follow'd They v. 32. all died and were cut off before the Lord. What is there now in all these Instances where God is not Would you see him a Governour Behold he rectifies Things present and ordereth what shall be for the time to come Would you see him a severe Judge Loe he punishes the guilty Would you behold him just and merciful Loe he spares the Innocent Would you see him Universal Judge Behold he is Judgment it self For as a Judge he reproves us and as a Judge he rules us As a Judge he passes Sentence as a Judge he destroys the guilty and as a Judge he rewards the Innocent SALVIAN of GOD's Government c. BOOK II. Of God's Governing the World How God's Ears are always open to the Righteous How Great things David suffered An Example of Repentance and the Advantages obtained thereby THE Examples I have before produced Of God's governing the World are sufficient to prove that our God is ever a most solicitous Regarder a most merciful Governour and a most just Judge Notwithstanding which some of the weaker Sort may yet think if things are now order'd by God as they were heretofore in those days How comes it about that bad Men prevail and that the Good are in distress in those days the Wicked felt the weight of God's Wrath and the Righteous his loving Kindness but now the Righteous in some sort seem to experience his Wrath and the Wicked his Favour I shall give an Answer to all this presently But now since in the foregoing Book I engag'd to prove these three Things to wit The Presence of God His Government and Judgment by these three Topicks of Reason Examples and Testomony and having already gone thro' the two first it remains that I manifest the same by Testimony although in strictness the Examples I have produced already ought to pass for Testimony for that is rightly call'd Testimony whereby the Truth of things is prov'd But which of the abovementioned Three shall I begin to prove first by this Testimony whether God's Presence His Governing or His Judging His Presence I think whether he govern or judge for without doubt he ought to be present before he can exercise either the one or the other The holy Scripture in it's sacred Pages speaks thus The eyes of the Lord are in Prov. 15. v. 3. every place beholding the evil and the good Here you have him present here you have him beholding and watching in every place by his Care and Providence For therefore is it said that he considers both the Good and the Bad to shew that nothing can be neglected by him who so narrowly views every thing But for a further Understanding of the Matter hear what the same holy Spirit testifies in another part of Scripture The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him To deliver Psal 33. V. 17. 18. their Soul from death and to feed them in the time of Dearth Here is a reason given why God is said to behold good Men namely that he may preserve and protect them For 't is from the Propitious eye of Heaven that Mankind ought to date their preservation So the same holy Spirit in another place The Psal 34. V. 15. eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their Prayers See here with how much goodness the holy Scripture represents God dealing with his People For in that it says The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous it shews the Affection of the gracious Beholder in that his ears are open unto their Prayers is demonstrated the Liberality and Bounty of the Hearer In the Expression that God's ears are always How God's ears are always open to the Righteous ready to receive the Prayers of the Righteous is meant not only bare Hearing but a kind of Condescension likewise But how are God's ears always open to the Prayers of the Righteous How but because God always hears and always grants their Petitions as soon as ask'd Our Lord's ears are always ready to hear the Prayers of his Saints always attentive And Oh how trebly blessed and happy should we be were we as ready to obey and do the Will of God as we read here that God is ready and willing to hear us But you 'll say it may be that what we read of God's beholding the Just does not help my Cause at all Because that cannot be call'd a general Beholding which is restrain'd by a particular Favour to the Just only It is but a little before where the Text is produc'd which says The eyes of the Lord behold the evil and the good However if a further Proof be desir'd mind what follows for thus it subjoyns The countenance of the Lord is against Psal 34. v. 16. them that do evil to root out the remembrance of them from the earth Here certainly is no room left for Complaint that God do's not also behold the Unjust but notwithstanding this general View he takes of both yet he beholds them with a vast difference as to their Merits he beholds the Good that he may preserve them but the Bad that he may destroy them among whom you who have the Courage to deny that God beholds Mankind must expect your share For know that you are not only seen by the Almighty but acknowledge that your destruction is inevitable For since the Countenance of the Lord is upon them that do evil to root out the remembrance of them from the Earth it is of necessity that you who wickedly deny the Countenance of God to behold any thing should perceive the Wrath of the Beholder in your Destruction And this shall suffice for the first thing which is of God's Presence in and his beholding of Humane Affairs II. Let us see now whether he who beholds them governs them certainly so for the main Reason of His Beholding is in order to His Governing for he do's not regard and mind them only in order to neglect them when we understand that he do's not neglect by the very Act of his minding them especially since holy Writ witnesses as above that God beholds the Wicked in order to their Destruction and the Good for their Preservation And in this very Thing the Dispensation of God's Government is manifested for the Justice of Government do's entirely consist in this to deal with every Man according to the measure of his Deserts But let us view a plainer Testimony in this Matter The holy Ghost says to God the Father in the Psalm Hear O thou shâ—pherd of or thou who governest Psal 80. v. 1. Israel The word Israel signifies seeing God whom yet all faithful Christians may behold in their Heart and by Faith and altho' God be the Ruler of all Men yet those are said more peculiarly to be govern'd by him who do more peculiarly deserve the Benefit of the Divine ear So that you whoever you are if so be
you are a Christian must of necessity believe your self to be govern'd by God But if you do not believe with other Christians that you are govern'd by God you must of necessity know that you are separated from all other Christians But if you desire to be inform'd as we have hinted above what is the State of all Mankind in general and not of the Christians in particular the Holy Scripture will solve your Doubt which affirms that all things are continually and without intermission order'd and govern'd by God For he loveth Council and Discipline Nor is there any other God whose Care is Wisd 12. v. 15 18. Universal For so much then as thou art righteous thy self thou orderest all things righteously and orderest us with great favour Here you see God always disposing Affairs and always governing and besides there is not only in this place a Declaration of his Governning but also an Exaltation of Humane Nature For in the words Thou orderest us is the Force of God's Power but in those with great favour is the height of Humane Honour So in the Prophet Do not I fill Heaven and earth saith the Lord And He himself declares Jer. 23. V. 24. why he fills all things Because I am with you says he and will save you God Jer. 42. v. 11. do's not only barely declare his Power and his filling all things but shews the Efficacy and Benefit of such his filling For the Divine filling brings this Advantage with it that it saves every thing which it fills And therefore the holy Apostle St. Paul in the Acts of Acts 17. v. 28. the Apostles says In him we live and move and have our Being Certainly he is more than a bare Disposer of Life in whom is the Principal of Motion of the Creature that lives For he do's not say that we are mov'd by him but in him thereby informing us that the Substance of us All is engraffed in the Divine Perfections Because we plainly live in him from whom we receive even our very Existence So our Saviour himself in the Gospel Loe I am with you alway Matth. 28. v. 20. even unto the end of the world He did not only say that he was with us but that he was with us always And do you ungrateful Man venture to say that he who is always with us do's neither regard nor care for us What do's he stay with us for no other end but to despise and neglect us How are these Things consistent that he should afford us his Presence out of Love and yet hate us by his Neglect For he says Loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world We put a very pretty Meaning on the loving-kindness of God by slandering him for neglecting us when at the same time he openly declares that he do's never leave us He would by this shew us that he would never depart from us in Affection and Protection because his Presence should be always with us And we convert this Divine Charity into Contempt of us and change these Marks of Love into Arguments of Hatred For this His saying that he would be always with us we make a Testimony of Hatred rather than of Love For if the Lord had said he should be absent there would be less Reason to accuse him of disregard in Absence It shews a much greater Slight and Contempt if he should always neglect us who always remain'd with us 't is great aggravation of Hatred to us if he should stay with us only for this End always to let us have his Presence and yet never to love us Far be it from us to have such Thoughts of the most Loving and merciful God that he should be always near us only that by such nearness he might slight and neglect us the more and far be it from us to speak it I am perswaded there is scarce such a Varlet to be found among all Mankind that desires to be near another Man purely because he do's not love him and that would covet to enjoy his Company meerly that he might have the better opportunity to hate and despise him Let therefore Humane Nature either inform or convince us For if we do not desire to be with any Man unless such as we have Respect for and because we have such respect we endeavour that our Company may be as grateful and advantageous to him we do so love How come we then to take away that from God which you must allow to a wicked Man and to depress him beneath even the very worst of Men that he should tell us that he would be always with us that he might use us with the greater Scorn and Contempt But enough of this III. It remains that since I have prov'd by How great things David suffered Testimonies of holy Writ that all things are order'd and govern'd by God I should shew in like manner that many things in this world have been adjudged by him When holy David was abus'd and affronted by Nabal the Carmelite he forbore to resent the Injury and had his Cause immediately avenged by God When therefore his Adversary was dead and smitten by the hand of Heaven he spoke after this manner Blessed be the Lord 1 Sam. 25. v. 39. that hath pleaded the Cause of my Reproach from the hand of Nabal When his Son became his Persecutor and turn'd him out of his Kingdom the Lord as Judge in a short time avenged his Cause and not only barely avenged it but in a much higher degree than he in whose Vindication it was would have had it that God might shew that the Injustice done to the Injur'd and Oppressed is more grievous to Himself than to those that bear it For he who punishes beyond the Desire of the Injur'd Party shews plainly that such overplus of Correction is in his own Quarrel His undutiful Son therefore being snapp'd up by the growing Gallows holy Writ relates the Account then given of this Punishment that fell upon him from above Thus Tidings my Lord the King for the 2 Sam. 18. v. 31. Lord hath avenged or judged for thee this day of all them that rose up against thee IV. Here you see not only from the nature of Things and Examples as I shewed before but also from the very Name and Term of Judgment how the Scriptures prove by holy Witnesses that God do's Judge even in this present World But you think it may be this was a singular Instance a particular Favour granted to so Great and Good a Man that God by his Judgments should deliver him from his Adversaries The whole day would not be sufficient for me to â—â—eak of the Sentences and Judgments pass'd by God in this present World However that you may plainly discern that he do's not pass his Censures and Judgment so much for the sake of Persons as the Justice of their Causes pray mark how the same God as
has forsaken and yet our Wickedness remains So that we have not like other Men the Occasions of our Immoralities in Temptations but in our own hearts and our own inward Man is the Cause of all our Naughtiness we are not to be amended by the taking away of our Estates since we sin out of pure Love and Affection to the evil Things themselves X. Altho' I have already spoken sufficiently Of Siâ— how offensive it is to God of the great Vices of the Romans with which the barbarous Nations are not defil'd yet I will add many that are wanting But I give this Advertisement before I begin That no Fault whatever seem little to any one by which the Great God of Heaven is offended For if it is not by any Means permitted to any one to dishonour a Noble and Illustrious Person and if any one does abuse sueh a one he is subject to a Tryal for the same and to be legally condemn'd for the Affront how much greater a Crime is it for any one to pretend to offer an Affront to his Maker For the Fault does always rise in proportion to the Quality of the Party who bears the Abuse Because it is necessary by how much the greater the Person is who suffers the Injury by so much the greater is his Fault who offers it And hence it is that we read in the Law that Exod. 31. Numb 2. 2. even those who seem to have done only some small Matters against the Divine Command were yet most severely punish'd That we might understand from thence that nothing relating to God ought to be esteem'd light For even that which seem'd to be little as to the Fault the Affront thereby offer'd to God made very great But what did Vzzah the 2 Sam. 6. Levite commit against God's Commandment in endeavouring to save the Ark of God from falling For there was nothing of that matter commanded in the Law Yet while he supported it he was smitten dead not as it should seem that in any particular he had done any thing out of an obstinate or undutiful Heart but by his over-officiousness he became undutiful because he presum'd to do that which he had no Command for A man of Israel Numb 15. v. 35. for gathering Sticks on the Sabbath day was put to death and this by the Judgment and Command of God the most tender and most merciful Judge and who certainly had rather spare than destroy if the Reason for such Severity had not been much stronger than that for Mercy For one unwary Person perish'd that many others might not afterwards be lost for want of Caution But what do I speak of Particulars The whole Nation of the Jews Numb 11. when they pass'd through the Wilderness because they desir'd to have Flesh which they had been us'd to lost part of their People And yet it was not forbidden as yet to desire it but I suppose God would by that gain advantage for the observance of his Law to curb their rebellious Desires to the intent that all the People might more easily acknowledge how much they ought to avoid the Things which God had forbidden in the holy Scriptures when they found they receiv'd so much Damage by doing what he had not as yet forbidden Exod. 1. by any Express Law The same People complain'd that they underwent hard Labour and are punish'd for it by Plagues from Heaven not that it is not lawful for any one who is oppress'd to groan and complain but this was a sort of an ungrateful Groaning which accus'd God as the Author of their excessive Labour By which we ought to understand how much those who enjoy the Blessing of Prosperity ought to please God when we may not so much as complain of those things which seem ungrateful and uneasy to us XI But perhaps it is ask'd what the Meaning Of the Devil's Enchantments of all this is What else should it be but to shew that nothing ought to be esteem'd light by which God is offended For I speak of these publick Plays the Mockery's of our Hope and the Cheats of our Lives For whilst we divert our selves in the Theatres and Cirques we perish according to that Saying of the Holy Scripture It is a Sport to a Pool to do mischief And so we in like manner Prov. 10. v. 23. when we spoil our selves among those filthy and disgraceful Sights commit wickedness and those not of the lesser Sort but much more penal for this Reason because tho' they seem outwardly to be innocent yet they are most pestilent and pernicious For since there are two the greatest of Evils that is if a Man either destroy himself or offend God both these are done in the Publick Plays For the eternal Salvation of Christian People is there destroy'd by their scandalous Uncleannesses and the Majesty of God prophan'd by their sacrilegious Superstitions For there is no doubt but they offend God since they are consecrated to Idols For Minerva is worship'd and honour'd in their places for Exercise Venus in the Theatres Neptune in the Cirques Mars in the c Of the Amphitheatre Sands Mercury in the Wrestling-places and so according to the Quality of their Patrons is the Superstition of the Worship Whatever uncleannesses can be thought of are exercis'd in the Theatres whatever Luxury can be nam'd in the wrestling places all manner of excess in the Cirques and all manner of frenzy among the Crouds of Spectators In one place there is Immodesty in another Lasciviousness in another Madness and the Devil in them all nay all the Devils of Hell are in every one of the Places of these Pastimes For they preside over the Places dedicated to their Worship So that in these sort of Shews and Sights there are not only Enticements and Temptations not only Vice and Naughtiness For 't is a kind of Sacrilege for a Christian Man to be joyn'd to such Superstition because he communicates with their Worship with whose Pastime he is delighted Which altho' it be always heineus yet it is then much more intolerable when beside our ordinary Course of Life either our Adversity or Prosperity makes this more Criminal For in our Adversity God is the more to be reconcil'd and in our Prosperity to be less offended when he is Wrath he ought to be pacified and should not be offended when he is appeas'd For Adversity comes upon us by God's Wrath and Prosperity by his Favour But we do all the quite contrary You ask it may be how Observe and I 'll tell you And in the first place if God Almighty is at any time of his own free Mercy intreated for we never live so at any time as that we deserve to be pleaded for but if as I said being intreated by Himself he gives us peaceful Times Increase and Plenty of all Things Quietness Riches and Abundance even beyond our Wishes or Desires we are only made worse
Captivity and having the Fear of Death upon us burst into Laughter You would think all the Romans were satiated with the Herbs of * A proverbial saying for a foolish laughing with sorrow in the end Sardinia They die Laughing And therefore almost in all Parts of the World Tears follow our Laughter and even at present that Saying of our Lord is come upon us Woe unto you that laugh for you shall Luk. 9. weep II. But it may be since I have spoken so Of Gods Goodness in desiring nothing that is either heavy or burthensome for his peculiar favour 's conferred upon us long of the publick Sports and Uncleannesses some one may be apt to think that we are worse than the Barbarians only in this because they do no such things and 't is only we that do them but as to the wickedness of Carnal Lusts and the filth of Abominable Fornication that we are not by any means so Bad. Let us if you please compare the Romans in this Particular with the other People And really I cannot tell whether they can be more rightly compar'd to any than to those whom God having plac'd in the very heart of the Commonwealth has made Lords and Masters of the Roman Soil But altho' nothing can be argu'd of the Judgment of God yet seeing he has taken away from us a great Part of our Possessions and given them to the Barbarians let us consider whether what he has taken from us and given to them he can be thought to have done by a just Judgment Every one knows that the Aquitanes and the * The inhabitants of what is now call'd Gascoine and Guienne in France Novem-Populi had the very Marrow of almost all Gaul and the Breasts of all its Plenty and not only of Plenty but of what is sometimes preferr'd before it of Delight Pleasure and * People of Languedock and Gascoine Beauty The whole Country there was so intermixt with Vineyards and curious flowry Meads chequer'd with various Tillage planted with Orchards or the pleasantest Groves water'd with Fountains or flow'd between by Rivers or cover'd all over with Harvests plenty so that the Possessors and Owners of that Country seem'd not so much to enjoy that Portion of the Soil as the very Resemblance of Paradise And what after all this Undoubtedly they ought to be more dutiful toward God whom he had thus in a peculiar manner enrich'd with such an Abundance of His Favours For what is more rational and fitting than that they whom God by His Blessings seem'd particularly willing to oblige should likewise in an especial manner endeavour to please him by Honour and religious Service especially considering that God requires nothing that is heavy or burdensome from us God do's not call us to the Plow or the Spade not to Till the Earth nor to Dig and Delve in the Vineyard nor do's he require so much of us as we do from our Servants For what says he Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give Matt. 11. v. 28 c. you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls For my yoke is Of what God requires of us easie and my burden is light Our Lord therefore do's not invite us to Labour but to Refreshment For what does he require of us what does he command us to perform but only Faith Chastity Humility Sobriety Mercy Holiness all which do not burden but beautifie us And not only so but they do therefore adorn this present Life that they may much more adorn that which is to come O the Goodness Loving-kindess and inestimable Mercy of God who gives us in this present Life the Blessing of Religion for that very End that he may hereafter reward the very Things that he gave us Such certainly without all question the Aquitanes ought to have been And truly as I said in a more especial manner because they receiv'd more especial Favours from the hand of God But what after all these What follow'd What but every thing the quite contrary For as they were the richest in all Gaul so they were the most Vicious For there was no where greater Voluptuousness no where lewder Lives nor no where more corrupt Discipline This Return they made the Lord for His heavenly Favours that as much as He by His loving kindnesses endeavour'd to draw them to him that he might have mercy upon them so much on the other hand by their detestable Actions they labour'd to exasperate Him III. But it may be this is false and is rather Of the vices of the Aquitanes spoken invidiously than truly I shall not make use of any far-fetch'd Proof as Orators and others in their Causes are us'd to do by producing to justify it only some few and those strangers and not legal Witnesses I will only ask the Parties who have done the Fact I have told an untruth if they deny it For they confess it and which is worse they own it so as not to shew the least Sorrow in the Confession For they have the same Mind now in the Confessing it as they had before in the Acting it As then they were not ashamed to commit the Wickedness so neither now do they in the least repent that they had done those Wicked things Excepting however some very few Holy and Eminent Men who as one of their Number says Redeem'd their Crimes by scattering their Coin Excepting I say those I speak of whom in that Universal Stanch and Filth of Vices I believe only to have been guilty of the lesser Crimes since they deserv'd to be reform'd by Heaven For he does not in every Respect offend his Lord for whóm Mercy is reserved And in short I am of Opinion that he had always his Eye upon God in the midst of his Mistake who could obtain the Blessing from Him that he might continue no longer in it But the rest and Most and Richest were almost all the same their Guts were almost one bottomless Pit And all their Lives one continued Brothel-house But what do I mention the Brothel-houses I take the Bawdy-house to be much less faulty For the Harlots who are there never knew the Bond of Marriage and so they do not pollute what they never knew They do indeed deserve to be punish'd for the Sin of Unchastity but yet they are not guilty of the sin of Adultery Beside there are not many Brothels and there are very few Queans who have damn'd themselves to that cursed way of Living But among the Aquitanes what City was there in the Richest and Noblest part of it which was not like a perfect Stews Where was there a Rich Man of Power who did not live in the filth of Lusts Who did not plunge himself in the nasty stinking Jaques Who was true to his Bed Nay as far as lying with