us out of darknesse into his marvellous light Aristotle notes of the Eagle whether truly or no I will not dispute that when her Birds are pen-feathered in a hot sun-shining day shee holds their eyes directly towards the beames of the Sun those that cannot endure that intensive light she casts out of her nest as degenerous such as directly eye the Sun she loves and feeds as her owne Hereby it will appeare whether we be Jovis aquila Gods birds or no if we look upward upon the Son of righteousnesse and have our eyes the eyes of our soules fixed on Heaven and heavenly things then are we of this Feather if downwards and have our cogitations Swine-like rooting in the earth and wallowing in the filthy puddle of worldly vanities then are we a degenerous of-spring not worthy to be called Sonnes of such a Father What an absurd and indecent thing were it if a Gally-slave or a Kitchin-boy should have that honour as to be made the adopted Son and Heire of some great Prince and he not considering his high advancement should continue in his former sordidnesse and basenesse of condition Much more undecent it is that a man when he is advanced from a child of wrath and a bondslave of the Devill to that transcendency of honour as to be made a Son of the King of Kings should continue as before in his blindnesse of heart crookednesse of will uncleannesse of affection and perversness of action Shall such a man as I flee said Nehemiah to Shemaiah and shall such a man as hath God for his Father debase himselfe like the Cat in the Fable who being turned into a Gentlewoman kept her old nature and leapt at a Mouse Or like the Popes Asse who adorned with golden Furniture as soon as he came to a Carriars Inne began to smell at a Pack-saddle Cyrus when of a Shepheards Son for so he was then supposed to be he was made a King in a Play began to shew himselfe like a King and Saul when he was annoynted by Samuel to be King had his heart changed He had another heart 1 Sam. 10. 9. Honours change manners if then we be advanced to this high dignity let us be ashamed of our natural basenesse let us have our hearts changed and walke worthy so high a calling not doing our owne will but his who when we were of no strength Rom. 5. nay when we were worse then nothing sent his own naturall Sonne to dye for us that we might be his Sonnes by grace of adoption I urge this point the rather because it is not onely a necessary duty which God requires at our hands but also the most certaine and infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods child and consequently a matter of the greatest moment in the World upon which depends the everlasting salvation or damnation of our soules If at these Assâ—ses a man shall in a case criminall be convict of Felony perhaps his Book may save him suppose not he at the worst but looses his life for it his soule if he repent is in no danger If in a civill controversie a Verdict shall go against him he looseth but the thing in question but he that hath not God for his Father and none have him but such as work righteousnesse and in holinesse of life endeavour to resemble him looseth all his title and claime to the Kingdome of Heaven and is for evermore in body and soule a Bond slave to the worst Master that ever man shall â—erve unlesse God in mercy shall effectually call him and ingraft him into the body of his onely Son by faith And it is lamentable to see so many Marthaes and so few Maries in the World so many that drowne themselves in worldly imployments and doubt where there is cause and use meanes to clear their doubts and neglect this Vnum necessarium as if it were a matter not worthy the regarding If a mans body be ill affected he will send to the Physician if he doubt of the weight of his Gold he will seek to the Ballance if of the goodnesse of the mettall he will try it by the Touchstone if the title of his Lands be questionable he will have the opinion of a Lawyer but whether he be a Son of God and consequently whether he shall be saved or no he never doubts but whatsoever he doe or thinkes or speaks hee takes it as granted The most wicked and hellish liver who serves no Master but the Devill will as I have â—ayd direct his prayers to God as to his Father others we have whoâ—e practice is farr better being kept from grosse sins by Gods restraining grace our careles and carnall Goâ—pellers our sleepy and drowâ—e Protestants who content themselves with the shadow and let fall the substance of Religion these if they be Baptized and can say that in their Baptisme they were made children of God if they come once or twice in a week to hear Prayers or Sermons if at usual times they receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper if they give their assent to the Law and the Gospel that they are both true and with a generall faith believe all the Articles of the Creed and withal have a care to lead a civill life amongst men then they perswade themselves their case is good they are sound Christians children of God and sheep of that little flock to whom our heavenly Father will of his good pleasure give a Kingdome But alas a man may doe all these and more then these and be a sonne of the Devill He may do all these 1. He may be baptized so was Simon Magus 2. He may heare the word preâ—ched so did Pharaoh 3. He may receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so did Judas 4. He may believe the Law and the Gospel and all the Articles of the Creed to be true so doth the Devil 5. He may lead an honest and civill life amongst men so Socrates and divers Pagans if ye look to the matter of good works have out-stripped many Christians in the practise of sundry morall duties He may do more then all this and be a reprobate and child of the Devill 1. He may be sorry for his sinnes and make satisfaction both these we see in Judas 2. He may confesse them even in particular and desire good men to pray for him both these we see in Pharaoh He may have a delight in the Word and love the Preacher both these did Herod He may for a time be zealous of Gods glory so was Jehu He may be humbled for his sinnes and declare his humiliation by fasting and weeping so did Ahab and the Ninivites Hee may have a certaine tast of faith which much resembleth a justifying faith so had Simon Magus Hee may in many things reforme his life so did Herod and Maxentius Hee may tremble at the threatnings of Gods judgment so did Falix and so doth the Devill Now then how can such drowsie
am vox clamantis a Cryer or Summoner sent unto you from the great God of Heaven Earth who with a mighty hand and out-stretched Arme brought your Fore-Fathers out of the Land of Aegypt and gave them this fruitfull Land which you now possesse who being almighty is able to defend you if you shall cleave unto him and to punish you if you shall neglect his word whose name is JEHOVAH I am yesterday and to day and the same for ever which was and which is and which is to come without change or shadow of change that which I have received from him I deliver unto you Thus saith the Lord Execute Judgement and Righteousnesse As then Judges in their Circuite in the severall Counties where they sit to heare and determine Causes first cause their Commission to be read then give the charge to the Inquest So our Prophet first shewes his Commission Thus saith the Lord and then gives his Charge Execute Judgment And these be the two Branches into which my Text divideth it selfe In the Commission I note that a Prophet and consequently a Minister who in the new Testament is also called a Prophet is an Embassadour sent from God unto the Sonnes of men So saith the Apostle Wee are Embassadours from Christ as though God did beseech you through us we pray you in Christs stead that yee be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. 20. Let a man so think of us as of the Ministers of Christ and disposes of the secrets of God 1 Cor. 4. 1. This shewes the Dignity of this Calling a Calling whether you respect the Author or the Subject or the end as far exceeding all others as Saul in length of body did the rest of the Israelites And surely if the Philosopher could call the Stones happy of which the Altar was builded because they were had in honour when others were troden under feet then much more may they be termed happy whom the Lord hath separated from their Brethren and taken neer unto himselfe to minister unto him if they shall be found faithfull and diligent in so high a calling But here I may justly take up the Prophets Complaint Who will beleive our report If I should dilate on this Subject my words would seem to many as Lots did to his Sonnes in Law when he spoke of the destruction of Sodome who seemed to speake as if he had mocked I appeale to your consciences whether the Vocation of a Priest so the prophane Gulls of this World call it in disgrace be not by many reputed the most base and contemptible Calling in the Land that which the Apostle speakes of our generall calling to Christianity is at this day verified of this particular Vocation not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1. The poor and the halt and the lame and such as are good for nothing else are thought sufficient for these things though the Apostle could ask 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is sufficient do not many with the foolish woers in the Poet Penelopâ—n relinquere ad ancillas confugere leave the Mistresse and become Suiters to her Maids and chuse rather to be of any calling nay of no calling to be idle Hunters riotous Gamesters loose livers to be any thing rather then to be imployed in this great and weighty businesse of being an Embassadour from God unto the Sonnes of men But it s no matter Philosophy suffers no great disgrace because Agrippina will not have her Son young Nero to study it and a Pearle is not a straw the worse because Esops Cock cares not for it Rauca reful gentem contemnit noctua Phoebum Non crimen Phoebus noctua crimen habet The Owle cannot abide the Sun the fault is not in the Sunne but in the Owles eyes that cannot behold it The very Heathen shall in the day of judgement arise against these men and condemn them amongst whom this Calling hath alwayes been honoured for the best Amongst the Phoenicians they wore a crowne of gold Amongst the Athenians none were admitted King that had not been of this Order It was not scorned by the best Senatour of Rome insomuch that Gellius having set down four properties of Crassus which he calls Rerum humanarum maxima praecipua the greatest things amongst the sons of men Quod esset ditissimus quod nobilissimus quod eloquentissimus quod jurisconsultissimus that he was the richest and the noblest and the most eloquent and the best Lawyer that Rome had He adds in the last place as it were a specificall forme restraining all the rest Quod pontifex maximus that he was the chiefe Bishop and Virgil had no intendment to disgrace Amus when he called him a King and a Priest Rex Amus rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos And the custome of the old Aegyptians is well enough known unto Schollers Qui ex philosophis sacerdotes and Ex sacerdotibus probatissimum in regem elegerunt who from Philosophers chose Priests and from Priests Kings whereupon their Hermes had the name of Trismegistus thrice greatest the greatest Philosopher the greatest Priest and the greatest King Such an one was Moses the Prince and chiefe of all the Prophets who did not preach to Pharaoh and the Israelites till first instructed by the Lord what he should say Such were the Priests of the Law or at least such they should have been and therefore the Lord saith That the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and That they should seeke the law at his mouth The reason is added because he is the Angel or Embassadour of the Lord of Hosts Such was Ezekiel whom the Lord tells that he had made a watch-man over the house of Israel and that hee should heare the word at his mouth and give the people warning from him Such was Jeremiah who prophesied not to the Jewes till the Lord had touched his tongue and put words into his mouth Finally such were all the Prophets before the coming of the Messias who had this law giuen them that they should teach no more then he had given them in charge Hence be these and the like speeches Thus saith the Lord. The word of the Lord. The burden of the Lord. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Come to the New Testament and look upon the Apostles and Evangelists surely very excellent things were spoken of them they were called the salt of the Earth the light of the World the friends of Christ they had the keyes of Heaven gates given unto them That whatsoever they bound on earth should be bound in heaven and whatsoever they loosed on earth should be loosed in heaven They were sent to preach to all Nations but not what they would but what they had in commission from Christ Teach to observe all things which I have commanded Mat. 28. 20. Nay Christ Jesus the Son of God the Privy Counsellor of the Father the only Master and Teacher of his Church
did impose this law upon himselfe telling the Pharisees that his Doctrine was not his owne but the Fathers that had sent him Now then if the Priests of the Law if the Prophets if the Apostles if Christ Jesus himselfe did not preach any Doctrine but what they received from God if they were tyed to the word and might not decline to the right hand nor to the left Much more are the Lords Ministers at this day tied not to deliver any Doctrine to their Hearers but what is evidently grounded upon the sacred Oracles of Truth They are to build the Kingdom of Christ to subvert the kingdome of Antichrist to feed the Lords Sheep to drive away the Wolves to comfort the weake and feeble knees to break the brazen and iron sinews of impenitent sinners to sing a song of mercie to penitent and humble soules to thunder judgments to forlorn miscreants To binde and to loose to plucke up and to roote out to destroy and to cast downe to build and to plant but all by the word of God The writings of Heathen men contain in them many excellent precepts of Morality but they are mingled with a number of untruths and vanities The writings of the ancient Fathers are of especiall use in the Church of God but they are not sufficient groun is for me to build my Faith upon them I may no more in all things follow their steps then I may be drunk with Noah or commit incest with Lot or be an Adulterer with David or an Idolater with Solomon or with Peter deny and forswear Christ I say of them all in respect of the Scriptures as Stankarus a Polonian Heretick spake of our Protestant Writers in respect of Peter Lombard Plus valet Petrus Lombardus quam Centum Lutheri c. One Peter Lombard is of more worth then 100. Luthers 200. Melanctons 300. Bullingers 400. Peter Martyrs and 500. Calvins But one plaine sentence of Scripture is more worth then 100. Austins 200. Cyprians 300. Jeremies 400. Ambroses 500. Gregories where their Doctrines are not warrantable by the word of God I say of them as Aristotle did of Socrates and Plato Socrates is my Friend and Plato my Friend but Truth is my greatest Friend And as Austin said of his Country-man Cyprian Cypriani literas non ut Canonicas lego sed ex Canonicis considero quod in ijs divinarum Scripturarum autoritati convenit cum laude ejus accipio quod non convenit cum pace ejus respuo I read Cyprian not as canonical Scripture but I examine his Writings by the canonicall and where I find them agreeing with his due commendations I receive them when repugnant with his good leave I will reject them To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because they have no light in them Isa 8. 20. Quest Is it then unlawfull for a Minister to use humanity or secular learning in his Sermon Ans I have known many who have said that a Sermon is too barren and dry and not so learned nor so pleasant nor so powerfull nor so profitable if it consist meerly of testimonies from Scripture without some inspersions at the least of secular learning as if that were dry which is like the Raine that comes down from heaven and waters the earth that it may yeeld seed to him that soweth and bread to him that eateth or any thing were more learned then that which will make a man wise unto salvation or any thing more pleasant then that which is sweeter then honie or the honie-comb or any thing more powerfull then that which is lively And mighty in operation and sharper then any two-edged sword and entereth through even to the dividing of the soule and the spirit and of the joynts and the marrow or any thing more profitable then that which is given by inspiration from God and is profitable to Teach to reprove to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect unto all good works Again on the other side I know many both Preachers and Hearers who distast as much a sentence borrowed from a prophane Writer as the children of the Prophets did of that branch of Coloquintida that was cast into the pot mors in olla One sentence in their conceit spoils a whole Sermon the thing otherwise never so good These men are verily perswaded that Hieroms dreame was in good earnest that he was wrapt into the third Heaven and miserably beaten before the Tribunall seate of God for reading of Tullie which although he writing to a certain Lady who was too much addicted to reading of secular Authors he relates as a story Yet when the same was objected against him by Ruffinus and without question Lactantius and Tertullian and Austin and some others of the Fathers deserved to lick of the whip for this as well as Hierome who were so throughly acquainted with all secular Writers that as he himselfe speaks of some of them a man cannot tell whether he shall more admire them for their secular learning or their knowledg in the Scriptures insomuch that as Julian complained of some of them De aquila pennas evellerent quibus aquilam configerent They pulled quills out of the Eagles wings the Roman Ensign wherewith they wounded and killed the Eagle My resolution then is this As I cannot approve of the former sort so can I not altogether of the latter my reasons are these 1. No Sermon is purum putum dei verbum meer Logick and Rhetorick and humane invention are used in the best and therefore if I shall sometimes borrow a sentence from a secular Writer be it Goats-hair or hay or stubble or call it what you will peradventure it may prove as good as any thing I can bring of mine owne 2. I take it to be a property of a foolish Captaine to scorn to use any stratagem which his Enemie hath used before It 's lawfull for the Hebrews to spoile the Aegyptians so that it be not to make a golden Calfe of the spoile 3. St. Paul himself sometimes brings sentences out of secular Writers as Tit. 1. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heroicall verse out of Epimenides So Acts 17. We are his generation part of an heroicall verse out of Aratus and 1 Cor. 15. Evill words corrupt good manners a comicall verse out of Menander 4. There is but one truth and Omne verum est a Spiritu Sancto saith Ambrose so that if thou shalt alleadg that it is unlawfull to use it because it dropt from the tongue or penn of a Pagan I will reply that if it be true it is lawfull because it is originally from God but here these cautions are to be observed 1. It must not be a Doctrine but only an Illustration or amplification of a Doctrine 2. It must be sparingly used in popular Congregations 3. As an Israelite when he
Who will believe our report my words seem unto many as Lots Sermon did to his sonnes in-law when he foretold the destruction of Sodome who seemed as though he had mocked Gen. 19. 14. Give me leave a little to speak plainly I came not to sing unto you a gloria patri without a sicut erat to flatter you with a smooth tale as to lay pillowes under your elbowes whereby you may securely sleep in your sins Multi sunt placentini laudenses pauci Veronenses many come hither from Placentia and Lauda but few from Verona I doubt not but ye will all with your tongues confesse my proposition to be true but the practise of the most denieth it it is the sinnes of the people that bringeth every common-wealth to ruine Every one will say as much but yet in our practise we hold an other strange Axiome that goeth for currant amongst us it is the sinnes of the people that upholdeth every Common-wealth conscionable and true and faithfull dealing which my Prophet as I suppose meaneth by executing of judgement and seeking of the Truth is like an Almanack out of date every man hath found out a new way both to maintain and better his estate this old way is too farre about The bloud-sucking Usurer instead of lending and expecting nothing again a lesson which our Saviour would have him to take out if hee look for the true treasure doth eat and consume his needy Brother even as Pharaohs lean and il-favoured Kine devoured the other This is the way he taketh to support his house God loves not such an Arithmetician as spendeth his whole study about Multiplication and the Rule of falshood and can never learn the practise of Division The Lawyer who should employ his best knowledge in untying the knots of the law and should be an Atropos to cut off the thread of controversies between man and man feedeth his Client with golden hopes and sugred words and in the meane time like Lachesis draweth in length the thread of contention using unnecessary delayes and posting off the matters from Court to Court Tearm to Tearm year to year not unlike the cogging Surgeon who in hope of greater gain doth poyson the wound that it may be longer in curing or if I may use a homely comparison like the waggish Boy in the streets who when he seeth two dogs snarling and grinning one at another for a bone is never at rest till for his own pleasure but little for their profit hee hath brought them à rictu ad morsum to trie their right by their teeth till at length the weaker be enforced to resigne up his right to the stronger this is a principall plot to maintain his estate The Citizen that liveth on his trade is like to the idolatrous Jewes in the Psalmist which worship the Images of Canaan Canaan signifieth a Merchant and what is the Merchants Image saith Luther but Denarius the Crosse This hee maketh such reckoning of as that he careth not for making shipwrack not of a crased woodden vessel but of a good conscience so that he may obtain it hee selleth dayes and months and years at a higher rate then his best stuffes if his wares be too light false ballances must make up the weight if too bad too dear a false oath must mkae amends for both The countrey Landlord for though I speak in Jerusalem yet I do not doubt but some of every quarter of Judah doth hear mee whom the Lord hath endowed with ample possessions that hee should be as it were Pater Patriae an upholder of his Countrey a maintainer of justice a scourge of vice a protector of Religion a shelter for the distressed to defend them from the rage of oppressors as the Philosopher did the Sparrow that fled into his bosome from the talons of the Hawke What doth he he raiseth his rents wringeth his Tenants like spunges shaketh by some new devise the ancient custome if this will not serve his turne he farmeth out his livings especially in such a year as this when hee should break his bread to the poor at his own doores and taketh a room in this City or some other where he may live with much ease little charges and small credit this he counceth an especiall means to hold up his estate If I have been in the bosomes of many of you blame your selves for mine own part I may truly say to every particular that thinketh himself touched as our Saviour said to the woman that was taken in Adulterie Hath no man condemned thee neither do I. Marry withall I adde that of John If thine own conscience condemn not thee God is greater then thy conscience and knoweth all things and therefore I dismisse thee with that speech of our Saviour spoken to the Criple that was newly restored to his feet Go thy way and sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee What shall I say more Runne through each particular Estate and calling and you shall find by the practise though not of all God forbid that I should think so I know there are in every profession which make a conscience of their wayes and in all their actions set God before their eyes yet of the most part that fraudulent and deceitfull dealing or some other unlawfull means is thought the most expedite and beaten way for supporting them Few will let this conceit sink into their heads that sin is the means that bringeth every Estate to ruine the Preacher may tell them as much but they will believe him at their leisure in the mean time they will still run on their old Bias the husbandman may labour in weeding those grounds but still they bring forth briars to entangle and nettles to sting others the Gardner may busie himselfe in pruning those vines but still they bring forth sowre grapes such as will set the teeth of Gods children on edge Gods shepheards may watch continually about their flocks yet like swift Dromedaries they runne by their wayes and like the wilde Asse used to the wildernesse which snuffeth the wind by occasion at her pleasure as the Prophet speaks they cannot be kept from going astray Every one can be angry if his worldly purpose be crossed never so little but few or none will say with David it grieveth me when I see the transgressors because they keep not thy law Many can weep and command plenty of tears when any worldly calamit doth befall them but few or none can shed one tear Miserè terendo oculos as he speaks in the Comedy for their sinnes much lesse weep bitterly as Peter did or have their eyes gush out with water because other men keep not Gods Lawes with David many will sing to the Viâ—l and invent to themselves instruments of musick like David as the Israelites did But few will say with him All my delight is in thy commandements Many will say with those good
especially in tempering the spirits received from the heart I mean in using those spiritual admonitions and instructions which he shall receive from the minister of the Gospel for the good and benefit of all those that are under him As the body is in best estate when all these are well disposed so it is most miserable when there is a dyscrasie and distemperature in any of them So in the state likewise Wo unto that Common-wealth where the Physitian for wholsome physick ministreth hemlock and the Divine for sound doctrine broacheth heresie and the Magistrate turneth justice into wormwood Of all these three the brain is subject to most diseases and of all these three the Magistrate is most obnoxious to fals both because he hath many ineitements unto sin which others want and because he is deprived of a benefit which others have that is he is not so freely reproved for his offences as commonly others are And lastly because of those Cubiculares consiliarij as Lipsius cals them tinea sorices Palatij as Constantine tearmed them the very mothes and rats of a court which live by other mens harmes à quibus bonus prudens cautus venditur imperator as Dioclesian an ill Emperour said well which sell the magistrates favours as if one would sell smoak as did Zoticus the faire promises of Heliogabalus and are alwayes ready for their own advantage to give an applause unto his worst actions By these he is ledde whithersoever they will have him Ducitur ut nervis alienis mobile lignum Even as an arrow is led by the bow-string Therefore David in this Psalm maketh a sharp sermon against the corruption of Magistrates out of which I have made choyce of this one branch I have said yee are Gods but ye shall die like men As if he had said truth it is your authority is great your power extraordinary ye are Gods yet set not up your horns on high and speak not with a stiffe neck ye are no transcendents ye have no more reason to boast of your superiority then the moon hath to bragge of the light which she borroweth from the sunne or the wall of the beam which it receives in at the window ye have it only from me I have said and though ye be Gods yet ye are but earthly Gods ye are Gods in office not Gods in essence ye are made of the same metal that others are and your end shall be like other mens you shall die like men In which words not to stand upon the divers acceptions of any of them may it please you to observe these three points 1. The party from whom Magistrates receive their authority it is from God I have said and Gods saying is his doing 2. Their preheminence above others in that they are called Gods ye are Gods 3. The limitation of their dignity ye shall die as men Out of which I collect these three propositions 1. Magistrates and Judges of the earth do receive their authority from God 2. They are Gods deputies to minister justice and to judge between party and party 3. Though they be extolled above their brethren according to their office yet they must die as other men where is implied this general conclusion that it is the lot of all men once to die These are the pillars of my intended discourse of which while I shall plainly entreat in the same order that I have now proposed them I beseech you all to afford me your Christian attention 2. Of all the corporeal creatures that God made none is more exorbitant then man The highest moveable is constant in his motion He doth not hasten nor neglect his course The Sunne is precise in his course under the Ecliptick line and turneth not an hair breadth unto the right hand or unto the left but cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a gyant to run his race The rest of the Planets though they turn to both sides of the Zodiacke and are the most of them sometimes direct and sometimes stationarie and sometimes retrograde as Astronomers speak by reason of their motion in their imaginary Epicicles yet they have their constancie in this inconstancie Thou O God hast given them a law that shall not be broken The elements keep themselves within their bounds The beasts of the forrest in their kinde have their policie and society The raging sea goes not beyond his limits God hath bound it to use Jobs words as a child in swadling bands he hath given it doores and barres and said unto it hither shalt thou go and thou shalt go no further here shalt thou stay thy proud waves But man is more exorbitant then all these no bounds can keep him in Therefore God hath written in the heart and conscience of every man that comes into the world a law which we call the law of nature as that God is to be worshipped good is to be embraced evil is to be avoided That which thou wouldest not another man should do unto thee thou must not do to another man And according to these general notions hee would have every person to direct his actions But this law like an old inscription upon a stone is written in the stony heart of man in such blind characters that he is put to his shifts before he can spell it And howsoever he understand it in Thesi yet in Hypothesi in the particular he makes many soloecismes and oftentimes calls good evil and evil good Therefore God hath written with his own finger a paraphrase upon it which we cal the moral law and added a large commentary of judiciall lawes by the hand of Moses Which benefit though not the same numero he hath not onely granted unto Christian Common-wealths but even to the heathen also amongst whom in all ages he hath stirred up men of excellent spirit to make lawes for the better government of their several states The best of which did acknowledge that they had them from God Howbeit after the custome of nations which held a plurality of Gods they did not all agree in one name Lycurgs affirming that he received his lawes from Apollo Minos from Jupiter Solon and Draco from Minerva Numa from the Nymph Egeria Anacharsis from Zamolxis the Scythian God 3. But all this will not confine man within his bounds for it is true of him which was spoken of the Athenians that they knew what was to be done and yet did it not And which was objected by the Cynick against the old Philosophers of Greece that they gave good rules but put none in practise video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor said Medea when she was overcome with passion It is true of most men though they know the law how that they which commit sinne are worthy of death yet they do not only the same themselves but also favour them that do it The law of it self is but
the Gospel of peace his ministers the Ambassadours of peace his natural Son the Author of peace his adopted sons the children of peace if then ye will be the sons of the most highest your endeavor must be this to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Consider what I say and the Lord give you wisdome and understanding in all things Finally to speake unto all and so to make an end of all seeing that we are all Tenants at will and must be thrust out of the doors of these earthly Tabernacles whensoever it shall please our great landlord to call us hence let us have our loines girt and our lampes continually burning that whensoever the Lord shal call us hence in the evening or in the morning at noon-day or at mid-night he may find us ready Happy is the man whom his Master when he comes shall find watching Let us every day sum up our accounts with God Ita aedificemus quasi semper victuri ita vivamus quasi cras morituri let us build as if we would ever live but let us live as if wee were ever ready to dye Then may every one of us in the integrity of heart and syncerity of conscience when the time of his departing is at hand say with the blessed Apostle If have fought a good fight and have finished my course I have kept the faith from hence forth is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Unto this God one eternall omnipotent and unchangeable Iehovah in essence three persons in manner of subsistence the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour and glory power might and majestie both now and forever more Amen Galathians 3. 10. As many as are of the workes of the Law are under the Cuurse for it is written cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to do them IN which words observe two things 1. A Doctrine 2. A Reason of the doctrine in the former part the reason in the latter I have spoken of the doctrine I purpose now to speake only of the reason for it is written c. wherein observe three things 1. It is to no purpose to begin a good course of life unlesse thou hold it out and continue till the end 2. It s not enough for a Christian to performe obedience to some of Gods precepts and to bear with himself wilfully in the breach of others Cursed is he that continueth not in all 3. That the rule of our obedience is no unwritten tradition but the written Word of God that are written in the booke of the Law But before I speak of these I gather from the connexion this conclusion That no man can in this life perfectly fulfill the Will of God it followeth thus because as it is written Cursed c. So it is written This doe and thou shalt live and the man that doth these things shall live in them So that the Apostle takes this for granted or else his argument is of no force this is evidently confirmed by many places of Scripture 1 Kings 8. 49. Eccles 7. 22. Psal 143. 2. Isa 64. 6. Acts. 15. 10. Acts. 13. 39. 1 Ioh. 1. 8. 2. It is confirmed by reason the first is drawn from the corruption of nature which is in the best Christians from which wee may thus argue he that consisteth of flesh as well as of Spirit cannoâ— fulfill the Law no not in his best actions but the best Christian that ever lived consisteth of flesh as wel as of Spirit therfore he cannot fulfill the law The minor hath been formerly proved The Major is plaine for as he is carnall he is sold under sinne The wisdome thereof is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Thus it is proved from the the death of Christ for if righteousnesse be by the workes of the Law then Christ dyed without a cause Gal. 3. 21. and if they which are of the law be heires then saith is made void and the promise is made of no effect Rom. 4. 14. for he came to fulfill the law Matth. 5. 17. which was impossible to be fulfilled of us in as much as it was weake because of the flesh Therefore God sent his sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh Rom. 8. 3. But the Romish Sophisters answer that this maketh against the Pelagians which were of opinion that a man might by the strength of nature fulfill the law not against them which hold that this abilitie comes from grace and that the good workes of a Christian proceed from Christ as the juice in the branches proceedeth from the Vine To this I answer 1. That neither the Pelagians nor these against whom the Apostle disputeth did altogether exclude grace and therefore if it be strong against them it will be of force against the Papists too 2. Their answer is grounded upon a false supposition as that the works of a Christian doe proceed wholly from Christ for they they doe in part proceed from the flesh and therefore though as they are the workes of the holy Ghost who applieth unto the faithfull the force and efficacie of Christs resurrection they be perfect yet in respect of the flesh they be stained and polluted 3. Christ died for us not by any inherent but by his imputed righteousnesse which righteousness is applyed and appropriated unto us principally by the holy Ghost instrumentally by faith whereby wee are incorporate into Christ and so partakers of his righteousnesse wee might be justified I thinke Abraham was as holy a man as Ignatius the father of Jesuits or Dominicus and Franciscus the founders of Friers in whom saith Bellarmine their very adversaries can find nothing that deserveth reprehension praeter nimiam sanctitatem save their too much holiness and yet it was not his good workes but his faith for which he was counted righteous I know that this imputative righteousnesse is counted with them a putative and imaginarie righteousness but herein the injurie is not done unto us but unto him who saith to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Even as David declareth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sinne wee say that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousnesse now it is not written for him only that it was imputed unto him for righteousness but also for us to whom it shal be imputed for righteousnesse c. A third reason to prove that no man can fulfill the Law is because all have need to say forgive us our debts who more excellent amongst the old people saith Austin then the holy Priests and yet the Lord commanded them that
be left it spread abroad and consume the whole building Sinne is as dangerous to a mans soule as fire in the chimny top is dangerous to the house he that would avoid the danger must not cast water in some corner not medling with the rest but he must do his best to quench it all and not willingly leave one spark remaining lest it spread abroad and he at the length be burned with unquenchable fire Christ never healed any man but he healed him all Mary Magdalen was possessed with seven Devils Christ did not cast out six leaving the seventh but he cast them out all And when a Legion of Devils did possesse one man he did not deliver him that was possessed from some of them but from them all to teach us as the Authour of the booke of true and false repentance which goeth under Austins name doth moralize the storie that he would not have us to forsake some of our sinnes but leave them all Whosoever shall keep the whole Law saith James and yet faileth in one point he is guilty of all which place Austin understandeth of love which is the fulfilling of the law this Exposition is good for he that coveteth or stealeth or committeth adulterie loveth not his Neighbour as himselfe and he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Now of these two hang the whol law and the Prophets But I suppose that the meaning of James is rather this that God would have us to keepe the whole Law and to leave no commandement great or small unobserved This exposition James seemeth to approve in the next words for he that said Thou shalt not commit adulterie said also Thou shalt not kill now though thou doest not commit adulterie yet if thou killest thou art a transgressor of the Law he then that offendeth in one is guilty of all because he offendeth against him who is the law-giver of them all and who would have us without respect to observe them all and like wise because he is lyable to that curse though not according to the same degree which shall come upon such as shall breake them all For Cursed is everie man that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them God is not like the false mother which would have had the child to be divided he will either have all or none he useth not to hire by halfes he will either have all our service or else he will have none at all wee cannot serve him and Mammon too he likes no Mermaids which are half fish and half flesh no Ambidexters shal dwell in his house no such Satyrs as can blow both cold and hot out of the same mouth no such Monsters as the Romane Legate saw at Alexandria which was halfe white and half black no such worshippers as those Assyrians which served God and their Idols no such Jewes as sweare by God and by Malcolme no sacrificers like to him in the Poet which offered one sacrifice to summer and another to winter one to God and another to the Devill But alas how farre are the most from the practise of this duty Some nay the greater part make no more conscience of sinning then an hungrie man of eating his dinner as if they had no God but the Devil to serve Others are like those Easterne people called Coords which worship both God and the Devill God because say they he is good the Devill lest he should doe them harm these will with Herod fear Iohn Baptist the Preacher of the word and reverence him and heare him gladly and doe many things which he exhorts them to doe but they had rather see his head off then part with their beloved sinnes Saul was contented at Gods commandement to kill the leane kine of the Amalekites but the fat and well liking Beasts he kept So these at the commandement of the Lord by the mouth of his Preachers can be contented to kill their leane sinnes their little sinnes but they have some fat sinnes they must needs enjoy these must of necessity be spared Naaman the Syrian was contented to worship no other God save the God of Israel but yet he must needs goe with his Maaster into the house of Rimmon the Lord must be mercifull to him in this point so it is with very many which would be counted good Professors they can forgoe most of their sinnes yet some beloved sinne they must needs enjoy the Lord must be mercifull unto them in this point the Covetous man can abstaine from excesse in eating and drinking but usurie and oppression this is a fat sinne he will not kill it the Lord must be mercifull unto him in this point the Drunkard can be contented to hate usurie and oppression but he must needs drinke till the wine doe inflame him oh this is a merrie sinne the Lord must be mercifull unto him in this point the wanton perchance can be contented to bid them both adieu but his carnall appetite he must needs obey this is a pleasant sinne the Lord must be mercifull unto him in this point these men are like unto those double pictures which if they be viewed one way have the fices of men looke upon them another way and they have the shape of Foxes or Goats or some deformed Creatures behold them directly and you shall see no perfect picture but a mixture of divers So looke upon these in some of their actions and you will take them for good Christians behold them in other things ye will think them wicked Miscreants take a view of all at once and you shall find a mixture and confusion of both but God loves no such confusion the livery of his Children is white not party-coloured Some there be that have stept a foot further in Christianitie and will be loath to commit any of these grosse sins but yet they have some little sinne which they must needs enjoy the Lord must be mercifull unto them in this point Oh said Lot when he came out of Sodome Let me flee into this little Citie Zoar behold it is a little one and my soule shall live so it is with these when with Lot they are fled out of Sodome they must needs goe with him to Zoar when they have left their great and grosse sinnes they have some little one as they call it oh let them enjoy this and their soul shall live but Beloved Christian thou must remember what I told thee before that no sinne of it self is venial for the wages of the least sinne is death and therefore thou must beware of these little ones as well as the other what helpeth it a man to escape the edge of the sword if he stab himselfe with a pen-knife to escape drowning in the great Ocean if he drown himself in a little brook and what will it profit thee to cast away the great Cart-ropes of iniquitie
he of whom I may complaine as Nazianzen did of some Pugnant pro Christo contra Christum saith he and Pugnant pro lege contra legem say I they fight for the Law against the Law and Legis nomine armantur contra legem dimicant They arme themselves with the Law to fight against the Law as Leo speakes Ad Palaestinos Thus the Covetous and the unconscionable dealer makes the Law his Patron the oppressing Land-Lord makes her his Sanctuary the deceitful bargainer makes her his stalking horse the bloody Revenger makes her his sword and buckler to offend his Enemies and defend himselfe and thus shee that is ordained for a publick good proves the hurt of many she that is the Mistris of Justice proves the Minister of injustice she that is a Preserver of Peace proves a Trumpet and an occasion of War not that of her selfe she is any such cause no no but as the middle region which of all the three is the coldest by antiperistasis produceth the hottest effect Thunder and Lightening as water which naturally doth quench being poured upon lime causeth it to burn as the morall Law the Law of all righteousnesse is the cause of sin Rom. 7. 8 10 11. as the Gospel of Peace is an occasion of War Matth. 10. 34 35. So our Law which of it selfe is holy and Just and good by accident turnes to be a cause and occasion of Evill All the blame hereof rests upon the heads of two men the wrangling Client the unconscionable advocate the 1. is that Ahab that troubles all Israel who is as Jeremia speakes of himself upon another occasion a contentious man and a man that strives w th the whole world that rough Ismael that hath his hand against every man and every mans hand against him that Salamander that loves to be bryling and broyling in the fire of contention Et lachrymas mittit cum nil lachrymabile cernit he is never well but when he is doing or plodding some ill he goes to Law not out of a desire of publick peace for what hath he to do with peace he may say as Nero did when he set Rome on fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So that it go well with him he cares not if the whole world be set on fire not out of an honest defence of his own Right for his own conscience tels him he hath none but either of a desire of revenge or because he knowes himselfe to be more skilfull in packing and shuffling of Cards then the party with whom he is to play or presuming upon his own purse or upon the simplicity of his Adversary or out of an hope by spinning In infinitum the thred of contention and bringing his opposite into an inextricable maze of troubles to inforce him either wholy to depart from his own right or to say of it as the Whore did of the child Let it neither be mine nor thine but let it be divided or at least which is the ordinary work that such Archers aime at to draw him to a Composition This is sometimes sacriledge when it is for depriving the Church of her right sometimes these when it is for stripping men of their lawfull Rights sometimes murther when it is out of a desire of Revenge sometimes other sinnes when other ends are proposed shrowded and sheltered under a cloak of Law Well the cause cannot be so bad so repugnant to common Equity to Law to Honesty to Conscience but some will be found to sollicite it and not only privately to countenance and support it but publickly if need so require to plead and report it this is done by such as makes his vocation a Monopoly for himselfe and levels all his paines not at the publick good but at his private gaine and in his heart applauds that saying of Vespasian to his son Titus when he gathered a tax from some homly matters lucri bonus est odor ex re qualibet It is no matter how bad the cause be so the fee be good Weight it never so light in the ballance of Justice Gold is a heavy mettall and will soon make it weight Of both these I may well use the words of the Heathen Orator Totius injustitiae nulla capitalior est pestis quam eorum qui tum cum maxime fallunt id tamen agunt ut boni viri esse videantur Of all kinds of injustice none is so capitall a crime as of those who when they hurt worst yet do they it under a pretence and colour of right In the time of King Edward the third there was a Phamphlet set out in Latine verse bearing the style of Paenitentarius asini The Asses confessor The Argument is this The Wolfe the Fox and the Asse goe to Shrift and doe pennance First the Wolfe confesseth himselfe to the Fox who doth both absolve him and extenuate his faults then the Fox makes confession to the Wolfe who obtaines like favour at last comes the Asse and makes his confession who as his fault was lesse so the more he expected absolution And what was his fault marry this Being very hungry he had pulled a Straw out of the Sheafe of a Pilgrim that was travelling towards Rome this is no sooner confessed but it is made a capitall crime Immensum scelus est injuria quod peregrino Fecisti Stramen subripiendo sibi Such as for which he must have the rigour of the Law and that is to be slaine and devoured The Author of that Book did no doubt obliquely gird the Pope whom he meant by the Wolf and his Prelates whom he understood by the Fox I thinke we may not unfitly apply it to the persons whom we have in hand The wrangling Client is the Wolfe the unconscionable Advocate is the Fox the plain dealing man is I would say the Sheep but the Fable calls him an Asse and indeed he is made the Asse and inforced to beare the burden away The Fox and the Wolfe shrive themselves one to the other and all their sins are minced and qualified mountaines with them are but Mole-hills blocks in their wayes are but straws beams in their eyes are but motes great sins are little sins and little sins are no sins Let the poore silly Asse when he comes to shrife the least wrong that can be pretended especially if it be against one of them though it be but the turning of a straw Immensum scelus est c. It is an action of Trespasse and unlesse he will compound for the wrong that he hath done he must undergoe the rigour of the Law Let not our learned and worthy Lawyers mistake me as if I sought to disgrace and defame their profession I respect I reverence I honour it and I make no doubt but there are very many of this Profession as learned and skilfull in the Law so also honest conscionable religious And to use Jethros words concerning Magistrates men of courage fearing God men
Protestants such carnal Gospellers prove themselves to be sonnes of God when they are matched and out-stripped by the sonnes of Satan when they are matched with Simon Magus in their baptisme and with Judas in receiving the Lords Supper and Pharaoh in hearing the word preached and with the Devill in believing and with Pagans and Infidels in the practise of civill and morall duties Nay when Judas goes beyond them in repentance and Ahab in sorrow and humiliation and Herod in delight in the Word and reverence of the Preacher and amendment of life and Jehu in zeale of Gods glory and Pharaoh in desiring the prayers of the godly and Foelix and the Devill in trembling at Gods judgements Oh pittiful If you should live I speak to them that are such and I doubt there are too many in this place the hearts of most are like this Country climate where they live cold and their brains more subject to Lethargies then Phrenfies If you should live amongst the Turks or Tartars where the sound of the Gospel is scarce heard if you had lived and dyed in those dayes when God gave his lawes to Jacob his statutes and Ordinances unto Israel and dealt not so with any Nation Or if you should live in Spain or Italie where the heavenly treasure is locked up from ignorant men in the closet of an unknown tongue and where no more is required of a sonne of the Church for that 's a term they are better acquainted with then a sonne of God then to be baptized to say his prayers in Latine to hear and see a Masse to keepe fasting dayes and to believe as the Collier told the Devill as the Church believeth you might have some excuse for your selves But now that you live where the judgments of the Law are denounced and the sweet promises of the Gospel proposed now that the Sun doth shine and no better blossoms of righteousnesse appeare in you how can you escape the hatchet of Gods wrath How can you call God your Father or Christ your Brother Shall Judas be sorrowfull and make confession of his sinnes and will not you Shall Ahab and the Ninivites be humbled and manifest their humiliation by fasting and sacke-cloath and tears and will not you be humbled for your sins Shall Herod amend many faults at the preaching of John Baptist and will not you reform your lives Shall the Devill believe and tremble and will not you believe with him Or if you believe with him will ye noâ— tremble with him Shall all these I have named be damned to hell and look you for the reward promised to Gods children the Kingdome of Heaven No assuredly no. I deliver unto you that which I have received from the Lord Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of all these you cannot enter into thâ— Kingdome of heaven The spirit of adoption is not severed from the spirit of sanctification it 's one and the same individual spirit Holinesse becometh Gods house for ever It 's written over Heaven gates as it was over Plato's School door Let no man that is not a Geometrician enter this roome Let no man that hath not measured his life by the line of the Law that hath not this Motto written on the Table of his heart Holinesse to the Lord presume to come into Gods Tabernacle or rest upon his holy Hill That for the first duty we owe unto God as he is our Father and we his children The second is to our Neighbour For if God be our Father then all we which make profession of that faith which was once given to the Saints are brethren and should live as brethren and love as brethren And how brethren should be affected one to another we see in the members of our bodies our two feet are as it were two brethren one to support another two armes two eyes two ears one to help another the utmost part of the hand divided into five fingers one for assisting and strengthening another No otherwise even by the judgement of naturall men should one brother be affectioned to another Hence in Poets came the fable of Briareus with one bodie and 100. hands and of Geryon with one bodie and three heads by the first was meant fiftie by the second three brethren so linked together in the bands of brotherly love as if they had all been members of one and the fame individuall bodie And he that for his owne particular benefit seeks the losse and hurt of a brother doth as if one foot should supplant and trip up another or as if the fingers of the hand should fall out and one wrest another out of joynt Nay further a brother that forsakes his brother and joynes himselfe into society with a stranger saith Plutarch doth as if a man should cut off one of his owne legs and take a wooden leg in the room of it As their love is the greatest so their hatred if they fall out is noted to be the greatest so that of all others they are hardest to be reconciled For as those things that are glued together if they goe asunder may easily be reunited but a bodie that is all of one peece if it be broken cannot be so fastned againe but you may discern where the breach was When friends who by affections are joyned together if they dissent may easily be reconciled but brethre who are as it were one by nature can hardly be so united but there will remaine some scarre behind for which cause it concerns them to avoid the least occasions of disagreement Now that I may bring that which I have spoken home to my purpose grace is a stronger bond then nature If then naturall brethren should be thus affected one to another how much more brethren in Christ begotten by one father God bred in one womb the Church fed with one milke the Word animated by the same spirit justified by the same faith And this love must shew it selfe chiefly in two things 1. In pardoning wrongs without private revenge If the injury be little forget it if great yet must thou not be Judge in thine owne cause but as children say when they are wronged I will tell my Father so do thou All malice and private revenge lay aside out of a zeale of justice make thy complaint to those who are the Ministers of God to take vengeance on them that do evill 2. In supporting and relieving such as stand in need of thy help As the great stones that are laid in the bottome of a building beare the weight of the lesse that are laid above them or as a bundle of rods bound together to use Seleucus his comparison do one strengthen another Or as when a faggot of grove sticks is laid on the fire and warms and kindles another and that which he hath be ready to communicate to such as want those that are learned to instruct others that are ignorant those that be strong to support them that are
because they are offered me with polluted hands The Scribes and Pharises saith Christ sit in Moses Chaire all that they bid you observe and do sitting in Moses Chaire that is explaining the Doctrine of Moses that observe and do but after their works do not because though they have Vâ—im they want Thummim they say and do not Lo the Scribes and Pharises those rotten Dunghils and painted Sepulchers whom the filthy Sodomites and the proud Ninivites and the prophane wretches of Tyrus and Sidon shall condemne at the day of Judgment must be heard as long as they preach the Law yea and we must do that wiâ—h they teach us but after their works we must not do for they be workers of Iniquity If Israel play the Harlot saith the Prophet what shall Iudah sin If the Ministers of God transgresse the Covenant what must the People sin If the false Disciples go away which indeed were only blazing Stars and not fixed Lights of that caelestiall Globe which shall shine for evermore Stella cadens non est stella cometa fuit If these go away saith our Saviour Christ will yee also go away Nay let us make answer with Peter in that place quo ibimus Domine Master to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternall life Ioh. 6. 67. It is not the grosse and dark Cloud of mans Infirmitie but the Pillar of fire of Gods word which must direct our Steps it s not the oblique and crooked square of humane example but the streight line of Gods revealed will that must guide our Actions If the King should send his Charter subscribed with his own hand and sealed with his own blood to confirme a parcell of Ground or some earthly Inheritance to certain of his Subjects if they because they mislike the Messenger that brings it shall scorne his bountifulnesse and tread under foot the Charter will the King like of this frowardnesse think you I think not Well then shall the King of Kings and Lord of Lords send these Letters Patents indited with the holy Ghost signed with a teste me ipso with the finger of God sealed with his Sonnes blood by wich is offered unto us not an earthly Inheritance but a Heavenly Kingdome and if we by reason of the lewdness of any Embassador that shall bring it shall contemne his kindnesse and set at nought his promises assuredly he will invite those that are by the hedges and high-waies that his Roomes may be full but none of those which were thus bidden unlesse with the Son in the Parable who first refused to go into the Vineyard but afterwards went they who by unfeigned repentance shall turne unto him shall ever tast of the Lambs Supper Let them look unto this who are so far from applying unto themselves such Lessions as are delivered by the Minister that neglecting whatsoever is spoken as if it did nothing concerne them or forgetting it as soon as they have turned their faces as he that looketh himselfe in a Glasse and going away presently forgetteth what manner of man he was will onely strive to follow the Minister in his life and yet not in every thing neither for in many things they have a warrant for so doing be yee followers of me saith the Apostle but with this limitation as I am of Christ but with Furius in Tullie wil only imitate him in his wants and imperfections Like those base flatterers of Alexander the Great who imitated him in crooking the neck or to give a later example like those Germans who took a more speciall care of being like to Philip Melancton in writing a scribling and ragged hand then to match him in soundnesse of Religion and multiplicity of Learning imitatores stultum pecus But if they will not imitate him they will be sure to blaze his Armes and so quick-sighted are these laâ—iae when they carry their eyes of censuring abroad though they coffer them up when they come at home not the least hole in his Coate shall escape their censure and yet they cannot espy one vertue though peradventure in a farre greater measure he shall abound therewith A blacke colour may perfectly be viewed but a bright and shining colour if we sted fastly eye it will dazle our eyes that we cannot behold it So it befalls mens vices and vertues especially of the Ministers their vices many will take a full view of them and see them through false spectacles which make one seame many or at least greater in shew then in substance but with their vertues as the eyes of an Owle is dazled with the light of the Sun their sight is so dimmed that they cannot behold them The Merchant if he sell good Wares and a penniworth for a penny is sought into whatsoever his person be A Tradesman if his work be good shall be sure to vent it his life is no further looked unto But a Minister treadeth upon needles he walketh upon ice he danceth upon ropes to use Nazianzens comparison if he tread never so little awry he is espied both himselfe and doctrine rejected And as a mote is seene in the Sun-beame which is not discerned in a dark corner or a wart on the face is sooner seen then a wen on the back so the least blemish in a Minister is sooner taken notice of then the greatest slips and fals of other men The Sun when he shines the brightest is not much looked upon but when he is eclipsed then one calls another out of the doors to see him and all gaze upon it and the greater the Eclipse is the more talk they of it So is it with them whom Christ stiles Lights of the world their shining vertues whether in preaching or living or both few take notice of but for their faults they can look fully upon them and call others to be Spectators Would God I might here stay my speech and that there were no further cause of complaint in this kind but alas it is so commonly known that it is even told at Gath and published in the streets of Askelon insomuch that the daughters of Babylon rejoyce and the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph that many are not only ready with cursed Cham to discover their spirituall fathers nakednesse but which is worse Sincerum cupiunt vaâ— incrustare And whereas it is the Devils practise to hide in a bush the deformity of the Panthers head to mince and qualifie the offences of other men as the old Romans were wont to mince the naturall imperfections of their children by giving them a name of some famous man that had the like Strabouem appellat Pâ—tum pater hunc Varum distortis cruribus illum balbutit Scaurum by giving a name of a vertue to that vice which outwardly it most resembles as to call prodigality liberality c. He and his instruments take a contrary course with a Minister and stile hâ—s vertues by the name of a vice Nos quia sericâ veste non
your enemies in the Gate For the better effecting of that which hath been spoken concerning righteous judgment some things are required of others who come hither to act their parts in such businesses as are to be handled at these Assizes Judges though they be styled Gods yet are they not omniscient but must heare many things with other mens eares and see with other mens eyes and as the Philosopher saith that Quicquid est in intellectu prius fuit in sensu so whatsoever comes to the Judge to be determined according to Law must first passe through the hands of witnesses and Jurors and Pleaders and others these are to the Judge as the externall senses and memory and phantasie are to the understanding now if these faile in performing their severall duties the best Judge may err in Judgement as doth the understanding in apprehending of objects when the senses being ill affected doe not rightly informe It is in matters of Judicature as in a Clock if all the Wheels and Wyers be in tune below the fault is in the Hammer or Bell if it keep not time above but the Bell may misse the hour and no fault in it but in some Wheele or Pinn or Wyer that is out of order so if any inferiour parts of this Engine be out of course if the witnesse come hither to sell or lend his freind a false oath in hope of a like courtesie from him at another time if the Jury agree upon a Verdict contrary to the evidence or if the Lawyer respect his Clyent more then the truth and study rather to shew himselfe Dicendi peritum then Virum bonum as if he were one of Protagoras his Schollers whose profession as Gellius tells us was to teach Quanam verborum industria causa infirmior fieret fortior how to make the worse Cause seem the better How can the Judge who unlesse the contrary be privately knowne unto him is to proceed Secundum allegata probata but faile in executing of Judgment and righteousnesse To these I should now have directed my speech but being prevented by the time I onely begg at Gods hands that hee would work in the heart of every man who is to be imployed in any of these businesses an holy desire and conscionable endeavour to discharge his duty Lord thou hast commanded that Judgment and Righteousnesse be executed Da quod jubes jube quod vis thou O God of truth let no man open his mouth against the truth let Witnesses sweare truth and Jurors verdict truth and Pleaders lay open the truth and Judges give sentence and judgment according to truth that equity and truth may meet together that righteousnesse and peace may kisse and imbrace each other even for Jesus Christ his sake who is the way and the life and the truth to whom with thee and the holy Spirit c. Errata Page 1. l. 6. for have r. leave p. 6. l. 7. for speciosus r. speciosae p. 133. l. 19 20. for Amus r. Ancus FINIS a Psal 78. b Jere. 3. 6. c Isa 1. 22. d Isa 5. 18. g Isa 1. 6. h Psal 5. 4. i Psal 79. 1. k Jer. 2 2. l Gen. 18. 25. m Ezech. 18. n Matth. 4. Isa 52. 1. Doctrine Tull. de natu deorum o Exod. 33. Justin l. 18. Hieron lib. 11. Comment in Ezech. p Psal 33. 6. q Job 9. r Job 40. Psal 114. Å¿ Isa 40. t Psal 33. 5. Augustin in illum locum Psal 14. 5. 9. w Job 38. 11. Exo. 20. 5 6. x Esa 28. 11. Sueton. Isa 1. 24. 1 King 16. 30 1 King 21. 19 21. Verse 29. Jonah 3. 10. Gen. 6. 6. Verse 3. Ruffin Hist Eccles lib. 2. cap. 18. Herod Lib. Plut. in Caesar Virgil. 1. Lib. Aeneid Hesiod op dies Gen. 18. 〈◊〉 Acts 27. Vse 1. Rom. 5. 20. Cicero de finibus Esay 1. Esay 38. 14. Cant. 2. 2 Sam. 12. 13. Matth. 26. John 11. Mark 10. 47. Vse 2. Gen. 19. 2 Sam. 6. 12. Plutar in Caesare Jud. 17. 13. Psa 106. 23. Vse 3. Luk. 3. 38. Gen. 49. 3. Gen. 25. 25. Eph. 4. 26. 1 Kings 3. Psal Aeneid 3. Acts 9. 5. At the Spittle Proposition Hag. 2. 8. Psal 110. Acts 7. 49. Jerem. 25. Psal 24. Heb. 1. 14. Gen. 3 2 Cor. 1. 3. Augustin Psal 100. Gal. 4. 1. Rom. 8. 17. 2 Cor. 4. Luke 12. 32. Mich. 5. 2. Gen. 8. 3. Gen. 6. 2. Nat lupus inter oves Ovid. Metam lib. 1. Rom. 4. 27. Maginus Luke 18. 8. Vse 1. * Notae debent esse propriae non communes l. 4. cap. 2. postea in eodem cap. Notae verae sunt inseparabiles à vera Ecclesia ‖ Non quidem efficiunt evidenter verum ipsam esse veram Dei Ecclesiam sed tamen efficiunt evidenter credibile De Ecclesia lib. 4. cap. 3. †Lutheranorum notae non sunt ullo modo sufficientes nam non declarant quae sit vera Ecclesia secundum haeretic nisi probabiliter lib. eod cap. 2. * Hoc orbis terrarum comprobat quota tu pars es orbis terrarum qui solus facis cum homine scelelerato pacem orbis dissolvis Theod. lib. 2. cap. 16. Athan. Epist ad solitariam vitamagentes Bellar. lib. 3. de Eccles milit cap. 16. Idem lib. 4. cap. 5. Alii flammis exusti alii ferro perempti alii flagris verberati alii cruciati patibulo c. a Haeretici sunt per tam faciem terrae alii hic alii ibi alia secta in Africa alia haeresis in oriente August de de past Cap. 8. Hieron in dialog contr Luciferianos a Durand lib. 2 * Dominus deus noster Papa Ex tran Iâ—h 22. ut citat Juel Liberius teste Aâ—han Epist ad Solitariam vitâ—m agentes â—dem patet ex â—â—eambulo Concil Nicen. Bodin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. in oratione contra Arrianos 2 Kin. 19. 28. Brevi occupapavit doctrina Lutheri non solum multa regna in partibus septentrionalibus sed etiam usque ad Indos excurrere ausa est Bel. lib. 3. de Pont. Ro ca. 23 Psal 19. 4. Vid. Bell. de Pontif. Rom. lib 3. cap. 21. Nostris temporibus Romana sedes magnam Germaniae partem amisit Suetiam Gothiam Norvegiam Daniam c. Act. 19. â— August in Psal 39. Chrysost hom 40. ad populum Antiochen Livius decad 1 lib. 9. Hic non tenetur nota marginalis quae nonnunquam occurrit in li. Sent. P. Lombardi Vive de Causis Corrupt Art Plut. Apoth Plut. in vita Sertorii Vse 2. Canâ— Lipsius lib. 2. de Con. Plut. in Thess Rom. 8. 1. Ioh. 29. 13. Isa 65. 5. Matth. 5. 20. Psal 119. Phil. 3. 13. Verba morientis Hadrians Ovid Meta lib. â—5 Eccl. 12. 8. 2. Proposition Josh 18. 1. Psal 132. 14. 15. Psal 132. 5. Sigon de rep Heb. lib. 6. cap. 7. Sigâ—â—ius de ep Heb. lib. 1. â—oh 4. Isa 1.