withholden from thee the fruit of the wombe As Iacob tempered his anger towards his Father in Law so towards his wife he is indeed moved with some passion but it doth not carry him to any violence or to inordinate sharpnesse Here husbands must learne to follow this vertuous man if there be just cause of being angry at the wife in regard of some great over-shooting her selfe towards themselves or others they may be angry but their anger must be so kept downe by love that they may not be bitter which the Apostle doth precisely forbid to husbands they must blame the fault but not admixe words to shew alienation of heart for the faults sake Two things husbands must looke to in respect of this anger towards their wives First that it arise not but from some plaine and evident fault such as you see here in the Text she began to fall out with him for want of children as if it had been his fault that shee conceived not as her sister did Secondly that it produce not tartnesse and reproachfull speeches and a constant sowrenesse but alone a due and fit reproofe as here also Happy men that can so guide anger and their tongues in anger So hath Iacob done the office of a good housholder in generall and of a good husband See now what a kinde Father he was and what good he performed towards his children 1. To all of them then to some He did two things to them all First he brought them up in a calling to be Grasiers as we call them to breed Cattell Sheep Oxen Camels Goats and the like wherein himselfe abounded This he might the more easily doe because himselfe living in the quality of a servant to Laban his Father in Law and having them borne to him in the time of his service he had fit opportunity to acquaint them with that businesse in which himselfe was so totally imployed Herein all good Parents are to imitate him for the duty is necessary for the childrens sake and for the Common-wealth and for the Parents owne sake too Traine up a childe in the way he should goe He doth not meane it alone Catechize him in matters of religion and good conversation but also in affaires of this world too because it is a part of his way to live in the world as well as to know the things that belong to his soules health Wee need not the authority of Scripture for that for which nature it selfe is sufficient If God command men to walke orderly and to eate the labour of their hands their Parents must inure their children to such a walking and see that they observe that Commandement of God If they must provide for them food and raiment for the present much more the things that are needfull for their well-being for ever Now a calling an ability to doe some profitable thing by which they may maintaine themselves with the publique advantage is necessary for their well-being in the whole course of their lives But this duty is requisite as I said First for the Fathers owne sake who shall finde them so much more dutifull to himselfe by how much they have been trained up more painfully and been more serviceable and under command even beasts if they be much in hand and have a kinde of acquaintance with the master so that hee come neare to them and accustome to doe something about them and to have them doe and suffer for him are much more tame and gentle than those that are never handled never approached unto So it must needs be also with men they grow rude and barbarous if they be left to themselves but more affable and orderly when they are held in and accustomed to walke by rule as they be when they are trained up in a calling Indeed some kinde of creatures are so fierce that no use of handling will quite tame them but even those are far lesse fierce than if they were never medled withall So some children are very masterfull and disobedient even though they be set under government and brought up in service and labour but how much more violent would they have proved if such care had not a little tempered them It concernes the Parent to have his children subject and apt to be ruled bringing them up in a calling conduceth much this way wherefore it is his part not to be wanting to his owne welfare and theirs Secondly this is exceeding commodious to the Commonwealth promoting the publique good very much for far fewer persons degenerate to scandalous courses and such as trouble the peace of the Common-wealth of those that have been brought up to take paines in some vocation than of those that have been loosly and idly brought up and if any of those that were accustomed to some vocation doe degenerate they are far more easily reclaimed seeing the Magistrate hath some foundation to work upon The person so educated can doe something if he will for his maintenance so that here is a possibility of redressing his disorders finde him employment and over-rule his will and he is amended But those that have lived over loosly and are not able to doe any thing are almost desperate the Magistrate knowes not which way to turne himselfe to the procuring of his reformation but by using great extremities for how shall he be compelled to doe any thing that can doe nothing and to make him learne some faculty when he is old how extreamly difficult is that So now nothing remaineth but an house of Correction or Gallies or the like whereby to force men which should goe much against the hearts of Governours if any other course may suffice Wherefore it concernes Parents as they love the Common-wealth not to deliver over into the Magistrates such crosse and crooked pieces as cannot be made fit for any use without so much hewing And for the benefit of the childes selfe it helpeth much to his comfortable living in respect of outward abundance and not being burdensome to others and to his civill and orderly living in vertuous manner and to his religious living when God shall call him to true piety for if he be skilfull in some way of maintaining himselfe and will apply himselfe to his calling he shall finde the accomplishment of Gods promises He that tilleth his ground shall be satisfied with bread and againe In all labour there is abundance but being destitute of this ability how shall he but want unlesse a very great portion of goods or lands be given him Yea he that having lands and goods hath not skill to imploy them growes far sooner wastfull and unthrifty and consumeth his great estate and then is put many times to base many times to sinfull shifts which had he a good calling he might escape Besides labour in a calling subdues vice and he that hath a calling may be painfull in it he that hath none cannot Yea if God call any person that hath been
ability would deale thus wisely not alone for their privat but also for the publike good the pismire layes up in summer man should bee wiser then a silly creeping thing oh how foolish and naught be those that when they get much spend all and reserve nothing for harder times You have some men can earne much in health but lay up nothing against sicknesse can get much in youth but reserve nothing for age Most just it is that they should be pinched in a deare yeare which lavished and surfetted in a plentiful Brethren you must not alwayes have such yeeres as will bring forth by handfuls be wise therefore for our estates I wish you not to be niggardly and defraud your selves but to bee discreet and lay up for yourl selves if God send no more then is needfull spend it and trust his providence if he send an overplus so much I mean as will serve for the present and some to spare waste not all at the present but know that now he calleth to storing up remember Salomons Proverb in the house of the wise is treasure and oile but the foole consumeth it up Be not fooles but in plenty remember dearth as in dearth you wish for plenty you know that by well husbanding of plenty a wise man should take such an order that he may feele no dearth The love of riches is a banefull thing but the wel-husbanding of abundance is not alwayes a fruit of loving riches but of a wise fore-sight And so much for one part of Josephs care diligence and fidelity in gathering corne Now he is in like manner faithfull in bringing out the corne in due time for when all the corne of private men was spent and that Aegypt also began to be affamished Gen 41.55 and the people cryed unto Pharoah and he sent them to Joseph it is noted that Joseph opened the store-houses and sold unto the Aegyptians one would have conceived that the Aegyptians having heard of Pharaohs dreames the interpretations as such a rare thing must needes flye throughout all the Kingdome speedily as having occasioned the strange preferment of Ioseph a prisoner and an Hebrew which could not but fill the mouthes of people with discourse should each man have provided of his owne abundance to serve their turn in hard times for they were informed both how long and how strange the plenty would be and how hard and of what continuance the dearth but it is apparant that most of them were so foolish that they did not so therefore now the publike store-houses must supply them or else they must dye See in them the fault of improvident carelessenesse whereof we spake before but note Josephs faithfulnesse hee doth open the store-houses now that pinching want began to bite them and sels them Corne. It is fit that men in dearth should bring out and sell Corne if they have it and not to suffer their neighbours to starve for want of that which themselves have in their possession We must not love gaine more then the lives of men yee see that Joseph sold to strangers too and not alone to Aegyptians so that our charity in this case must exercise it selfe as ability will serve to men of other Nations as well as our owne countrey men The Natives must not mutter because forreiners are helped with some of the abundance of their owne countries see here Josephs charitablenesse to put you on the like good disposition when time shall call for it and if you have store of corne bring it forth The people shall curse him saith Solomon that hoordeth up corn but they shall blesse him which doth Sell it To that purpose his Proverbe is doe not bring a curse upon your selves but a blessing for when God saith they will curse or blesse his meaning is not only that the people shall doe thus but that the thing shall fall out accordingly they shall so curse and blesse that neither shall be in vaine Againe it is noted that Joseph by his meanes got all the money in the Land you may see here that it is lawfull to make a gaine of ones providence and by deare selling of what he bought in plentifull times to enrich himselfe much so did Joseph I thinke his example is a due warrant indeed care is to be taken that oppression be avoided and then it is lawful to make ones selfe a gainer not by other mens losses but by his owne providence for by this meanes Joseph did gaine also the land and persons for the King it is not contrary to equity to sell things at a great and dear rate when there is great want of them A thing must bee esteemed worth so much and may bee sold for so much as the present dearth doth make it worth and in such case he doth not wrong that takes the present times onely note that Joseph did not oppresse the poore but they had of him as well as the rich the one gave all and the other could give but all and both had necessaries so should it be done in hard times by publike charity The poore must be provided for as well as the rich but note also Josephs faithfulnesse no doubt himselfe was not wanting to his owne inriching how else could hee have maintained his Fathers houshold with necessaries but he contented himself to take what was allowed him and brought the money to Pharaohs house not to his owne and made the Cattle and land sure to Pharaoh not to himself Oh that all Officers would learn to enrich the King above themselves and themselves but in such a proportion as is fit under the King but in our times it hath bin noted that often the Officers rise and the King is indebted would we had Josephs under his Majesty and then hee could not want for money And last of all note his Justice as well as his wise dealing for to assure the land to the King hee removes and translates the inhabitants so that wise care may lawfully bee used to assure a mans title to that which is his owne and then hee makes this order that Pharaoh shall have a fift part of the encrease and they foure parts to live on Hee lets the land out unto them againe at a reasonable rate whereby themselves might live comfortably of it and this is the duty of all Land-lords that have such things to set they ought not to raise rents to so high a rate that the people shall toyle the hearts out and get nothing but remember that themselves be Gods Tenants who hath commanded all men to doe as they would be done to and that we should not seeke every man his owne things onely but the things that are anothers they must as well looke that the people have to live of chearefully as that themselves be made rich But how unconscionable men be now a dayes in ordering themselves to those that must live upon them whether by taking lands from them or being set a
his Father as a sonne in the family and house-hold of his Father and bids him leave kindred and Fathers house and goe into a Countrey which God should shew him promising him large off-spring great blessings and that the promised and blessed seed should come of him for S. Paul saith that God preached the Gospell before to Abraham when he said in thee shall all Nations be blessed so that he was more largely instructed by God of remission of sinnes and salvation everlasting by one that was to be borne of him Now God caused him also to beleeve these promises so that he left his Fathers worship and obeyed God If any of us have had the Word of God preached in our eares and by name the promises of the Gospell and hath found his heart so affected with those promises and the true beliefe of them that it hath made him follow God in a holy conversation of life and leave his former sinnes travell towards the land of life that land which God had shewed him in the paths of righteousnesse and true holinesse this is effectuall calling happy and blessed is this man Rejoyce in this calling and blesse God for it more then for all earthly things whatsoever And if any of you be not as yet so called let him see his misery and now call upon God so to call him till he finde his prayers granted for if we turne to God he will turne to us and if we seeke to him for the performance of his gratious Covenant in putting his Spirit of Sanctification in our hearts he will not faile to doe it But a second spirituall blessing was 1. He gave him most gratious promises 2. He appeared to him many times to renew those promises 3. He entered into a Covenant with him and his seede after him 4. He gratiously accepted his prayers and after this life he saved his soule First he made him gracious promises Gen. 12.2 I will blesse thee and make thee a great Nation and thou shalt be a blessing and I will blesse them that blesse thee and will curse them that curse thee Againe he appeares to him to renew this blessing and these promises Gen. 13.4 promising him a large off-spring againe and the possession of the land of Canaan understood by Abraham to be a figure of an heavenly inheritance for he sought a Citie to come saith the Author to the Hebrewes Againe Chap. 15.1 and in the whole Chapter hee confirmeth the promise againe by another vision I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward so to comfort him against the doubts which hee might have that the vanquished Kings might prepare an army and returne upon him and there also againe he renues the promise of giving him a sonne yea giving him a multitude of children after him and by a signe confirmes it to him Looke up to Heaven saith hee and count the Starres c. yea gave him faith to beleeve it and assures him that hee was justified and that hee accepted that faith of him for righteousnesse accounting him by meanes of that faith for the sake of him in whom hee beleeved as perfectly just as if hee had perfectly fulfilled the Law And yet more fully assuring him of his goodnesse by entring into a covenant with him in a vision and by sacrifice And in Chap. 17. hee renewes the same covenant with him againe and confirmeth it by the seale of circumcision and by changing his name assuring him also that he should have the sonne of the promise by his most beloved wife Sarah and telling him also what name hee should be called by Isaac from his laughing at the promise not by way of distrust and unbeleefe but of faithfull joy and gladnesse in it And in Chap. 18. hee appeareth unto him againe in forme of a man and tells him the particular time of the childs birth and acquaints him with his purpose concerning the overthrow of Sodom And last of all after he had offered Isaac hee appeares unto him againe and by an oath confirmes to him the former blessings Gen. 22.16 which hee had never done before This is a singular mercy to Abraham to give him so many promises to renew them so often to him and confirme them so strongly to him And you must looke whether God vouchsafe to shew himselfe thus to you even to bring home to your soules in the reading and hearing of his word and exercises of religion the gracious promises of his word giving you by his Spirit assurance that hee admittteth you into the covenant is your God pardons you blesseth you and will give you all needfull things for soule and body and make you partakers of eternall felicity All Gods servants that are the seed of Abraham have this holy communion with God in his word in prayer in his ordinances which Abraham had in these dreames and visions for to the Fathers God shewed himselfe by those meanes to us by these and Christ saith that his Father and hee will come and shew themselves unto those that love him and keepe his commandements and suppe with them O if you find this spirituall familiarity with God how happy are you If not truly earthly blessings are of no great valew they be common to good and bad And now seeke you seeke you these spirituall blessings Gods assuring you of pardon of sinne and appearing unto you more and more to confirme your faith in the promises of the Gospell and to make you assured of your eternall happinesse and that he is your God untill at length he do even as it were sweare it unto you and make you certaine of it And Bretheren be you incouraged to answer Gods call to repent to live holily to cast of your sinnes and become obedient as was Abraham for though perhaps you may not be so rich as he nor have so many childeren nor have so great outward favours yet will God be your God he will be your shield he will be your reward hee will blesse you in all things he will give you the inheritance of life eternall as sure as he did to Abraham he will heare and accept your prayers and he will bring you safe to the land of rest to Heaven that true rest where you shall have no more unquietnesse inward nor outward Into Abrahams bosome will he receive all those that be the true sonnes of Abraham Learne to esteeme of these spirituall blessings though perhaps they may be separated from the temporall God therefore alone divideth them because he sees you be not fit for both but would be hindered from injoying the one and growing in the one by the overfull enjoyment of the other But the better I say you shall surely have as well as Abraham God will more and more assure you of his favour and of his kingdome and shew himselfe more and more graciously unto you in confirming to you his comfortable promises more and more This is better then all
transgressed the Law of God Yes Dost thou confesse thy selfe altogether unable of thy selfe to satisfie for or deserve pardon of any of these sinnes or to conquer and overcome them in thy selfe Yes Dost thou acknowledge Jesus Christ to be a sufficient and perfect Saviour ready and able to pardon thee and heale thee and dost thou even labour and desire to rest upon his merits and his Spirit for pardon of sinne and true holinesse And dost thou hereupon put on a resolution and proceede in an indeavour to cast away all sinne and to worke all righteousnesse still confessing and lamenting â—hy faults and failings and renewing thy requests for pardon and grace and thy purposes of amendment Yes I say then to that soule amongst you that can truly make this answer to these questions that he is a righteous man according to the language of the Gospell not righteous with Legall righteousnesse for in that sence never was any found since our first Parents falling from the state of innocency one alone the Lord Jesus Christ excepted nor ever shall be to the last day but righteous with the righteousnesse of the Gospell perfectly justified in the sight of God and sincerely sanctified in himselfe yea though any such amongst you have many and strong corruptions divers times stirring in you and producing evill and wicked acts yet if he persist in lamenting them and renewing his repentance as often as he findeth himselfe an offender yet is he a just man yea if any have runne into most foule and grosse sinnes more then once yet if he have now cast away those sinnes and be returned againe to his purpose and indeavour of godly living he is a righteous man and shall be saved as was Lot So much for Lots goodnesse in generall Now I will speake of those particular good deeds which hee is commended for in Scripture First he left his owne Countrey and Fathers house with his Grand-father Terah and his Unkle Abraham this was a good deed and commendable Indeed if hee were then a meere young man not yet living as the Master of a family of himselfe but under the roofe of his Father then the commendation is not great for he might be then driven to it by the authority of his Grand-father rather then be lead by any faith in himselfe But I suppose he was then of age to make his owne choice of habitation and might if it seemed good unto him have stayed in Aram Naharaim as well as his Unkle Nahor did the Father of Rebekah for in the yeere of the World 2079 Abraham left his Countrey and in the yeere 2009 or thereabouts Sodome was consumed So betwixt the comming out of Mesopotamia and the conflagration of Sodome were but about thirty yeares but Lot had at that time two marriageable daughters therefore it is likely that himselfe was of a fit age at the time of his going out of the Countrey to choose whether he would have gone or staied Well Lot left his Countrey and so shewed himselfe a Pilgrim and stranger on earth together with Abraham for though he inherited not Canaan yet because he left the false gods which were served by his kindred in Mesopotamia to serve the true God which Abraham went to serve it prooveth that hee had faith in that God and was accepted to life You must all learne to be ready to forsake false gods and cleave to the true if ever you desire to inherit salvation Now the false gods that we are in danger to serve are the World and the things of the World and our selves Pleasure profit credit ease and the like these be your Idols these be the things that men in our times and Countries doe erect as it were stumbling blocks unto themselves the belly the backe the purse the profits and contents of this world these we seeke for more then for Gods favour these wee long for more then grace to get or keepe these we leave the waies of God we give our affections and thoughts more to these then unto God and will not obey his blessed Commandements farther then these wicked Idols will give us leave Now you can no more serve God and Mammon and the belly then you can serve God and Dagon or Ashtaroth or God by Iupiter and Iuno The Lord hath imployed mee now thirty yeares or thereabouts to call you from following these unhappy Idols at length rid your hands of them and doe the same thing in effect that Lot did when hee left his Countrey and came into the land of promise with Abraham But another good deed of Lots we reade of and that is he vexed his righteous soule from day to day with the uncleane conversation of the Sodomites and it is said he was labouring against for so much the word in proper signification of it doth expresse He was burdened with it and even laboured under it as under a burden hee was also upon the rack with it He grieved so for it that hee would faine have amended it and not finding that possible it was a torture unto him to see it growing more and more This is a good thing to grieve at the common faults and sinnes I beheld the transgressour and was grieved Psal 119.158 and in another place Rivers of teares gush out of mine eyes because men keepe not thy Law If wee hate sinne if wee love the glory of God or the soules of men we must needs be grieved to see that done which our selves hate and which tendeth to Gods dishonour and the damnation of men If we grieve for sin we shall be preserved from the contagion of it and keepe our selves unspotted in the common pollution but if wee have not so much grace as to bewaile it we shall quickly shew our selves so weake as to fall to the imitating it at least in some degrees Yea the Prophet Ezekiel noteth that the mourners were marked out for deliverance as Noah was in the destruction of Sodome and Gomorrha Now come let mee enquire of you my Brethren Doe you take the sinnes of others heavily doe they pierce your hearts with sorrow Are they burdens to you Ah how many doe rather rejoyce in seeing other mens evills in secret and joyne with them in the same excesse of riot are glad to see and heare lewdnesse from others and to joyne with them it What are these how farre from deserving to be called righteous But even of those that be righteous as wee hope there are some so farre inferiour are they to Lot in goodnesse though having farre better meanes then any Sodome affoorded they ought also to be better persons that few teares serve them and little sorrow is found in them for the common sinnes The common oathes cursing Sabbath-breaking which are every where rife doe not grieve them at all One little trifling losse or crosse hath made them more take on with sorrow then all the disorders of the Land It is but weake goodnesse that
a fault committed by him especially if it be done out of weakenesse feare or the like distemper as to caf him off have no more to doe with him or the like but still to hope and thinke well of him especially if hee doe confesse his weaknesse as Abraham and to affoord any due courtesie and kindnesse to him over-harshnesse towards others for faults which we finde in them is a signe of uncharitablenesse and pride It shewes that we doe not duely perceive our owne faultinesse and aptnesse to some other as bad sinnes yea perhaps to the very same sinnes and that wee doe not beare a tender compassion to them because wee have not a right knowledge of our selves Compare the dealing of Pharaoh before observed and Abimelechs carriage here noted and what your consciences tell you was the more commendable and approveable that imitate I come to the last good deed of Abimelech He takes notice of Gods goodnesse to Abraham saying Chap. 21. ver 22. God is with the in all that thou dost and therefore accompanied with his principall Officer one Phicol goes and intreates Abraham to make a league of amity with him as you may reade in the Story and when Abraham told him of a well of water which was taken from him by his servants hee excuseth himselfe that he never knew of it before and so willingly restoreth the well and confesseth Abrahams right to it by taking the Ewe-lambs and consenting to name the well Beer sheba that is the well of an oath because they swore there each to other It is a good thing to observe the goodnesse of God so his people thereupon to think well of them and to desire to live in amity and peace with them Why should not wee have our eyes open to see Gods blessing going along with men and when wee see it why should wee not rather love them and wish their friendship then beare an evill eye towards them and maligne them It is a signe of some goodnesse to acknowledge that God is the Author of all good successe to mens affaires herein wee give him the honour of being the ruler of the world And it is a signe of some good will to men when their prosperous estate makes us rather like them and joyne friendship with them then stirreth up grudging and repining at them Surely Abimelechs carriage giveth us some probable grounds to conceive that himselfe was a holy man in that hee shewes some knowledge of God and good affection to so good a servant of God Let us goe a little further and strive to interest our selves into Gods blessing on the godly by following them in godlinesse But let his willing restitution of the Well which his servants had taken away by violence teach us also not to beare out the servants or people that are under our government in any unjust carriage of theirs yea rather so soone as wee come to the knowledge of their naughty carriage let us cause them to amend and to repaire the wrongs that they have done A mans servants faults must not bee imputed to him till it bee knowne whether hee be privie to them or not but if when hee is informed of them he be carelesse to see them amended now is himselfe as guilty of the sinne as his servants were before Thus you have the faults and vertues of Abimelech so farre as I could note them out of holy Writ Consider now what benefits God bestowed upon him First hee made him a King In those daies it is evident that Kings were not rulers over so large dominions as now they be of old the chiefest ruler over one or two Cities and the territories about it was a King as in the land of Canaan there were 31 Kings and the five Cities of the plaine of Sodome and the rest had each of them severall Kings and yet there were some Kings that raigned over whole Countries as the King of Egypt but in it selfe considered it is a favour of God to preferre a man unto the honour of a King as the Scripture prooveth in saying a diligent servant shall stand before Kings and not before those of the meaner sort If to be in favour and account with a King be a thing fit to be promised as a reward of diligence much more the enjoying of a Kingdome therefore God upbraides both Saul and David when he would sharpely reproove their sins that he had made them Kings over his people Israel for Kings have likely riches honour and authority by the two former of which they may partake of much comfort themselves and communicate much also to their friends and kindred by the latter they may bring much honour to God and much good also to men in establishing true religion and justice Now God hath not pleased to make any of you Kings but he hath made some of you richer and greater then others as I may say little petty Kings in your places Beware you pervert not this goodnesse of God by making your wealth and power a meanes of swelling your hearts with pride and imboldening you to wrong and oppresse others and furnishing you with instruments to serve your owne lusts for the such abuse of these benefits will turne them into poyson as it were to your soules and cause that they shall serve at length for the same purpose which S. Iames saith the rust of the rich mans treasure shall doe even to consume your flesh like fire and to bring upon you greater damnation in another world to be preferred before this more then an inheritance is before the lease of one alone yeere none shall suffer so much torment and unhappinesse as those that have played the untrusty subjects to God and made their high places a weapon to beare out their sinnes But take notice of God in your Eminency in this present world and labour to be so much more thankefull and obedient to God and serviceable and profitable to men and then shall preferrement here bee a meanes of inlarging your joyes hereafter too O happie is hee that shall be great in Heaven as well as on Earth by his well employing of his earthly greatnesse and you that cannot be great here yet strive to attaine a Kingdome and here too in a spirituall sence Labour to bee Kings over your selves in establishing the Kingdome of grace in your hearts that you may bee Kings hereafter and that in farre greater glory and happinesse then the greatest of all earthly Kings either did ever or ever could enjoy the meanest Christian may get the Kingdome of grace and of glory as well as a David or a Salomon Another benefit wee must observe the Lord by his providence kept him from committing that sinne which else hee would have committed but indeed of meere ignorance for his heart was upright with God so farre that if hee had knowne it hee would not have committed it So the Lord tels him therefore I kept thee
doth send them upon men in favour to prevent divers sinnes which else hee knowes they would have committed in that time if health had continued Let us not murmure against GOD because of such crosses but rather take notice of his goodnesse in the same especially in point of sicknesse if it linger upon us and thinke thus with our selves how many sinnes might I have runne into if this bodily feeblenesse had not kept mee within dores And when wee bee sicke or otherwise affected let us turne our thoughts round about us to finde out if any such thing be some sinne that wee should have runne into but for such prevention See if thine heart have not harboured some unconsidered fault and further the health of your bodies by turning sicknesse into purging physicke for your soules So have we finished the example of this King Somewhat about that time there lived foure Kings whose names are recorded in holy Writ but nothing at all for their praise Their names were 1. Amraphel King of Shinar that is as it is thought of Chaldea or Babilon where it may seeme that Nimrod erected a Monarchie and it may bee that this man was some successor of his or one of his Posterity and would needes inlarge his Monarchie so farre as the land of Canaan with whom was joyned Amoch King of Elkasar Chedarlomer King of Elam and one Tydall King of Nations What these Kings were or whether mentioned in Heathen Stories or not it matters not to enquire But here they are patternes of unjust violence in Warre They had the keener swords and therefore would make themselves Lords over other Kings and compell them by brunt of Warre to receive their yoke and acknowledge some Homage Nothing more usuall then for potent Kings to make at least unnecessary Warres for their growth in greatnesse many times they doe not so much as alleadge a shew of title but their owne ambition is the ground of their plea and sometimes they pretend most frivolous titles So doe they disquiet themselves and others and cause much innocent bloud to bee shed almost inforcing their Subjects to become wilfull murderers Wee must blesse God that hath caused us to live now a good time under peaceable Princes and must inforce our prayers to God begging the like mercy still The Conquering side is often more miserable by sinning then the conquered by slaughter or captivity But God doth use these great Cockes of the game as instruments of his Justice to punish the naughtinesse of those that abuse peace and become more wicked by so great a benefit Let us learne to take heede of wickednesse that the God of Heaven may not also make us a prey to violence and ambition And though you bee not Kings to whom I speake yet I pray you take heed that you runne not into the same fault that these Kings though not in so high a degree use not injustice and injuriousnesse and violence so much as your lower places will suffer a Weesell is a ravenous beast as well as a Lion But the maine sinne that these committed and which brought upon them their ruine was this that they would needs take Lot among the Sodomites Suppose the Sodomites did owe them Homage and gave just cause of quarrell yet was Lot no Sodomite nor Patron of their rebellion They should have spared him that never had beene their subject nor done them any wrong at all Indeed if Lot had gone to Warre against them and involved himselfe in the Sodomites evill cause if their cause were evill hee was justly taken captive with them but the briefe narration seemeth rather to intimate otherwise Chap. 14. verse 11 12. They tooke the substance of Sodome and their victuals and went their way and they tooke Lot also and his substance for hee dwelt in Sodome intimating as I said that hee was taken not in the battell but in the spoiling of the City afterward but you see what is the manner of insulting conquerours they sweepe away all they meete and every thing and person shall bee good bootie that lies within their reach but they smart for this spoile for hence was Abraham justly occasioned to put forth his courage for the reskue of his Kinsman and so were they deprived of the whole victory because they spared not a man whom they should have spared It often falleth out that one act of injustice looseth much that otherwise was justly gotten Beware of swallowing ill gotten wealth it hath a poysonfull operation and like some such evill simple in the stomacke will bring up the good foode together with ill humours It is said the King of Sodome had rebelled so intimating a kinde of justification of the Warre with him but it is not said that Lot had rebelled and therefore they should not have seized on him for the Sodomites sake Use justice and take nothing from any man that is due unto him neither punish any without right chiefely touch not a good man that feareth GOD unlesse his faults require that hee bee made to smart for them GOD can beare the carrying away Captive of many Sodomites rather then of one Lot Now consider how God humbleth these great and insolent Conquerours that carried all before them hee armes Abraham against them with so much wisedome and valour that hee sets upon them by night and discomfits them afore they could well tell who it was that fought with them So it falleth out often that God doth beate farre greater armies by the farre fewer Hee that feareth God and hath a just cause neede never bee discouraged from battell because his companies are but few The God of Warre whom the Scripture cals a man of Warre carries victory to that side where hee pleaseth to joyne and tell mee if hee have not most times given the greatest victories to his servants when their enemies power was such as farre surpassed theirs Some trust in bow and speare but hee that maketh mention of the name of God he is in best possibility to become a victor Take heed of making God your enemy that maketh one man to chase ten and ten to flie before one * ⎠* THE FOVRTEENTH EXAMPLE OF The Sodomites WEE are come along in Abrahams time to the Sodomites Concerning whom the Holy Ghost found nothing so much as like to any vertue which might be commended or imitated in them unlesse perhaps it may have a little relish of vertue that the King of Sodome after Abrahams victory over the foure Kings Gen 14.17 21. went out to meete Abraham and willed him to give unto him the persons and take the goods for a booty to his owne use There may seeme to be a small shadow of gratitude in that hee was willing that Abraham should enjoy the spoile but if wee consider the matter better this will shew it selfe to be rather a vice for first hee doth not so much as thanke Abraham for his hazard and paines in fighting with those
Kings that had vanquished himselfe and his confederate Kings and made Captives a number of his subjects and also that whereas both persons and booty were all Abrahams by the Law of Armes because he had wonne them in battell yet he is bold to demand the persons as if they were due unto himselfe Wherefore I cannot perceive any good at all in this King or any of his subjects But for their faults and vices they be many and great The Holy Ghost speaketh of them in generall and more particularly First in generall Gen. 13.13 that they were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly and Gen. 18.20 The cry of Sodome and Gomorrah is great and their sinne is very grievous Loe you may see in them that the wicked nature of man is apt to become out of measure sinfull and to bring forth exceeding grievous sinnes and such as make a mighty cry in the eares of God even as it were wearying his patience and challenging his justice for revenge As a thing beginning to rot becomes exceeding rotten even till it come to be very filth and dirt and a man beginning to tumble downe the hill makes no stop till he come to the very bottome of the hill For both Gods righteousnesse is offended and provoked to punish them for a presumptuous and wilfull sinne by giving them over to their owne blindnesse and hardnesse and to Satans power and temptations and also Satan is earnest to thrust sinners forward in the pathes of iniquity that if it were possible hee might satisfie his hatred against mankinde by making them all as bad as himselfe and also corrupt nature it selfe finding pleasure delight and content in sinne is made more and more prone to sinne and so proceedeth further and further till the Lord shall strip them by opposing of his just vengeance and cutting them off in the midst of their wilde race Learne we therefore to take heed of the beginnings of evill and to license our selves to commit any sinne out of a conceit that it is small and little or yet because wee meane to doe it but once and then an end for sinne once committed will quickly returne to tempt us againe and will more easily prevaile to breake forth the second time then the first and the third then the second and so forward 'T is not in a falling mans choice and power to stop himselfe when himselfe pleaseth nor in one that is sinking in deepe waters to stay himselfe from sinking to the very bottome And a little sinne doth but make way for a greater till at length there be space enough for the greatest of all to enter yea harder it will be to abstaine from the fowlest and most grievous at the last then from the very least of all at the first presume not therefore to sinne out of any such conceit Againe if wee have sinned in smaller degrees of evill or once or twice done amisse let us make hast to repent and turne humbling our selves and craving power and helpe against our owne naughtinesse otherwise it is certaine that extremity of the most horrible wickednesses will grow upon us and wee shall become like them of Sodome grievous sinners and exceeding wicked before the Lord and our sins also will grow so rooring as to waken the Lord out of his slumber of patience and forbearance yea and if God have stopped us in the paths of sinne and not left us to the highest degree of wickednesse we must acknowledge his goodnesse in keeping us from such excesse of naughtinesse and beware of boasting our selves because wee are not starke naught for did not a divine power restraine and bridle corruption and hold it downe as it were by strong hand there is no man in the work so civill and so moderate but he would breake forth into the greatest exorbitancy of wickednesse as the least coale of fire if it be nourished with fewell and incited with blowing will undoubtedly breake forth into a consuming flame within a little space of time If we be lesse evill then others God is more good to us not our selves more good in our selves Every carkasse would breed wormes if it were not imbalmed or some way preserved from putrifying But now wee proceed to consider the sinnes of Sodome more particularly First as wee finde them recorded by Moses in Geneses next as the Prophet Ezekiel doth afterwards taxe them by way of upbraiding Israel with the same abhominations The first sinne noted in the Sodomites is Gen. 14.4 that having served the King of Shinar twelve yeares in the 14 they rebelled Those that have beene subdued by another Prince and received the yoke of subjection at length covenanting Homage and obedience as in such case they alwaies doe to redeeme their lives by their service upon such and such conditions made betwixt the conquerour and conquered are very weary of the yoke for the most part and watch all advantages of making themselves free againe by rebellion whensoever they thinke themselves strong enough to justifie and beare out their rebellions but without doubt this course is sinfull and unlawfull because it is a manifest breach of an oath and covenant which ought to be firmely kept amongst men even though a mans covenants be made to his owne disadvantage Therefore was the Lord greatly displeased with Zedekiah the last of Salomons race I thinke that sate on the throne of David because he rebelled against the King of Babell Nebuchadnezzar who had conquered the land and made himselfe King over it for so saith Ezekiel the Prophet Chap. 17. ver 15. He rebelled against the King of Babel in sending his Ambassadours to Egypt shall he escape that doth such things or shall he breake the covenant and bee delivered as I live saith the Lord God surely in the place whose oath hee despised and whose covenant hee brake he shalld die and ver 8. Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the Covenant when he had given his hand and hath done all these things hee shall not escape The Lord you see is offended with such a kinde of rebellion and punisheth it because it is as you see a despising of an oath and breach of a covenant For indeed this is the way to trouble the world and make warres everlasting though it be a fault in a neighbour Prince without just cause and ground to make Warre and conquer his bordering neighbours and bring them under his yoke yet when God by his providence hath made him conquerour and the weakenesse of the conquered hath drawne them to subjection and now covenants and agreements of peace have beene concluded upon the breaking of the covenants doth violate the rules of truth and faithfullnesse amongst men and breeds new troubles and broyles there where might have beene much peace and prosperity if they would have beene contented to have borne the yoke as Ieremy is wished to command the Kings whom Nebuchadnezzar had conquered that they should doe Chap. 21.2 9. The
even in the land of Goshen Thus it behoveth a good King yea and a good man to favour still whom he hath begun deservedly to favour and for his sake to shew all good esteeeme to his friends and kindred so farre as they shew not themselves unworthy to be favoured Constancy in loving and honouring a worthy man becomes Kings and largenesse of love even a kind of royall love beseemeth their persons and places for a worthy servants sake to advance his Father Bretheren and kindred This is a right Kingly love and such as can sort alone with men of such high quality Meaner persons want meanes to shew their favourable respect in such a spreading manner Indeed to preferre unworthy persons because they be of kinne to a man of great worth and much favoured is not agreeable to the rules of wisdome but let them be men capeable of favour and he doth not love a man thoroughly that for his sake doth not also love those that are neere unto him And if Princes have such a Princely love to their vertuous favourites how much more hath the living God to his These be things commendable in Pharaoh For his faults God hath beene pleased to reveale none but that common fault hee continued an Heathen though he had a Ioseph in his Court and highly preferred by himselfe It is a hard matter to get out of darkenesse and to come into light a divine spirit must joyne with the meanes or else the meanes will prove ineffectuall Let us pray to God to leade us into the knowledge of his truth or else we may live long with them that know it and yet learne nothing of it It is in our nature to settle our selves in the religion of our forefathers and not to consider whether it be true and good yea or not A kind of slitenesse in matter of religion doth raigne in the world men will not be at the trouble to examine that which they find in use they will not hazard themselves in crossing the common-voice so they swimme downe the streame and runne into perdition for company Let us be carefull to examine the things that we finde and seeing God hath vouchsafed us the happy guidance of his word let us learne to try all things and hold fast the good Onely in crying we must take heede that we be not of a kind of crosse humour that will strive to goe in a single way and will refuse things upon sleight grounds as if they were glad to find occasion to goe alone And so much for Pharaohs faults too Now his prosperity was great First God warned him of the Famine before hand that hee might prevent the danger of it to his people a great mercy to be made to understand evills long before that a man may hide himselfe from the evill of them the wisedome of man can alone guesse of future things and of some it cannot so much as guesse O how great favour doth God shew to men when he will lend them a little part of his Wisdome and tell them what mischiefes are comming on the world So God told David how Saul and the men of Keilah would have conspired against him Christ foretold his Disciples of the ruine of Ierusalem and made them able to save themselves out of that destruction Now wee must learne to esteeme it a greater mercy that we are forewarned of the evill to come in another world and acquainted with the onely meanes of flying from that unsufferable wrath Let us be as carefull to beleeve those predictions and to follow that counsell for escaping the mischiefe foretold as here Pharaoh was to beleeve Ioseph and to take his counsell and then shall we as assuredly escape the misery of eternall destruction as he and his Countrey escaped the unhappinesse of Famine A second benefit God gave Pharaoh a Ioseph a worthy servant a man of excellent Wisdome and faithfullnesse fit for that high honour of being Second to Pharaoh who in all things behaved himselfe as became a wise and godly man The Lord cannot give a greater benefit to a King and a Kingdome then by preferring a Ioseph by providing such a man and inclining the hearts of Kings to favour such this is a mercy which our prayers must obtaine for our King and for our selves Lord send Iosephs to the Court and guide the heart of his Majesty to love and advance Iosephs A third mercy he grew exceeding wealthy and a mighty Prince possessor in a manner of all the land of Egypt and had all the people as his servants to plow the ground for him so that he was a rich and mighty Prince But when Princes or other men become very great and high many times their weakenesse and corruptions turne that benefit into a misery and occasion of much mischiefe learne so to receive this benefit as to be earnest for grace to use it well that it may not turne to your destruction But of Pharaohs crosses we reade nothing he was so prosperous a King that no adverse accident is recorded to have befallen him Even to escape great crosses must be accounted a great mercy and if the Lord have caused any mans life amongst us to runne with so even a threed as it were that no adversity hath interrupted it he is so to take notice of this mercy as to take heed withall that he flatter not himselfe with vaine thoughts as if he were therefore much in Gods favour because of such immunity from outward evills Not so but we must ever remember that in the Psalme That the wicked are lusty and strong that they have no bonds in their death and that they be not in adversity as other men Hitherto of Pharaoh now of the Aegyptians both the land in generall and the chiefe officers about Pharaoh The land of Egypt was a rich land and fertile the Holy Ghost doth not speake much of their idolatry in Genesis But in after times they were infamous for it and there did Israel learne to be Idolatrous If God leave a people to themselves they will soone degenerate either into prophanenesse and a meere contempt of God or into false worship and Idolatry How thankfull ought wee to be to whom the Lord hath pleased to reveale his truth and to keepe us farre from worshipping a false god or embracing a false religion But we have an example of some good in these Egyptians and a great vertue it was they submitted themselves to their Governours with a very great submission The Famine lay upon them they were content to buy corne of Ioseph for money and when that failed to pawne their cattell and when that meanes was gone to sell their lands and themselves and did not rebell and with strong hand take corne to themselves whither Pharaoh and Ioseph would or not This was a most commendable thing in the Egyptians they would rather sell themselves to the skinne yea sell themselves