to either side of the Zodiack so must he keep a strict course under the line and rule of the law and not decline to either party further then equity and a good conscience will warrant him he must not like Marriners and Saylers Obliquare Sinus fetch a compasse when the wind will not serve his turn but rather be like the two Kine which carried the Ark of the Lord from Eckron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left unlesse as in some case it may fall out there be just cause of mitigation In a word he must lay judgment to the rule and righteousness to the ballance and as the ballance puts no difference between gold and lead not giving a greater weight to gold because it is gold nor a lesse to lead because of the baseness of the mettall but giveth an equall or unequall poyse to both without respect of either so should a Magistrate with an equall hand weigh every mans cause alike not respective to one more then another This the Aegyptians figured by the hieroglyfical from of a man without eyes or hands intimating thereby that he should neither have hands to receive bribes nor eyes to behold and respect the persons of men The same did the Greeks signifie when they painted Justice between Leo and Libra meaning that the Judg should be courageous in executing and equall and indifferent in determining For the effecting whereof three things are to be avoyded as so many dangerous rocks any of which of it self is enough to cause him make ship-wrack of honesty and a good conscience The first is that which the Apostle calls the root of all evill Covetousness it 's the very cut-throat and cankerworm of all Justice it and Justice be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur they cannot lodg within one breast Facite me Romanae urbis Episcopum ero pretinus Christianus said the wicked Pagan in Hierome Give a covetous man such and such an Office give him gold enough or what will ye give him and you shall have him sure he will be what ye will he wil doe what ye will though as absurd and repugnant to justice and right reason as that Atheist thought it was to be a Christian He will make the Laws as fit for your purpose as Procrustes fitted his guests for his Bed if they were too long he cut them off by the knees if too short he stretched out their joynts till they were as long as the Bed For avoyding of this the Judg must remember that it is a property of every good Officer and Magistrate to be an hater of covetousnesse as a thing eâ—diametro repugnant to his profession Exod. 18. 21. And that he cannot act such works of darkness though never so closely neither by himself nor by such Brokers as he keeps about him for like purposes But God who is like a wel-drawn picture that eyeth every man in the room doth behold it Quaecunque capesses testes factorum stare arbitrabere divos saith the Poet. Quare si peccare vis quaere ubi te non videat fac quod vis saith Saint Austin The 2. Rock is fear or favour of great persons but a Magistrate must be a man of courage and where doth courage appear but in resisting the mighty in using the severity of the Law against Great ones if they offend He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Poet called a King a Shepheard of his people and should have that care over those that are under his charge which a Shepheard hath over his Flock who will not only destroy Maggots and flesh-flies and such little Vermine as are noysome to his Sheep but much more Foxes and such Beasts as make havock of them because one Fox may do more hurt in one night then 10000. Maggots can in a whole year Now to make the Laws like Cobwebs to hold Flesh flies and such little Vermin and for fear of displeasure or hope of gain to let great ones escape is as if a Shepheard should kill the Maggots in his Sheep but withall give liberty to Foxes to worry them at their pleasure or with Domitian to have a flap for every flie that cometh and neglect the weighty affayrs of the Common-wealth Hath not God styled the Magistrate with his owne name Psal 82. I have said ye are gods Hath he not made him a promise of his presence and assistance God standeth in the congregation of gods he is a Judge among Gods He will be with you in the cause and judgement 2 Chr. 19. 6. And he that hath assurance of Gods presence needs not feare any other though his Magistracie set aside far greater then himself no more then David the Lion and the Beare when they assaulted his Sheep The third and last Rock is Kindred and Friends and surely if any thing may give the Magistrate leave to set the Law upon Tenters to rack and stretch it beyond its compasse or to strain courtesie with it or to muzzle and smother it if it be against him it must be Kindred Those whom Nature hath made dear and neer unto us we cannot choose but love this is a lesson we learn not by reading or hearing but Ex natura arripuimus expressimus hausimus as the Oratour speaks This every man may see if his own affections will not tutor him in this point in Davids love to his sonne Absolon an incestuous person a murtherer a Rebell against his own Father one that sought to kill him from whom he received life all this could not make David forget he was his son What a mournfull Elegie sings he upon news of his death O Absolon my son O my son Absolon would God I had died for thee O Absolon my son my son This was it that made good K. Asa dispense with the rigor of the law against Idolaters when his Mother was found guilty 1 King 15. 13. And which made Seleucus King of the Locrenses to be cruell unto himself that he might shew some pity on his sonne when he had made this law against Adulterers that both their eyes should be pulled out his own son being taken in the act and brought before him out of a fatherly pity he divided the punishment between his sonne and himself and caused one of his sons and one of his owne eyes to be pulled out But this how potent soever to flesh and blood must not prevail with Gods Deputy and Vice-gerent to cause him to make the least digression from the course of Justice Truth must be neerer to him then any of his Kindred If thy brother the sonne of thy mother or thine owne sonne or thy daughter or the wife that lyeth in thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine owne soule shall offend the law thou shalt deale with him according to law Deut. 13. All should be of like kinn to the Judge he should be as it is
shall ever perish Thou art a Souldier in that Camp whereof the weakest in the end shall be a Conquerour Feare not the Lord is with thee thou valiant man Neither tribulation nor anguish nor nakednesse nor sword nor death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus He whose name is Amen the faithfull and true Witnesse and therefore cannot goe back with his word hath promised to his whole Flocke his divine protection and assistance in his Kingdome of grace and will at length bring us to everlasting happinesse in his Kingdome of glory Feare not little Flocke for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdome The Third Sermon LVKE 12. 32. For it is your Fathers good pleasure c. HAving finished the former branch the Doctrine we are now to come to the second part the Reason and herein observe 1. The granter your Father 2. The thing granted a Kingdome 3. The grantees Not all Adams sons but the Sheep of this little Flock you 4. The consideration or cause impulsive and that is nothing in Man but the love and good pleasure of Almighty God your Father is well pleased At this time only of the first the Grantor your Father He who hath one only naturall sonne God begotten from everlasting of the same substance with himselfe and in all things equall to himselfe and one only begotten sonne by grace of Conception Man made of the seed and substance of a Woman both which concur to the making of one and the same individuall person of Immanuel the Messiah is if you take the word not personally but essentially 1. A Father of all his Creatures Similitudine vestigij because there is not the meanest creature in the world wherein he hath not imprinted some characters and foot-steps of himselfe in which respect Job calls the Worm his sister and mother Job 17. 14. 2. A Father of the Angels Similitudine gloriae So they are called The sonnes of God John 1. 6. 3. A Father of all Man-kind Similitudine imaginis wherein man was created Gen. 1. 27. 4. Not of all mankind but only of a certain number whom he before the foundation of the world was laid not for any goodnesse either of faith or works which he did foresee for what did he foresee but what he decreed to bestow upon them of his free grace and love pick'd and cull'd out of that masse of corruption into which by Adams sin they were to come and in the fulnesse of time effectually calleth that is separateth from the world and admits into his houshold and familie and makes them Who by nature were dead in sinnes and trespasses living members of Christs mysticall bodie Thus he is a Father of all believers I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6. 18. The spirit of adoption beareth witnesse that we are his children and bids us cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. In this sense our Saviour bids us Call no man father on earth because we have but one Father which is God Matth. 23. 9 and sends us in our prayers to our Father which is in Heaven Matth 6. 9. Thus is he a Father of his little flock And well may he be called Father for what doth a natural parent to his child which the Father of Spirits doth not in an infinite larger and better measure to his 1. An earthly father begets his child and is the cause of his naturall being 2. He gives him a name 3. He feeds him 4. He cloatheth him 5. He protects him from wrongs 6. He corrects him for his faults 7. According to his meanes he provides an inheritance or a portion for him God doth all these to his sonnes the Sheep of this little flock 1. He begets us Jam. 1. 18. For which cause he is styled the father of spirits Heb. 12. 9. This is a meer work of God to which the power of free-will doth no more concurre then a child is a Coadjutor to his father at his natural generation I grant that as in substantial mutations before a forme be corrupted and another educed e potentia materia there are certaine alterations or previal dispositions for making way to this change So in this supernatural mutation when a sonne of Adam is to be made a son of God God ordinarily useth certain previal dispositions The Law and the Gospel are preached the heart of man is shaken with the terrors of the law and cast down to the ground as Paul was at his conversion and touched with feare of punishment sorrow for sinne desire and hope of pardon c. But as those previal alterations are no essential parts of natural generation though preparatives thereunto Nor is there in the Matter any more then a meer passive power for receiving the substantial form so neither are these previal dispositions any essential part of our supernatural regeneration Nor is there in the wil any active but a mere passive power for receiving this supernatural being which is only wrought by the finger of God The Apostles evidences are strong for this point let us heare them we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus meaning that there is no more power in a naturall man for begetting himselfe a new then there was in that dry dust whereof Adam was made for assisting God in the creation of man A naturall man is dead in sinne Can a dead man revive himselfe Could Lazarus when he had been three dayes stinking in the grave move hand or foot till Christ had put his soule into him No more can a natural man so much as move himselfe to a supernatural and spirituall work till God regenerate him and as it were create him anew and infuse into the powers and faculties of his soule a quickning spirit He hath a heart of stone I will take the stonie heart out of their bodies a heart of stone not a heart of iron for though iron be hard yet the heate of the fire will mollifie it and the stroak of the hammer will turne it into a new forme but no heat will mollifie a stone no hammer can beate it out or bring it into a new shape but by breaking it So our hearts are by nature such that they cannot be softned or turned to that which is right till they be broken in pieces and cast in a new mould And again as no water can be drawn out of a stone so no goodnesse can be educed out of a natural mans heart We are by nature evill trees and an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit The Apostle tels us That of our selves we cannot so much as think a good thought That it is God that giveth both the will and the deed And our great Master whom we are
or their King or their Countrey as if they were borne to live on the Land as Leviathan in the Sea whom God hath made to take his pastime therein and that I may come to a second use superciliously scorne and contemn such as in meanes or lineage come short of them as if they were not in the same Predicament nor originally hewen out of the same Rock nor regenerate by the same Father Who art thou that contemnest a state of Paradise one of the blood-royal of heaven whom God hath adopted for his Son over whom he hath appointed the Angels to be his Protectors and Governours Psal 91. 10. Whose enemies he hath threatned to curse Gen. 12. Whose prayers hee hath promised to heare Psal 50. For whose sake he reproves Kings Psal 104. Whom he tendereth as the apple of his eye Zach. 2. The hairs of whose head he numbers the teares of whose eyes he bottles If a Kings son should come to us in Beggars attire like Codrus or lame and impotent of his feet like Mephibosheth or with any other imperfections of body or mind we would not scorn him because of his imperfections but yeild him all honour due to a Kings son Have thou the like respect to Christs little ones let their outward condition be never so mean subject to coÌ„tempt let them be poor ignorant of base parentage friendlesse servants bondslaves let them be all these or whatever else may cause contempt in the eyes of man if they believe in Christ for of these I speake they are sons to the King of Kings and consequently more noble then the Turke or Persian or the greatest Monarch of the world that is without Christ It 's not noblenesse of Parents nor Lands and Possessions nor riches nor humane wisdome nor worldly dignities that makes a man truly honourable and worthy of respect nor is it the want of these that makes a man contemptible but the want of Gods favour and adoption in Christ Stemmate si Thusco ramum Millessime ducis If thou couldst number thy Progenitors for a thousand generations if God be not in thy pedigree as I sayd thou art a bastard and no sonne Hadst thou all humane knowledg in the world and dost not know Christ crucified thou art but a foole Hadst thou all the riches in the world and wantest the great riches which the Apostle calls godlinesse thou art but a beggar Hadst thou all dignities and honours in the world and be not one of Gods houshold servants thou art base and of no respect in comparison of Christs little ones I doe not derogate from such as are well discended nor from such as are rich nor from such as excell in humane Acts and Sciences nor from such as are set over others in honours and worldly preferments God forbid I should I allow them that which of right pertains to them a civill honour because of some divine representations that are in them as of his eternity in such as can shew the antiquity of their stock of his dominion in such as are rich of his Soveraignty in such as are in authority c. But such must remember that it is no more then a civil honour that is due unto them for these And howsoever for these considerations they ought to have their due respects according to their places in the civill Regiment and to be honoured above others Yet in the spirituall Regiment the poorest Christian that believes with his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Christ died for his sinnes is their equall There is no difference saith the Apostle in the Kingdome of Heaven Saturnsâ—easts â—easts are continually kept Master and Servant are both alike There is neither Jew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female c. Gal. 3. He that is called being a servant is the Lords free-man and he that is called being free is Christs servant All then of what state soever they be in the politicall Regiment must think of the poorest Christians as of their brethren and remember that rule given by God even unto Kings to read the book of the Law that their hearts be not lifted up above their brethren and imitate the example of holy Job who did not contemn the judgment of his servant nor of his hand-maid when they contended with him My third inference shall containe a double duty one we owe unto God as our Father the other to our Neighbours as sonnes of the same Father and consequently brethren one to another It 's the summe of Johns first Epistle and Synopsis of the whole Law and comprehended in one verse 1 John 3. 10. In this are the children of God known and the children of the Devill be that doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother these are children of the Devill Gods are known by the practise of two affirmatives 1. Doing of righteousnesse 2. Loving of the Brethren Touching the first They that call God their Father must carry themselves as children of such a Father and without limitation obey him in whatsoever he commands A son honoureth his father If I be your Father where is mine honour saith the Lord of Hosts to the rebellious Jewes who called God their Father and neglected his precepts Many such Jewes are amongst us common Drunkards abhominable Idolaters blood-sucking Usurers prophane Atheists blasphemous Swearers filthie Whore-mongers and that hellish and damned crew of impenitent sinners that live within the bosome of the Church though they be no integrall parts of it no more then hairs and other excrements are parts of a mans bodie or dogs swine essential parts of a familie will call God their Father If God be your Father where is his honour where is that filial obedience you should perform to his commandements when the Jews told Christ that Abraham was their Father he tells them no Because it Abraham were your father yee would do the works of Abraham And when they said that God was their Father he proves it false If God were your father ye would love mee Ye are of your father the Devill and the lusts of your father yee will doe So say I to these miscreants If God were your father yee would doe the works of God If God were your father ye would love him and keepe his commandements Because ye walke in darknesse ye are of your father the Devill and the lusts of your father ye wil doe And if ye would speak aright yee should not say as Christ bids his brethren say when they pray Our Father which art in heaven But rather as Latimer speaks of such truly though somewhat plainly Our father which art in hell Beloved in Christ Behold what love the father hath shewed us that we should be called the sonnes of God Let us be followers of God as deare children and in all things study to resemble him Who hath called