to our good God and good as the ready way to procure good to our immortall souls This then I desire to charge upon all in publick offices Let those that are about you discern your vigour and activity for His service by whom you are advanced Spare no pains in furthering it neglect no means conducing to it And remember that when you act for him you act for your selves when you endeavour his glory he will be sure to enhaunce yours according to his promise 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed But Gods worship is a word of large extent and camprehends many things under it I humbly crave leave to be your remembrancer of these two 1. Let no false worship be countenanced within your Jurisdiction Let not Dagon be set so near the Ark nor an Altar for Baal be reared by the Altar of the God of Israel Zeal against the rules of Grammar begins to decline at the ablative as well knowing that a true worship can never be advanced till all false worships be suppressed Whilst like the Samaritans 2 Kings 17.41 we fear the Lord and worship our graven Images we are party-per-pale Christians and Idolators The first work of good Hezekiah was to throw down the high places and to make the brazen Serpent Nehushtan 2 Kings 18.4 If any enquire whither this advice tends my answer briefly shall be Luke 23.33 Every Considerative man may easily discern that the Church of England like Christ its husband is crucified between two malefactors The Papist on the one hand and the Separatist on the other both these would have their worship in contempt of and opposition to ours which brings an Odium upon our Religion And certainly if those who have power in their hands improve not their power to vindicate that Church whereof they are members their account will be heavy when the greatest must appear before one greater than they and receive a reward according to the discharge of their places No matter how foolish people spend their Lungs and strain their throats to cry up liberty of conscience It is a thing which once admitted would make our England an Amsterdam And if arguments will not convince us sad experience may that nothing is more intolserable than a toleration of opinions 2. Take care that the Lords-day be kept holy That God may be worshipped it is necessary some time be set apart for his worship and what time fitter than that which is already appointed wherein then can Magistrates more promote Gods worship than by providing that this day be spent in it How vigorously did Nehemiah appear in sanctifying the legall Sabbath chiding with the Nobles of Judah shutting the Gates in the evening before the day declined and not opening them till the Sabbath was ended nay setting his own servants to watch the gates and not suffering the Merchants and Tradesmen to lodge within the City Nehem. 13.17 19 20. I argue not for a Jewish Sabbath Omnes dies dominicos cum omni veneratione decrevimus observart et a servili opere abstineri et ut mercatus in eis minimè sit nec placitum ubi aliquis ad mortem vel ad poenam judicetur Concil Mogunt can 37. Vid. Zanchuin in 4 Precept Exod 20.8 but a Christian Lords-day which had we nothing else the argument à fortiori would engage us unto If they under the law must set apart one day in seven to remember the great work of Creation well may we under the Gospel to commemorate our redemption without which creation had done us no good And truly I am sorry there is so much reason for this advice Men generally forbear bodily labour and suffer themselves to be worse employed giving the least part of that day to him whose due the whole of it is It is a shame that an usurped power should bring people into better order than all the commands of lawfull Authority It is not many years since a strict Proclamation came forth for keeping this day Holy and frequenting Church both evening and morning I hope you will see that so Religious a Command be observed And forget not that the fourth Precept of the Law is directly charged upon the head of a Family and by the same reason reacheth the head of a Corporation Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day as if the duty were only his or the omission of inferiours should be set upon the superiours score It is through Gods blessing in your hand to rectifie all abuses of this nature your Authority will force men to Church keep them both out of Ale-houses and Idleness when our Sermons cannot And therefore we humbly beg your help that God be not provoked to curse the work of our days because we despise the work of his and blast all our diligence on the six for our prophanation of the seventh 2. David served his Generation and by punishing contumacious offenders I will early destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord Psal 101.8 When the Amalekite came with the news that he had slain Saul David slew him 2 Sam. 1.15 When Baanah and Rechab had killed Ishbosheth he killed them 2 Sam. 4.12 yet the one was his persecutor and the other his competitor for the Kingdom Afterwards when Joab had sinitten Abner and Amasa of whom I mean Joab it might be said as once of Origen ubi benè nemo melius ubi malè nemo pejus Where he did well no man did better and where he did ill no man did worse and when Shimei had cursed David though his Reign was so troublesome that he could not take vengeance on them in his life yet he leaves it in charge to Solomon 1 Kings 2.5 6 8 9. Punishments of such high nature possibly fall not within your compass yet herein it is fit you imitate David and hereby also you shall serve your Generation in not suffering any guilty persons which come before you to glory in impunity Pity and lenity do well become a Magistrate where they may do good but if the sore will onely rankle with plaisters it is time to apply tents and corrosives Comerarius apud Godwinum de Antiquit. Roman lib. 4. cap. 2. Bonum est cum puniuntur nocentes Quis hoe nisi nocens negabit Tertul. de spectaculis cap The Consuls of Rome had both rods and axes carried before them Rods as ensigns of mercy if the offences were less and the offenders penitent axes as tokens of severity if the offences were greater and the offenders incorrigible You know who hath said To acquit the wicked and to condemn the righteous both of them are abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 Nay let me tell you that a sparing those who are evil is a discouragement a wrong to those that are good Magistratus qui de malis paenas nòn sumit bonos injuriâ
shall be seeing ye Rebel to day against the Lord that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel Josh 22.18 Here was a case beyond fear put out of doubt by the sad event Eccles 9.18 One sinner destroyeth much good occasioneth much mischief The whole army suffers by a particular person Achar the troubler of Israel What shall we say then Rom. 3.5 6. Is God unrighteous that taketh vengeance God forbid But if one man sin and wrath come upon more can this be reconciled with equity and justice 1 King 21.29 yes well enough Ahabs son may smart for Ahabs fault the iniquity of the fathers may be visited upon the children Chams curse may be entailed upon his posterity Exod 20.5 nay the Israelites may be beaten for Achars transgression Observe therefore that the Almighty proceeds otherwise in temporal than eternal punishments The last come wholly and singly for our own impieties Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth it shall die The first may overtake us for the impieties of others but still with respect to our particular guilt Thereby we are liable to the strokes of Divine vengeance onely an opportunity is taken to punish when some notorious offence is committed by another our own wickedness is the impulsive cause deserving their 's the occasion bringing down these judgements A company of boyes by some untowardness displease their Master but at present no noise is made of it Their fellow-scholler runs into a fouler crime and the Master layes hold of that season to correct them all Had not this one boy done amiss all might possibly have escaped that whipping yet is not the Master unjust in taking so fair an occasion of giving them their deserts Sic parvis componere magna solemus The application of this simile is clear I would it might affeci our hearts as well as convince our understandings God hath visited our Kingdom with beavy judgements An unnatural war broke out in its bowels and the sword was made drunk with the blood of our Brethren Mens rights were invaded by the Keepers of their liberties The Church was spoiled by pretended Patrons of the state and the Defender of the faith murdered under disguise of securing Religion The force of Law was interrupted by the violence of power and some men would own no authority but what hung by their side Whence came these troubles from sin without question And though the best cannot excuse himself from contributing too much to the common calamities each one heaping fuel upon the fire yet might we not plainly see there was a viperous brood among us lay gnawing at their Mothers heart Men who by heynous wickedness became so many Achars troublers of our Israel In mercy to the land a period was put to the dismall days Heaven smiled upon us afresh and the joy of our hearts was legible in the cheerfulness of our looks when Church and State obtained a resettlement by the restauration of our Soveraign But have not these Achars been at work again Causes are best known by their effects and those effects have been felt to purpose The sheathed Sword was drawn through the rage of our insulting adversaries Nay the Almighties Sword slew our people by thousands Our Royal City became a burnt-offering and as the dreadfull pestilence swept away men from their dwellings so the devouring fire swept away their dwellings from the surviving men The inhabitants were reduced into dust and their houses turned into ashes Yet all this while God was just But is it not time then to find out these disturbers of our peace these occasioners of our troubles these provokers of his wrath They will soon be discovered upon a diligent enquiry For therefore are they troublers because transgressors Achar the troubler of Israel who transgressed in the thing accursed And thus I am come to the particular part of the indictment who transgressed in the thing accursed 2 A command as you heard there was that no hand should be laid upon the spoile of Jericho ye in any wise keep your selves from the accursed thing lest ye make your selves accursed when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it Josh 6 18. It was the Almighties charge who not only prohibited the people from medling but reserved it for his own treasury All the silver and the gold and vessels of brass and Iron are consecrated unto the Lord they shall come into the treasury of the Lord v. 19. Achan through a greedy humour disobeys He saw he coveted he took a Babylonish garment 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold These he hid to pass undiscovered and undiscovered he was till the lot fell upon him that lot extorts a confession from his mouth the prize is found by the searchers of his tent and laid before the multitude Whence we gather that this person was guilty of a double crime Theft and sacriledge Theft in taking what was not his own Sacriledge in taking what belonged unto God Theft in taking what was not his own It is one precept in the moral Law Exod. 20.15 Thou shalt not steal the ground whereof is a propriety given to every man in his own goods to Keep and use them at his own pleasure Nay the same God who hath tied up our hands from stealing 17. hath restrained our hearts from desiring Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house nor any thing that is his He allows no grasping the possessions of our brethren nor carving our selves a share of their wealth We have nothing to do to leap into their houses or seize upon their estates yea we sin if our very riches be irregular which sin will bring a disquietment upon our selves for if Ahab by force took Naboths vineyard the threatnings of God shall make him tremble and occasion a trouble to the place where we live for if Achar steal he is the troubler of Israel by transgressing in the thing accursed Time was during the Gospels infancy when all things were had without distinction Neither said any man that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common Acts 4.32 But as St. Hierome well Distingue tempora concordabunt scripturae observe the difference of times and no difference will be found in the scriptures The persecuted believers were drawn to such exigence that for support of those professing the same faith there was need of sharing in the same possessions Besides the distribution they made was voluntary not constrained no force of Law compelled but only freeness of heart enclined them I add the owners of estates had then such a right as admitted no dispute till parted with by their own consent They had if the distinction may be pertinent jus ad rem they afforded their brethren jus in re Whiles it remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own
and the modus supponendi In the Suppositum the subject and the predicate the subject the foundations the predicate destroyed In the modus supponendi take notice of three things for the word if will bear them al 1. the possibility of it the foundations may be destrayed 2. the iniquity of it It is a very wicked thing to destroy them 3. the miseny or calamity which attends it it will be a sad thing if the foundations be destroyed The Second general is the Interrogation What can the Righteous do or according to some translations What hath the Righteous done both may be taken in under three notions 1. as vox reflectentis 2. as vox deplorantis 3. as vox inquirentis The firstagrees especially with the old the second with both and the third with the new reading of these parts in their order I begin with the first the Supposition and therein with 1. The Subject or matter of the suppositum the foundations I may spare the pains to tell you that the word is by some rendred snares or nets as if David had particularly intended Sauls designs against him We have nothing to do with it in that notion suiting perhaps as little with the sence as with this occasion Thus far I shall use it and no further May destroying the foundations prove as great a snare to all who endeavour it as could correspond with Sauls batred without prejudice to Davids innocency Omitting therefore the variety of translations we fix upon the English where the Metaphor is drawn from a building to which the Church and State are here compared And not here only but in other places too St. Paul calls the Church the house of God 1 Tim. 3.15 Jerusalem is builded as a City that is compact together saith the Psalmist Ps 12.3 Jerusalem where God had his Temple and the King had his Throne And thus we shall see these foundations are either foundations of Doctrine or foundations of Government Take away the one and the building will totter for want of its Jachin which doth establish it Take away the other and it will reel for want of its Booz for in it is strength 1. There are foundations of Doctrine Those points which comprize the substance of Christian Religion We ordinarily call them fundamentals And the Scripture useth the term in the text Heb. 6.1 not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God which in the beginning of that verse is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principles of the Doctrine of Christ such are the being and attributes of God the divinity and humanity of our Saviour the infallibility and authority of the Scriptures the immortality of the soul the resurrection of the body and the like for upon these we build our Religion and the building can never stand unless the foundation be firm Admit men once to deny these principles or to be perswaded into a disbelief of them and never expect to find their actions savour any thing of piety or honesty It is evidently plain that a practical conviction of these grand truths hath the greatest influence upon our souls to make us good scrvants to our God and good subjects to our King True the Gospel primarily aims at our piety yet doth it withall design our Allegiance that with equall conscience we pay the duties owing to the powers on earth as we do to the almighty power of heaven I had almost forgot to mention St. August in loc Augustines exposition in his Hoc dicit contra omnes Hereticos For then the Psalmist by foundations must mean doctrinall truths if Hereticks who pervert these truths be destroyers of the foundations 2. There are also a second sort of foundations those of Government which we suppose to be the fundamental laws in a nation grounded upon the Maximes of naturall and Civill Pollicy Thus St. Hierome expounds the words Hierom. in in loc si leges dissipatae sint if the laws be dissolved 'T is well known there is no civilized much less Christian Kingdom but hath its nationall constitutions if that be not too low a word whereby the people are governed God himself would not let the Israelites be without them as a means to uphold societies and keep every person within his due bounds Now as Lawes are virtually lodged in the supreme Magistrate so as by his consent Le Roy. le veult they receive there sanction so in an especiall manner He may be intended in the text David as a King speakes of himself at the same rate the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it Ps 75.3 And certainly there cannot be a greater shake given to any nation than an infringing the just Authority of the Prince or of those to whom he commits either Ecclesiasticall or Civill Jurisdiction I say Ecclesiasticall for some of the Rabbins have been so favourable as to name the very Priests for these foundations I dare not plead to so much reading but a worthy Author asserts it to be Rabbi Solomons gloss fundamenta i.e. Vicaris decapla in loc Sacerdotes super quos fulciebat se populus the Priests who were the peoples prop and support Wonder not I speak for our own order It is pity we should lose those priviledges which the bounty of God and his Vice-gerents have given us These then are the foundations of doctrine and of Government the subject of the proposition whose predicate follows 2. The predicate destroyed if the foundations be destroyed Where the Psalmist still prosecutes his Metaphor for the word signifies a demolishing of buildings Not only a picking some stones out of the wall which yet might be incomvenient nor beating down the higher stories and upper rooms though that would spoil the houses beauty but the laying it levell with the ground which must render it perfectly un-inhabitable Thus when the doctrines of Christianity are boldly denyed and the laws of a Kingdom insolently epposed when the people seditiously refuse either to be led by Moses or Aaron then may we wofully complain of the foundations being destroyed And so I pass from the first thing the suppositum to 2. The modus supponendi the manner of the supposall in the word if If the foundations be destroyed And here we are first presented with 1. The possibility of it That these foundations MAY BE destroyed for de impossibilibus non est supponendum no wise man much less the All-wise God would suppose impossibilities And indeed the truth hereof doth but too plainly appear No sooner did the Son of righteousness begin to shine but clouds arose to darken his light Truth was no sooner sprung out of the earth but errors began to peep out of hell The Church in her infancy was pestered with Herefies and the tares grew up as fast as the wheat There was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among Satans followers as there was among Christs disciples A
Simon Magnus to oppose Simon Peter from whom all the Hereticks of later date derive their pedigree He to raze the foundations while the Church was but yet in building contradicts three main points of Christian faith The Trinity of persons Christs passion and Mans future resurrection In Domitians time Elion and Cerinthus broached their pernicious opinions against the Divinity of our blessed Saviour the occasion if good Authors may be credited why St. John then alive published his Gospel The Gnosticks had already got head men of such abominable principles and flagitious practices that a modest tongue and a chast ear cannot with Civility admit the naming them In following ages these Hereticks became more numerous and thereby more mischievous How mightily the Arrian blasphemy prevailed all Church-Histories witness St. Hieromes expression though it savour of Rhetorick may be allowed without any great Hyperbole Ingemuit totus mundus et miratus est se factum esse Arrianum The world groaned under its burden and admired to see it self devoted to Arrius Nay so far were the Doctors of the Church seduced that Athunasius alone stickled considerably for the Orthodox Doctrine there was Vnus Athanasius contra totum mundum et totus contra unum Athanasium It would be tedious to trace the footsteps of these destroyers to our days Were all books burnt were all records of former times lost could we betray our selves into such incredulity that nothing which our Fathers have delivered would gain our belief yet if we will take up short of the madness to distrust our eyes and ears we shall soon perceive a possibility of this mischief Which of us are strangers to the Quakers plea of perfection and preferring Enthustasticall revelations above the Holy Scriptures Who knows not that the Anabaptists to defend their not baptizing infants implead the doctrine of Originall sin Some have taken pains to rob the soul of its happiness immediately after death and to lull it asleep with the body till the general resurrection Others would disprove the sufficiency of Christs sufferings and a third sort would devest both Him and the Holy Ghost of their Godhead These things through the licentiousness of the Press are exposed to publick view and made too manifest to be concealed Pass from the foundations of doctrine to those of Government And have we not seen a possibility of their destruction We have lived in those days when the voice of laws could not be heard for the clashing of armour when men defended their Soveraign by invading his Authority and fought for their King with Swords drawn against him when they put Him in prison to establish Him in his throne and to make Him glorious cut off his head And how came these things to pass Satans agents are subtle they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Judes phrase v. 4. furtim intrare steal in among well meaning Christians and with good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple St. Austin declaring how Hereticks destroy the foundations saith it is done In conventiculis suis ubi parvulos et interioris lucis ignaros non lacte nutriunt Rom. 16.8 Aug. in loc sed venenis necant In their Conventicles and private meerings where these crafty chapmen instead of nourishing their ignorant hearers with the sincere milk of the word poison their souls with erroneous doctrines Whether or no our miseries have happened by the same means let sober men judge and if these courses be continued what the issue will be all lovers of peace and truth tremble to think Certainly the foundations destroyed we can neither hope to be holy nor happy not holy for this very supposition doth imply 2. The iniquity of it It is a wicked thing if the foundations be destroyed Can any thing be more notoriously evill than the destroying that faith which Christ and his Apostles preached to the world the truth whereof those Apostles sealed with their blood and for the defence of which we ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 summis viribus certare Jude v. 5. earnestly to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints Besides corruption in Doctrine is usually attended with debauchedness in conversation Truth and Holiness stand or fall together some Arch-Hereticks indeed seemed very pious for a while till their opinions met with considerable entertainment Devotion like a Crutch must support them while weak when their legs are strengthened they throw it away The first and main opposers of truth were known to be men of flagitious lives Witness the laseivious carriage of Simon Magus with his Helena of Montanus with his Prisca and Maximilla the strange uncleaness of the Nicolaitans and the abhominable obscoenity of the Gnosticks particularly recorded by Epiphanius And no marvell if our practices are irregular when our Judgements are perverted if we turn Gods grace into lasciviousness when we come to deny the Lord that bought us Look we upon the foundations of Government and the derstoying them will appear a manifest wickedness God hath implanted in mans nature an inclination to live sociably Without laws there can be no societies because there can be nothing of order and rule He is the Author of power and dominion By me Kings reign Prov. 18.15 God sets the Crown upon a Princes head and puts the Scepter into his hand to whom thus exalted he hath commanded our subjection and reverence Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13.1 and charged upon us a conscientious obedience in all things lawfull ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake v. 5. so that hence it follows They who endeavour the subversion of laws or resist the Authority of their Kings whose the laws are sin expresly against the word of God Which shews the iniquity of destroying the foundations And then no doubt we shall soon find 3. The misery or calamity which attends it implyed also in this supposition if the foundations be destroyed And truly what can we expect from sin but misery Heresies have done the Church more harm than persecutions The one hath scratched her face but the other hath gnawed her bowels The one hath sometimes put her into a feavour the other hath preyed upon her like a Gangreen it is the Apostles word 2 Tim. 2.17 But among those mischiefs which are inseparable attendants upon the prevalency of errors there is none more injures Christs mysticall body than the schismes and factions they directly occasion Truth is the parent of peace and concord while there is one faith there will be one spirit Error is the unhappy Mother of strifes and divisions Experience convinceth that difference in judgement will breed distance in affection and distance in affection will interrupt brotherly Communion As schisme disposeth to Heresie so doth Heresie to schisme nor can we imagine there should be a closuâ—e in devotions where there is not an agreement in opinions What grievous confusions happened in the