some few respects Take them super totam materiam and they are starke fools for all that Very Naturals if they have no Grace The Limitation here in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terminus diminuens and must be understood accordingly The Children of this world are said to be wiser then the Children of light But how wiser Not in genere simply and absolutely and in every respect wiser but in genere suo wiser in some respect wiser in their kinde of wisdome such as it is in worldly things and for worldly ends a very mean kinde of wisdom in comparison For such kinde of limiting and diminuent terms are for the most part destructive of that whereunto they are annexed and contain in them as we use to say oppositum in apposito He that saith a dead man or a painted Lion by saying more saith less then if he had said but a man or a lion only without those additions it is all one upon the point as if he said no man no lion For a dead man is not a man neither is a painted lion a lion So that our Saviour here pronouncing of the Children of this world that they are wiser but thus limited wiser in their generation implieth that otherwise and save in that respect only they are not wiser 33. The truth is simply and absolutely considered the child of light if he be truly and really such and not titular and by a naked profession only whatsoever he is taken for is clearly the wiser man And he that is no more then worldly or carnally wise is in very deed and in Gods estimation no better then a very fool Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world saith the Apostle That interrogative form of speech is more emphatical then the bare Categoricall had been it signifieth as if it were so clear a truth that no man could reasonably deny it What Solomon saith in one place of the covetous rich man and in another place of the sluggard that he is wise in his own conceit is true also of every vitious person in every other kinde Their wisdom is a wisdom but in conceit not in truth and that but in their own conceit neither and of some few others perhaps that have their judgments corrupted with the same lusts wherewith theirs also are Chrysippus non dicet idem Solomon sure had not that conceipt of their wisdom and Solomon knew what belonged to wisdom as well as another man who putteth the fool upon the sinner I need not tell you indeed I cannot tell you how oft in his writings 34. His judgment then is clear in the point though it be a Paradox to the most and therefore would have a little farther proof for it is not enough barely to affirm paradoxes but we must prove them too First then true saving wisdom is not to be learned but from the word of God A lege tuâ intellexi By thy commandements have I gotten understanding Psal. 119. it is that word and that alone that is able to make us wise unto salvation How then can they be truly wise who regard not that word but cast it behinde their backs and despise it They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them saith Ieremy Again The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome and a good understanding have they that do thereafter Psal. 111. How then can we allow them to passe for wise men and good understanding men that have no fear of God before their eyes that have no minde nor heart to do thereafter that will not be learned nor understand but are resolvedly bent to walk on still in darkness and wilfully shut their eyes that they may not see the light 35. Since every man is desirous to have some reputation of wisdom and accounteth it the greatest scorn and reproach in the world to be called or made a fool it would be very well worth the labour but that it would require as it well deserveth a great deal more labour and time then we dare now take to illustrate and enlarge this point which though it seem a very paradoxe as was now said to the most is yet a most certain and demonstrable truth That godliness is the best wisdom and that there is no fool to the sinner I shall but barely give you some of the heads of proof and referr the enlargement to each mans private meditation He that first is all for the present and never considereth what mischiefs or inconveniences will follow thereupon afterwards that secondly when both are permitted to his choise hath not the wit to prefer that which is eminently better but chuseth that which is extremely worse that thirdly proposeth to himself base and unworthy ends that fourthly for the attaining even of those poor ends maketh choise of such means as are neither proper not probable thereunto that fifthly goeth on in bold enterprises with great confidence of success upon very slender grounds of assurance and that lastly where his own wit will not serve him refuseth to be advised by those that are wiser then himself what he wanteth in wit making it upon in will no wise man I think can take a person of this character for any other then a fool And every worldly or ungodly man is all this and more and every godly man the contrary Let not the worldly-wise man therefore glory in his wisdom that it turn not to his greater shame when his folly shall be discovered to all the world Let no man deceive himself saith S. Paul but if any man among you seem to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise That is let him lay aside all vain conceit of his own wisdom and learn to account that seeming wisdom of the world to be as indeed it is no better then folly that so he may finde that true wisdom which is of God The God of light and of wisdom so enlighten our understandings with the saving knowledge of his truth and so enflame our hearts with a holy love and fear of his Name that we may be wise unto salvation and so assist us with the grace of his holy spirit that the light of our good works and holy conversation may so shine forth both before God and men in the mean time that in the end by his mercy who is the Father of lights we may be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in the light of everlasting life and glory and that for the merits sake of Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. To whom c. AD AULAM. Sermon XVI Newport in the Isle of Wight Decemb. Heb. 12.3 Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself that ye be not wearied and faint in your mindes 1. THere is scarce
and he should not love him faithfully but foolishly if he should out of fond indulgence let him go on in an evil way without due correction He that spareth the rod hateth his childe saith Solomon he meaneth it interpretativè that is he doth his childe as much hurt out of his fond love as he could not do him more harm if he were his enemies childe whom he hateth Will not a mother that loveth her childe with all tenderness if it have got some hurt with a fall lay on a plaster to heal it though it smart and though the child cry and struggle against it all it can yet will shee lay it on for all that ey and binde it too to keep it on and all out of very love and faithfulness because she knoweth it must be so or the childe will be the worse for it I use these comparisons the rather not onely because they are familiar and the more familiar ever the better if they be fit but because the Lord himself also delighteth to set forth his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and love to us by the love of a discreet father and the affection of a tender mother towards the fruit of their own loins and womb And the Apostle at large prosecuteth the resemblance and that in this very matter whereof we now speak of our heavenly Fathers correcting his children in love and for their good most accurately and comfortably in Heb. 12. 22. But to return back to the relation of friendship from which yet I have not disgressed for can we have any better friends then our parents If any of us have a friend that is lethargique or lunatique will we not put the one from his drousie seat and shake him up and make him stir about whether he will or no and tie the other in his bed hamper him with cords ey and with blows too if need be to keep him quiet though it be death to the one to be stirred and to the other to be tied Or if we have some near friend or kinsman that we wish well to and partly dependeth upon us for his livelyhood that will not be advised by us but will flee out into bad company drink and quarrell and game will we not pinch him in his allowance refuse to give him entertainment set some underhand to beate him when he quarrels in his drink or to cheat him when he gameth too deep and if he will not be reclaimed otherwise get him arrested and laid up and then let him lie by it till shame and want give him some better sight and sence of his former follies Can any man now charge us truly with unfaithfulness to our friend for so doing Or is it not rather a good proof of our love and faithfulness to him Doubtless it is You know the old saying Non quòd odio habeam sed quòd amem it hath some reason in it For the love and faithfulness of a friend is not to be measured by the things done but by the affection and intention of the doer A thing may be done that carrieth the shew of much friendship with it yet with an intent to do the party a mischief Eutrapelus cuicunque nocere volebat c. As if he should put his friend upon some employment he were unmeet for of purpose to disgrace him or feed him with money in a riotous course to get a hanck over his estate like Sauls friendship to David in giving him his daughter to wife that she might be a snare to him to put him into the hands of the Philistines This is the basest unfaithfulness of all other sub amici fallere nomen and by many degrees worse then open hostility Let not their precious balmes break my head Let the righteous rather smite me friendly saith David There may be smiting it should seem by him without violation of friendship And his wise son Solomon preferreth the wounds of a friend before the kisses of an enemy These may be pleasanter but those will prove wholsomer there is treachery in these kisses but in those wounds faithfulness 23. You may perceive by what hath been said that God may cause his servants to be troubled and yet continue his love and faithfulness to them nevertheless yea moreover that he bringeth those troubles upon them out of his great love and faithfulness towards them It should make us the more willing whether God inflict or threaten whether we feel or fear any either publick calamity or personal affliction any thing that is like to breed us any grief or trouble to submit our selves to the hand of God not only with patience because he is righteous but even with thankfulness too because he is faithful therein Very meet we should apprehend the wrath of God and his just indignation against us when he striketh for he is righteous and will not correct us but for our sin Which should prick our hearts with sorrow nay rend them in pieces with through-contrition that we should so unworthily provoke so gracious a God to punish us But then we must so apprehend his wrath that we doubt not of his favour nor despair of staying his hand if we will but stay the course of our sins by godly repentance and reformation for he is faithful and correcteth us ever for our good Doth he take any pleasure think you in our destruction He hath sworn the contrary and dare you not believe him Doubt ye not therefore but that humility and confidence fear and hope may consist together as well as justice and mercy may in God or repentance and faith in us Presume not then to continue in sin but fear his judgments for he is righteous and will not acquit the guilty Neither yet despair of finding pardon but hope in his mercy for he is faithful and will not despise the penitent I forbid no man but charge him rather as he meaneth to build his after-comforts upon a firm base to lay a good foundation of repentance and godly sorrow by looking first upon Gods justice and his own sins that he may be cast down and humbled under the mighty hand of God before he presume to lay hold of any actual mercy But after he hath by this means assured the foundation let him then in Gods name proceed with his work and bring it on more and more to perfection by sweet meditations of the great love and gracious promises of our good God and his undoubted stedfastness and faithfulness therein Never giving it over till he come to that perfection of art and skill that he can spy love even in the very wrath of God Mel de petra suck honey out of the stony rock gather grapes of thornes and figs of thistles Till we attain to this I say not but we may have true hope and comfort in God which by his mercy may bring us to salvation but we have not yet
it For whereas the precious Oyntment though it have in it much variety of pleasure in regard of the three now-mentioned qualities yet can it bring all that delight no farther then to the outward senses of Touch Sight and Smell As for that passage in Psal. 109. It shall enter like Oyle into his bones it is perhaps rather to be understood as an hyperbolical expression then to be taken as exactly true in rigore loquendi But as for a good Name that pierceth farther then either bones or marrow it entereth into the inner man and bringeth rejoycing to the very heart and soule A good report maketh the bones fat saith Solomon and that I weene is another-gates matter then to make the face to shine This for material Oyle Then for those other outward things which for some respects I told you might be also comprehended under the name of Oyntments Riches Honours and worldly Pleasures alas how poore and sorry comforts are they to a man that hath forfeited his good Name that liveth in no credit nor reputation that groaneth under the contempt and reproach and infamy of every honest or but sober man Whereas he that by godly and vertuous actions by doing justice and exercising mercy and ordering himself and his affiairs discreetly holdeth up his good Name and reputation hath that yet to comfort himself withall and to fill his bones as with marrow and fatness though encompassed otherwise with many outward wants and calamities Without which even life it selfe would be unpleasant I say not to a perfect Christian only but even to every ingenuous morall man The worthier sort of men among the Heathens would have chosen rather to have dyed the most cruel deaths then to have lived infamous under shame and disgrace And do not those words of S. Paul 1 Cor. 9. shew that he was not much otherwise minded It were better for me to die then that any man should make my glorying void Thus a good Name is better then any precious Oyntment take it as you will properly or tropically because it yieldeth more solid content and satisfaction to him that enjoyeth it then the other doth 17. Compare them thirdly in those performances whereunto they enable us Oyls and Oyntments by a certain penetrative faculty that they have being well chafed in do supple the joynts and strengthen the sinews very much and thereby greatly enable the body for action making it more nimble and vigorous then otherwise it would be Whence it was that among the Greeks and from their example among the Romans and in other Nations those that were to exercise armes or other feats of activity in their solemn games especially wrestlers did usually by frictions and anointings prepare and fit their bodies for those athletique performances to do them with more agility and less weariness Insoas Chrysostome and other Greek Fathers almost every where use the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely when they speak of those preparatory advantages such as are prayer fasting meditation of Christs sufferings or of the joyes of heaven and the like wherewith Christians may fortifie and secure themselves when they are to enter the combate with their spiritual enemies but more generally to signifie any preparing or fitting of a person for any manner of action whatsoever 18. But how much more excellent then is a good Name which is of such mighty consequence advantage for the expediting of any honest enterprise that we take in hand either in our Christian course or civil life in this world It is an old saying taken up indeed in relation to another matter somewhat distant from that we are now treating of but it holdeth no less true in this then in that other respect Duo cum faciunt idem non est idem Let two men speak the same words give the same advice pursue the same business drive at the same design with equal right equal means equal diligence every other thing equall yet commonly the success is strangely different if the one be well thought of and the other labour of an ill name So singular an advantage is it for the crowning of our endeavours with good success to be in a good name If there be a good opinion held of us and our names once up whether we deserve it or no whatsoever we do is well taken whatsoever we propose is readily entertained our counsels yea and rebukes too carry waight and authority with them By which means we are enabled if we have but grace to make that good use thereof to do the more good to bring the more glory to God to give better countenance to his truth and to good causes and things Whereas on the other side if we be in an ill name whether we deserve it or no all our speeches and actions are ill-interpreted no man regardeth much what we say or do our proposals are suspected our counsels and rebukes though wholsome and just scorned and kickt at so as those men we speak for that side we adhere to those causes we defend those businesses we manage shall lye under some prejudice and be like to speed the worse for the evil opinion that is held of us We know well it should be otherwise Non quis sed quid As the Magistrate that exerciseth publick judgment should lay aside all respect of the person and look at the cause onely so should we all in our private judgings of other mens speeches and actions look barely upon the truth of what they say and the goodness of what they do and accordingly esteem of both neither better nor worse more or less for whatsoever fore-conceits we may have of the person Otherwise how can we avoid the charge of having the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons But yet since men are corrupt and will be partiall this way do we what we can and that the world and the affairs thereof are so much steered by Opinion it will be a point of godly wisdome in us so far to make use of this common corruption as not to disadvantage our selves for want of a good Name and good Opinion for the doing of that good whilst we live here among men subject to such frailties which we should set our desires and bend our endeavours to do And so a good name is better then a good ointment in that it enableth us to better and worthier performances 19. Compare them fourthly in their Extensions and that both for Place and Time For place first That Quality of the three before mentioned which specially setteth a value upon Oyntments advancing their price and esteem more eminently then any other consideration is their smell those being ever held most precious and of greatest delicacy that excell that way And herein is the excellency of the choisest Aromatical Oyntments that they do not only please
perhaps a rime or two upon those that censure him and then as if he had stabb'd them dead and the day were his he insulteth like a conqueror and thinketh he hath now quit himself sufficiently for the loss of his reputation 29. Quid facias illi Without more then the ordinary mercy of God in awakening their consciences by some immediate work of his own desperate is the condition of all these men Shame is the most powerfull curbe to restrain men from such vicious excesses as are of evil report and Reproof seasonably lovingly and discreetly tendered the most proper instrument to worke Shame in those that have done amiss What hope is there then as to humane endeavours and the use of ordinary means to reclaim such men from the pursuit of their vicious lusts as are once grown retch-less of their good Names sith they grow also therewithall shameless in sin and harden their foreheads against all reproof Ego illum perditum duco cui quidem periit pudâ—r He is but a lost man that hath lost all shame there being then nothing left to keep him back from rushing headlong into all manner of wickedness And he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck must needs be destroyed without remedy in as much as that which is the last and likeliest remedy to preserve him from destruction to wit reproof hath by his wilful neglect in not making use of it proved ineffectual to him 30. Thirdly the valuableness of a good Name in the judgement of so wise a person as Solomon was may sufficiently informe us of the weakness of that Plea which is so often taken up for our own justification and to put-by the wholsome admonitions of our friends when we are dealt withall for the reforming or forbearing some things in our practice which if they be not evil yet are ill-coloured look suspiciously and carry in their faces some resemblance and appearance of evil and for which we heare not well It is an usual Plea with us in such cases That so long as we stand clear in our own Consciences and are sure our hearts are honest we are not to regard the speeches and censures of men There is a time indeed and there are cases wherein such a Plea will hold good When men shall goe about by proposing disgraces to fright us out of any part of that duty that by vertue of our generall or particular calling lieth upon us or shall endeavour to put out our names as evil from amongst men for having done but that which was our bounden duty to do in such like cases we may seasonably comfort our selves in our own innocency flie for refuge against the injuries of tongues into our own consciences as into a Castle there repose our selves with security dis-regarding the reproaches of evil men and professing with St Paul that with us it is a very small matter to be judged of them or of mans judgment 31. But where we may do more we are not not to think it enough to satisfie our own consciences but we are to endeavour as much as in us lieth to stop the mouths or at leastwise to manifest our uprightness to the consciences of others What else meant St Peter to exhort Christians that they should have their conversation honest among the Gentiles Or St Paul so frequently and earnestly to fall upon the point of Scandal or to be so careful in his own person to provide things honest not onely in the sight of God but in the sight of men also or to stir up others to good things by arguments drawn as well from praise as vertue from fame as conscience as you shall finde them mixtly thrown together in the heap Phil. 4. Finally brethren saith he whatsoever things are true that 's taken from Conscience whatsoever things are honest that from Fame whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure those from Conscience again whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report those again from Fame think on these things c. To say then as sometimes we do when we are told that such or such doings will be little to our credit That other men are not to be judges of our Consciences but we stand or fall to our own master and if we do otherwise then well it is we not they that must answer for it c. I say these are no good answers If men were of St Augustins minde in his book De bono viduitatis if that book be his they would not give them the hearing Non audiendi sunt c. It is confessed even by Heathens that for a man wholly to dis-regard what estimation others have of him is not only arrogancy and cruelty but stupidity too Lastly sith a good name is a thing so precious it should be the great care of every one of us next the care of our souls to keep that unstained that so we may be blameless as well as harmless carrying our selves as the sons of God without rebuke though we live in the midst of never so crooked perverse and untoward a generation Scandalous behaviour will render our names unsavory as dead flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour Apothecaries we see are very choice over their precious confections therefore to preserve them from taint and putrefaction Shall not a Christian be as wise and chary in his generation as a shop-keeper in his to keep the ointment of his good name from stench and rottenness which is so incomparably more precious then the others are Truly I see not why every honest godly man should not strive as earnestly and with as good hope to have every mans good word as he should to live in peace with every man You well know what the Apostle saith for that Rom. 12. If it be possible so much as in you lieth have peace with all men That is not solely in our own power nay it is a thing scarce possible else the If were needless so is this too But yet somewhat we may do towards it and possibly by our good endeavours obtain it in a competent measure else the exhortation were bootless and so we may do in this too 33. To excite our care the more hereunto although the excellency of the thing it self whereof we have spoken so much already might alone suffice if it were seriously considered yet consider farther First That the preservation of our good names is a duty which by the Law of Nature and the Law of Charity and whatsoever belongeth to either of these is of the very Law of God we are obliged unto God hath ingrafted in our nature as a spur to vertuous and laudable actions an appetency of praise and glory and expecteth that we should make use of it accordingly so far as it may be servient to those ends
for which he gave it and so as it be withal subservient to his glory that gave it And the law of Charity binding us to honour all men and to preserve the just reputation of our meanest neighbour must consequently bind us to do our selves right in the point of honour for as much as we also as men are included in that generality Yea and that à fortiori too in as much as the duty of Charity to be performed to our selves is to be the rule and measure of that Charity which we owe to our neighbour and it is not supposable that he that hath little care of his own should be meetly tender of his brothers reputation 34. Consider secondly as but now I touched that it is partly in our own power what other men shall speak and think of us Not that we are Lords either of their tongues or thoughts for men generally and wicked men especially challenge a property in these two things as absolute Lords within themselves Our tongues are our own say they and Thought is free But that we may if we behave our selves with godly discretion win good report even from those that in their hearts wish no good to us or at least put such a muzzle upon their tongues that whereas they would with all their hearts speak evil of us as of evil doers they shall not dare for shame to accuse our good conversation in Christ. For who is he that will harm you saith St Peter if ye be followers of that which is good as if he had said Men that have any shame left in them will not lightly offer to do you any harme or to say any harme by you unless by some miscariage or other of your own you give them the advantage The old saying that every man is Fortunae suae faber and so Famae too is not altogether without truth and reason For seldome doth a man miscarry in the success of his affairs in the world or labour of an ill name but where himself by some sinful infirmity or negligence some rashness credulity indiscretion or other oversight hath made a way open for it This I note the rather because it falleth out not seldome to be the fate or fault of very good men biassed too much by selfe love and partiality to impute such crosses and disgraces as they sometimes meet withall wholy to the injuries of wicked men which if they would search narrowly at home they might perhaps finde reason enough sometimes to impute at least in part unto themselves When by busie intermedling where they need not by their heat violence and intemperance of spirit in setting on those things they would fain have done or opposing those things they would faine hinder by their too much stiffeness or peremptoriness either way concerning the use of indifferent things without due consideration of times places persons and other circumstances by partaking with those they think well of so far as to the justifying of their very errors and exorbitances and denying on the other side to such as are not of their own way such faire and just respects as to men of their condition are in common civility due or by some other like partialities and excesses they provoke opposition against themselves their persons and good names from such men especially as do but wait an opportunity and would greedily apprehend any occasion to do them some displeasure or disgrace 35. That it may be otherwise and better with you Beloved ponder well I beseech you what our Solomon wrote long since Prov. 19. The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord or which cometh to one against such persons as the Lord is pleased to make use of as his rods wherewith to give him due correction Neither cast off this care of your good names by any pretensions of impossibility which is another Topique of Sophistry wherewith Satan teacheth us to cheat our selves It is indeed and I confess it something a hard thing and not simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have every mans good word but I may not yield it impossible Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth it self saith S. Iohn Do you what in you lyeth towards it and if then men will yet be unjust and speak evil of you undeservedly you have your comforts in God and in Christ and some comfort also in the testimony of your own hearts that you have faithfully done what was to be done on your part to prevent it and by walking honestly and wisely to cut off occasion from them that seek occasion But so far as you have been wanting to your selves in doing your part so much you take off both from their blame and from your own comfort It concerneth you to have a great care of preserving your good names because by your care you may do much in it 36. Consider thirdly that a good name is far easier kept then recovered Men that have had losses in sundry kinds have in time had some reparations Sampsons locks were shorne off but grew again Iobs goods and cattel driven but restored again the widows childe dead but revived again the sheep and the goat in the parable lost but found again But the good name once lost the loss is little better then desperate He had need be a good gamster they say and to have very good fortune too that is to play an after-game of reputation The shipwrack of a good Name though in most and the most considerable respects it be incomparably less yet in this one circumstance it is in some sort even greater then the shipwrack of a good Conscience The loss there may be recovered again by Repentance which is tabula secunda post naufragium as in Act. 27. some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship got all safe to land But when our good names are shipwrackt all is so shattered in pieces that it will be hard to finde so much as a board or plank to bring us ashore And the Reason of the difference is manifest which is this When we have made shipwrack of our Consciences we fall into the hands of God whose mercies are great and his compassions fail not and who if we timely and unfainedly repent is both able and willing to restore us But when we make shipwrack of our good names we fall into the hands of men whose bowels are narrow their tenderest mercies cruel and their charity too weak and faint to raise up our credit again after it is once ruined I have some times in my private thoughts likened a flaw in the Conscience and a flaw in the good name to the breaking of a bone in the body and the breaking of a Chrystal glass or China dish at the table In the mischance there is no comparison a man had better break twenty glasses or Dishes at his table then one
be carried away Greater is he that is in you saith S. Iohn that is Christ then he that is in the world that is the Devil Christ came into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the Devil and he did atchieve what he came for he hath destroyed them And amongst his other works he hath destroyed this Purchase also wrung the evidences out of his hand even the handwriting that was against us and having blotted defaced and cancell'd it took it out of the way nayling it to his Cross. 28. Such was his Power his Love secondly not less which made him as willing as he was able to undertake this work of our redemption In his love and in his pitty he redeemed them Esay 63.9 There is such a height and depth and length and bredth in that Love such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every dimension of it as none but an infinite understanding can fathom Sic Deus dilexit So God loved the world But how much that so containeth no tongue or wit of man can reach Nothing expresseth it better to the life then the work it self doth That the Word should be made Flesh that the holy one of God should be made sin that God blessed for ever should be made a curse that the Lord of life and glory should suffer an inglorious death and poure out his own most precious blood to ransom such worthless thankless graceless Traitors as we were that had so desperately made our selves away and that into the hands of his deadliest enemy and that upon such poore and unworthy conditions O altitudo Love incomprehensible It swalloweth up the sence and understanding of Men and Angels fitter to be admired and adored with silence then blemished with any our weak expressions 29. I leave it therefore and go on to the next his Right When de facto we sold our selves to Satan we had de jure no power or right at all so to do being we were not our own and so in truth the title is nought and the Sale void Yet it is good against us however we may not plead the invalidity of it for so much as in reason no man ought to make advantage of his own act Our act then barreth us But yet it cannot bar the right owner from challenging his own wheresoever he finds it And therefore we may be well assured God will not suffer the Devil who is but malae fidei possessor an intruder and a cheater quietly to enjoy what is Gods and not his but he will eject him we have that word Iohn 12.21 Ejicietur now is the Prince of this world cast out and recover out of his possession that which he hath no right at all to hold 30. Sundry inferences we might raise hence if we had time I may not insist yet I cannot but touch at three duties which we owe to God for this Redemption because they answer so fitly to these three last mentioned assurances We owe him Affiance in respect of his Power in requital of his Love thankfulness and in regard of his Right Service First the consideration of his Power in our Redemption may put a great deal of comfort and confidence into us that having now redeemed us if we do but cleave fast to him and revolt not again he will protect us from Sin and Satan and all other enemies and pretenders whatsoever O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee Esay 43. If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again as he is an unwearied sollicitor and will not lose his claim by discontinuance Let us then look to that Cornu salutis that horn of salvation that God hath raised up for us in Christ our Redeemer and flie thither for succour as to the horns of the Altar saying with David Psalm 119. I am thine oh save me and we shall be safe In all inward temptations in all outward distresses at the hour of death and in the day of judgment we may with great security commit the keeping of our souls to him both as a faithful creator and as a powerful Redeemer saying once more with David Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Psalm 31.6 31. Secondly the consideration of his love in our Redemption should quicken us to a thankful acknowledgment of his great and undeserved goodness towards us Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand of the enemy Psal. 107. Let all men let all creatures do it but let them especially If the blessings of corn and wine and oyl of health and peace and plenty of deliverance from sicknesses pestilences famines and other calamities can so affect us as to provoke at least some overly and superficial forms of thanksgiving from us how carnal are our minds and our thoughts earthy if the contemplation of the depth of the riches of Gods mercy poured out upon us in this great work of our Redemption do not even ravish our hearts with an ardent desire to pour them out unto him again in hymns and Psalms and songs of thanksgiving with a Benedictus in our mouths Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people 32. Thirdly the consideration of his Right should bind us to do him service We were his before for he made us and we ought him service for that But now we are his more then before and by a new title for he hath bought us and paid for us and we owe him more service for that The Apostle therefote urgeth it as a matter of great equity you are not your own but his therefore you are not to satisfie your selves by doing your own lusts but to glorifie him by doing his will When Christ redeemed us by his bloud his purpose was to redeem us unto God Rev. 5.9 and not to our selves and to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 and not to it And he therefore delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might the more freely and securely and without fear serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Luke 1. which being both our bounden duty and the thing withall so very reasonable we have the more to answer for if we do not make a conscience of it to perform it accordingly He hath done his part and that which he was no way bound unto in redeeming us and he hath done it to purpose done it effectually Let it be our care to do our part for which there lie so many obligations upon us in serving him and let us also do it to purpose do it really and throughly and constantly 33. Thus is our Redemption done effectually it is also done freely which is the only point now remaining Not for price nor
unrest was the greatest part of his reign I note it not with a purpose to enter into a set discourse how many and great the troubles are that attend the Crowns and Scepters of Princes which I easily believe to be far both more and greater then we that stand below are capable to imagine but for two other reasons a great deal more useful and therefore so much the more needful to be thought on both by them and us It should first work in all them that sit aloft and so are exposed to more and stronger blasts the greater care to provide a safe resting place for their souls that whensoever they shall meet with trouble and sorrow in the flesh and that they shall be sure to do ofter then they look for they may retire thither there to repose and solace themselves in the goodness of their God saying eftsoones with our Prophet Return unto thy rest O my soul. It was well for him that he had such a rest for his soul for he had rest little enough otherwise from continual troubles and cares in his civil affairs and estate And it should in all reason secondly quicken the hearts of all loyal and well-affected subjects by their prayers counsels services aids and cheerful obedience respectively rather to afford Princes their best assistance for the comfortable support of that their weighty and troublesome charge then out of ambition discontent popularity envy or any other cross or peevish humor add unto their cares and create unto them more troubles 15. David you see had troubles as a man as a godly man as a King But who caused them Sure in those his first times when as I conjecture he wrote this Psalm Saul with his Princes and followers was the chiefest cause of most of his troubles and afterwards crafty Ahitophel caused him much trouble and railing Shimei some and seditious Sheba not a little but his rebellious son Absalon most of all He complaineth of many troublers raised by the means of that son in Psalm 3. Domine quà m multiplicati Lord how are they increased that trouble me Yet here you see he overlooketh them all and all other second causes and ascribeth his troubles wholly unto God So he did also afterwards in the particular of Shimei's rayling Let him alone saith he to Abishai Let him curse on for God hath bidden him Even as Iob had done before him when the Sabeans and the Chaldeans had taken away his cattle and goods he scarce took notice of them he knew they were but instruments but looked at the hand of God only as the chief and principal cause Dominus abstulit The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Neither did David any injury at all to Almighty God in ascribing it to him for God also himself taketh it all upon himself I will raise him evil out of his own house and I will do it before the sun 2 Sam. 12. 16. How all those things wherein wicked men serving their own lusts only in their own purpose do yet unwittingly do service to God Almighty in furthering his wise and holy designs can have their efficiency from causes of such contrary quality and looking at such contrary ends to the producing of one and the same effect is a speculation more curious then profitable It is enough for us to know that it neither casteth any blemish at all upon him that he maketh such use of them nor giveth any excuse at all to them that they do such service to him but that all this notwithstanding he shall still have the whole glory of his own wisdom and holiness and they shall still bear the whole burthen of their own folly and wickedness But there is another and that a far better use to be made hereof then to trouble our selves about a mysterie that we shall never be able in this life to comprehend and that is this that seeing all the troubles that befall us in any kind whatsoever or by what instruments soever come yet from the hand of God we should not therefore when at any time we meet with trouble rage against the second causes or seek to venge our teen upon them as of our selves we are very apt to do but laying our hands upon our mouths compose our selves to a holy patience and silence considering it is his will and pleasure to have it so to whom it is both our duty and wisdom wholly to submit 17. We may learn it of holy Iob. His wife moved his patience not a little by moving him to impatience Thou talkest like a foolish woman saith he shall we receive good things at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil also Or we may learn it of good old Eli. When he received a message from the Lord by the mouth of young Samuel of a right heavy judgment shortly to fall upon him and his house for his fond indulgence to his ungracious children he made no more reply but said only It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Or to go no further then our Prophet David we may learn it sufficiently from him Psalm 39. I was dumbe saith he and opened not my mouth Quoniam tu fecisti for it was thy doing This consideration alone Quoniam tu fecisti is enough to silence all tumultuous thoughts and to cut off all farther disputing and debating the matter that it is God that causeth us to be troubled All whose judgments are not only done in righteousnesse as we have hitherto heard but towards his children also out of much love and faithfulnesse as we are next to hear I know that of very faithfulnesse thou hast caused me to be troubled 18. In the former part of the verse where he spake of the righteousnesse of God he did it indefinitely without mentioning either himself or any other person not particularly Thy judgments upon me but indefinitely I know O Lord that thy judgments are right But now in this latter part of the verse where he cometh to speak of the faithfulness of God he nameth himself And that thou of very faithfulnesse hast caused Me to be troubled For as earthly Princes must do justice to all men for Iustice is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every man may challenge it and there must be no respect had no difference made of persons therein but their favours they may bestow upon whom they think good so God will have his justice to appear in all his dealings with all men generally be they good or bad that none of them all shall be able to say he hath done them the least wrong but yet his tender mercies and loving kindnesses those he reserveth for the godly only who are in special favour with him and towards whom he beareth a special respect For by faithfulnesse here as in sundry other places of Scripture is meant nothing else but the special love and favour of God towards those that
Lukes expression Act. 25. Yet as empty a thing as it is if it were of any permanency it were worthy the better regard But that that maketh it the verier vanity is that it is a thing so transitory it shall and must be done away But the glory of the great King of heaven remaineth and shall not cannot be done away for ever The glorious Majesty of the Lord endureth for ever Psal. 104. If then that be glorious much more this but how much more is more then any tongue can utter or heart conceive So that if we look at God we cannot leave out Glory 6. Nither if we speak of Glory may we leave our God and that is a fourth Point For as no other thing belongeth so properly to God as Glory so neither doth Glory belong so properly to any other person as to God The holy Martyr S. Stephen therefore calleth him The God of Glory And the holy Apostles when they speak of giving him glory do it sometimes with the exclusive parcle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the onely wise God or as the words will equally bear it onely to the wise God be glory to him and onely to him Yea and the holy Angels in that Anthem they sang upon our Saviours birth when they shared heaven and earth their severall portions allotted us our part in peace and the good will of God but with reservation of the whole glory to him Glory be to God on high and in earth peace and towards men good-will It is well and happy for us if we may enjoy our own peace and his good-will full little have we deserved either of both but much rather the contrary but we were best take heed how we meddle with his glory All other things he giveth us richly to enjoy many a good guift and perfect giving He hath not withheld from us any thing that was his and useful for us no not his only begotten Son excepted the best guift that ever was given and a pledge of all the rest Ey and he will give us a kind of glory too the Lord will give grace and glory Psal. 84. and that not a light one neither nor fading away but such as neither eye nor ear nor heart of man can comprehend so massie and so durable an eternall and exceeding weight of glory But that divine infinite incomprehensible glory that belongeth to him as supreme King of Kings as his peculiar Prerogative and the choisest flower in his Crown of that he is most jealous in that he will brook no sharer And he hath made known to us his royall pleasure in that point Esay 42. My glory will I not give to another 7. He will part with none you see it seemeth rather fifthly by the forme of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he looketh for some from us For what else is it to glorifie but to make one glorious by conferring some glory upon him which he had not or not in that degree before And to God how can that be done whose glory is perfect essentiall and infinite and to what is perfect much less to what is infinite can nothing be added What a great admirer of Virgil said of him tanta Maronis gloria ut nullius laudibus crescat nullius vituperatione minuitur was but a flaunting hyperbole farr beyond the merit of the party he meant it to But the like speech would be most exquisitely true of him of whom we now speak indeed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather then an hyperbole Whose Glory is truly such as all the creatures in the world should they joyn their whole forces together to do it could not make it either more or less then it is 8. We must therefore of necessity forsake the proper signification of the word Glorifie which is to adde some glory to another either in specie or in gradu which before he had not and understand it in such a sense as that the thing meant thereby may be feisible And so to Glorifie God is no more then to shew forth his glory and to manifest to our own consciences and to the world how highly we prise and esteem his glory and how earnestly we desire and as much as in us lieth endeavour it that all other men would also with us acknowledge and admire the same Sing praise to the honour of his name make his praise to be glorious Psal. 66. Not make his essence to be more glorious then it is in it self but make his praise to be more and more glorious in the eye and esteem of men That so his power his glory and mightiness of his kingdome might be knowen unto men and that men might ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his name and that men might sing in the way of the Lord that great is the glory of the Lord. To endeavour by our thanksgivings confessions faith charity obedience good works and perseverance in all these to bring Gods true religion and worship into request to win a due reverence to his holy name and word to beget in others more high and honourable thoughts concerning God in all those his most eminent attributes of Wisdome Power Iustice Mercy and the rest that is in Scripture language to glorifie God 9. One thing more from the person of the Verbe and then you have all It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God may be glorified and so leave it indefinite and uncertain by whom it should be done but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may glorifie him The thing to be done and they to do it One would think the glorious Angels and Saints in heaven were fitter instruments for such an employment then we poor sinful Worms upon earth Very true they in heaven are fitter to do it and it is best done there but there is more need of it upon earth and if it be done here in truth singleness of heart it is very well accepted Poor things God knoweth our best services are if God should value them but according to their weight and worth But in his mercy and that through Christ he graciously accepteth our unfained desires and faithful endeavours according to that truth we have be it never so little and not according to that perfection we want be it never so much Alas what is the tinckling of two little bells in a Countrey-steeple or the peoples running to the Towns-end and crying God save the King to adde any honour or greatness to the majesty of a potent Monarch Yet will a gracious Prince take those mean expressions of his subjects love as an honour done him because he readeth therein their hearty affections towards him and he knoweth that if they knew how to express themselves better they would So it is here It is not the thing done that is looked at so much as the heart Set that right first and then be the
performance what it can be God is both pleased and honoured therewithal Who so offereth praise glorifieth me Psal. 50. That is so he intendeth it and so I accept it 10. You have now all I would say by way of explication from these words The particulars are six First we should propose to our selves some end therein Secondly look at God Thirdly that God may have glory and that he alone may have it Fourthly Fifthly that something be done for the advancement of his glory and Lastly that it be done by us The result from the whole six taken together is That the glory of God ought to be the chiefest end and main scope of all our desires and endeavours In what ever we think say do or suffer in the whole course of our lives and actions we should refer all to this look at this as the main Whatsoever become of us and our affairs that yet God may be glorified Whether ye eat or drink saith S. Paul or whatsoever else ye do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. He would have us not onely in the performance of good works and of necessary duties to intend the glory of God according to that of our Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven but even in the use of the Creatures and of all indifferent things in eating and drinking in buying and selling and in all the like actions of common life In that most absolute form of prayer taught us by Christ himself as the patern and Canon of all our prayers the glory of God standeth at both ends When we begin the first petition we are to put up is that the Name of God may be hallowed and glorified and when we have done we are to wrap up all in the conclusion with this acknowledgement that to him alone belongeth all the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever 11. The glory of God you see is to be the Alpha and the Omega of all our votes and desires Infinitely therefore to be preferred not onely before riches honours pleasures friends and all the comforts and contentments the World can afford us in this life but even before life it self The blessed Son of God so valued it who laid down his life for his Fathers glory and so did many holy Martyrs and faithful servants of God value it too who laid down their lives for their Masters glory Nay let me go yet higher infinitely to be preferred even before the unspeakable joyes of the life to come before the everlasting salvation of our own souls It was not meerly a strain of his Rhetorick to give his brethren by that hyperbolical expression the better assurance of his exceeding great love towards them that our Apostle said before at Chap. 9. of this epistle that he could wish himself to be accursed to be made an Anathema to be separated and cut off from Christ for their sakes Neither yet was it a hasty inconsiderate speech that fell suddenly from him as he was writing fervente calamo and as the abortive fruit of a precipitate over-passionate zeal before he had sufficiently consulted his reason whether he should suffer it to pass in that form or not for then doubtless he would have corrected himself and retracted it upon his second thoughts as he did Acts 23. when he had inconsiderately reviled the High-Priest sitting then in the place of judicature But he spake it advisedly and upon good deliberation yea and that upon his conscience ey and upon his Oath too and as in the presence of God as you may see it ushered in there with a most solemn asseveration as the true real and earnest desire of his heart I speak the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost Not that S. Paul wished their salvation more then his own understand it not so for such a desire neither was possible nor could be regular Not possible by the law of Nature which cannot but begin at home Omnes sibi melius esse malunt quà m alteri Nor regular by the course of Charity which is not orderly if it do not so too That is not it then but this That he preferred the glory of God before both his own salvation and theirs In so much that if Gods glory should so require hoc imposibili supposito he could be content with all his heart rather to lose his own part in the joyes of heaven that God might be the more glorified then that God should lose any part of his glory for his salvation 12. And great reason there is that as his was so every Christian mans heart should be disposed in like manner that the bent of his whole desires and endeavours all other things set apart otherwise then as they serve thereunto should be the glory of God For first all men consent in this as an undoubted verity That that which is the chiefest good ought also to be the uttermost end And that must needs be the chiefest good which Almighty God who is goodness it self and best knoweth what is good proposeth to himself as the End of all his actions and that is meerly his own glory All those his high and unconceiveable acts ad intra being immanent in himself must needs also be terminated in himself And as for all those his powerful and providential acts ad extra those I mean which are exercised upon and about the creatures and by reason of that their effluxe and emanation are made better known to us then the former if we follow them to their last period we shall finde that they all determine and concenter there He made them he preserveth them he forgiveth them he destroyeth them he punisheth them he rewardeth them every other way he ordereth them and disposeth of them according to the good pleasure of his will for his own names sake and for his own glories sake That so his wisdom and power and truth and justice and mercy and all those other his divine excellencies which we are to believe and admire but may not seek to comprehend might be acknowledged reverenced and magnified Those two great acts of his most secret and unsearchable counsel then the one whereof there is not any one act more gracious the Destination of those that persevere in Faith and Godliness to eternal happiness nor any one act more full of terrour and astonishment then the other the designation of such as live and die in Sin and Infidelity without repentance to eternal destruction the scriptures in the last resolution referr them wholy to his Glory as the last End The glory of his rich mercy being most resplendent in the one and the glory of his just severity in the other Concerning the one the scripture saith that he predestinated us to the praise of the glory of his grace Eph. 1.
shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed but leave that wholy to their father to whose care it properly belongeth We are very meanly perswaded of our heavenly fathers affection towards us and of his care over us if we dare not trust him as securely for our daily provisions who knoweth that we stand in need of all these things about which we so needlesly trouble our selves Enough it is for us in all things by supplications and prayers for what we want and thanksgivings for what we have to let our requests be made known unto him and then to be careful for nothing any farther but to cast all our care and our burden upon him and doubtles he will not suffer us to lie and perish but will take us up take care of us and nourish us 31. Neither thirdly let us droop or be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow as if some strange thing had befallen us upon the faile of any earthly helps or hopes whatsoever If our Fathers and Mothers affection be not towards us as we think it should if they have entertained worse thoughts of us then we deserve if they have not discretion and foresight to give us meet and orderly education and to provide us means fortable thereunto if they be fallen into want or otherwise disabled from doing for us what formerly they intended or we expected if they be taken from us before we be growen up If our friends whom we trusted have proved unfaithful and shrunk from us when we had use of them if those proportions of wealth honour reputation liberty or whatsoever other worldly conveniencies and contentments we have formerly enjoyed be pared away to very little or even to nothing we have yet one reserve that we dare rest surely upon one anchor of hope that will hold in despight of all the World even the goodness and faithfulness of our gracious Lord God To him have we been left ever since we were born and he hath not hitherto failed nor forsaken us but hath preserved us in being in such a being as he who best knoweth what is fit hath thought fit for us It is our fault if this experience of the time past do not breed in us hope for the time to come and that a lively hope a hope that will never shame either him or us even this That he Will also be our guide unto death that he will not fail us or forsake us henceforth for ever but will preserve us still in such a condition as he shall see good for us Persecuted we may be and afflicted but forsaken we shall not be 32. We ought therefore to possesse our souls in patience whatsoever shall betide us in the World and not to consult with flesh and blood in seeking to relieve our selves in our distresses by engaging in any unworthy or unwarrantable practise or by siding partaking or but basely complying with the workers of wickedness that we may eat of their dainties Is it possible we should be so ill advised as to think to escape the storm when it approacheth towards us by making shipwrack of a good conscience If we go after lying vanities and such are all creatures all men lyers all things vanity do we not ipso facto forsake our own mercy and wilfully bring ruine upon us The short and sure way is when any danger any distress is upon us or maketh towards us to run to our heavenly Father as young birds do to their dam for succour He will gather us under his wings and we shall be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be our shield and buckler If we commit our wayes to him cast our selves upon him by a through relyance resigne all our desires wills and interests into his hands he will certainly bring to pass aut quod volumus aut quod malumus either what we like best or what he knoweth is best 33 Only let us resolve to perform our part do faithfully what he commandeth shun carefully what he forbiddeth suffer patiently what he inflicteth and we may then be confident he will perform his part to the uttermost That when all the World forsaketh us he will take us up take us into his care and protection here and if by patient continuance in well-doing we seek it take us up at the last into the fellowship of that glory and honour and immortality and eternal life which his onely beloved Son hath purchased and his ever-blessed Spirit consigned to all them that love him and put their trust in his mercy To that onely beloved Son and ever-blessed Spirit together with the eternal Father three persons and one undivided Trinity be rendered by us and the whole Church all the kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen AD AULAM. Sermon XV. Luk. 16.8 For the children of this world are in their generation wiser then the children of Light 1. THe fore-going verses contain a Parable this the Application of it The Parable that of the unjust Steward a faithless and a thriftless man He had wronged his master without any benefit to himself as prodigals are wont to do other men harme and themselves no good The master coming at length and with the last to have some knowledge of his false-dealing dischargeth him his office and calleth on him to give in his accounts The Steward awakened with that short and unexpected warning began now to think in good earnest what before he never thought of to purpose what should become of him and his for the future he knew not which way in the world to turne himself to get a living when he should be turned out of service He had not been so provident a husband as to have any thing before hand to live upon He could not frame to handle a spade he had not been brought up with pains-taking And for him that had so long born sway in such a house and like enough with insolence enough now to run craving a small piece of money of every traveller by the high-way or stand at another mans door begging a morsel of bread shame and a stout heart would not suffer him to think of that Well something he must do and that speedily too or starve He therefore casteth about this way and that way and every way and at last bethinketh himself of a course and resolveth upon it to shew his Master a trick at the loose that should make amends for all and do his whole business He therefore sendeth for his Masters debtors forthwith abateth them of their several sums and makes the books a â—ree in hope that having gratified so many persons by such large â—batements some of them would remember it sure though others should prove ungrateful and make him some part of requital for the same The Master vexed to see himself so palpably cheated and knew
but without this care you are Idols and not Gods Much like the Idol Gods of the heathen that have eyes and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak not that have a great deal of Worship from the people and much reverence but are good for nothing By this very argument in Baruc 6. are such Idols disproved to be Gods They can save no man from death neither deliver the weak from the mighty They cannot restore a blind man to his sight nor help any man in his distress They can shew no mercy to the widow nor do good to the fatherless How should a man then think and say that they are Gods 11. I hope the greatest upon earth need think it no disparagement to their greatness to look down upon the afflictions of their meanest brethren and to stoop to their necessities when the great God of heaven and earth who hath his dwelling so high yet humbleth himself to behold the simple that lie as low as the dust and to lift up the poor that sticketh fast in the mire The Lord looked down from his Sanctuary from the heaven did the Lord behold the earth That he might hear the mournings of such as be in captivity and deliver the children appointed unto death So then for the performance of this duty thou hast Gods commandment upon thee and thou hast Gods Example before thee If there be in thee any true fear of God thou wilt obey his command and if any true hope in God follow his Example 12. If from God we look downward in the next place upon our selves and duly consider either what power we have or what need we may have from both considerations we may discover yet farther the necessity of this Duty And first from our Power There is no power but of God and God bestoweth no power upon man nor indeed upon any creature whatsoever to no purpose The natural powers and faculties as well of our reasonable souls as of our Organicall bodies they have all of them their several uses and operations unto which they are designed And by the principles of all good Philosophy we cannot conceive of Power but in order and with reference to Act. Look then what power God hath put into any of our hands in any kinde and in any measure it lieth us upon to imploy it to the best advantage we can for the good of our brethren for to this very end God hath given us that power what ever it be that we might do good therewithall The Lord hath in his wise providence so disposed the things of this world that there should ever be some rich to relieve the necessities of the poor and some poor to exercise the charity of the rich So likewise he hath laid distresses upon some that they might be succoured by the power of others and lent power to some that they might be able to succour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distresses of others Now as God himself to whom all power properly and originally belongeth delighteth to manifest his power rather in shewing mercy then in works of destruction God spake once twise have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God and that thou Lord art merciful Psal. 62. O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee accordiâ—g to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die Psal. 79. So all those upon whom God hath derived any part of that power should consider that God gave it them for edification not for destruction to do good withall and to help the distressed and to save the innocent not to trample upon the poor and oppress those that are unable to resist Pestifera vis est valere ad nocendum It is in truth a great weakness in any man rather then a demonstration of power to stretch his power for the doing of mischief An evident argument whereof is that observation of our Solomon in Prov. 28. confirmed also by daily experience that a poor man that oppresseth the poor is ever the most merciless oppressour It is in matter of Power many times as it is in matter of Learning They that have but a smattering in schollership you shall ever observe to be the forwardest to make ostentation of those few ends they have because they fear there would be little notice taken of their learning if they should not now shew it when they can And yet you may observe that withall it oftentimes falleth out very unluckily with them that when they think most of all to shew their schollership they then most of all by some gross mistake or other betray their Ignorance It is even so in this case Men of base spirit and condition when they have gotten the advantage of a little power conceive that the world would not know what goodly men they are if they should not do some act or other whereby to shew forth their power to the world And then their minds being too narrow to comprehend any brave and generous way whereby to do it they cannot frame to doe it any other way then by trampling upon those that are below them and that they do beyond all reason and without all mercy 13. This Argument taken from the end of that power that God giveth us was wisely and to good purpose pressed by Mordecai Esth. 1. to Queen Esther when she made difficulty to goe into the Presence to intercede for the people of the Iews after that Haman had plotted their destruction Who knoweth saith he there whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this As if he had said Consider the marvailous and gracious providence of God in raising thee who wert of a despised nation and kindred to be partaker with the most potent Monarch in the world in the royall Crown and Bed Think not but the Lord therein certainly intended some great work to be done by thy hand and power for his poor distressed Church Now the hour is come Now if ever will it be seasonable for thee to make use of those great fortunes God hath advanced thee to and to try how far by that power and interest thou hast in the Kings favour thou canst prevail for the reversing of Hamans bloudy decree and the preserving our whole nation from utter destruction And of this Argument there seemeth to be some intimation in the very Text as those words in the twelfth verse may and that not unfitly be understood He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it That is He that hath preserved thee from falling into that trouble and misery whereinto he hath suffered thy distressed brother to fall and hath kept thee in safety and prosperity for this end that thou mightest the better be able to succour those that are helpless doth not he take knowledg what use thou makest of that Power and whether thou art mindfull to employ it for thy brothers good
man of blood He that taketh away his neighbours living slayeth him and he that defraudeth the labourer of his hire is a bloodshedder Ecclesiasticus 34. 17. And as these poore ones deserve our pity and our help in regard of the grievousnes of their distresses so are we secondly bound so much the more to endeavour to succor them by how much the more they are distitute of freinds or other means whereby to relieve or helpe themselves The scriptures therefore especially commend to our care and protection the stranger the fatherles and the widdow for these are of all others the most exposed to the injuries and oppressions of their potent adversaries because they have few or no friends to take their part so that if men of place and power shall not stick close to them in their righteous causes they will be over borne and undone This Solomon saw with much griefe and indignation insomuch as out of that very consideration he praised the dead that were already dead more then the living that were yet alive Eccles. 4. when viewing all the oppressions that are done under the sun he beheld the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter and on the side of their oppressours there was power but they had no comforter Power and might and friends and partaking oâ— the one side no power no strength no friends no comfort on the other side When things are thus and thus they have ever been and thus will they ever be more or less whilest the world continueth there is then a rich opportunity for every great and good man especially for every conscionable Magistrate to set in for Gods cause in Gods stead and by the greatness of his power to stop the course of violence and oppression and to rescue out of the hands of the mighty those that are marked out to destruction or undoing Then is it a fit time for him to buckle on his armour with Iob to gird himself with zeal and righteousness as with a breast-plate to close with the gyant-oppressour and not to give over the combate till he have broken the jawes of the wicked and plucked the prey out of his teeth A good Magistrate should be as he was eyes to the blinde feet to the lame a husband to the widow a father to the orphane a brother to the stranger in a word as St. Paul was but in another sence Omnia omnibus all things to all men according to their several necessities and occasions that by all means he might at least save some from oppression and wrong 18. But that which above all other considerations should stir up our compassion to those that are in distress and make us bestir our selves in their behalf is that which I mentioned in the third place The Equity of their Cause when by the power and iniquity of an unjust adversary they are in danger to be over borne in a righteous matter For unless their matters be good and right be they never so poor their distresses never so great we should not pity them I mean not so to pity them as to be assistant to them therein For as in God so in every minister of God every Magistrate and in every child of God every good man Iustice and Mercy should meet together and kiss each other Iustice without Mercy and Mercy without Justice are both alike hateful to God both alike to be shunned of every good man and Magistrate Lest therefore any man should deceive himself by thinking it a glorious or a charitable act to help a poor man howsoever the Lord hath given an express prohibition to the contrary Exod. 23. Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his Cause That is in a good cause shrink not from him but if his cause be naught let his poverty be what it will be thou mayest not countenance him in it He that hath respect of persons in judgment cannot but transgress and he that respecteth a man for his poverty is no less a respecter of persons then he that respecteth a man for friendship or neighbourhood or greatness or a bribe In this case the Magistrate cannot propose to himself a fitter or safer example then that of God himself who as he often professeth to have a special care over the stranger and fatherless and widow and needy so doth he often declare his proceedings to be evermore without respect of persons 19. That therefore whilest we avoid the one extreme that of incompassion we may not fall into the other that of foolish pity it will be needful that we rightly understand Solomons purpose in the Text. For it may perhaps seem to some to be here intended that every man should do his utmost to save the life of every other man that is in danger to lose it And accordingly many men are forward more then any good subject hath cause to con them thanks for to deprecate the favour of the Iudge for the saving of some hainous malefactor or to sue out a pardon for a wilful murderer or say it be but to help some busie crafty companion to come fair off in a foul business And when they have so done as if they had deserved a garland for their service so do they glory among their neighbours at their return from these great asâ—semblies that their journey was well bestowed for they had saved a proper man from the gallows or holpen a good fellow out of the bryers Alas little do such men consider that they glory in that which ought rather to be their shame such glorying is not good For albeit in the Text it be not expressedly so set down yet must Solomon of necessity be understood to speak of the delivering of such only as are unjustly drawn to the slaughter and not of such malefactors as by robberies rapes murders treasons and other guiltinesses have justly deserved the sentence of death by the Law For we must so understand him here as not to make him contradict himself who elsewhere telleth us that it is the part and property of a wise King to scatter the wicked and to bring the wheele over them and that he that hath done violence to the bloud of any person should fly to the pit and no man should stay him Against murder the Lord provided by an early Law Gen. 9. enacted and published before him out of whose loins the whole world after the flood was to be repeopled to shew it was not meant for a national and temporary ordinance but for an universal and perpetual Law whoso sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed And that Iudges should be very shy and tender how they grant pardons or reprivals in that case he established it afterwards among his own people by a most severe sanction Numb 35. Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death
And there is a reason of it there given also For bloud saith he defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed from the bloud that is shed therein but by the bloud of him that shed it Read that passage with attention and if both forehead and conscience be not harder then the nether milstone thou canst not have either the heart or the face to glory in it as a brave exploit who ever thou art that hast been the instrument to save the life of a murderer 20. Indeed all offences are not of that hainous nature that Murder is nor do they cry so loud for vengance as Murder doth And therefore to procure undeserved favour for a smaller offenderâ— is not so great a sin as to do it for murderers But yet so far as the proportion holdeth it is a sin still Especially where favour cannot be shewen to one man but to the wrong and grievance of some other as it happeneth usually in those judicial controversies that are betwixt party and party for trial of right Or where favour cannot be shewen to an offender but with wrong and grievance to the publick as it most times falleth out in criminal causes wherein the King and Common-wealth are parties Solomon hath taught us that as well he that justifieth the wicked as he that condemneth the just are an abomination to the Lord. Yea and that for any thing that appeareth to the contrary from the Text and in thesi for circumstances may make a difference either way in hypothesi they are both equally abominable In doubtful cases it is doubtlesly better and safer to encline to Mercy then to Severity Better ten offenders should escape then one innocent person suffer But that is to be conceived only when things are doubtful so as the truth cannot be made appear but where things are notorious and evident there to justifie the guilty and to condemn the innocent are still equal abominations 21. That which you are to do then in the behalf of the poor is this First to be rightly informed and so far as morally you can well assured that their cause be just For mean and poor people are nothing less but ordinarily much more unreasonable then the great ones are and if they finde the ear of the Magistrate open to hear their grievances as it very meet it should be they will be often clamorous and importunate without either cause or measure And if the Magistrate be not very wary and wise in receiving informations the countrey swain may chance prove too cunning for him and make him but a stale whereby for himself to get the start of his adversary and so the Magistrate may in fine and unawares become the instrument of oppression even then when his intention was to vindicate another from it The truth of the matter therefore to be first throughly sifted out the circumstances duly weighed and as well the legal as the equitable right examined and compared and this to be done with all requisite diligence and prudence before you engage in the poor mans behalf 22. But if when this is done you then finde that there is much right and equity on his side and that yet for want of skill or friends or means to manage his affairs he is in danger to be foiled in his righteous cause Or if you finde that his adversary hath a legal advantage of him or that he hath de rigore incurred the penalty of some dis-used statute yet did not offend wilfully out of the neglect of his known duty or a greedy covetous minde or other sinister and evil intention but meerly out of his ignorance and in-experience and in the simplicity of his heart as those two hundred Israelites that followed after Absalom when he called them not knowing any thing of his conspiracy had done an act of treason yet were not formally traitours In either of these cases I say you may not forsake the poor man or despise him because he is poor or simple But you ought so much the rather to stick by him and to stand his friend to the utmost of your power You ought to give him your counsel and your countenance to speak for him and write for him and ride for him and do for him to procure him right against his adversary in the former case and in the later case favour from the Iudge In either case to hold back your hand to draw back your help from him if it be in the power of your hand to do him any help is that sin for which in the judgement of Solomon in the Text the Lord will admit no excuse 23. Come we now in the last place to some reasons or motives taken from the effects of the duty it self If carefully and conscionably performed it will gain honour and estimation both to our persons and places purchase for us the prayers and blessings of the poor yea and bring down a blessing from God not upon us and ours only but upon the State and Common-wealth also But where the duty is neglected the effects are quite contrary First do you know any other thing that will bring a man more glory and renown in the common opinion of the world then to shew forth at once both justice and mercy by doing good and protecting the innocent Let not mercy and truth forsake thee binde them about thy neck write them upon the table of thy heart so shalt thou finde favour and good understanding or acceptance in the sight of God and man Prov. 3. As a rich sparkling Diamond addeth both value and lustre to a golden ring so do these vertues of justice and mercy well attempered bring a rich addition of glory to the crowns of the greatest Monarchs Hoc reges habent magnificum ingens prodesse miseris supplices fido lare protegere c. Every man is bound by the Law of God and of charity as to give to every other man his due honour so to preserve the honour that belongeth to his own person and place for charity in performing the duties of every Commandment beginneth at home Now here is a fair and honest and sure way for all you that are in place of authority and judicature or sustain the persons of Magistrates to hold up the reputation both of your persons and places and to preserve them from scorn and contempt Execute judgement and justice with wisdom and diligence take knowledge of the vexations of those that are brought into the Courts or otherwise troubled without cause be sensible of the grones and pressures of poor men in the day of their adversity protect the innocent from such as are too mighty or too crafty for him hew in pieces the snares and break the jaws of the cunning and cruel oppressour and deliver those that are drawn either to death or undoing 24. The course is preposterous and vain which some men ambitious of honour and reputation take to get themselves put
into the place of magistracy and authority having neither head nor heart for it I mean when they have neither knowledge and experience in any measure of competency to understand what belongeth to such places not yet any care or purpose at all to do God their King and Countrey good service therein The wise son of Sirac checketh such ambitious spirits for their unseasonable forwardness that way Sirac 4. Seek not of the Lord preeminence neither of the King the seat of honour Think not he hath any meaning to disswade or dis-hearten men of quality and parts for medling with such employments for then the service should be neglected No men that are gifted for it although the service cannot be attended without some both trouble and charge yet should not for the avoiding either of charge or trouble indeed they cannot without sin seek either to keep themselves out of the Commission or to get themselves off again being on His meaning clearly is only to repress the ambition of those that look after the Title because they think it would be some glory to them but are not able for want either of skil or spirit or through sloth not willing to perform the duties And so he declareth himself a little after there Seek not to be a Iudge being not able to take away iniquity lest at any time thou fear the person of the mighty and lay a stumbling block in the way of thy uprightness 25. Did honour indeed consist which is the ambitious mans errour either only or chiefly in the empty Title we might well wish him good luck with his honour But since true honour hath a dependance upon vertue being the wages as some or as others have rather chosen to call it the shadow of it it is a very vanity to expect the one without some care had of the other Would any man not forsaken of his sences look for a shadow where there is no solid body to cast it or not of his reason demand wages where he hath done no service Yet such is the perversness of our corrupt nature through sloth and self-love that what God would have goe together the Honour and the Burden we would willingly put asunder Every man almost would draw to himself as much of the Honour as he can if it be a matter of credit or gain then Why should not I be respected in my place as well as another But yet withall would every man almost put off from himself as much of the burden as he can if it be a matter of business and trouble then Why may not another man do it as well as I Like lazy servants so are we that love to be before-hand with their wages and behind-hand with their work 26. The truth is there is an Outward and theâ—e is an Inward honour The outward honour belongeth immediately to the Place and the place casteth it upon the Person so that whatsoever person holdeth the place it is meet he should have the honour due to the place whether he deserve it or not But the Inward honour pitcheth immediately upon the Person and but reflecteth upon the Place and that honour will never be had without desert What the Apostle said of the ministery is in some sence also true of the Magistracy they that labour faithfully in either are worthy of double honour Labour or labour not there is a single honour due to them and yet not so much to them as to their places and callings but yet to them too for the places sake and we are injust if we withhold it from them though they should be most unworthy of it But the double Honour that inward Honour of the heart to accompany the outward will not be had where there is not worth and industry in some tolerable measure to deserve it The knee-worship and the cap-worship and the lip-worship they may have that are in worshipful places and callings though they do little good in them But the Heart-worship they shall never have unless they be ready to do justice and to shew mercy and be diligent and faithful in their Callings 27. Another fruit and effect of this duty where it is honestly performed are the hearty prayers and blessings of the poor as on the contrary their bitter curses and imprecations where it is slighted or neglected We need not look far to finde the truth hereof asserted in both the branches we have Text for it in this very chapter ver 24-26 He that saith unto the wicked Thou art righteous him shall the people curse nations shall abhor him But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer As he that withholdeth corn in the time of dearth having his garners full pulleth upon himself deservedly the curses of the poor but they will powr out blessings abundantly upon the head of him that in compassion to them will let them have it for their mony Prov. 11. So he that by his place having power and means to succour those that are distressed and to free them from wrongs and oppressions will seasonably put forth himself and his power to do them right shall have many a blessing from their mouths and many a good wish from their hearts but many more bitter curses both from the mouth and heart by how much men are more sensible of discourtesies then of benefits and readier to curse then to bless if they finde themselves neglected And the blessings and cursings of the poor are things not to be wholy dis-regarded Indeed the curse causeless shall not come neither is the Magistrate to regard the curses of bad people so far as either to be deterred thereby from punishing them according to their desert or to think he shall fare ever the worse doing but his duty for such curses For such words are but wind and as Solomon saith elsewhere He that observeth the wind shall not sow so he that regardeth the speeches of vain persons shall never do his duty as he ought to do In such cases that of David must be their meditation and comfort Though they curse yet bless thou And as there is little terrour in the causeless curses so there is as little comfort in the causeless blessings of vain evil men But yet where there is cause given although he cannot be excused from sin that curseth for we ought to bless and to pray for not to curse even those that wrong us and persecute us yet vae homini withall woe to the man from whom the provocation cometh Such curses as they proceed from the bitterness of the soul of the grieved person in the mean time so they will be in the end bitterness to the soul of him that gave cause of grievance And if there were not on the other side some comfort in the deserved blessings of the poor it had been no wisdom for
Iob to comfort himself with it as we see he did in the day of his great distress The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy Job 29. 28. But say these poor ones should be so charitable as very seldom they be as not to curse us when we have despised them or so unthankful as seldom they are otherwise as not to bless us when we have relieved them yet the Lord who hath given every man a charge concerning his brother and committed the distresses of the poor to our care and trust will take district knowledge how we deal with them and unpartially recompense us thereafter Doth not he consider and shalt not he render to every man according to his works the last words of the Text. If therefore you have done your duty faithfully let it never discourage you that unrighteous and unthankful men forget it They do but their kinde the comfort is that yet God will both remember it and requite it God is not unrighteous to forget your work labour of love saith the Apostle Heb. 5. He will remember it you see And then saith David Psal. 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble He will requite it too He that for Gods sake helpeth his poor brother to right that suffereth wrong he doth therein at once first an act of mercy because it is done in the behalf of a distressed man and an act secondly of justice because it is done in a righteous cause and thirdly being done for the Lords sake an act of Religion also Pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction Iames 1. And is it possible that God who delighteth in the exercise of every one of them singly should suffer an act to pass unrewarded wherein there is a happy concurrence of three such excellent vertues together as are Iustice Mercy and Religion The Prophet Ieremy to reprove Iehoâ—achins tyranny and oppression upbraideth him with his good father Iosiah's care and conscience to do justice and to shew mercy after this manner Did not thy father eat and drink and do judgement and justice and then it was well with him He judged the cause of the poor and needy then it was well with him was not this to know me saith the Lord But now on the contrary He shall have judgement without mercy that sheweth no mercy He that stoppeth his ears against the cry of the poor he shall also cry himself but shall noâ— be heard c. Many other like passages there are in the Scriptures to the same effect 29. Nay moreover the general neglect of this duty pulleth down the wrath of God not only upon those particular persons that neglect it but also upon the whole nation where it is in such general sort neglected O house of David thus saith the Lord execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressour lest my fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Ier. 21. Brethren we of this nation have cause to look to it in time against whom the Lord hath of late manifested his just wrath though tempered as we must all confess with much clemency yea and his hand is stretched out against us still in the heavie plagues both of dearth and death Though the land be full of all manner of sin and lewdness and so the Lord might have a controversy with us for any of them yet I am verily perswaded there are no other kinds of sins that have overspread the face of the whole land with such an universal contagion as it were of a Leprosie as the sins of Riot and Oppression have done Which two sins are not only the provoking causes as any kind of sinnes may be in regard of the justice of God but also the sensible instrumental causes in the eye of reason and experience of much penury and mortality among us 30. Surely then as to quench the fire we use to withdraw the fewel so to turn away the heavie wrath of God from us we should all put to our helping hands each in his place and calling but especially the Minister and the Magistrate the one to cry down the other to beat down as all sins in general so especially these of Ryot and Oppression Never think it will be well with us or that it will be much better with us then now it is or that it will not be rather every day much worse with us then it is never look that disorders in the Church distempers in the State distractions in our judgments diseases in our bodies should be remedied or removed and not rather more and more encreased if we hold on as we doe in pampering every man his own flesh and despising every man his poor brother So long as we think no pleasures too much for our selves no pressures too heavy for our brethren stretch our selves along and at ease upon our couches eat of the fat and drink of the sweet without any touch of compassion in our bowels for the afflictions of others we can expect no other but that the rod of God should abide upon us either in dearths or pestilences or if they be removed for God loveth sometimes to shift his rods in greater and heavier judgments in some other kinde 31. But as to the particular of Oppression for that of Ryot and Intemperance being beside the Text I shall no farther press my humble request to those that are in place of authority and all others that have any office or attendance about the Courts is this For the love of God and of your selves and your Country Be not so indulgent to your own appetites and affections either of Ease as to reject the complaints or of Partiality as to despise the persons or of filthy lucre as to betray the cause of the fatherlesse and friendlesse Suffer not when his cause is good a simple man to be circumvented by the wilinesse or a mean man to be overpowred by the greatnesse of a crafty or mighty adversary Favour not a known Sycophant nor open your lips to speak in a cause to pervert judgment or to procure favour for a mischievous person Turn not judgment into wormwod by making him that meant no hurt an offender for a word Wrangle not in the behalf of a contentious person to the prejudice of those that desire to live quiet in the land Devise not dilatory shifts to tug men on along in a tedious course of Law to their great charge and vexation but ripen their causes with all seasonable expedition for a speedy hearing In a word doe what lieth in your power to the utmost for the curbing of Sycophants and oppressours and the