Brotherhood of Grace by profession of the faith of Christ as we are Christian men As men we are members of that great body the World and so all men that live within the compass of the World are Brethren by a more general communion of Nature As Christians we are members of that mystical body the Church and so all Christian men that live within the compass of the Church are Brethren by a more peculiar communion of Faith And as the Moral Law bindeth us to love all men as our Brethren and partakers with us of the same common Nature in Adam so the Evangelical Law bindeth to love all Christians as our Brethren and partakers with us of the same common faith in Christ. 25. In which later notion the word Brother is most usually taken in the Apostolical writings to signifie a professor of the Christian Faith and Religion in opposition to heathen men and unbeleevers The name of Christian though of commonest use and longest continuance was yet but of a later date taken up first at Antioch as we finde Act. 11. whereas believers were before usually called Disciples and no less usually both before and since Brethren You shall read very often in the Acts and Epistles of the holy Apostles How the Brethren assembled together to hear the Gospel preached to receive the Sacrament and to consult about the affairs of the Church How the Apostles as they went from place to place to plant and water the Churches in their progress every where visited the Brethren at their first coming to any place saluting the Brethren during their abode there confirming the Brethren at their departure thence taking leave of the Brethren How collections were made for relief of the Brethren and those sent into Iudea from other parts by the hands of the brethren c. S. Paul opposeth the Brethren to them that are without and so includeth all that are within the Church What have I to do to judg them that are without 1 Cor. 5. As if he had said Christ sent me an Apostle and Minister of the Churches and therefore I meddle not but with those that are within the pale of the Church as for those that are without if any of them will be filthy let him be filthy still I have nothing to do to meddle with them But saith he if any man that is within the Christian Church any man that is called a Brother be a fornicator or drunkard or rayler or otherwise stain his holy profession by scandalous living I know how to deal with him let the censures of the Church be laid upon him let him be cast out of the assemblies of the Brethren that he may be thereby brought to shame and repentance 26. So then Brethren in the Apostolical use of the word are Christians and the Brotherhood the whole society of Christian men the systeme and body of the whole visible Church of Christ. I say the visible Church because there is indeed another Brotherhood more excellent then this whereof we now speak consisting of such only as shall undoubtedly inherit salvation called by some of the ancients The Church of Gods Elect and by some later writers the Invisible Church And truly this Brotherhood would under God deserve the highest room in our affections could we with any certainty discern who were of it and who not But because the fan is not in our hand to winnow the chaff from the wheat Dominus novit The Lord onely knoweth who are his by those secret characters of Grace and Perseverance which no eye of man is able to discern in another nor perhaps in himself infallibly we are therefore for the discharge of our duty to look at the Brotherhood so far as it is discernable to us by the plain and legible characters of Baptism and outward profession So that whosoever abideth in areâ Domini and liveth in the communion of the visible Church being baptized into Christ and professing the Name of Christ let him prove as it falleth out chaff or light corn or wheat when the Lord shall come with his fan to purge his floor yet in the mean time so long as he lieth in the heap and upon the floor We must own him for a Christian and take him as one of the Brotherhood and as such an one love him For so is the Duty here Love the Brotherhood 27. To make Love compleat Two things are required according to Aristotle's description of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Affectus cordis and Effectus operis The inward affection of the heart in wishing to him we love all good and the outward manifestation of that affection by our deed as occasion is offered in being ready to our power to do him any good The heart is the root and the seat of all true love and there we must begin or else all we do is but lost If we do never so many serviceable offices to our brethren out of any by-end or sinister respect although they may possibly be very usefull and so very acceptable to him yet if our heart be not towards them if there be not a sincere affection within it cannot be truly called Love That Love that will abide the test and answer the Duty required in the Text must be such as the Apostles have in several passages described it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfained love of the brethren 1 Pet. 1. Love out of a pure heart 1 Tim. 1. Love without dissimulation Rom. 12. 28. Of which inward affection the outward deed is the best discoverer and therefore that must come on too to make the love perfect As Iehu said to Ionadab Is thy heart right If it be then give me thy hand As in the exercises of our devotion towards God so in the exercises of our charity towards men heart and hand should go together Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis Good works are the best demonstrations as of true Faith so of true love Where there is life and heate there will be action There is no life then in that Faith S. Iames calleth it plainly a dead faith Iam. 2. nor heate in that Love according to that expression Matth. 24. the love of many shall wax cold that doth not put forth it self in the works of righteousness and mercy He then loveth not the Brotherhood indeed whatsoever he pretend or at least not in so gracious a measure as he should endeavour after That doth not take every fit opportunity of doing good either to the souls or bodies or credits or estates of his Brethren That is not willing to do them all possible services according to the urgency of their occasions and the just exigence of circumstances with his countenance with his advice with his pains with his purse yea and if need be with his very life too This is the Non ultra farther then this we cannot goe in the expressing of our love Greater love
that call themselves brethren fall soule upon one another not only girding at and clashing against but biting and nipping and devouring one another as if they were bent to consume and destroy one another But a most blessed thing on the other side pleasant as the holy oyle distilling from Aarons head upon his beard and garments and rejoycing the heart as the dew upon the mountains refresheth the grass when there is nothing done in the house through strife or vain glory but such an accord amongst them that all the Brethren are of one minde and judgment or if not alwayes so yet at leastwise of one heart and affection bearing the burdens and bearing with the infirmities one of another and ready upon all occasions to do good as to all men generally and without exception so especially to their Brethren that are of the same houshold of faith with them 35. Lastly we are Brethren by partnership in our Fathers estate Coparceners in the state of Grace all of us enjoying the same promises liberties and priviledges whereof we are already possessed in common and Coheirs in the state of Glory all of us having the same joy and everlasting blisse in expectancy and reversion For being the sonnes of God we are all heirs and being brethren all joynt-heirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one and the same glorious inheritance reserved for us in the heavens which St. Iude therefore calleth the common salvation It argueth a base wrangling spirit in us having such goodly things in reversion enough for us all so as heart can wish no more to squabble and fall out for such poore trifles as the things of this world are We that have by Gods goodness competent sustenance for our journey and full sacks to open at our coming home as Iosephs brethren had when they came out of Egypt to return to their own land shall we fall out among our selves and be ready to mischief one another by the way 36. Having all these Obligations upon us and being tied together in one Brotherhood by so many bands of unity and affection I presume we cannot doubt de Iure but that it is our bounden duty thus to love the Brotherhood There remaineth now no more to be done but to look to our performances that they be right wherein the main thing we are to take heed of besides what hath been already applyed is Partiality I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by Partiality It was S. Pauls charge to Timothy in another businesse but may suit very well with this also 27. Not but that we may and in most cases must make a difference between one brother and another in the measure and degree of our Love according to the different measures and degrees either of their goodness considered in themselves or of their neerness in relation to us those two considerations being as you heard the grounds of our Love So David loved Ionathan as his own soule his heart was knit to him both because he was a good man and had withall approved himself his trusty friend Yea our blessed Saviour himself shewed a more affectionate Love to Iohn then to any other of his disciples the disciple whom Iesus loved for no other known reason so much as for this that he was neer of kin to him his own mothers sisters son as is generally supposed No reasonable man among us then need make any question but that we may and ought to bear a greater love unto and consequently to be readier to do good unto caeteris paribus our Countrymen our neighbours our kindred our friends then to those that are strangers to us and stand in no such relation And so no doubt we may and ought in like manner upon that other ground of Goodness more to love and to shew kindness sooner to a sober discreet judicious peaceable humble and otherwise orderly and regular man caeteris paribus then to one that is light-headed or lazy or turbulent or proud or debauched or heretical or schismatical 38. But still that proviso or limitation which I now twice mentioned caeteris paribus must he remembred for there may such a disparity arise by emergent occasions as may render a meer stranger a heathen a notoriously vitious person a fitter object of our compassion help or relief pro hîc nunc then the most pious Christian or our dearest friend or ally In cases of great extremity where the necessities of the party importune a present succour and will admit no delay Cedat necessitudo necessitati the former considerations whether of Neerness or Goodness must be waved for the present and give way to those Necessities He is most our neighbour and brother in a case of that nature that standeth in most need of our help as our Saviour himself hath clearly resolved it in the case of the wounded traveller in the parable Luke 10. Nor doth this at all contradict what hath been already delivered concerning the preferring of the brethren before others either in the affection of love or in the offices which flow therefrom For the affection first it is clear that although some acts of compassion and charity be exercised towards a stranger yea even an enemy that hath great need of it rather then towards a friend or brother that hath either no need at all or very little in comparison of the other it doth not hinder but that the Habit or affection of love in the heart may notwithstanding at the very same time be more strongly carried towards the brother or friend then towards the enemy or stranger as every mans own reason and experience in himself can tell him And as for the outward acts and offices of love it is with them as with the offices of all other vertues and gracious habits or affections which not binding ad semper as the graces and habits themselves do are therefore variable and mutable as the circumstances by which they must be regulated vary pro hic nunc And therefore the rules given concerning them must not be punctually mathematically interpreted but prudentially and rationally and hold as we use to say in the Schools communiter but not universaliter that is to say ordinarily and in most cases where circumstances do not require it should be otherwise but not absolutely and universally so as to admit of no exception 39. This rub then thus removed out of the way it may yet be demanded where is this partiality to be found whereof we spake or what is it to have the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ with respect of persons if this putting of a difference in our love between brother and brother which we have now allowed of be not it I answer It is no partiality to make such a difference as we have hitherto allowed so long as the said difference
sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up The sinner possibly may gather as much together as the godly or more and raise to himself more and greater heaps of worldly treasure but when he hath done he hath but his travel for his pains He hath not wisdom and knowledge to understand the just valuation and the right use of that which he hath gathered together he taketh no joy he taketh no comfort in those heaps he findeth nothing in them but cares and disquietness and vexation of spirit All his dayes are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the night It is not thefore without cause that our Apostle so speaketh of contentment as of the handmaid unto godliness But godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 4. The truth whereof will yet farther appear unto us if we shall consider of these two grounds First that in all other things there is an unsufficiency and Secondly that there is a sufficiency in the grace of God to work Contentment We cannot conceive any other things besides the Grace of God from which Contentment can be supposed to spring but those three Nature Morality and Outward things All which in the triall will appear to be altogether insufficient to work this effect First Nature as it is now corrupt inclineth our hearts and affections strongly to the world the inordinate love whereof first breedeth and then cherisheth our discontent Whiles between the desire of having and the feare of wanting we continually pierce our selves thorough with a thousand cares and sorrows Our lusts are vast as the sea and restless as the sea and as the sea will not be bounded but by an almighty power The horseleach hath but two daughters but we have I know not how many craving lusts no less importunately clamorous then they Till they be served incessantly crying Give Give but much more unsatisfied then they for they will be filled in time and when they are full they tumble off and ther 's an end But our lusts will never be satisfied like Pharaohs thin kine when they have eaten up all the fat ones they are still as hungry and as whining as they were before We are by nature infinitely covetous we never think our selves rich enough but still wish more and we are by nature infinitely timerous we never think our selves safe enough but still feare want Neither of both which alone much less both together can stand with true Contentment This flower then groweth not in the garden of corrupt Nature which is so rankly over-grown with so many and such pestilent and noysome weeds 5. But perhaps the soyle may be so improved by the culture of Philosophy and the malignity of it so corrected by moral institution as that Contentment may grow and thrive in it No that will not do the deed neither True it is that there are to be found in the writings of heathen Orators Poets and Philosophers many excellent and acute sentences and precepts tending this way and very worthy to be taken notice of by us Christians both to our wonder and shame To our wonder that they would espy so much light as they did at so little a peep-hool but to our shame withall who enjoying the benefit of divine revelation and living in the open sun-shine of the glorious Gospel of truth have profited thereby in so small a proportion beyond them But all their sentences and precepts fall short of the mark they could never reach that solid Contentment they levelled at Sunt verba voces as he said and he said truer then he was aware of for they are but words indeed empty of truth and reality The shadow of contentment they might catch at but when they came to grasp the substance Nubem pro Iunone they ever found themselves deluded As the blinded Sodomites that beset Lots house they fumbled about the door perhaps sometimes stumbled at the threshold but could not for their lives either finde or make themselves a way into the inner rooms The greatest Contentments their speculations could perform unto them were but aegri somnia Not a calm and soft sleep like that which our God giveth his beloved ones but as the slumbring dreams of a sick man very short and those also interrupted with a medley of cross and confused fancies Which possibly may be some small refreshing to them amid their long weary fits but cannot well be called Rest. Now the very true reason of this unsufficiency in whatsoever precepts of Morality unto true Contentment is because the topicks from whence they draw their perswasions are of too flat and low an elevation As being taken from the dignity of man from the baseness of outward things from the mutability of fortune from the shortness and uncertainty of life and such like other considerations as come within their own spear Vseful indeed in their kind but unable to bear such a pile and roof as they would build thereupon But as for the true grounds of sound Contentment which are the perswasions of the special providence of God over his children as of a wise and Loving father whereby he disposeth all things unto them for the best and a lively faith resting upon the rich and precious promises of God revealed in his holy word they were things quite out of their element and such as they were wholly ignorant of And therefore no marvel if they were so far to seek in this high and holy learning 6. But might there not in the third place be shaped at least might there not be imagined a fitness and competency of outward things in such a mediocrity of proportion every way unto a mans hopes and desires as that contentment would arise from it of it self and that the party could not chuse but rest satisfied therewithall Nothing less For first experience sheweth us that contentment ariseth not from the things but from the minde even by this that discontents take both soonest and sorest of the greatest and wealthiest men Which would not be if greatness or wealth were the main things required to breed Contentment Secondly those men that could not frame their hearts to contentment when they had less will be as far from it if ever they shall have more For their desires and the things will still keep at a distance because as the things come on so their desires come on too As in a coach though it hurry away never so fast yet the hinder wheeles will still be behind the former as much as they were before And therefore our Apostle in the next verse maketh it a point of equall skill and of like deep learning to know how to be full as well as how to be hungry and how to abound as well as how to suffer need Thirdly it is impossible that Contentment should arise from the things because contentment supposeth a sufficiency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supposeth to 〈◊〉
but commodata When God lent us the use of them he had no meaning to forgoe the property too and therefore they are his goods still and he may require them at our hands or take them from us when he will and dispose of them as he pleaseth I will return and take away my corn and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wooll and my flax Osee 2. What we have we hold of him as our creditor and when he committed these things to our trust they were not made over to us by covenant for any fixed term Whensoever therefore he shall think good to call in his debts it is our part to return them with patience shall I say ey and with thankfulness too that he hath suffered us to enjoy them so long but without the least grudging or repining as too often we do that we may not hold them longer Non contristor quòd recepisti ago gratias quòd dedisti Thus did Iob when all was taken from him he blessed the name of the Lord still and to his wife tempting him to impatience gave a sharp but withall a most reasonable and religious answer Thou speakest like a foolish woman Shall we receive good things at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil also As who say shall we make earnest suite to him when we would borrow and be offended with him when we are called on to pay again We account him and so he is an ill and unthankful debter from whom the lender cannot ask his own but he shall be like to lose a friend by it Add yet how impatiently oftentimes do we take it at our Lords hand when he requireth from us but some small part of that which he hath so freely and so long lent us 21. Try thy self then Brother by these and the like signes and accordingly judge what progress thou hast made in this so high and useful a part of Christian learning 1. If thou scornest to gain by any unlawfull or unworthy means 2. If thy desires and cares for the things of this life be regular and moderate 3. If thou canst finde in thy heart to take thy portion and to bestow thereof for thine own comfort 4. And to dispense though but the superfluities for the charitable relief of thy poor neighbours 5. If thou canst want what thou desirest without murmuring and lose what thou possessest without impatience then mayest thou with some confidence say with our Apostle in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content But if any one of these particular signes be wholy wanting in thee thou art then but a truant in this learning and it will concern thee to set so much the harder to it and to apply thy self more seriously and diligently to this study hereafter then hitherto thou hast done 22. Wherein for the better guiding of those that are desirous of this learning either to make entrance thereinto if they be yet altogether to learn which may be the case of some of us or to proceed farther therein if they be already entred as the best-skilled of us all had need to do for so long as we are in the flesh and live in the world the lusts both of flesh and world will mingle with our best graces and hinder them from growing to a fulness of perfection I shall crave leave towards the close of this discourse to commend to the consideration and practise of all whether novices or proficients in this Art of Contentation some usefull Rules that may serve as so many helps for their better attaining to some reasonable abilities therein The general means for the obtaining of this as of every other particular grace we all know are fervent Prayer and the sincere love of God and goodness Which because they are general we will not now particularly insist upon it shall suffice without farther opening barely to have mentioned them 23. But for the more special means the first thing to be done is to labour for a true and lively Faith For Faith is the very basis the foundation whereupon our hearts and all our hearts-content must rest the whole frame of our contentment rising higher or lower weaker or stronger in proportion to that foundation And this Faith as to our present purpose hath a double Object as before was touched to wit the Goodness of God and the Truth of God His Goodness in the dispensation of his special providence for the present and his Truth in the performance of his temporal promises for the future First then labour to have thy heart throughly perswaded of the goodness of God towards thee That he is thy Father and that whether he frown upon thee or correct thee or howsoever otherwise he seem to deal with thee he still beareth a Fatherly affection towards thee That what he giveth thee he giveth in love because he seeth it best for thee to have it and what he denieth thee he denieth in love because he seeth it best for thee to want it A sick man in the extremity of his distemper desireth some of those that are about him and sit at his bed-side as they love him to give him a draught of cold water to allay his thirst but cannot obtain it from his dearest wife that lieth in his bosome nor from his nearest friend that loveth him as his own soul. They consider that if they should satisfie his desire they should destroy his life they will therefore rather urge him and even compel him to take what the Doctor hath prescribed how unpleasant and distastful soever it may seem unto him And then if pain and the impotency of his desire will but permit him the use of his reason he yieldeth to their perswasions for then he considereth that all this is done out of their love to him and for his good both when he is denied what he most desireth and when he is pressed to take what he vehemently abhorreth Perswade thy self in like sort of all the Lords dealings with thee If at any time he do not answer thee in the desire of thy heart conclude there is either some unworthiness in thy person or some inordinacy in thy desire or some unfitness or unseasonableness in the thing desired something or other not right on thy part but be sure not to impute it to any defect of love in him 24. And as thou art stedfastly to beliéve his goodness and love in ordering all things in such sort as he doth for the present so oughtest thou with like stedfastness to rest upon his truth and faithfulness for the making good of all those gracious promises that he hath made in his word concerning thy temporal provision and preservation for the future Only understand those promises rightly with their due conditions and limitations and in that sense wherein he intended them when he made them and then never doubt the performance
and he should not love him faithfully but foolishly if he should out of fond indulgence let him go on in an evil way without due correction He that spareth the rod hateth his childe saith Solomon he meaneth it interpretativè that is he doth his childe as much hurt out of his fond love as he could not do him more harm if he were his enemies childe whom he hateth Will not a mother that loveth her childe with all tenderness if it have got some hurt with a fall lay on a plaster to heal it though it smart and though the child cry and struggle against it all it can yet will shee lay it on for all that ey and binde it too to keep it on and all out of very love and faithfulness because she knoweth it must be so or the childe will be the worse for it I use these comparisons the rather not onely because they are familiar and the more familiar ever the better if they be fit but because the Lord himself also delighteth to set forth his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and love to us by the love of a discreet father and the affection of a tender mother towards the fruit of their own loins and womb And the Apostle at large prosecuteth the resemblance and that in this very matter whereof we now speak of our heavenly Fathers correcting his children in love and for their good most accurately and comfortably in Heb. 12. 22. But to return back to the relation of friendship from which yet I have not disgressed for can we have any better friends then our parents If any of us have a friend that is lethargique or lunatique will we not put the one from his drousie seat and shake him up and make him stir about whether he will or no and tie the other in his bed hamper him with cords ey and with blows too if need be to keep him quiet though it be death to the one to be stirred and to the other to be tied Or if we have some near friend or kinsman that we wish well to and partly dependeth upon us for his livelyhood that will not be advised by us but will flee out into bad company drink and quarrell and game will we not pinch him in his allowance refuse to give him entertainment set some underhand to beate him when he quarrels in his drink or to cheat him when he gameth too deep and if he will not be reclaimed otherwise get him arrested and laid up and then let him lie by it till shame and want give him some better sight and sence of his former follies Can any man now charge us truly with unfaithfulness to our friend for so doing Or is it not rather a good proof of our love and faithfulness to him Doubtless it is You know the old saying Non quòd odio habeam sed quòd amem it hath some reason in it For the love and faithfulness of a friend is not to be measured by the things done but by the affection and intention of the doer A thing may be done that carrieth the shew of much friendship with it yet with an intent to do the party a mischief Eutrapelus cuicunque nocere volebat c. As if he should put his friend upon some employment he were unmeet for of purpose to disgrace him or feed him with money in a riotous course to get a hanck over his estate like Sauls friendship to David in giving him his daughter to wife that she might be a snare to him to put him into the hands of the Philistines This is the basest unfaithfulness of all other sub amici fallere nomen and by many degrees worse then open hostility Let not their precious balmes break my head Let the righteous rather smite me friendly saith David There may be smiting it should seem by him without violation of friendship And his wise son Solomon preferreth the wounds of a friend before the kisses of an enemy These may be pleasanter but those will prove wholsomer there is treachery in these kisses but in those wounds faithfulness 23. You may perceive by what hath been said that God may cause his servants to be troubled and yet continue his love and faithfulness to them nevertheless yea moreover that he bringeth those troubles upon them out of his great love and faithfulness towards them It should make us the more willing whether God inflict or threaten whether we feel or fear any either publick calamity or personal affliction any thing that is like to breed us any grief or trouble to submit our selves to the hand of God not only with patience because he is righteous but even with thankfulness too because he is faithful therein Very meet we should apprehend the wrath of God and his just indignation against us when he striketh for he is righteous and will not correct us but for our sin Which should prick our hearts with sorrow nay rend them in pieces with through-contrition that we should so unworthily provoke so gracious a God to punish us But then we must so apprehend his wrath that we doubt not of his favour nor despair of staying his hand if we will but stay the course of our sins by godly repentance and reformation for he is faithful and correcteth us ever for our good Doth he take any pleasure think you in our destruction He hath sworn the contrary and dare you not believe him Doubt ye not therefore but that humility and confidence fear and hope may consist together as well as justice and mercy may in God or repentance and faith in us Presume not then to continue in sin but fear his judgments for he is righteous and will not acquit the guilty Neither yet despair of finding pardon but hope in his mercy for he is faithful and will not despise the penitent I forbid no man but charge him rather as he meaneth to build his after-comforts upon a firm base to lay a good foundation of repentance and godly sorrow by looking first upon Gods justice and his own sins that he may be cast down and humbled under the mighty hand of God before he presume to lay hold of any actual mercy But after he hath by this means assured the foundation let him then in Gods name proceed with his work and bring it on more and more to perfection by sweet meditations of the great love and gracious promises of our good God and his undoubted stedfastness and faithfulness therein Never giving it over till he come to that perfection of art and skill that he can spy love even in the very wrath of God Mel de petra suck honey out of the stony rock gather grapes of thornes and figs of thistles Till we attain to this I say not but we may have true hope and comfort in God which by his mercy may bring us to salvation but we have not yet
to be jealous over our selves with a godly jealousie would not only work in us a due consideration of our wayes that so we might amend them if there be cause but would be also of right use to prevent two notable pieces of sophistry two egregious fallacies wherewith thousands of us deceive our selves The former fallacy is that we use many times especially when our enemies do us manifest wrong to impute our sufferings wholy to their iniquity whereof we should do wiselier to take some of the blame upon our selves Not at all to excuse them whose proceedings are unjust and for which they shall bear their own burthens But to acquit the Lords proceedings who still is just even in those things wherein men are unjust Their hearts and tongues and hands are against us only out of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that superfluity of maliciousness wherewith their naughty hearts abound and for to serve their own cursed ends which is most unjust in them But the Lord sundry times hardneth their hearts and whetteth their tongues and strengtheneth their hands against us in such sort to chasten us for some sinfull error neglect or lust in part still remaining in us unsubdued which is most just in him 32. For as I touched in the beginning a mans heart may be right in the main and his wayes well-pleasing unto God in regard of the general bent and intention of them and yet by wrying aside in some one or a few particulars he may so offend the Lord as that he may in his just displeasure for it either raise him up new enemies or else continue the old ones As a loving father that hath entertained a good opinion of his son and is well pleased with his behaviour in the generality of his carriage because he seeth him in most things dutifull and towardly may yet be so far displeased with him for some particular neglects as not only to frown upon him but to give him sharp correction also Sic parvis componere magna Not much otherwise is it in the dealing of our heavenly Father with his children We have an experiment of it in David with whom doubtless God was well pleased for the main course of his life otherwise he had never received that singular testimony from his own mouth that he was secundum cor a man after his own heart yet because he stepped aside and that very foulely in the matter of Vriah The Text saith 2 Sam. 11. that the thing that David had done displeased the Lord and that which followed upon it in the ensuing chapters was the Lord raised up enemies against him for it out of his own house 33. The other fallacy is when we cherish in our selves some sinful errors either in judgement or practice as if they were the good wayes of God the rather for this that we have enemies and meet with opposition as if the enmity of men were an infallible mark of a right way The words of the Text ye see seem rather to incline quite the other way Indeed the very truth is neither the favour or disfavour of men neither their approving nor opposing is any certain mark at all either of a good or of a bad way Our Solomon hath delivered it positively and we ought to believe him Eccl. 9. that no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them It is an error therefore of dangerous consequence to think that the enmity of the wicked is an undoubted mark either of truth or goodness Not only for that it wanteth the warrant of truth to support it which is common to it with all other errors but for two other especial reasons besides The one is because through blinde selfe-love we are apt to dote upon our own opinions more then we ought How confidently do some men boast out their own private fansies and unwarranted singularities as if they were the God! The other reason is because through wretched uncharitableness we are apt to stretch the title of the wicked further then we ought How freely do some men condemne all that think or do otherwise then themselves but especially that any way oppose their courses as if they were the wicked of the world and Persecutors of the godly 34. For the avoiding of both which mischiefs it is needful we should rightly both understand and apply all those places of Scripture which speak of that Opposition which is sometimes made against truth and goodness which opposition the holy Ghost in such like places intended not to deliver as a mark of godliness but rather to propose as an Antidote against worldly fears and discouragements That if in a way which we know upon other and impregnable evidences to be certainly right we meet with opposition we should not be dismaid at it as if some strange thing had befallen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beloved think it not strange saith S. Peter concerning all such trials as these are as if some strange thing had hapned because it is a thing that at any time may and sometimes doth happen But now to make such opposition a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mark whereby infallibly to judge of our wayes whether they be right or no as some out of the strength of their heat and ignorance have done is to abuse the holy Scriptures to pervert the meaning of the Holy Ghost and to lead men into a maze of uncertainty and error We had all of us need therefore to beware that we doe not like our own wayes so much the better because we have enemies it is much safer for us to suspect lest there may be something in us otherwise then should be for which the Lord suffereth us to have enemies 35. And now the God of grace and peace give us all grace to order our wayes so as may be pleasing in his sight and grant to every one of us First perfect peace with him and in our own consciences and then such a measure of outward peace both publick and private with all our enemies round about us as shall seem good in his sight And let the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep our hearts and mindes in the knowledge and love of him and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord And let the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the holy Ghost be upon us and upon all them that hear his word and keep it at this present time and for evermore Amen Amen AD AULAM. Sermon III. NEWARKE 1633. 1 Pet. 2.17 Honour all men Love the Brotherhood 1. WHen the Apostles preached the Doctrine of Christian liberty a fit opportunity was ministred for Satans instruments to work their feats upon the new-converted Christians false Teachers on the one side and false Accusers on the other For taking advantage from the very name of Liberty the Enemies of their Souls were ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to teach them under that pretence
then this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friend and thus far we must goe if God call us to it So far went Christ for our redemption and so far the Scriptures press his example for our imitation Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 29. To recollect the premises and to give you the full meaning of the precept at once To Love the Brotherhood is as much as to bear a special affection to all Christians more then to Heathens and to manifest the same proportionably by performing all loving offices to them upon every fit occasion to the utmost of our powers A duty of such importance that our Apostle though here in the Text he do but only name it in the bunch among other duties yet afterwards in this Epistle seemeth to require it in a more speciall manner and after a sort above other duties Above all things have fervent charity among your selves Chap. 4. And S. Iohn upon the performance hereof hangeth one of the strongest assurances we can have of our being in Christ. We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren 1 Joh. 3.14 30. Now of the Obligation of this duty for that is the next thing we are to consider there are two main grounds Goodness and Neerness First we must love the Brotherhood for their goodness All goodness is lovely There groweth a Love due to every creature of God from this that every creature of God is good Some goodness God hath communicated to every thing to which he gave a beeing as a beame of that incomprehensible light and a drop of that infinite Ocean of goodness which he himself is But a greater measure of Love is due to man then to other Creatures by how much God hath made him better then them And to every particular man that hath any special goodness in him there is a special Love due proportionable to the kinde and measâ—re thereof So that whatsoever goodness we can discern in any man we ought to love it in him and to love him for it whatsoever faults or defects are apparently enough to be found in him otherways He that hath good natural parts if he have little in him that is good besides yet is to be loved even for those parts because they are good He that hath but good moralities only leading a civil life though without any probable evidences of grace appearing in him is yet to be loved of us if but for those moralities because they also are good But he that goeth higher and by the goodness of his conversation sheweth forth so far as we can judge the graciousness of his heart deserveth by so much an higher room in our affections then either of the former by how much Grace exceedeth in goodness both Nature and Morality Sith then there is a special goodness in the Brethren quatenùs such in regard of that most holy faith which they profess and that blessed name of Christ which is called upon them we are therefore bound to love them with a special affection and that eo nomine under that consideration as they are brethren over and above that general love with which we are bound to love them as men or that which belongeth to them as men of parts or as Civil men 31. The other ground of Loving the Brotherhood is their Neerness The neerer the dearer we say and there are few relations neerer then that of brotherhood But no brotherhood in the world so closely and surely knit together and with so many and strong tyes as the fraternity of Christians in the communion of Saints which is the Brotherhood in the Text. In which one brotherhood it is not easy to reckon how many brotherhoods are conteined Behold some of many First we are Brethren by propagation and that ab utroque parente 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children of the one Eternal God the common father of us all and of the one Catholick Church the common mother of us all And we have all the same Elder brother Jesus Christ the first born among many brethren the lively image of his fathers person and indeed the foundation of the whole Brotherhood for we are all as many of us as have been baptised into Christ the children of God by faith in Christ Iesus Therefore as Ioseph loved Benjamin his brother of the whole bloud more affectionately then the other ten that were his brethren but by the fathers side only so we ought with a more special affection to love those that are also the sons of our mother the Church as Christians then those that are but the sons of God only as Creatures 32. Secondly we are Brethren by education 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Foster-brethren as Herod and Manahon were We are all nursed with the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sincere milk of the word in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament which are ubera matris Ecclesiae the two brests whence we sucked all that wholsome nourishment by which we are grown up to what we are to that measure of stature of strength whatsoever it is that we have in Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle and common experience sheweth it so to be They that have been nursed or brought up together in their childehood for the most part have their affections so seasoned and setled then that they love one another the better while they live 33. Thirdly we are Brethren by Covenant sworn brothers at our holy Baptism when we dedicated our selves to Gods service as his Souldiers by sacred and solemn vow Do we not see men that take the same oath pressed to serve in the same Wars and under the same Captains Contuâ—ernales and Comrades how they do not only call Brothers but hold together as Brothers and shew themselves marvelous zealous in one anothers behalf taking their parts and pawning their credits for them and sharing their fortunes with them If one of them have but a little silver in his purse his brother shall not want whiles that lasteth Shame we with it that the children of this world should be kinder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards those of their own generation then we are in ours 34. Fourthly we are Brethren by Cohabitation We are all of one house and family not strangers and forrainers but fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God What a disquietness and discredit both is it to a house where the children are ever jarring and snarling and fighting one with another but a goodly sight Ecce quam bonum when they dwell together in love and unity Even so a sad thing it is and very grievous to the soule of every good man when in the Church which is the house of God Christians
be carried away Greater is he that is in you saith S. Iohn that is Christ then he that is in the world that is the Devil Christ came into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the Devil and he did atchieve what he came for he hath destroyed them And amongst his other works he hath destroyed this Purchase also wrung the evidences out of his hand even the handwriting that was against us and having blotted defaced and cancell'd it took it out of the way nayling it to his Cross. 28. Such was his Power his Love secondly not less which made him as willing as he was able to undertake this work of our redemption In his love and in his pitty he redeemed them Esay 63.9 There is such a height and depth and length and bredth in that Love such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every dimension of it as none but an infinite understanding can fathom Sic Deus dilexit So God loved the world But how much that so containeth no tongue or wit of man can reach Nothing expresseth it better to the life then the work it self doth That the Word should be made Flesh that the holy one of God should be made sin that God blessed for ever should be made a curse that the Lord of life and glory should suffer an inglorious death and poure out his own most precious blood to ransom such worthless thankless graceless Traitors as we were that had so desperately made our selves away and that into the hands of his deadliest enemy and that upon such poore and unworthy conditions O altitudo Love incomprehensible It swalloweth up the sence and understanding of Men and Angels fitter to be admired and adored with silence then blemished with any our weak expressions 29. I leave it therefore and go on to the next his Right When de facto we sold our selves to Satan we had de jure no power or right at all so to do being we were not our own and so in truth the title is nought and the Sale void Yet it is good against us however we may not plead the invalidity of it for so much as in reason no man ought to make advantage of his own act Our act then barreth us But yet it cannot bar the right owner from challenging his own wheresoever he finds it And therefore we may be well assured God will not suffer the Devil who is but malae fidei possessor an intruder and a cheater quietly to enjoy what is Gods and not his but he will eject him we have that word Iohn 12.21 Ejicietur now is the Prince of this world cast out and recover out of his possession that which he hath no right at all to hold 30. Sundry inferences we might raise hence if we had time I may not insist yet I cannot but touch at three duties which we owe to God for this Redemption because they answer so fitly to these three last mentioned assurances We owe him Affiance in respect of his Power in requital of his Love thankfulness and in regard of his Right Service First the consideration of his Power in our Redemption may put a great deal of comfort and confidence into us that having now redeemed us if we do but cleave fast to him and revolt not again he will protect us from Sin and Satan and all other enemies and pretenders whatsoever O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee Esay 43. If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again as he is an unwearied sollicitor and will not lose his claim by discontinuance Let us then look to that Cornu salutis that horn of salvation that God hath raised up for us in Christ our Redeemer and flie thither for succour as to the horns of the Altar saying with David Psalm 119. I am thine oh save me and we shall be safe In all inward temptations in all outward distresses at the hour of death and in the day of judgment we may with great security commit the keeping of our souls to him both as a faithful creator and as a powerful Redeemer saying once more with David Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Psalm 31.6 31. Secondly the consideration of his love in our Redemption should quicken us to a thankful acknowledgment of his great and undeserved goodness towards us Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand of the enemy Psal. 107. Let all men let all creatures do it but let them especially If the blessings of corn and wine and oyl of health and peace and plenty of deliverance from sicknesses pestilences famines and other calamities can so affect us as to provoke at least some overly and superficial forms of thanksgiving from us how carnal are our minds and our thoughts earthy if the contemplation of the depth of the riches of Gods mercy poured out upon us in this great work of our Redemption do not even ravish our hearts with an ardent desire to pour them out unto him again in hymns and Psalms and songs of thanksgiving with a Benedictus in our mouths Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people 32. Thirdly the consideration of his Right should bind us to do him service We were his before for he made us and we ought him service for that But now we are his more then before and by a new title for he hath bought us and paid for us and we owe him more service for that The Apostle therefote urgeth it as a matter of great equity you are not your own but his therefore you are not to satisfie your selves by doing your own lusts but to glorifie him by doing his will When Christ redeemed us by his bloud his purpose was to redeem us unto God Rev. 5.9 and not to our selves and to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 and not to it And he therefore delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might the more freely and securely and without fear serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Luke 1. which being both our bounden duty and the thing withall so very reasonable we have the more to answer for if we do not make a conscience of it to perform it accordingly He hath done his part and that which he was no way bound unto in redeeming us and he hath done it to purpose done it effectually Let it be our care to do our part for which there lie so many obligations upon us in serving him and let us also do it to purpose do it really and throughly and constantly 33. Thus is our Redemption done effectually it is also done freely which is the only point now remaining Not for price nor
that there is nothing of moment proved against him for in the construction of the Law every man is presumed to be an honest man till he be proved otherwise But to the condemning of a man there is more requisite then so bare suspicions are not enough no nor strong presumptions neither but there must be a clear and full evidence especially if the triall concern life So in these moral trials also in foro interno when enquiry is made into the lawfulness or unlawfulness of humane acts in their several kindes it is sufficient to warrant any act in the kinde to be lawful that there can be nothing produced from scripture or sound reason to prove it unlawfull For so much the words of my Text do manifestly import All things are lawful for me But to condemn any act as simply and utterly unlawful in the kind remote consequences and weak deductions from Scripture-Text should not serve the turne neither yet reasons of inconveniency or inexpediency though carrying with them great shews of probability But it is requisite that the unlawfulness thereof should be sufficiently demonstrated either from express and undeniable testimony of scripture or from the clear light of natural reason or at leastwise from some conclusions properly directly and evidently deduced therefrom If we condemne it before this be done our judgement therein is rash and unrighteous 15. Nor is that all I told you besides the unrighteousness of it in it self that it is also of very noysome and perilous consequence many wayes Sundry the evil and pernicious effects whereof I desire you to take notice of being many I shall do little more then name them howbeit they will deserve a larger discovery And first it produceth much Vncharitableness For although difference of judgment should not alienate our affections one from another yet daily experience sheweth it doth By reason of that self-selfe-love and envy and other corruptions that abound in us it is rarely seen that those men are of one heart that are of two mindes S. Paul found it so with the Romans in his time whilest some condemned that as unlawful which others practised as lawful they judged one another and despised one another perpetually And I doubt not but any of us that is any-whit-like acquainted with the wretched deceitfulness of mans heart may easily conclude how hard a thing it is if at all possible not to think somewhat hardly of those men that take the liberty to do such things as we judge unlawful As for example If we shall judge all walking into the fields discoursing occasionally on the occurrences of the times dressing of meat for dinner or supper or even moderate recreations on the Lords day to be grievous prophanations of the sabbath how can we chuse but judge those men that use them to be grievous prophaners of Gods sabbath And if such our judgment concerning the things should after prove to be erroneous then can it not be avoided but that such our judgement also concerning the persons must needs be uncharitable 16. Secondly this mis-judging of things filleth the world with endless nicities and disputes to the great disturbance of the Churches peace which to every good man ought to be precious The multiplying of books and writings pro and con and pursuing of arguments with heat and opposition doth rather lengthen then decide controversies and insted of destroying the old begetteth new ones whiles they that are in the wrong out of obstinacy will not and they that stand for the truth out of conscience dare not may not yeeld and so still the warr goeth on 17. And as to the publick peace of the Church so is there also thirdly by this means great prejudice done to the peace and tranquillity of private mens consciences when by the peremptory doctrines of some strict and rigid masters the soules of many a well-meaning man are miserably disquieted with a thousand unnecessary scruples and driven sometimes into very woful perplexities Surely it can be no light matter thus to lay heavie burdens upon other mens shoulders and to cast a snare upon their consciences by making the narrow way to heaven narrower then ever God meant it 18. Fourthly hereby Christian Governours come to be robbed of a great part of that honour that is due unto them from their people both in their Affections and Subjection For when they shall see cause to exercise over us that power that God hath left them in indifferent things by commanding such or such things to be done as namely wearing of a surplice kneeling at the communion and tho like if now we in our own thoughts have already prejudged any of the things so commanded to be unlawful it cannot be but our hearts will be sowred towards our superiours in whom we ought to rejoyce and instead of blessing God for them as we are bound to do and that with hearty cheerfulness we shall be ready to speak evil of them even with open mouth so far as we dare for fear of being shent Or if out of that fear we do it but indirectly and obliquely yet we will be sure to do it in such a manner as if we were willing to be understood with as much reflexion upon authority as may be But then as for our Obedience we think our selves clearly discharged of that it being granted on all hands as it ought that superiours commanding unlawful things are not therein to be obeyed 19. And then as ever one evil bringeth on another since it is against all reason that our Errour should deprive our Superiours of that right they have to our obedience for why should any man reap or challenge benefit from his own act we do by this means fifthly exasperate those that are in authority and make the spirit of the ruler rise against us which may hap to fall right heavy on us in the end All power we know whether natural or civil striveth to maintain it self at the height for the better preserving of it self the Natural from decay and the Civil from contempt When we therefore withdraw from the higher powers our due obedience what do we other then pull upon our selves their just displeasure and put into their hands the opportunity if they shall but be as ready to take it as we are to give it rather to extend their power Whereby if we suffer in the conclusion as not unlike we may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom may we thank for it but our selves 20. Sixthly by this means we cast our selves upon such sufferings as the cause being naught we can have no sound comfort in Causa non passio we know it is the cause maketh a true Martyr or Confessour and not barely the suffering He that suffereth for the truth and a good cause suffereth as a Christian and he need not be ashamed but may exult in the midst of his greatest sufferings chearing up his own heart and glorifying God
that have succeeded in their rooms 7. Thirdly parents whose affection towards their children hath not been sowred by any personal dislike may yet have their affection so over-powred by some stronger lust as to become cruel to their children and forsake them For as in the World Might oftentimes over-beareth Right so in the soul of man the violence of a stronger passion or affection which in the case in hand may happen sundry wayes beareth down the weaker It may happen as sometimes it hath done out of superstition So Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia The Heathens generally deceived by their cheating Oracles and some of the Iews led by their example sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils and caused their children to pass through the fire to Molech Sometimes out of revenge As Medea to be revenged of Iason for leaving her and placing his affection elsewhere slew her own two sons begotten by him in his sight Saevus amor docuit natorum sanguine matres Commaculasse manus Sometimes out of fear So the parents the blinde man owned their son indeed Iohn 9. but for fear of being cast out of the Synagogue durst not speak a word in his just defence but left him to shift as well as he could for himself And Herod the great for no other cause then his own causeless fears and jealousies destroyed many of his own sons Sometimes out of the extreamity and impatience of hunger As in the sad story of the two mothers who in the great famine at the siege of Samaria had covenanted to dress their children by turns and to eat them so fulfilfilling even to the letter that heavie curse which God had long before threatned against Israel in case of their disobedience Sometimes out of voluptuousness and sensuality As do thousands of prodigal ding-thrifts every where in the World who by gaming drinking luxury and other riot and intemperance vainly wasting their estates out of which by S. Pauls rule they ought to provide and lay up for their children bring themselves to penury and leave their children to beggery 8. And if by all these and sundry other wayes besides it may happen fathers and mothers so often to forsake their children the less are we to marvell if our brethren kinsfolkes and neighbours if our familiar acquaintance companions and friends prove unfaithfull shrink from us when we stand in need to them dealing deceitfully as a brook It is Iobs comparison Iob 6. The Brooks in Winter when the Springs below are open and the bottles of heaven powre down water from above overflow the banks and the medows all about and look like a little Sea but when the heat of Summer is come and the season dry vanish so as the weary traveller can finde no refreshing nor the cattel quench their thirst thereat Such is the common friendship of the World Whilest we are full and stand in no need of them they are also full of kindness and overflow with protestations of love and service Amici divitis multi every friend will say I am his friend also Yet they talk but vanity all this while every one with his neighbour they do but flatter with their lips and dissemble with their double heart When we seek to them in our need they look upon us slightly and at a distance at the most let fall some overly expressions that they wish us well and pity our case Good words are good cheap but do little or nothing for us It may be while we are up and aloft they will crouch under us apply themselves to us lend a shoulder ey and sweat to lift us up yet higher But if we be going down then at the best as the Priest and Levite in the parable they will see and not see but pass by without so much as offering a hand to help us up nay it is well if they lift not up the heel against us and help to tread us yet lower 9. As then first natural parents many times want natural affection so common friends many times want common honesty and fail those that trust to them And as they secondly sometimes withdraw their love from their children upon slender dislikes so these many times take toy at a trifle actum est de amicitiâ and pick quarrels to desert us when we have not done any thing that may justly deserve it at their hands And as they lastly too much forgot their children whilest they too eagerly pursue their own lusts so these to serve their own ends lay aside all relations and break through all obligations of friendship and if our occasions require something should be done for us that may chance put them to some little trouble hazard or charge or otherwise standeth not with their liking put us off as they did their fellow-virgins Ne non sufficiat Provide for your selves we cannot help you This is the first kinde a voluntary forsaking wherein the fault is theirs when our fathers and mothers and friends might help us but do not 10. The other kinde is an enforced forsaking and without their fault when they cannot help us if they would Which also ariseth from three other causes Ignorance Impotency Mortality First there is in the understandings of men a great deal of darkness for the discerning of Truth and Falsehood even in speculativis matters which stand at a certain stay and alter not but much more for the discerning of Good and Evil in Practicis matters which by reason of the multiplicity of uncertain and mutable Circumstances are infinitely various Whereby it becometh a matter of greater difficulty to avoid folly in practise then Errour in judgement No wonder then if the carefullest Parents and faithfullest Friends be many times wanting in their help to those they wish well to when either they can finde no way at all whereby to do them good or else pitch upon a wrong one whereby unawares they do them harme Sedulitas autem stultè quem diligit urget Nil moror officium quod me gravat The body of a Patient may be in such a condition of distemper that the learned'st Doctor may be at a stand not knowing perfectly what to make of it and so must either let it alone and do nothing or else adventure upon such probabilities as may lead him to mistake the Cause and so the disease and so the cure and so in fine to destroy the Patient by those very means whereby he intended his recovery So Parents and others that love their children or friends well and desire nothing more then to do them good may be so puzled sometimes by the unhappy conjuncture of some cross circumstances as that they cannot resolve upon any certain course how to dispose of them deal with them or undertake for them with any assurance or but likely hope of a good effect but they must either leave them to wrestle with their own burdens as well as they
excuses which he pretendeth in his own defence Whether they have justae excusationis instar and will bear a good and sufficient plea or be but rather shifts devised to serve a present turn more for outward shew then real satisfaction within Which is that Iudicium cordis the judgement of the heart whereunto Solomon as I told you referreth over this pretension Behold we knew it not to receive its first and most immediate trial Doth not he that pondreth the heart consider it What the tongue pleadeth is not a thing so considerable with God as how the heart standeth affected 29. For the approving his heart therefore in this business before him that knoweth it perfectly and is able to ponder it exactly let every Magistrate and other Officer of justice consider in the fear of God First whether he hath been willing so far as his leisure amidst the throng of other his weighty imployments would permit to receive the petitions and with patience to hear the complaints of those poor men that have fled to him as to a Sanctuary for refuge and succour Iob professeth himself to have been a father to the poor and he is a very unnatural father that stoppeth his ears against the cryes of his children or so terrifieth them with his angry countenance that they dare not speak to him Solomon in the twenty ninth of this book distinguisheth a righteous man from a wicked by this that the righteous considereth the cause of the poor but the wicked regardeth not to know it He that rejecteth their complaints or beateth them off with bug-words and terrour in his looks either out of the hardness of his heart or the love of ease or for whatsoever other respect when he might have leisure to give them audience if he were so minded and to take notice of their grievances cannot justly excuse himself by pleading Behold we knew it not But I must hasten Let him consider Secondly whether he have kept his ear and his affection equally free to both parties without suffering himself to be possessed with prejudices against or to be carried away with favourable inclinations towards the one side more then the other He is too little a Iudge that is too much either a friend or an enemy Thirdly whether he hath used all requisite diligence patience and wisdom in the examination of those causes that have been brought before him for the better finding out of the truth as Iob searched out the cause which he knew not without shuffling over business in post-haste not caring which way causes go so he can but dispatch them out of the way quickly and rid his hands of them Fourthly whether he hath indeed endeavoured to his power to repress or discountenance those that do ill offices in any kinde tending to the perverting of justice as namely Those that lay traps for honest men to fetch them into trouble without desert Those that sow discord among neighbours and stir up suites for petty trespasses and trifles of no value Those that abett contentious persons by opening their mouths in their behalf in evil causes Those that devise new shifts to elude good Laws Lastly whether he hath gone on stoutly in a righteous way to break the jaw-bones of the Lions in their mouths and to pluck the spoil from between their teeth by delivering them that were ready to be slain or destinated to utter undoing by their powerful oppressours without fearing the faces of men or fainting in the day of their brothers adversity He that hath done all this in a good mediocrity so far as his understanding and power would serve though he have not been able to remedy all the evils and to doe all the good he desired may yet say with a good conscience and with comfort Behold we knew it not and his excuse will be taken in the judgment both of his own heart and of God who knoweth his heart whatsoever other men think of him or howsoever they censure him But if he have failed in all or any the premises though he may blear the eyes of men with colourable pretences he cannot so secure his own conscience much less escape the judgment of God before whose eyes causeless excuses are of no avail Which is the last of the three points proposed whereunto I now proceed 30. The judgment of a mans own heart is of great regard in utramque partem then the censures of all the men in the world besides Better the world should condemn us if our own hearts acquit us then that our hearts should condemn us and all the world acquit us This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience saith S. Paul The approbation of men may give some accessioâ—â— to the rejoycing the other being first supposed but the main of it lieth in the testimony of the Conscience This is the highest tribunal under heaven but not absolutely the highest there is one in heaven above it St. Paul who thought it safe for him to appeal hither from the unjust censures of men yet durst not think it safe for him to rest here but appealeth from it to a higher Court and to the judgment of the great God 1 Cor. 4. It was a very small thing with him to be judged of mans judgment So long as he knew nothing by himself so long as his own heart condemned him not he passed not much for the censures of men Yet durst not justifie himself upon the acquital of his own heart He knew there was much blindness and deceitfulness in the heart of every sinful man and it were no wisdom to trust to that that might fail He would up therefore to a higher and an unerring Iudge that neither would deceive nor could be deceived and that was the Lord. I judge not mine own self saith he but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Even so here Solomon remitteth us over for the triall of our pretended excuses from our mouthes to our hearts and from our hearts unto God If thou sayest Behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the hearts consider it c. As if he had said No matter for thy words look to thy heart If thou pretendest one thing without and thy conscience tell thee another thing within thou art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast and condemned by the sentence of thine own heart But if thy heart condemne thee not the more indeed is thy comfort and the stronger thy hope yet be not too confident upon it There is an abyssus a depth in thy heart which thou canst not fathome with all the line thou hast Thou hast not a just ballance wherein to weigh and to ponder thy own heart That must be left therefore wholy to the Lord who alone can do it perfectly and to whose judgment alone every man shall finally stand or fall and if he deserve to fall all his vain excuses shall not be able to hold him up 31. Which of
love and fear him whereby he ordereth and disposeth all things so as may make most for their good 19. And it is not unfitly so called whether we respect the gracious promises that God hath made unto them or those sundry mutual relations that are between him and them First faithfulnesse relateth to a promise He is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10. Truly God is a debter to no man that he doth for us any thing at all it is ex mero motu of his own grace and goodness meerly we can challenge nothing at his hands But yet so desirous is he to manifest his gracious love to us that he hath freely bound himself and so made himself a voluntary debter by his promises for promise is due debt insomuch as he giveth us the leave and alloweth us the boldness to remind him of his promises to urge him with them and as it were to adjure him by all his truth and faithfulness to make them good But what a kind of promise is this may some say to promise a man to trouble him It seemeth a threatning this not a promise If these be his promises God may keep his promises to himself we shall not be very forward to challenge him or his faithfulness about them Yet so it is the afflictions and troubles wherewith God in his love chasteneth his children for their good are indeed part of his promise and that a gracious part too In Mark 10. you shall find persecutions and persecutions are troubles expresly named there among other things as a part of the promise or reward No man that hath left house or brethren c. for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren c. with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life There it is exprest but where it is not so it must ever be understood in all the promises that concern this life It is a received rule among Divines that all temporal promises are to be understood cum exceptione crucis that is to say not absolutely but with this reservation unless the Lord in his holy wisdom shall see it good for us to have it otherwise So that if at any time he see it good for us to be troubled as many times he doth David confesseth it but four verses higher Bonum mihi quòd humiliasti It is good for me that I have been in trouble he doth then in great love to us cause us to be troubled and that out of very faithfulness and in regard of his Promise 20. There are also sundry mutual relations wherein God and his people stand tied either to other all which require faithfulness He is their Creator and they are the work of his hands and St Peter stileth him a faithful Creator He is their shepherd and they the sheep of his pasture and a faithful shepheard he is a good shepheard Iohn 10. To omit these and sundry other as of Father Master Husband and the rest take but this one relation only of friendship whereto as every man knoweth faithfulness is so necessary as nothing can be more Now as for those that believe God and keep his Commandements God entreth into a league and covenant of friendship with them for Faith and Obedience are those very things that qualifie us for his friendship Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God James 2. There is Faith Ye are my friends if ye keep my commandements saith our Saviour Iohn 15. There is Obedience Such a league of friendship there was betwixt God and David in his particular and as strongly tied and confirmed as any other we read of the parties swearing fidelity either to other God to him The Lord hath made a faithful Oath unto David and he shall not shrink from it And he to God I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous judgments The misery is we hold not touch perfectly with God but break with him oftentimes through humane frailty and subreption and sometimes also in a more desperate and provoking manner when we sin presumptuously and with a high hand David himself notwithstanding his Oath and the stedfastness of his purpose to perform it yet held not out but failed sundry times through infirmity but he shrank most shamefully and foully in the matter of Vriah But here is our comfort then on the other side that though we are wavering and loose off and on and no hold to be taken of us yet he is still the same he remaineth a fast and constant friend to us Though we sometimes so far forget our selves and our faithful promise as to deny him yet he continueth faithful and will not deny himself no nor us neither if we will but seek to him in any time by true repentance confessing our unfaithfulness and asking pardon thereof and not wholly and finally renounce the covenant we made with him It maketh well for us that he is not forward to take no not all just exceptions he might if he should be any whit extream to mark what we do amiss not a man of us all should long abide in his friendship It is not our faithfulness then to him but his faithfulness to us that holdeth us in 21. But you will say This is scarce a friendly part will any friend cause his friend to be troubled especially having the power in himself to prevent it As Absolon said to Hushai Is this thy kindness to thy friend Call you this faithfulness Yes indeed and very faithfulness too For a true friend aimeth at his friends good in every thing he doth and in comparison of that regardeth not at any time the satisfying of any his inordinate or unreasonable desires And therefore he will freely reprove him when he seeth him to do otherwise then well and sometimes anger him by doing some things quite contrary to his minde but yet for his good Yea and if the inequality and condition of the persons be such as will bear it he will give him also such punishment or other correction as shall be needful according to the merit of his fault And all this he may do salvâ amicitiâ and without breach of friendship nay he is so far tied by the rules of true friendship to do all this and out of very faithfulness that he should transgress those rules and prove unfaithful if he should neglect so to do where the cause requireth it Doth not a father scourge the son in whom he delighteth and sometimes give him sharp correction when the fault deserveth it And no friend can love his friend more dearly and faithfully then a father doth his childe Nay this chastening is so far from being any argument of the fathers dis-affection that it is rather one of the strongest evidences of his faithful love towards him