ever asking his consent If God were pleased to leave us at first in manu consilij and to trust us so far as to commit the keeping of our selves to our selves he had no meaning therein to turn us loose neither to quit his own right to us and our services Nay may we not with great reason think that he meant to oblige us so much the more unto himself by making us his depositaries in a trust of that nature As if a King should commit to one of his meanest servants the custody of some of his Royal houses or forts he should by that very trust lay a new obligation upon him of fealty over and above that common allegiance which he oweth him as a Subject Now if such a servant so entrusted by the King his Master should then take upon him of his own head without his Masters privity to contract with a stranger perhaps a Rebel or Enemy for the passing over the said house or fort into his hands Who would not condemne such a person for such an act Of ingratitude injustice and presumption in the highest degree Yet is our injustice ingratitude and presumption by so much more infinitely heinous then his in selling our selves from God our Lord and Master into the hands of Satan a Rebel and an Enemy to God and all goodness By how much the disparity is infinitely more betwixt the eternall God and the greatest of the sons of Men then betwixt the highest Monarch in the world and the lowest of his Subjects 7. So much for the Act the other particulars belong to it as circumstances thereof To a Sale they say three things are required Res Precium and Consensus a Commodity to be sold a Price to be pai'd and consent of Parties Here they are all And whereas I told you in the beginning that in this Sale was represented to us Mans inexcusable baseness and folly You shall now plainly see each particle thereof made good in the three several Circumstances In the Commodity our Baseness that we should sell away our very selves in the Price our folly that we should do it for a thing of naught in the Consent our inexcusableness in both that an act so base and foolish should yet be our own voluntary act and deed And first for the Commodity You have sold your selves 8. Lands Houses Cattel and other like possessions made for mans use are the proper subject matter of trade and commerce and so are fit to pass from man to man by Sales and other Contracts But that Man a Creature of such excellency stamped with the image of God endowed with a reasonable soule made capable of grace and Glory should Prostâ—are in foro become merchantable ware and be chaffered in the markets and fayres I suppose had bin a thing never heard of in the world to this houre had not the overflowings of pride and Cruelty and Covetousness washed out of the hearts of Men the very impressions both of Religion and Humanity It is well and we are to bless God and under God to thank our Christian Religion and pious Governours for it that in these times and parts of the world we scarce know what it meaneth But that it was generally practis'd all the world over in some former ages and is at this day in use among Turks and Pagans to sell men ancient Histories and modern relations will not suffer us to be ignorant We have mention of such Sales even in Scripture where we read of some that sold their own brother as Iacobs sons did Ioseph and of one that sold his own Master as the traitor Iudas did Christ. Basely and wretchedly both Envy made them base and Covetousness him Only in some cases of Necessity as for the preservation of Life or of liberty of Conscience when other means fail God permitted to his own people to sell themselves or Children into perpetual bondage and Moses from him gave Laws and Ordinances touching that Matter Levit. 25. 9. But between the Sale in the Text and all those other there are two main differences Both which do exceedingly aggravate our baseness The first that no man could honestly sell another nor would any man willingly sell himself unless enforced thereunto by some urgent necessity But what necessity I pray you that we should sell our selves out of Gods and out of our own hands into the hands of Sin and Satan Were we not well enough before sull enough and safe enough Was our Masters service so hard that it might not be abiden Might we not have lived Lived Yea and that happily and freely and plentifully and that for ever in his service What was it then Even as it is with many fickle servants abroad in the world that begin in a good service cannot tell when they are well but must be ever and anon flitting though many times they change for the worse so it was only our Pride and folly and a fond conceit we had of bettering our condition thereby that made us not only without any apparent necessity but even against all good reason and duty thus basely to desert our first service and to sell our selves for bondslaves to Sin and Satan 10. The other difference maketh the matter yet a great deal worse on our side For in selling of slaves for so much as bodily service was the thing chiefly looked after therefore as the body in respect of strength health age and other abilities was deem'd more or less fit for service the price was commonly proportioned thereafter Hence by a customary speech among the Grecians slaves were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is bodies and they that traded in that kinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say merchants of bodies And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred Rev. 18. Mancipia or slaves Epiphanius giveth us the reason of that use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he c. because all the command that a man can exercise over his slaves is terminated to the body and cannot reach the soule And the soule is the better part of man and that by so many degrees better that in comparison thereof the body hath been scarce accounted a considerable part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could the Greek Philosopher say and the Latin Orator Mens cujusque is est quisque The soule is in effect the whole man The body but the shell of him the body but the casket the soule the Jewel It is observable that whereas we read Matth. 16. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soule in stead thereof we have it Luke 9. thus if he gain the whole world and lose himself So that every mans soule is himself and the body but an appurtenance of him Yet such is our baseness that we have thus trucked away our selves with the appurtenances that is both our soules and our bodies We detest Witches and
Concerning the other The Lord made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. He maketh it his End we should make it ours too if but by way of Conformity 13. But he requireth it of us secondly as our bounden Duty and by way of Thankfulness in acknowledgement of those many favours we have received from him What ever we have nay what ever we are as at first we had it all from him so we still hold it all of him and that jure beneficiario as feudataries with reservation of services out of the same to be performed for the honour of the donour Our Apostle therefore in our Lords behalf presseth us with the nature of our tenure and challengeth this duty from us by a claim of right Ye have them of God saith he and ye are not your own therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Glorifie him in both because both are his As the rivers return again to the place whence they came Eccl. 1. they all come from the Sea and they all run into the Sea again So all our store as it issued at first from the fountain of his grace so should it all fall at last into the Ocean of his glory For of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory for ever and ever Amen 14. But say there lay no such obligation upon us yet thirdly in point of Wisdom it would concern us to seek our Masters glory the benefit whereof would so abundantly redound upon our selves For as was touched before there accrueth no advantage to him thereby the gain is solely ours By seeking his glory we promote our own and so by doing him service we do upon the point but serve our selves Doth Iob doth any man serve God for nought I speak it not for this purpose as if we should aime at Gods glory with a farther aim therein at our own benefit For that could be but a mercenary service at the best neither worthy of him nor becoming us And besides the reason should contradict it self for how could Gods glory be our farthest End if we should have another End beyond it for our selves I note it only to let us see the exceeding goodness of our gracious Lord and Master and for our better heartening that we faint not in his service who doth so infallibly procure our glory whilest we unfainedly seek his And hereof we have a faire and full assurance and that from his own mouth and that in as plain and express terms as it is possible for a promise to be made 1 Sam. 2. Them that honour me I will honour 15. From the Point thus confirmed will arise sundry profitable Inferences some whereof I shall propose to you and those all by way of admonition Since our chief aim ought to be that in every thing God may have the glory due to his name beware we first that we do not by base flattery or other too much reverence or obsequiousness give unto any mortal man or other finite creature any part of that Honour which is due to the infinite and immortal God alone Not the glory of Omnipotency unto any power upon earth be it never so great God spake once twise have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God Psal. 62. Experience sheweth there is impotency in them all Not the glory of Infallibility to any judgment be it never so clear nor to any Iudicatory be it never so solemn Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3. Experience sheweth there is Errour and Partiality in them all Not the glory of Religious worship to any Image Saint Angel or other Creature though never so blessed and glorious For God is extremely jealous in that particular above all other My glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images Esay 42. Experience and reason sheweth there iâ— some deficiency or other in them all 16. Beware we secondly that we do not sacrilegiously rob God of his honour by deriving the least part of it upon our selves As Ananias kept back for his proper use part of the price of his land when he should have brought in all for the Churches use Like crafty Stewards that enrich themselves by lessening their Lords â—ines or untrusty Servants that turn some of their Masters goods into money and then put the money into their own purses Non nobis Domine non nobis saith David Psal. 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise He repeateth it twise that he might disclaim it wholly and wash his hands of it so clearly that not any of it might stick to his fingers as who say By no means to us Our blessed Lord himself Christ Iesus who was the very brightness and express image of his Fathers glory and without robbery of equal and coeternal glory with him yet as he was man he did not glorifie himself nay let me say more having taken upon him the form of a servant he durst not seek his own glory but the glory of his Father that sent him We use to call it vain-glory when a man seeketh his own glory unduly or inordinately and rightly we so term it for Vanity is next akin to nothing and such glory is no better if Solomon may be judge For men to seek their own glory is not glory Prov. 25. 17. But though we may not seek to pull any glory upon our selves yet if others will needs put it upon us unsought for may we not admit it may we not take it when it is given us No that you may not neither Beware of that therefore thirdly It is a strong temptation I grant to our proud mindes but that maketh it nothing the lesse it rendereth it rather the more dangerous For what hath any man to do to bestow what is none of his And if we know they have no right to give it sure we are greatly to blame if we take it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that receiveth stollen goods is not much less guilty then he that stole them It did not any thing at all either excuse Herod from guilt or exempt him from punishment that he did no more but admit those shouts and acclamations wherewith the people so magnified his eloquence It is the voice of God and not of man Great ones had need take heed how they listen too much to those that magnifie them too much Because he did not some way or other shew himself displeased with those flatterers not chastening them so much as with a frown nor transmit the glory they cast upon him higher where it was of right due he standeth convicted and condemned upon record for not giving God the glory Acts 12. Marvel not that one of Gods holy Angels was so ready to do execution upon him there for
sakes any unlawful thing or leaving undone any necessary duty by accompanying them in their sins or advancing their designes in any thing that may offend God then are we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men-pleasers in an evil sense and our wayes will not please the Lord. S. Paul who in one place professeth men-pleasing Even as I please all men in all things taking it in the better sence protesteth against it as much in another place If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ. taking it in the worse sense 6. To draw to a head then we may please our selves and we should seek to please our brethren where these may be done and the Lord pleased withal But when the same wayes will not please all we ought not to be carefull to satisfie others in their unreasonable expectancies much less our selves in our own inordinate appetites but disregarding both our selves and them bend all our studies and endeavours to this one point how we may approve our hearts and our wayes unto the Lord that is to God the only Lord and our Lord Iesus Christ. God and Christ must be in the final resolution the sole object of our pleasing which is the substance of the whole words of the Antecedent laid together which we have hitherto considered apart and commeth now to be handled The handling whereof we shall despatch in three enquiries whereof two concern the Endeavour and one the event For it may be demanded first what necessity of pleasing God and if it be needfull then secondly how and by what means it may be done and both these belong to the endeavour and then it may be demanded thirdly concerning the event upon what ground it is that any of our endeavours should please God Of which in their order 7. First that we should endeavour so to walk as to please God The Apostle needed not to have prayed so earnestly as he doth Col. 1. and that without ceasing neither to have adjured us so deeply as he doth 1 Thes. 4. even by the Lord Iesus if it did not both well become us in point of Duty and also much concern us in point of wisdome so to do First it is a Duty whereunto we stand bound by many obligations He is our Master our Captain our Father our King every of which respects layeth a several necessity upon us of doing our endeavour to please him if at least there be in us any care to discharge with faithfulness and as we ought the parts of Servants of Souldiers of Sons of Subjects 8. First he is our Master Ye call me Lord and Master and ye say well for so I am and we are his Servants O Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid And he is no honest servant that will not strive to please his Master exhort servants to obey their own Masters and to please them well in all things Tit. 2. Next he is our Captain It became him to make the Captain of their salvation perfect and we are his Souldiers thou therefore endure hardness as a good souldier of Iesus Christ saith St. Paul to Timothy We received our prest-mony and book'd our names to serve in his wars when we bound our selves by solemn vow and took the Sacrament upon it in our baptism manfully to fight under his banner against sin the world and the Devill and to continue his faithful souldiers unto our lives end And he is no generous Souldier that will not strive to please his General No man that warreth entangleth himself in the affairs of this life that he may please him that hath chosen him to be a Saviour 2 Tim. 2. Thirdly He is our Father and we his Children I will be a father to you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty and when we have any thing of him we readily speak him by the name of Father and that by his own direction saying Our Father which art in heaven And that Son hath neither grace nor good nature in him that will not strive to please his Father It is noted as one of Esau's impieties whom the Scripture hath branded as a profane person that grieved and displeased his parents in the choice of his wives If I be a Father where is mine honour Mal. 1. Lastly He is our King The Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods and we are his subjects his people and the sheep of his pasture and he is no loyal Subject that will not strive to please his lawful Soveraign That form of speech if it please the King so frequent in the mouth of Nehemiah was no affected strain of Courtship but a just expression of duty otherwise that religious man would never have used it 9. And yet there may be a time wherein all those obligations may cease of pleasing our earthly Masters or Captains or Parents or Princes If it be their pleasure we should do something that lawfully we may not we must disobey though we displease Onely be we sure that to colour an evil disobedience we do not pretend an unlawfulness where there is none But we can have no colour of plea for refusing to do the pleasure of our heavenly Lord and Master in any thing whatsoever in as much as we are sure nothing will please him but what is just and right With what forehead then can any of us challenge from him either wages as Servants or stipends as Soldiers or provision as Sons or protection as Subjects if we be not careful in every respect to frame our selves in such sort as to please him you see it is our duty so to do 10. Yea and our Wisdom too in respect of the great benefits we shall reap thereby There is one great benefit expressed in the Text If we please the Lord he will make our enemies to be at peace with us of which more anon The Scriptures mention many other out of which number I propose but these three First if we please him he will preserve us from sinful temptations Solomon Eccles. 7. speaking of the strange woman whose heart is as nets and snares and her hands as bands saith that whoso pleaseth the Lord shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her He that displeaseth God by walking in the by-paths of sin God shall with-hold his grace from him and he shall be tempted and foyled but whoso pleaseth God by walking in his holy wayes God shall so assist him with his grace that when he is tempted he shall escape And that is a very great benefit Secondly if we please him he will hear our prayers and grant our petitions in whatsoever we ask if what we ask be agreeable to his will and expedient for our good whatsoever we ask we know we receive of him because we keep his
to justifie themselves will not stick to repine even at God himself and his judgments as if he were cruel and they unrighteous like the slothful servant in the parable that did his master no service at all and yet as lazy as he was could blame his master for being an hard man Cain when he had slain his righteous brother and God had laid a judgment upon him for it complained of the burden of it as if the Lord had dealt hardly with him in laying more upon him then he was able to bear never considering the weight of the sin which God in justice could not bear Solomon noteth it as a fault common among men when by their own sinful folly they have pulled misery upon themselves then to murmur against God and complain of his providence The folly of a man perverteth his wayes and his heart fretteth against the Lord Prov. 19. As the Israelites in their passage through the wilderness were ever and anon murmuring and complaining at somewhat or other either against God or which cometh much to one against Moses and Aaron and that upon every occasion and for every trifle so do we Every small disgrace injury affront or losse that happeneth to us from the frowardness of our betters the unkindness of our neighbours the undutifulness of our children the unfaithfulness of our servants the unsuccesfulness of our attempts or by any other means whatsoever any sorry thing will serve to put us quite out of patience as Ionas took pet at the withering of the gourd And as he was ready to justifie his impatience even to God himself Doest thou well to be angry Ionas Ey marry do I I do well to be angry even to the death so are we ready in all our murmurings against the Lords corrections to flatter our selves as if we did not complain without cause especially where we are able to charge those men that trouble us with unrighteous dealing 11. This is I confess a strong temptation to flesh and bloud and many of Gods holy servants have had much ado to overcome it whilest they looked a little too much outward But yet we have by the help of God a very present remedy there-against if blinde self-love will but suffer us to be so wise as to make use of it and that is no more but this to turn our eye inward and to examine our selves not how well we have dealt with other men who now requite us so ill but how we our selves have requited God who hath dealt so graciously and bountifully with us If we thus look back into our selves and sins we shall soon perceive that God is just even in those things wherein men are unjust and that we have most righteously deserved at his hands to suffer all those things which yet we have no ways deserved at their hands by whom we suffer It will well become us therefore whatsoever judgments God shall please at any time to lay upon us or to threaten us withall either publick or private either by his own immediate hand or by such instruments as he shall employ without all murmurings or disputings to submit to his good will and pleasure and to accept the punishment of our iniquitie as the phrase is Levit. 26. by humbling our selves and confessing that the Lord is righteous as Rehoboam and the Princes of Iudah did 2 Chron. 12. The sence of our own wickednesse in rebelling and the acknowledgment of Gods justice in punishing which are the very first acts of true humiliation and the first steps unto true repentance we shall find by the mercy of God to be of great efficacy not only for the averting of Gods judgments after they are come but also if used timely enough and throughly enough for the preventing thereof before they be come For if we would judg our selves we should not be judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. But because we neglect it and yet it is a thing that must be done or we are undone God in great love and mercy towards us setteth in for our good and doth it himself rather then it should be left undone and we perish even as it there followeth When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world And this is that faithfulnesse of God which David acknowledgeth in the later Conclusion whereunto I now pass 12. And that thou of very faithfulnesse hast caused me to be troubled In which words we have these three points First David was troubled next God caused him to be so troubled last and God did so out of very faithfulness No great newes when we hear of David to hear of troubles withall Lord remember David and all his troubles Psal. 132. Consider him which way you will in his condition natural spiritual or civil that is either as a man or as a godly man or as a King and he had his portion of troubles in every of those conditions First troubles he must have as a man Haec est conditio nascendi Every mothers childe that cometh into the world falleth a childs-part of those troubles the world affordeth Man that is born of a woman those few dayes that he hath to live he shall be sure to have them full of trouble howsoever In mundo pressuram saith our Saviour In the world ye shall have tribulation Never think it can be otherwise so long as you live here below in the vale of misery where at every turn you shall meet with nothing but very vanity and vexation of spirit 13. Then he was a Godly man and his troubles were somewhat the more for that too For all that will live godly must suffer persecution and however it is with other men certainly many are the troubles of the righteous It is the common lot of the true children of God because they have many outflyings wherewith their holy Father is not well-pleased to come under the scourge oftner then the bastards do If they do amisse and amisse they do they must smart for it either here or hereafter Now God meaneth them no condemnation hereafter and therefore he giveth them the more chastening here 14. But was not David a King and would not that exempt him from troubles He was so indeed but I ween his troubles were neither the fewer nor the lesser for that There are sundry passages in this Psalm that induce me to believe with great probability that David made it while he lived a yong man in the Court of Saul long before his coming to the Crown But yet he was even then unctus in Regem anointed and designed for the Kingdom and he met even then with many troubles the more for that very respect And after he came to enjoy the Crown if God had not been the joy and crown of his heart he should have had little joy of it so full of trouble and
displeasure and that if any thing will bring us 29. Thirdly we are full of worldly-mindedness Adhaesit pavimento as David speaketh in this Psalm so may we say but quite in another sence Our soul cleaveth to the dust We all complain the world is naught and so it is God mend it totus in maligno nothing but vanity and wickedness and yet as bad as it is our hearts hanker after it out of all measure And the more we prosper in it the more we grow in love with it the faster riches or honours or any of these other vanities encrease the more eagerly do we pursue them and the more fondly set our hearts upon them Only afflictions do now and then take us off somewhat and a little embitter the lushiousness of them to our taste That we have any apprehension at all of the vanity of the world we may thank for it those vexations of spirit that are enterwoven therewithal Loving it as we do being so full of those vexations as it is how absurdly should we doat upon it if we should meet with nothing in it to vex us 30. Lastly we are full of In-compassion Our brethren that are in distress though they be our fellow-members yet have we little fellow feeling of their griefs but either we insult over them or censure them or at best neglect them especially when our selves are at ease When we stretch our selves upon ivory beds eat the fat and drink the sweete and chaunt it to the vyals live merry and full it is great odds the afflictions of Ioseph will be but slenderly remembred no more then Lazarus was at the rich mans gates where he found no pity but what the dogs shewed him But then when it cometh to be our own case when we fall into sicknesses disgraces or other distresses our selves Non ignara mali Then do our bowels which before were crusted up begin to relent a little towards our poorer brethten and our own misery maketh us the more charitable Then we remember those that are in bonds whom we forgat before as Pharaohs butler forgat Ioseph when we our selves are bound with them and those that are in adversity when we finde and feel that we our selves are but flesh Thus God out of very faithfulness causeth us to be troubled as for our good many other wayes so particularly in purging out thereby some of that Pride and Security and Worldliness and Incompassion besides sundry other corruptions that abound in us 31. That for the End Next God manifesteth his faithfulness to his servants in their troubles by the proportion he holdeth therein whether we compare therewith their deservings their strength or their comforts very measurably in all First our sufferings are far short of our deservings He doth ever chasten us citra condignum He dealeth not with us after our sins neither rewardeth us after our iniquities Psal. 103. After what then even after his own loving kindness and fatherly affection towards us Even as a father pittieth his own children as it there followeth And how that is every father can tell you Pro magnâ culpâ parum supplicij satis est patri When we for drinking in iniquity like water had deserved to drink off the cup of fury to the bottome dregs and all he maketh us but sip a little overly of the very brim And when he might in justice lash us with scorpions he doth but scourge us with rushes The Lord promised his people Ier. 30. that though he could not in justice nor would leave them altogeâ—her unpunished yet he would correct them in measure and not make a full end of them And he did indeed according to his promise they found his faithfulness therein and acknowledged it seeing that our God hath punished less then our iniquities deserve Ezr. 9. Iacob confessed that he was less then the least of Gods mercies and we must confess that we are more then the greatest of his corrections 32. Secondly he proportioneth our sufferings to our strength As a discreet Physitian considereth as well as the malignity of the disease the strength of the patient and prescribeth for him accordingly both for the ingredients and dose Abraham and Iob and David and S. Paul the Lord put them to great trials because he had endowed them with great strength But as for most of us God is careful to lay but common troubles upon us because we have no more but common strength as Iacob had a good care not to overdrive the weaker cattel If he shall hereafter think good to send such a messenger of Satan against us as shall buffet us with stronger blowes doubtless if we be his friends and do but seek to him for it he will give us such an addition of strength and grace as shall be sufficient for our safety The Apostle both observeth Gods thus dealing with us and imputeth it also to his faithfulness 1 Cor. 10. God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able Either Cain said not truly or if he did the fault was in himself not in God when he complained that his punishment was greater then he could beare God is not so hard a Master to us for all we are so slack and untoward in our service as either to require that of us which he will not enable us to doe or lay that upon us which he will not enable us to beare if we will but lay our hands and our shoulders thereunto and put out our strength and endeavours to the utmost 33. Thirdly he proportioneth us out also comforts sutable to our afflictions every whit as large as they and more effectuall to preserve us from drooping and to sustain our soules in the midst of our greatest sufferings For as the smallest temptation would foile us if God should with-hold his grace from us but if he vouchsafe us the assistance of that we are able to withstand the greatest so the least afflictions would over-whelme our spirits if he should with-hold his comforts from us but if he afford us them we are able to beare up under the greatest And God doth afford unto his children in all their distresses though not perhaps always such comforts as they desire yet ever such as he knoweth and they finde to be both meet and sufficient Spiritual comforts first and they are the chiefest the testimony of a good Conscience from within and the light of Gods favourable Countenance from above These put more true joy into the heart then the want of Corne or Wine or Oyle or any outward thing can sorrow And by these our inner man is so renewed and strengthened that yet we faint not whatsoever becometh of our outward man no not though it should perish David had troubles multitude of troubles troubles that touched him at the very heart but the comforts of God in his soule gave him
had said No it is not lawful S. Peter saith the wicked Sodomites vexed the righteous soul of Lot daily with their unlawful deeds And who that hearkneth to the holy Law of God or but to the dictates of natural conscience will not acknowledge blasphemy idolatry sacriledge perjury oppression incest parricide treason c. to be things altogether unlawful And doth S. Paul now dissent so far from the judgement of his Master of his fellow-Apostle of the whole World besides as to pronounce of all these things that they are lawful Here the rule of Logicians must help Signa distributiva sunt intelligenda accommodatè ad subjectam materiam Notes of Universality are not ever to be understood in that fulness of latitude which the words seem to import but most often with such convenient restrictions as the matter in hand will require Now the Apostle by mentioning Expediency in the Text giveth us clearly to understand that by All things he intendeth all such things onely whose Expediency or Inexpediency are meet to be taken into consideration as much as to say All Indifferent things and none other For things absolutely necessary although it may truly be said of them that they also are lawful yet are they quite beside the Apostles intention in this place Both for that their lawfulness is not ad utrumlibet it holdeth but the one way onely for though it be lawful to do them yet is it not lawful to leave them undone as also because expedient or inexpedient done they must be howsoever for I must do my bounden duty though all the World should take offence thereat And on the other side things absolutely forbidden such as those before mentioned and sundry others are of themselves utterly unlawful and may not in any case be done seem they never so expedient for I may not do any evil for any good that may ensue thereof But then there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call them things of a middle nature that are neither absolutely commanded nor absolutely forbidden but are left to every mans choice either to do or to leave undone as â—e shall see cause Indifferent things Of these the Apostle speaketh freely and universally and without exception that they are all lawful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Chrysostome and de medio genere rerum others and to the same effect most Interpreters 5. Somewhat we have gained towards the better understanding of the Text yet not much unless it may withall certainly appear what things are Indifferent and what not for all the wrangling will be about that For that therefore not to hold you with a long discourse but to come up close to the point take it briefly thus Every action or thing whatsoever that cannot by just and logical deduction either from the light of Nature or from the written Word of God be shewen to be either absolutely necessary or simply unlawful I say every such action or thing is in its own nature indifferent and consequently permitted by our gracious Lord God to our free liberty and choice from time to time either to do or to leave undone either to use or to forbear the use as in godly wisdom and charity acccording to the just exigence of circumstances we shall see it expedient 6. Hitherto appertain those sundry passages of our Apostle To the Romans I know and am perswaded that there is nothing unclean of it self and again All things indeed are pure To Titus To the pure all things are pure To these Corinthians once before he hath words in part the same with these of the Text All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any He repeateth it there twise as he doth also here All things are lawful and again All things are lawful no doubt of purpose that we should take the more notice of it To Timothy lastly for I quote but such places onely as have the note of Universality expressed Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused 7. From all which places it is evident that we have a free and universal liberty allowed us by our gracious Lord and Master to every Creature in the World So as that whatsoever natural faculties or properties he hath endowed any of them withal or whatsoever benefit or improvement we can raise out of any such their faculties or properties by any our art skill or industry we may serve our selves of them both for our necessity and comfort provided ever that we keep our selves within the bounds of sobriety charity and other requisite conditions And then it will also follow farther and no lesse certainly our selves being in the number of those creatures that we have the like liberty to exercise all those several faculties abilities and endowments whether of soul or body or outward things which it hath pleased God to allot us and consequently to build and plant and alter to buy and sell and exchange to obey laws to observe rites and fashions and customs to use recreations and generally to perform all the actions of common life as occasions shall require still provided as before that all due conditions be duly observed 8. Injurious then are all they to true Christian liberty and adversaries to the truth of God as it is constantly taught by this blessed Apostle who either impose any of those things as necessary or else condemn any of them as unlawful which it was the gracious pleasure of our good God to leave free arbitrary and indifferent Both extreams are superstitious both derogatory to the honour of God and the liberty of his people both strong symptomes of that great pride that cleaveth to the spirit of corrupt man in daring to piece out the holy Word of God by tacking thereunto his own devices 9. Extreamly faulty this way especially in the former branch in laying a necessity where they should not are they of the Romish party For after that the Bishops of Rome had begun by the advantages of the times to lift themselves towards that superlative height of greatness whereto at length they attained they began withal for the better support of that greatness to exercise a grievous tyranny over the consciences of men by obtruding upon them their own inventions both in points of faith and manners and those to be received believed and obeyed under pain of damnation whereby they became the authors and still are the continuers of the widest schism that ever was in the Church of Christ from the very first infancy thereof The Anabaptists also and Separatists by striving to run so far as they can from Popery have run themselves unawares even as deep as they and that in the very same fault I mean as to the general of Superstition though quite on the other hand and upon quite different grounds for they offend more in
done Now the God of patience and of consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus That ye may with one c. 2. In the matter or substance of which prayer besides the formality thereof in those first words Now the God of patience and consolation grant you S. Paul expresseth both the thing he desired even their unity in the residue of the fifth verse to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus and the end for which he desired it even Gods glory in this sixth verse That ye may with one minde and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Of that I have heretofore spoken now some yeers past of this I desire by Gods grace presently to speak And like as in that former part we then considered three particulars First the thing it self Unity or like-mindedness to be like-minded and then two amplifications thereof one in respect of the Persons that it should be universal and mutual one towards another the other in the manner that it should be according to Christ Iesus So are we at this time in this later part to consider of the like three particulars First the end it self the glory of God that ye may glorifie God And then two amplifications thereof the one respecting the person whom they were to glorifie thus described God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the other respecting the manner how or the means whereby they were to glorifie him with on◠minde and with one mouth Of which in their order the End first and then the amplifications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That ye may glorifie God We must a little search into the words that we may the more fully understand them The first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though but a particle hath its use it pointeth us out to some end or final cause Would S. Paul have so bestirred himself as he doth spent so much breath so much oratory so many arguments been so copious and so earnest as he is by his best both perswasions and prayers to draw all parts to unity if he had not conceived it conducible to some good end He that doth not propose to himself some main end in all his actions especially those that are of moment and such as he will make a business of is not like either to go on with any good certainty or to come off with any sound comfort There would be ever some fixt end or other thought of in all our undertakings and endeavours 4. And so there is most an end Nature it self prompting us thereunto but for the most part our nature being so fouly depraved a wrong one Omnes quae sua he speaketh of it complainingly as of an errour that is common among men and in a manner universal All seek their own seldom look beyond themselves but make their own profit their own pleasure their own glory their own safety or other their own personal contentment the utmost end of all their thoughts Which upon the point is no better then very Atheisme or at the best and that but a very little better Idolatry He that doth all for himself and hath no farther End maketh an Idol of himself and hath no other God The ungodly is so proud that he careth not for God neither is God in all his thoughts Psalm 10. He is so full of himself his thoughts are so wholy taken up with himself that there is no room there for God or any thing else but himself But this self-seeking S. Paul every where disclaimeth not seeking his own profit 1 Cor. 10. Nor counting his life dear unto himself so as he might do God and his Church any acceptable service either with it or without it Act. 20. If he had looked but at himself and his own things what needed the dissentions of the Romanes have troubled him any thing at all If they be so minded let them go to it hardly judge on and despise on tugg it out among themselves as well as they can bite and devour one another till they had wearied and worried one another what is that to him It would be much more for his ease and possibly he should have as much thanks from them too for to part a fray is mostwhat a thankless office to sit him down let them alone and say nothing This is all true and this he knew well enough too But there was a farther matter in it he saw his Lord and Master had an interest his honour suffered in their dissentions and then he could not hold off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his phrase is twise in one Chapter he could not for his life forbear but he must put in for the love of Christ constrained him We by his example to make God our chiefest good and the utmost end of all our actions and intentions Not meerly seeking our own credit or profit or ease or advancement nor determining our aims in our selves or in any other creature But raising our thoughts to an higher pitch to look beyond all these at God as the chief delight of our hearts and scope of our desires That we may be able to say with David Psal. 16. I have set the Lord alway before me That is a second Point 5. And if we do so the third will fall in of it self to wit his Glory for he and it are inseparable The greatest glory on earth is than of a mighty King when he appeareth in state his robes glorious his attendants glorious every thing about him ordered to be as glorious as may be Solomon in all his glory Mat. 6. There is I grant no proportion here finiti ad infinitum But because we are acquainted with no higher it is the best resemblance we have whereby to take some scantling of the infinite glory of our heavenly King And therefore the Scriptures fitted to our capacity speak of it to us mostly in that key The Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparel Psal 93. O Lord my God thou art become exceeding glorious thou art cloathed with Majesty and honour Psalm 104. But as I said before it holdeth no proportion So that we may not unfitly take up our Apostles words elsewhere though spoken to another purpose Even that which is most glorious here hath no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3.10 And the force of the argument he useth at the next verse there holdeth full out as strongly here For saith he if that which is done away be glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious The glory of the greatest Monarch in the world when it is at the fullest is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word fitteth the thing very well a matter rather of shew and opinion then of substance and hath in it more of fancy then reality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is S.
the glory of the great God of heaven and earth which is the most sacred thing in the world as to engage it in our quarrels and to make it serve to our humours or ends when and how we list Were it not a lamentable case if it should ever come to that that Religion should lye at the top where avarice ambition or sacriledge lye at the bottome and perhaps malice partiality oppression murther some wicked lust or other in the midst Yet is not any of this impossible to be yea rather scarce possible to be avoided so long as we dare take upon us out of the furiousness of our spirits and the rashness of a distempered zeal to be wiser and holier then God would have us I mean in the determining of his glory according to our fancies where we have no clear texts of Scripture to assure us that the glory of God is so much concerned in these or those particulars that we so eagerly contend for Nay when there seem to be clear Texts of Scripture to assure us rather of the contrary and that the glory of God doth not consist therein but in things of a higher nature For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink saith the Apostle in the next former chapter It consisteth not in this whether such or such meats may be eaten or not for neither if we eate nor if we eate not are we much either the better or the worse for that But the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost It consisteth in the exercise of holy graces and the conscionable performance of unquestioned duties Sincere confession of sin proceeding from an humble and contrite heart constancy in professing the true faith of Christ patience in suffering adversity exemplary obedience to the holy laws of God fruitfulness in good works these these are things wherein God expecteth to be glorified by us But as for meats and drinks and all other indifferent things in as much as they have no intrinsecal moral either good or evil in them but are good or evil only according as they are used well or ill the glory of God is not at all concerned in the using or not using of them otherwise then as our Faith or Temperance or Obedience or Charity or other like Christian grace or vertue is exercised or evidenced thereby 23. I have now done with the first thing and of the most important consideration proposed from the Text to wit the End it self the Glory of God The amplifications follow the former whereof containeth a description of the party to be glorified That ye may glorifie God If it be demanded which God For there be Gods many and Lords many It is answered in the Text God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Of which title there may be sundry reasons given some more general why it is used at all some more special why it should be used here First this is Stylo novo never found in the Old Testament but very often in the New For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ Ehpes 3. The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ knoweth that I lie not 2 Cor. 11. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. As the old Covenant ceased upon the bringing in of a new and better Covenant so there was a cessation of the old style upon the bringing in of this new and better style The old ran thus The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob proclaimed by God himself when he was about to deliver the posterity of those three godly Patriarchs from the bondage of Egypt But having now vouchsafed unto his people a far more glorious deliverance then that from a far more grievous bondage then that from under Sin Satan Death Hell and the Law whereof that of Egypt was but a shadow and type he hath quitted that style and now expecteth to be glorified by this most sweet and blessed Name The Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Exchanging the Name of God a name of greater distance and terrour into the Name of Father a name of more neerness and indulgence And taking the additional title or denomination not from the parties delivered as before who were his faithful servants indeed yet but servants but from the person delivering his only begotten and only beloved Son It is first the Evangelical style 24. Secondly this style putteth a difference between the true God of Heaven and Earth whom only we are to glorifie and all other false and imaginary titular gods to whom we owâ— nothing but scorn and detestation The Pagans had scores hundreds some have reckoned thousands of gods all of their own making Every Nation every City yea almost every House had their several gods or godlings Deos topicos gods many and lords many But to us saith our Apostle to us Christians there is but one God the Father and one Lord Iesus Christ his Son This is Deus Christianorum If either you hope as Christians to receive grace from that God that alone can give it or mean as Christians to give glory to that God that alone ought to have it this this is he and none other God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. It is a style of distinction 25. These two Reasons are general There are two other more special for the use of it here in respect of some congruity it hath with the matter or method of the Apostles present discourse For first it might be done with reference to that Argument which he had so lately pressed and whereof also he had given a touch immediately before in the next former Verse and which he also resumed again in the next following Verse drawn from the example of Christ. That since Christ in receiving us and condescending to our weaknesses did aim at his Fathers glory so we also should aim at the same end by treading in the same steps We cannot better glorifie God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ then by receiving one another into our charity care and mutual support as Iesus Christ also received us to the glory of his heavenly Father 26. Secondly since we cannot rightly glorifie God unless we so conceive him as our Father If I be a Father where is mine honour Mal. 1. That they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Mat. 5. it may be the Apostle would have us take knowledge how we came to have a right to our son-ship and for that end might use the title here given to intimate to us upon what ground it is that we have leave to make so bold with our great Lord and Master as to call him our Father even no other but this because he is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the onely Son of God by nature and generation and
concerning that which is therein prescribed as an especial Remedy of or rather Preservative against this faint-heartedness we have been all this while in hand with to wit the Meditation of Christ and his sufferings But all I shall have time now to do will be to give you the heads of those most useful and observable points which I conceive to arise without much enforcement from the words 45. First the Act in the verb here used discovereth an excellent piece of Art a rare secret in this mystery a short and compendious but withal a very effectual way how to lighten such afflictions as lye sad upon us to our apprehensions thereby to make them the more portable for afflictions are lighter or heavier according to our apprehensions of them Leve fit quod benè fertur onus The original word is of more pregnant signification to this purpose then translatours can render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It importeth not the bare consideration of a thing by it self alone but the considering of it by weighing and comparing it with some other things of like kinde or nature and observing the analogies and proportions between it and them Certainly it would be of marvellous use to us for the rectifying our judgements concerning those pressures which at any time are upon us to render them less ponderous in our estimation of them if we would duly compare them either first with the intolerable weight of our sins whereby we have deserved them or secondly with the weight of those everlasting grievous pains in Hell which by the sharpness of our short sufferings here if we make the right use of them to be thereby humbled unto repentance by the mercy of God we shall escape or thirdly with that so exceeding and eternal weight of glory and joy in the kingdom of heaven which by the free goodness of our God we expect in compensation of our light and momentany afflictions here or fourthly with the weight of those far greater and heavier tryals which other our brethren and fellow-servants either of our own or former times have undergone before us and gone through them all with admirable patience and courage 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None of all these singly but are of singular vertue towards the desired effect but all of them together if artly applyed can hardly fail the cure Especially if you adde thereunto that one ingredient more which is alone here expressed indeed the most soveraign of all the rest as the object of this analogie or consideration in the Text to wit the incomparable bitter sufferings of our ever blessed Lord and Master IESVS CHRIST 47. Then farther in this Object as it is amplified in this short Text only there are sundry particulars considerable As namely First Who it was that suffered Consider him his Greatness his Innocency his Goodness Secondly how he suffered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he endured it also not suffered it only Consider him that endured such contradiction endured it so willingly so patiently so cheerfully Thirdly from whom he suffered it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From sinners Sinners in their nature sinful men Sinners in the Jews esteem Heathen men Sinners in the inward constitution of their own hearts Hypocrites and Malignants Sinners in their outward carriage toward him and their undue and illegal proceedings against him no just cause no just proofs but clamours and outcries rayling and spitting and buffeting and insulting and all manner of contumelious and despiteful usage Fourthly what he suffered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such opposition and contradiction of sinners against himself Contradictions manifold of all sorts and in all respects To his person denied to be the Son of God To his Office not received as the promised Messias To his Doctrine given out as a deceiver To his Miracles disgraced as he had been a Conjurer and dealt with the Devil To his Conversation defamed as a glutton and a wine-bibber a prophane fellow and a sabbath-breaker a companion of Publicans and Sinners To his very life and beeing Not him but Barabbas Away with him Crucifie him Crucifie him 48. These are the heads Many they are you see and of worthier consideration then to be crowded into the later end of a sermon Therefore I must of necessity forbear the enlargment of them at this present leaving that for every man to do in his private meditations For a conclusion then let us all I beseech you first consider actually and throughly consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself and having so done applyingly consider whether it can be reasonable or almost possible for any of us to faint under our petty sufferings What are we the best of us the greatest of us to him Or what our sufferings the worst of them the greatest of them to his I have done AD MAGISTRATUM The First Sermon At the Assises at Lincolne in the year 1630. at the request of Sr. DANIEL DELIGNE Knight then High-Sheriffe of that County I. Ser. on Prov. 24.10 12. 10. If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small 11. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawen unto death and those that are ready to be slain 12. If thou sayest Behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy soule doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his works 1. AS in most other things so in the performance of that duty which this Text aimeth at we are neither careful before hand such is the uncharitableness of our incompassionate hearts to do well nor yet willing afterwards through the pride of our spirits to acknowledge we have done ill The holy Spirit of God therefore hath directed Solomon in this Scripture wherein he would incite us to the performance of the Duty to frame his words in such sort as to meet with us in both these corruptions and to let us see that as the duty is necessary and may not be neglected so the neglect is damnable and cannot be excused In the handling whereof I shall not need to bestow much labour either in searching into the contexture of the words or examining the differences of translatitions Because the sentence as in the rest of this book for the most part hath a compleat sence within it self without any necessary either dependance upon any thing going before or reference to any thing coming after and the differences that are in the translations are neither many in number nor of any great weight for altering the meaning of the words Nor is it my purpose to insist upon such inferiour observations as might be raised from some expressions or circumstances in the Text otherwise then as they shall occasionally fall in our way in the prosecution of those main points which to the apprehension of every understanding hearer do at the very first view appear to have been chiefly intended therein 2. And they but two