good his promise The Lord had designed Saul to be their King and had secretly revealed the same to Samuel Who did also by Gods appointment first anoint him very privately no man being by but they two alone and after in a full assembly of the people at Mispeh evidenced him to be the man whom God had chosen by the determination of a lot Whereupon the most part of the people accepted Saul for their King elect testifying their acceptance by their joyful acclamations and by sending him presents Yet did not Saul then immediately enter upon his full Regalities whether by reason of some contradiction made to his election or for whatsoever other cause but that Samuel still continued in the government till upon occasion of the Ammonites invading the land and laying siege against Iabesh-Gilead Saul made such proof of his valour by relieving the Town destroing the enemy that no man had the forehead to oppose against him any more Samuel therefore took the hint of that victory to establish Saul compleatly in the kingdom by calling the people to Gilgal where the Tabernacle then was where he once more anointed Saul before the Lord and in a full congregation investing him into the kingdom with great solemnity sacrifices of peace-offerings and all manner of rejoycings 4. Now had the people according to their desire a King and now was Samuel who had long governed in chief again become a private man Yet was he still the Lords Prophet and by vertue of that calling took himself bound to make the people sensible of the greatness of their sin in being so forward to ask a King before they had first asked to know the Lords pleasure therein And this is in a manner the business of this whole Chapter Yet before he begin to fall upon them he doth wisely first to clear himself and for the purpose he challengeth all every of them if they could accuse him of any injustice or corruption in the whole time of his government then and there to speak it out and they should receive satisfaction or else for ever after to hold their tongues in the three first verses of this Chapter but especially in this third verse Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord c. 5. In which words are observable both the Matter and Form of Samuels challenge The Matter of it to wit the thing whereof he would clear himself is set down first in general termes that he had not wrongfully taken to himself that which was anothers Whose Ox have I taken or whose Asse have I taken And then more particularly by a perfect enumeration of the several species or kindes thereof which being but three in all are all expressed in this challenge All wrongful taking of any thing from another man is done either with or without the parties consent If without the parties consent then either by cunning or violence fraud or oppression over-reaching another by wit or over-bearing him by might If with the parties consent then it is by contracting with him for some fee reward or gratification Samuel here disclaimeth them all Whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received a bribe to blinde my eyes therewith That is the matter of the challenge 6. In the forme we may observe concerning Samuel 3. other things First his great forwardness in the business in putting himself upon the triall by his own voluntary offer before he was called thereunto by others Behold here I am Secondly his great Confidence upon the conscience of his own integrity in that he durst put himself upon his triall before God and the world witness against me before the Lord and before his Annointed Thirdly his great Equity in offering to make reall satisfaction to the full in case any thing should be justly proved against him in any of the premises whose oxe or whose asse c and I will restore it you 7. The particulars are many and I may not take time to give them all their due enlargements We will therefore pass through them lightly insisting perhaps somewhat more upon those things that shall seem most material or useful for this assembly then upon some of the rest yet not much upon any Neither do I mean in the handling thereof to tie my self precisely to the method of my former division but following the course of the Text to take the words in the same order as I finde them there laid to my hand Behold here I am witness against me c. 8. Behold here I am More hast then needeth may some say It savoureth not well that Samuel is so forward to justifie himself before any man accuse him Voluntary purgations commonly carry with them strong suspicions of guilt We presume there is a fault when a man sweateth to put off a crime before it be laid to his charge True and well we may presume it where there appeareth not some reasonable cause otherwise for so doing But there occur sundry reasons some apparent and the rest at least probable why Samuel should here do as he did 9. First he was presently to convince the people of their great sin in asking a King and to chastise them for it with a severe reprehension It might therefore seem to him expedient before he did charge them with innovating the government to discharge himself first from having abused it He that is either to rebuke or to punish others for their faults had need stand clear both in his own conscience and in the eye of the world of those faults he should censure and of all other crimes as foul as they lest he be choaked with that bitter proverb retorted upon him to his great reproach Physician heal thy self Vitia ultima fictos Contemnunt Scauros castigata remordent How unequal a thing is it and incongruous that he who wanteth no ill conditions himself should binde his neighbour to the good behaviour That a sacrilegious Church-robber should make a mittimus for a poor sheep-stealer Or as he complained of old that great theeves should hang up little ones How canst thou say to thy brother Brother let me pul out the mote that is in thine eye when behold there is a beam in thine own eye That is with what conscience nay with what face canst thou offer it Turpe est doctori every school-boy can tell you See to it all you who by the condition of your callings are bound to take notice of the actions and demeanours of others and to censure them that you walk orderly and unreprovably your selves It is only the sincerity and unblameableness of your conversations that will best adde weight to your words winn awe and esteem to your persons preserve the authority of your places put life into your spirits and enable you to doe the works of your callings with courage and freedom 10. Secondly Samuel here justifieth himself for their greater conviction
any time that is of it self and in the kinde unlawful For a man to blaspheme the holy Name of God to sacrifice to idols to give wrong sentence in judgement by his power to oppresse those that are not able to withstand him by subtilty to over-reach others in bargaining to take up arms offensive or defensive against a lawfull Soveraign none of all these and sundry other things of like nature being all of them simply and de toto genere unlawful may be done by any man at any time in any case upon any colour or pretension whatsoever the express command of God himself onely excepted as in the case of Abraham for sacrificing his son Not for the avoiding of scandal not at the instance of any friend or command of any power upon earth not for the maintenance of the lives or liberties either of our selves or others not for the defence of Religion not for the preservation of a Church or State no nor yet if that could be imagined possible for the salvation of a soul no nor for the redemption of the whole world 4. I remember to have read long since a story of one of the Popes but who the man was and what the particular occasion I cannot now recal to mind that having in a consultation with some of his Cardinals proposed unto them the course himself had thought of for the setling of some present affairs to his most advantage when one of the Cardinals told him he might not go that way because it was not according to justice he made answer again that though it might not be done per viam justitiae yet it was to be done per viam expedientiae A distinction which it seemeth the High-Priest of Rome had learned of his predecessour at Ierusalem the High-Priest Caiaphas in a solemn consultation held there Iohn 11. There the chief Priests and Pharisees call a Council and the business was what they should do with Iesus If they should let him alone so the people would all run after him because of his miracles and then would the Romans who did but wait for such an opportunity make that a pretence to invade their countrey and to destroy both their religion and nation If they should take away his life that were indeed a sure course but Nicodemus had stammered them all for that a good while before in a former Council at Ierusalem Iohn 7. when he told them that they could not do it by law being they had nothing to lay to his charge that could touch his life Up standeth Caiaphas then and telleth them they were but too scrupulous to stand so much upon the nice point of legality at that time they should let the matter of justice go for once and consider what was now expedient to be done for the preserving of their nation and to prevent the incursions of the Romans You know nothing at all saith he nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not 5. What ever infallibility either of these High-Priests might challenge to themselves or their flatterers ascribe to them it is sure far safer for us to rest our judgements upon that never-failing Rule of S. Paul Rom. 3. We may not do evil that good may come thereof then to follow them in their wilde resolutions But if we desire examples rather we cannot have for the purpose in one man a more proper example on the one side for our imitation nor a more fearful example on the other side for our admonition then are those two so unlike actions of David in the matter of Saul in the matter of Vriah 6. As for Saul two several times it was in the power of his hands to have slain him if he would In the Cave he might as easily have cut the threed of his life as the skirt of his garment and in the trench as easily have taken his head from off his shoulders as the spear from beside his Boulster And much might have been said for the expediency of it too Saul was his professed his implacable enemy hunted him from place to place like a Partridge upon the mountains set snares and traps for him in every corner to destroy him and all this without cause Nor was David ignorant of what God had promised and Samuel had foretold concerning the rending of the kingdom from Saul and setling it upon him and now if ever might seem to be a fair opportunity to bring all that about now he had him in his hands By taking away his life and setting the Crown upon his own head besides the accomplishment of Gods promises he might so provide for his own safety quiet the distractions in the state turne all the forces against the common enemy advance religion in adding honourable solemnities to the publick worship and settle the kingdome in a more just moderate and peaceable government then now it was Plausible inducements all and probable and his captains and servants about him did not forget to urge them and to press the expediency But David rightly apprehended the thing it self to offer violence to the Lords anointed to be utterly unlawful and that was it that staid his hand That unlawfulness alone he opposeth against all these and whatsoever other seeming expediencies could be pretended as a sufficient answer to them all The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lords Anointed and who can stretch out his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless This is David in the matter of Saul a worthy example for our Imitation 7. See him now another while in the matter of Uriah and how he behaved himself there Quantum mutatus Could you think it were the same man He had layen with the wife when the husband was abroad and in his service and she proved with child If this should be fam'd abroad it could not but tend much to the Kings dishonour ey and to the scandal of Religion too It seemed therefore very expedient the matter should be smothered and David setteth all his wits on worke how to doe that handsomely Many fetches and devises he had in his head and sundry of them he put to triall this way and that way but none of them would take God meant him a shame for his sin and therefore blasted all those his attempts and made them unsuccessful When he saw he could not bring his purpose to pass any other way at last he entertaineth black thoughts and falleth upon a desperate resolution to blear the eyes of the world Uriah must dye so shall the widdow be his and the Childe born in lawful wedlock be thought to be legitimate and all shall be well A hard case to take away the life of an innocent person a man of renown valiant and religious whose name stood in the list enrolled among his chiefest worthies and that
Lukes expression Act. 25. Yet as empty a thing as it is if it were of any permanency it were worthy the better regard But that that maketh it the verier vanity is that it is a thing so transitory it shall and must be done away But the glory of the great King of heaven remaineth and shall not cannot be done away for ever The glorious Majesty of the Lord endureth for ever Psal. 104. If then that be glorious much more this but how much more is more then any tongue can utter or heart conceive So that if we look at God we cannot leave out Glory 6. Nither if we speak of Glory may we leave our God and that is a fourth Point For as no other thing belongeth so properly to God as Glory so neither doth Glory belong so properly to any other person as to God The holy Martyr S. Stephen therefore calleth him The God of Glory And the holy Apostles when they speak of giving him glory do it sometimes with the exclusive parcle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the onely wise God or as the words will equally bear it onely to the wise God be glory to him and onely to him Yea and the holy Angels in that Anthem they sang upon our Saviours birth when they shared heaven and earth their severall portions allotted us our part in peace and the good will of God but with reservation of the whole glory to him Glory be to God on high and in earth peace and towards men good-will It is well and happy for us if we may enjoy our own peace and his good-will full little have we deserved either of both but much rather the contrary but we were best take heed how we meddle with his glory All other things he giveth us richly to enjoy many a good guift and perfect giving He hath not withheld from us any thing that was his and useful for us no not his only begotten Son excepted the best guift that ever was given and a pledge of all the rest Ey and he will give us a kind of glory too the Lord will give grace and glory Psal. 84. and that not a light one neither nor fading away but such as neither eye nor ear nor heart of man can comprehend so massie and so durable an eternall and exceeding weight of glory But that divine infinite incomprehensible glory that belongeth to him as supreme King of Kings as his peculiar Prerogative and the choisest flower in his Crown of that he is most jealous in that he will brook no sharer And he hath made known to us his royall pleasure in that point Esay 42. My glory will I not give to another 7. He will part with none you see it seemeth rather fifthly by the forme of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he looketh for some from us For what else is it to glorifie but to make one glorious by conferring some glory upon him which he had not or not in that degree before And to God how can that be done whose glory is perfect essentiall and infinite and to what is perfect much less to what is infinite can nothing be added What a great admirer of Virgil said of him tanta Maronis gloria ut nullius laudibus crescat nullius vituperatione minuitur was but a flaunting hyperbole farr beyond the merit of the party he meant it to But the like speech would be most exquisitely true of him of whom we now speak indeed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather then an hyperbole Whose Glory is truly such as all the creatures in the world should they joyn their whole forces together to do it could not make it either more or less then it is 8. We must therefore of necessity forsake the proper signification of the word Glorifie which is to adde some glory to another either in specie or in gradu which before he had not and understand it in such a sense as that the thing meant thereby may be feisible And so to Glorifie God is no more then to shew forth his glory and to manifest to our own consciences and to the world how highly we prise and esteem his glory and how earnestly we desire and as much as in us lieth endeavour it that all other men would also with us acknowledge and admire the same Sing praise to the honour of his name make his praise to be glorious Psal. 66. Not make his essence to be more glorious then it is in it self but make his praise to be more and more glorious in the eye and esteem of men That so his power his glory and mightiness of his kingdome might be knowen unto men and that men might ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his name and that men might sing in the way of the Lord that great is the glory of the Lord. To endeavour by our thanksgivings confessions faith charity obedience good works and perseverance in all these to bring Gods true religion and worship into request to win a due reverence to his holy name and word to beget in others more high and honourable thoughts concerning God in all those his most eminent attributes of Wisdome Power Iustice Mercy and the rest that is in Scripture language to glorifie God 9. One thing more from the person of the Verbe and then you have all It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God may be glorified and so leave it indefinite and uncertain by whom it should be done but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may glorifie him The thing to be done and they to do it One would think the glorious Angels and Saints in heaven were fitter instruments for such an employment then we poor sinful Worms upon earth Very true they in heaven are fitter to do it and it is best done there but there is more need of it upon earth and if it be done here in truth singleness of heart it is very well accepted Poor things God knoweth our best services are if God should value them but according to their weight and worth But in his mercy and that through Christ he graciously accepteth our unfained desires and faithful endeavours according to that truth we have be it never so little and not according to that perfection we want be it never so much Alas what is the tinckling of two little bells in a Countrey-steeple or the peoples running to the Towns-end and crying God save the King to adde any honour or greatness to the majesty of a potent Monarch Yet will a gracious Prince take those mean expressions of his subjects love as an honour done him because he readeth therein their hearty affections towards him and he knoweth that if they knew how to express themselves better they would So it is here It is not the thing done that is looked at so much as the heart Set that right first and then be the
how little avail they are in his sight let us see in some few examples What gained Adam by his thin fig-leaves and thinner Apologie St Bernard thinketh his later sin in excusing was in some respects rather greater then his first sin in eating I dare not say so yet questionless that excuse of his added a new guilt to the former and aggravated his fault to the farther provoking of Gods displeasure All he could do or say could neither hide his nakedness or hold him in Paradise And was not Cain condemned to be a perpetual runnagate for all his excuse And Saul cast both out of Gods favour and the kingdom for all his and so of all the rest The unworthy guests as they all made excuses together for company so were they all excluded from the great supper together for company And the damned reprobates at the last day shall not with all their allegations procure either any stay of judgment before sentence be pronounced or the least mitigation thereof after 32. If it were with Almighty God as it is with Men we might conceive some hope or possibility at least that a mere pretended excuse might be of some use to us 1. Possibly he might take it as it is and never search farther into it 2. or he might search into it and not finde out the vanity and slightness of it 3. or he might finde it out and yet let it goe unpunished But the Text here assureth us that it is quite otherwise with him in each of these respects 1. The Lord will both search it out for doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and finde it out 2. for he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and punish it 3. for shall not he render to every man according to his works Each of which Interrogations doth virtually contain a several reason of the point to let us see how impossible it is that causeless excuses should do us any good before the judgment seat of God 33. First they will not avail us because they cannot escape his search Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it Men are credulous and inconsiderate both wayes easily induced by a credible accusation to condemne the innocent and as easily by a credible apology to acquit an offender But the righteous Lord evermore taketh the matter into his due consideration and pondereth every thing diligently for in such like phrases the Scriptures fitted to our capacities speak of him before he proceed to give sentence If the cry of the sins of Sodom be grievous and call importunately upon him for vengeance yet before he will pour it down upon them in fire and brimstone he will pause upon it as it were a little first he will go down and see if their doings be altogether according to that cry and if not that he may know it Neither will he give Belshazzars kingdom from him to the Medes and Persians before he have weighed him in the ballance and found him too light And as he will not take an accusation to the condemning so neither will he take an excuse to the acquitting of any person without sifting it well first and searching into the truth of it In which search he is most exact and punctual For he entreth into the reins and kidneys and pierceth even to the dividing asunder of the joynts and marrow and pryeth into the most secret in wards and that with a most curious eye till he discern the most close and hidden thoughts and intents of the heart And to make sure work that nothing may escape his search by lurking unspied in some remote corner or dark cranny of the heart he taketh a light with him he searcheth it with candles as the Prophet speaketh To omit those other metaphorical but significant expressions here and there scattered in the holy Scriptures to this purpose this very phrase used in the Text of pondering the heart and that other like it in Prov. 16. of weighing the spirits if there were no other would sufficiently shew forth the exactness of his proceedings in this tryal It is taken from the curiosity that men use in weighing gold or precious quintessences for medicine It importeth that if in any thing we pretend a scruple or but so much as the least grain be wanting of the due weight it should have it will not pass currant with him but shall be turned upon us again both to our shame and loss 34. Secondly vain excuses will not help us because the vanity of them cannot scape his knowledge He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it Men are easily deluded with false shews because they cannot alwayes spy the falseness and emptiness of them as children are easily made believe that a piece of brass is gold when they see it glister And the reason is evident because men have nothing to judge by but the outward appearance and that can let them in but a very little way into the heart So that what the Preacher saith Eccl. 8. in respect of other things holdeth no less in respect of the sincerity of mens hearts and likewise of their speeches and allegations Though a man labour to seek it out yea further though a wise man think to know it yet he shall not be able to finde it Only the Lord in whose hands and before whose eyes our hearts and all our wayes are he that keepeth our souls as it is here Servat and observat too the word may import either he spieth out all our paths and observeth all our haltings We deceive our selves if we think to mock him or to hide any thing out of his sight Shall not God search it out saith David Psal. 44. for he knoweth the very secrets of the heart Men may search for a thing and be never the neer because they cannot search it out As Laban tumbled over all Iacobs stuff searching for his Idols but found them not But where God searcheth he doth it effectually Shall not God search it out 35. Thirdly vain excuses will not help us because they cannot exempt us from punishment and the just vengeance of God for shall not he render to every man according to his works Men are sometimes swayed with partial affections to connive at such things as they might redress if they were so disposed and are content to take any sorry excuse for a sufficient answer when it is so thin and transparent that they cannot chuse but see quite through it especially if it be tendred by such persons as they desire to shew some respect unto But with the Lord there is no respect of persons He hateth sin with a perfect hatred and punisheth it wheresoever he findeth it with severe chastisements in his own dearest servants and children but with fiery vengeance and fury powred out upon his adversaries Where he enjoyneth a duty he looketh for obedience and therefore where the duty
charitable toward the Strong both Weak and Strong more patient and moderate and more respective either of other in all brotherly mutual condescensions 35. It is our fault too most an end We are partial to those on that side we take to beyond all reason ready to justifie those enterprises of theirs that look very suspiciously and to excuse or at least to extenuate their most palpable excesses and as ready on the other side to misconstrue the most justifiable actions of the adverse part but to aggravate to the utmost their smallest and most pardonable aberrations Thus do we sometimes both at once either of which alone is an abomination to the Lord justifie the guilty and condemn the innocent Whilest partial affections corrupt our judgments and will not suffer us to look upon the actions of our brethren with an equal and indifferent eye But let us beware of it by all means for so long as we give our selves to be carried away with partialities and prejudices we shall never rightly perform our duties either to God or man That therefore the agreement may be as it ought to be we must resolve to be patient not towards some but towards all men 1 Thes. 5. to be gentle not unto some but unto all men 2 Tim. 2. to shew all meekness not to some but to all men Titus 3.2 The concord should be Vniversal 36. It should likewise be Mutual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth that also either part being ready for charity sake to contemperate and accommodate themselves to other so far as reason requireth But herein also as in the former mens corrupt partiality bewraieth it self extremely The strong Romans like enough could discern a censorious spirit in the weaker one and the weak ones perhaps as easily a disdainful spirit in them But neither of both it is to be doubted were willing enough to look into the other end of the wallet and to examine throughly their own spirits We use to say If every man would mend one all would be well Ey would How cometh it to pass then that all hath not been well even long ago For where is the man that is not ready to mend one One said I yea ten yea a hundred why here it is every man would be mending one but not the right one He would be mending his brother but he will not mend himself Vt nemo in sese tentat descendere O saith the strong we should soon agree but that he is so censorious and yet himself flouteth as freely as ever he did We should hit it very well saith the weak were not he so scornful and yet himself judgeth as deeply as ever he did Oh the falsness and hypocrisie of mens hearts blinded with self-love how it abuseth them with strong delusions and so filleth the world with divisions and offences 37. For this our blessed Saviour who hath best discovered the malady hath also prescribed the best remedy The disease is Hypocrisie The Symptomes are One to be cat-eyed outward in readily espying somewhat the smallest moat cannot escape in a brothers eye another to be bat-eyed inward in not perceiving be it never so great a beam in a mans own eye a third a forwardness to be tampering with his brothers eye and offering his service to help him out with the moat there before he think a thought of doing any thing towards the clearing of his own eye The Remedy is to begin at home do but put the things into their right order and the business is done Tu conversus confirma fratres Strengthen thy brethren what thou canst it is a good office and would not be neglected But there is something more needful to be done then that and to be done first and before that and which if it be first done thou wilt be able to do that much the better then shalt thou see clearly and that is to reform thy self be sure first thy self be converted and then in Gods name deal with thy weak brother as thou seest cause and strengthen him 38. Let them that are so forward to censure the actions of others especially of their Superious and are ever and anon complaining how ill things are carried above but never take notice of their own frauds and oppressions and sacriledges and insolencies and peevishnesses and other enormities let them turn their eye homeward another while observe how their own pulses beat and go learn what that is Thou hypocrite cast out first the beam out of thine own eye We deal not like Christians no nor like reasonable men if we expect all men should come to our bent in every thing and we our selves not relent from our own stiffness in the least matter for their sakes Believe it we shall never grow to Christian Vnanimity in any tolerable measure so long as every man seeks but to please himself only in following his own liking and is not desirous withall according to our Apostles exhortation verse 2. to please his neighbour also by condescending to his desires where it may be for his good in any thing that is not either unlawfull or unreasonable The inclinations to agreement should be mutual that so we might be like-minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 49. And then all this must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the other qualification in the Text and now only remaineth to be spoken of According to Christ Iesus Which last clause is capable of a double interpretation pertinent to the scope of the Text and useful for our direction in point of practise both and therefore neither of both to be rejected Some understand it as a Limitation of that Vnity which was prayed for in the former words and not unfitly For lest it should be conceived that all the Apostle desired in their behalf was that they should be like-minded one towards another howsoever he might intend by the addition of this clause to shew that it was not such an Vnity as he desired unless it were according to Truth and Godliness in Christ Jesus There may be an agreement in falso when men hold together for the maintenance of one and the same Common Error Such as is the agreement of Hereticks of Schismaticks of Sectaries among themselves And there may be an agreement in malo when men combine together in a confederacy for the compassing of some mischievous designe as did those forty and odde that bound themselves with a curse to destroy Paul Such is the agreement of Theeves of Cheaters of Rebels among themselves Such agreements as these no man ought to pray for indeed no man need to pray for The wisdom of the flesh and cunning of the Devil will bring men on fast enough to those cursed agreements without which he and his know well enough his kingdom cannot stand The servants of God have rather bent themselves evermore by their prayers and endeavours to dissolve the glue
and to break the confederacies of the ungodly Destroy their tongues O Lord and divide them is holy Davids prayer Psal. 55. And S. Paul when he stood before the Sanhedrim at Ierusalem to take off his malicious accusers the better perceiving both the Iudges and by-standers to be of two different factions some Pharisees who beleeved a resurection and other-some Sadduces who denied it did very wisely to cast a bone among them When by proclaiming himself a Pharisee and professing his belief of the resurrection he raised such a dissension between the two factions that the whole multitude was divided insomuch as the chief Captain was fain to use force to get Paul from amid the uprore and to carry him away by which means all their intended proceedings against him were stopt for that time 40. But the Vnity that is to be prayed for and to be laboured for in the Christian Church is a Christian Vnity that is to say a happy concord in walking lovingly together in the same path of Truth and Godliness The word of Christ is the word of truth and the mystery of Christ the mystery of Godliness Whatsoever therefore is contrary to either of these Truth or Godliness cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Christ but rather altogether against him Here then we have our bounds set us our Ne plus ultra beyond which if we pass we transgress and are exorbitant Alas for us the while when ever our good desires may deceive us if they be inordinate and the love of so lovely a thing as Peace is mis-lead us The more need have we to look narrowly to our treadings lest the tempter should have laid a snare for us in a way wherein we suspected it not and so surprise us â—re we be aware Vsque ad aras The altar-stone that is the meer-stone All bonds of friendship all offices of neighbourhood must give way when the honour of God and his truth lye at the stake If peace will be had upon fair terms or indeed upon any terms salvis veritate pietate without impeachment of either of these it ought to be embraced But if it will not come but upon harder conditions better let it goe A man may buy gold too dear Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. The gender of the article there sheweth the meaning not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which Peace but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which holiness no man shall see the Lord. Without peace some man may having faithfully endeavoured it though he cannot obtain it for that is not his fault but without holiness which if any man want it is through his own fault only no man shall see the Lord. Our like-mindedness then must be according to Christ Iesus in this first sense that is so far forth as may stand with Christian truth and godliness 41. But very many Expositors do rather understand the phrase in another sense According to Christ that is according to the example of Christ which seemeth to have been the judgement of our last Translators who have therefore so put it in the margent of your Bibles His Example the Apostle had reserved unto the last place as one of the weightiest and most effectual arguments in this business producing it a little before the Text and repeating it again a little after the Text. So as this Prayer may seem according to this interpretation to be an illustration of that argument which was drawn from Christs Example as if he had said Christ sought not himself but us He laid aside his own glory devested himself of Majesty and Excellency that he might condescend to our baseness and bear our infirmities he did not despise us but received us with all meekness and compassion Let not us therefore seek every man to please himself in going his own way and setting up his own will neither let us despise any mans weakness but rather treading in the steps of our blessed Lord Iesus let every one of us strive to please his neighbour for his good unto edification bearing with the infirmities of our weaker brethren and receiving one another in our inwardest bosomes and bowels even as Christ also received us to the glory of God 42. If the examples of the servants of Christ ought not to be lightly set by how much more ought the Example of the Master himself to sway with every good Christian In 1 Cor. 10. St Paul having delivered an exhortation in general the same in effect with that we are now in hand withall verse 24. Let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth he doth after propose to their imitation in that point his own particular practise and example in the last verse of the Chapter Even as I please all men in all things saith he not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved But then lest he might be thought to cry up himself and that we might know how unsafe a thing it were to rest barely upon his or any other mans example in the very next following words the first words of the next Chapter he leadeth them higher and to a more perfect example even that of Christ Be ye followers of me saith he as I also am of Christ. As if he had said Although my example who am as nothing be little considerable in it self yet wherein my example is guided by the example of Christ you may not despise it The original record only is authentical and not the transcript yet may a transcript be creditable when it is signed and attested with a Concordat cum originali under the hand of a publick notary or other sworn officer I do not therefore lay mine own example upon you as a Rule I only set it before you as a help or Encouragement that you may the more cheerfully follow the Example of Christ when you shall see men subject to the same sinful infirmities with your selves by the grace of God to have done the same before you My example only sheweth the thing to be feisable it is Christs Example only that can render it warrantable Be ye therefore followers of me even as I also am of Christ. 43. Here just occasion is offered me but I may not take it because of the time first and more generally of a very profitable Enquiry in what things and how far forth we are astricted to follow the example of Christ. And then secondly and more particularly what especial directions to take from his example for the ordering of our carriage towards our brethren in order to the more ready attaining of this Christian unanimity and likemindedness one towards another of which we have hitherto spoken But I remit you over for both to what our Apostle hath written Phil. 2. in the whole fore-part of the Chapter The whole passage is very well worthy the pondering