over the whole globe of the earth is but a God of Gods footstool Your circuit is farre lesse you are but Gods of an out-corner nay a little portion of an out-corner of Gods footstoole Let me then speak unto you in the words of the Tragoedian Vos quibus rector maris atque terrae Jus dedit magnum necis atque vitae Ponite inflatos tumidosque vultus you whom the God of heaven and earth hath so highly extolled as to make Judges of life and death be not proud of your authorities but think with your selves that Quicquid à vobis minor extimescit Major hoc vobis Dominus minatur What hurt soever your inferiours shall sustain by your means there is a greater God that threatneth the same nay a worse unto you Be wise now therefore O yee Gods be learned ye that are Judges ef the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce before him with trembling kisse the sonne lest he be angry Let his word be a law to direct your sentences his will the line to measure your actions With what conscience can those hands subscribe to an untruth which should be Gods instrument to confirm a right with what faces can those mouthes pronounce an unjust sentence which should be the organes of God to confirm a right When you do amisse you are not only injurious unto man whom yee wrong but contumelious unto God whose sacred judgements ye pollute Give me leave then to say unto you with good king Jehosaphat take heed what ye do for ye execute not the judgements of man but of the Lord and he will be with you in the cause and judgement Wherefore now let the fear of God be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity in the Lord our God neither respect of persons nor receiving of reward Therefore in every cause that shall come unto you between bloud and bloud between law and precept statute and judgement ye shall judge the people according unto right and admonish them that they trespasse not against the Lord. Let me say with Moses Judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him ye shall have no respect of persons in judgement but shall hear the small as well as the great With Jeremiah unto the king of Judah Execute judgement and righteousnesse deliver the oppressed from the hands of the oppressour vexe not the stranger the fatherlesse nor the widow do no violence nor shed innocent blood in this place And finally with my Prophet in this Psalm Defend the poor and fatherlesse see that such as be in need and necessity have right deliver the outcast and poor save them from the hands of the ungodly 16. I speak not this as if I would have you to exceed the limits of justice for commiserating the cause of the poor I know the poor may offend as well as the rich and as the poor is to be pitied so the rich is not to be wronged And he that hath given this law unto the Magistrate that he should not respect the person of the mighty hath given this also that he should not favour the person of the poor It is not the misery of the one nor the felicity of the other that the Judge is to respect For the matters in question sound them to the bottome anatomize them to the least particle and sift them to the branne but for the parties whom they do concern farther then this that ye are to judge between a man and a man ye ought not to enquire The law in the Greek tongue comes from a verb that signifieth to divide because it divideth to every man that which is his own You then which are dispensers of the law should give to every one poor or rich that which is his right Hereupon it is that Aristotle cals the Judge in commutative justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as some copies have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medianus or medijurus a mean between two because he should not propend to the one party more then the other but only so farre as the weight of the cause carrieth him and should give to every man that which is his right and that not according to geometrical but according to arithmetical proportion that is not with Xenophons young Cyrus give the greater coat unto the greater man and the lesser coat unto the lesser man but to give the greater coat if it be his due unto the lesser man and let the greater man if he have right to no more be contented with the lesser coat 17. But the principal thing which it beseemeth me to put you in mind of and which is chiefly required at your hands as ye are factors for the God of heaven is the care of religion and the true worship of God Nothing is so dear unto God as his own worship He that toucheth it wounds him to the heart and pierceth the apple of his eye It is an injurie which he will not put up at the hands of any man but will come against him as the fire that burneth up the stubble and as the hammer that breaketh a stone Therefore it most neerly concerneth you who are his deputies to maintain his service and to put what strength you can unto the hammer of justice that ye may as farre as the lawes will give you leave burst into pieces whatsoever shall advance it selfe against his worship 18. The sicknesses in religion that are amongst us are not Novatianisme Brownisme Catharisme No no these hot phrenzies are scarse heard of in this cold climat wherein we live They are cold Epilepsies and dead Apoplexies and sleepy Lethargies and dangerous Consumptions that vexe us The main root whence they all spring is a disease with which this land is sick And that is the bold profession of Popery for hereby the true Christian are mightily discouraged those that are infected with Romish superstition take occasion by little and little to fall away from us The ignorant are doubtful and know not what to do but are ready to embrace any religion or no religion as time and occasion shall require The Atheist a vermine wherewith this whole country swarmes though they cannot be well discovered by reason that they wear vizards upon their faces is hardned and heartned in his impiety For us we do what we can to cut in sunder this bitter root Gladly would we heal them of Babylon but they will not be healed For our privat conferences with any of them if they want wit to answer our reasons they have will to let them alone For our publike work of the ministery lest we should catch some of them they will not come within the compasse of our nets The last weapon of the Church is fulmen excommunicationis to drive them out of our Synagogues And what care they for this who will not come in them no when we do entreat them they
your enemies in the Gate For the better effecting of that which hath been spoken concerning righteous judgment some things are required of others who come hither to act their parts in such businesses as are to be handled at these Assizes Judges though they be styled Gods yet are they not omniscient but must heare many things with other mens eares and see with other mens eyes and as the Philosopher saith that Quicquid est in intellectu prius fuit in sensu so whatsoever comes to the Judge to be determined according to Law must first passe through the hands of witnesses and Jurors and Pleaders and others these are to the Judge as the externall senses and memory and phantasie are to the understanding now if these faile in performing their severall duties the best Judge may err in Judgement as doth the understanding in apprehending of objects when the senses being ill affected doe not rightly informe It is in matters of Judicature as in a Clock if all the Wheels and Wyers be in tune below the fault is in the Hammer or Bell if it keep not time above but the Bell may misse the hour and no fault in it but in some Wheele or Pinn or Wyer that is out of order so if any inferiour parts of this Engine be out of course if the witnesse come hither to sell or lend his freind a false oath in hope of a like courtesie from him at another time if the Jury agree upon a Verdict contrary to the evidence or if the Lawyer respect his Clyent more then the truth and study rather to shew himselfe Dicendi peritum then Virum bonum as if he were one of Protagoras his Schollers whose profession as Gellius tells us was to teach Quanam verborum industria causa infirmior fieret fortior how to make the worse Cause seem the better How can the Judge who unlesse the contrary be privately knowne unto him is to proceed Secundum allegata probata but faile in executing of Judgment and righteousnesse To these I should now have directed my speech but being prevented by the time I onely begg at Gods hands that hee would work in the heart of every man who is to be imployed in any of these businesses an holy desire and conscionable endeavour to discharge his duty Lord thou hast commanded that Judgment and Righteousnesse be executed Da quod jubes jube quod vis thou O God of truth let no man open his mouth against the truth let Witnesses sweare truth and Jurors verdict truth and Pleaders lay open the truth and Judges give sentence and judgment according to truth that equity and truth may meet together that righteousnesse and peace may kisse and imbrace each other even for Jesus Christ his sake who is the way and the life and the truth to whom with thee and the holy Spirit c. Errata Page 1. l. 6. for have r. leave p. 6. l. 7. for speciosus r. speciosae p. 133. l. 19 20. for Amus r. Ancus FINIS a Psal 78. b Jere. 3. 6. c Isa 1. 22. d Isa 5. 18. g Isa 1. 6. h Psal 5. 4. i Psal 79. 1. k Jer. 2 2. l Gen. 18. 25. m Ezech. 18. n Matth. 4. Isa 52. 1. Doctrine Tull. de natu deorum o Exod. 33. Justin l. 18. Hieron lib. 11. Comment in Ezech. p Psal 33. 6. q Job 9. r Job 40. Psal 114. Å¿ Isa 40. t Psal 33. 5. Augustin in illum locum Psal 14. 5. 9. w Job 38. 11. Exo. 20. 5 6. x Esa 28. 11. Sueton. Isa 1. 24. 1 King 16. 30 1 King 21. 19 21. Verse 29. Jonah 3. 10. Gen. 6. 6. Verse 3. Ruffin Hist Eccles lib. 2. cap. 18. Herod Lib. Plut. in Caesar Virgil. 1. Lib. Aeneid Hesiod op dies Gen. 18. 〈◊〉 Acts 27. Vse 1. Rom. 5. 20. Cicero de finibus Esay 1. Esay 38. 14. Cant. 2. 2 Sam. 12. 13. Matth. 26. John 11. Mark 10. 47. Vse 2. Gen. 19. 2 Sam. 6. 12. Plutar in Caesare Jud. 17. 13. Psa 106. 23. Vse 3. Luk. 3. 38. Gen. 49. 3. Gen. 25. 25. Eph. 4. 26. 1 Kings 3. Psal Aeneid 3. Acts 9. 5. At the Spittle Proposition Hag. 2. 8. Psal 110. Acts 7. 49. Jerem. 25. Psal 24. Heb. 1. 14. Gen. 3 2 Cor. 1. 3. Augustin Psal 100. Gal. 4. 1. Rom. 8. 17. 2 Cor. 4. Luke 12. 32. Mich. 5. 2. Gen. 8. 3. Gen. 6. 2. Nat lupus inter oves Ovid. Metam lib. 1. Rom. 4. 27. Maginus Luke 18. 8. Vse 1. * Notae debent esse propriae non communes l. 4. cap. 2. postea in eodem cap. Notae verae sunt inseparabiles à vera Ecclesia ‖ Non quidem efficiunt evidenter verum ipsam esse veram Dei Ecclesiam sed tamen efficiunt evidenter credibile De Ecclesia lib. 4. cap. 3. †Lutheranorum notae non sunt ullo modo sufficientes nam non declarant quae sit vera Ecclesia secundum haeretic nisi probabiliter lib. eod cap. 2. * Hoc orbis terrarum comprobat quota tu pars es orbis terrarum qui solus facis cum homine scelelerato pacem orbis dissolvis Theod. lib. 2. cap. 16. Athan. Epist ad solitariam vitamagentes Bellar. lib. 3. de Eccles milit cap. 16. Idem lib. 4. cap. 5. Alii flammis exusti alii ferro perempti alii flagris verberati alii cruciati patibulo c. a Haeretici sunt per tam faciem terrae alii hic alii ibi alia secta in Africa alia haeresis in oriente August de de past Cap. 8. Hieron in dialog contr Luciferianos a Durand lib. 2 * Dominus deus noster Papa Ex tran Iâ—h 22. ut citat Juel Liberius teste Aâ—han Epist ad Solitariam vitâ—m agentes â—dem patet ex â—â—eambulo Concil Nicen. Bodin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. in oratione contra Arrianos 2 Kin. 19. 28. Brevi occupapavit doctrina Lutheri non solum multa regna in partibus septentrionalibus sed etiam usque ad Indos excurrere ausa est Bel. lib. 3. de Pont. Ro ca. 23 Psal 19. 4. Vid. Bell. de Pontif. Rom. lib 3. cap. 21. Nostris temporibus Romana sedes magnam Germaniae partem amisit Suetiam Gothiam Norvegiam Daniam c. Act. 19. â— August in Psal 39. Chrysost hom 40. ad populum Antiochen Livius decad 1 lib. 9. Hic non tenetur nota marginalis quae nonnunquam occurrit in li. Sent. P. Lombardi Vive de Causis Corrupt Art Plut. Apoth Plut. in vita Sertorii Vse 2. Canâ— Lipsius lib. 2. de Con. Plut. in Thess Rom. 8. 1. Ioh. 29. 13. Isa 65. 5. Matth. 5. 20. Psal 119. Phil. 3. 13. Verba morientis Hadrians Ovid Meta lib. â—5 Eccl. 12. 8. 2. Proposition Josh 18. 1. Psal 132. 14. 15. Psal 132. 5. Sigon de rep Heb. lib. 6. cap. 7. Sigâ—â—ius de ep Heb. lib. 1. â—oh 4. Isa 1.
SERMONS PREACHED UPON Severall Occasions BY LANCELOT DAWES D. D. Now Minister of Barton in Westmorland and sometimes fellow of Queens Colledge in Oxford MATH 23. 37 38. O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered c. LONDON Printed for Humphrey Robinson at the three Pigeons in St. Pauls Church-yard MDCLIII The Contents First Sermon Gods Mercies and Jeusalems miseries Ieremie 5. 1. Runne to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem and behold now and know and inquire to the open places thereof If yee find a man or if there be any that executeth Judgment and seeketh the truth and I will spare it pag. 1. Second Sermon Matth. 26. 15. What will yee give me and I will deliver him unto you pag. 53. Third Sermon Matth. 27. 3 4. Then Judas which betrayed him saw that he was condemned repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Prieâ—ts and Elders saying I have sinned betraying the Innocent bloud but they said what is that to us see thou to that and when he had cast down the silver pieces in the Temple c. pag. 89. Fourth Sermon Psal 82. 6 7. I have said ye are gods but you shall dye like men pag. 105. Fift Sermon Galat. 3. 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them pag. 139. Sixt Sermon preached at the funeral of Dr. Senhouse Bishop of Carlile Job 14. 14. If a man die shall he live again all the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my changing come pag. 159. The second part Four Sermons on this Text. Luk. 12. 32. Fear not little flock for it is your fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome pag 1. The second Sermon upon the same pag. 30. The third Sermon upon the same pag. â—5 The fourth Sermon upon the same pag. â—â— Fifth Sermon Matth. 7. 22 23. Many will say unto me that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied and then I will professe to them I never knew you pag. 93. Sixth Sermon Jer. 22. 3. Thus saith the Lord Execute yee Judgement and Righteousnesse pag. 129. GODS MERCIES AND IERVSALEMS MISERIES JEREMIE 5. 1. ¶ Runne to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem and behold now and know and inquire to the open places thereof if ye can find a man or if there be any that executeth Judgement and seeketh the Truth and I will spare it MAny means did the Lord use to reclaim Jerusalem from her rebellion against him by sundry commemorations of his benefits he wooed her by the sweet promises of the Gospel he incited her by the captivity of her sister Samaria he forewarned her but yet she continued like her forefathers a faithlesse and stubborn generation a generation that set not her heart aright she runs still on a wrong Bias in stead of being a faithfull Spouse she becomes a filthie harlot and playeth the Whore upon every hie mountain and under every green tree her wine is mixed with water her silver is become drosse her Princes rebels and companions of theeves and as she growes in years so she increaseth in all impieties she which at the first did onely pull little sinnes with the small cordes of vanity doth now draw greater transgressions with the huge cartropes of iniquity so that now from the sole of her foot to the crown of her head there is nothing sound in her but wounds and swellings and sores full of corruption In this case God which cannot abide wickednesse neither can any evil dwell with him as the Psalmist speaketh begins to loath her and to give her up into the hands of her most savage and cruell enemies the Chaldeans who shall defile the holy Temple and make Jerusalem a heap of stones Oh but shall the husband be so unkind to his Spouse whom he hath married unto himself shall a Father be so severe to his child shall the God of mercy be so unmerciful unto his chosen Shall not the judge of the world do right farre be it from God that hee should slay the righteous with the wicked God answereth that there is no reason why she should repine against him or accuse him of cruelty her Apostasie is so generall her disease like a Gangraena is spread through every member of the body her malice is so incurable that he cannot without impeachment of his justice spare her any longer Runne to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem c. as if he had said O yee men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem do not say that your teeth are set on edge because your fathers have eaten sowre grapes do not object that my wayes are not equal it is your wayes that are unequal it is your sins that brings this heavy doom upon your heads whether this be so or not you your selves be Judges for I beseech you seek up and down not in the Countrey towns onely and villages of Judah but in the Metropolis of the whole Kingdome in the holy City run through every corner of it search and enquire in the houses and allies and back-lanes and high streets thereof marke their conditions observe their practises consider their behaviour take a full view of their whole carriage if after such enquiry there be found but one man amongst the whole multitude that feareth me or maketh any conscience of his wayes and I will spare the whole City for that one mans sake but if after you have sought man by man there be not one godly man found amongst them all think it not cruelty if now at length I inflict in justice my judgements upon her the summe is contained in this short proposition I will spare Jerusalem if there can one righteous man be found in her Wherein wee may observe these two principall points Gods mercy in that hee would have spared Jerusalem for one mans sake Jerusalems misery in that not one righteous man can bee found in her the former I deliver in this proposition Gods mercy in sparing doth exceed his justice in punishing and with this wee will beginne But alas who am I dust and ashes that I should intreat of this Subject it is a bottomelesse depth who can dive into it it is an unaccessible light who can behold it if the Heathen Simonides after three dayes study how to describe God was further from any resolution in the latter end then when he first began nay if Moses a man more familiar with God then any that ever lived upon the face of the earth when he was put in a clift of a rock and covered with Gods hands could not behold the glory of his face then may it not seem strange if the tongues of men and Angels faile in describing the very back parts of this one
fellowes Come and bring wine and wee will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant But few or none will say with those good professors Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his lawes and we will walk in his paths I think I cannot truly say with Hosea that the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of this land because there is no knowledge of God in the land For our heads are not so sick as our hearts are heavie I mean our heads are not so void of knowledge as our hearts are of obedience but I dare boldly say that which followeth By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and wâ—oâ—ing they break forth and bloud toucheth bloud Will you heare the judgements annexed in the subsequent words Therefore shall the land mourne and every one that dwelleth therein shall be cut off This is a terrible curse and he that dwelleth in heaven still avert it from u but yet it is a conclusion which the Lord useth to inferre upon such premises Give me leave to repeat a paâ—able unto you My beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and he hedged it and gathered the stones out of it and he planted it with the best plants and hee built a Tower in the midst and made a winepresse therein The Prophet in that place applieth it to the land of Judah Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the land of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant plants me thinks I may not unfitly apply it unto this Island Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the land of Britaine and the men of this land are his pleasant plants Now therefore O ye inhabitants of this land judge I pray you between him and his vineyard what could hee have done unto it that he hath not done He hath planted it with his own right hand he hath so hedged it about with his heavenly providence that the wilde boare out of the woods cannot root it up nor they that go by pull off his grapes He hath watered it most abundantly with the dew of heaven he hath gathered the stones of Popery and superstition out of it hee hath set the winepresse of his word therein hee hath given it a Tower even a king as a strong tower against his enemies whose raigne the Lord continue over us if it be his pleasure as long as the moon knoweth her course and the sun his going down and let all that love the peace of Britaine say Amen Now he hath long expected that it should bring forth grapes but behold it bringeth forth wild grapes Hee looked for judgement but behold oppression for righteousnesse but loâ— a crying These were the sinnes of Jerusalem and you know her judgements hee that was Jerusalems God is Britaines God too and therefore if shee parallel Jerusalem in her iniquities let her take heed shee taste not of her plagues God though he hath not yet begun to punish her in his fury yet hath he sundry times shaked his rod of correction over her if this will not worke amendment her judgement must be the greater Fearfull was the case of Samaria whom Gods punishments could not move to repentance I have given you cleannesse of teeth in all your Cities and scarcenesse of Bread in all your places yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord God I have withholden the raine from you when there was yet three moneths to the harvest and I caused it to raine upon one City and brought a drought upon another yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. Pestilence have I sent amongst you after the manner of Egypt and yet ye have not returned unto me saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew c. yet ye have not returned unto mee saith the Lord God The Lord hath not hitherto dealt with us after our sinnes nor plagued us according to the multitude of our iniquities yet he hath made it manifest that he is displeased with us His mercy hath pulled back his hand from drawing his sword of vengeance against us yet he hath left us sundry tokens that he is angred with our sinnes It is not long since that the heavens were made as brasse and the Earth as yron nay the very waters became as yron or as brasse so that neither the heavens from above nor the earth or water from below did afford comforts for the service of man This extraordinary cold distemperature of the ayre might by an Antiperistasis have kindled some heat of zeal and devotion in our breasts when it had not the expected effect then he Called for a dearth upon the land and destroyed our provision of bread even such a famine that if we were not relieved from forrain countreys Ten women might bake their bread in one Oven as the Lord speaketh Levit. 26. 26. But all this hath not brought us upon our knees nor humbled our soules before our God therefore once againe hee hath put life in his messenger of death and set him on foot which hertofore of late years hath raged in this city like a man of warre and like a gyant refreshed with wine and bestirred himselfe though not with the like violence almost in every part of this kingdom I mean the pestilence that walketh in the darknesse and the sicknesse that hath killed many thousands at noon day all these are infallible tokens that he is offended with our sinnes Howbeit he is so mercifull that he will not suffer his whole displeasure as yet to arise Horum si singula duras Flectere non possunt poterint tamen omnia mentes If each of these by themselves cannot prevaile with us yet if they be all put together they may serve as a threefold cord to draw us unto repentance If these be not of force but still we continue to blow up the coales of his anger then let us know for a certainty that they are the forewarners of a greater evill as the cracking of the house is a forewarning of his fall these be but the flashing lightnings the thunder bolt will come after The cloud that is long in gathering will make the greater storme he is all this while in setting his stroke that hee may give the sorer blow Eurum ad se Zephirumque vocat hee is in bringing the windes out of his treasures that hee may rain upon our heads a showre of vengeance which shall be the portion of all the ungodly to drink I began like a Barnabas I will not end like Boanerges my song had an Exordium of mercy I am loath to bring for an Epilogue a thunderclap of judgement Wherefore my beloved Brethren now that you see the true causes of the ruines of every common-wealth and the judgement that
Protestants such carnal Gospellers prove themselves to be sonnes of God when they are matched and out-stripped by the sonnes of Satan when they are matched with Simon Magus in their baptisme and with Judas in receiving the Lords Supper and Pharaoh in hearing the word preached and with the Devill in believing and with Pagans and Infidels in the practise of civill and morall duties Nay when Judas goes beyond them in repentance and Ahab in sorrow and humiliation and Herod in delight in the Word and reverence of the Preacher and amendment of life and Jehu in zeale of Gods glory and Pharaoh in desiring the prayers of the godly and Foelix and the Devill in trembling at Gods judgements Oh pittiful If you should live I speak to them that are such and I doubt there are too many in this place the hearts of most are like this Country climate where they live cold and their brains more subject to Lethargies then Phrenfies If you should live amongst the Turks or Tartars where the sound of the Gospel is scarce heard if you had lived and dyed in those dayes when God gave his lawes to Jacob his statutes and Ordinances unto Israel and dealt not so with any Nation Or if you should live in Spain or Italie where the heavenly treasure is locked up from ignorant men in the closet of an unknown tongue and where no more is required of a sonne of the Church for that 's a term they are better acquainted with then a sonne of God then to be baptized to say his prayers in Latine to hear and see a Masse to keepe fasting dayes and to believe as the Collier told the Devill as the Church believeth you might have some excuse for your selves But now that you live where the judgments of the Law are denounced and the sweet promises of the Gospel proposed now that the Sun doth shine and no better blossoms of righteousnesse appeare in you how can you escape the hatchet of Gods wrath How can you call God your Father or Christ your Brother Shall Judas be sorrowfull and make confession of his sinnes and will not you Shall Ahab and the Ninivites be humbled and manifest their humiliation by fasting and sacke-cloath and tears and will not you be humbled for your sins Shall Herod amend many faults at the preaching of John Baptist and will not you reform your lives Shall the Devill believe and tremble and will not you believe with him Or if you believe with him will ye noâ— tremble with him Shall all these I have named be damned to hell and look you for the reward promised to Gods children the Kingdome of Heaven No assuredly no. I deliver unto you that which I have received from the Lord Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of all these you cannot enter into thâ— Kingdome of heaven The spirit of adoption is not severed from the spirit of sanctification it 's one and the same individual spirit Holinesse becometh Gods house for ever It 's written over Heaven gates as it was over Plato's School door Let no man that is not a Geometrician enter this roome Let no man that hath not measured his life by the line of the Law that hath not this Motto written on the Table of his heart Holinesse to the Lord presume to come into Gods Tabernacle or rest upon his holy Hill That for the first duty we owe unto God as he is our Father and we his children The second is to our Neighbour For if God be our Father then all we which make profession of that faith which was once given to the Saints are brethren and should live as brethren and love as brethren And how brethren should be affected one to another we see in the members of our bodies our two feet are as it were two brethren one to support another two armes two eyes two ears one to help another the utmost part of the hand divided into five fingers one for assisting and strengthening another No otherwise even by the judgement of naturall men should one brother be affectioned to another Hence in Poets came the fable of Briareus with one bodie and 100. hands and of Geryon with one bodie and three heads by the first was meant fiftie by the second three brethren so linked together in the bands of brotherly love as if they had all been members of one and the fame individuall bodie And he that for his owne particular benefit seeks the losse and hurt of a brother doth as if one foot should supplant and trip up another or as if the fingers of the hand should fall out and one wrest another out of joynt Nay further a brother that forsakes his brother and joynes himselfe into society with a stranger saith Plutarch doth as if a man should cut off one of his owne legs and take a wooden leg in the room of it As their love is the greatest so their hatred if they fall out is noted to be the greatest so that of all others they are hardest to be reconciled For as those things that are glued together if they goe asunder may easily be reunited but a bodie that is all of one peece if it be broken cannot be so fastned againe but you may discern where the breach was When friends who by affections are joyned together if they dissent may easily be reconciled but brethre who are as it were one by nature can hardly be so united but there will remaine some scarre behind for which cause it concerns them to avoid the least occasions of disagreement Now that I may bring that which I have spoken home to my purpose grace is a stronger bond then nature If then naturall brethren should be thus affected one to another how much more brethren in Christ begotten by one father God bred in one womb the Church fed with one milke the Word animated by the same spirit justified by the same faith And this love must shew it selfe chiefly in two things 1. In pardoning wrongs without private revenge If the injury be little forget it if great yet must thou not be Judge in thine owne cause but as children say when they are wronged I will tell my Father so do thou All malice and private revenge lay aside out of a zeale of justice make thy complaint to those who are the Ministers of God to take vengeance on them that do evill 2. In supporting and relieving such as stand in need of thy help As the great stones that are laid in the bottome of a building beare the weight of the lesse that are laid above them or as a bundle of rods bound together to use Seleucus his comparison do one strengthen another Or as when a faggot of grove sticks is laid on the fire and warms and kindles another and that which he hath be ready to communicate to such as want those that are learned to instruct others that are ignorant those that be strong to support them that are
yet is Esau left and the birth-right given to Jacob and that before they were borne when the children were yet unborn when they had neither done good nor evill that the purpose of God might remaine according to election not by works but by him that calleth it was said The elder shall serve the younger as it is written I have loved Jacob c. What will the enemies of Gods grace and good pleasure answer to this Forsooth God in Jacob demonstrates that he makes choise of those whom he foresees worthy of his grace in Esau that he rejects those whom he sees unworthy But why doth he say the children were unborne why adds he that they had neither done good nor evill why is it said that the purpose of God might remaine according to election not by works What wilt thou say to that which followeth What then shall we say saith the Apostle Is there injustice with God God forbid As if he had said although God to those that are equall give things unequall although he deprives Esau of his Birth-right and gives it to Jacob yet God forbid that we should accuse him of injustice seeing his will is the rule of all justice which in the words following hee proves to be the prime cause of election and praeterition therefore saith he It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth c. Again He hath mercie on whom he will c. And O man who art thou that disputest with God Hath not the potter power of the clay c. All that the Potter can do with the clay is to bring an accidentall forme into it the clay he cannot make but God is Author not only of the accidents but of substances too and therefore hath greater power over his creatures then the Potter over his clay Well then if you ask why God conferres a Kingdome upon his Flock of Sheep and not on Goats why he loves Jacob and hates Esau why he pardons Peter and not Judas we all deserving death being plunged over head and eares in the water of corruption thou hast the answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It s our fathers pleasure he will have it so And why will he have it so I answer with Austin Tu homoes expectas responsum a me qui sum homo itaque ambo audiamus dicentem O homo c. Melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia Occulta Jehovae c. Revealed things belong to us and our Children but secret things to God None hath ever pryed into his Ark lived Oculos amittunt qui eos acrius in solem figunt sic nos omne amittemus mentis lumen si eam intendamus in hoc lumen Gods will is the supream cause to aske further is to seeke a cause of that which hath none Now then Compescat se humana temeritas id quod non est non quaerat ne id quod est non inveniat Now humane Scrupulosity must be silent and not search for that that is not least it finde not that that is Let us leave Pelagins and his Bratt Arminius a little and speak closely to the Papist concerning merit of works First Nothing can properly merit the Kingdome of Heaven but that which is absolutely perfect both in respect of parts and degrees if you look for Heaven by merit of works you must with the Sun in the Zodiack keep a precise course under the Ecliptick Line of Gods Law and not divert an haires breadth to the right hand or to the left if thou faile but in the least Iota heare thy doome Cursed is he that continueth not c. He that offendeth in one is guilty of all Jam. 2. Let the Papist with his Forefathers the proud Pharisees boast that he hath been so good a proficient in Gods Schoole tha◠hee hath fulfilled all Gods precepts from his youth an easie matter so to do he can go further and become a transcendent and with the Icarian wings of Supererogatory works soar above the predicaments of the Law and merit the Kingdome of Heaven not for himselfe onely but for others too But for thee beloved Christian if thou be wise confesse with the faithfull in the Prophet Isa 64. That all thy righteousnesse is as filthy clouts with Peter That the Law is a yoake which neither thou nor thy Fathers were ever able to beare Acts 10. With Paul That it is impossible in as much as it is made weak because of the flesh Rom. 8. Say with John If we have no sin c. 1 John 1. And with an ancient Father Multum in hac vita ille profecit qui quam longe sit a perfectione justitiae proficiendo cognovit It s an easie matter I confesse for an idle Fryar who with the Spider spins his Web out of his owne bowels and spends his whole time in making of Sophismes against the truth as Chrysippus did in making of Fallacies and measures God by himself as Praxiteles painted Venus like his owne Wise to say somewhat for salvation by works but he that will look upward to Heaven and consider the Almighty as he is described in his word at whose brightnesse the Starrs of Heaven are darkned by whose power the earth is shaken at whose anger the mountaines are melted at the presence of whose purity all things seem impure who maketh not the wicked innocent who is a burning and a consuming fire let him sit on the bench of judgment and sift and boult our works in the Sieve of his justice let him try them who looks not on the outward appearance of man but enters into his heart and searcheth every corner thereof and like a curious Critick spells every syllable of our thoughts long before they be conceived and who can abide his judgment Who then dare to boast of his owne righteousnesse or challenge the Kingdome of Heaven by his good deeds Behold saith Job he found no stedfastnesse in his Saints and layd folly upon his Angels how much more on them which dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust Job 4. 18. And againe Behold he found no stedfastnesse in his Saints and the Heavens are impure in his sight How much more is man abominable and filthy which drinketh iniquity like water Job 15. 15 16. Hither hither let us lift up our eyes and all boasting of our owne righteousnesse will vanish away as the morning dew at the heat of the Sun it will make us say with Austin God brings us to eternall life not for our owne merits but for his mercy With Bernard Meritum nostrum miseratio Domini VVith Job We are not able to answer him one for a thousand And with David Enter not into Judgement with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Secondly But Dato non concesso suppose that which shall never be granted that thou couldst say truly with Saul and the Pharisee I have
with his own hands No lesse comfort will it be to us when we can perswade our owne soules that such trees we have planted in the Lords garden such sheep we have brought into Christs sheepfold if every of us can say to the great Arch-bishop of our souls when he shall keep his visitation Here am I and the children thou hast given me Adde last of all that Crown of righteousnesse wherewith our service shall be rewarded at the last day Those that have beene his faithfull witnesses here on earth when the earth shall be no more shall be as the Moon and as the faithfull witnesse in heaven And whereas those which follow wisdome shall shine ut expansum as that which is stretched out over our heads the Firmament those that turne many unto righteousnesse and let no painful Minister be discouraged if the fruit of his labours fall short of his expectation We are but Gods Instruments Except the Lord keep the Citie the watch-man watcheth but in vaine Except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that build it Paul may plant and Apollos water but to no purpose unless God give an encrease Jeremiah thundered out Gods judgments against the sins of Jerusalem the space of 50. yeares and she was more obstinate in the end then at the beginning Esay preached 64. some say 74. years and profited little for all his pains Noah preached 120. years to the old World and we do not read of one person he converted Let it be our desire and studie to turne many unto righteousnesse and our reward shall be with our God He that accepteth the will for the deed will as surely reward us as if we had done the deed So then as I was about to say whereas those that follow wisdome shall be as the thinner parts of heaven or as the Lacteus Circulus which is caused of the confluence of the beames of those heavenly torches Those that turne many unto righteousnesse shall be as the thicker parts of the celestiall Orbe and shall shine as the starrs of heaven for evermore The sixth Sermon JER 22. 3. Thus saith the Lord Execute yee Judgement and Righteousnesse THREE things there were amongst the Gentiles to which they dreaming they had them from God trusting too much disadvantaged themselves and gave occasion of rejoycing to their Enemies First their twelve Ancilia or Targets one of which they say fell from Jupiter into the hands of Numa Secondly their Palladium which fell from Heaven into a certain Temple in Phrygia being then without Roofe Thirdly and the Image of Pessinuntia dea or Idaea mater the Mother of their Gods which the Romans with great cost and paines brought from Pesinuns a Town in Asia the lesse to Rome and placed in the Temple of their Goddesse Victoria as a meanes to perpetuate and eternize the felicity of that State The Jewes likewise had three things which they said and said truly they had from God The Temple and the Ark and the Law which because they looked no further into then the out-side and externall Superficies of them as if a man should busie himselfe with picking and licking the Shell of a Nut and neglect the Kernell or rest satisfied with keeping a true measure and ballance in his house and never use them or as if a Scholler should content himselfe with looking on the Cover and Strings of his Book and never open it nor learn the Contents thereof brought many Calamities upon them and at length proved their destruction as long as the Temple was in the City and the Ark in the Temple and the Law in the Ark they thought all sure they themselves were called the people of God their City the City of God in it they had the Temple of God and the Ark of God and the Law of God What was wanting verily as much as is wanting to a good Souldier when he hath his Sword hanging by his side and never offers to draw it when the Enemy assaults him or to the Office of a Judge when he sits on the Bench having the Scales painted over his head but speaks not a word Against this remisnesse not to give it a worse name the Prophet exclaimes the Law is dissolved then the Letters remain in the Book the practise is perished Judgment never goes forth Defluxit lex Hab 14. its a metaphor borrowed from the Pulse a mans bodily constitution may be known by his Pulse if it be fallen down and give over beating the man is in the pangs of Death or dead already if vehement he is in a hot Feaver if temperate he is in good health The Law is the Pulse of the Common-Wealth if it move not the Body Politick is dead if its motion be violent its sick of a hot Ague if moderate and equall it s well affected In the dayes of our Prophet the Pulses of the Law were quiet no more motion in them then in the dead Sea which neither ebbs nor flowes Judgment was fallen and Justice could not enter the faithfull City was become an Harlot her Princes Rebells and Companions of Theeves every one loved Gifts and followed after Rewards they judged not the Fatherlesse neither did the cause of the Widow come before them Isa 1. They had altogether broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds Jer. 5. 5. Whereupon the Lord sends his Prophet to the King of Judah and his Servants that is his chiefe Officers and Magistrates with this Charge that if they desired to continue their Possessions in that good Land which he had given them and to escape a miserable slavery and captivity under cruell Tyrants in a strange and Idolatrous Country into which for their sinnes he was ready to bring them they should put life into the Law that the Pulses thereof might be perceived to move Execute Judgment And because the corruption of mans nature commonly runs from one extream to another in vitium ducit culpae fuga here quires that this Judgment be not too violent but moderate and equitable Execute Judgment and righteousnesse that is righteous Judgment For the Law like a mans shooe Si pede major erit subvertit si minor urit if it be too wide it will give Liberty to the Foot to tread awry if too strait it will pinch it But what hath a private man to do in matters of State what Commission hath Jeremy a Priest to come to the Court of a mighty King and to tell him and his Nobles of their duties Surely a very strange one He who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords had set him over Nations and over Kingdomes to pluck up and to root out Jer. 1. sends him now as his Embassadour into the Kings house and gives him instruction what he shall speak Thus saith the Lord God esteem not my Message according to the quality of my person for though I be meane in place and of small reputation yet my Errant is of another nature I
am vox clamantis a Cryer or Summoner sent unto you from the great God of Heaven Earth who with a mighty hand and out-stretched Arme brought your Fore-Fathers out of the Land of Aegypt and gave them this fruitfull Land which you now possesse who being almighty is able to defend you if you shall cleave unto him and to punish you if you shall neglect his word whose name is JEHOVAH I am yesterday and to day and the same for ever which was and which is and which is to come without change or shadow of change that which I have received from him I deliver unto you Thus saith the Lord Execute Judgement and Righteousnesse As then Judges in their Circuite in the severall Counties where they sit to heare and determine Causes first cause their Commission to be read then give the charge to the Inquest So our Prophet first shewes his Commission Thus saith the Lord and then gives his Charge Execute Judgment And these be the two Branches into which my Text divideth it selfe In the Commission I note that a Prophet and consequently a Minister who in the new Testament is also called a Prophet is an Embassadour sent from God unto the Sonnes of men So saith the Apostle Wee are Embassadours from Christ as though God did beseech you through us we pray you in Christs stead that yee be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. 20. Let a man so think of us as of the Ministers of Christ and disposes of the secrets of God 1 Cor. 4. 1. This shewes the Dignity of this Calling a Calling whether you respect the Author or the Subject or the end as far exceeding all others as Saul in length of body did the rest of the Israelites And surely if the Philosopher could call the Stones happy of which the Altar was builded because they were had in honour when others were troden under feet then much more may they be termed happy whom the Lord hath separated from their Brethren and taken neer unto himselfe to minister unto him if they shall be found faithfull and diligent in so high a calling But here I may justly take up the Prophets Complaint Who will beleive our report If I should dilate on this Subject my words would seem to many as Lots did to his Sonnes in Law when he spoke of the destruction of Sodome who seemed to speake as if he had mocked I appeale to your consciences whether the Vocation of a Priest so the prophane Gulls of this World call it in disgrace be not by many reputed the most base and contemptible Calling in the Land that which the Apostle speakes of our generall calling to Christianity is at this day verified of this particular Vocation not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1. The poor and the halt and the lame and such as are good for nothing else are thought sufficient for these things though the Apostle could ask 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is sufficient do not many with the foolish woers in the Poet Penelopâ—n relinquere ad ancillas confugere leave the Mistresse and become Suiters to her Maids and chuse rather to be of any calling nay of no calling to be idle Hunters riotous Gamesters loose livers to be any thing rather then to be imployed in this great and weighty businesse of being an Embassadour from God unto the Sonnes of men But it s no matter Philosophy suffers no great disgrace because Agrippina will not have her Son young Nero to study it and a Pearle is not a straw the worse because Esops Cock cares not for it Rauca reful gentem contemnit noctua Phoebum Non crimen Phoebus noctua crimen habet The Owle cannot abide the Sun the fault is not in the Sunne but in the Owles eyes that cannot behold it The very Heathen shall in the day of judgement arise against these men and condemn them amongst whom this Calling hath alwayes been honoured for the best Amongst the Phoenicians they wore a crowne of gold Amongst the Athenians none were admitted King that had not been of this Order It was not scorned by the best Senatour of Rome insomuch that Gellius having set down four properties of Crassus which he calls Rerum humanarum maxima praecipua the greatest things amongst the sons of men Quod esset ditissimus quod nobilissimus quod eloquentissimus quod jurisconsultissimus that he was the richest and the noblest and the most eloquent and the best Lawyer that Rome had He adds in the last place as it were a specificall forme restraining all the rest Quod pontifex maximus that he was the chiefe Bishop and Virgil had no intendment to disgrace Amus when he called him a King and a Priest Rex Amus rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos And the custome of the old Aegyptians is well enough known unto Schollers Qui ex philosophis sacerdotes and Ex sacerdotibus probatissimum in regem elegerunt who from Philosophers chose Priests and from Priests Kings whereupon their Hermes had the name of Trismegistus thrice greatest the greatest Philosopher the greatest Priest and the greatest King Such an one was Moses the Prince and chiefe of all the Prophets who did not preach to Pharaoh and the Israelites till first instructed by the Lord what he should say Such were the Priests of the Law or at least such they should have been and therefore the Lord saith That the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and That they should seeke the law at his mouth The reason is added because he is the Angel or Embassadour of the Lord of Hosts Such was Ezekiel whom the Lord tells that he had made a watch-man over the house of Israel and that hee should heare the word at his mouth and give the people warning from him Such was Jeremiah who prophesied not to the Jewes till the Lord had touched his tongue and put words into his mouth Finally such were all the Prophets before the coming of the Messias who had this law giuen them that they should teach no more then he had given them in charge Hence be these and the like speeches Thus saith the Lord. The word of the Lord. The burden of the Lord. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Come to the New Testament and look upon the Apostles and Evangelists surely very excellent things were spoken of them they were called the salt of the Earth the light of the World the friends of Christ they had the keyes of Heaven gates given unto them That whatsoever they bound on earth should be bound in heaven and whatsoever they loosed on earth should be loosed in heaven They were sent to preach to all Nations but not what they would but what they had in commission from Christ Teach to observe all things which I have commanded Mat. 28. 20. Nay Christ Jesus the Son of God the Privy Counsellor of the Father the only Master and Teacher of his Church
to either side of the Zodiack so must he keep a strict course under the line and rule of the law and not decline to either party further then equity and a good conscience will warrant him he must not like Marriners and Saylers Obliquare Sinus fetch a compasse when the wind will not serve his turn but rather be like the two Kine which carried the Ark of the Lord from Eckron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left unlesse as in some case it may fall out there be just cause of mitigation In a word he must lay judgment to the rule and righteousness to the ballance and as the ballance puts no difference between gold and lead not giving a greater weight to gold because it is gold nor a lesse to lead because of the baseness of the mettall but giveth an equall or unequall poyse to both without respect of either so should a Magistrate with an equall hand weigh every mans cause alike not respective to one more then another This the Aegyptians figured by the hieroglyfical from of a man without eyes or hands intimating thereby that he should neither have hands to receive bribes nor eyes to behold and respect the persons of men The same did the Greeks signifie when they painted Justice between Leo and Libra meaning that the Judg should be courageous in executing and equall and indifferent in determining For the effecting whereof three things are to be avoyded as so many dangerous rocks any of which of it self is enough to cause him make ship-wrack of honesty and a good conscience The first is that which the Apostle calls the root of all evill Covetousness it 's the very cut-throat and cankerworm of all Justice it and Justice be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur they cannot lodg within one breast Facite me Romanae urbis Episcopum ero pretinus Christianus said the wicked Pagan in Hierome Give a covetous man such and such an Office give him gold enough or what will ye give him and you shall have him sure he will be what ye will he wil doe what ye will though as absurd and repugnant to justice and right reason as that Atheist thought it was to be a Christian He will make the Laws as fit for your purpose as Procrustes fitted his guests for his Bed if they were too long he cut them off by the knees if too short he stretched out their joynts till they were as long as the Bed For avoyding of this the Judg must remember that it is a property of every good Officer and Magistrate to be an hater of covetousnesse as a thing eâ—diametro repugnant to his profession Exod. 18. 21. And that he cannot act such works of darkness though never so closely neither by himself nor by such Brokers as he keeps about him for like purposes But God who is like a wel-drawn picture that eyeth every man in the room doth behold it Quaecunque capesses testes factorum stare arbitrabere divos saith the Poet. Quare si peccare vis quaere ubi te non videat fac quod vis saith Saint Austin The 2. Rock is fear or favour of great persons but a Magistrate must be a man of courage and where doth courage appear but in resisting the mighty in using the severity of the Law against Great ones if they offend He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Poet called a King a Shepheard of his people and should have that care over those that are under his charge which a Shepheard hath over his Flock who will not only destroy Maggots and flesh-flies and such little Vermine as are noysome to his Sheep but much more Foxes and such Beasts as make havock of them because one Fox may do more hurt in one night then 10000. Maggots can in a whole year Now to make the Laws like Cobwebs to hold Flesh flies and such little Vermin and for fear of displeasure or hope of gain to let great ones escape is as if a Shepheard should kill the Maggots in his Sheep but withall give liberty to Foxes to worry them at their pleasure or with Domitian to have a flap for every flie that cometh and neglect the weighty affayrs of the Common-wealth Hath not God styled the Magistrate with his owne name Psal 82. I have said ye are gods Hath he not made him a promise of his presence and assistance God standeth in the congregation of gods he is a Judge among Gods He will be with you in the cause and judgement 2 Chr. 19. 6. And he that hath assurance of Gods presence needs not feare any other though his Magistracie set aside far greater then himself no more then David the Lion and the Beare when they assaulted his Sheep The third and last Rock is Kindred and Friends and surely if any thing may give the Magistrate leave to set the Law upon Tenters to rack and stretch it beyond its compasse or to strain courtesie with it or to muzzle and smother it if it be against him it must be Kindred Those whom Nature hath made dear and neer unto us we cannot choose but love this is a lesson we learn not by reading or hearing but Ex natura arripuimus expressimus hausimus as the Oratour speaks This every man may see if his own affections will not tutor him in this point in Davids love to his sonne Absolon an incestuous person a murtherer a Rebell against his own Father one that sought to kill him from whom he received life all this could not make David forget he was his son What a mournfull Elegie sings he upon news of his death O Absolon my son O my son Absolon would God I had died for thee O Absolon my son my son This was it that made good K. Asa dispense with the rigor of the law against Idolaters when his Mother was found guilty 1 King 15. 13. And which made Seleucus King of the Locrenses to be cruell unto himself that he might shew some pity on his sonne when he had made this law against Adulterers that both their eyes should be pulled out his own son being taken in the act and brought before him out of a fatherly pity he divided the punishment between his sonne and himself and caused one of his sons and one of his owne eyes to be pulled out But this how potent soever to flesh and blood must not prevail with Gods Deputy and Vice-gerent to cause him to make the least digression from the course of Justice Truth must be neerer to him then any of his Kindred If thy brother the sonne of thy mother or thine owne sonne or thy daughter or the wife that lyeth in thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine owne soule shall offend the law thou shalt deale with him according to law Deut. 13. All should be of like kinn to the Judge he should be as it is