Lands or Goods or of his own Actions or Imployments Every one likewise is a Servant that being come to full yeares is deprived of this Right or power to dispose of himself of his Lands of his Goods of his Actions or imployments either in whole or in part As for Children or such as are under Yeares though borne to be Lords over others yet whilest they are under yeares they are properly neither Free-men nor Servants Although as the Apostle teacheth us Gal. 4. 1. 2. they participate more of the Nature of Servants then of Free-men Now I say that the Heire as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant though he be Lord of All but is under Tutors and Governours untill the time appointed of the Father For this Reason one and the same word in the Original is promiseuously used for Children and for Servants because Neither of them are at their own disposals but at the disposals of their Guardians or masters 3. According to the severall Extents of this want of Power or Right to dispose of themselves of their Actions or Imployments Or rather According to the Extent of others Right or Power to dispose of them in all these there be severall Degrees of Servitude and divers sorts of servants Some as the great Philosopher in his Politicks would have it are Servi à Natura were framed by Nature only to serve or to be at other mens disposals as not being able to dispose of themselves Such as had strong Bodies but weake Braines were in his judgment more fit to be governed by Others then to govern themselves But this kind of servitude is improper For Omnis servus est alicujus Domini Servus Every Servant is the Servant of some particular Lord or Master whose Interest whether in his Person or imployments must be grounded upon some Speciall Title Such as by Nature are destitute of witt or Reason Qui ubique est nusquam est He that is every where is no where do not thereby become Servants unlesse we should say they were every mans Servants that are disposed to imploy them And this Priviledge they have of others That they are not capable of any Contract or Legall Title by which they may make themselves or be made This or That mans servants And being no mans servants they can be no servants 4. Though our English Servant be derived from the Latin Servus yet servants in our English tongue we call many which a good Latinist would rather call Famuli then Servi being indeed Servants that is at other mens disposals but in part only not in whole whom for Distinction sake we call Apprentices or Hired Servants Over whose Actions or Imployments their Masters during the time of their hire or Apprentiship have full right and Interest and Authority likewise over their Bodies or Persons to correct or punish them if they take upon them to dispose of their Actions or Imployments otherwise then for their Masters Behoof or as they shall appoint But over their Persons their Bodies their Goods or Children their Masters have no Right nor Interest They may not take upon them by our Laws to dispose of These as they do of their Day-Labours or bodily Imployments Yet are these properly called Servants as having made themselves such or are so made by their Parents or Guardians upon some Contract or by some Branch or Title of Commutative Justice in which there is alwayes Ratio dati accepti somewhat given and taken that binds both the Parties As in this particular case The Master gives and the Servant receives meat drink and wages And in Lieu of these Benefits received the Servant yields up and the Master receives a Right or interest in his bodily and daily Labours and a Power to dispose of these Yet are they Servants as we said only in part not meer servants 5. Meer Servants or servants absolutely or in whole were such as the Latines called Mancipia such as we call in English Slaves or Bondmen or such as sometimes out of a superfluity of speech or expressing our selves in our Native Dialect we term Bondslaves For a Slave is as much as a Bondman and no Bondman can be any more then a slave A Bondslave is a Name which hath no Reality answerable or fully commensurable unto it Unto this state or Condition of life that is of being a Slave or Bondman no man is bound or subject by Nature No Man will willingly or voluntarily subject himself Such as heretofore have been and in divers Countries yet are Servants in this sense were made such by others from a pretended right or Title of Conquest and were called Mancipia quasi manu Capti because they had been taken in War and might by rigour of Justice at least by rigour of Hostile Law be put to Death as men convicted of Rebellion by taking Armes Now the price of their Redemption from death was losse of Civil Liberty as well for themselves as their posterity These were truly and properly called Servi according to the native Etymologie of this name in Latin Servi quasi Servati They were again wholly and meerly Servants according to the utmost extent of the Nature and of the Real Conditions or properties of Civil Servitude that is Their Lords or Masters had an absolute Right or Interest not only in their Bodily Actions or Imployments but over their very Persons their Bodies their Children and whatsoever by any Title did belong unto them The Interest Power or Dominion which Masters by the Civil Law or Law of Nations had over their Servi or Mancipia their Slaves or Bondmen was altogether such and as absolute as a Free-holder hath over his own Inheritance or Fee simple that is a power or Right not only to reap or take the Annual Fruits or Commodities of it but full Right to Let or Sett for Term of years or to alienate or sell the Propertie For so were Bondmen and their Children bought and sold as Lands and Goods or Cattle are with us All the Right Dominion or Interest which Masters with us have over their Servants or Apprentices is only such as a Tenant or Lease-holder for some limited time or Terme of years hath over the ground or soyl which he payeth Rent for that is a Right or Property in the Herbage a right or power to reap the Fruits or increase of it during the time of his Covenant but no right to alienate or sell so much as the Earth or Gravel much lesse to alienate or make away the Fee-Simple or Inheritance which is still reserved unto the Owner Thus the Bodies or persons of hired Servants are their own Their mindes and Consciences are Free even during the time of their service But the Use or imployment of their Bodies in services Lawful and Ingenuous is their Masters So are the Services of their wit for accomplishing with care and diligence what by duty they are bound to perform CHAP. XVI That the former
Difference of Servitude or Distinction of Servants is set down and allowed by God himself 1. THis Difference of Servitudes or Distinction of Servants is expresly delivered in Holy Scripture allowed and approved of by God himself Levit. A Paraphrase upon Levit. 25 39 c. 25. 39 c. If thy Brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor and be sold unto thee thou shalt not compel him to serve as a Bond-servant But as an hired servant and as a Sojourner he shall be with thee and shall serve thee unto the year of Jubilee And then shall he depart from thee both he and his Children with him and shall return unto his own Family and unto the possession of his Fathers shall he return For they are my Servants which I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt they shall not be sold as Bond-men From this place these two points are clear First That if an Israelite were waxen poor or in debt he might Lawfully sell or alienate the use of his own or of his Childrens bodily imployments unto his Brother for the maintenance of his and his Childrens lives or for the discharge of his debt until the year of Jubilee but no Longer But to sell the bodies or persons of himself or of his Children was not permitted by the Law of God Nor might any Son of Abraham or Jacob buy or sell any of their Brethren though willing to sell themselves or their Children But on the contrary If through necessity that knows no Law any Son of Jacob sold himself unto the Heathen or in case he and his Children had been seized upon for debt his Kinsmen or Brethren were to redeem him or at least not to suffer him to serve any longer then the year of Jubilee And during that terme he was to serve only as a hired Servant and not as a Bond-man From this Law if they had no other Reason the Jews here spoken of might safely plead That in asmuch as they were Abrahams seed they neither were nor could be in bondage unto any man de jure .. The reason why the Lord would not have them to be in bondage unto any man is in the Law expressed Because they were His Servants by a peculiar Title because he had redeemed them from the bondage and thraldome unto which the Egyptians had de Facto not de Jure most unjustly brought them 2. Secondly from this Law it is clear That God did both allow and authorize the Israelites and seed of Abraham to have Bond-men of the Nations round about them or of the strangers that sojourned amongst them that they might bequeath the very bodies and persons of them and their Children as an inheritance and possession unto their Sons and posterity forever ver 45 46. That is They had the same Title or interest in them the same absolute power or Dominion over them as they had over their Lands their Goods or Cattle that is power to alienate or sell them or their Children for their best commodity at their pleasure Of this second sort of Servants or Bondmen which were in Bonis alterius the goods or possessions of their Masters are our Saviours speeches in most Parables to be understood wherein mention is made of Servants without distinction So we read Mat. 18. 25. That the Lord of that ungratious Servant which would not forgive his Fellow an hundred pence commanded him to be sold and his Wife and Children and all that he had and paiment to be made Our Saviours speech though it be a Parable rather then an History is grounded upon an Historical or positive truth He speaks according to the common Custome of those times and places by which not only the Servants themselves and their Children but whatsoever they had gathered together were wholly at their Lords or Masters disposing For as we say Superficies sequitur Solum He that is Lord or owner of the soyl or ground becomes thereby Lord and owner of the House which another man builds upon it So in like case He that is Lord of another mans person or body doth thereby become Lord of all his goods or whatsoever he may be thought to possesse But so it is not with hired servants amongst us for in as much as their bodies or persons are Free and are no part of their Masters goods or possession they may be true Owners Lords or Possessers of whatsoever they got either by their own industry or what otherwise may fall unto them by deed of Gift by death of friends or the like 3. Wherein Bond-men and Hired Servants do in divers points agree But though Bond-men and hired Servants do in other points differ yet in many they agree Most Maxims whether Legal or Moral which are true of the one are true likewise though in different manner or proportion of the other As for Example When our Saviour saith No man can serve two Masters but he shall either love the one or hate the other or lean to the one and despise the other This saying in many cases may be specially and more remarkably true of Slaves or Bond-men yet very true of hired Servants For every man is so far truly and properly a Servant as he is at another mans disposal And every man is so far truly and properly a Lord or Master over another man as he hath right or power to dispose either of his body or of his actions or Labours Now in as much as the Master of an hired Servant or Apprentise hath as absolute right or interest in his Actions his Labours or imployments as the Master of a Slave or Bond-man hath in the actions or imployments of his Bond-man it is as impossible for the One as for the other to execute the will and pleasure of two men that differ in their particular imployments or designs It is the duty of a faithful Servant to execute not his own will but the will and pleasure of his Master But if so it happen that two Men or more may concur or consent to imploy One and the same Man in the self same businesse and service then as we say Many stones make but one Load and many things of several weight but one burden So in this case two or three or more Men thus concurring in the same designs make but one Master But faithfully to execute the wils of men that differ in their Designes or fully to satisfie two or more men that have several and ful Interests in one mans actions and Labours is as impossible as for a body to move two contrary wayes at once 4. The most General and most Essential property wherein both sorts of Servants do univocally agree How Bondmen or Hâ—red Servants are differenced from Freemen by which they formally differ from a man absolutely Free is thus gathered by Tully Liber est qui vivit ut vult He is Civilly Free for that was the chief Freedom that he knew and the Freedom whereof we now
a Servant but to one Lord besides his Bellie Whereas his Master had subjected himself to many unruly Appetites and enormous desires all contrary to the Dictates of his own Reason or Conscience in his more private and retired thoughts So much of the Law of Reason and of Nature was implanted in this his Master that he could highly commend the manners and practises of the Ancient Romans And yet if any good spirit did invite or move him to follow their example he was as ready to kick at the motion or the practise in Particular as he had been to commend the pattern set him by the Ancient Romans considered only in the General Being not invited by his betters abroad a moderate homely dish of broath of herbs c was most applauded by him and his family free from molestation But if Mecaenas or any other great Potentate had upon short warning invited him to supper he instantly declared himself to be a Slave both to his Belly and to his Superiors and a Tyrant withal to his Servants chiding one for not bringing him Oyl beating another for not bringing him water or other preparatives with more speed then could in reason be expected From these and the like Inductions Davus concludes his Master to be more then a Slave or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an instrument indued with Life and motion a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wooden Picture of a Man which had no mastery over his own motions or resolutions having subjected his Will and Reason to dance attendance upon Every Great mans will or pleasure like a puppit upon a string which it hath no power to wag or move but is moved upon it at the pleasure of the master or practiser of this kind of childish sport The rest of this Slaves Arguments all concludent to prove his Master or such men as he was to be more sottish slaves then himself the Reader may find briefly set down in the eighth book of these Commentaries Sect. 2. Chap. 7. page in Quarto 63. CHAP. XX. Of the Fruitlesnesse of the former Notions in the best Heathens 1. BUt what did it boot this Satyrist to know all this or to mark the most of the Romans his Country-men to be indeed true Servants Horace and Tully both true Servants though they knew not tò whom He himself laid nothing of all this to Heart The best use we can in discretion presume to be made of this Observation was to make himself and Others merry setting down his observations by way of Play or Enterlude He lived and for ought we know dyed an Epicure not in Practise only but in Opinion One that accounted it the greatest part of misery or Servitude to be wedded to one kind of Bodily Pleasure or carnal delight And the greatest Happiness he aimed at was to be Free to taste and try all kind of Pleasures so far as they were not hurtful unto his body 2. As for Tully though he handled his matters a great deal more gravely and soberly and were much better in Opinion Yet in the issue of his discourse He seems rather to change his Master then any way to set himself Free He was not indeed such a Servant to his own Imagination or Fancy not such a Servant to Covetousnesse to Lust perhaps not to Ambition or Superiority of dominion as He observed the most other Romans to be Yet he was a greater Servant to His Owne Will then others were to their inferior desires His very Will it self was in Servitude as having no Rule to rectifie it unlesse it were the Romane Lawes which though in many particulars they were Good yet Such as were too much addicted unto the intire Frame of them Or Such as gloried in the wisdome or Excellencie of them were brought unwittingly to exercise Enmitie against God and his Annoynted Christ. Such as the Romanes accounted their Godliest Patriots or Common-wealths-men were alwayes the Greatest Enemies unto the Jewes or Professors of Moses Law before our Saviours time as unto the Christians after our Saviours death God in his just Judgements did send them such cruell Kings as Tiberius and Nero because they were so cruelly bent against the Professors of his Gospel What could it advantage these or any other Heathens to know themselves to be in Servitude not knowing unto whom they were in Servitude or whose Servants they were de Facto nor by whom they were to be made Free Some good Notions they had of vice or of Sin But of Satan or his wicked Angels they had not so much as heard or at least what they had heard of them they accounted but Toyes or Fables And that which was the Root of their misery and strongest bond of their Slavery was that they worshipped Friends or Devils as if in their opinion they had been Gods because able to do them bodily harm or bodily good Now in offering Sacrifices as our Apostle saith unto Devils they did solemnly and publikely professe them to be their Lords and Masters So that they were not only professed Servants unto Sin but professed Servants unto Satan In worshipping them and doing them Service they did that which was worthy of stripes and were to be beaten yet with fewer stripes then the wicked Jew or such as confesse Christ to be their Lord and yet will not learn to deny ungodlinesse For these Heathens did not know that they had such a Lord or Master whom they were bound to serve And not knowing him to be their Master how was it possible that they should know his will But we acknowledge him to be Our Lord We know his will We know the End of his coming into the World was to destroy the works of Satan Now if we shall labour to build up that which He came to destroy we shall prove our selves not only to be servants to sin and by Sin Servants unto Satan but professed Enemies and Traytors unto Christ 3. Many that call Christ Lord true Servants to Satan Our Saviours Sentence is Universal Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin As you shall think or meditate upon the same let me request you to take this addition or Supplement into consideration with it Whosoever is the Servant of Sin is the Servant the Slave or Bondman of Satan ☜ Let no man therefore flatter himself with this or the like Conceit That because he professeth Christ to be his Lord he cannot therefore be so true a Slave and Bondman unto Satan as the Idolatrous Heathen were which offered sacrifice unto him They did indeed unwittingly implicitely and really acknowledge him to be their Lord and themselves his Servants by paying Rent or Tribute unto him But such as deny all such Rent or Service may make him their Lord Vid. Salvianum 1-6 and themselves his slaves or Bondmen by Prescription or continual possession 4. The Heathens which offered sacrifice unto Bacchus as to a supposed god of riot or Good Fellowship or a Patron
Ambitio vigila cicer ingere largè Rixanti populo Honour of Superiority or Soveraignty over others which sems to be the most Free yet even This as by instance he proves is a hard an imperious and cruel Mistress unto him that entertains her best Not One of an Hundred that hunts after Honour or Preferment but hath more then ten Masters to One for every servant that he keeps As for the inordinate desires of wealth of Lands or inheritance they are no parts of a †Rather of a Mad-man sayes Horace Serm. l. 2. Sat. 3. Dum doceo insanire omnes Vos ordine adite Danda est Hellebori multo pars maxima avaris Nescio an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem c. See Hor. Serm. l. 1. Sat. 1. And Juvenal Sat. 10. v. 10 Sed plures nimia congesta pecunia cura Strangulat Freeman but the properties of a base or sluggish Servant But which is worst of all After excessive desires have got the victory over our souls they bring in a new Lord or cruel Master worse then themselves that is Fear or Terror arising from the Consciousness of Sin into which there is no excessive or immoderate desire though it be of things in themselves not unlawful but will in the end plunge our Souls when we shall as one day we must call our Souls unto an Account for our Expence of time and imployments These and the like Paradoxes as Tully himself did foresee they would be esteemed no better were Dogmatically avouched by †Horace his live Characters of true Slaves Serm. l. 2. Sat. 7. See Persius his imitation of Horace in This as he does in other passages very much Sat. 5. v. 85. c. In his Dialogue betwixt Dama a slave lately and a Stoick D. Liber Ego Sto. Unde datum hoc sinnis tot subdite rebus An Dominum ignoras nisi quem vindictarelaxat incus in jecore aegro Nascuntur Domini sc pigritia Avaritia libido Ambitio à quibus Duplici in diversum scinderis hamo Hunccine an hunc sequeris subeas alternus oportet Ancipiti obsequio Dominos alternus obertes Nec tu cum obstiteris semel instantique negaris Parere Imperio Rupi jam vincula dicas Nam luctata Canis nodum abripit at tamen illi Dum fugit à collo trahitur pars longa catenae See his Dialogue there v. 161. between Davus and Chaerestratus taken out of Menander Horace in the Age following under the Person of a Roman slave or Bondman 3 Davus whom this witty Poet brings in Acting the one part of a Satyrical Dialogue with his Master according to the Ancient custome of the Romans by which their Slaves were authorized to use Liberty of speech more then Civil in their Saturnal or December Feasts first taking this General as granted That all men at Least the Romans were true Slaves divides them into Two Sorts or kinds Pars hominum vitiis gaudet constanter urget Propositum pars multa natat modò recta capessens Interdum pravis obnoxia saepe notatus Cum tribus annellis modo laevâ Priscus inani Vixit inaequalis clavum ut mutaret in horas Aedibus ex magnis subitò se conderet undè Mundior exiret vix libertinus honestè Jam maechus Romae jam mallet doctus Athenis Viveâ—e Vertumnis quotquot sunt natus iniquis Scurra Volanerius postquam illi justa Chiragra Contudit arâ—iculos quipro se tolleret atque Mitteret in pyrgum talos mercede diurnâ Conductum pavit Quanto constantior idem In vitiis tanto levius miser ac prior illo Qui jam ontento jam laxo fune laborat c. sinusquam es forte vocatus Ad caenam laudas securum olus ac velut usquam Vinctus eâ—s ita te felicem dicis amasque Quòd nusquam tibi sit potandum Jusserit ad se Mecaenas serum sub lumina prima venire Convivam Nemon ' oleum feret ocyus ecquis Audit cum magno blate as clamore fugisque Milvius scurrae tibi non referenâ—a precati Discedunt Etenim fateor me aixerit ille Duci ventre levem nasum nidore supinor Imbecillus iners si quid vis adde popino c. O toties servus quae Bellua ruptis Cum sâ—mel effugit reddit se prava catenis Túâ—e mihi Dominus rerum impertis hominumque Tot tant sque minor quem ter vindicta quaterque Imposita haud unquam misera formidine privet eripe turpi Colla jugo libâ—r Liber sum Dic age Non quîs Vâ—get enim Dominus mentem non lonis acres Subjectat lasso stimulos versatque negantem Tu mihi qui imperitas aliis servis mâ—ser atque Ducer is ut nervis altenis mobile lignum c. Adde quod idem Non horam tecum esse potes nonotia rectè Ponere teque ipsum vitas fugiâ—ivus erro Jam vino quaerens jam somno fallere curam Frustra Nam comes atra premit sequiturque fugacem 4. The First sort did constantly delight in some one or few vices The other being of better Birth were fluctuant between Vertue or Civil Honestie and base vices Modo recta capessens Interdum pravis obnoxia c. He instanceth in one Priscus who was never Uniform to himself much lesse conformable to any constant Rules of good Life sometimes wearing three Rings on his Left hand with other Cognizances of his Gentility or ingenuous Birth sometimes not so much as one Ring upon either hand nor observing any other Garbe or token of Gentility Oftentimes having touched at some great Senators or Noble-mans House in a Robe befitting his calling would instantly change his Habits and hide himself in such base houses as no cleanly Libertine that is as we say a Free-man of the First Head would willingly be seen to go in or come out of For the other Part of this Slaves division of men he instanceth in one Volanerius an old Sinkanter or Gamester and Scurrilous Companion by profession who was so delighted in this accustomed trade of Life that after the Gout had so hammered and bemaul'd his joynts that he could not so much as finger a Pair of Dice did hire a Slave to take them up and throw them for him This man in this Slaves opinion was so much lesse wretched or base then the former Gentleman Priscus by how much he was more uniform to himself and more constant in his wonted course of Life whereas the other was perpetually tossed between contrary inclinations as if he had been sometimes so hard tied that he could not but stand upright oftner let Loose to fall foul or groveling 5. The Hypothesis or issue of this sawcy Thesis or Generality was this That the Gentleman Priscus did represent his Lord and Master as Volanerius did Davus himself who by his own acknowledgement was constantly addicted to one or two of his Masters bad qualities vet
on him The Evangelist Resolves us in the next words Because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man And knowing all men he knew the Disposition of these men to be such that although they did for the present Believe in his name upon presentation of Discontent or denyal of satisfying their desires or hopes of Earthly Dignities they would revile him as the Believers in my Text did and maliciously Contradict his Doctrine or if Opportunity served Betray him into his enemies hands or at least offer him such violence as was offered him in the last verse of this 8 th Chapter Then took they up stones to cast at him ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is He made Himself Invisible to their sight and went out of the Temple going through the midst of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so avoided their attempted Violence because the hour was not yet come wherein he was willing to suffer Violence 8. But this dangerous disease of the Jewish Nation The Second Instance of Jewish Revolt from Christ or rather Turning clean Counter or the particular indisposition of such as in the second and eight chapters of this Gospel are said to Believe in him did not come to so Perfect A Crisis that others besides Christ himself who knew What was in man could take Notice of it until that Passeover wherein he was betrayed by Judas At the beginning of this Great Feast most of the seed or Progeny of Abraham by Isaac not Inhabitants of Judaea only but wheresoever Scattered through other Nations or Provinces did Believe in his name after a better manner and exprest their Belief and Observance to him in far higher Terms then those men to whom my Text refers or those mentioned by S. John Chap. 2. or any other Ordinary Assemblies had done before And this they did without Contradiction of any save of the Scribes and Pharisees Priests and Elders Scarce any King or Emperour whether Christian or Heathenish since the world began was entertained with such lofty Gratulations from so many mouths and hands at once as our Saviour some three or four dayes before he was Betrayed The Triumphant Salutations which had been tendred to David by Judah and Israel at his Coronation were but a Model of the loud Echoes of Hosanna to the Son of David Hosanna in the Highest Blessed be the Son of David that cometh in the name of the Lord and other Expressions of this peoples Joy when our Saviour according to the Prophecy came into Jerusalem What was the reason of their Vnparallel'd Exultation only Their Belief of the late Miracles which he had wrought upon Lazarus and some other Private Men and their hopes that he would do Greater Wonders then these for their Good and for the Glory of their Nation As First to deliver them from the present Roman yoke and afterward to make them Lords of the Nations through which they were scattered But after he had by his Fathers appointment rendred himself to the High Priest and Elders without a Blow Given beside that which Peter gave to Malchus and submitted himself to the Roman Deputy without Resistance They begun to cast doubts in their minds and thought that he who could not or would not defend himself from such violence was not able or would not be willing to protect much lesse to advance them unto Greater Dignities And so by Degrees within a short space the very same Parties of Exultant Believers in Him became Cruel Persecutors of Him Changing their late joyful Hymns of Hosanna to the Son of David into sad Madrigals of Crucifige Crucifige Let him be crucified Let him be crucified like a Slave And thus the whole Nation almost did remarkably fulfil our Saviours Prediction of these Jews mentioned verse 44. of this Chapter Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do He was a murtherer from the beginning and he abode not in the truth Hereby we may know them to have been the Devils own sons in that when Pilate had proposed unto them Him whom they had lately confessed to be the Son of David with Barabbas a notable thief and a murtherer they importunately solicite with open mouth The deliverance of Barabbas by Interpretation the son of their Father and the Execution of Jesus their Saviour and chang'd their late Belief and Allegiance professed to Christ who is Truth it Self and son of God unto the service of the Father of Lyes 9. The Resultance of that which hath been said or if you will the main Stem unto which all the fore-mentioned scattered Seeds of Truth afforde Nutriment is This That Men in part Believers or to their own apprehension zealous and sound professors of Christian Faith may be as yet Servants to sin and by such Service Slaves to Satan The useful Branches springing from this Stem are These First To know the Nature Condition or Proprieties of our Natural Lord and Master to wit Sin Original whether Hereditary meerly or as by us improved The Second To know our own Condition or Estate or wherein our Servitude to sin doth properly consist Thirdly The Degrees or Manner how we are or may be made Free indeed by the Son of God But with these Branches I dare not meddle for the present the best use which can be made of this short Remnant of time will be to Reflect by way of Use or Application upon that which hath been said 10. The Application Were this Question proposed to this present or any other Congregation throughout This ‖ This Sermon is supposed to have been preached at Oxford in A Time of Gods Visitation by the Plague of Pestilence City Punctually in these Terms Whether do ye Love God and his Anointed Christ with all your hearts and with all your souls we should find but a very few if any at all which would not as willingly subscribe unto This as unto that solemn Covenant made by them or by others for them to this Effect at their Baptism Nor will Christian charity permit us to Suspect much lesse to Deny that they did make this Recognition heartily and unfainedly according to their present Apprehensions or Perswasions of their Belief specially if they made it in the calm of their unprovoked Affections But if we should cast in that Counterpoise which our Saviour himself hath given us for the due Examining of our Apprehensions or Perswasions of our Love and Loyalty towards Him most of us might justly dread lest that Hand-writing against Belshazzar Mene Mene Tekel might as well be Appliable to our selves as it was to him Fear we might lest our Apprehensions or Perswasion of our Belief of our Love and Loyalty towards Christ would prove a great deal too Light if we should weigh them as we ought by the True Scale of the Sanctuary One Counterpoise there is which would quickly recal or check our forward
of Boon Companions did indeed offer sacrifice and do solemn service unto Satan and his Angels the Authors the Favourers and Furtherers of all riot and excesse Now if any that cals himself a Christian or is a Christian by Calling or profession have been as long accustomed to the like riot or excesse or take as great delight in this Sin as they did which offered sacrifice unto Bacchus he is as true and proper a Servant unto Satan as they were For Satan did desire the sacrifice or other Service but as an Homage Rent or Tribute whereby he hoped to gain the possesion of their Souls or a right or interest in their actions or imployments a power of disposing or commanding their affections which offered him sacrifice or payed him tribute Now if he have gotten the like interest in their actions or imployments or the like command over their affections which professe themselves to be Christians they are his by possession or occupation He needs no Sacrifice or solemn Tribute from them which as we Say He holdeth in his own hands Briefly ☜ The Heathens which offered sacrifice unto Bacchus unlesse by this custome they brought themselves to be in Servitude unto the sin of drunkennesse were not more grievous sinners nor greater Bondmen unto Satan then Christians are which are in greater Servitude unto this loathsome Sin 5. Such of the Heathens as worshipped Venus as a supposed Goddesse or Pattonesse of Love and wantonnesse did indeed and in the issue Worship Satan and his unclean Spirits which are the Authors the Nourishers and Maintainers of all bodily filthinesse and uncleannesse If any which professeth himself to be a Christian be as much given over unto wantonness and uncleanness as the Heathens were which Worshipped Venus He is as true and absolute a Slave to Satan as they were and shall be sure to have his wages without repentance as truly and fully paid him as the other shall The least and best wages which he payeth for the use of their actions or imployments during this short and brittle life is an endlesse and never-dying death 6. Such of the Heathens as offered sacrifice unto Pluto whom they supposed to be the God of Riches or of wealth Lord Paramount of Gold of Silver of all kind of Metals or whatsoever else was contained under the surface of the Earth did indeed Worship Satan and his infernal powers And the sacrifice which they offered and other Solemn services which they did unto him shall be as evidences against them at the Last day that were his Servants as a pledge or earnest to bind them to accept his wages If any Christians how Precise or Devout soever they seem to be though daily Frequenters of Publick Prayers though diligent Hearers of Sermons be as Covetous as great Oppressors of their poor Brethren as unconscionable in their gettings as unsatiable in their desires of gain as the Heathens were which thought to purchase Wealth by sacrificing unto Pluto the bond of their Servitude unto Satan is altogether as firm and strong their Servitude or bondage it self altogether as hard as great and dangerous as the Servitude or Bondage of the Heathens were And whilest they are in Servitude unto Satan whatsoever they Profess or make shew of they cannot be the Servants of God or Christ For no man as our Saviour tels us Mat. 6. 24. can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon But what doth he mean by Mammon wealth or riches only Certainly a part of his meaning is That every covetous man that every one which is extraordinarily careful for gathering things of this Life Every one that minds most his gain or getting of riches is a Servant to his riches or to his desires of them The other part of his meaning is that He which is a Servant to his desire of riches is a Servant likewise unto him whom the Heathens called Mammon and worshipped as a supposed God of riches For Mammon in the Syriack Tongue is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Albeit we Christians know and believe that there is no such God or Lord of wealth and that there is but One God and One Lord who is the Lord and owner as well of the Earth and things in it as of the Heavens Yet have we no reason but to think that the Infernal Spirits have their several Wards or Quarters Some of them have better skill or more experience in humouring Covetous and Worldly minded men Others in humouring or enticing Wantons Others have more skill and experience in alluring men unto drunkenness Et quam unusquisque novit artem in eâ se maximè exercet They quarter themselves according their several skils or experience into several Regiments Some keep watch and ward over Covetous men and present unto them all opportunities of making unlawful gain or of over-reaching their Brethren in bargaining The chief of this ward or Regiment or perhaps the whole Regiment it self is called Mammon Other lye Leigers about such as are more prone to Wantonness Their chief care or imployment is to present them with all opportunities or allurements unto Pleasure Other lye as Agents in Taverns or Tipling houses And their care and imployment is to provoke men to Excess and to such other Enormities or breach of Gods Commandments as accompany excesse of drinking 7. Now this me thinks should be a Great Motive to deterre or dehort any man from yielding Obedience to his own Desire of what transitory Good or Pleasure soever if he would but consider That in yielding Obedience to his own desires he becomes the servant of some sin or other and that in becoming the Servant of any sin whatsoever he becometh the Bondman or slave of Satan who hath one bad propertie which no other Master how cruel or devilish soever besides himself hath and That is To Plague or torment them most which have done him most continual and faithful Service And yet even this Diabolical Disposition of his becomes the faithful Executioner of Gods Justice For every degree of their service done to Satan doth include in it a like degree or portion of Treason or Infidelity towards Christ And it is Just and holy on Gods part though Satanical and Devilish on Satans to recompence such as have done Satan in this World greatest service with the greatest portion or measure of vengeance in the world to come All of us have some one or other of this Infernal Crue daily attending on us hourly watching or dogging us in all our designs or projects throughout cur whole Course of life CHAP. XXI Of the manner How Satan brings men to be his Slaves 1. Plato IT was truly said by One had his meaning been as truly taken Nemo sponte malus No man is wittingly a naughty Man at least no man desires to be
such For whether Original corruption be wholly derived from Adam or whether we draw it in part from our immediate Parents No man I am perswaded was never by Nature or by corruption meerly Original Nemo sponte malus How far true of disposition so wicked and ungracious as that he did or could directly desire intend or affect to be unnatural or disobedient to his natural Parents to be contumacious or rebellious towards Magistrates or other superiors whom the Law of God commands him to obey and honour Corruption meerly Original impels no mans Reasonable Will to desire or affect to be an Adulterer a Drunkard a Murtherer or an Intemperate person It impels no man to desire or affect to be a Thief to be a perjured infamous or envious person or to be a notorious offender or criminous Transgressor of the second Table or of Laws agreeable to it There is no man but is naturally I mean by the bent or inclination of corrupt Nature it self more unwilling to be tainted either with these mentioned or with any other like crimes forbidden by the six last Commandments then he that is Free-born is to be subject to the Legal Estate or condition of a Servant And yet the most of men in the issue or in some part of their course of life become subject to some one or other of these Crimes mentioned The most part of men have their wits and affections usually and customarily imployed in some one or other part of Satans Service in some businesses which in the end brings them to be such men as they do no way desire to be that is either unnatural disobedient cruel intemperate fellonious perjured or envious persons men in whose Souls Satan hath purchased a greater Interest over whose desires and affections foul and unclean spirits have gotten a greater Command then earthly Lords or Masters have over the bodies or bodily Labour of their Servants a Power or Command to make them forbear those things which their minds and Consciences do most approve a Power to impel them unto those courses which they sometimes most abhorred and over some a Power to change or invert their Wils or desires even to make them willing to continue and increase their Native slavery and misery 2. The means and manner by which Satan gets this Power and Soveraignty over mens Souls are the very same with the means and manner by which bodily and earthly Lords or Masters gain a Title or Interest in the bodily labours or imployments of such as by this interest once gotten become their Servants No man is naturally willing or desirous to be another mans servant All men rather desire to be Free Yet inasmuch as all men naturally desire the continuance of bodily life and health and neither life nor health can be maintained or continued without food and rayment and other necessaries Hence it is that the more inbred and deeplier rooted desire of life and health doth oversway the natural desire of Liberty and Freedom in all such as are not provided of things necessary for the maintenance of this life not able to satisfie their natural desire of meat drink or apparel otherwise then by resigning or making over their bodily imployments or labours to some other mens use which in lieu of these will satisfie their former natural desires of food and rayment and affoord them means necessary to hold Soul and body together 3. The Original Temptation by which men are drawn to Satans slavery The Original or Fundamental Temptation by which Satan draws men into this snare of Servitude or bondage spiritual is by enlarging or improving their desires not of things simply evil but of things either natural or indifferent that is for their kind or quality not unlawful These desires ☜ being improved unto the Full or unto some Excessive Measure do by long custome or continuance require satisfaction by as strong a Law of ‖ See Chap. 18. last Necessity at least as importunately as our natural desires of food or rayment do The more excessive or exorbitant any desire is the more impatient it is of repulse It is as impossible for a greedy or Ravenous Appetite to be satisfied with a spare or moderate Diet as for a moderate appetite to be satisfied without any food at all A vain Fantastick that takes proud Cloathes to be Part of Himself is as desirous of change of suits or costly apparel as a poor man is of apparel it self or of such stuff as is sufficient to keep out cold and wet An Ambitious Spirit is not so well content with an Ordinary place or rank amongst Free-men as an ingenuous mind will be with the estate or condition of an hired Servant if no better by means fair and honest be likely to befall him A Man apt to over-prize himself and Jealous withall of Contempt of wrong or of grosse abuse is not so easily appeased with streams of bloud as a calme and gentle spirit is with an ingenuous acknowledgement of wrongs done or with a curteous answer for wrongs suspected The desire of wealth or worldly goods after it hath once exceeded its lawful bounds becomes as unsatisfiable as * Esay 5. 8. Hab. 2. 5. Hor. Epist 6. l. 1. Mille talenta rotundentur totidem altera porro Tertia Succedant quae pars quadret acervum Persius Sat. 6. Fine Vende animam Lucro mercare atque excute Sollers Omne latus mundi Rem duplica Feci Jam triplex jam mihi quartò Jam decies redit in rugam Depunge ubi sistam See Juvenal Sat. 14. v. 110 c. 326 c. Sume duos Equites fac tertia quadringenta Si nondum implevi gremium si panditur ultra Nec Craesi fortuna unquam nec Persica regna Sufficient animo nec divitiae Narcissi Hell It enlargeth it self by often satisfaction and of all earthly and mortal things it knows no stint or period of grouth but grows strong and lusty by waxing old 4. None of these desires of meat of drink of apparel of satisfaction for wrongs done or suspected of honour riches or preferment are in themselues or for their qualitie unlawfull Their Vnlawfulness consists only in their Excess But even the best of these or like desires being improved beyond its measure will for its privat satisfaction betray the Soule which gives it harbour into Satans hands Hee doth not Hee need not tempt any man directly to be a Thiefe a Robber or a Murtherer For as S. James tells us Chap. 1. 14. Every man is tempted to these and the like crimes by his owne Concupiscence And our Concupiscences and sensuall desires are alwayes increased by custome He that hath long inured himselfe to exceed either in qualitie of meat or drink or to fare deliciously desires only to satisfie his appetite or to observe his delightful Custome So these may be satisfied he hath no desire to be a Thief to be a Cheater or Couzener But rather then