yet be not too confident upon it There is an abyssus a depth in thy heart which thou canst not fathome with all the line thou hast Thou hast not a just ballance wherein to weigh and to ponder thy own heart That must be left therefore wholy to the Lord who alone can do it perfectly and to whose judgment alone every man shall finally stand or fall and if he deserve to fall all his vain excuses shall not be able to hold him up 31. Which of