Sam. 12 27 sent messengers to David to come and complete the Conquest by taking it fully lest the City should be called after his name He knew the jealousie of Kings in point of Honour he wisely might remember that the attributing of more thousands to Saul then to Dâ—vid though but by female singâ—ers had almost cost David his life God is jealous of his Honour he will not give it to another nor might any one take it to himself Of this largely in my former Part Ver. 6 Page 486 2. The highest Dignity is to be much in duty Observ 2. In this word Archangel here is equally both comprised Superiority and Service an Archangel is in english but an high and supreme Messenger or Waiter The service of God is the glory of the highest Angel How poor a Creature would Michael have thought himself had he not been a Messenger to Christ It s wel observed by some that Angels are more frequently called by their name of Office then of Nature oftner Angels then Spirits as if they more delighted in their being dutiful then in their very being And a Saint is as thankful that God will deign to be his Master as a sinner is proud that he can make men to be his own servants The dosius the good Emperor esteemed this the highest of all his Titles Vltimus Dei servus The lowest servant of Christ A person is truly so honourable as he is useful Pauls glory was not that he had ruled and domineer'd but laboured more then they all yea in the meanest services for Jesus Christ not in planting of and preaching to Churches or in governing them only but in stripes 2 Cor. 11.23 24 25 prisons â—ourneyes weariness perils hunger thirst cold nakedness The meanest service about a King is honorable Many think the glory of a Minister â—r Magistrate consists in Revenews fat Benefices large Incomes shining Retinue but ask an Archangel and he will say it is in being a servant a messenger How unglorious is a man in Scarlet Purple Gold Crowns nay with the most Eminent and Angelical parts if he serve not Christ by all He is at best but like a smal letter in the midst of a great Gay where there is though much flourish little benefit much hinderance to the Reader Oh how happy we if among us every one in Eminency laboured to joyn the Arch and the Angel together otherwise he who is most eminent in Dominion may but prove an arch Tyrant eminent for Riches an arch Usurer eminent for Learning an arch Heretick 3. Observ 3 The soveraignty and dominion of God extends it self even to the highest of created beings Even from the lowest worm to the highest the Arch-angel all are at the beck of the great God as every soul must be subject to the higher Power so every soul and power must be subject to him who is the highest he who excepts himself Qui se excipit se decipit Bern. ad Eugem deceives himself The greatest are at Gods disposal they must either be voluntarie servants or unvoluntary slaves God is the God of the mountains as well as the valleys He is indeed the God of the valleys to fill them but the God also of the mountains so as to be above them to level and pul them down No proud Pharaoh must say Who is the Lord that I should let Israel go Angels are great and high but God is greater Angels excell us but God even them in strength infinitely more then do they the lowest worm If one Angel can slay an hundred fourscore and five thousand what can the God of Angels doe This lessons both high and low the higest adversary to take heed of opposing the high God Are they stronger then he If he was a fool who thought himself wiser then Daniel much more is he such who thinks he is stronger then God The proudest Pharaohs Eâ— k. 28 3. Nebuchadnezzars must either break or bend God will either be known of them or on them The great design that God had in sending Nebuchadnezzar from his Babel among the beasts was That he might learn this lesson that the Lord ruleth in the kingdome of men Dan. 4.17 and giveth it to whomsoever he will This is his controversie with us still and never will it end till he have prevailed over us and be seen to have the better of us This subjection to God is that lesson which sooner or later every one must learn The true interest and wisdom of the greatest Potentates is to learn it here in the way lest they perish from it It lessons also the poorest Saints as in all their priviledges God wil yet be known to be their Lord as wel as their friend and therefore will be serv'd with holy fear so in all their sufferings from their proud enemies they may say with Solomon There be higher then they Eccles 5.8 The Lord on high is mightyer then the noyse of many waters yea then the mighty waves of the Sea The great God is their good freind he who hath the service of Angels hath goodnesse and protection for them When the strongest servant in the house beats and abuseth them the weakest child of God may say I 'le tel my father He can and will redresse every Saints injury 4. Great is the comlinesse of order Observ 4 even Angels have and love it There are Angels and there is one at least Archangel In heaven There must be a disparity among men Unisons make no good Musick even among the creatures where God immediately manifests his presence there are Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers what the differenceâ—is we know not that there is a difference we know Nay the Divel who is the great enemy of order and government on earth observes and upholds a kind of order and rule in hell Even there is a prince of Divels and the Divel and his Angels Though it's true the most powerfull divel is the most powerfully wicked nor heaven nor hell allow of a parity though there be no good yet there is some order in hell Holy Angels are no friends to levelling They are mistaken phanatick spirits who think it a point of perfection to be without Superiours would they be more perfect then the glorious Angels The truth is they cry out for this liberty that they may be in slavery to their lusts which government curbs and not so much for that they hate government the love whereof is implanted in all by the light of nature as because they hate those hands in which it is they would fain get it into their own and could they once do so tho none could govern so ill yet none would govern so much as themselves who most cry down ruling They who most â—ppose Government in others most desire the Government over others Evil angels who will not be subject to God are most tyrannical over meâ—â— Satan who would not continue in the worshipping of
AN EXPOSITION Of the EPISTLE of JUDE Together With many large and usefull DEDUCTIONS Formerly Delivered In sundry LECTURES in Christ-Church LONDON May 24th BY WILLIAM JENKYN Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ AND PASTOR of the Church at Black-friars LONDON The SECOND PART LONDON Printed by Tho. Maxey for SAMUEL GELLIBRAND at the golden BALL in Paul's Church-yard 1654. TO My Dear FLOCK and much honoured Friends The CHURCH of GOD In the Precinct of BLACK-FRYARS LONDON Christian and respected Friends IT cannot seeme strange that I who have lately given my selfe to the service of your soules should now dedicate my Booke to you for that purpose Nor can any wonder since you have lately imitated your Predecessors in the loving and unanimous Call of your though now unworthy Pastor that he should endeavour to follow the steps of those excellent servants of Christ your former Ministers who in their times both by Preaching and Printing bestowed their labours upon you for your spirituall benefit I have frequently heard that Black-fryars is one of those places in London commonly accounted and called by the name of Priviledged in respect of sundry civil Immunities bestowed upon it But what are all those Political in comparison of the Spiritual priviledges which God hath afforded to you of this place in regard whereof I much question whether any Congregation in London I think I may take a far larger compass hath been equal to you in the priviledg of enjoying so long a continuance of an Able Orthodox Soul-saving Ministry Those two excellent and eminently faithful Servants of Christ Mr. Egerton and Doctor Gouge lately deceased spent as I am informed about seventy years in their Ministerial Labors among the people of Black-fryars The Gospel in your Congregation hath continued I think beyond the remembrance of the oldest the Lord grant that it may outlive the youngest now living among you God hath as it were made his Sun to stand still upon your Gibeah and his Moon upon your Ajalon to give you light to overcome your spirituall Enemies How many learned and pithy expositions savoury discourses and excellent tractates have had their conception in your Parish and their birth in your pulpit You have enjoyed the monthly administration of the Lords Supper as your late reverend Pastor informed me these five and forty yeares without any interruption I mention not these things to occasion your glorying in men or any outward priviledges but onely to put you upon self-reflexion and holy examination how you have thriven in holinesse under all these enjoyments Church priviledges I grant are excellent mercies in their kinde Without the Ordinances places are commonly as void of Civility as Christianity They are but magna latrocinia dens of robbers and places of prey darke places of the Earth fill'd with violence Church-priviledges so far forth as they are visibly owned make men visible saints in opposition to the world yea and in their due and holy use real and true saints in opposition to hypocrites But notwithstanding all these the meanes of grace without grace by those meanes leave those who injoy them in the same condition in respect of any saving benefit with those who want them Jer. 9.25 26. Is 29.1 2 Hag. 12.14 Rom. 2.25.28 29. The Arke at Shiloh the sacrifices devoured by Ariel Circumcision in the flesh The temple of the Lord The Rock and Mannah The Lords Supper at Corinth c. 1 Cor. 11.20 Jer. 7.12 were priviledges which did not savingly profit the enjoyers who were not holy by their holy things but their holy things rather were made unholy by them Nay bare outward priviledges increase condemnation The valley of vision hath the heavyest burden The Israelites who had not monthly but daily sacraments eating and drinking them every meal were most severely destroyâ—d These were but as Uriahs letters which they carryed to their owne destruction The higher Corazin and Bethsaida's elevation was the greater was their downfall Justice will pluck the unreformed from the Altar of priviledges Sermons do but heat hell and Sacraments are but oyl and pitch to make its flame scald and consume the more painfully The barren oak was not so near cursing as the barren fig-tree Nor are weeds on the dunghill so near plucking up as those in the Garden by none is the name of God so much dishonoured mercy so much abused hypocrisie so odiously veiled the power of godlinesse so bitterly hated Joh. 8.33 Rom. 1.27 as by many who have most enjoyed Church priviledges Put not off your souls therefore dear Christians with outward Priviledges without inward grace by those Priviledges What is it more to have a name to live and to be spiritually dead to have titular sanctity and real impiety then for a starving man to be vâ—iced up for a plentiful house-keeper When God had bestowed upon Abram a new name and changed it to Abraham he gave him also a new blessing The unprofitable under the means of grace are therfore worse then those who want those means because they are not better the more aship is laden with gold the deeper she sinks the more you are laden with golden priviledges the deeper if you miscarry wil be your destruction Though the Ministers industry without succeâ—ss acquits him yet it condemns his people He may be sincere yet unsuccessfull but then the people in the mean time if unprofitable shew themselvs hypocritical You never commend your Ministers but by getting the saving impressions of what they preach upon your hearts Christ reproved the young man for calling him good Master because saith Calvin he had never received any saving good from Christ The sheep onely prayse the care of the carefull shepherd by their wool milk fruitfulnesse and fatness Let it never be said that God gives the food of life to you as a rich man gives a nurse good dyet for the benefit of his child onely for the thriving of strangers Be not as Indians who go naked and beggarly in the midst of all their heaps of gold Let not sermons be as jewels onely to hang in your ears but let them be lockt up in the cabinets of your hearts Consider ordinances are never yours till you get the savour of them upon your spirits Meat upon the table may be taken away but not when by eating 't is turned into a mans substance Books may be stoln out of a Scholars study but a thousand theeves can never take away the learning which he hath gotten into his head by studying those Books The grace of priviledges is onely safe You shall be stript of these when you come to dye but the grace of them will stick by you for ever Christ may say to those at the last day depart who have eat and drunk with him and cast out devils but never will he say so to those who having eat and drunk with him have also eat and drunk himself who have cast lust out of their souls and gotten a broken
one who had himself been an Idolater The Divel loves to wound Religion in the house of her friend and with her own hands and weapons to make Cromwell a Protestant to sentence a Godly Lambert to death Oh how it delights him to overcome Scripture by alledging not of the Alcoran but the Scripture And as he here dealt with the body so he still deals with the Books and Writings of Gods Moses's the men of God For as he fain would have made him who was the greatest enemy in the world to Idolatry while living to have been the greatest occasion of it when dead so still he contends by Hereticks that they who have been the renowned opposers of Heresie in their life time should be accounted the greatest Patrons of it when dead Thus the Papists contend that the Fathers Augustine Ambrose c. are theirs and for their opinions Thus the Pelagians of our time that Augustin Bucer Vid. John Goodwin Sion Colledg vi sited Ball are for free-will But he much more contends and had rather that a living then a dead Moses shoud be a stumbling block to others If one who is holy may thinks he be useful to me by his dust and relicks how much more by his falls his scandals his corrupt examples Of all others let those who fear God take most heed of giving advantage to Satan When without their knowledg or consent they are by Satan only made advantageous to him it should be their sorrow but when they make themselves so it is their great sin 12. Observ 12. The worst persons are oft compelled both to have and express an high opinion of Gods faithful servants Even Moses one who was a great opposer of and greatly opposed by the Divel is yet secretly by this cursed enemy greatly honoured Yea the people who in Moses his life time would have ston'd him would and Satan knew it too after his death have Idoliz'd him Our blessed Lord when he was murdered by his enemies was by some of them voiced a Just man Luke 18.18 Act. 24.25 Mat. 11.19 the young man calls him Good Master even bloody Herod reverenced the Baptist and Felix trembles at the preaching of Paul Wisdome shall sometimes be justified not only by her children but even by her sworn enemies The father of Lies when he alledgeth Scripture to overthrow it strongly argues that it is the strongest weapon and hath greatest power over the conscience God delights to put a secret honour upon his Saints and wayes and to make even those who love them not to praise them Many lewd livers strictly enjoyn their children to be more Religious Every Saint may be encouraged in Holiness God will often make its greatest opposers to extoâ— it and when in their words they revile it in their conferences they shall commend it The praise of an enemy is equivalent to an universal good report In short Let sinners seriously consider how they can answer this dilemma at the last day If the wayes and people of God were bad why did you so much as commend them if good why did you not more imitate them also If Christ were not a good Master why did the young man call him so if he were why did he not follow him 13. Observ 13. The greatest respect that wickedones manifest toward a Godly Moses is when he is dead While Moses was living he was in danger of being destroyed now dead of being adored by the Israelites Joram when Elisha was living opposed him but when dead laments over him in that pathetical speech My father 2 Kinâ— 13.14 my father the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof Saul disobeyes and rejects Samuel when living but when dead he with great pains though no profit endeavors to recal to enquire of him They build and garnish the Sepulchers of the Prophets when dead Luke 11.47 whom living their fathers led by the same Spirit destroyed God often makes the worth of his servants to be known by the want of them and shewes when they are gone that they who in their life time were accounted the plagues and troublers were indeed the Preservers and Peace makers of Israel They shall then know saith Ezekiel Ezek 33.33 that they have had a Prophet among them And it s a work of little cost and of much credit to extol the dead The wicked are not troubled and molested in their wayes of sin by departed Saints Samson could take honey out of that dead Lion with which he fought when living and which he slew because it ror'd upon him The living who rore and lift up their voices against mens sins and labour to rend them from their corruptions shall be persecuted but when dead voiced up to advance the reputation of those who praise them for sweet and blessed men of God The Papists and many common Protestants who speak highly of Christ and call him their sweet Saviour had they lived in his dayes and heard him preach against their Lusts would have hated him as much as nay more then now they hate those who have but a drop of his fountain of holiness And indeed if a Moses a servant of God in his life time please wicked men it is commonly because he is too like a dead man not so quick and lively against their Lusts as he should It s not the Idolizing but the imitating of the Saints that shews our love either to God or them This for the second part of this verse the strife or contention it self The third followes viz. the carriage and deportment of the Archangel in this combate And first to speak thereof as it 's set down Negatively in respect of his inward disposition so it 's said that he durst not bring a rayling accusation EXPLICATION Two things are here to be considered in the Explication 1. What it was which Michael did forbear viz. to bring a rayling accusation 2 Why it was that he did forbear it He durst not bring it 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Hebraismum idem valet apud Judam quod apud Petrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—scat in Jud. Judâ—cium maledicum Pâ—scat Maledictionis judicium Beâ— Execrabile judiâ—ium Vulg. in Pet. Judicium blasphemiae Vulg. in Jud. For the first The thing forborn is here said to be a rayling accusation The Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an accusation of blasphemie of rayling and Peter 2 Pet. 3.11 calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a railing or blasph mous judgment or accusation both places are rendered by these words railing accusation a judgement or accusation of railing by an Hebraism importing the same in Jude which a blasphemous judgment â—r accusation doth in Peter In the opening whereof 1 I shall shew you what is meant by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred accusation or judgment 2 What the Apostle intends by a railing accusation or the railing of the accusation 3 Wherein consists the sinfulness of that railing
the discontented person for but doing with his own as he pleaseth 4. In this is manifested the sin of a proud conceit of our own worth and deservings a sinful self-justification when Gods dispensations are severe and afflictive He who complains of Gods dealing secretly applauds his own deservings he who murmurs against Gods hand shewes that he is not angry with his own heart he alwaies saith see what have I lost how many comforts do I want but he never saith what have I done how many corruptions hath my heart which make me unfit to enjoy a fuller portion in the world All the fault is laid upon God nothing upon himself as if his sin never threw one mite into the treasury of his sufferings he counts God a hard master and himself a good servant and if it be a great sin in the courts of men to acquit the wicked and to condemn the innocent how inexcusable a wickednesse is it to condemn God and acquit our selves A discontented camplainer saith not with David I and my fathers house have sinned these sheep what have they don Nor with the humble soul The Lord is righteous and I wil bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him but flyes in the face of God in stead of falling down at his feet In one word this discontent is a shield for sin and is a sword against God 5. This sin unduly and sacrilegiously usurps Gods own seat and throne what doth he who complaines of Gods administrations but in effect profess that he would be in the room of God to order the world after his own mind and that he hath more wisdome care justice and therefore fitness to dispose of men and to alot them their portions than God himselfe Interpretatively he sayes like Absolom there is none that takes care to order mens affaires O that I were King of the world then should things be better ordered then now they are And he saith to God as that master of the feast to his self-advancing guest come down sit lower and give way to thy betters to sit above thee Whereas alas should such silly Phaetons as we but govern the world as they fable he did the chariot of the sun for one day we should set all things on fire nay should we be left to cut out our own portions and be our own carvers how soon should we cut our own fingars And how can he whose wil is the rule of rectitude do any thing unrighteously man doth a thing because its just but therefore is a thing just because God doth it far be it from God saith Elihu that God should do wickedness Jâ—b 34.10 and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity who can be more careful then he who is more tender over his than a mother is over her sucking child who so wise as the only wise God whose eyes run to fro throughout the whole earth nay who indeed is all eye to behold all the concernments of the sons of men 6. Lastly This sin of discontentednesse with our own private alotments takes men off from minding the more publick and weighty concernments of Gods Church making them to disregard and forget it in all her sufferings and hazards what doth more then this sin cause men to mind their own and not the things of Jesus Christ and to lose the thoughts thereof in a crowd of discontented cares for themselves It is impossible for him that is overmuch in mourning for himself to be mindful of or mournful for Zion Now what an unworthy distemper is this for men to live as if God had made them only to mind their own private conditions in the world to regard only the painting of their own Cabbins though the ship be sinking and so as it may be wel with themselves to be carelesse how it fares with the whole Church of Christ We should rejoyce that God would set up a building of glory to himselfe though upon our ruins and that Christ ariseth though we fal that his kingdome comes though ours goes that he may be seene and honoured though we stand in a crowd and be hidden OBSERVATIONS 1. God hath divided Obs 1. set out for every one his portion here in the world These seducers in complaining of their part and alotment shew that God appoints to every one his dimensum or proportion that he thinks fittest for them God is the great housholder of the world and Master of that great family and as it was the custome of ancient times to divide and give to every one his portion of meat and drink and his set allowance of either whence we read Psal 11.6 of the portion of the wickeds cup so God deals out to every one what estate he thinks meetest To some he gives a Benjamins portion in the world five times so much as to others he is the soveraign disposer of us and of all our concernments and he best knowes what is best for us and to his people he ever gives them that alotment which best sutes with their obtaining of the true good himself and ever affords them if not what they would yet what they want Oh how should this consideration work us to a humble contentednesse with all our alotments and make us bring our hearts to our condition if we cannot bring our condition to our hearts In a word when we see that the condition of others is higher then ours let us consider that it is better to wear a fit garment then one much too big though golden 2. Obs 2. No estate of outward fulness can quiet the heart and stil its complaints These seducers feasted sumptuously fed themselves to the full and fared high and yet for all that they murmured and complained The rich man in the Gospel in the midst of all his abundance cryes out What shall I doe Luke 12.17 Neither the life nor the comfort of the life consists in the abundance of the things which we enjoy None complain so much as they who have the greatest plenty Though Nabal had in his house the feast of a King yet soon after his heart dyed in him and he became like a stone 1 Sam. 25.27 Nabals heart was like the kidney of a beast which though inclosed in fat is it self lean Solomon in his glory reads a lecture of the creatures vanity Ahab and Haman were as discontented in heart as great in estate vast is the disproportion between the soul and all wordly objects for they being but momentany and vanishing dead and inefficacious earthy and drossie are unsutable to the souls excellency and exigencies T is not the work of wordly abundance to take away covetousnesse but of grace in the heart the lesson of contentment must be learned in a higher Schoole than outward plenty 3. Obs 3. They who deserve worst complaine and murmur most And are most ready to thinke that they are most hardly dealt with None are so unthankful as the
never well themselves but when they are doing something that may make others bad or do them hurt Whose only work is to pull down and pluck up to tear and rend to lay gins and snares not for beasts but men to search out iniquities and to accomplish a diligent search who are skilful to destroy but ignorant how to build up How unlike are these to him who went up and down continually doing good It likewise discovers the goodness and power of God in stopping this hurtful Creature in bounding him within his limits in binding him in chains of restraint so that though he wils to do what nay more then he can yet he shall never do what he will nor often what he can It teacheth us to make him our friend who only hath care and goodness to countervail the Divels cruelty O miserable they whose souls do and shall ever dwel among Lions in a Godless Christless Shepherdless state Lastly it instructs that better is the suffering of him who is hurt then the solace of him that is hurtful the former is conform'd to Christ the latter to the divel 6 Observ 6. Saints must expect slanders but 〈◊〉 be afflicteâ— with them So long as there are Divels there will be false Accusers We oft say upon hearing false and infamous reports we wonder who should â—aise them But wonder not there is a Mint constantly going in hell and there is a Mint master whose wâ—rk it is to coyn calumnies and though they be men who put them off for him yet this Coyn bears his Stamp 'T is a good sign thou pleasest not Satan when thou canst not have his good word He doth no more against thee then he hath done against all thy Brethren whose Accuser he hath ever been count not this Tryal by his fiery tongue strange nay count it strange when this tougne is not fired upon thee The Son of God himself was in this fire before thee nay is in it with thee If the flame be hot remember the company is comfortable and cooling Had it been enough to have been accused there would never have been one innocent God indeed suffers this fire to buâ—n thee because thou art not pure enough but the Divel kindles it because thou art not impure enough It s a sign that thy tongue vexeth Satan when his tongue vexeth thee Remember that thy name is bright in Gods sight and lâ—ke the Sun glorious heaven-ward when most clouded earth-ward God takes a greater care of his servants names then they do of their own Wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses Numb 12 8. saith God to Aaron and Miriam Besides the accidental good which slanderers do thy soul or the present by making thee humble watchful selfsearchâ—ng there will come a tiâ—e wherein they shall make restâ—tutuâ— in specie of all thy stâ—ln reputation They stole it from thee in se ret Quisquiâ— vâ—lens dâ—tâ—abâ— fâ—â—mae mâ—ae istâ— nobens add a mercedi meâ— Aug. but theâ— shall restore â—t before men and Angels and that with Interest Thy innocency may be hid but not extinguish'd and he that willingly detracts from thy name doth though unwillingly add to thy reward 7 Observ 7. To censure every â—ne that is accused is to condemn the innocent It s not ground enough for thy censure that they are accused for Satan may cause that but if called throughly sift the accusation John 7.24 judge righteous judgement and look not onely upon the outside but enter into the bowels of the cause Bare accusation makes no man guilty commonly the slanders of wicked men speak the person and often the cause also good Be slow of belief Hear both sides Let both thy ears like Balances take in equal weight T is true 1 Cor. 13.7 Charity believeth all things but they all are good things it also hopeth all things There 's no harm in suspending thy belief till proof comes If thou shootest thine Arrow too soon thou mayest haply hit a Jehoshaphat drest up by Satan in an Ahabs attire It s better to acquit many nocent then to condemn one innocent In doubtful cases hope the best God went down to see when the cry of Sodom came up to heaven though he saw before he went down It s good to be forward in accusing thy self and by that time that work is well done thy censorious credulity will be cool'd when thou hearest reports of others 8. Obser 8. How harsh and cruel a Master doth every wicked man serve The Divel puts his servants upon sin against God and then accuseth them for those sins to God themselves and others He that at the first allured Saul to disobey God by sparing of Amaleck afterwards drives him to despair by representing his sin and Gods wrath when he appeared in the shape of Samuel the sins which his tentations represent but as tricks and trifles his accusations will aggravate even to a mountaynous proportion He that in the former saith Thy sin is so small thou needst not fear it nay perhaps tels thee is a great good will afterward make it appear so great an evil that thou canst not bear it Though at the first he tels thee it is so small that God will not see it yet at last he suggests it so great that God will not forgive it The time thou now spendest in hearing his accusations would have been better spent in opposing his tentations Who would serve such a Master who in stead of standing by his servants for their diligent service wil stand up before God and man against them While they are serving him he is quiet when they have done he payes them with terrors and perswasions that they are damned wretches and yet this is the Prince of the world who hath more servants then Jesus Christ though he in stead of accusing for covers sin Oh that sinners were so wise as in time to look for a new service and to stand astonished at this amazing folly that they should more delight to serve him who sheds their blood then him who shed his blood for them 9 Great should be our care to prevent false accusations Observ 9. to stop Satans mouth and the mouths of sinners which are so ready to be opened against us to take heed that they speak not reproachfully and truly at the same time 1. It ought to be our care to make streight steps to our feet Ephes 5.15 seeing we shall be sure to hear of the least halting we ought to walk circumspectly If wicked men will make faults at their own peril be it let them not find them made to their hand though we may account such or such an error to be but small yet the slanderous beholder will look upon it with an old mans spectacles and to him it will appear great The sharp weapons of slanders must be blunted by innocency Let the matter manner and end of every action be good and then
Truth and to give the glory of God reparations as it were by wiping off the blemishes cast upon it by foolish and ignorant men When we have upon grounded deliberation chosen our Love we should zealously express the love of our choice Sinners as they say of young mens thoughts of old think that Saints are foolish but Saints know that sinners are so Let not their prosecution of sin be more zealous then thy reprehension of it nor their opposition of any way of God be more hot then thy contention for it Let thy fire have more purity then theirs but let it not be inferior in its fervor The Christians Serpent must not devour his Dove How good a Master do the godly serve who requires no duty but such as he warrants in and rewards after the doing Satans servants are scepticks and he puts them upon such imployments in the doing whereof they cannot know they do well and afterward they shall know they have done ill and that to their cost 5. Corrupt affections blear and darken the judgement Observ 3. These Seducers hated the wayes of God and deilghted to oppose them and therefore they did not would not know them He who will be disobedient in heart shall soon have a dull head They who love sin will leave the Truth Lust opposeth the entrance of the Light Repentance makes men acknowledg the Truth 2 Tim. 2.25 Every one who doth evil hateth the light John 3.20 Men love not to study such Truths as will hinder them being known from going on in some gainful wickedness It s from unrighteousness that men imprison Truths They who thought the believing of the Resurrection would hinder their course in sin Prov. 28.5 taught that the Resurrection was past 2 Tim. 2.18 Lust perverts Light and makes men in stead of bringing their hearts and lives to the Scripture to bring to draw the Scripture by carnal and wittily wicked distinctions and evasions to both Knowledg is the mother of Obedience and Obedience the nurse of Knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former breeds the latter and the latter feeds the former Of this largely before Part 1. pag. 616 617 c. Observ 6. Qui prius quam chord as exploraverit omnes simul inconcinnè percutit absonum et absurdum strepitum reddit sic judex qui singulas liâ—ga torum causas non pulsavis nec audivit stultam planè absurdam sententiam pronuntiet necesse est Petrarc 6. It s our duty to forbear speaking against any thing which we understand not He that answereth a matter saith Solomon before he heareth it it is folly and shame to him Prov. 18.13 As men are not to be commended so neither to be condemned before the knowledge of their cause As he causeth an harsh and unmusical sound who strikes and playes upon the strings of an Instrument before he hath tryed and tuned them so he must needs pass a foolish and absurd Sentence upon any cause who passeth that Sentence before he hath seriously heard and weighed the cause to which he speaks Herein Eli manifested his fault and folly 1 Sam. 1.14 rashly and weakly charging Hanna with Drunkenness Thus also David discovered his folly in giving credit to the information of flattering and false-hearted Ziba against good Mephibâ—sheth 2 Sam. 16.3 4. before he had heard what Mephibâ—sheth could alledg for himself Potiphar likewise shewed himself as unjust as his wife shewed her self unchast by an over-hasty heeding of his wives false and forged accusation against righteous Joseph Gen. 39.19 20 To these may be added the ignorant censure of those Scoffers who derided the Apostles filled with the Holy Ghost as if filled with new wine Inter triâ—icum lolium quamdâ—u herba est nondum â—uâ—mus venit ad spâ—cam grandis similitudo eft in disceruendo aut nulla aut perdifficilis distanâ—ia Praemonâ—t ergo Dominus ne uâ—i quid ambignum est cito sententiam proferamus sed Deo judici terminum reservemus Hieron Ut nobis exemplum proponat ne mâ—la hominum ante praesumamus credere quam probare Gr. Mor. l. 19. c. 23. Doubtful cases are to be exempted from our censure The wheat and courser grain saith Hierom are so like to one another when newly come up and before the stalk comes to the ear that there 's no judging between them and therefore the Lord by commanding that both should be let alone till the Harvest admonisheth as that we should not judge of doubtful things but refer them to the judgment of God Even God himselfe who clearly discernes the secrets of the heart and needs not examine any cause for his own information determines not by sentence till after examination that so he might teach us by his example the method of judging Gen. 18.21 Which is to know before we censure They who to make shew of what they have not a quick understanding and nimble apprehension will take off a speaker in the midst of his relation and make as if they knew all the rest of his speech which is to follow and others who though they will hear the whole speech out yet not clearly understanding it scorn to have it repeated again lest they might be thought slow of apprehension by their foolish and ill accommodated answers do often grosly bewray their ignorance and folly And this speaking of any thing ignorantly should principally be avoided by Magistrates and Ministers By Magistrates because their passing of a sudden and overhasty answer is accompanied with the hurt of others and withal by so much the more should they take heed of this folly because when they have once passed though a rash and unjust sentence Vid. Cartw. in Prov. 18.13 yet so great a regard must be had forsooth to their Honours by themselves already dishonoured that seldom or never will they be induced to retract or recal any unrighteous censure when once they have uttered it Which sinful distemper appeared not only in those Heathen Governours * In their censuring of John and Christ Herod and Pilate but in that holy man David in the case of Mephibosheth By Ministers likewise should this speaking ignorantly and doubtfully of anything be avoided whose work being to direct souls and that through greatest dangers to the obtaining of greatest happiness they cannot be blind Leaders and ignorant Teachers without the infinite hazard of their followers How unlike are they who will be Teachers before they themselves have been taught and Affirmers of what they understand not to him who spake only what he knew Joh. 3.11.32 and testified onely what he saw and heard Thus of the first part of this verse their malicious and unchristian ignorance They speak evil of what they know not The second followes their sensual knowledg What they know naturally as brute Beasts in those things they corrupt themselves In which words two things are mainly considerable 1. The sensuality of their
sensual hinders Spiritual pleasures Hence it was a good rule of Ambrose So to rise from Table as to be fit for Prayer How can he have his heart in Heaven who as they say of the fish called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Ass fish hath it in his belly Grace is starved while the flesh is pampered Meat is to be used as our Medicine Feasting dayes are soul-starving dayes and Easting days are soul fatting dayes 4. They corrupted themselves eternally Destroying themselves soul and body by the loss of those Pleasures at Gods right hand Psal 16. ult to which here in this life they preferred the pleasures of sin for a season Sweetly bitter pleasures sweet in the pallat bitter in the stomack bitter to soul and body for ever How will a fatted Glutton fry in Hell How dismal a retribution wil a River of brimstone be for a cup of Wine 1 Cor. 6.10 Drunkards are in the catalogue of the excluded from the Kingdome of God They who are here drowned in profuseness shall hereafter be drowned in Perdition yea here they begin to be so OBSERVATIONS 1. Observ 1. Cognitio sui intellectue licet praestantior sit quâ vis cognitione brutorum referunt eam ad exercitium operum sensualium Ut satisfaciant appetitionibus carnalibus Lor. in loc How great a confusion and disorder hath sin made in this little world man He whose reason was once wholly subjugated to God and whose appetite was guided by and submissive to his reason hath now an understanding which hath cast off the Government of God and an appetite which hath cast off the guidance of his understanding In the state of Innocency the sensitive appetite of man was ruled by the Golden Scepter of Reason the sensitive Powers were not factious but were willingly subject to the Higher Powers to the intectuals The first bublings of the soul as one saith were pure and Crystaline and streamed out freely without any murmuring or foaming but now alas the soul is full of insurrections The Master waits and the servant is Master The knowledg of the understanding is made a Vassal to this natural knowledg That leading faculty in a man his understanding is now a Page to wait upon the sensual appetite or the knowledg of the senses and all the contrivances and inventions of the former are referred to the service of the latter The Master doth not now lead his horse but the horse drags and hurries the Master even as a beast sometimes draws a condemned Malefactor to the place of Execution All the confusions we see in the world are but derivations from this Reason easts off Religion and then Sense and carnal appetite casts off Reason All the Errors in Doctrine proceed from the former and the irregularities of Practice flow from the latter The servant casts off the Master in the state because it hath first cast him off in the soul 2. Observ 2 Quia nolunt intelligere quae sunt gratiae amittunt sapere quae sunt naturae They who oppose Spiritual Knowledge justly lose even that which is reasonable They grow with these Seducers meer Sensualists not admitting the former deservedly they part with the latter These Seducers opposing the Truth of the Gospel denying the Lord Jesus Christ and becoming enemies to Supernatural knowledg now what they knew they knew but naturally and only with the knowledg of the outward senses They would not be real Saints and they came to be not so much as visible They would not be Saints and at length they ceased to be men Rom. 1.21 24 26 28. The Heathens by opposing even the faint light of nature were by God given up to Uncleanness to dishonour their own bodies between themselves to vile affections and a reprobate mind Seducers grow worse worse He who will put out light revealed shall justly extingnish light implanted It s righteous with God to leave them to Sense who will not be guided by Grace From him who hath not shall be taken away even what he HATH Even appearances of goodness shall be taken away Brass but Silvered over will at length plainly appear to be but Brass A face only beautiful with paint shall when wrinkles grow deep be destitute not only of complexional but even fictitious beauty also How exquisitely do these dayes of ours comment upon this Truth Oh that we could not say that hundreds whose eyes have seemed to be fixed upon the Stars themselves pretending to a Seraphical pitch of knowledg have yet faln into a ditch of beastly sensuality None so shamefully beggarly as he who breaks after much trading Of this more Part 1 pag. 310 and trusting Christians beg of God that your grace may be true and supernatural and then it will be growing but if it be only appearing and not arsiing to true Sanctity it may soon arrive at sensual Beastiality 3. Observ 3. The light of reason is too weak to contend with sensual appetite When these Seducers had bid adieu to Spiritual light notwithstanding their rational light they grew sensual and brutish Should the Skie be furnish'd with millions of Torches they all could not as doth one Sun bestow those influences upon the earth whereby it could be made green and fruitful The light of Grace is only influential upon the heart and life That of Reason produceth no fruit truly favoury That which it doth draw forth is but like the fruit which requiring a hotter soyl and Sunshine when men somtimes plant it in our colder Countries never comes to perfection and hath hardly half heat enough to concoct it The greatest if meer Scholer in the world knowes nothing as he ought to know and therefore loves nothing as he ought to love He sees not without renewed light in any way of God that prevailing transcendent Excellency which outbids the bravery of every other Object The light of Reason in the most knowing Heathen that ever was in the world was but a candle light notwithstanding which he was yet in the night It scattered not the works of Darkness nor did he as one saith well warm his hands at this candle Notwithstanding this famous Moralists have been cold in their Devotions and dissolute in their Practices The wisest Heathens Rom. 1. how sensual and impure were they notwithstanding their most refined Reason and like to Indians Observ 4. Quatuor imperia ostensa sunt Danieli sub similitudine bestiarum non hominum quia non insurrexerunt per viam rationis sed impetu sensualitatis Durand de Orig jurisd which notwithstanding all their Gold and Jewels are yet wont to goe naked 4. Outward Enjoyments make no man excellent He may yea unless he be more then a man he will become a beast by the using of them The four Monarchies of the world were represented to Daniel under the similitudes of Beasts not of men because they were neither erected nor exercised in a way of Reason but
wil give bread and often provides better for the poor children then for the repining parents The Israelites in the wilderness who with sinful solicitousness cryed out that their little ones should be starved for want of food were themselves destroyed in the wilderness for want of faith their children mean while being reserved for Canaan Numb 14.31 Nor yet is it enough to take our children cheerfully at the hand of God but to dedicate them to him thankfully and to part with them contentedly Men are not born into the world only that the world should not be empty but that the Church should be increased and God more served Prov. 3.9 Gen. 18.19 If we ought to honour God with our dead much more with our living substance and to take care that a generation may serve the Lord when we are gone that as we live as it were after our deaths in the persons so Gods glory may live in the services of our children Adam instructed his sons both in the works of their Calling and in the Worship of God And for parting with our children he who gave or rather lent or rather put them to nurse to us may peaceably be permitted to require them again when he pleaseth and he should never lose a friend of any of us for calling for his own 5. Observ 5. Cains please not God in the performance of holy services Prov. 28.9 Isai 1.11 12 13 14. To Cain and his Offering God had not respect He was in his way of sin even when he was sacrificing The Prayer of the wicked is an abomination God delights not in their services he demands Amos 5.21 Isai 66.3 Who hath required them he cannot away with them his soul hates them they are a trouble to him he is weary of them despiseth them he will not accept nor smell their Offerings He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered swines blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol The wicked perform holy services from an unholy heart The Spicing and Embalming of a dead Carcass can put no beauty or value upon it They who are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.8 Matth. 7.18 All the fruit of an evil tree is evil fruit The works of natural men want an holy principle the Spirit of Christ the Law of the Spirit of Life A beast cannot act the things of reason nor can a man unless sanctified by the Spirit of God do any good work Till a man be ingrafted into Christ and partake of his fatness he is but a wild Olive All the works of unregenerate men are sin as they come from them Without the Holy Spirit there is no holiness Zacheus was too low of himsef to see Jesus he was fain to go up into a tree We are too short to reach to any good work 't is above our reach til the Spirit of God lift us up All the services of a natural man are but the works of nature He doth every Spiritual work carnally John 15.4 Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing All the works of a Christless person are like the children of a woman never marryed spurious and illegitimate they are not done through a power received from Christ Wicked men perform no duty to a right end Phil. 1.11 Their fruits are not fruits to God Rom. 7.4 As they are not from him so neither for him He is neither their principle nor their end Zech. 7.5 Vain-glory is the worm that breeds in the best fruit of the wicked The flame of Jehu's Zeal was but Kitchin fire and therefore his Reformation but Murder in the sight of God Hos 1.4 The Godly saith a Learned man in doing good works are like the Silk-worm which hides her self and is all covered over while she works within the curious Silk which she works Her Motto Operitur dum operatur At the day of Judgment they know not the good works which they did The wickeds outward acts of obedience are works of disobedience He doth not what he doth because God enjoynes it Cum intuitu voluntatis Divinae His Sanctification such as it is is not endeavoured like that 1 Thes 4.3 This is the will of God saith the Apostle your Sanctification He proves not what is the good and acceptable will of God Rom. 12.2 One may do a good work in obedience to his Lusts and that which God bids him do because his lust bids him do it Where there is no Law there is no transgression and where no respect to the Law no obedience The best performances of the wicked are but the gifts of enemies proceeding not from Love which is the sawce of every service making it delightful both to the servant and the Master and the principle of the Saints obedience Gal. 5.6 By nature we are enemies doing our works not with the affection of a child but out of bondage None have been greater enemies to Christ and his Servants and Service then many who have been most exact in outside performances as Paul who in the midst of his Zeal was a Persecuter Lastly The wicked neither have the guilt of sin taken away from their persons by the merit of Christ nor the pollution of it from their services by the Intercession of Christ Ephes 2 8. Till faith have fastned us to Christ neither persons nor performances can be acceptable Good works go not before but follow Justification We are not justified by doing good works but being justified we then do good Abels person was accepted before his Sacrifice Works are rather justified by the person of a man then his person by the works And it s a vain thing to look for Justification from that which thou must first justifie A man till justified is a Leper and every thing he toucheth he maketh unclean to himself As a smal thing which the righteous hath is better then the great possessions so a smal thing that the righteous doth is better then the greatest performances of the wicked Till a man takes Christ by faith his Sacrifices have no golden Censer to perfume them no Altar to sanctifie them nothing but his own evil heart to consecrate them upon Upon which considerations though a wicked man may do what is good morally in the sight of men by way of example or by way Edification to others c. yet not Divinely in relation to Religion or in order to God so as to please him And though God sometimes be pleased to reward the works of wicked men yet do not those works please him The works of Nebuchadnezzar Jehu Ahab c. he did I confess reward temporally but alas it was but temporally They give him services which please not him and he Benefits which profit not them They give him services but not with their heart and he them blessings
slaying and death shall benefit the Saint Worldly enjoyments are given us that we by them should testifie our love to God not by them to got assurance of Gods love to us Oh how slender an evidence of heaven is that with which so ordinarily men go to hel Thou canst only understand that the heart of God is set upon thee by finding that thine is set upon him The least dram of Grace is an earnest of heaven The greatest sum of outward enjoyments amounts not to the least part of payment or pledg of happiness 8. Observ 8. They who are corrupt in their judgment go in the way of cruelty Not to intimate what some have said of cruel Cain that he was the first Heretick sure I am he was after the Divel the first Murderer and these Seducers were as full of hatred as they were of Error They went in the way of Cain They were cruel to souls which by their Errors they poisoned and destroyed cruel to the names and dignities of their Superiors of whom they speak evil They were as the Apostle speaks afterward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce and raging waves ver 13 such as uttered hard speeches ver 15. against the Godly especially Ministers who opposed them in their way of sin Not to speak of the cruelty of Idolaters recorded in the Old Testament as of Pharaoh Hâ—man Ahab Jezabel Manasseh not yet converted Nebuchadnezzar Antiochus nor of the Heathenish Emperors within the first 300 years after Christ by which Tyrants the Apostles suffered violent death and whosoever made profession of their Doctrine were cruelly murdered of Nero Domitian Trajan Antonius Verus Hadrian who crucified Ten thousand Christians in one Mount of the last of the Ten Persecutions wherein in the space of one Month were slain seventeen thousand Martyrs I say to pass by these What lively Expositions upon this Text and the cruelty of Cain have the bloody actions of those been who would have been counted of the Church nay the only Church and friends and brethren to the members thereof as Cain was brother to Abel I might here relate what Ecclesiastical History mentions concerning the cruelty of the Arian Hereticks Theod. l. 1. c. 29. their banishing and false accusing of Meletius and Eustatius Bishops of Antioch and Athanasius of Alexandria the latter of whom hardly escaped with his life l. 5. c. 21. Socrat. l. 2. c. 7.16 for the cruel Arians finding that they could not destroy him by false witness purposed by violence to tear him in pieces the banishing and desposing Paulus from Constantinople by the Arrian Emperor Constantius and at last Socrat. l. 4. c. 22 Theod. l. 4. c. 21. Sozom. l 6. c. 19 Vid. Centur. Magd. p. 79. Cent 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Solit. the cruel murdering of him by the bloody Arians not to mention with these the vast number of examples of Arian cruelty recorded in Ecclesiastical History Socrates Theodoret Sozomen c. consent in this that the Arians banish'd imprison'd cruelly whip'd mock'd tore with nails burnt and exercised the cruellest punishments against the Orthodox and that they were more cruel against them then the Heathens who Tyranniz'd in those times Athanasius saith The inhumanity of the Arians exceeded all expression I might likewise mention what Augustin in sundry Epistles relates of the Cain-like cruelty of the Donatists of his time who pretended to so much Purity as that they held that the Church was no where in the world to be found Epist 50. Quis non Dominus servum suum timere compulsus est Quis quem libet poterat exigere debitorem Quorundam oculi extincti sunt Cujusdam Episcopi manus lingua praecisa est taceo crudelissimas coedes Epist 68. Conclericos nostros plagis immanissimis quassaverunt Quendam immaniter coesum gurgite coenoso volutatum c. Nos fustibus quassant ferróque concidunt In oculos extinguendos calcem mixto accto incredibili excogitatione sceseris mittunt Epist 166.159 Lacerati sunt viri tractae sunt Matronae Infantes necati abacti sunt partus nulli licuit securum esse in possessionibus suis Optat. cont Parl. l. 23. but in that corner of Affrick wherein themselves dwelt In his fiftieth Epistle hee tells us that the Masters stood in fear of their servants that were gone over to the Donatists that no man durst demand the money which his Debtors owed him for fear of clubs and fire the houses of any that offended them were burnt or pulled down and they pulled out the eyes of the Ministers and put them out with Chalk and Vinegar cut off their hands pulled out their tougues cruelly whipt and slew them and then tumbled them in the mud and then carryed them about afterward in derision And though these Sectaries pleaded frequently for toleration and liberty of conscience yet when under Julian the Apostate they had gotten power Who can declare saith Augustin what slaughter they made of the Orthodox All Affrica was filled with blood and desolation men were rent Matrons drag'd Infants slaughtered women with child miscarryed none were secure in their houses But if ever the spirit of Cain breathed in any since his time or if ever any wrote after Cains copy in letters of blood certainly they have been those of the Papacy how deservedly may their Head and Father the Pope be called a Cain in chief and is he called the Son of Perdition as being not only appointed to perdition but the Author of Perdition and destruction How evidently is his Antichristian cruelty set forth by being Drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Rev. 17.6 It s said by some that There is no day in the year which might not be dedicated to an hundred several Martyrs whose blood hath been shed by the Papal power 1. Papal cruelty spareth not pitieth not any degrees sex order age condition of men opposing their Religion Act. Mon. p. 814. 751 874 710 766 Alphonsus Diazius another Cain barbarously killed his own brother John Diazius because he was a Protestant With what inhumane cruelty have Protestants been compelled to discover for slaughter their dearest relations parents children brethren wives to carry faggots to burn their godly and painful Pastors and which might surpass belief among Heathens children have been constrained to set fire to their own fathers And Thuanus reports That a certain woman having fled to a secret place to shun the rage of her enemies being drawn out of it by them was in the sight of her husband shamefully defiled and then was forced by some of them who ordered her hand to give her husband his deaths wound with a drawne sword Horrid was that spectacle of the child which sprang out of the womb of a woman burnt at Gernsey which being saved out of the fire was by the bloody Executioner cast in again p. 1864. 1879 because it was a
of Gods love towards them as deserved unfeigned and fervent affections in them toward one another The Sacrament of the Lords Supper then promotes and testifies confirmes and contributes to the mutual love which ought to be among Christians The Passover but a shadow of the Lords Supper tended to increase the love of the Receivers 1. It was to be one whole Lamb. Exod. 12.2 3 6 8 15 19 46 49. 2. Not one bone of it was to be broken 3. It was a joynt action wherein every one was to communicate and therefore to be performed with joynt affection 4. It was to be eaten in one house to shew that there was to be among those who did eat an unity and harmony of hearts and affections One house will not hold those who are at jars and dissensions and divided in affection 5. The eating of the Passeover was to be done at one and the same time month day hour and that in the Evenning when they were all in their cold blood the injuries and offences of the day forgotten and forgiven the Sun being not to go down upon our wrath when their affections were as calm and quiet as the evening 6. The partakers of the Passeover were all to be ordered in the receiving thereof by one Law There was but one Law for the Stranger and the Home-born both did unanimously submit to the same rule and consent to the same direction 7. It was to be eaten without leaven whereby as the Apostle expounds it was noted the keeping the Feast without the leaven of Maliciousness and Wickedness 2 Chro. 30.12 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And when Hezekiah restored the Passeover it s expresly said that to all Judah was by the good hand of God given one heart and that they met at one time and in one place and that they kept the Feast of the Passover with great joy But if we look from the Shadow to the Substance Amâ—r dignitatis nesciuâ— dignationis dives we shall see this Love and Unity of the Faithful more clearly manifested 1. Our Saviour being to ordain this Sacrament gave all his Disciples an example of Christian and loving condesoension Joh. 13.4 34 even to the washing one anothers feet After this institution he presseth upon them the Commandment of Love as the chief Commandment and their principal Duty both by the president and precept of Love shewing that his Supper was a Communion of Love 2. Consider the appellations of this Sacrament It s called the Communion the Table of the Lord the Lords Supper Coena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word not noting the time of but fellowship in eating Eating together was ever held a token of friendship Josephs love to his brethren was testified by feasting them 2 Sam. 9.7 Davids love to Mephibosheth by causing him to eat bread at his Table continually David calls his familiar friend Stuck Antiq. Conv. l. 1. c. 3. one that did eat of his bread Psal 41.9 The eating at one Rack hath bred peace between the very savage Beasts And that hatred which was between the Jewes and Egyptians could no way be more fitly exprest then by their mutual abominating to eat bread one with another Men by nature are directed to express their loves and reconcilements by Feasts and Invitations and this Communion which by eating and drinking the Faithful have one with another the Apostle tells us comes from their partaking of one Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing which we bless saith he is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ and the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread that is we partaking of the same Christ and having Communion in his Merits and Benefits have thereby Communion also one with another in the Lords Supper And we all partaking of that one Bread broken and divided into divers parts are made one Body and one Bread though we be never so many The Faithful then partaking all of one Christ and every one of them having Communion in his Body and Blood have also communion among themselves nor can this but be a Communion of much dearness and nearness which ariseth from the partaking of this one Christ and all his Benefits and Merits for hereby 1. They are all children of the same Father Gal. 3.26 We are all the Sons of God by faith in Christ and to as many as received him he gave power to be the Sons of God and what nearer bond then to be the children of the same Father In the Lords Supper the Faithful sit like Olive branches round about their Fathers Table Love as brethren saith the Apostle How good and pleasant is it saith the Psalmist for brethren to dwell together in unity 2 By partaking of this one Christ the Faithful are all Members of the same Body Ephes 4.15 and they grow up into him who is the head and from him receive life and grace being as Members animated with the same Spirit and therefore the Apostle speaks of drinking into one Spirit in the Lords Supper incorporate into his mystical Body now what can more aptly express the near union dear affection tender sympathy between Christian and Christian then this being fellow members of one body One member accounting the woe and welfare of another ven as its own 3. By partaking of one Christ in the Sacrament they profess themselves to be of the same Faith and Religion Religio à religando to expect life and happiness the same way for Christ is the way and this sameness of Religion hath bound those who have been of false Religions very strongly together Now that by feeding together in the Lords Supper there is profest a Communion in the same Religion the Apostle strongly proves 1 Cor. 10.18 from the practice of Israel after the flesh that is the Jewes who descended from Jacob or Israel by carnal propagation these carnal Israelites who lived in his time and denyed Christ were saith the Apostle by eating of the Sacrifices partakers of the Altar that is professed themselves to be of the Jewish Religion and Worship and to approve of the same 4. By partaking of one Christ at the Lords Supper the Faithful profess themselves to be the servants of one Lord and Master Fellow servants must not fall out and beat one another Luk. 12.45 The servants of this one Lord should be of one mind If Christ be not divided his servants should shun division 5. Hereby they profess that they are to be pardoned by the same blood shed for many for the remission of sins Matth. 28.28 And what inducement stronger to move us to forgive a few pence who have been forgiven so many pounds What wil quench hatred if the blood of Christ will not 6 Hereby they profess as that they all live in the same Family here where
a Vessel that corrupts it Necessaries are fitter for the body the souls servant then Delicacies Manna had been better for the Israelites then Quails Numb 11. He was a Glutton who fared Sumptuously And here also is caution to be used as some mens stomacks and estates require more food so others in both respects may have that which is more costly 3. In quality of our food we offend when our meats are incentives to sin Our enemy the flesh is too strong for us though we take away his Armour and fight against him We need not put Weapons into his hand and send him Ammunition We need not should not help the flesh the better part is much in danger of being overmatched though we make not the sensual part two to one by affording it Auxiliaries Our own corruption wants the bridle more then the spur And some to these add 3. The unlawfulness of eating such meat as is too young And they say the prohibition of eating that which wants age is contained in that command Exod. 23.19 Thou shalt not seeth a Kid in his Mothers milk The Creatures are condemned to dye for us and they expect though not our pardon yet our reprieve 3. When we offend in the manner of eating As 1. Say some when we eat too soon too hastily namely before the time of eating without any necessary cause Wo to them that rise early in the morning that they may follow strong drink Isai 5.11 Eccles 10.17 Woe to the Land whose Princes eat in the morning a time wherein the belly is not to be filled First seek the Kingdome of God but the heart ordered and the mind fed with holy Meditations The Tavern is a place never very seemly for a Christian but in the morning very unseemly If Princes should eat in due season much more ordinary people If a Master as Christ speaks gives not his servant leave to sit down at meat till he have first waited upon him we should not suffer the souls Page and servant the body to feed till it have first attended upon the soul in its Spiritual Repasts of Prayer and Meditation 2. When we eat * Animalia ruminantia ruminant post sumptionem cibi sed gulosm ante Perald de Gulâ Tantâ accuratione arte coquorum cuncta apparantur quatenus quatuor aut quinque ferculis devoratis prima non impediant novissima nec satietas minuat appetitum Spretis naturalibus quos Deus indidit rebus quibusdam adulterinis gula provocatur sapoâ—ibus Quis dicere sufficit quot modis sola ova versantur vexantur quanto studio evertuntur nunc quidem frixa nunc assa nunc farsa nunc mixta nunc sigillatim apponuntur Ber. Apol ad Gul. Non cibus sed appetitus est in vitio Amos 4.6 studiously making it our work to provide and prepare for the belly to invent and study pleasing dishes strange meats Forraign Sauces when men live to eat meditating upon nothing but the Treacher As some men by intemperance overthrow the Nature of man so others by this sinful studiousness and exactness in Feasting overthrow the nature of their meat when things are prepared with so much Art that the nature of the Creature is lost and the Eater knowes not what he eats Oh how unworthy is it for a Christian to be alway plodding about and contriving of his meats to lock up his soul in the Kitchin which should be walking in Heaven 3. When we eat with a vehement appetite and greedily Thus men may be gluttonous in feeding upon the coursest fare David though he earnestly desired the water of Bethlehem yet in stead of drinking it greedily poured it upon the ground Gluttons rather devour then eat their meat and rather indeed are eaten up with it They drink of the stream and forget the fountain their greediness swallowes up their thankfulness and as soon as ever they have filled their bucket they turn their backs upon the well 4. When we feast without any difference of times How unseasonable was it for Josephs brethren to eat bread when their brother was in the pit or for the Israelites to eat the Lambs of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the stall to drink Wine in bowles c. and not to be grieved for the affliction of Joseph To slay Oxen kill sheep c. when God called to weeping and mourning c. when the Church drinks blood and tears we should not drink Wine in bowles we should rejoice with trembling and feast as if we feasted not It s Gods goodnesse that he calls us to feast any day our own Licentiousness if we will feast every day He who fared sumptuously every day shall be in eternal want of so much as one drop 5 When we feast uncharitably feasting the Rich never thinking upon the poor Luke 14.12 13. When thou makest a dinner or a supper call not thy c. rich neighbours but call the poor c. Lazarus must not starve at the gate we must not be like Oaks who with their Acornes only feed Swine 6. When we feast with too much expence of time in Feasting when we dine all day and sup all night when our supper shall tread upon the heels of our dinner Wo to them that continue untill night till wine enflame them Isa 5 11. This expence of time is worse then our expence of meat and money The former may be regained not the latter and yet how frequently do men complain that they have spent too much mony how rarely that they have spent too much time at Feasting Prodigality of time is the worst If the opening of the nature of this sin and shewing what it is do not sufficiently discover the odiousness thereof let us a little further look upon it by other disswasive considerations 1. Gluttony is an enemy to all holiness of life Venter pinguis non gignit tenuem sensum Hieron Mente recta uti non possunt multo cibo potu repletâ— Cicer. Tota chriorum vita insomnium quoddam rationis naufragium It hinders a man from doing himself any Spiritual good It blunts the understanding with blockishness and stupidity Whosoever is deceived by wine saith Solomon Prov. 20.1 is not wise Wisdom is not found in the Land of the Living Job 28.13 The Vulgar reads it in terrâ suaviter viventium in the Land of those who live in delights and pleasures Whoredome Wine and new wine saith the Prophet Hos 4.11 take away the heart The four children Dan. 1.16 17. who lived upon a frugal Dyet were most eminent for Learning and wisdom Wine in Feasts and the not considering of the operations of Gods hands are put together Tabulas legis quas accepit abstinentia conteri fecit ebrietas Ambr. cap. 6. de Helia jejun Sciebat Dei sermonem non posse audire temulentâ—s Hier. â— 2. contr Jov. Viscus Spiritualium pennarum Non currimus onerati Animae
adipidibus quasi luto involutae nihil tenue nihil coe leste sed semper de carnibus ructu ventris ingluvie cogitant Hier. l. 2. adv Jov. Quantò corpus impletur tantò anima minoratur Greg. Isai 5.6 Hierom and Ambrose observe that as Moses received the Tables of the Law when he was much in fasting so he broke the Tables when he saw that the people had been eating and drinking as thinking that after Feasting the people were unfit to hear the Law How can an impure Glutton lift up in Prayer pure hands Surfetting oppresseth the heart and suffers it not to lift up it self toward heaven It s the Birdlime of the souls wings It s a weight which presseth us down in our Race yea rather the ungirding of the loynes of our minds our affections which like long and loose Garments being let down into the mire of sensual pleasures hinder and stop us in our Spiritual progress Oh how unfit a mansion is a beastly Epicure for the holy Spirit to dwel in The being drunk with wine is opposed to the being filled with the Spirit Ephes 6.18 The Voluptuous Sensualist is only a Hog-Stie for Satan to lodg in The unclean spirit finds no rest in dry places in those who are sober and temperate in worldly enjoyments but like the Swine not delighting in such dust * Loca arida sunt homines temperatè viventes in quibus Diabolus non invenit requiem Parisiens he loves to wallow in a sensual and impure Glutton as in a slough or quagmire Gluttony is the Sepulcher of the living and a kind of Spiritual drowning of a man 2 This sin profanely denyes God his Service and opposeth him not only notwithstanding but even by his bounty turneth the Temple of the Holy Ghost into a Kitchin and makes as the Apostle speaks a God even of the base filthy belly How unseemly is it for a servant as Solomon speaks Prov. 14.10 to have rule over Princes The reigning of a servant is reckoned to be the first of the four things which the earth cannot bear Prov. 31.22 Gluttony makes the Prince the soul to serve the belly of all the souls servants viz. the parts of the body the basest and filthiest The Apostle speaks of some who serve their own belly Rom. 16.18 Multis servit qui corpori servit Sen. Phil. 3.19 Oh miserable servitude besides the baseness of the serving of such a God of dung it is also very cruel it makes a man a servant to all those meats and drinks which serve the belly it s a slavery to a Master who is never pleased who will have the best provisions brought him and having taken them he throwes them all into the draught and yet is presently calling for more his work is never done he puts his servants upon their drudging for him as long as they live several times every day making men to labour in the filling and emptying of a Sink sometimes three or four score yeers together requiring and exacting his supplies so imperiously and rigorously that his servants oft take thought to the cutting of their hearts Matth. 6.25 and take pains to the cracking of their sinewes for the getting of his provisions and yet when all is done no service is so vain and unprofitable as this belly-service what is it but the dawbing and propping of a rotten cottage which will notwithstanding in a short time crumble away and tumble down the delicate feeding of a condemned Malefactor who must dye and whose strength by all his provisions serves him but to go to Execution yea Carnem impinguare est vermibus escam praeparare what is it but the preparing a Banquet for the wormes for whom the leanest carcass is even fat enough 3. This sin of Gluttony most useth and abuseth that part in its service which of all the rest is so noble and should be most set on work for God and filled with his praises the mouth 4 It s a sin which doth most unsuspectedly surprize us as lying in ambush behind our lawful Enjoyments and which is most like to catch us Dum ad quietâ—msatreâ—atis ab indigentiâ tran situr in ipso transitu laqucus concupiscentiae insidiatur as laying a snare in those wayes wherein we most walk and such an one whereby even Adam in Innocency was catcht 5 This one is an inlet to all sin He who is overcome with this is not able to overcom any sin It having possession of the gate of man his mouth le ts easily into him the whole troop of Vices It is the Divels bridle which he putting into the mouth of a sinner turns him any way at his pleasure When the iron is hot the Smith can fashion it how he will A gluttonous person is Soyl so till'd manured and moistned by Satan that its fit to receive any seed that he shall cast into it Cruelty Uncleanness Security Profaneness c. all grow in that Soyl. 6 Gluttony is the Source and Nurse of all Diseases It must needs be unhealthful to carry a fen within one Luke 12.45 Ille optimus medicus sibi qui modicus cibi Immodicis brevis est atas rara senectus-Vbicunque quae rit caro refectionem invenit defectionem Aug. Ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperance is the noblest Physick The inordinate life is not patient enough to stay for sickness Our food becomes by Gluttony in stead of a Plaister a wound The Glutton digs his grave with his teeth and is a self destroyer They who most follow most flye from pleasure Having taken their leave of an hours pleasure they oft meet with a yeeres paine The temperate person only enjoyes the sweetnesse of the Creature 7 This sin is the ruine and hazard of mens Estates The very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luxury properly signifieth the not preserving or keeping of the good which we enjoy How many have swallowed their estates down their throats Prov. 23.21 The Drunkard and the Glutton saith Solomon shall come to poverty The Philosopher askt of the frugaâ— Citizen but a penny but begged of the Prodigal a Talent Because he thought of the one he might beg oft of the other who spent so fast he was like to receive but once 8. Subtrabunt abore Dei in suis membris quod ponunt in ore Diaboli Parisiens It s a sin most injurious to the poor The Gluttons superfluity causeth and increaseth the poors scarciâ—y As the spleen grows so the other parts decay and as the Riotous abound so the poor wants and none â—re so willing to let Lazarus starve at their gate as they who fare sumptuously every day 9 It makes way for eternal emptiness and scarcity He who hath here been unprofitably a gulph to devour Gods Blessings shall hereafter be thrown into a gulph of misery wherein there is not a drop of Mercy How poor is that plenty which makes way for eternal penuty
Seraphicall irrefragable most subtill illuminate The consideration of all which should make us more wary of being led away with the big words and high expressions of these titular worthies Let us consider what the power is which goeth along with their words and in stead of admiring the flourishing titles of every vain dogmatist examine what is the consonancy between the Scriptures and their opinions Who honours a meer titular nominal Prince Let us not be taken with the glory of the doctor but search into the bowels of the Doctrine Fools indeed being to take mony wil be put off with brasse coin because it glisters but a wary man tryes it by the Touchstone Try all your Doctors and Doctrines by the Word and ever be more ready to suspect then admire either 8. Obs 8. It s a great and inexcusable sin to make shew of that goodnesse of which we are wholly void and to which we are opposite Sinfull was the pretending of these Seducers to be watering clouds big and black accompanied with emptinesse and drynesse The sin of the Church of Sardis was the resting in a bare and meer name and shew of holy life A Christian must look after both name and thing The Prophet chargeth the Jews with swearing by the Name of the LORD Isa 48.1 2. and making mention of the GOD of Israel but not in truth and righteousnesse with contenting themselves to be called of the holy City c. Nor will this impiety seem small if we consider either GOD others or our selves 1. The sinfulnesse hereof appears in respect of God It pollutes and prophanes His Name What greater prophanation thereof imaginable than to put it upon an unholy hellish heart Is it not more insufferable then to cloath a swine with the Robes of a Prince and to put the Crown and Scepter of a King upon the head and into the hand of a dunghil-raker Is any disgrace to an Emperour greater then for a base-bornslave to voice himself his son and heir to his Crown This is that pollution of GODS Name with which GOD charged the people Ezek. 36.20 2. In respect of others It hardens the wicked who when they see the meer profession separated from the reality of holinesse applaud themselves and think their own estate very blessed and that Religion is a meer notion and nullity deride also at it as did the Heathens at those hypocriticall Israelites These are said they the people of the Lord and are gone forth of his Land q. d. These are your Saints your Israelites that came out of the holy Land And what more damps the goodnesse of young beginners than the falsenesse and emptinesse of those who have made great shews of forwardnesse in holinesse thereby one Hypocrite more pulling them back than an hundered sincere ones can put them forward At the best they set up their staff before they are gone half way and are made like the people who seeing the body of Amasa lye dead by the way side stood stil In short what are these bare pretenders to holinesse but deluders of others gins and pitfalls in Religion dunghils covered over with snow reeds that run into the arms of those who lean upon them and such who do not onely by their faithlesseness oft deceive and gull those who trust them with their estates and worldly concernments but also much more dangerously misguide and delude the souls of those who follow their empty doctrines and crooked lives But 3. The greatnesse of this sin appears principally by considering them who ve in it For 1. All their glorious appearances are purely unprofitable unto them Thereport of a mans being wealthy adds nothing to his estate or that of full feeding to one who is hunger-starved God tells the hyocritical Jews that they trusted in lying words Jer. 7.8 when they onely trusted to their outside shews I will declare thy righteousnesse and thy works said God to that false-hearted people and they shall not profit thee Isa 57.12 2. Shews without reality of holinesse are very hurtfull 1. Appearing goodnesse makes men furthest from being and becoming really good Religion is a very serious reall businesse yea it s very reality and call'd in Scripture Truth it self As the priviledges so the practices of godlinesse are indeed and in Truth and by nothing so much opposed as shadows and falsnesse 2. They who please themselves with appearances will never labour for the reality of holinesse nor truth in the inward parts they are seldome reproved by others nor is it so easie to fasten a reproof upon them as upon those who are void of all shews of Religion and so they go on in a miserable quietnesse and uninterruptednesse to their own destruction 3. They who barely appear holy are of all others the most impudent not blushing to be accounted such as their own consciences tell them they are far from being Naomi was ashamed of her self when the men of Bethlehem said Is not this Naomi Cal me not said she Naomi call me Marah for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me Ruth 1.20 But these say cal us Christians though they are no better than heathens call us Saints though they are inwardly but rotten Sepulchers Account us to be in the highest form of Religion though they have not as yet stept over the threshold of Religon's School Esteem us to be ful although we be altogether empty True saints are asham'd of commendation though they be full of worth hypocrites glory in being commended though they have nothing in them commendable When men have not the thing it s most unreasonable that they should have the name When God gave Abram the name of Abraham he told him there was a reason why he should be called by that name Gen. 17.5 Thy Name shall be called Abrabam for a father of many Nations have I made thee Abigail said concerning her Husband As his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him and if Christians be our name true Christianity should be with us Lastly such clouds without water appearing Professors render themselves of all others most inexcusable If Religion were bad why did they so much as profess it if good why did they not more even love it also If they took upon themselves the title and trade of Gods servants why would they not do his work If God be a master where is his fear if a father where is his honour If they would not be his servants why would they be called so If they would be called his servants why would they not be so how fearful should we then be of putting our souls off with shadows of goodness Labour for that truth in the inward parts which all the expressions of the outward man are not able to reach and remember that hereafter all paint must fall off which was not laid in the oyle of sincerity and Hypocrites shall be discovered and unmasked both to their own
the roots 2 Therfore I understand with Reverend Mr. Perkins and others that these words without fruit are as it were a correction of the former as if the Apostle had said they are trees whose fruit withereth or rather without fruit altogether the fruit which they bear not deserving so much as the name of fruit as trees that bear no other then withering fruit are esteemed no better then unfruitfull trees and thus notwithstanding their withering fruit they may be said to be without fruit in sundry respects 1. They were without fruit in regard that all their forementioned fruits were not produced by the inward life and vigour of the spirit of sanctification in their souls Their fruit grew upon a corrupt tree and proceeded from an unclean bitter root They were not the issues of a pure heart and faith unfaigned but the streams of an unclean fountain The fruitfulnesse onely of slow-bushes Crab-trees and brambles cannot make the year be accounted a fruitfull year A corrupt tree saith Christ cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.18 How can ye that are evill speak good things Mar. 12.24 Their best fruits were but fruits of nature coming from an unregenerated heart That fruit which before his conversion Paul accounted as precious as gold he after esteemed as base as dung 2. They were without fruit in regard their fruits were not brought forth to a Divine end they were directed to no higher an end then selves Riv. in loc Israel saith God is an empty Vine though bringing forth fruit for it followes he bringeth forth fruit to himself I am not ignorant that some Interpreters expound not that Text concerning the fruit of works though yet they grant the place may be by consequence drawn to take in them likewise As these fruits were not fruits of righteousnesse Phil. 1.11 so neither were they to the praise of his glory If thou wilt return O Israel saith God return to me Jer. 4.1 They returned saith the Psalmist but not to the most high The pipe cannot convey the water higher than is the fountain head from whence it comes and these fruits being not from God were not directed to him Fruits brought forth to our selves are rotten at the core they are not for his taste who both looks into and tries the heart 3. They might be without fruit as not producing works in obedience to the Rule The doing of the thing commanded may possibly be an act of disobedience God looks upon all our works as nothing unlesse we do the thing commanded because it is commanded This onely is to serve him for conscience sake A man may do a good work out of his obedience to his lust As its possible for a man to believe 1 Thess 4.3 1 Thess 5.18 not because of Divine Revelation so is it possible for a man to work and not upon the ground of Divine injunction Be not unwise but understand saith the Apostle what is the will of God Eph. 5.17 Mans wisdom is to understand and follow Gods will 4. Without fruit as to their own benefit comfort and salvation The works of Hypocrites are not ordained by God to have heaven follow them at the last day all they had or did will appear to be nothing and when the Sun shall arise then the works which here have shined like glow-worms shall appear unglorious and unbeautiful of all that hath been sown to the flesh shall nothing be reaped but corruption God crowns no works but his own nor will Christ own any works but those which have been brought forth by the power of his own Spirit 5. Lastly Without the fruit of any goodness in Gods account because without love to God 1 Cor. 13. Love is the sweetness of our services If I have not love saith Paul I am nothing and as true is it without it I can do nothing the gift of an enemy is a gift and no gift As love from God is the top of our happiness so love to God is the sum of our duty There is nothing beside love but an Hypocrite may give to God with Gods people it is the kernel of every performance God regards nothing we give him unless we give our selves also Its love which makes a service please both the master and servant Now wicked men in all they bring forth though they may have bounty in the hand yet have no love in the heart they have not a drop of love in a Sea of service This for the Explication of the second aggravation or gradation of the sin and misery of these Seducers they were without fruit The third follows in these words twice dead These words I take to express a further degree of their spiritual wretchedness under the continued Metaphor of Trees 'T was bad to have withering fruit worse to have no fruit at all worse yet to be not only without all fruit but even altogether without life twice dead Two things are here to be explained 1. In what respect these trees may be said to be dead 2. How to be twice dead For the first Death is 1. Temporal and Corporal that which is a privation of life by the departure of the soul from the body 2. Spiritual befalling either the godly or the wicked 1. The godly are said to be dead spiritually three wayes 1. Dead to sin Rom. 6.2 1 Pet. 2.24 the corruption of their natures being by the Spirit of Christ subdued and destroyed 2. Dead in respect of the Law Ceremonial Col. 2.20 dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world Moral Gal. 2.19 So Paul saith he was dead to the Law and Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law it being not able to make them guilty who are in Christ nor to terrifie their consciences nor to irritate them to sin 3. Dead to the world Gal. 6.4 so Paul was crucified to the world either because the World contemned and despised him as a dead man or else because the world had no more power to entice and allure him from Christ then the objects of the senses have to work upon a dead man 2. Spiritual death befalls the wicked and unregenerate they being without the Spirit of Christ to animate and quicken them which Spirit enlivens the soul supernaturally as the soul doth the body naturally hence they are said to be dead in sins Eph. 2.1.5 Col. 2.13 and dead Mat. 8.22 Luke 9.60 Rom. 6.13 Joh. 5.25 and to remain in death 1 Joh. 3.14 Their works hence are said to be dead Hebr. 9.14 As the immortality of the damned is no life but an eternall death so the conjunction of the souls and bodies of wicked men is not properly life but umbratilis vita a shadow of life or rather a very death they being without spiritual feeding growth working all vital operations and lying under the deformity loathsomness insensibleness in a spiritual sense of such as are dead or according to the resemblance here used by our Apostle which is
light of truth had stirred up God thus to shew his great hatred against them God never sends darkness among a people till they shut their eyes against the light If we will imprison truth God may justly set Seducers loose Oh labour then to follow true if you would not be misled by false lights and to be directed by fixed if you would not be seduced by wandring stars To conclude this needful point then with caution both to Ministers and People To the former I offer my humble thoughts in this hearty request That they would consider the best of them have sins enough of their own to answer for without contracting more by the misleading of others As inexcusable it is for Ministers to lead people in a wrong way as for people not to follow Ministers in a right way If then we would not mislead any in this night of darkness and sin let us be sure to be fixed stars our selves let us neither be Planets nor Meteors let us be fixed to our Scripture Principles deliberately chusing what we should love but then stedfastly loving what we have chosen They who are to lift up their voyce as a trumpet If the stars and sea-marks should change their places remove to and fro the passengers who look for constant direction are in danger of being carried and cast upon quick-sands socks must not give an uncertain sound A Minister must be fixed in the Scripture orb not having a particular motion of his own but being meerly carryed according to the motion of that his Orb. In all the reproaches a Minister meets with for turning and moving let his evident adhering to the word manifest that t is not the Shore but only the Boatman that moves the times will at length come up to a Minister if he be stedfast however let him take this for an invincible ground of incouragement He shall be blessed in directing those who will not be directed by him Whosoever doth and teacheth men to observe the Commandements saith Christ shall be blessed Mat 5.19 though he cannot prevail with men to observe them Christ propoundeth not the conversion of people as a property of a faithful Minister but the doing and teaching the will of God To people I present the needfulnese of taking heed that they be not misled to beware of wandring stars false Prophets Seducers It s possible to follow a mis-leading Guide with a good intention but not with good success It may be equally hurtful to receive the word of God as the word of man and to receive the word of man as the word of God Hearers must take nothing upon trust they must love men for their Doctrines but not imbrace Doctrines for men They must try the spirits examine all by the Word and suffer no opinion to travel unless it can shew the Scripture Pass and pronounce its Shiboleth The Scripture like a sword of Paradse should keep errours from entring into our hearts We should not be like Children to gape at and to swallow whatever any puts to our mouths In understanding we should be men and every opinion which cannot endure the beams of Scripture sun is to be thrown down as spurious Build your faith upon no emenency of man ever be more forward to examine then to admire what you hear call none Master but Christ the errour of the Master is alwaies the tentation oft the destruction of the Scholar 5. Obs 5. Great is Gods forbearance towards sinners Blackness of darkness is reserved for them not presently inflicted upon them Frequently doth the Scripture proclaim Gods long-suffering and his being slow to anger The Apostle mentions his forberance and long-suffering Rom. 2.4 He endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9.22 He gave the old World an hundred and twenty years space of repentance He endured the manners of the Israelites forty years in the Wilderness Acts 13.18 Four hundred years he spared the Canaanites Gen. 15.16 And sundry waies may this greatness of Gods long-suffering be amplified 1. He forbears punishing sinners though he see their sin and be most sensible thereof he sees all the circumstances of sin the most secret and retired wickednesses in the heart all are naked ript up ransackt anatomized before him men forbear to punish men because they know not the secret machinations of mischiefe which are against-them but God though he beholds all yet he spares long 2. He doth not only behold sin where it is but lothes it wherever he beholds it though he sees it every where with an eye of observation yet no where with an eye of approbation Sin is opposite to his very nature man may love sin and yet be stil a man but if God should love sin he should cease to be God he is under sin as a cart pressed with sheaves Amos 2.13 All the hatred that man bears to all the things in the world which are either hateful or hurtful to him is not comparable to Gods detestation of the least sin 3. He is able to punish sin wherever he either looks upon it or loathes it As the secretest sinner is within the reach of his eye so the strongest sinner is within the reach of his arm he is as able to throw a sinner into hel as to tel him of hel he in all his forbearances loseth not his power but exerciseth his patience he can but wil not punish 4. He doth not only forbear punishment but seeks to prevent it He waits that he may be gracious He is not willing that any should perish he strikes more gently for a while that he may not strike eternally and he stayes and warns so long that hee may not strike at all 5. He not only suffers sinners long but all the while he puts forth mercy towards them upholds their beings feeds heals helps them Sinners all the while they live spend upon the stock of mercy God is at much loss and great charges in continuing those mercies which they ravel and wanton away unprofitably 6. He forbears to punish without expecting any benefit to himself by it If his long-suffering bring us to repentance the good redounds to us It is then as the Apostle speaks salvation He loseth nothing if we be lost he hath no addition to his own happiness if we be happy 7. He is patient and long-suffering to sinners who is much nay infinitely our superior and more excellent then are we Here a King the King of kings waits for Beggars our Lord and Master stands without at the door and knocks Oh infinite condescention How widely doth Gods carriage towards man differ from mans towards man We poor worms have short thoughts man will presently upon every affront or neglect be ready to call fire from heaven t is well for poor sinning man he hath to do with a long-suffering God His fellow-creature could not would not be so patient God truly shewes himself a God as well
is an Evah to himself We must not altogether blame suggestions and temptations without The Divel tempted David to number the people and to see Bathsheba naked but after both he confesseth that he had sinned Commonly volenti It may in this case be said Nolenti non fit injuria None can hurt him that will not hurt himself Every man is tempted when he he is drawn away of his own lust Poyson would never hurt unlesse taken in The strongest enemy cannot hurt us nor the falsest delude us if we will be true to our selves Were there not a complying principle outward objects of sin would draw out nothing but detestations as in Christ in whom because the Divel found nothing he could do nothing against him And it is the duty of the godly to make use of ungodly examples not for imitation but greater abhorrence Saints like fire in cold weather should be hotter and holyer for living in times of greatest coldnesse and prophaneness The best men have oft lived in worst places as Lot Elijah Obadiah c. and shined as lights in the midst of a crooked Nation and redeem'd the time although nay because the dayes were evil 'T is not outward power and opportunity to sin but inward poyson that makes us sin and therefore in all our humiliations we should more angrily smite upon our own thighs than upon any outward occasional furtherances to sin 9 The servitude and slavery of a man that follows his lust is very miserable Tit. 3.3 Serving divers lusts Obser 9. Oh how true a drudg is hee that is a lacquey to his lusts and who hath lusts for his Leaders and Commanders 1. A servant is hindred from doing any thing but what his Master pleaseth A servant to his lusts is in the bond of iniquity hindred not onely from doing but even from willing to doe any thing but what pleaseth his lusts He is alienated from the life of God cannot hear pray meditate holily Sometimes he is in arcta custodia in close custodie not so much as able to go about the very outward works of holiness at least he is in libera custodia he cannot do them any further then his lusts allow never spiritually hee is Satans captive Gaol-bird The Romans cu◠off the thumbs of their slaves that so they might be able to handle the Oar but not the Sword so the Divel hinders his slaves from holy services but leaves them in a posture of activity for sin Satan gives some of his slaves longer line then hee gives to others but he ever keeps them in his power 2. A servant is servilely imployed The Gibeonites were hewers of wood and drawers of water A Sinner is put upon basest and hardest works like the Israelites in Egypt who had their shoulders under burdens and were put upon base and dirty drudgeries Issachar couched under his burden like an Asse A wicked man takes pains to go to hell his imployments are most painful and vile the workie-dayes of a Saint are better then the holidayes of a Sinner Christs yoak is easie and his burden light 3. A servant is beaten belly-beaten back-beaten Oh the wounds of conscience that sinners get in the service of their lusts there 's no peace to them they carry furnaces in their brests silent scourges Not to speak of the wounds upon their bodies healths names estates 4. A servant is rewarded but what are the sinners wages Sum'd up they are in that one word how comprehensive Death The very work of a Saint is abundant wages the very wages of a sinner his greatest wo. After sinners have drudg'd for lusts all the day of their lives Satan lodgeth them in flaming sheets at night Hee who hath now been their Tempter wil then be their Tormenter And yet how unlike is a servant to lusts to a servant unto men 1. The work of a mans servant is at length at an end A sinners work is never done peccator nunquam feriatur sinners have no holidayes they drudg without intermission on the Sabbath they sin in prayer hearing Sacraments in eating drinking recreations on earth in hel 2. A mans servant is weary of his servitude groans like the Israelites under his bondage and desires delivery A slave to lust loves to be so stil he is a boared slave that wil not be free but accounts every one his enemie that would deliver him hee thinks his servitude his liberty his prison his palace 3. Among men one master hath many servants but spiritually one servant hath many masters serving saith the Apostle Tit. 3.3 divers lusts and pleasures Quot habet Dominos qui unum non habet yea these masters are contrary some haling this way others another Covetousnesse hales one way prodigality and pride another ambition drags one way uncleanness another A sinner by these lusts is drawn as by wild horses 4. Among men the master is better and more honourable then the servant but a servant to lusts serves masters that are infinitely below and baser then himself a man never goes below himself but when he serves them Every lust is the divels brat and Satans excrement how unworthy is that servitude when a heaven-born soul hath such a master Only sin disennobles intellectual nature making men sinners Angels divels Concerning the means of opposing and overcoming of lusts see at large before The third proof which our Apostle brings to shew that these seducers were ungodly men Vulg. Superba Bez Tumida Tigur vehementer fastuosa Alii praetumida supra modum turgida immen sa Projicis ampullas et sesquipedalia verba Horat. and to be judged at the last day is set down in these words wherein he taxeth them of their proud arrogant boasting their mouth speaketh great swelling words These words Great swelling words are in the Greek expressed in this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth not only big bulkie bunching out or swelling but all these to a very great measure or as some beyond measure the composition increasing the signification and importing that these seducers spake words of a vastly rising swelling H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De educ lib. mountanous bignesse Thus Plutarch useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turgid or swelling speech is very unfit to be used about civil affaires And a very apt and true accusation is this brought against these false teachers by Jude it having been the constant course of hereticks to speak very high and bigly swelling words Descripsit sermo apostolicus Jovinianum loquentem buccis tumentibus et inslata verba trutinantem Hier. l. 1. Contr. Jovin of arrogant boasting Hierom applyeth this expression of swelling words to Jovinian whom saith he the Apostle describes speaking with swoln cheeks and puft up expressions Two things may here be opened 1. What the Apostle meant by great swelling words 2. Wherein stands the sinfulness of using them For the first In
respect to persons is mentioned When Naaman the Syrian is said to be honourable they render the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 19.7 Septuag admired in his person So Deut. 10.17 the Lord regardeth not persons 2. For the second what admiring of persons is to be condemned as unlawfull Certainly all kind of admiring of persons is not unlawfull before God nor disallowed by this Apostle Honour to the persons of others may lawfully be given Even for those gifts and endowments wherewith God hath furnisht them whether outward or inward for the outward glory and majesty which God gave Nabuchadnezar all people trembled and feared before him Dan. 5.19 And God commands honour to parents naturall and politicall and the elders who rule well are to be counted worthy of double honour And some are deservedly preferr'd before others for their age calling gifts graces relation to us But severall wayes admiring of persous is unlawfull I shall reduce them all to these two heads 1. As this admiration of man doth more particularly concerne 1. God 2. Man 1. The admired 2. Man 2. The admirer 2. Man 3. Others 1. As it may concern God And thus we admire men sinfully 1. When we so admire man as that we honour him without eying Gods Command the lowest service must be done in obedience to the highest master our earthly parent must be honoured and admired because our heavenly Father injoynes it An Earthly master must not be honoured and served with an eye onely to his Command but out of Conscience of duty to Gods Command Herein must we resemble that noble Roman who disdaining to bow before a forreigne Prince when he came into his presence let fall his ring which he stooping to take up and thereupon the Prince insulting the Roman utters these words Non tibi sed annulo I bow not to thee but to take up my ring Or as that Frederick Barbarossa who kneeling down before the Pope to receive his Crowne said Non tibi sed Petro not to thee but to Peter The Apostle makes the application when he injoynes servants to be obedient unto Masters as unto Christ not as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ Eph. 6.6 7. and not as men-pleasers but c. fearing God Col. 3.22 2. When we so admire men as to honour and serve them in those things which they command against God our earthly Lord must be obey'd but our heavenly Lord must be preferred When these two come in Competition we are disobedient unlesse we be disobedient Against my heavenly fathers will I neither owe buriall to my dead nor obedience to my living Father Whether it be right to obey God or man saith the Apostle judg you Ephraim was oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the Commandement Hos 5.11 3. When we so admire men for any excellency as not to give the glory thereof to God the sweetnesse of the stream must not make us forget the fountain Men must be honoured as instruments not adored as deities It was cursed and it proved costly flattery which was given to Herod when the people shouted It is the voice of God and not of a man because he gave not God the glory he was smitten and eaten up of wormes Act. 12.22 23. That must not be offered to any which the best never durst take namely the praise of having or doing any thing of themselves How fearfull have holy men been in their highest performances lest any of Gods glory should cleave to their fingers When Peter had wrought that great Miracle of healing the creeple and the people greatly wondered fearing the sinfull admiring of his person he takes all from himselfe and casts all upon Christ Yee men of Israel saith he why look ye stedfastly upon us as though by our own power or holinesse We had made this man to walk The God of Abraham c. hath glorified his Son Jesus c. Barnabas and Paul rent their clothes when the people were about to sacrifice to them I laboured saith Paul more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 Our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 Who is Paul or who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye beleeved I have planted Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing c. 1 Cor. 3.5 6 7. the Corinthians faith was not to stand in the wisdome of men but power of God 1 Cor. 2.5 39. People are commonly in extreames either they deifie men or nullifie them Either they make them dwarfs or Gyants but for people so to admire any men as to ascribe their conversion or edification to them as if men were not onely Gods instruments and Christs servants but Gods and Christs themselves and as if their grace were from the abilities of the teacher and not from the power of Christ is a very plainly sinfull admiring of mens persons even to an unchairing of Christ and a lifting up of man into his Seat to a depriving the shepherd and Bishop of our soules and a substituting another in his roome In a word It is all one as to thanke the ax for building the house and to attribute nothing to the Carpenter Nor indeed is it any other than idolatry 4. When we so admire and honour men as to put that trust and Confidence in them which we owe only to God Thou saith Job art my confidence Job 31.24 He is the confidence of the ends of all the earth Ps 65.5 Put your trust in the Lord. Psal 4.5 Trust in him at all times Ps 62.5 so Psal 37.3 But men though never so full of love skill strength must not have our trust Put not confidence in a guide Mic. 7.5 It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 Every man at his best state is altogether vanity Ps 39.5 Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Isa 2.22 Man is to be us'd as a wand in our hand not lean'd upon as our staffe or support in subordination to not sin stead of God onely as one that can help us if God will help him as one that of himselfe cannot move or undertake much less accomplish any good for us Oh how oft hath God snapt in sunder all these rotten crutches in England and how many lectures of vanity hath he read upon men in greatest admiration 5. When we so admire men as to fear their power more then Gods Men are sinfully admired both when they being for us appear to us so great as that God need not help us when they being against us they appear so great as that God cannot help us Man is idolized both by looking upon him as one that can work without God much more by looking upon him as able to work against God How sinfully did the Israelites admire
the persons of the Gyants in Canaan in respect of ther strength and stature How sinfully did David admire Saul when against Gods promise he said he should perish by his hand thus the Israelites sinfully admire the Egyptians when upon the sight of them notwithstanding the word and works of God they tell Moses in their march that he tooke them away to dye in the wildernesse Exod. 14.11 Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye c and forgettest the Lord thy maker Isa 51.12 The fearing of man is the forgetting of God 6. When we admire mens goodness or what of God we see in men their persons loving the message for the messenger the liquor for the vessel holy instruction for the sake of him who gives it and so hearing the word of God as the word of man this is to prefer a man of God before God in a man or rather man before God And contrary to what Tertullian speaks not to judg of persons by faith but of faith by persons 2. Admiration of persons is sinful as it concerns Man and 1. As it concerns the admired and so admiration of persons is sinfull 1. When we admire such persons as are not able to bear their own admirations A proud man having done any thing commendably is not yet fit to be commended Some weak braines will be turn'd with a small quantity of wine others more strong will indure more Herod was intoxicated with applause when the people cryde him up for a God but Paul and Barnabas rend their clothes and are ready to sacrifice themselves when the people meditate a sacrificing to them A weak stomack cannot concoct fat morsells he is a man of strong grace who can hear his own commendations without hurt Nothing more discovers a man then the praising him It s as the fining pot for silver and the furnace for gold Prov. 27.21 2. When we so admire persons as thereby to make a prey of them or to overthrow either their bodies or soules Thus the Herodians Matth. 22.16 admired and honoured Christ telling him that he was true and taught the way of God in truth and regarded not the person of man but all this was but to intangle and destroy him by bringing him on to answer to a captious question Thus afterward Christ was betrayd with a kisse and not seldome have we known that men have laine in ambush behinde the thickets of commendation and admiration and so unsuspectedly faln upon the unwary and credulous hearer Jael gives her nail soon after her milk and poyson is oftnest drunke in gold Thus after the death of Jehoiadah the Princes of Judah came and made obeysance to King Joash whereby they prevaild with him to leave the house of the Lord 2 Chr. 24.17 and to serve groves and Idols and thus as Ecclesiastical history tells us Simon Magus cry'd up Nere above the clouds and accounted and cald him a God to make him the greater Enemy to the Christians Thus Tertullus admired the person of Felix that thereby he might stir him up against Paul Act. 24.2 3. When we so admire persons as to cover hide and excuse their sin because of their greatnesse A sin the greater in regard that greatnesse ought to be so far from being a cloke for that it is an aggravation of sin and makes it the more hainous A wicked person in scripture phrase is but a vile person by so much the more vile by how much the more he corrupts and abuses any eminent gifts and endowments which God hath bestowed upon him The word speaks as basely of rich wicked ones as they think contemptibly of Gods people That wicked King was very low in the eyes of the holy Prophet who said were it not that I regard the person of Jehoshap at King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee 2 King 3.14 See more of this before pag. 2. part 14. Unsanctified greatnesse is most likely to be pernitious and therefore should be most reprehened 2. Admiration of persons is sinfull as it concernes the admirer and so 1. When we so admire persons as thereby onely to advance and advantage our selves and that 1. either in profit and gaine or 2. in honour or reputation 1. In profit and thus these seducers here admired great ones and honoured their greatnesse for their own advantage servilly cringing and crouching to them for filthy lucre they gave them great titles and flattered them in sin and assented to them in every thing that they might fill their purses and as Peter speaks through covetousnesse did they with feined words make merchandise of people hereby shewing that they neither served Christ nor indeed those whom they flatterd but their own bellies at once laying off both the Christians and the Man 2. In honour and and reputation and for this end sometimes the persons of great men are admired as Mr Fox tells us that the bloody Tyger Steph. Gardiner was wont to admire the person of Henry the 8. speaking of him to others with greatest honour and calling him his gracious Lord and Master onely to be lookt upon as his favourite though he knew that the King never loved him But for honour hypocrites commonly admire the persons of good men admire their persons I say though they imitate not their practises Thus Saul desired the presence of Samuel to be honoured before the people Thus the Scribes and Pharises admired the dead Prophets onely to be accounted as they were holy 2. When we so admire persons as withall to imitate their sins and imperfections Thus these seducers were so admired as that many followed their damnable errors putting no difference between their faces and the warts their speaking and stammering The falls and folly of the admired are commonly the snares of the admirers and the error of the master oft the tentation of the scholar It s very hard to admire the person of another and not to imitate his imperfections 3. Admiration of persons is sinfull as it concernes and hurts others and so 1. When for some commendable actions or endowments we so admire a person who is in most things very discommendable and a known wicked person that thereby we give occasion to the hearer who is though wicked yet not so wicked as he to judg his own condition very good and to blesse and flatter himselfe in his sin as thinking that he deserves Commendation as well as or better then the other This I have ever thought to be one stratagem whereby the hands of the wicked have been strengthned in sin and a stumbling block which some either weakly or wickedly have laid before others Thus I have oft heard even with grief when in funerall Sermons a prophane drunkard a swearer an adulterer or one perhaps at the most but civilly honest hath for some few good deeds been cryed up and even sainted by the Preacher that the wickedest persons have been ready to