which is from above is full of Mercy therefore that which is Cruel and Merciless is Sensual Worldly and Devillish Mercifulness is an Attribute of God wherein he seems to Glory he makes it his Name whereby he would be known and call'd The Lord proclaimed the Name of the Lord The Lord God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. Here are ten Phrases of like importance And as for his Justice it is onely added in short that he will by no means clear the guilty What Comparison can there be in Infinites And yet the Psalmist exalting the Merciful nature of God tells us that his Mercies are over all his Works and else where his Mercies are far above the Heavens Angels and Good Men are commended for this The Angels watch for the good and safety of the Elect and bear them up in their hands Good men are Merciful they Give they Lend they Pity they Help and Heal they do Good to Enemies they Forgive and Pray that God would do so too Lord lay not this sin to their charge On the other hand the nature of the Devil is cruel murderous He was a Murderer from the beginning and his eldest Son Cain imitated him exactly for Envy and Murder There is a great deal of cruelty in taking away the life of a man unjustly in extream corrections that do not reach the life yea in the execution of a just sentence of death or punishment there may be much cruelty in the Executioner or Spectators according to that true saying of the Moralist Ferus est qui fruitur paena In many other things there is much cruelty There are not onely bloody Souldiers cruel Gladiators and Assassinates but cruel Masters to Servants both in imposing of work and withholding of maintenance Cruel Landlords that squeeze and grind their poor Tenants Cruel Patrons that consume what their Clients have in procuring for them what they want Cruel Physicians and Chirurgions who maintain Diseases and prolong Sores who take pleasure in the pain and find their own health in the sickness of their Patients Cruel Magistrates who govern their People with Scorpions instead of Scepters Cruel Ministers that either starve or poyson the Souls of men Nay there are Cruel Friends I expect it will be asked How that can be For ought I see the greatest cruelties are practised under the notion of friendship The oppressing Usurer would have you think he befriends you when he consumes you that he supports you when he supplants you that he heals your disease when he encreases it that he secures you when indeed he secures your Estate to himself A kindness much like that of him who open'd our Mother Eve her eyes a little at present but spoyl'd her sight for ever after Your oppressing Neighbour would be thought friendly when he gives you the bitter pill of a dear bargain sugar'd with six months time for Payment This kind of Friendship is just like Hercules his dealing with Anteus in the story you would have thought he had been lovingly hugging and embracing the Giant in his arms when he was indeed choaking and strangling him They that have no compassion on the miserable whether they be poor or sick or sinful much more they that trample upon those whom God hath cast down scorn them whom men have harm'd and take away the garment of the naked from him as Eliphaz speaketh are nothing of kin to God nor God to them nor shall ever be owned for his children till Ostriches are found hatcht under the wings of Storks The Cruel Worldly Wisdom is that which is cunning to invent torments Many Heathenish Tyrants of old have been famous for this hellish ingenuity And the Modern Papists have endeavoured to match them as may appear to any that reads the story of the Persecutions in Picdmont written by the ingenious and faithful Historian Sir Samuel Morland and by the History of the Irish Rebellion The Holy History furnishes us with Examples of many whom the Devil the great Proloctonus has inspir'd with Cruel Wisdom Thus Cruelly wise was Achitophel aginst the life of good King David and Haman and his Accomplices against the Jews What an hellish Device was that to cut off such a mighty Nation Man Woman and Child by the edge of the Sword and all for a little Unmartialness found in one Male-content Melancholist amongst them The offering up of poor children to Molech was cruel and unmerciful But the Wisdom of this cruelty appear'd in the loud beating of Drums and other noises made on purpose to secure their ears from any complaints that might affect them and baracado up their hearts against all compassion To burn the children was cruelty to drown their cry was cruel wisdom And do we not every day see what devices and shifts unmerciful men use that they may not shew Mercy and to prevent all occasions or temptations so to do stopping their ears shutting their doors getting out of the way pretending not to be at home or not at leisure when the poor would beg or borrow ought of them The Comedian Plautus has well describ'd this churlish uncharitable wisdom in the person of Euclio and the wise Solomon in his Prov. 3. 28. Go and come again to morrow Lord let me be rather accounted a pooor shiftless fool than either be wise to do evil or not to do good MEDITAT LXXXXIX Of Unfruitful Wisdom THe Heavenly Wisdom is full of good fruits the unfruitful then must needs be earthly and worldly Concerning Unfruitfulness I have in part prevented my self in my Meditation of Idleness But yet there are several things to be considered further To do ill and to do nothing are both kinds of Idleness And though it may not look like good Grammer I am sure it is good Divinity that to be wise to do nothing is to be wise to do evil Eliphaz indeed in Job says that he that is wise may may be profitable to himself and sure he ought to be profitable to others also Whatever gifts the good Spirit of God sheds forth upon men are given them to profit with saith the Apostle The most precious mettals profit nothing Nisi temperato splendeant usu and elsewhere Celata virtus paulum distat inertiae A fool holding his tongue they say may pass for a wise man But sure I am that a wise man holding his tongue differs little from a fool Is there not a wise man amongst you The Apostle implyes that it becomes wise men to be active to do good to compose differences Oh but our wise men account it a piece of their wisdom not to put their fingers into the fire as they call it when there is no need It is very true but if there be never so much need it is all one with many of these wise men For my part I beleive it will be an hard thing to find any place of
and limited Notion but as being the Universal Goodness Truth Life and Love and may view my self not as any thing distinct from thee but in thee That I may sink into nothing and be swallow'd up in thee the infinite Abyss of all Perfection Amen MEDITAT LXXIV Of Pride in Worldly Interest and a Party NEar of Kin to Pride in Power and Preferment is that carnal disposition of seeking ones Worldly Interest and Grandeur and preferring a Party or the advancement of it before the propagation of the Gospel and the advancement of true Godliness in the World Some men have so espous'd a Party and are so addicted to a way that nothing must stand before it All that they can wrap and wring is little enough to sacrifice to this Bell This must be carried on let Peace or Purity stand or fall let the Gospel it self sink or swim The Faith delivered to the Saints does challenge indeed our Zeal and we are required to contend earnestly for it But for the Pharisees to contend so vehemently for the Tradition of the Fathers which were not contained in the Law was a mad and carnal Zeal Notorious Hypocrisie especially when in the mean time they neglected the weighty matters of the Law To prefer the advancement of a Party or a worldly Interest which God hath not consecrated before Peace Order Unity before the propagation of the Gospel the advancement of true Godliness and the salvation of Mens Souls is to be a predominant Lover of the World To say I am of Paul and I am of Apollos in contradistinction from Christ is carnal says Paul himself And he was a very competent Judge for he himself whilst unconverted was unreasonably and fiercely devoted to a party But behold the vast difference between Carnal Saul and Regenerate Paul compare Act. 22. 3 4 5. with Phil. 1. 15 16 17 18. But who may be thought to be guilty of this foul fault And what is it to be proud of Worldly Interest I answer To be so addicted to an Interest or Party as to prefer the prosecution of it before the exercise of Justice Charity or Mercy to violate any mans right to establish our own party To prefer it before rhe exetcise of Charity To think that every man must needs be bann'd excommunicated forbidden that follows not our way This Christ condemns in as plain words as if he should say Let them preach the Gospel Let them cast out Devils I will not judge them I will not forbid them though they do not follow me The Apostle Paul cry'd let them Preach in Gods name though they do not say we are of Paul Phil. 1. 18 and I suppose Cephas was of the same mind To prefer it before Mercy what must all the World rather go to wrack than our own Diana shall be spoken against Must every man be stretcht longer or cut shorter that will not exactly fit our bed Must they be accounted not worthy to live that do not live just as we do If God will have Mercy rather than Sacrifice then sure rather than Ceremonies that are not of his appointing It was fit indeed that the interest of Egypt should be maintain'd but it was not fit that the Israelitish Children should be drown'd to keep it from sinking To be so addicted to an interest as to use and encourage undue Instruments in the prosecution of it to make Priests of the lowest of the People to strengthen the Party with Jâ—roboam to make unlawful Matches or Leagues to strengthen a Kingdom with Asa the King of Judah and Jehoshaphat his Son both sharply reproved for it by Hanani and Jehu the Father and the Son 2 Chron. 16. 7. and 19. 2. To make Laws on purpose to make men Offenders One Party by an Ordinance exclude all from their Imployment that will do thus or thus Another succeeding Exclude all that will not Good God! It is not Divine Truth and Charity but Humane Interest that governs the World When shall we leave off judging one another and judge this rather that no man put a stumbling Block in his Brothers way It seems to be a bold thing for any Party of men to make the Terms of Communion straiter than Christ Jesus made them Must all the Children be cast out of the Family that are not of the same shape and stature Shall the Mother refuse to Nurse the Child that does not exactly resemble her If it resemble the Father it is a sufficient argument of its being Legitimate may those are accounted more Legitimate than the other It is no good Maxim in Divinity Partus sequitur ventrem To admit of Sin for Political Ends as either to oppress and impoverish a People to keep them peaceable as the King of Egypt did or to hood-wink the People and keep them in ignorance that they may the more absolutely depend upon the judgment of their dogmaâ—â—cal Guides as that Church does that is spiritually called Egypt Such a kind of Carnal Wisdom is it to tolerate Profaneness to prevent Faction to pull down Pulpits for fear of Sedition or Schools for fear of Controversies Who can sufficiently lay to heart the miseries and mischiefs which Self interest hath brought upon the World How many Lives have been sacrific'd to the interest of a Triple Crown It was said once Quantum lucri attulit ista fabula Christi Nay but Quantas strages caedes ista fabula Papae In short He that forbids a man to cast out Devils meerly because he is not of his Party and follows not him prefers the Devil before God and if that be not Idolatry then I think there is none in Mat. 4. 9. Fall down and worship me One would think an hearty Enemy to Satans Kingdom such as Christ Jesus was should almost do or suffer any thing in order to the subversion of that Kingdom the dispossession of unclean Spirits I mean the conversion and salvation of precious Souls Do I look upon it as an unworthy act in Jonah to to prefer his own Reputation and the credit of his own Prophesie before the Repentance of the Ninevites And shall I dare to prefer my own Interest or the Credit of my own Party or Opinion before the Salvation of Souls Do I look upon it as a carnal part in Jeshua to prefer the interest of his Master Moses before the Edification of the Lord's Congregation and shall I dare to prefer the interest of any though they sit in Moses's Chair before the good of Souls Good Lord grant that I may have no interest but the interest of Truth Righteousness Peace Purity Oh how infinitely more worthy to be advanc'd is the interest of Christ than our own sorry name Lord come and take up the highest room and place in my heart that I may prefer the glory of thy Name the exercise of Grace the advancement of Truth the propagation of the Gospel the welfare of Souls before mâ— chiefest Joys my dearest Interests And oh that
or merely for the Sensual pleasure of overcoming all this is carnal It is contentious wisdom when men are cunning and active to beget and promote differences in the World It is strange but true that some men love divisions in the World for divisions sake after the example of the Devil though many do it out of pride or covetousness The Serpent was cunning to sow discord between God and Man and they are of a Serpentine breed that are ingenious and studious to make dissention There are several instances of this contentious wisdom The choosing of a fit season is one instance as the inimicus homo that came by night Mat. 13. 25. While men slept the Enemy came and sowedtares The observing of the temper of men and falling in whith them when they are angry or discontent as the Counsellors of Ahashuerus did when they perceived him to have taken an offence against the Queen Or observing the condition of men as being opprest to put them upon Sedition or Tumult after the example of Jeroboam Or aggravating Injuries and Faults What put up this Affront this Wrong this Injury this Loss Mort te satius est They that hang Peace and Union upon unnecessary and impracticable terms are contentious though they make never so many Pretensions to hide the matter To prefer Contention before Peace Division before Union though by that division we might serve a worldly Interest of our own is worldly It is to trouble the Waters that we may fish in them I mean get money or strengthen our Parties How dear ought Peace and Union to be to all good Men Are not Dissentions devilish The Devil himself has his Name Sathan from being an Adversary Are they not beastly For the Beasts meerly for Appetite sake fall out with and worry one another Be sure contentious Men are the worst and the most lustful sort of Men Whence come wars and fightings from amongst you but from your lusts c. Jam. 4. 1. Wilt thou O my Soul imitate Devils or Beasts or the worst of Men God forbid O blessed God infinite Wisdom How peaceable are all thy wise Counsels to reconcile men to thy self and to one another Thy Laws serve to this end Thou hast created a beautiful harmony in the whole World yeâ— the very contending parts thereof make for the union oâ— the whole Thou hast joined Peace on earth with glory to thy self in the Highest Thou hast promised the greatest blessings to Peace-makers Oh inspire me and all men with that Divine Spirit of Love that peaceable Wisdom which comes from above and conducts the Souls of men thither from whence it and they proceeded even to blessed Self MEDITAT LXXXVII Of Implacableness and implacable Wisdom AN implacable spirit is a Worldly spirit The onely holy Implacableness is never to be reconciled to sin to hate it with a perfect hatred The Nature of God can never be reconcil'd to Sin till Light and Darkness be reconcil'd But God is easily reconcil'd to the penitent Sinner and so ought we Good men are very placable as appears in the Examples of Joseph towards his Brethren of David towards Abigail and Shimei and many more For they remember what is charg'd upon them If thy Brother sin against thee seven times a day and so oft repent thou shalt forgive him I suppose also they think and argue with themselves What are the Injuries done to me in comparison of the Offences that I commit against God And have not I much more reason to forgive than to expect Forgiveness It is not Implacableness to suspend trust and confidence towards a person that has Notoriously deceiv'd though he profess Repentance till we have had good experience of his faithfulness but when we have good proof we ought to restore him into the same place in our hearts that ever he had It is implacableness when men will not forgive and forget that is not to remember as to retaliate or upbraid or so much as to bear a grudge Especially if satisfaction be offer'd or repentance profest yea though neither be yet we ought to be easy to forgive and of a readiness to be reconcil'd when ever terms are offered Yea though no terms of reconciliation be offer'd no satisfaction made no repentance profest we ought on our part to lay down all enmity to be free from all hatred towards our brother Hatred says the excellent Dr. Moor lies cross in the heart of a good man If thy brother repent forgive him True but that does not imply that if he do not repent we should not forgive him We ought after the Example of God to seek reconciliation and propound terms of reconciliation though we be the party offended and to seek to bring an offending brother to repentance not so much in order to our forgiving him as because it is a saving a Soul from Hell because it is for his good to repent For vengeance is not ours the Sun should not go down upon our wrath Anger may pass through the mind of a wise man but it resteth and lodgeth onely in the bosom of fools Some are so implacable that no tract of time shall wear out their resentments no submission can allay no gifts remove no intercession asswage them but they demise their hatred unto heirs and executors and entail the quarrel upon posterity If these men could alledge an Ordinance of God for this such an one as Israel had to authorize them to an endless war against Amalek it would excuse them well but till then it must pass for a work of the flesh and an imitation of the grand hater of mankind The Implacable Wisdom is cunning to conceal its resentments that they shall not be discern'd that in due time it may execute revenge so as not to be avoided It instructs men in many wily methods to contrive ways of revenge to make and take fit opportunities Absalom made as if he took no notice of the injury done his Sister for the space of two full years After that he invites his Brother Amnon to a Feast to make him drunk that he might then quarrel with him and kill him He conceals his anger from his Brother He 〈◊〉 neither good nor bad to Amnon a Hebrew Phrase sâ—gnifying to take no notice of a thing nay I suppose he conceal'd it from his Sister too praying her not to regard it because he was her Brother He makes shew of extraordinary love he invites him especially to the Sheep-shearing All this while his heart gathers mischief to it self and treasures up wrath against the day of the execution of it Blessed God the most graciously-natur'd Being who hast forgiven me an hundred Talents let it not seem grievous in my eyes to remit a fâ—w Pence to my offending Brother Let thy forgiving be my Example to encourage me to forgive and let my apâ—ness to forgive be my Argument to prove that I am forgiven MEDITAT LXXXVIII Of Unmercifulness and Merciless Wisdom THe Wisdom