scientiam zelati sunt sacriligi extiterunt in filium Dei they perswaded themselves that they had the love and zeal of the honour of God but because their zeal was not according to knowledge they became sacrilegious against the Son of God and their fiery zeal to Gods Worship became as Saint Ambrose saith A bloody Zeal unto Death and like unto a Ship under faile without a Pilate that will dash it self against the Rocks all to pieces so it is when we rob and spoyl and persecute the true Servants of Christ for being as we suppose the limbs of the Antichrist But such and so great is the malice and subtilty of Satan towards mankind that he cares not which wayes he brings man to destruction so he may bring him any way either in being too zealous without knowledge and so persecute the good for bad or too careless with all our knowledge and so bless the bad for the good either by hating the superstitious Papist The continual practice of the Devil beyond all reason or loving the malicious Sectary contrary to all reason either by falling into the fire on the right hand or into the water on the left hand either by making the whole Service of God to consist onely of preaching and hearing Sermons and neglect the Prayers and all other Christian duties or using the Prayers onely with the Service of the Church and omit the preaching of Gods Word for this hath been alwayes the Devils practise To separate those whom God would have joyned together and to joyn those together whom God would have kept asunder And therefore we should be very careful to joyn Knowledge and Discretion with our Zeal and desire to do God service if we desire to follow Christ 2. 2 The matter wherein we are to follow Christ For the Matter Points or wayes wherein the Sheep of Christ are to follow him they are very many but the chiefest of them are reducible into these three principal Heads 1. The works of Piety Joh. 2.17 2. The works of Equity 3. The works of Charity Jam. 2.16 Eph. 5.1 2. In all which we are to do our best endeavour to imitate and to follow Christ Actu ciffectu Bern. in Cant. S. 50. and therein we shall do the things that are most acceptable unto God and most profitable for our selves For the first none doubts of it but that these things are most acceptable in the sight of God And for the second we may be sure of it that it is better for us to build Churches to maintain Preachers and to erect Hospitals then to raise our Families and we shall receive more comfort to do Justice and to protect the Innocent and to relieve the Poor then by gaining Naboths Vineyard or heâ—ping Dives his Treasures unto our selves The time will not give me leave to prosecute these particulars any further but I pray God give us grace to prosecute the performance and doing of them throughout all our lives to the glory of God the discharging of our Duties and the eternall comfort of our own souls through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour To whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be all Glory and Honour for ever and ever Amen Amen Jehovae Liberatori THE SEVENTH TREATISE 1 John 4.19 We love him because he first loved us THis text you see is a text of love a Theam that filleth Sea and Land Heaven and Earth and as the Poets feign Hell it self Claudian de raptu Proserpinae when as the King thereof Tumidas exarsit in iras did swell with rage because he might not enjoy his love in hell as Jupiter did in heaven And yet the scarcity and want of true love causeth such plenty of great evils in every place for we love not God we love not our neighbours we love not our own selves for if we loved God we would keep his Commandments if we loved our neighbours we would neither wrong them nor oppress them and if we loved our selves then we would love God if not for his own sake which is the right love yet for our own good and our neighbours for Gods sake But for Gods Commandements I may truly say it with Nehemiah Nehem. 9.34 Neither have our Kings our Princes our Priests nor our Fathers kept his Laws nor hearkned unto his Commandments but as Ezra saith Ezra 9.7 We have all been in a great trespass unto this day and for our iniquities have we our King our Priests our Bishops our Judges and all of us been delivered to the sword to the spoil to confusion of face and to all these miseries as it is this day And for wronging one another if we consider all the oppressions that are done under the Sun nay that were done in these Kingdomes and the tears of such as were oppressed and had no Comforter when the oppressors had such power that none durst speak against them then as Solomon saith we may most justly praise the dead which are already dead more then the living which are yet alive Eccles 4.1 2 3 and him better then both which hath not yet been to see the great evils that are done amongst us And for our own selves we do just as the wise man saith seek our own death in the errour of our life and Sampson-like pull down the house upon our own heads as you may remember that when we had plenty of peace and prosperity then as the children of Israel murmured against Moses that delivered them out of the Aegyptian bondage and loathed Manna that came down from heaven so were we discontented at every trifle and so weary of peace and such murmurers against our happiness When the Articles of peace were published we were so discontented and murmured so much thereat that the ear of jealousie which heareth all things heard the same and was pleased to satisfie our discontents and to send us our own desires such plenty of wars and fulness of all miseries plagues famines and oppressions as our Fathers never knew the like and are like to continue amongst us until God seeth us more in love with his goodness towards us and our repentings move him to repent him of the evils that he intendeth against us that have so justly deserved them from him Therefore to ingender and beget love where it is not to encrease it where it is but little and to rectifie it where it is amiss either towards God or our neighbours or our selves I will by Gods help and your patience with as much brevity as I can How the created Trinity fell and may be reunited to the uncreated Trinity express the plenty of these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mellifluous S. Bern. whose laborious work is like a pleasant garden that is replenished with all sorts of the most odoriferous flowers saith that in the Unity of Gods Essence there is a Trinity of persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost
her will No force can prevail against the will and actual sins have so much dependency upon the hearts approbation as that the same alone can either vitiate or excuse the action and no outward force hath any power over mine inward mind unless my self do give it him as all the power of the Kingdome cannot force my heart to hate my King or to love his enemies they may tear this poor body all to pieces but they can never force the mind to do but what it will And yet such is the deceit of our own flesh that if the devil should be absent from us our own frailties would be his tempting deputies and when we have none other foe we will become the greatest foes unto our selves as Apollodorus the Tyrant dreamd that he was flead by the Scythians and that his heart thrown into a boyling caldron should say unto him That it was the cause of all his miseries and so every man that is undone hath indeed undone himself for Perditio tua exte thy destruction is from thy self saith the Prophet yea the very best men Hos 13.9 by whomsoever wronged yet wrong themselves as now it is with our gracious King for as Valentine the Emperour when he cut off his best Commander and demanding of his best Counselour what he thought of it had this answer given him That he had cut off his own right arm with his left hand so when the good King seduced and over-perswaded gave way though against his will to make an Everlasting Parliament he then gave away the Sword out his own hand So I could tell you of a very good man that is brought to very great exigency by parting with his owne strength and giving his sword out of his own hand and when he excluded the Bishops out of the House of Peers he parted with so much of his own strength and brought himself thereby to be weaker then he was before and so it will be with every one of us and it may be in a higher misprision then with our King if we look not well unto our selves and take heed lest in seeking to preserve our bodies we destroy our own souls or to save our estates we make shipwrack of our faith or especially to uphold an earthly Rule or Kingdome we expose to ruine the spiritual Kingdome of Christ which is the Church of God as you know how the Parliament do it at this day And therefore the Spaniards prayer is very good Dios mi guarda mi de mi O my God defend me from my self that I do not destroy my self and Saint Augustine upon the words of the Psalmist Deliver me from the wicked man demanding who was that wicked man Answ it was a seipso and so the wisest Philosophers have given us many Precepts to beware of our selves And he that can do so Latius regnat avidum domando Spiritum Horatius quam si lybiam remotis Gadibus jungat uterque paenus Serviat uni doth more and ruleth better then he that reigneth from the Southern Lybia to the Northern Pole so hard it is for man under all the cope of Heaven to find any one that truly loves him But God is Verax veritas true and the truth it self and as Hugo saith Veritas est sine fallacia faelicitas sine miseria he is Truth without Deceit that neither can deceive not be deceived and as this our Apostle saith God is love and the Fountain of all true love and he is sweet he is wise and he is strong 1 John 4.8 How God loveth us and how sweet and gracious his love is therefore S. Bern. saith that he loveth sweetly wisely and strongly Dulciter quia carnem induit sapienter quia culpam cavit fortiter quia mortem sustinuit sweetly because he was made man to have a fellow-feeling of our miseries wisely because he did avoid sin that he might be able to help us and strongly because his love was as strong as death when rather then he would lessen his love unto us he would lose his life for us And therefore of all that pretend to love us God alone is the onely pure and truly perfect lover 2. For the affection it is love for God loved us and love 2 The affection Love comprehendeth three things as it is in the creatures is a passion better perceived by the lover then it can be expressed by any other and it comprehendeth three things 1. A liking to the thing beloved 2. A desire to enjoy it And 3. A contentment in it as when the Father saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as others think of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to be fully and perfectly satisfied in the thing loved as Phavorinus testifieth And so though the affection of love is not the same in God as it is in us because he is a Spirit most simple without passion and we are often-times transported and swallowed up of this affection yet in the love of God we finde these three things most perfectly contained 3 Things contained in the love of God 1. An Eternal benevolence or purpose to do good unto his creatures 2. An Actual beneficence and performance of that good unto them 3. A Delightful complacency or contented delight in the things beloved as the Lord loveth him that followeth after righteousness that is he taketh delight and pleasure in all righteous livers and as he hateth the ungodly so he loveth the righteous and taketh delight in them and in their just and righteous dealing But because love is an inward affection that can hardly be discerned without some outward demonstration of the same and that as S. Gregory saith Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis the trial of our love is seen by our actions which testifie our love far better then our words How God imanifesteth his love many wayes when we see too too many that profess to love us when they labour to destroy us as the rebels pray for the King when they fight against him so finely can the Devil deceive us therefore God manifested his love by many manifold arguments As 1. Way 1 By screating things of nothing and making them so perfectly good that when himself had considered them all he saw that they were all exceeding good 2. Way 2 By preserving all things that they return not to nothing Quia fundavit Deus mundum supranihilum ut mundus fundaret se supra Deum because God laid the foundations of the world upon nothing that the world might wholly rely upon God who is the basis that beareth up all things with his mighty word and more particularly in preserving not onely the righteous but even the wicked also from many evils both of Sin and Punishment for did not God withhold and restrain the very reprobates even
save us from all our sins And thus the true Saints that do hate their sins and lay hold on Christ do only love the Lord and the wicked that delight in sin and perceive not the sweetness of their Saviour cannot be said to love God for as the whole have no need of the Physitian and give no thanks for his Physick so they that feel not the sense of their own miseries and perceive not their Obligation to their Deliverer can have no love to God their Saviour Therefore seeing as the Poet saith Quod latet ignotum est ignoti nulla cupido And as S. Bern. saith non potes aut amare quem non noveris aut habere quem non amaveris we cannot love whom we know not nor enjoy whom we love not it behoveth us to search into our spirits to look into our own states to consider the multitude of our own sins and to bethink our selves in what need we stand of a Deliverer to see if this will not bring us in love with God our Saviour And then I beseech you Two special Points to be considered let us consider 1. What manner of Love we ought to have 2. How great a love it ought to be towards him And 1. I presume theâ—e is no man in this Assembly but he would think himself much injured 1 What manner of Lovewe ought to have if it were but imagined that he did not love God his Saviour and iâ— is not my desire to dishearten any when I wish from my heart that every the least sparke of your love to God might prove a Glorious Flame Yet I fear there be very many men that come into the world they know not why and live therein they care not how and go out of it again they cannot tell where but do live in it without a God and then die without any hope And others there be that dream of happiness and their hopes being but dreams they do therein but deceive themselves like those that dream they are at a pleasant Banquet yet when they awake their soul is hungry For as the Jews in our Saviours time did indeed persecute him because they were so blinded that they could not apprehend him to be the Son of God but for God himself they made full account that they alone and none but they did love him and for Moses vvhose very Name vvas the Glory of their Nation they professed to love him beyond measure so that vvhosoever spake any blasphemous vvords against Moses vvas thought vvorthy to be stoned to death Acts 6.11 John 5.42 V. 45. And yet our Saviour tels them I know you that you have not the love of God in you and that Moses in vvhom they trusted should accuse them before God So many Christians at the last day shall profess that they have prophesied in Christ's Name cast out Devils done many wonderful works in his Name rebelled against their ovvn King and killed their own Brethren and starved their own Shepherds and hazarded their own Lives for his sake and yet he shall protest unto them I never knew you i. e. to love me or to do these things for my sake but for your own ends and to satisfie your own desires and therefore depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And the reason is Two sorts of the Lovers of Christ 1. Formal 2. Real that there are two sorts of the lovers of Christ and two kinds of professors of Christianity 1. General 2. Special That formal this real that in shew this in deed that ingendred by Education by Country by Custome by conformity to the Laws and Fashions of them with whom they live and by a common sence of Gods outward favours for Christ his sake unto them and this infused by an inward operation of Gods Spirit in the heart in all sincerity and truth and is continually preserved and encreased by a lively sence of Gods special favour unto them through Jesus Christ And you know that S. Paul tells us he is not a Jew which is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that which appeareth outwardly in the flesh i.e. which is but only born and bred a Jew of the seed of Abraham of the visible Synagogue and partaker of all the external Covenants of grace but he only is the right Jew which is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inwardly in the secrets of the heart so he is not a Christian that is but only born a Christian and doth but outwardly profess Christianity to come to the Church to hear Sermons to receive the Sacraments Who is the true Christian and to accustome himself to all the outward formalities of Christianity but he is the true Christian that is so made by his second birth and by that internal grace which is indeed invisible unto others but most sensible unto himself and who as the Evangelist saith John 1.13 is born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God And therefore seeing God is not mocked and that he requireth truth in the inward parts and the exactest kind of love that can be imagined let us not mock our selves by any presumptuous conceits of our love to God and so deceive our own hearts and betray our own souls which is the usual practice of too too many men for if we love God as we ought then our love must be as the Apostle speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in purity in simplicity or as the word signifieth in incorruption i.e. such as neither the most honourable nor the most profitable nor the most delectable things in this world can ever be able to lessen or diminish the least jot of our love to God when with the Apostle we disesteem our preferments and our honours and whatsoever else the world could confer upon us and account them all but as dung in comparison of our love to God and the discharging of that duty which we owe unto him for so Abraham forsook his Country neglected his honour and was ready to facrifice his only Son in obedience to the commands of God and so will all they do that do truly love the Lord as they out to love him 2. For the extent and quantity of our love to God S. Augustine saith Aug. de moribus Ecclesiae that Modus diligendi Deum est ut diligatur quantum potest diligi quanto plus diligitur tanto est dilectio melior And St. Bernard saith that Modus diligendi Deum est sine modo The measure of our love to God should be beyond measure so much that we should prefer his Love his Honour and his Service before our Father or Mother or Wife or Husband or Children or Pleasure or Profit or any other thing in this World yea before our own life which we should be ready and willing to lay down for the love of him and the defence of his truth and service Qui
post nummos Haec Janus summus ab imo perdocet Haec recinunt juvenes dictata senesque Which made Euripides to present one in an humor that neglected all things and all reproaches for wealth because said he men seld om or never ask how good or how honest is such a one but how rich is he and each man is that which he possesseth and is so esteemed according as he is worth and no more And therefore most men I mean worldly men love their gold as their God and this God hath their love And yet riches in their own nature have neither honour nor knowledge nor power nor valour nor any other good nor evil in themselves more than that whereunto they that do possesse them do direct them but they are like the water Riches like the waters of Feneo of the lake Feneo whereof the Arcadians do report that whosoever drinketh of it in the night he falleth sick but whosoever taketh it in the day time he becometh well so riches used for the works of darknesse to oppresse the poor to subdue our Prince to uphold pride to maintain Idolatry rebellion and the like are very poyson unto our Souls but if we imploy them for the deeds of light How riches do evil and how they may do good to uphold the right to relieve the poor to defend the innocent they are as antidotes against all evil for neither is the rich man condemned nor the poor man saved because the one is rich and the other poor but as both may be saved so beth may be condemned because the rich man abuseth his wealth and the poor man his poverty And as most men hunt after riches so I might shew you how others affect authority and others are drunk with the desire of honours but the time would be too short for me to go about to cut off the head of this monstrous Hydra of misordered love and most men do professe to know that as S. John saith 1 Joh. 2.15 Whosoever loveth the World the love of the Father is not in him and that this world is full of snares and thorns and vanities and vexation of spirit and that the lovers of this world are none other than the Servants of the Devil and they do likewise confesse that God hath done and doth all those great things for them which we have set down and therefore that they are no worldlings but do love God with all their hearts and do think themselves much wronged if they should be otherwise suspected Yet because 2 Thes 3.2 as the Apostle saith all men have not faith so all men have not love What we must do if we love God especially such love as they ought to have therefore lest we should deceive our selves herein and so destroy our Souls we must know that God is truth and therefore he that loves God loves truth and whosoever loves lies and falsehoods loves not God and God is Justice therefore he that loves God loves that which is right and just and he that loves to do wrong loves not God and so God is Wisdom and God is Mercy and therefore he that loves God loves Wisdom and sheweth mercy and they that are foolish as all the wicked are and do shew cruelty unto their brethren as do the blood thirsty men that do now seaze and kill and slay the innocent that never offended them cannot be said to love God But for the fuller manifestation of our love to God 1. Two things to be done I will set down some of the most infallible signs of this true love of God the best of them that are collected 2. Lest upon the discussion of these truths we find our selves destitute of this love I will briefly and as the time will give me leave shew the impediments and set down the furtherances of our love to God 1 The infallible signs of our true love of God The Image of of Love how anciently painted And why And 1. I find amongst the Antient Hieroglyphicks that the Image of Love was painted in the shape of a beautiful woman cloathed in a green vesture wherein was written these two words prope procul far and nigh in the breast were ingraven life and death in the borders of her garment were set Winter and Summer and in her side a wound so wide and so largely opened that all her inward parts were transparent And those Sages that pourtrayed Love thus did it for these reasons 1. In the shape of a woman to shew the vehemencie of this affection The explanation of the hierogliphick 2 Sam. 1.26 because women by reason of their weaknesse to bridle their passions as they are more violent in their hate so are they more fervent in their love and more vehement in all their desires than men therefore David expressing the great love of Jonathan towards him saith that his love passed the love of women 2. Of a beautiful woman to shew that Love is an alluring subject and is sweet and delectable even to them that are troubled with Love 3. In a green vesture to shew that true love ought alwayes to be fresh and fair and never withered nor waxen old because it never faileth 1 Cor. 13.8 as the Apostle testifieth 4. In the words far and nigh that were set in the forehead of that Image was signified that contrary to the common practice of the world to follow that old Proverb Qui procul ab oculis procul est a limine cordis Out of sight out of mind true love remaineth firm as well in the absence as in the presence of them that we love when as neither length of time nor distance of place can any wayes alter the constancie or lessen the affection of a true Lover 5. In life and death that were ingraven on the breast was shewed that Cant. 8.6 as Solomon saith love is as strong as death Ecl. 49.1 and cannot be extinguished even by death it self but we will love the very names and memories of them whom we loved as the Son of Syrach saith of Josias 6. By the Winter and Summer that were set in the borders of her garment was signified that true love is permanent and durable as well in adversity as in prosperity for though as the Poet saith of worldly lovers Donec eris felix While prosperity lasteth and thy table is well furnished thou shalt want no friends nor misse of any guests but if adversity cometh thy friends will fail and thy guests will be gone so the Prophet tells us there be many men that will love God and praise him too cum lucrum accidit illis when they receive any benefit from him and when as David saith their corn and wine and oyl increaseth Psal 4.8 Job 1.11 but if any great losse or sud calamity should happen unto them then what the Devil said falsely of holy Job may be truely said of these worldly men they will
the Lord and then to set up the service of Baal to persecute the true Prophets and then to magnify the false teachers 400 of them must be royally fed on Jezabels table when she would not entertain one true Prophet 1 King 18.19 And when as the Prophet saith corruit in platea veritas truth is fallen and shall be troden down as mire in the streets then lies and falshoods errors and heresies and all blasphemies shall be generally apprehended and the broachers thereof not worthy the name of Preachers shall be liberally maintained as they were by Queen Jezabel and are now by our Parliament-governours in every place Therefore though the Prophet saith It was a wonderfull and a horrible thing Jer. 5.30 that the Prophets should Prophesy falsly yet I think it was a greater wonder for the people to love to have it so to hire them so dearly and maintain them so bountifully for Prophesying falsly and teaching lies unto them For if Ahab and Jezabel had not magnified and so bountifully maintained those false Prophets and the people had not loved to hear them Prophesying lies and falshoods unto them it is like enough they would not have been so ready to broach so many errors and heresies unto them But what wonder is it for men to wander when they love to wander and to erre when they desire to erre for as Theognis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So we may as truly say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as another saith Quisquis amat ranam ranam putat esse Dianam He that loves a Black-moore thinks her to be as fair as Venus he that loves an Idol makes it his good god and he that loves lies errors and heresies embraceth them for divine verities But is it not a wonderful and a horrible thing that men endued with reason and understanding and men that pretend and seem to be wise and religious should notwithstanding be so brutish and sottish as to love to wander and love to be deceived and guided out of the service of God to follow after the vain fancies of the false Prophets Yet you see our Prophet tells us it is so with this people Why the people love to follow their false teachers rather then the true Preachers and you shall find it so with many more for as the wicked love the world better then the godly do love the Lord so the Schismatick and Heretick the Quaker the Anabaptist the Presbyterians the Independants and the Papists are more ready to maintain and more affectionate in their love to the false teachers then the true Protestants are to relieve the true and faithful Preachers And the reason hereof is two-fold 1. Because the false Prophets are more sedulous to gain Proselytes Reason 1 then the true Preachers are to make Christians for so our Saviour tells us that while the husband-man slept the envious man sowed tares Matth. 13.25 and while the faithful disciples slumbered the traytor Judas was very watchful and ran from Christ to the high Priests and from them back again into the garden and never rested untill he had finished his intended treason and delivered the King of heaven into the hands of his own sinfull subjects to be crucified And the second reason of this their more eager desire Reason 2 and more earnest love to errour then love to truth is because as our Saviour saith The children of this world are wiser in their generation then the children of light For though as our Prophet saith This people were foolish and sottish children that had no understanding to do good yet they were wise to do evill Je. 4.22 And so are all the children of this world and that makes them more secret in their plots more studious in their doings and more subtle in all their actions then are the children of God and when they have done any foul fact and committed some great offence then as the Tragedian saith Scelera sceleribus tuenda their horrible acts are upheld by far more horrible projects and as thieves to conceal their robberies do commit murder and lyars to justifie their lies will forswear themselves so will all wicked men uphold and maintain their wickedesse by greater wickednesse and as Medea saith Quae scelere pacta est scelere rumpatur fides the covenant which they have wickedly made they will as wickedly break and the faith which they have deceitfully given they will as readily frustrate And thus as Demodicus said of the Milesians that they were no fools but they did the very same things that fools did so the wicked politicians and the hypocritical Saints of this world they are no Jews but they do the verie same things that those Jews did they wander and erre from the truth because they love to wander And I would to God we would take as much pains to go to heaven as they do to run to hell and that we would as zealously love the true service of God as they love to wander from this right worship of God 3. For the manner of their doings it is set down in the word thus 3 The manner of their doings or after this sort and it is likewise implyed in this word wanders for he that wanders stands not still but still goeth on from the thickets unto the briers and from the briers unto the bogges and so from one errour unto another So you see we are here in a wilderness where this people went astray and I must follow them with the best Method I can to declare unto you their wandring courses but as Moses sets down only their principal stations and not every step that they made in the wildernesse of Sinai so will I follow his example and shew you only their principal aberrations in the wilderness of sin and because their sin is morbus complicatus a twisted and a decompound wickednesse containing many severall branches I will rank them into these three heads 1. Their aberrations principally consisted in three things Their abuse of Gods service 2. Their rebellion against their Governours 3. Their injuries unto their neighbours The which threefold sin is circulus diaboli the very circle of the devil wherein he driveth the wicked to run their round 1. 1 The abuse of Gods service Their abuse of Gods service was in their idolatry and idolatrous worship of God for so the Prophet saith According to the number of thy Cities were thy gods O Juda and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem Jer. 11.13 have ye set up altars to that shameful thing Where you may observe That as there is but one God so this God should be served in every City and in every street of every city and as God is the same in every place That the same God should have the same worship in all places in every city and in every street of the city so should his service be the same in every place And to
from those great treasures and possessions which they had suddenly attained unto And therefore let not the righteous that rightly serveth God fret himself because of the ungodly neither let him be envious against the evil-doers when he seeth them in such prosperity for when God seeth the time Psal 37.1.2 they shall soon be cut down like the grass and be withered even as the green herb But as the Poet saith animum servate secundis And as the Prophet saith Let them that serve God put their trust in the Lord and tarry the Lord's leisure and pray with the words of our rejected Liturgy O God make speed to save us O Lord make haste to help us And in his good time he will deliver us out of all our troubles Amen THE FIFTH TREATISE 1 Pet. 2.17 Honour all men Love the brother-hood Fear God Honour the King IT is an old received Rule consented unto by all and contradicted by none that all the Commandments of God are 1. Brevia 2. Levia 3. Vtilia That is 1. Few and short 2. Leight and easie 3. Sweet and profitable For 1. They are not many like our Laws or the precepts of the Alcoran or the Popes Canons that are multiplied above number for these are but ten in all But two but one Ten saith Moses Two saith Christ One saith S. Paul and all say the truth For the Ten Precepts of Moses contain nothing else but First our duty to God And Secondly our duty towards our Neighbours as our Saviour saith And both these duties are comprised in this one act and affection of Love as S. Math. 22.37 John 15.12 1 Cor. 13. Rom. 12.10 Paul saith For thy duty to God is to love him with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and if you love me keep my Commandments saith our Saviour Christ and my Commandment is That ye love one another And love worketh no ill to his neighbour saith S. Paul therefore is love the fulfilling of the Law So all the Commands that God gives unto us is but one word one syllable Love So he gave to Adam but one Precept to abstain from one Tree and therefore you need not burden your memories nor take the pains to learn the Art of Memory for fear you should forget it God hath thus provided to prevent this excuse That the multitude of Precepts have caused you to forget your duties And as God so all good and wise men imitating God herein have given short Precepts and brief Rules unto their Schollars which we call Aphorisms or Dicta sapientum The words of the wise as the seven wise men of Greece left seven brief Sentences unto their Followers For Dicta septem sapientum 1. Cleobulus said Keep the mean 2. Chilon said Know thy self 3. Periander used to say Restrain wrath 4. Pittacus said Nothing too much 5. Solons wise saying was Remember the end 6. Bias was wont to say The wicked are many 7. Thales's saying was Flee suretiship And Solomon useth the same Method of teaching men in his Proverbs and Book of the Preacher which is Eclesiastes And so doth S. Peter here in this first Epistle to the dispersed Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Sentences are very short but exceeding pithy Inest quoque gratia parvis and abundance of worth may lie in a little thing as you see a little Diamond is of a great value And therefore as Democharis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne despice parva Slight not the smallest things Nam verbum sapienti sat est A word is enough to the wise And the longest Sermons do little or no good to the wicked 2. 2 The Commandments of God very easie and light Math. 11.30 1 Joh. 5.3 Psal 119. As the Commandments of God are short so they are leight and easie for my yoke is easie and my burden leight saith our Saviour And Mandata ejus gravia non sunt saith S. John His Commandments are not grevious but they are so leight and so easie that the Prophet David saith I will run the way of thy Commandments And S. Paul saith he can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth him And our God is not so tyrannical as to give such Commandments as are impossible to be observed especially in the outward acts and the inward also if we consider the aid and assistance of Gods Spirit that Christ giveth to them that seek it And therefore if our hearts be indued with grace and we desire the Spirit of Christ we need not murmur and lie down with Balaam's Asse for the great weight that is upon our backs or complain of the heavy yoke that Christ hath laid upon our necks and say with those drones in the Gospel Durus est hic sermo Love makes all labours easie This is a hard saying Who is able to endure it For if Leander did so much for the love of Hero and Pyramus for Thisbe then certainly the Commandments of God are leight and sweet enough to every one that loveth God Da amantem sentit quid dico And if you bring me one that truly loveth God he will confesse this truth saith S. Augustine Even as the Prophet David doth Psal 119. And such are all the Precepts of this our Apostle you may observe them without pain without losse without abating your strength and without wasting your wealth And 3. 3 The comman dments of God bring great profit to them that keep them Psal 119. They are not so leight and so easie in themselves as they are beneficial and profitable to those that observe them for Great is the reward of those that keep thy Laws O God saith the Prophet David and Moses setteth down the many many blessings of the Israelites if they would observe Gods Commandments And so these short Sentences of S. Peter and these leight Precepts of our Apostle have abundance of wisdom in them and do bring an infinite deal of commodity and profit unto the true observers thereof And therefore if nothing else yet the benefits of keeping Gods Commandments should perswade us all to be ready to hear and willing to obey these Precepts of the Apostle which he delivereth from the Spirit of God for we are naturally given to love our own profit And as the Poet saith Et reditus jam quisque suos amat sibi quid sit Vtile sollicitis computat articulis Every man respecteth his own advantage and loveth his own benefit And I do assure you there is nothing in the world that any of you all can do and let him do what he can that shall bring him more profit than the right observance of these few Precepts Honour all men c. Wherein you see there are four special Precepts And these four Precepts are like unto the four Rivers of Eden that watered the Garden of Paradise to make the same both profitable and pleasant The 1. concerneth all men
our brethren the more conformable we shall be to God who loveth all men as they are his creatures and doth good to all men by making his Sun to shine upon the good and upon the bad and sending rain upon the just and upon the unjust and so they that imitate God in loving all men and doing all the good they can unto all men do hereby shew themselves to be the children of their Father which is in heaven as our Saviour saith Matth. 5.45 And therefore seeing we are all brethren Aug. habetur 24. q. corripiuntur and the same God is the father of us Sic affici debemus charitatis affectu ut omnes velimus salvos fieri we ought so charitably to affect all men as not to separate our selves from them and to exclude them from our Churches or societies but to wish the health and salvation of all men and to do our best help and furtherance to save and to relieve every man which is as the Apostle saith To honor all men And this our love honor and esteem of all men The love and honor that we owe to all men 2 waies to be considered must be especially considered 1. In respect of the manner of it for 2. In respect of the matter of it for 1. It must be shewed really and truly from the heart without Hypocrisie and not as worldlings and wicked men do that 1 In respect of the manner of it as the Poet saith fronte politi Astutam vapido servant sub pectore vulpem That is in the Prophets words do speak friendly unto their brethren and imagine mischief in their hearts like Joab that said to Amasa Is it peace my brother and while the tongue thus annointed him with oyl the hand stab'd him to the heart for we should love our neighbours as our selves that is as truly and in as true a manner though not in as great a measure as we love our selves yea this is the commandment that I give unto you Joh. 13.34 How Christ hath loved us ut diligatis invicem sicut ego dilexi vos that ye love one another even as I have loved you And how hath Christ loved us 1. It was Amore vehementi non mediocri with no small nor mean love but with the greatest affection that could be Joh. 15.13 Rom. 5.10 for greater love then this hath no man that a man should give his life for his friend saith our Saviour and he gave his life for his enemies saith the Apostle 2. It was Amore vero non ficto with a true sincere love and not with a seeming affection and a dissembling heart And 3. It was Amore perseveranti non finienti with a continuall and lasting love for whom he loved he loved unto the end and not for a short space And therefore our love to one another should be great true and lasting love and not like the worldlings love that seems fair and full while we are in prosperity but will fall away like water when we fall into adversity and so verify the Poets saying Donec eris faelix multos numerabis amicos Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes 2. This true honor and unfaigned love 2 In respect of the matter of it which is two fold that we owe and are injoyned to shew and render unto all men in respect of the matter consisteth in two things 1. No waies to hurt or wrong them 2. Every way to assist and to help them 1. 1 No waies to hurt them He that offereth injury unto his neighbour or doth wrong to any man An injury what it is doth contrary to the rules of nature saith Cicero Et injuria est verbo vel facto cum aâ—iquo injustè agere and an injury is to deal unjustly with any one either in word or deed saith Isidorus and you know that besides the breach of natures law such a one as either of these waies wrongs his neighbour breaketh the commandment of the Almighty God who doth expressely forbid us to defraud or oppress or any waies to wrong one another or the stranger that is amongst us as you may see it in Moses and Jeremy ful y expressed for Moses saith Thou shalt not steal nor deal falsly nor defraud thy neighbour and the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night untill the morning Lev. 19.11.13 and the Prophet Jeremy saith Thus saith the Lord Execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoyled out of the hand of the oppress r Jer. 22.3 and do no wrong do no violence to the stranger the fatherless nor the widow neither shed innocent blood for the very heathen Poet can tell you that Quaelibet extinctos injuria suscitat ignes Ovid. l. 3. de arte amandi Wrong and injuries stir up striffes and do kindle the flames of unquenchable fire and though as Aristotle saith Melius est injuriam pati quà m alteri nocere it is better to suffer wrong then to hurt another and as the Comick saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That man is to be deemed most excellent which knoweth how to suffer most injuries yet because the frailty of flesh and blood is such that as the proverb goeth Scribit in marmore laesus they that register benefits and good turns done unto them in the sands will ingrave all wrongs and injuries done to them in marble never to be blotted out of memory and Solomon tels us Eccl. 7.7 that oppression maketh a wise man mad and if wise men can so hardly brook to be oppressed then surely fools and simple men will be stark mad to see themselves injured and will be ready to be revenged upon every advantage And therefore we ought to take great heed that we do no injustice nor offer any wrong to any man because dealing righteously one with another is the mother and preservative of love amongst neighbours Esay 32.17 and of peace amongst all men Injustice and wrongs the cause of all mischief for as the Prophet saith The works of righteousness shall be peace and the effects of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Whereas injustice oppression and wrongs are the causes of Laws Murders Wars and all Mischiefs And yet I demand if any thing in the world be now so common and so publick as wrongs injuries and oppressions Especially of them whom we ought most of all to honor and to love for though S. Paul bids us to esteem our Governors and our Teachers that are over us 1 Thes 5.13 How fairly Pharaoh dealt with the Priest Gen. 47.22 and do admonish us very highly in love for their works sake and the very heathens did no less for when Pharaoh bought all the Lands of the Egyptians throughout the whole Kingdom of Egypt he bought not the Lands of the Priests but assigned a portion of corn to sustain them so
suppress sin Prov. 3. Chap. 15. Chap. 16. so we may know where the fear of God resideth by the fruits that it bringeth I will name but only two that are the inseparable effects of the fear of God 1. Per timorem Domini declinat omnis à malo The fear of the Lord expelleth sin which can no more stand with the fear of God than light and darknesse can agree together or the Ark and Dagon can stand upon the same Table for sin is like a deluge and the fear of God is like the bank of a River which hindereth sin to overflow in any man Or sin is like drosse or stubble and the fear of God is like the flames of fire for so the very Pagans depainted fear like unto love invironed about with fiery-flames because all fear as well Divine as Humane scorcheth and consumeth us as long as it remains within us And therefore as the fire consumeth all drosse rectifieth the crooked and purifieth all Mettals so the fear of God driveth away all unlawful lusts cleanseth our hearts and maketh straight all our wayes For so Joseph saith he would not wrong his Brethren because he feared God And so Job would not injure the fatherless and the widow because he feared God Wherefore if with their tongues the Rebels have used deceit if their feet are swift to shed blood and if they have not and will not know the way of peâ—ce but refuse all the fair offers of a most gracious King then I may truly conclude with the Psalmist and I have S. Paul to justifie it that there is no fear of God before their eyes let them pretend to do what service they please unto God 2. Qui timet Deum facit bona mandata Dei observat nihil negligit 2 To do all good Ecclus. chap. 15. Chap. 12. Chap. 7. The fear of God doth all good saith the son of Sirach Because as S. Gregory saith Timere Deum est nulla mala quae fugienda sunt facere nulla quae facienda sunt bona praeterire The fear of God doth none of those evil things that are to be shunned but doth all and neglecteth none of those good things that are commanded And what are those good things that are commanded which the fear of God neglecteth not I answer They are very many and yet the fear of God will have a special respect unto them all As the Prophet David testifieth I have respect unto all thy Commandments Psal 119.6 For he that feareth God must not do as Agrippa did almost to become a Christian or as Herod did to hear John gladly and in many things to follow his counsel But as Moses when Pharaoh yielded the children of Israel should go to sacrifice unto God so they would leave their cattel behind them answered That one hoof should not be left behind He would not condition to omit the least jot of Gods Precept or to leave the least Command unobeyed So he that feareth God will not purchase peace nor compasse his own desire though it were with the Israelites to be freed out of bondage or with David to gain a Kingdom with the least transgression of Gods Will or the connivence with the least breach of Gods Precepts or the least alteration in Gods own Ordinances And therefore if these men fear God they will prefer his wayes before their own and they will have a special care to all his Precepts I will only name those that are contained in my Text. Honour all men Love the Brother-hood which I have already handled And Honour the King Which I shall by Gods help treat of by and by and without which we cannot be said to fear God because these are as inseparably joyned together to make a Christian-man as the soul and body are to make a natural man as you may see in Hos 10.4 where the people say We have no King because we fear not the Lord. Therefore as S. John saith He cannot love God which be hath not seen that loveth not his neighbour which he seeth So he cannot be said to fear God who is the King of kings that doth not honour the King who is the Vice Roy and the Livetenant of God And now I demand how they have performed these things For if that to rob pillage imprison and kill be to Honour men and to love the Brotherhood and if to rail slander rebel and fight against our Soveraign be to Honour the King then do they truly fear God if otherwise I may truly conclude with the Psalmist They are corrupt and become abominable and there is no fear of God before their eyes But it may be they will object Ob. that they are commanded to love God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind and S. Math. 22.37 1. John 4.18 John saith There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear and he that feareth is not made perfect in love Therefore these perfect Saints that râ—b their neighbours kill their brethren and fight against their King for the great love they bear to God and because the King will not suffer them to have what they list they need not fear God's wrath nor be afraid of his judgement I answer Sol. That some Divines say the true love of God casteth out the servil-fear which is only the fear of punishment but doth not cast out the filial reverence and the awful fear of losing Gods favour But I think rather the time is to be distinguished and not the fear because the Apostle saith Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgement and then addeth that perfect love casteth out fear But our love is not nor cannot be perfect until the Day of Judgement We may strive and labour for perfection but cannot possibly attain unto it while we are in this vale of misery otherwise then that which is termed Perfectio viae and which is indeed but imperfecta perfectio therefore our love cannot be without fear as well the fear of his wrath and vengeance as the fear of losing his love and favour For if I lose his favour I may fear his wrath and where there is a commission of any sin there must need be a diminution of love and where there is an extenuation of love there must of necessity follow an occasion of fear But as it was said of old that Religio peperit divitias filia devoravit matrem So we may say That sin bringeth forth the fear of Gods judgements and the fear of Gods judgements doth in all the godly prevent and cast out sin And therefore not only to the wicked but also to his dearest servants God doth usually expresse himself by those titles and epithets which might work in them as well a fear of his Majesty as a love to his goodness as in lege operandi in the Decalogue he saith I am Jehova thy God
that we might fear him and he addeth which brought thee out of the land of Egypt that we might love him And in lege precandi he teacheth us to say Our Father that we might love him and he addeth which art in Heaven that we might fear him And in lege credendi we are taught to say I believe in God the Father that we might love him and to add Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth that we might fear him And besides all this we find that these two Graces Fear and Love 1. Are injoyned by the same Law 2. Do proceed from the same Cause 3. Do produce the same Effects And 4. Shall obtain the same Reward For 1. Moses that was faithful in all Gods house saith And now Israel What doth the Lord thy God require of thee Deut. 10.12 but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in his wayes and to love him Where you see fear and love so equally required that whosoever neglecteth the fearing of him though he should love him or omitteth the loving of him though he should fear him if he could do the one and not the other yet he is a transgressor and liable to the breach of this Commandment 2. As none denieth but mercy should procure love therefore Moses after he had rehearsed the great mercies of God towards the Israelites Deut. 10.11 21 22. Josh 23.9 11. Psal 130.4 addeth Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God And Joshua doth the like so David after he had considered his own vileness saith With thee there is mercy therefore shalt thou be feared Where you see the mercy of God is the foundation of this fear of God as well as of the love of God And as the mercy of God so the justice of God produceth both â—ffects the one as well as the other For my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements saith the Prophet And though justice seems as oil to continue the burning of this lamp of fear and as water to quench the fire of love yet as lime which is naturally cold doth notwithstanding retain a fiery quality ex aqua incenditur ex qua omnis ignis extinguitur and is inflamed by water which doth extinguish all fire So the love of the Saints is kindled by the judgements of God Therefore the Prophet saith Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements Psal 119.164 Psal 119.52 And again I remembred thy judgements of old and have received comfort 3. As love inflameth the desire to do what is acceptable unto God so fear hateth to do what is abominable unto him and as love keepeth his Precepts so fear loatheth to break his Commandments and as love mitigateth the sorrow which fear causeth so fear qualifieth the joy which love produceth And as S. John saith God is love so Jacob calleth him the fear of his father Isaac And as S. Paul saith Love is the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 6.2 Eccles 12. So Solomon saith The end of all things is the fear of God and the keeping of his Commandments 4. As the mercy of God is shewed upon thousands of them that love him Exod. 20. Luke 1.50 and keep his Commandments So it is no lesse upon them that fear him But as the Psalmist saith Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord he shall be mighty upon earth Gloria divitae in domo ejus And as the son of Sirach saith Timor Domini gloria gloriatio laetitia corona exultationis Because as the Prophet saith Dat haereditatem timentibus nomen suum Yea Psal 61.5 Psal 145.19 he will fulfil the desire of them that fear him and look whatsoever they do it shall prosper And as eternal life is promised to them that love God So eternal death shall never seize on them that fear God And in brief whatsoever attendeth the one becometh a follower of the other and no marvel because that in love fear is included and in fear love is implied And while we are in this world both grow together in the heart of every true Believer And as the Poet saith of another kind of love so I may more truly say of this Divine love Res est soliciti plena timoris Amor. This love of God is full not of distrustful but of careful fear Quia timentes Deum non erunt incredibles verbo Illius saith the son of Sirach Ecclus. 2. But the wicked have neither true fear nor perfect love For though Cain Esau and Judas had a kind of fear yet was it false because it wanted love And though the Pharisees and Simon Magus had a kind of love yet was it but counterfeit because it wanted fear for if the former had had love they would have desired favour and should have obtained grace and if the other had had fear they would have aimed at Gods glory and not have sought their own praise which did work their own confusion And therefore well might S. Peter enjoyn every Saint that loveth God to fear God And as the love of God so the fear of God is sometimes put for a part of Gods Service and sometimes for the whole Service of God and so it is in this place as in the first of Job and in Luke 1.50 and in the Psalms in many places As where he saith Come ye children hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord where the fear of God signifieth the whole Worship of God to honour him obey him trust in him pray unto him and what duty soever else we owe unto him And thus the fear of God is the rarest Jewel and the most excellent thing in the World No riches no honour no preferment like unto it No evil shall happen to them that fear the Lord but God shall preserve them in temptation liberabit eos à malis Ecclus 33. saith Siracides And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation but mischief and unhappinesse and all evil shall continually attend and overtake them that fear not God to bring them to shame beggary and confusion as you may see it manifested in the Story of the sons of Israel who while they feared God were replenished with a thousand blessings preserved from a thousand misfortunes and delivered out of the Egyptian slavery by a thousand prodigies the Lord dividing the Sea to make way for them and closing the same again to destroy their enemies Drawing waters out of the Rocks to quench their thirst and feeding them with the food of Angels But when they did cast off the fear of God then God sent flying Serpents and stirred up enemies and powred down his vengeance upon their heads still plaguing them more and more untill they should be either quite consumed or happily reduced to embrace the fear of God again And not to search farre for any further presidents How happy weâ—e
of it And whereas this day five years past all the Protestants in this Kingdome and we especially of this City were destined to be sacrificed and slaughtered and sent as an Holâ—â—â—st or whole burnt-offering from the holy Father to the infernal God as many thousands of our Brethren were then and since yet by the love of God towards us we are still preserved alive that we might serve him and love him again And what more shall I say but cry out with the Psalmist O how plentiful is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.21 and that thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in thee even before the Sons of men for thou hast shewed us Marvellous great kindness I cannot say in a strong City but I say in a weak City and delivering us from strong Enemies whose Subtilty and Cruelty Treachery and Perfidiousness would require the head of the best experienced converted Jesuite to express it I had rather preach of Gods Love than treat of their Malicâ— and to talk of his Goodness rather than their wickedness and that great goodness The Lord Marquess of Ormond which he hath so lately shewed in delivering our most Excellent Governour so often from that malicious wickedness of the Sons of Belial so perfidiously intended against him is not the least Testimony of Gods Love to us all especially if we consider that what was intended this day 5 years had now questionless been executed if God had not broken the Snare of the Fowler and by delivering him redeemed us all from the Sword of Malice and from the Jawes of death and therefore this ought to be rightly weighed and duly remembred in our Thanksgiving among the many great undeserved and unexpected Preservations that our good God hath wrought for us And because his Excellency trusteth not in Lying Vanities but putteth his Trust in the Lord and in the Mercy of the Most High therefore he shall not miscarry But indeed this Love of God to us hath been so great and his Blessings in our Deliverances have been so many that if I should go about to enumerate them I might as well tell the Stars for as the Prophet saith they are more in number than I am able to expresse and therefore I will now conclude with our hearty thanks and Praise unto our good God for all his Love and Favours and Deliverances that he hath shewed unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord who is blessed for evermore Labilis memoria hominis How easily and how soon men forget good things the memory of man is very frail and slippery especially in the retention of all good things for though as the Poet saith Scribit in marmore laesus we write injuries in marble and never forget nor forgive the least ill turn that is done against us yet we write all benefits and all good instructions in the sands where the waves of forgetfulness do soon wash all away as the children of Israel regarded not the wonders that God wrought in Aegypt neither kept they his great goodness in remembrance Psal 106.7 13 21. but soon forgot his works yea and forgat God their Saviour which had done so great things in Aegypt wondrous works in the Land of Ham and fearful things by the Red Sea therefore lest you should forget the first part of this text before you heard the second I thougt it high time to proceed to those points which the time prevented me to inlarge not the last time I was in this place but the last time I treated of this verse and I hope you do remember that I told you this text was a text of love and of a twofold love 1. The love of God to man And 2. The love of man to God And In the first I noted these four things 1. The lover God 2. The affection Love He loved us first 3. The beloved Us. 4. The time First And I have done with the first three and therefore not to stand upon any further repetition I am now to proceed to shew you the fourth point that is the time when he loved us 4 The time when God loved us first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loved us first i.e. before we would or could love him for love is one of the affections and the affections are seated in the heart and the heart is placed in the midst of the body and the body could not contain the heart nor the heart cast forth the affections nor the affections produce love before our loves Jer. 31.3 God loved us from everlasting before our Creation and affections and hearts and bodies had their being But God loved us before we were created and before we could have the least thought of our very being for I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee saith the Lord and this love was everlasting as well a parte ante from the time past as a parte post for the time to come and this love will appear the greater if we consider how freely and how undeservedly he hath loved us for the object of love is good either that which is really so indeed or seeming so to be And S. Aug. reasoneth most truly that antequam creati eramus nihil boni merebamur before we were made we could do no good we could merit no reward we could deserve no love And yet before we had received any being the love of God towards us had received a beginning and when our souls were unbreathed our bodies unframed and all this glorious structure laid in the dust before ever we beheld the light or the light was brought out of darkness or the darkness was upon the face of the deep our bodies and our souls were affected by God and we had a deep interest in the love of God when as then the earth was created for our habitation the creatures were produced for our service and the heavens were appointed for our comfort So God loved us before our Generation before we were before we had our being and after our transgression God loved us after our transgression John 8. when as God had made us his sons like himself and we had made our selves like our Father the devil there was cause enough of hate but none of love for then we found a way to run away from God we invented garments to hide our shame and to cover our nakedness from the eyes of men but to make us most loathsome in the eyes of God and we became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God that laboured with the old Gyants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight and war with God to unthrone him and to ungod him when we desired to make our selves like Gods nay the only Gods and he should be no God at all unless we might have our wills and not his will to be done in heaven as we do in earth Yet then when
curse God to his face and therefore God may justly say to them as S. Augustine saith of the like you have shewed me love indeed and in some things kept my commandments but it was for your own profits sake non quia me pure diligebatis Aug. despeculo humanae miseriae sed quia a me lucrari volebatis not because you did Sincerely love me but because you desired to be inriched and exalted by me like those Jews that followed Christ not because they saw his miracles and were edified by his heavenly doctrine but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled i. e. for his temporal blessings John 6.26 and not for the love of his spiritual graces or like S. Peter that would build tabernacles unto Christ upon Mount Tabor where he was transfigured in glory but did forsake him on Mount Calvary when he was oppressed with calamities and overladed with injuries just like too many of the servants of our now gracious King that could serve and extoll him in White-hall while he sate on his throne of Majestie and yet now serve and magnifie his oppressors and opponents when he is compassed with afflictions which is to love in Summer and not in the cold of Winter yet I say the true lovers of God will as truely love him in the Winter of adversity and persecution Job 2.10 as in the Summer of prosperity and exaltation and will say with holy Job shall we receive good at the hands of God and shall we not receive evill or shall we rejoyce at our advancement and shall we not be contented at our abasement 7. And lastly by the wound that she had opened in her side is shewed that true love revealeth the very secrets of the heart to his beloved so will they that love God confesse all their sins with Daniel and lay open all their wants with David unto God and they need not be ashamed to confesse them when as before their confession they are all patent to his eyes as the Apostle sheweth But because all these are signes of any true love to any object therefore I will shew you some more proper signs of our love to God and The 1. Acts 7.48 is to love Gods house for though as S. Steven saith God dwelleth not in houses made wiah hands but as the Poet saith Enter praesenter The chiefest Signs of our Love to God 1. To love Gods House Deus est ubique potenter That is in the Prophets phrase he filleth all places yet as he chooseth a Seventh day for his service when as all dayes are his and challengeth a tenth part of our goods for his servants when as all we have is at his disposing so he requireth a Church and a material house to be served in when as all the houses and all the places in the World Psal 27.4 Psal 84.2 cannot comprehend his Majesty therefore the Prophet David saith one thing have I required of God which I will desire that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life and again my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord Hag. 1.4 and the Prophet doth extreamly tax them that dwell themselves in seiled houses and suffer the house of God to be wast fit for nothing but as I see it now in many places to lodge beasts and birds and they may be as much and more blamed that neglecting his consecrated house do think their polluted barns to be good enough to serve our God Secondly 2 To love Gods Word Psal 119.79 47. 72. VVhat we understand by Gods word To love Gods Word is another sign of our love to God therefore the Prophet David saith O how do I love thy Law my delight is in thy Commandements and again thy testimonies are better unto me than thousands of gold and silver But here you must observe that because every one pretendeth to love Gods Word as they do professe to love God by Gods Word we understand not the bare Written letter but the truth of the holy Scripture for as the Hereticks in Tertull. time credebant Scripturis ut crederent adversus Scripturas believed not the Scripture but what themselves pleased out of the Scriptures so now and oftentimes alwayes the Word of God is perverted and mis-interpreted especially by two sorts of men as S. Peter noteth 1. 2 Pet. 3.16 Two sorts of men pervert Gods word Those that are unlearned and have not knowledge enough to undestand the truth of these high Mysteries 2. Those that are unstable and unconstant and therefore change the sense of Scriptures as they see the times and occasions change As for example 1. Mat. 20.26 27 The words of Christ whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant the Presbyterians allegde them to prove a parity of orders and an equality amongst all the Ministers of Gods Church and yet the very same words are produced by all the Fathers and all the most learned Divines to shew the diversity of our callings and the superiority of some of them above the others which is indeed the very truth because otherwise he would never have said whosoever will be chief but he would have told them plainly and briefly they were all equal and none was chief or none was greater than the rest but in saying whosoever will be chief let him be your Servant he sheweth the duty and humility that should be in him which was to have the priority and doth sufficiently confirm the superiority of some above the rest 2. Mat. 26.26 The words of the consecration of the Eucharist take eate this is my body are interpretd by Bellarm. and all the Church of Rome that quote the Authors of all ages to prove the Transubstantiation of that holy bread into the very body of Christ and yet the very same words are expounded by the Lutherans to prove their consubstantiation and by the Fathers rightly understood as they are amply quoted by Pet. Martyr and by the most learned of our Church do prove not the oral or corporal eating but the spiritual and sacramental eating of the body of Christ by Faith which is indeed there really but ineffably eaten and should be so believed to be without any further searching into these Divine Mysteries lest with the men of Bethshemesh we be justly smitten for peeping too narrowly into the Ark of the Lord. 3. The very same Scriptures to the number of forty places were alleged by the Arians to prove their Damnable Heresie that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the like nature with his Father as were produced by the Orthodox to prove him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same essence with God 4. That Scripture which commandeth us Matth. 22.21 to render unto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods is truly
and to have the blasphemous Alcoran of that accursed false Prophet Mahomet for their Bible instead of the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ and all this because they had forsaken their first-First-love to the true service of their God So will the just and jealous God do with any other Church or people that seems never so dear unto him when they are so wavering and so ready to wander with this people from the true service of God and to forsake their first-love with those Asiatick Churches and to derogate from the first faith that they have received And as the Jews protestation that they did all for the worship of God and therefore cryed The Temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 three times re-iterated in the same Chapter could not preserve them from this just judgement So the pretence of erecting a Gospel-discipline and the gathering of pure Churches out of Christ his Church contrary to the Doctrine of the true Church will hardly serve the turn to turn away Gods anger from us when upon these and the like pretended shews of sanctity more than ordinary we love to wander from the old way of Gods true Worship 3. The Person that is the sender of this Message is the Lord for 3 The Person that is the sender of this Message thus saith the Lord unto this people and that is the Lord which professeth himself to be slow to anger and abundant in goodness and in truth and that his mercy endureth for ever and is like the boundless and the bottomless Ocean that cannot be drawn dry Yet here this gracious God doth as it were disrobe himself of his mercy and lay aside his loving kindness and put on judgement as a garment that he might render vengeance to them that abuse his patience and prefer their own humours before his holy Worship and like the Scribes and Pharisees perswade themselves and the world that they are the only Saints when Christ knows they are the only hypocrites and so the vilest in Gods sight of all other sinners whatsoever as it appeareth by those many woes that Christ denounceth against these holy hypocrites more than against all the Publicans and Sinners which though they be open and apparent offenders yet are they sooner converted and brought to Christ and shall sooner obtain mercy at the hands of God than these outward Saints that inwardly are Devils That as our Saviour saith do come unto you in sheeps-cloathing with fair speeches and nothing but Scripture-phrases in their mouths but inwardly they are ravening wolves and devour the poor the fatherless and the widows under these holy shews But here as we know the Lord is merciful in his judgements and Ezra 9.13 as Ezra saith punisheth us less than our iniquites deserve and is also just in his mercies because he is righteous in all his works and holy in all his wayes So we must remember and we may assure our selves the Judge of all the earth will do right and will not destroy the righteous with the wicked Gen. 18 25. And therefore you must understand 1. Cui bonus to whom the Lord sheweth himself merciful and gratious 2. Cui justus to whom he will shew himself angry and just For To whom God sheweth himself merciful and to whom just As Christ saith that we must not give the childrens bread unto dogs nor a Scorpion to those children that call for Fish nor a Stone to them that desire Bread but we must give to every one his own portion and that in due season that is mercy and favour to the godly and to pardon the penitent sinner and so in like manner indignation and wrath and the heavy judgement of God upon the oppressors of their brethren and upon those that offend of malicious wickedness and that with this people here spoken of do love to wander out of the right way of Gods service to worship him after the new Mode and direction of the false Prophets And this may serve for an exceeding comfort unto the godly and constant worshippers of God that the Lord is so gratious and so just How God preserveth his servants in the midst of judgements as not to to destroy the righteous with the wicked But as he preserved Noah when all the World perished and delivered Lot out of Sodom when he rained fire and brimstone upon it and upon the other Cities So when a thousand shall fall besides thee and ten thousands on thy right hand yet will he give his Angels charge over thee Ps 91.11 and they shall keep thee in all thy waies that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone Or if it be as it somtimes happeneth that the good and godly men living among the wicked do partake of some punishments and afflictions with the wicked The different effects of Gods punishments upon the godly and upon the wicked as the good and bad sayling in the same Ship must be liable to the same Tempest yet the same troubles crosses and afflictions whether they be Plague Famine War or the like do not proceed from God either in the same manner or for the same end against the godly as they do against the wicked for they are but his fatherly chastisements unto his children but they are the signall testimonies of his wrath and fury against the wicked and therefore they drive the Godly to repentance and amendment of life or do translate them to everlasting happiness but they fill the wicked with rage and fury and drive them with despaire from one sin to another untill they descend to eternall torments 4. 4 The message comprehendeth two things The message that God sendeth unto this people containeth two speciall things 1. The doings of this people 2. The doome of this people 1. 1 The doings of this people In their doings you may observe these four particulars 1. Their Errors and transgressions they wandred 2. Four things wherein are considerable Their Love of Errors they loved to wander 3. The Manner of their wandering thus that is from one sin to another from one error to another from bad to worse from worse to worst of all 4. Their Greediness to proceed without any stop or stay in their wicked waies They refrained not their feet 1. 1 Their wandering Diligrunt evagari saith Tremelius And a vagrant is he that knoweth not where he is nor whither he goeth diligunt errare saith the vulgar Latin they love to erre And Errare est extra viam ire to wander is to walk or to run out of the way and I take the word wandering here in the largest sense What M. Calvin takes their wandering to be and not restrain it as M. Calvin doth to one particular sin which he understands to be their wavering minds and unconstancy in Gods service now serving him after the old manner set down by Moses and prescribed by God himself and by and by serving him after the new
nolle and the Scripture sheweth how good and joyful a thing it is for to see such brethren to love one another and to live together in unity yet the Brother-hood whereof the Apostle speaketh and is to be loved above all other Brother-hoods whatsoever Christians ought to love one another better than natural brethren that are not Christians is to be understood de fraternitate Spiritus of our spiritual Brother-hood whereby we are regenerated and made all the sons of God and so Brethren by adoption and grace For this fraternity of the Spirit unites men more and tyeth them better to love one another than the fraternity of flesh and blood Because as S. Augustine saith The natural Brother-hood similitudinem corpor is refert sheweth the likeness and coherence of the body but this Brother-hood of the Spirit unanimitatem cordis demonstrat declareth the unity and unanimity of the heart and that is interdum sibi inimica sometimes breaking out to deadly hate as it did betwixt Cyrus the younger and Artaxerxes But this is sine intermissione pacificâ alwayes remaining in perfect love And therefore ut Religio derivatur à religando as Religion is so termed because Religion tyeth all that are of the same Religion to love one another it tyeth and knitteth men together by fervent love among themselves and by a constant faith to God So we find that men of the same Faith and Religion have loved and relieved one another and stuck together better and firmer than any other kind of men whatsoever And so they are here required and commanded to do by the Apostle Love the Brother-hood that is love them especially and above all others that are of the same faith and do profess the same Religion of Jesus Christ as you do For you see all Hereticks and Sectaries and the professors of false religions do so and why should not you that are true Christians and do professe the true Religion of Christ much rather do the same But here we ought to be very careful A special Observation and to take special heed that we be not too censorious and too rash judges to set down the bounds of this Brother-hood and so straighten the extent and diminish the number of the Brethren by our determining who be those sons of God in Christ which we may and ought to love and relieve rather than the rest of men which we suppose we are not to love so well For you must know which our precise Saints will not know that the Brother-hood which the Apostle meaneth here Who are here understood by this Brother-hood and those that S. Paul termeth the houshold of faith and in other places the Saints of God is to be understood of all Christians and doth comprehend all those that were baptized and did professe the Gospel of Jesus Christ And these might then as they may also now be easily discerned and distinguished from the rest of the Pâ—gans and Infidels that did not believe the Gospel of God Because the one sort had the Fathers name written in their foreheads when they were baptized and so received the outward sign and badge of Christianity Revelat. 14.1 which they professed and were not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Rom. 1. And the other sort refused the profession of Christ and would not embrace the Gospel and receive the badge of Christianity but either persecuted the Christians or at best slighted and rejected the Faith of Christ But where all men are baptized and do professe to believe the Gospel and to do service unto Christ to distinguish the sound branches of the true Vine and the faithful members of Christs body from the rotten boughs and hypocritical professors and so to determine which are the Brother hood and which not is such a presumption of men as can no wayes be warranted by the Word of God for Conscientiae latebras hominibus scire non permissum est We cannot search into the hearts of men and God suffereth not men to know the thoughts of other men and the secrets that are lurking in their consciences which is the proper work of God who only is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierom. epist 5. The searcher of the heart and reins saith S. Hierom. And therefore we must confesse that as the Apostle saith 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord only knoweth who are his and can discriminate the lively branches from the rotten boughes and the truly regenerated Brother-hood from the soly outward professors of the Faith of Christ And we can judge no otherwise of any men than by their fruits that is by their actions and outward appearance We are often deceived by the outward appearance of things and that appearance when we judge of inward things by the outward doth oftentimes deceive us when as Multa sunt quae non videntur ita multa videntur quae non sunt Many things are which are not seen so many things are seen to be which are not As the falling-Stars seem to be Stars and yet are not And the hypocrites that like Water-men do row one way and look another way seem to be good Christians and yet are not So many men have the fear of God in their hearts and do love God and are the true children of God though these graces are not seen but are as we see the Sun is sometimes over-clouded with those sins that proceed from the frailty of the flesh And therefore our Saviour bids us not to judge according to the outward appearance that is not to judge of the inward things by the outward John 7.24 but to judge righteous judgement But you will say How can that be Quest or how can we judge righteous judgement if we can judge no further than the outward appearance or if Interiora non cognoscuntur per exteriora The inward things may not be known by the outward signs I answer That many times indeed Respon the inward things do cohere with the outward appearance as the heat sheweth there is a fire which we see not but this is not alwayes and therefore not infallible And I say that when our Saviour bids us to judge righteous judgement he meaneth not hereby that we should enter into the hidden things of the heart How we ought not to judge of our Brethren or search into the secrets of God and so positively and rightly to determine and judge as our Gnostick Sectaries seem to do who are Gods chosen Saints and who are wicked Reprobates Who are the Brother hood that are to be loved and who are the limbs of the Beast that are to be rejected which we cannot do But he meaneth that we should not judge of inward hidden and secret things by the superficial shew of outward things Or that we should not judge of the secret intention of the heart when we see but the outward action of the hand or as Saint Augustine saith he willeth that we should not
and therefore I say that the bond of this Christian fraternity which we are commanded to retain and to love all that are comprehended within it though it be woven like Josephs coat Gen. 27.3 with some diversity of thred and threds of many colours yet ought it not to be easily broken and soon cut in sunder and the mercies of God should not be too narrowly contracted for why should men be more rigid then God or why should any errour exclude men from the Churches Communion which will not deprive them of eternal salvation and we find that in the Apostles time the Corinthians denied the Resurrection of the flesh which is a principal Article of our Christian faith and the Galathians erred as fowly in one of the chiefest and most fundamental points of Christianity which was the point of our justification so far that S. Paul tells them if they be circumcised as many of them would be that is after they had embraced the truth of the Gospel they were fallen away from grace and Christ should profit them nothing and many other foul errours they had amongst them and yet the holy Apostle in regard of their profession to be Christians and their Christian conversation to lead a just and an upright life calleth them Saints brethren his children and the Churches of God Chillings p. 220. And so the seven famous Churches of Asia were infected with many errours and accused of foul corruptions and yet the holy Ghost denieth them not to be Christians and disdaineth not to call them the Churches of God And therefore I say though the Papists and Puritans Anabaptists and Brownists and the like differ from us that are the true Protestants in many particular points of our Religion yet while they professe to believe in Christ What are the chiefest points of charity and to live like Christians in the fear of God in true obedience to their King and in unfeigned love and charity towards their neighbours which I conceive to be the chiefest points of Christianity and the parts and parcels of our wedding garment I say they are our brethren and to be deemed our Christian brethren and we ought to love them and are obliged to live in peace with them and to suffer them unwronged to live peaceably with us and not to do as in the madnesse of their misguided zeal too too many men are bent on either side to hate persecute rob and murder one another because they will not be of the same opinion as we are or they are of which is a thing impossible in nature because Faith cannot be compelled either to believe what I list not or not to believe what I list as Lactantius saith and it is inconsistent with the very Principle of our profession that we should rob men and take away their estatesâ—s because they will not professe the same Faith and Religion that we do for compulsion may make men hypocrites but not Saints and you know the chiefest points of our Christian Religion are Faith Hope and Charity and the Apostle tells us the greatest of these is Charity because our love and our charity as they are of a far greater perpetuity so they should be of a far greater latitude and extent then our Faith and Hope can be And therefore What we are to hate and what to love in all Sectaries and professors of Religion though my knowledge and my judgment will not suffer me to be of the same Faith either with the Papists Puritans Anabaptists or the like erroneous Sectaries but perswadeth me to hate and detest both their Positions and their Practices yet my Religion teacheth me to love their persons and in my conversation to live in Peace and to joyn the right hand of Christianity with them and rather desire to exceed them in all the Offices of love then any wayes to shew the least hatred or do the least injury to any one of them all and withall to pray for them and to use all loving means to bring them to repentance for their errours and to embrace the truth This which I professe is the readiest way to winne them for as the Scripture saith Prov. 10.12 Hatred stirreth up strife but love covereth a multitude of sins and is the readiest way to convert the sinner And I think if men did this and not break the bond of love nor straighten the extent of this brotherhood they might the sooner be reduced to imbrace the same truth and to be united in the same faith because true love is the most attractive thing in the world and the want of love is the cause that so much wickednesse doth abound even as our Saviour testifieth And therefore it is most requisite that we should be very earnest and very often to insist upon these points and to urge these duties to honour all men and to love the brotherhood And so having heard that no Christian that is baptized and professeth the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be excluded from this Brother-hood We are now to confider wherein the love of this Brother-hood consisteth and what this Extensive love includeth in it and upon survey we shall find it to comprehend 1. An Vnfained affection of good-will unto them without dissimulation to wish them all happiness and prosperity not only in words but even from our very hearts 2. An Earnest endeavour to procure them all the good that their necessity requireth so far as it lyeth in our power to help them As 1. To pray for them that God would bless them and preserve them from all evil and save them even as S. Paul saith Brethren Rom. 10.1 my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved 2. Most cheerfully to administer to their necessities in all that lieth in our abilities for that is the Apostle's meaning both in his Epistle to the Romans chap. 12.13 And in this 1 Tim. 6.17 18. Chrysost in loc as S. Chrysostom sheweth saying Non solum pecuniis sed verbis rebus corpore aliis quibuscunque modis vult nos juvare egenos the Apostle would have us to help the needy not only with our purses but also with our words in speaking for them and with our labours to do them good and to preservs them from all manner of damage in their estates yea Rom. 12.20 without any difference of friends or foes for so the Apostle bids us If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink And so the Lord saith if thou meet est thine enemyes Oxe or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring hem back again to him Exod. 23.5.6 and if thou seest the Ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden and thou wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help him or leave thy business to help him O most heavenly and divine love how happy were we if we were filled with such love and how
we while we feared and served God we may easily perceive if we be not wilfully blind how we our selves that live in these Kingdomes while we feared God and observed his service were more happy then any of all our Neighbour-Nations both in regard of those many many deliverances that God hath wonderfully wrought for us far beyond usual favâ—urs both in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth and of King James as that Reverend Bishop Carleton hath collected and compiled them together and also in powring down so many inestimable blessings upon us bâ—â—a si sua norint Agricolae had we but the grace to acknowledge them as I dare confidently affirm it of our selves as Moses doth of the Israelites no Kingdome under heaven had the like as chiefly the purest preachâ—ng of the Gâ—spel the most learned Clergy the gravest and I believe the most uncorrupted Judges the wisest and the meekest Governours and above all the upholder of all the best and most pious Protestant King that ever these Kingdomes enjoyed O that we were wise and would consider these things and would understand these loving kindnesses of the Lord. But when How miserable did we be come when we did cast off the fear of God as Moses said of the Israelites dilectus meus impinguatus we began to surfet of these great blessings to loath Manna and to cast off the fear of God to deem the highest of Gods messengers not worthy to eat with the dogs of our flocks not fit for any thing but to be trodden under feet as mire and clay in the streets when we make our strength to become the Law of Justice when we despise Governours and speak great swelling words against authority yea and raise a Rebellion as odious as I shewed our King is pious then you see and I pray God you do not still feel what mischiefs and miseries do succeed and are like to continue in the chiefest of these three Kingdomes the house of God is made a den of thieves the Priests are made out of the basest of the people the Pulpits are filled with Heresies Treasons and Blasphemies the highest Courts of Justice are turned to be the shops of all oppressions and wrongs and Gods Annointed is persecuted more then any other yea and the whole Kingdome is made the butcherie and slaughter-house of the Kings best subjects and Gods most faithful servants and all this and much more because there is no fear of God before our eyes And therefore let not these holy Rebels under the pretence of their great love to God cast away the fear of God and let them not think they do him service by persecuting his servants or that that is Christian Religion which breaks forth into Rebellion because they cannot obtain their Petition but as Solomon begins his Proverbs with the fear of the Lord and the beginning of wisdom and ends his Ecclesiastes with Fear God and keep his Commandemets so I say that we and they should begin and end all that we take in hand with the fear of God and then all of us shall be blessed and whatsoever we take in hand it shall prosper But as S Gregory saith Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis and our love to God must be manifested by our love to our neighbours so our fear of God must be principally proved by that honour which we shew unto the King because as S. John saith it is impossible for us to love God and to hate his Image so it is impossible that any man should fear God which doth not honour the King because the same Spirit that saith fear God saith also honour the King and therefore S. Peter knowing how inseparably these duties go together after he had bidden us to fear God doth immediately adde honour the King which is the fourth branch of this Text. 4. Honour the King where I desire you to observe 4 Branch 1. Point and to observe it carefully when you had never more need to observe it then now 1. Who is to be honoured 2. What is the honour that is due unto him 3. Who are injoyned to honour him And all these are included in these word Honour the King 1. It is the King in the singular number and not Kings Homer Iliad 2. that every man is bound to honour for one man cannot serve two Masters much lesse can he honour two Kings but he must despise the one when he cleaves unto the other And therefore as it was like false Latine when Lamec said Hearken unto me ye wives of Lameâ— so it had been very incongruous for the Apostle to have said to any man honour thy Kings because as the Poet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocrat in Nicol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec multos regnare bonam Rex unicus esto And so not only Isocrates Lucan l. 1. after he had disputed much of all sorts of governments concludeth peremptorily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no kind of government is better then the Monarchy but also Plato-Aristotle Plutarch Herodotus Philostratus Cassius Patricius Sigonius and all the wisest men that have written of Government have proved Monarchical Government to be the best form agreeable to nature wherein God founded it and is the first Government that ever was most consonant to Gods own Government and the most universally received throughout the whole world even from the beginning of the Creation to this very day C. 3. p. 20. as I have most fully proved in my Treatise of the Rights of Kings Therefore Serâ—nus writeth that when Craesus raigned over the Lydians he would have taken his brother to be his associate in the Government but one of the wisest Lydians rose up and said Or all the good things O King that are in earth there is none greater or better then the Sâ—n without which nothing could be seen nothing could remain on earth yet if there were two Suns periculum immineret ne omnia constagrantia pâ—ssum irent we should find the danger to have all things consumed with too much heat even so the Lydians do most willingly embrace one King and most faithfully believe and acknowledge him to be their Saviour and deliverer duos vero simul tolerare non possunt but they can no wayes endure two at once and Plutarch saith that Alexander gave the like answer unto Darius when he sent word that he should raign with him saying nec terram duos Soles neque A am duos Reges ferre pâ—sse that Asia could no more abide two Kings then the earth could endure two Suns because as Caelius saith Nulla sancia societas nec fides regni est Caelius l. 24. c. 11. Omnisque potestas impatiens consortis erit And I believe this very Kingdome hath found the difference betwixt two Lords-Justices and one Lord Lievtenant even as the Poet saith Tu causa malorum Facta tribus Dominis communis Roma Lucan l. 1. nec unquam In turbam missi
aut per maria ambulare Aug. de bonis Câ—njugal c. 37. Non in quantum sil dei sed in quant filius hominis Id. de sanctitat Virginit c. 27. aut coecos illuminare but learn of me that I am meek and lowly in heart Therefore The second sort of the Acts and Doings of Christ are such as he did as man and are imitable to be imitated by us that are men and would be counted the Sheep and Servants of Christ and herein we should follow him And therein also we are to follow him 1. In respect of the Manner 2. In respect of the Matter For 1. What vertuous or pious act soever we desire to do 1 Sincerely 2. Totally 3. Diligently 4. Constantly 5. Humbly Diabolus dux nobis fuit ad superbiam Aug. ho. 12. Phil. 2.7 and to imitate Christ therein we must strive to do it to the uttermost of our power Modo forma in the same manner as Christ did it and that is 1. In sincerity without hypocrisie 2. For Gods glory and not for our own commodity 3. In a discreet knowledge and not in a blinde zeale Without the observation of which rules the Acts that we do may be good in themselves and yet quite spoyled from yielding any great good to us by our ill manner of doing them As 1. To fast and pray and to pay Tythes of Mynt and Annyse 1 Boni videri volunt sed non esse Bern. in cant Ser. 66. 1 Chr. 28.9 Prov. 21.1 Psal 51. Ad novercae tumulâ—m flere Hieron in Esa l. 6. How horrible it is to do villanies under the pretence of Piety Erasm in simil were very good deeds commended and commanded to be done by God himself yet because the Scribes and Pharisees did them in hypocrisie to be seen of men and to make the world believe they were Saints and the onely religious men our Saviour denounceth many a bitter woe against them and tells us that they have their reward and that is as Saint Hierom saith Gloriam mercenariam supplicia peccatorum So they that proclaim dayes of Humiliation and practise nothing but Oppression that pray to God to blesse them and prey upon the poor that curse them do but as the Greek Adage saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to weep for the death of our Stepmother and double their sin in the sight of God Quia levius est in alium aperte peccare quam simulare sanctitatem because the professed thief that robs by the high-way-side is not so bad as the holy Saint that under the shew of Religion takes away mine Estate saith Saint Hierome for as Wine mingled with Water doth sooner provoke vomite then either Water alone or pure Wine Ita intolerabilior est nequitia pietatatis simulatione condita quam simplex aperta malitia so any wickedness that is covered with the Cloak of Religion is a great deal more intolerable then if the same were plainly committed without any pretence of Piety saith Erasmus So horrible a sin it is to cloath Sin in the garment of Holiness as to put the Coat of Christ upon Judas his back 2. As it was an acceptable service unto God 2 Many doe Gods work for their own end as to subdue the rebels to get their lands for themselves The continual course of all worldlings in the service of God and a very good work to root out the house of Ahab for his Idolatry and prophaning Gods Service yet because Jehis did it rather to get the Kingdom unto himself and destroyed all the Kings children the better to secure himself in his Kingdome then to satisfie Gods justice for Ahabs Impiety the Lord saith that he will require the blood of Ahab on the house of Jehu even so they that destroy any Offenders root out the Transgressors of Gods Lawes and punish the Corrupters of Gods Worship be they whom you will the Work may be good and just yet if the doers thereof do it not so much to execute Gods Will as to satisfie their own Malice to suppress whom they hate or according to their ambition to make themselves great and to get their Estates and Possessions to themselves and their Posterity God will never accept of this work for any service done to him but will most severely punish it at the last And I think that the making of themselves great as Jehu did by the service that men pretend to do to God doth sufficiently cause many others to doubt whether they have done those things onely for Gods glory or for a conjuncture likewise of their own profit and I conceive you may be sure the jealous God will not regard that service which is done to him with a sinister aspect and respect to our own profit because he will not give his glory unto another he will not yield any part of his service to any of them that do the service but though he will certainly reward every man that doth him service yet as our Saviour explaineth the words of Moses it is written The shalt worship the Lord thy God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and him onely shalt thou serve and not thy self with him in the service that thou dost to him so he will neither accept nor reward that service which thou dost to thy self as well as to God or rather to thy self then to God And therefore I would advise all those that in doing service unto God by pulling down the Transgressors of his Lawes have raised themselves to such great Polsessions I would the Rebels would consider this to look well to their intention progression and execution of their work lest that for the service they believe they do to God they receive the reward of the Scribes and Pharisees or of Jehn that pulled down King Ahab to make himself King of Israel 3. 3 Many do good in a blind zeal Num. 11.28 2 Sam. 16.9 The love of Joshna to Moses when Eldad and Medad prophesied was good and so was the love of Abishai to David when Shimei cursed him and of James and John to Christ when they would have called for fire out of heaven to destroy the Samaritans for not receiving Christ but the love of them was in a blind Zeal without knowledge and therefore instead of being commended they were much reproved for their indiscretion even as Saint Paul persecuted the Saints when his blind zeal perswaded him that he destroyed Gods enemies And as Aiax in his frenzy is reported to have slain his own children by taking them for Ulisses and Agamemnon so many men in their blind Zeal destroy the true Ambassadors of Christ and the Pastors of Gods people by taking them for Popish Prelates Origen in ep ad Rom. Zelus ad mortem Amb. in Ps 119. and therein think they do God good service as the Jews thought when they crucified Christ for as Origen saith Putant se zelum Dei habere sed quia non secundum
and in the unity of the souls substance there is a trinity of faculties the reason the will and the memory which being created in holiness fell away from the uncreated goodness of God And in the unity of Christian Religion there is a trinity of invaluable grace Faith Hope and Love whereby the relapsed trinity of mans soul is reunited unto the blessed favour of the Eternal Trinity of Gods Essence And these three graces I find most excellently delivered and explained by three of the chiefest Apostles the three worthiest Pillars of Gods Church S. The three chiefest graces exprest by the three chiefest Apostles 1. Faith expressed by S. Peter Peter S. Paul and S. John for as Faith is radix omnium virtutum the root of all virtues as S. Ambrose saith and prima quae subjugat animam Deo and as S. Hierome saith the first grace that bends and brings our souls to God and the foundation of all other graces from whence as from the root of a tree those fair and fruitful branches of hope and love do spring So S. Peter was the first of all the Apostles and his confession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art Christ the Son of the living God was the Rock whereupon the whole frame of Christian Religion was established as both S. Ambr. and S. Aug. testifie And as hope is quasi columna quae totum spirituale aedificium sustentat 2 Hope explained by S. Paul as Laurentius Justinianus saith like the Pillar that beareth and upholdeth faith and love or the Anchor that preserveth the little ship of Gods Church in all storms as the Apostle calleth it and is indeed the only Nurse that feedeth inlargeth and maintaineth the very life of these graces So the blessed Apostle S. Paul was the greatest Inlarger and Cherisher of the Doctrine of Christ that we can read of for he caused the same by his own indefatigable pains to be planted and watered preached and published in abundance of places as you may see in the Table of his Peregrination collected out of his own writings and the Acts of the blessed Apostles and as love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfection and complement of all virtues indeficiens thesaurus gratiarum an unexhaustible treasure of graces unguentum suave quo pestes animi sanantur oculi cordis illuminantur and that sweet precious oyntment which healeth all the sores of our souls enlighteneth the eyes of our understanding and sweetneth all those fruits that proceed from Faith and Hope 3 Love amplified by S. John Iohn 3. as S. Basil saith So that heavenly Evangelist and best beloved Apostle S. John is the best and chiefest expressor of Gods love to man and the most careful exacter and requirer of mans love to God again for what else doth he chiefly aim at in all his Gospel but to shew how God loved the world that he gave his only begotten and his dearly beloved Son coequal and coessential unto himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this Son was the Word and that Word was God saith S. Basil that whosoever believed in him John 3. should not perish but should have everlasting life And what else doth he in all his Epistles in every Chapter and almost in every verse but as the Prophet David in the 119. Psalm doth continually touch upon the strings of Gods Law so doth he as sweetly play upon the strings of Gods Love his love to us and that love which we owe and are so many wayes bound to render unto him And to his dying day when he could not go he would be carried to the Church in a Chair and when he was able to say no more his whole Sermon was ut diligatis invicem that they would love one another And no marvel for he was indeed the Disciple which our Saviour loved above the rest and before all the rest of the Apostles he was the chiefest child of Love as S. Aug. calleth S. Paul the best Child of Grace And therefore as S. Paul gave himself principally to magnifie the free grace of God so doth S. John wholly dedicate himself to amplifie the great love of God and as he doth the same in all his works so he doth it especially in this my Text which I may well call the Epitome of all his writings and it containeth these two things which contain the sum of all Divinity 1. Gods love to Man The sum of all Divinity two-fold 2. Mans love to God For what Is the end of the Law and the substance of the Gospel but to shew how God loved us and to teach us why and how we should love God again and manifest this our love to God by loving one another For to love God with all our hearts is the great command of the Law and to love one another as Christ hath loved us is the new Command of the Gospel In these two hang all the Law and the Prophets and in these are comprehended all our duties and all this is contained in these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quia causae precedit effectum Wherein the Apostle doth principally aim at the main ground and chiefest cause why we do and should love our God This is the sum of the whole expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore must be first treated of Indeed if we do contemplate of those infinitely amiable excellencies and transcendent beauties that are so accumulated and resplendent in the Essence of God which is that light in whom is no darkness at all We shall find that as Nazian saith of Christ he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly desiderable and wholly delectable so fully invested with such attractive excellencies as are easily able to confound the senses and to ravish the desires of all that truly consider them Worthy men worthily loved for when we hear Abraham so highly commended for his Faith David for his Valour Solomon for his Wisdome Hercules Achilles Alexander Hannibal Caesar and the like such glorious Heroes celebrated and admired for their eminencies above other men we cannot chuse but deem them worthy of love when so many wise men as have written of them thought them worthy of admiration and reputed them the Worthies of the world So when we consider the glory of nature and the beauty of bodies which is nothing else but an apt proportion and a just correspondence of the parts and colours of these visible creatures they do so intice our senses captivate our affections and ravish our minds that our hearts are more present in their desires with such bodies that they like and love then with our own wherein they sojourn and live But what are all the Mights and Monarchs of the World compared unto God No excellency any wayes comparable to the excellencies of God but as Lambs among Lyons or as the leaves that are driven away with the wind blown down from their Regal Thrones
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more and above all other his creatures whatsoever And here you must observe also that amongst men as the glory of all Starres or the beauty of all Flowers is not the same when as every Star is not a Phoebus and every Flower is not a Lilly so the love of God doth not appear alike to all men for I love them that love me and I will shew mercy on them that love me and keep my commandements saith the Lord but the ungodly and him that delighteth in wickedness doth his soul abhor And thus not onely the Elect are beloved better then the Reprobates and the Saints better then Sinners but among the very chosen Saints God loveth some better then others for every like loveth his like and therefore God embraceth them with a greater love whom he vouchsafeth to make and findeth them willing and most yielding to be the more like unto himself and so he loveth those that are the better more then those that are less good as the more we excell in Vertue and Goodnesse the more dearly doth God love us so he loved Abraham among the Patriarchs Moses among the Prophets David among the Kings and this beloved Disciple among the Apostles more as it seemeth then any other and so the blessed Virgin whom all generations shall call blessed was highly beloved and loved more then any of all the daughters of men And of this gradation of Gods love S. Aug. saith Omnia diligit Deus quae fecit God loveth all that he made and among them he loveth rather the reasonable creatures and of these he loveth them more which are the members of his Son and most of all his onely begotten Son And this greater love of God to some men more then to others besides those internal graces of Faith Hope Love Patience and the like which he giveth to the Elect Mark 4.11 and not to the Reprobates Quia vobis datum est because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdome of heaven but to others not because they will not accept of them when they are offered God manifesteth the same to all men by two outward infallible demonstrations 1. The donation of his graces 2. The preservation of their persons For 1. There is no man but might consider how God hath bestowed more excellent gifts and graces on himself 1 God giveth his Gifts and Graces severally and differently then he hath done to many others as either Health or Wealth or Honour or some other gift that the meanest man hath which many others have not or if not yet seeing God out of his greater love to some men more then to others bestoweth on some five Talents when he bestoweth on others but two or but one and maketh some men Princes and others Peasants or indueth some men with Learning and Knowledge when he leaveth others ignorant and foolish and so maketh some men rich when as many others are very poor Why should our eyes be evil because he is good For Cum huic fit misericordia tibi non fit injuria when as herein he doth but shew mercy unto one and injury unto none Why should we not rather consider that he may love whom he will and shew mercy on whom he will have mercy and so do what he will with his own especially seeing we know not why he doth what he doth 2. God doth guide some men with his counsel that they run not with the wicked Ps 37.24 Rom. 1. into the same excess of riot as they do for seeing by nature we are all equally indifferent and equally inclined to all sins Repleti omni injustitia saith the Apostle How comes it to pass that some men abstain from odious Rebellions and other impious abominations and abominable impieties that many wicked men do perpetrate Is it from out selves and from the goodness of our Natures or the sweetness of our dispositions No no it is from God that giveth his grace and holy Spirit unto some that are willing and ready to receive it when God offereth it unto them rather then to others that refuse to answer when he calleth and to accept his gifts and graces when he offereth the same unto them so God preserved Noah from partaking with the wickedness of the old world Lot from following after the abominations of the Sodomites Joseph from consenting to the lewd inticements of his Mistress and the like and so he doth preserve them that he loves from imitating the wicked in their odious sins because these men love God again are ready and willing to be preserved by God for did not the blessed God work this happy change in our souls and the Father of Lights illuminate our minds with a more distinct knowledge of his grace we might have groped and flumbled in a thicker mist of stupidity then now befools our unnurtured brethren and whatsoever is either odious or ridiculons in them might have beene farre more prodigious in us And so S. Aug. doth most excellently confess it saying tentator defuit Satan was away and time and place was wanting to do the deed but this was thy doing to preserve me the Tempter came in time and place convenient Aug. Soliloqu L. 16. but then thou withheldest me from consenting So when I had a will I wanted ability and when I had ability I wanted opportunity and all this was from thy blessed Spirit that preserved me And this preservation of us from evil Prov. 1. is offered by the goodness of God unto the wicked but that they refuse it as the wise man sheweth and the Scripture testifieth in many places And as God preserveth those that he loveth from the sins so he delivereth them also from the punishments of sin for though misfortune shall slay the ungodly yet as the Prophet saith God preserveth the righteous And though the plagues of God shall range and rage so far against the wicked that thousands of them shall fall besides the godly and ten thousands on his right hand yet it shall not come nigh him because God giveth his Angels charge over those that he loveth and they do preserve them in all their wayes that they dash not their foot against a stone And here in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the persons on whom God shewed so many testimonies of his abundant love to some more then to others I may and must put our selves before many thousands of others that perhaps deserved the same far better then we do For whereas all other places that had the truth of the Protestant Religion amongst them have now their Candlesticks removed and the true publick service of God metamorphosed and corrupted with lyes heresies and blasphemies we alone of all our Kings Dominion have the true light and the publick service of God shining in the right Candlestick and with Authority maintained And I humbly beseech Almighty God that our sins unthankfulness and unworthiness do not ere long deprive us
prophane all Holy-daies even those that are set apart for the Commemoration of the blessed Birth Circumcision and Ascension of our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and all other days that the former Saints and the whole Church of Christ had appointed for the children of God to meet to give thanks to God for the great blessings that all we had received from him I demand of any man even themselves being Judges if it be not very just that they should be plundred and pressed and even lose their livings which have so unjustly and so perfidiously done those things in hope to retain their livings for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non te latuerit O supreme Jupiter horum malorum quisquis autor extitit The Heathen man can tell us God will not be mocked neither can we blinde the all-seeing eyes of God nor hide our selves out of his sight when we do commit such evils and Christ tells us plainly he that saveth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for his sake shall finde it And were the Martyrs so ready to lose their lives for his sake and shall we be so unwilling to forgo a little worldly pelf and some small living for his sake that tells us plainly whatsoever we give or lose for his sake we shall be required an hundred-fold and shall receive eternal life Let them therefore that will if not out of faction or ignorance but for the love of their livings reject our inoffensive and divine Liturgy that is so conducing to peace and good order so little obnoxious to any just exception and so exceeding profitable for the instruction of the people for mine own part I know it to be the true service of the true God and the best way that I know to serve God and therefore by God's help I will never omit it nor be guided by their directory for all the livings that they could or can heap upon me and I pray God it be not layd to their charge that to comply with the factious opposers of it or to retain their livings have done it to betray the service of God and to lay aside those heavenly prayers that were made by holy Saints and approved by all the best Doctours of the Church and appointed by authority to be used to help the devotion of God's people and in the stead thereof to authorise or at least by their example to encourage every Ignoramus to prate nonsence and sometimes to belch out blasphemies in his prayers to God and in the face of the Church without shame God forgive them Secondly For the lay-subjects of the King that have had their part in the miseries of these latter days The lay-subjects I speak onely of those that in their Consciences approved of their King's cause for his enemies their portion perhaps is yet unpaid I may divide them into two ranks just as were the followers of Gideon 1. Judges vii 7. Some were faint hearted and they were the greatest part and that by much 2. Others were very faithful and couragious but they were by far the smalest number not above 300. of 32000. so were the following subjects of King Charles First The faint-hearted Royalist the fainthearted subjects that loved the King and wished that he might prosper and prevail against his Adversaries but feared the powerful numerous multitude of the Parliament abettors that were very many and were just like the Inhabitants of Meroz that hated the Cananites but did nothing for the Israelites so did these nothing or so little as nothing for the King and for their fellow-subjects that were with him And yet the Scholes tell us and so do the Heathens also that Qui potest liberare alium non liberat occidit he that can deliver another that is from anundeserved death as in his Conscience he believeth is innocent and delivereth him not killeth him and is thereby guilty of his blood and the Canonists do say Scotus in sent dist 15. decret secunda parte c. usa 23. q. 3. Et Seneca passimâ— qui succurrere perituro potest cum non succurrâ—t occidit And Cicero saith Nâ—l habet fortuna majus quam ut possit nec nâ—turametius quaÌ„ ut velit servare Pro. xxiv 11 12. qui non repellit injuriam à Socio cùm potest tam est in vitio quam qui facit he that hindereth not an injury or a wrong that is done his fellow when it lyeth in his power to do it is as much in fault as he that doth the injury and Solomon saith If thou faint in the day of Adversity thy strength is smal and if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain and sayest behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his works and the Prophet David biddeth us to defend the Fatherless and the Widdows and to see that such as be oppressed have right which was the practice of Job as himself confesseth and of Moses also when he killed the Aegyptian to deliver the oppressed Israelite out of his hands and the Poet that knew no more then what the dim Light of Nature shewed him saith Turpe erit in miseris veteri tibi rebus amico Auxilium nulla parte tulisse tuum Ovid. lib. 2. De Ponto It is a foul shame for any man to leave an old friend in distress and not to further him with his aid and assistance And if men are thus obliged to assist their Neighbours and their Friends A shameful thing to neglect our Friends in Adversity when they are wronged how much more are they bound to aid and to defend their King when they see him wronged and sought to be murdered or dethroned for these men had sworn Allegiance and fidelity to their King at divers times and many of them if not most of them had their places and offices at least their Protection formerly from him and passing over those that were furthest from my knowledge and to speak of them quorum pars magna fui mine own Country men and Kinsmen with some great I know not how good men had like Aeneas and Vcalegon invited the wily Greeks to enter Troy and to come into our Coasts the chiefest Gentry were all moved and perswaded to swear and to take an Oath so well deviced and penned as the best and most learned Divines in all those parts could do it to be true and faithful unto their King and to the uttermost of their power with the hazard of their lives and the expence of their goods and fortunes to oppose all those Adversaries The inconstancy of many men that then opposed him and the chiefest of them by name And yet behold the Constancy and the Faithfulness of these good Subjects how good Christians I know not before one drop of their blood
righteous and just Secondly I say that there is crudelitas parcens misericordia puniens a sparing which is cruelty and a punishment that is a great mercie and such are the troubles pressures and punishments of God's Children mercies rather then judgments because they proceed not from God's Wrath but as the chastisements of a Father to his Children so do these come from the love of God towards his servants for their good whom he afflicteth here for a moment that they should be bettered and not be condemned with the Wicked hereafter for ever Thirdly I say that the Miseries Crosses and Calamities Reason 1 that the Faithfull suffer in this World are not always so much a punishment for their Sins Reason 2 though their Sins deserve much more Reason 3 and Sin is the root from whence all miseries do spring as trials and probations of their Faith and Constancie in God's love and service for so the Scripture saith that God tempted Abraham not temptatione deceptionis to deceive him as Satan tempteth us but temptatione probationis to try him whether he would obey the Commandment of God or not when he commanded him to offer his Son his onely Son Isaac for a Sacrifice unto God and so he tried the Israelites at the waters of Strife and as Moses saith in their Fourty years wandring through the Wilderness to see whether they would love the Lord their God and cleave unto him and continue faithfull in his service and so he doth plainly tell the Church of Smyrna that the Devil should cast some of them into Prison that they might be tryed and they should have Tribulation ten dayes and that is either ten years as Junius expounds it or else several times as others think yet all to this end that they might be tryed whether they would continue faithfull unto death or not and such were the afflictions of Job and of many other of the Saints of God they were justly deserved by their Sins and God in mercie sent them for their trial What the former Doctrine teaching the us And therefore whatsoever and how great soever a measure of Miseries Crosses and Troubles we have or shall suffer yet let us not faint nor be affraid of them and let not the Children of God be like the Children of Ephraim that being Harnessed and carrying Bows and so well prepared for the fight yet turned themselves back in the day of Battaile when there was most need of their assistance but as we have loved our King and have suffered all the calamities and burthens that are layd upon us for our faithfulness to him and the preservance of a good conscience so let us continue unto the end and never comply with any of the King's Enemies in the abatement of the least jot of our love and good opinion of the deceased King or with the Factious Non-conformists in the dis-service of God and the new invented Religion of our upstart Schismaticks let neither weight of trouble nor length of time change our minds because perseverance in Faith and Virtue is that which crowneth all the other Virtues and if at any time even at the last we forsake our first love and change our Faith we lose all the reward of all the former good that we have done and do by our revolt testifie that we were not good for the love of goodness nor adhered to the truth for righteousness sake but for some other by-respects for our own ends that never brings any to a good end and therefore the primitive Christians could never by any means be drawn to alter the least point of their Faith Prudent De Vincéntio and the right service of God but as Prudentius saith Tormenta carcer ungulae Stridénsque flammis lamina Atque ipsa paenarum ultima Mors Christianis ludus est All the Torments and Terrours of the World could never move them to change their mindes But some man may say Objection Providence hath decided the Controversy the King is dead Victrix causa Dits placuit and the Parliament hath prevailed against him and all his Friends and therefore what should I do now but comply with the stronger side and use that religion which they profess and that form of worship which they prescribe and so redeem the time that I have lost and repair some losses that I have sustained I answer Solution that our Saviour Christ to prevent this very Objection that the Jews might make to terrifie the Christians and to with-hold them from the faith of Christ because they had killed him and he was dead and therefore to what purpose should they adhere to a dead Saviour and hazard their lives and their fortunes to maintain the honour of a dead man that could not preserve his own life because a Living Dog is better then a dead Lion saith unto his Servant John I am he that liveth and was dead and behold or mark it well I am alive for evermore Amen and therefore let not my death deterr any man from following me or believing in me so I say that faith and truth are still alive and though oftentimes suppressed and afflicted yet not killed and therefore the Poet saith Dispaire not yet though truth be hidden oft Because at last she shall be set aloft And as another saith Terra fremat regna alta crepent ruet ortus orcus Si modo firma fides nulla ruina nocet And for King Charles I say though he is dead yet he is still alive many ways and that his blood like Abel's blood being dead yet speaketh and speaks aloud not onely to God These things were written and preached by the Author in the time of Oliver but also to every one of them that loved him that they should not so soon forget their faith and love to him that lost his life for their defence and the defence of the true Catholick Faith and though he be dead he is still alive alive with Christ in Heaven for evermore and alive with us on earth in the good that he did bring to us in the love that he shewed towards us and in the good that he left amongst us and shall we leave him and leave our love to him and our remembrance of him and forsake our faith and prove perfidious both to God and to the honour and to the memory of our deceased King and cleave to them to say and do as they say and do that have bereft us of him and would have destroyed us with him No no let us abhor them and their evil doings detest their false Faith and hate their Wickedness with a perfect hatred And though we have suffered much and may suffer much more at the hands of these Tyrants that are our new Masters yet let us submit our selves unto them but as Daniel and the rest of God's people did unto the Chaldeans full sore against their wills Iames v 11. Job lxii 12. and let us yield none otherwise to this present Government
saith Lex non justior ulla est Quam necis Artifices arte perire sua There cannot be a juster Law 2 In retaliation of good for good then for him that diggeth a Pit to fall into it himself or that he that loveth War should perish in the War and he that sheddeth mans Blood should have his Blood shed by man so in the retaliation of good for good the same Law holdeth most just and more especially 1. In Giving 2. In Suffering 3. In Loving For For 1. 1 In giving Is it not just that we should give to him that hath given all to us And what have we that we have not received from God Why then should we think much either to give the Tenth to God or our Almes unto the Poor when the Lord himself professeth he that giveth unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord and whatsoever you do to these you do to Him 2. 2 In suffering Is it not as just that we should be ready to suffer for him that hath suffered so much for us The Apostle saith that Christ exinanivit seipsum though he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 yet he emptied himself of all his Royal Dignities and suffered all the Indignities that could be laid upon him for our sake and shall we grudge to suffer the Losse of a little Worldly Trash or the bearing of some Light Affliction for him and for the Defence of his Truth and True Service that hath suffered all Sufferings for us No no when we suffer any thing for the Faith of Christ or our Loyalty to our King let us but consider what Christ hath suffered for us and what our good King hath suffered for the Defence of our Faith because he will not yield to deface the Church of Christ and to destroy the True Service of God and this will support us in all our Sufferings we suffer a little for him that suffered much for us 3. Because all men have not wealth to give 3 In loving and all men have not the patience to suffer yet all men have hearts to love God and they can have no excuse if they love him not because he hath so dearly loved them for if you consider all the Motives and procurements of Love which are very many as Beauty Benignity Bounty Wisdom Valour and the like yet there is none of these nor all these nor any other thing in the world so powerful to beget Love as Love it self neither is there any thing so available to encrease or to continue Love as Love it self Therefore the Poets feign that when Venus the Goddess of Love brought forth her first begotten Son she called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love and when she saw he thrived not but was still lean meager and bloodless How Venus consulted with Themis about her son Eros she consulted with Themis the Goddess of Justice which was Mother to Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom to know the reason of the sad condition of her Son and she told her that she must bring forth another Son which she did and called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Love for Love and then both her Children prospered and became exceeding beautiful and lovely So among men when we prosecute any one with Love it is impossible that Love should be lasting if at no time in no measure it should be requited with Love again for as the Coales Conjoyned will preserve the heat but when they are scattered will be soon extinguished so debet amor laesus irasci love when it is deserted and forsaken or left alone will be soon lost And therefore if we desire the Love of God to continue towards us we must resolve to shew our Love to God again for I will love them that love me and shew mercy unto Thousands of them that loue me saith the Lord Prov. 8.17 And so the Apostle saith we love him because he loved us first that is seeing he hath loved us therefore we are bound to love him where you may observe 1. The Persons We. We love him 2. The Act Love We love him 3 Parts 3. The Object Him We love him 1. The persons here said to love God are not the Angels 1 The persons that love God We. though they do exceedingly love him when as the Script saith He maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire where you may see three most admirable and transcendent excellencies of the Angels as 1. Purity of substance because they are Spirits 2. Readiness of obedience because they are his Angels and his Ministers Three excellent properties of the Angels and such as for their swift execution of Gods commands are compared to the wings of the wind 3. Ferventness of charity or burning love not only of one towards another but especially towards God because they are flames of fire but the persons here meant are men we love him i.e. we that are the sons of Adam do love him seeing mans love to God is but Radius divini amoris erga homines in deum reflexus a beam of Gods love towards man reflected from man to God again as Zanchius saith and seeing that where so powerfull a cause doth exist the subsequent effect must needs follow Therefore seeing God loveth all men it must needs be that all men How all men do love God Acts 17. in some measure do love God again that is as God is their Creator Preserver and Cause in whom they live and move and have their being and from whom they have and do receive all the good that they have so the Jews Turks and Heathens Worldlings Rebels and Traytors and all the wicked men in the world doe love God But seeing this love is too general and too base for all Christians scarce worthy of the name of love it will not serve the turn to make us happy but will deceive and destroy those lovers that have none other love to God but this poor confused general love Therefore 2. To proceed unto the stricter discussion of the act or the affection of love 2 The act love The Original cause of love twofold 1. General We love him you must note the same to be according to the original cause and ground thereof And that is two-fold 1. General as the many manifold benefits that we continually receive from God as he is the faithful Creator a wise Preserver and a bountiful Bestower of abundance of all good gifts upon his Creatures So the Reprobates love God 2. Special and in this respect the very Reprobates as I told you cannot chuse but love the Lord that is their Creator and Preserver 2. Special as the serious apprehension of our own infinite wants and miseries and of those Miracles of Love and Mercies which God hath performed to cure our souls from those Miseries Thus the Saints only love God by sending his only Son to