out judgements What is the greatnesse of Sodom though the mother city compared with the greatnesse of the Lord of Hosts The lands of Alcibiades in the Map of the whole world could not be espied The Nations are as the drop of a bucket as the small dust of the balance Isai 40.15 He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing An nations before him are as nothing and lesse then nothing and vanity Jerusalem was the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth yet how were her gates sunk into the ground Lam. 2.15 her bars broken Sion was so desolate that the Foxes ran upon it Her strength was such before Lam. 5.18 that the inhabitants of the world would never have beleeved that the enemy would have entred Jerusalem Lam. 4.12 Greatnesse of sin will shake the foundations of the greatest Cities upon earth If their heads stood among the stars iniquity will bring them down into the dust Even of Babylon the great that Spirituall Sodome shall it be said Rev. 18.2 It is fallen Vrbs aeterna Ammianus Marcellinus call'd Rome the everlasting City but even she shall see the day when the eternity of her name and the immortality of her soul wherewith she is quickned which saith a Learned man is the supremacy of her Prelates above Emperours and Princes shall be taken from her and as Babylon hath left her the inheritance of her name so shall it leave her the inheritance of her destruction In vaine do we build unlesse the Lord lay the first stone or plant unlesse he say Let it grow Blessed is the City whose gates God barreth up with his power and openeth with his mercy Otherwise Sodoms plenty and power cannot secure it's inhabitants It 's said of Tyrus that Her Merchants were Princes and her Traffickers the Honourable men of the earth yet how doth God deride her greatnesse at the time of her overthrow Is this that glorious City Isai 23.7 her own feet shall carry her far off to sojourne The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring to contempt all the honourable of the earth Sodome Babylon Jerusalem Constantinople c. have felt the weight of Gods power and their own impieties God once ask'd Nah. 3.10 Niniveh whether she was greater then No Let me ask London whether she be greater then those cities which for sin God hath made small yea brought to nothing He who in former great plagues hath made grasse to grow in the streets of London for want of passengers is able again to stretch out upon it the line of consusion the stones of emptinesse Isai 34.11 and to turn the glory of our dwellings into plowed fields The fear of God is the strongest refuge and righteousness a stronger bulwark then walls of brasse Prov. 10.25 How great is the folly of the greatest City to be at the same time sinfull and secure There 's no fortification against no evasion from the Lord. There 's no way to fly from him but by flying to him by making him in Christ our friend by becoming enemies to sin and by reforming 6. Observ 6. Gen. 19.35 Sin brings a curse upon every thing that belongs to man The sin of Sodomites overthrew them their houses their cities their children yea their plaine and all that grew upon the earth The curse of Thorns and Bryers grew out of the soyle of sin The punishment of Amalek reached even the Infant and Suckling yea the Ox and Sheep the Camel and Asse 1 Sam. 15.3 That which was made and bestowed for mans comfort may justly be destroyed for mans wickednesse Who wonders to see the children the followers the palaces and gardens of a Traytor to droop and decay and the armes of his house and the Badge of his Nobility to be defac'd and revers'd That which is abused by man to the dishâ—or of God may justly be destroyed by God to the detriment of man How deservedly may God demolish and dismantle those fortifications and break in pieces those engines in and by which rebellious man fights against his Supreme Lord and Soveraign How profitably may we improve all the miseries which we behold disperst upon the whole creation How fruitfull a Meditation may we raise from the barrennesse of the earth Psal 107.34 A fruitfull land turneth he into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein All the Monnuments of ruine the demolish'd Monasteries and overthrown Abbies and subverted Cels of Sodomiticall and lazy Fryers full fed and unclean inhabitants are but the scratches that sin hath made upon the fair faces of Nations Oh that England would look with Scripture spectacles upon all its fired Towns and razed mansions and say and beleeve If sin had not been these had not lien here Vestigia peccati and that these demolitions are but the foot-prints of sin that so having found out sin we may voice it and deal with it as the Philistins did with Samson Judg. 16.24 Who said they was the destroyer of their country Certainly that which wants reason is by God ruin'd that we who have reason may thereby be reformed We should say in the destruction of the creatures as David in the death of his subjects I and my Fathers house have sinned These sheep what have they done and we should look upon Gods taking away of abused comforts as stoppages in our way of sin and the withdrawings of the fuel of lust God as it were firing our ships and breaking down our bridges lest by these we should depart from him 7. Observ 7. Great is the difference between Gods chastising of his people and his punishing of Sodomites The universality of Sodoms ruine followed the community of its sin The Church of God is never destroyed utterly but in it he alwayes leaves a number Except the Lord had left us a seed saith Paul we should have been as Sodom Rom. 9.29 and like unto Gomorrha Though an housholder spend and sel the greatest part of the corn of the Harvest Crop yet he will be sure to reserve a little seed corn to sow his ground for a new corp Though Sodom be utterly consumed by fire yet Jerusalem is as a brand pluck'd out of the fire God makes a light account of whole cities full of sinners Psal 119.119 he takes away the ungodly of the earth like drosse which is put into the fire to be consum'd his own people being like gold only put in to be purged A man when his house is on fire more regards a small box full of Jewels then a great room full of ordinary Lumber God having intimated to his people Hos 11.6 that they deserved to be made as Admah and Zeboim the two Cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrha he subjoyns ver 9. I will not returne to destroy Ephraim Vid. Rivetum in loc by not returning to destroy
p. 288. l. 24. r. School-men p. 305. marg dele Josh 62.9 p. 339. marg r. solatia p. 388. marg r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frangere p. 409. l. 34. r. distempered p. 449. l. 27. r. substances p. 460. for any one is r. men are p. 363. l. 31. for and r. or p. 464. l. 21. r. by p. 465. marg r. Enchir. p. 472. l. 36. r. put p. 494. l. 19. r. alwayes continuing p. 504. marg r. comparativus l. 31. r. heaven l. 35. for in heaven r. there p. 512. marg r. severitas p. 574 Obser 5. r. hellishly p. 579. l. 23. r. Domoeritus l. 26. r. in minde blinde p. 585. marg r. Josh ibid. r. perpetuo p. 623. l. 1. for jurisdictionem r. in jurisdiction READER be pleased to take notice that there is now published the second third and fourth Part of that most learned and judicious Treatise of the SABBATH by M. DANIEL CAWDREY and M. HERBERT PALMER Also a Treatise of GRACE and ASSURANCE intituled SPIRITUALL REFININGS being one hundred and twenty Sermons by M. ANTHONY BURGESSE An EXPOSITION upon the Epistle of JUDE I Begin with the first part of the Epistle the Title of or Entrance into it contained in the two first Verses which are these VER 1. Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus and called VER 2. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplyed This Title containeth three principall parts 1. The Person who wrote the Epistle 2. The Persons to whom he wrote it 3. The Prayer wherein the person writing salutes the persons to whom he wrote 1 The person who wrote this Epistle is described these three wayes 1 From his name Jude 2 From his office A servant of Jesus Christ 3 From his Alliance the brother of James 1 The description of the Pen-man of this Epistle from his name Jude In the consideration whereof I shall proceed by way 1 of Exposition 2 of Observation 1 The name of the Authour of the Epistle considered by way of Exposition wherein two things are to be opened 1 The signification of the name Judas or Jude 2 The subject of that name or who the person was to whom it is here applyed 1 For the signification of it It s found fully express'd Gen. Gen. 29.35 29.35 The occasion of the first imposing it was Leah's apprehension of Gods goodnesse to her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in giving her a fourth son whom therfore she call'd Judah signifying Praise Confession or Celebration She made his name a monument of her thankfulnesse to God for him as also of her sons duty to live to the praise of so good a God a fruitful Wife to Jacob in children and a fruitful Daughter to God in thankfulnesse In qua nominis impositione non dubito quin eam direxerit Spiritus sanctus cùm Judah fuerit is qui inter Jacobi filios pater futuri Messiae constitutus erat Riv. in loc Joh. 3.16 The learned Rivet well observes that in imposing this name she was directed by the spirit of God this Judah being that son of Jacob of whom Christ according to the flesh was to come for whom God is principally to be praised he being the choysest gift that ever God bestowed he turning every gift into a mercy Onely those who have him and bear him can praise God to others God gives nothing comparatively and they return nothing God shews only how rich he is in giving his Son So God loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son 2 The subject of this name is to be considered to which it 's here applyed It 's applyed in Scripture to a threefold subject 1 To a Tribe Frequent mention is made of the tribe of Judah 1 King 12.20 Psal 76.8 c. 2 To a Country or Region 2 Chron. 20.3 Jer. 2.4 and 17.25 3 and properly To Persons and so in Scripture we read of six several persons that had this name 1 Judah the Patriarch Gen. 29.35 2 Judah in whose house Saul lodg'd at his first conversion Act. 9.11 3 Judas surnamed Barsabas Act. 15.22 4 Judas of Galile A seditious person Act. 5.37 5 Judas Iscariot the traytor Mat. 10.4 Joh. 14.22 6 Judas the Apostle the Author of this Epistle Concerning whom the Scripture intimates besides his Apostolicall office and relation to Iames of which anon 1 His Parentage his Father being Alphaeus spoken of Matth. 10.4 and Mark 3.18 and his Mother held to be that Mary spoken of Matth. 27.56 in regard that this Alphaeus and Mary are said to be the parents of Iames to which James in Luk. 6.16 Act. 1.13 and here in this Epistle this Judas is said to be brother In sacra dodccada fuerunt duo qui nomen Judae gessêre unus fuit sectator alter insectator Aug. Tr. 76. in Joh. Unus nomini suo convenienter se gessit Judas enim Confesso rem significat alter per anti prasin nomen istud à se gori ipsis operibus demonstravit Gerh. Har. in loc Joh. 14.22 2 The Scripture expresseth a manifest distinction between him and Judas Iscariot Joh. 14.22 calling him Judas not Iscariot taking especiall care that he might not be taken for him their hearts and persons being as different as their names agreeable for one was sectator the other insectator Domini the one following Christ as a Disciple the other as a Blood-hound one confess'd him the other betray'd him the one carryed himself according to his name the other was a meer living contradiction to his name When the Evangelist saith Judas not Iscariot he intended a difference 'twixt him and this holy Jude 3 The Scripture expresseth an humble Question propounded by him to Christ Lord How is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not unto the world Concerning which Question although I meet with different opinions yet I see not why with Musculus we may not conceive that Jude propounded it out of an humble and modest consideration of himself and the Apostles in partaking of the gracious manifestation of Christ to them there being a passing by of others more famous and better accomplish'd then were the Disciples A Question which thus understood as it sheweth 1 the freenesse of him that gives so 2 the humility of them that receive grace who in stead of insulting over others that have less then themselves admire the goodnesse of him that gives more to them than to others nay 3 the tender-heartedness and pity of the godly towards the souls of those wicked ones who are commonly cruel and unkinde to their bodies 4. The Scripture expresseth concerning this Apostle that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Act. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judas trinominis had sundry names for he that in Luk. 6.16 is called Iudas the brother of Iames is in Matt. 10.3 called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus concerning the reason
may prove remembrancers of duty Leah and Alphaeus in imposing names on their Children made use of such as might put Parents and Children another day upon holinesse God call'd Abram Abraham to strengthen his faith Hannah gave the name of Samuel to her son 1 Sam. 1.20 because a son of prayers 'T is good to impose such names as expresse our baptismal promise A good name is as a thread tyed about the finger to make us mindfull of the errand we came into the world to do for our Master 4. Obs 4. Ministers especially ought so to carry themselves as that they may not be ashamed to their names that their name prefix'd may be a crown a credit to their Writings that whensoever their names are spoken of the hearer may bless them that their names may be as a sweet perfume to their actions Many Christians names are so odious that what they say or do is blemish'd because it comes from them it had been good if it had been another's He is a dead man among the living that hath a hatefull name It 's a great mercy when our names out-live us it 's a great punishment when we out-live our names They that honour God shall have the spirit of glory rest upon them He that is a Iude a Confessor of Christ shall never want that honour 5. Obs 5. Wee should not do that which we are asham'd or afraid to own or put our names to I deny not but in some cases it may be lawfull to change our names or forbear to mention them either by tongue or pen but then we should not be put upon such straits by the badnesse of our actions as the most are which we are asham'd to own but by the consideration of Gods glory or the Churches good or our own necessary preservation in time of persecution which may be the more advanced by the concealing of our names Thus Bucer in times of trouble for the Gospel call'd himself Aretius Felinus Calvin's Institutions were printed under the name of Alcuinus But these did not conceal themselves for sin but safety nor yet so much for safety as Gods glory I pass from the Name and I proceed to the second thing in the description of the Author of this Epistle and that was his Office A servant of Iesus Christ Of this 1. By way of Explication 2. By way of Observation 1 For Explication Here two Points are to be opened 1. In what respect Jude was the servant of Christ 2. Why he here so stiles himself 1. In what respect Jude was the servant of Christ He was so in four respects Deus est Caussa rebus tam â—ssendi quam siendi Implicat contradictionem ut Deus communicet alicui creaturae nè à se dependeat hoc enim facto communicaret ut non esset creatuâ—a Dau. in Col. 1.17 Servus in Latina linguadictus est à servando quòd hi qui jure belli possent occidi à Victoribus cum servabantur servi fiebant Aug. li. 19. de C.D. c. 15. 1. Of Creation and sustentation as are all creatures Psal 119.91 All are thy servants from the highest Angel to the lowest worm Col. 1.16 17. All things were created by him and for him and by him all things consist The whole world is but his Family altogether at his finding should he shut his hand the house would be famish'd If he withdraw his manu-tenency the world would fall 2. In respect of Redemption from the power of sin and Satan from their condemning and destroying power Heb. 2.15 Rom. 8.1 Luk. 1.74 From their corrupting and defiling power Rom. 6.18 Eph. 6.6 And that this was a redemption deserving to make us servants to the Redeemer appears in that it was not only by Conquest and vindication from our enemies when as the Conqueror might have destroyed us as well as taken us or destroy'd them in which respect according to all usage and equity we ought to be for ever his servants but a redemption also by purchase the Lord JE SUS having paid no less price then his own precious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 1 Cor. 6.20 in which consideration the Apostle strongly argues That wee are not our own but serve for the glorifying of another 3. Isa 49.3 Heb. 3.5 Psal 89.21 Hag. 2.23 This Apostle was the servant of Christ more peculiarly by way of speciall office and function In which respect as Christ himself Moses David Cyrus Zerubbabel c. were called Gods servants so are the Prophets in the Old Jer. 35.15 Amos 3.7 Rom. 1. Phil. 1. Tit. 1. 2 Tim. 2.24 the Apostles and Ministers in the New Testament called servants Although it 's granted the Apostles were servants in a different way from other Ministers both in regard of the manner of their calling which was by immediate mission and appointment from God as also of the extent of their power which was not tyed up or confined to one place Mat. 28.19 Mark 16.15 Matt. 5.13 but granted to them for the planting and governing of Churches in any part of the world In which respect some think they are called the salt of the earth In regard of this function and Office of Apostleship Iude principally calls himself a servant of Christ though not barely and solely in respect of Gods calling him to it but in respect also of his own diligence and faithfulness in endeavouring to discharge his Office to which he was call'd as Peter exhorts 1 Pet. 4.10 and as Paul speaks of himself 1 Cor. 9.16 For Christ keeps no servants only to wear a Livery As he is not a titular Lord so neither are his servants titular servants All their expressions of service reach not the emphasis either of their desires or duty 2 The second thing to be opened is the cause why the Apostle here stileth himself the servant of Christ 1. Some think to shew his humility and modesty in that he who might have us'd the title either of Apostle or Brother of the Lord rather contents himself with this note of duty and service common to every Christian Others better for the confirming and comforting of himself in his work in that his Lord whom he served and who had set him on work would stand by him both in protecting his person and prospering his work Others and those upon cleerest grounds conceive that the Apostle here imbraceth this title of servant in respect of others that his doctrine might with more respect and readinesse be received by those to whom he wrote seeing that he was called to his work and that by such a Master whose service added not more dignity to him then â—t required duty from them This for Explication the Observations follow 1. Obs 1. They who undertake any publick imployment for Christ must receive a calling from him to be his servants if with comfort to themselves or benefit to others they will go about his work Rom. 10.15 Heb. 5.4 5.
upon these clothes are onely thine the garment it self was anothers before it was thine Thou art beholding to mercy for any endowment of minde or body wisdom estate riches honours c. It s hard to be high in place and low in our own esteem Sacrifice not to thine own yarn or net let Mercy have the praise of all thou art and hast Pride is the moth of mercy nay Magnus dives est major divitiis suis qui non ideo magnum sc putat quia dives est Aug. the winde that dryes up the streams both of Gods bounty and thy gratitude That which by mercy was thine by thy pride may become anothers He is truly great in his riches that thinks not himself great by riches The greater our receipts the lesse room for pride the greater cause of thankefulnesse 2. In expecting of blessings only have an eye to mercy Idco Deus meus quia bonorum meorum non in diget Omne bonum nostrum aut ipse est 〈◊〉 ab ipso Aug. de Doc. Ch. l. 5. c. 31. In desires of pardon for sin acceptation of services obtaining of heaven renounce thine own worthinesse either in what thou art or dost How purely unprofitable to God is thy greatest goodnesse it is nothing unto him he is neither the better for thy goodness nor the worse for thy wickedness Is it any benefit to the fountain that thou drinkest of it or to the light that thou seest How full of mixtures of sin are thy holyest services in the sense whereof holy Augustine pray'd Regard O Lord in me not my work but thine own If thou regardest mine thou damnest me if thine own thou crownest me what-ever good I have is from thee and 't is rather thine then mine How full of pride is thy humility thy faith of distrustfulnesse Phil. 3.13 thy zeal of lukewarmnesse of self-seeking thy performances what darknesse is in thy light how unrighteous thy righteousnesse If God should contend with us Job 9.2 3 Qui de perfectione se â—rigit habere se bene vivendi neâ— initium indicat Gr. Mo. l. 9. c. 1. In sola Christi morte te totum contege huic morti te involve si Deus te voluerit judicare dic Do mine mortem Domini mei objicio inter me et te Ans de art Mor. Meritum meum miseratio Domini Bern. Serm. 61. in Cant. Prece post justitiam indiget ut quae succumbere discussa poterat ex sola Judicis pietate convalescat Gr. Mor. l. 9. cap. 14. Etsi ad opus virtutis excrevero ad vitam non ex meritis sed ex venia convalesco Id. Ib. Sordet in districtione Judicis quod in aestimatione fulget operantis Gr. Mor. l. 5. c. 7. James 2.13 2 Tim. 1.16 2 Tim. 4.8 we cannot answer for one of a thousand He that boasteth of the perfection wants the very beginning of holiness That which appears beautifull in thine eyes is foul in Gods The wisest counsell is to cover over thy self and winde up thy soul in Christs death to set that between God and thy soul to acknowledge his mercy thy onely merit Death is a stipend Life is a donative a free gift not a due debt God crowneth with mercy but a swoln head is not fit to have that crown put upon it Who can say he hath cleansed his heart We want a thousand times more grace than we have though sin be cast down in regard of its regency yet it is not cast out in regard of its inherency Thy rectitude compared to thy rule is crookedness 'T is not thy purity but thy pardon that must save thee If there shall be judgment without mercy to those that shewed no mercy then must it be with mercy even to those also which shew mercy It s mercy that must stand Onesiphorus in stead at that day The Crown of righteousnesse Paul speaks of is a crown of mercy too the bestowing it is of justice but the promising it was of mercy 2. Obs 2. The duty of contentation in our greatest wants or smallest receipts If one not engaged to us deny us a courtesie we have no cause of discontentment when God gives it is free mercy when he with-holds he useth his liberty Thy supplyes are without desert and thy wants must be without discontent Wonder not at the blessings thou dost not wonder more at those thou dost enjoy Thy condition is begging and thy part is not choyce Cum aspexeris quot te antecedant cogita quot sequantur Sen. Ep. 15. Repine not if thou canst not reach thy richest neighbour who hast nothing to say against God should the poorest overtake thee Murmur not for what is lost but be thankfull for what is left We must not controll God in the disposing of his alms as if he did not distribute with equality We should bring our hearts to his hand where he stayes his bounty there must we stint our desires 3. I note The impiety and folly of those that abuse mercy that spurn against Gods bowels Obs 3. Sins against mercy are double-dy'd This is the provocation Heb. 3.8 to see Gods works of love and care forty yeers and yet to sin this is to sin against the remedy other sinners may these who thus sin must die These sin at a higher rate than others These in sin cast not off God onely but even the very man Isa 1.3 nay are sham'd by the beasts If to requite good for evill is our duty in reference to man surely to requite evill for good and that to God must needs be impiety This sin renders inexcusable God appeals to the very consciences of mercy-despisers Isa 5.3 4 and offers themselves to judge of the righteousnesse of his proceedings in punishment nay the recollecting of abused mercy will be the most scalding ingredient in that fiery lake when the flaming sufferer remembers he that is now mocking at my calamity once wept over my unkind soul he who is now harder than flint and marble against me was once a tender-hearted God toward me he who now thunders in wrath formerly soundin bowels the way of mercy was once open and plain but now the bridge of mercy is drawn my possibilities are ended I am now in a gulf of woe that heretofore was unprofitably a gulf of mercy How many Kingdoms nay Worlds would I now give for but one drop of that love the sweet and swelling streams whereof I heretofore did but paddle in O Christian sin not against Mercy if that be thine enemy what shall Justice be when Love it self shall be inexorable who shall plead for thee Let mercy make thee blush that justice may not make thee bleed Trifle not away the day of grace The wine of mercy is to refresh the sorrowfull with hope not to intoxicate the sinner into presumption If mercy cannot thaw thee 't will burn thee O let the long-suffering of God be
salvation 4. 2 Pet. 3. Obs 4. Great is the hainousnesse of sin that can provoke a God of much mercy to expresse much severity That drop of gall must needs be bitter that can imbitter a sea of honey How offensive is sin that can provoke a God to whose ocean of pity the sea is but a drop Ephraim saith the Prophet provoked God to anger most bitterly Hos 12.14 or with bitternesses God afflicts not willingly he gives honey naturally but stings not til provoked Every sufferer coyns his own calamities There is no arrow of judgment which falls down upon us but was first in sinning shot upwards by us no showr of miseries that rains down but was caused by the ascent of the vapours of sin no print of calamity upon the earth but sin was the stamp that made it What a folly is it in our sufferings to be impatient against God and to be patient towards sin to be angry with the medicine and in love with the disease Let us justifie God in all our sufferings and condemn our selves God commands that if a man were found dead the City that by measure was found to be neerest to the place where he was found Deut. 21.2 should offer up a sacrifice In all our deaths and woes would we measure impartially we should finde sin neerest let us sacrifice it 5. Obs 5. It should be our care to obtain the best and choycest of mercies God hath mercies of all sorts wicked men are easily put off with the meanest their enquiry is Who will shew them any good But O Christian let nothing please thee but the light of Gods countenance so receive from God as that thou thy self mayst be received to God Desire not gifts but mercies from God not pibbles but pearls Labour for that which God alwayes gives in love There may be angry smiles in Gods face and wrathful gifts in his hand the best worldly gift may be given in anger Luther having a rich present sent him profess'd with a holy boldnesse to God That such things should not serve his turn A favourite of the King of heaven rather desires his favour than his preferment We use to say when we are buying for the body that the best is best cheap and is the worst good enough for the soul The body is a bold beggar and thou givest it much the soul is a modest beggar asketh but little and thou givest it less O desire from God that thy portion may not he in this life Psal 17.14 that what thou hast in the world may be a pledg of better hereafter that these things may not bewitch thee from but admonish thee what is in Christ The ground of Pauls thanks-giving was Ephes 1.3 that God had blessed the Ephesians with spirituall blessings in Christ. 6. Obs 6. How little should any that have this God of mercy for theirs be dismayd with any misery Blessed are those tears which so merciful a hand wipes off happy twigs that are guided by so indulgent a father Psal 25.10 All his severest wayes are mercy and truth to those in covenant if he smiles 't is in mercy if he smites 't is in mercy he wounds not to kill thee but sin in thee the wounds of mercy are betthan the embraces of anger if sicknesse poverty dishonour be in mercy why dost thou shrink at them Wrath in prosperity is dreadfull but Mercy makes adversity comfortable It s the anger of God which is the misery of every misery Peter at the first was not willing that Christ should wash his feet but when he saw Christs mercifull intent therein feet and hands and head are all offered to be wash'd A child of God when he sees the steps of a father should be willing to bear the stripes of a child God will not consume us but onely try us He afflicts not for his pleasure but for our profit Heb. 12.10 Psal 89. God visits with rods yet not with wrath He takes not away his loving-kindnesse Mercy makes the sufferings of Gods people but notions It would do one good to be in troubles and enjoy God in them to be sick and lye in his bosome God gives a thousand mercies to his people in every trouble and for every trouble He burdens us but it is according to our strength the strokes of his flail are proportioned to the hardnesse of the grain Is◠28.27 and merciful shall be the end of all our miseries There 's no wildernesse but shall end in Canaan no water but shall be turn'd into wine no lions carcass but shall be a hive of honey and produce a swarm of mercies The time we spend in labouring that miseries may not come would be spent more profitably in labouring to have them mixt with mercy nay turned into mercies when they come What a life-recalling cordial is the apprehension of this mercy of God to a fainting soul under the pressure of sin Mercy having provided a satisfaction and accepted it nay which is more it beseeching the sinner to beleeve and apply it That fountain of mercy which is in God having now found a conveyance for it self to the soul even Jesus Christ through whom such overflowing streams are derived unto us as are able to drown the mountains of our sins even as easily as the ocean can swallow up a pibble O fainting soul trust in this mercy Psal 33.18 and 147.11 If the Lord takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy should not we take pleasure to hope in it Mercy is the onely thing in the world more large than sin It s easie to presume Exod. 34.7 Psal 77.7 but hard to lay hold upon mercy Oh beg that since there is an infinite fulnesse in the gift and a freenesse in the giver there be a forwardnesse in the receiver 7. Obs 7. It s our duty and dignity to imitate God in shewing mercy Obs 7. 1 Pet. 3.8 Matth. 5.45 Luke 6.36 Col. 3.12 Rom. 12.15 Plus est aliquando compati quà m dare nam qui exteriora largitur rem extra se positam tribuit qui compassionem aliquid sui-ipsius dat Gr. Mor. 20. A grace frequently commanded and encouraged in the Scripture Mercy we want and mercy we must impart As long as our fellow-members are pained we must never be at ease When we suffer not from the enemies of Christ by persecution we must suffer from the friends of Christ by compassion When two strings of an instrument are tuned one to the other if the one be struck upon and stirred the other will move and tremble also The people of God should be so harmonious that if one suffer and be struck the other should be moved and sympathize Jer. 9.1 Luke 19.41 2 Cor. 11.29 Holy men have every been tender-hearted Grace not drying up but diverting the streams of our affections Christ was mercy covered over with flesh and blood his words his works
is not impaired The receiving of grace by one doth no more hinder the receiving thereof by another than one mans seeing of the Sun hindereth another from seeing it also God is a rich Father he giveth though not alike yet sufficient portions to all his children Our elder brother had a double portion he was anointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Psal 45.7 but the oyntment poured upon the head fell down upon every member He who had holinesse for Abraham Moses David Peter will not suffer the least child in his house to be totally destitute They all drank of that rock which flowes toward us If we had but their thirst here 's as much water still as ever there was The people of God should neither envy one another for their fulnesse nor upbraid one another with their emptinesse but admire the wisdome and blesse the bounty of him who giveth to all though differently The whole Company of Saints is like to a well tuned instrument Varii toni in musica the strings whereof though not all of one note but some higher some lower yet all together make a sweet harmony nor can the loudest be without the smallest In what grace one is defective in that let another labour to supply In what one abounds let another labour to imitate and excell but let all adore and delight in him whose are the scatter'd excellencies bestowed upon all the Saints in the world 3. Observ 3. Where God hath begun grace he is not weary of bestowing more Mercy be multiplyed to you sanctified ones To him that hath shall be given Mark 4.25 God loves not to set up a foundation without a wall nor wals without a roofe He perfects what concerns his people and the work of the Lord is perfect Deut. 32.4 Isai 10.12 And he doth his whole work upon Mount Sion How good is God not only to do good because he will do good but because he hath done so to make one grace a kind of obligation upon himselfe to bestow another God herein resembling some magnificent King who when he hath set his love upon a favourite afterward is in love with his own choice of and bounty on him and loves him for these very favours which he hath given him John 15.2 John 1.50 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Greater things saith Christ to Nathaneel thou shalt see He who killeth one lust shall kill another he who is conscionable in one duty shall be enabled to another He who hath the grace of desire shall have grace bestowed on his desire and he who hath grace to do a little shall have grace to do more God is never weary of giving He hath oyle enough for every vessell and still asketh when he hath fill'd all our vessels as that woman in the story Bring me yet a vessell The meditation whereof 2 King 4.6 as it should comfort us against our spirituall deficiencies in regard we know where to have more grace so should it incite us to proceed in holinesse and never to think we have enough or to answer as he did There is not a vessell In the best things there 's no excesse 4. Obser 4. Onely sanctified ones have the blessing of spirituall multiplication As first God gave the word of Creation before he gave the word of Benediction so doth he still spiritually Whosoever hath not Mat. 13.12 from him shal be taken away even what he hath If there be not essentia there cannot be incrementum If no truth no growth of grace Omnis germinatio supponit plantationem A stake that is meerly thrust into the ground having neither root nor life groweth in nothing but in rottennesse and this speaks the misery of one not in Christ and enlivened by the spirit of regeneration nothing doth him good he devoureth fat ordinances but hath a lean soule he is by the showers of every Sermon and Sacrament made meeter for the axe and fitter fuell for hell 5. Obser 5. Our beginning in holinesse is an Engagement upon us to go on Sanctified preserved called ones must multiply grace The beginning in the spirit must be a caution to us that we end not in the flesh If Saints be barren the Trees of Gods Ort-yard where can increase be expected A fruitlesse tree in the field may haply be born with not such an one in the garden They who are planted in the House of God Psal 92.13 14. should flourish in the Courts of our God still bring forth fruit in old age be fat and flourishing It is an unanswerable Dilemma If the wayes of God were bad why did you begin in them if good why did you not proceed They who are holy must be holy still Rev. 22.11 It 's a great disgrace for religion to be disgraced by her children to be forsaken by her followers The dispraise of any by a friend is easily believed by every one especially by an enemy to the dispraised when sanctified ones grow loose and remisse sanctity is stabb'd by the reproaches of others it is but scratched It 's excellent counsel of the Apostle that we lose not the things which we have wrought 2 Ep. John 8. Luke 22.3 As the vigilancy of Satan is to take from sanctified ones so their care must be to keep what they have gotten and to get what they want 6. Observ 6. God affords graces sutable to all the exigences of his people multiplyed grace to those who are in multiplyed difficulties and tentations My grace saith God to Paul is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 When ever God gives a burden he provides a shoulder He never requireth brick from his people without giving them straw He will either multiply grace or diminish the tentation He bids his people up and eat if he sends them a long journey Those Saints of his whom he hath employed in winter seasons he hath ever cloathed with winter garments commonly the best men have lived in the worst times and Gods stars have shined brightest in the darkest ages The faithfull have been more then conquerours in conflicts both with persecuters and seducers Rom. 8.37 And truely grace multiplyed is much better than tentation either asswaged or removed VER 3. Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needfull for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints VVE have finished the first part of this Epistle viz. the Title The second follows the Body and Substance of the whole Epistle wherein the Apostles scope is to incite these Christians to imbrace a seasonable Exhortation to the 24th verse of the Epistle In it there are four principall parts two of them contained in this third verse 1. The Reasons of the Apostles sending this Exhortation to
part with thy dearest comforts for Christ rather then deny him Know nothing to be thine but himself 2. Make a right estimate of the comforts which are to be enjoyed in Christ 1. Account them realities not notions not imaginary though invisible Look upon them as substantiall and indeed John 8.36 2. Account them not as scanty but abundant so large that thou needest not go to other things for additions Look upon Christ only as having enough for thee and able to fill thy vast receptions to the brim 3. View them as sublime precious not as low and vile so excellent that a holy generosity may be kindled in thee and all these dunghill delights accounted unworthy thy stoop 4. Account them usefull and efficacious not idle and unhelping such as want not thee to uphold them but as are able in all distresses to relieve thee and will procure strong and strengthening consolations Heb. 6.18 5. View them as thine not anothers Christ is never good in the souls account till it hath a propriety in him Nor can a soul be contented when it sees a parting from other things unless it considers its propriety in Christ who is far better 6. View them as neer and at hand and alway prepared to relieve the souls exigencies Let faith as a prospective glasse make remote comforts appear hard by 7. Lastly view them as eternal not as finite such as are above the reach of theef and moth and which alone triumph over time and enemies and which shal live and last when all worldly enjoyments are dead and gone Oh who would deny such delights as these for a blast a bubble a nothing what poor nothings of comfort are the sweetest delights which would allure us what poor nothings of misery are the sorest sufferings that would affright us from Christ 3 Labour for an inward reall Implantation and rootednesse in Christ The advice of the Apostle is to be rooted in Christ Col. 2.7 A stake in the ground may easily be pluckt up but a tree rooted in the ground stands immovable They who are in Christ only by way of externall profession may be pull'd from Christ and outward troubles will overcome a meerly visible and outside professor but they who are in Christ by way of reall and internall implantation will keep their standing He who is but a visible Christian may in a short time cease to be so much as visible He who speaks for Christ only notionally will soon be won to speak against him From him who professeth not Christ truly may soon be taken away his very appearances Please not your selves with the form of religion Realities are only durable The colour of blushing is soon down that of complexion remains longer Si ista terrena diligitis ut munera amici ut arrham sponsi diligite 4. Let no wordly comfort be beloved but only so far as it is a pledg of Christs love to thee or an incentive of thine to him Let not Christ content thee with any thing without himself Love not thy enjoyments as gifts but as mercies and love-tokens Look upon every thing out of Christ as a sieve pluck'd out of the water as a coal without fire as a cypher without a figure Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat I would not look toward thee said Elisha to Jehoram and were it not for a taste of the love of Christ in our worldly comforts we should not much regard them Love nothing but as it is a step to raise thee up higher and more toward him onely as a Phylactery and a remembrancer of thy Friend as that which incites to him not as that which bewitcheth from him If Christians would studie thus by and in every comfort to taste Christ they would not for gaining these comforts be willing to part with Christ 5. Take heed of professing Christ for by-ends Serve him not to serve your own turns Make not Religion a design Let every interest be subservient to Christ Be willing to set up a building of glory for him upon your own ruines Learn to perish that the glory of Christ may live Let Christ be sweet for himself Love him for his beauty not his cloathes In serving him let nothing else be your scope and then nothing will divert you aim not at profit so gain will not allure you not at pleasure so ease will not corrupt you not at friends so favour wil not seduce you Let none but Christ be your end 6 Daily increase sweet acquaintance and humble familiarity with Christ Stand not at a stay in taking in his comforts Stint not Communion with him Oh labour to take in hissweetest consolations fresh and fresh every morning If communion with Christ be but a while intermitted the love of the world will soon be admitted When the people were without their wonted converse with Moses they began to think of a golden Idol The soul cannot live without some comfort or other If it finds no sweetnesse in Christ it will look out for it else where and if it tast nothing in his wayes to whet and keep it up it will be ready to go down as the Israelites went down to the Philistims to sharpen their instruments to earthly delights for relief But if Christ be sweet the world will be bitter And if thine eyes have but lookt stedfastly upon his Glory they will not suddenly behold beuty in any thing else VER 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance though yee once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that beleeved not AT This verse the Apostle begins the second Argument whereby he proves it the duty of these Christians Earnestly to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints and now opposed by the seducers of those times The Argument is taken from the certainty of the destruction of those Seducers the Apostle by the zealous prosecution thereof declaring that these Christians must avoid their Doctrines if they would not be involved in their downfall The Apostle in the managing of this Argument doth these three things 1. He gives us severall Examples of Gods severe wrath upon others in former times for sundry heinous sins to the 8th Verse 2. He declares that these Seducers lived in the same sins which God had formerly punish'd in others to the 11th verse 3. He concludes that they practising the same impieties shall partake of the same plagues with those who were before them to the 17th verse For the first of these the Apostle propounds three Examples of Gods most severe displeasure against the sinners of former times The first is of the Israelites who were destroyed in the wildernesse The second of the wicked Angels who are reserved in everlasting chains under darknesse The third of the Sodomites who suffer the vengeance of everlasting fire The Apostle with admirable wisdom making choice of these Examples to prevent
God in future distresses if they had not been in them before Israel might have gathered strength against their distresse at the red sea by considering Gods delivering them from the distresse of oppression Their faith should also have been upheld against straits in the wildernesse by remembring their deliverance at the red sea And their distrustfulnesse after deliverances from their distresses is oft recorded as their sin The graces also of Gods Israel are much manifested by encountring with and overcoming of distresses Their graces hereby are discovered both in their truth and their strength Weak grace cannot go through strong tentation but the distresses of an Abraham a David a Job a Paul prove in the end trophees of triumphant faith And all the power of grace doth but discover the power of God who delights not that his saints should be distressed but that the world and divell should be vanquished by poor beleevers and ultimately that himselfe should be glorifyed by all In stead of murmuring under lesser tryalls consider that these are nothing to the distresses of your betters Remember Christians that if your drink be water or wormwood some have drunke blood Prepare for distresses Christians pray for increase of faith the journey may belong desire God to help you to feed heartily upon the promises even again and again as God bids Elijah when he was to go to Horeb. By bearing lighter labour to grow fit for heavier pressures A delicate Christian will not endure to be a distressed Christian He who by the daily practice of selfe-denyall and mortification doth not displease himselfe will never endure that another should distresse him How fearfull further should we be of censuring the most distressed Abrahams distresse Davids strait Pauls viper proved them neither wicked nor forsaken Oh how much better is it to be a distressed Saint than an enlarged sinner to be in Gods pound than in Satans champain If the one condition hath more liberty the other hath more safety Where God loves there he corrects and where he loves most there he distresses To conclude this In distresse take heed of despondency Recollect former deliverances out of as great distresses When you meet with such a strait 2 Cor. 1.10 pinching Egyptian yoke which God cannot break with burdens which he cannot take down with a red sea which hee cannot divide when you are pursued by a Pharaoh which he cannot devour and are in a distresse which he cannot remove then and not till then distrust him Improve your interest in God 1 Sam. 30.6 and with David in distresse encourage your selves in your God 7. Gods Israel shall not be utterly destroyed Observ 7. Exod. 1.12 though it be in an Egyptian furnace of Affliction The Church is supported even when oppressed When Israel was afflicted they multiplyed Thus it was with the seed of Israel yea thus with the Saviour thereof After his death his name his glory lived more vigorously than ever and they who in his life time sought to destroy him as unworthy to live after his death sought to live by beleeving on him This he foretold of himself If a corn of wheat die Joh. 12.24 it bringeth forth much fruit Thus was it with the antient Christians The more we are mown down the more we grow up saith Tertullian Plures efficimur quoties metimur à vobis Tert. The Church is in Scripture compared to things which though weakest yet are fruitfullest as Doves and Sheep the Vine The Church like the Palm-tree riseth up the more men endeavour by weights to presse it down The Egyptian flames cannot devour the Israelitish bush the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church Gods blessing overcomes all humane opposition If God saith Increase and multiply all the enemies of the Church help it when they most endeavour to hinder it It s neither from the weaknesse of the flames nor the strength of the bush that it is not consumed but from the gracious presence of him who dwelt in it and his dwelling there he manifests Psal 76.10 1. by restraining the fire and heeping in its fury All the wrath of man which shal not praise God shall be restrayned by God 2. By strengthning the bush against it if not by bestowing worldly yet spirituall power to oppose it How much was Pharaoh mistaken when intending to oppresse the Israelites he said Let us deal wisely with them Exod. 1.10 The sun may as easily be blown out with bellows and battered with snow-balls as Israel may be overthrown by opposition But how great therefore is that folly which puts wormes upon contending with the great God! What do the Egyptians in contriving against Israel but besides the disappointment of their hopes curiously weave their own woe by torturing themselves with envy and making way for Israels deliverance by their own overthrow Against the God of Israel there is no wisedome Prov. 21.30 nor understanding nor counsell Oh how happy were wee if the time which we spend in fearing and shunning of trouble were only improved in hating of sin and cleaving to God! 8. Observ 8. Satan and his instruments then begin to rage most furiously when God calls and stirres u◠instruments to help and releeve his Church Before Moses went in to Pharaoh for Israels releasment the Israelites were used unkindly but afterward they were oppressed tyrannically How cruell was Egyptian rage upon the entrance of Moses into his Ministry As soon as David was annointed King how bloodily did Saul rage In all ages of the Church the Divell indeavours to obscure the dawnings of the Gospell with a bloody cloud of persecution When God begins to cast the divell out of his hold he deals with the Church Promissam gratiam crux sequitur Rivet in Exod. pag. 133. Hos 7.1 as with that man possess'd by him whom when Christ was about to cure him he did rend and tear and lay for dead In the beginning of reformation Anti-christ fill'd all places with blood and slaughter When God begins to heal his Church the Anti-christian humour of violence and persecution discovers it selfe The crosse followes the entrance of the Gospel hence wee should be encouraged and cautioned Encouraged for it 's a good sign that when Satan wars and rageth God is wounding and dispossessing him and that his time is but short Wee should also be cautioned Let us look for tryalls even after Moses hath promised deliverance Commonly when God hath given his Church hopes of mercy he seems to threaten inevitable disappointment of it After God had given Abraham a son in whose seed all the promised mercy was to be accomplished God seems to put Abraham upon the pulling down the foundation of all this happinesse with his own hands And we should take heed that wee impute not our troubles to the reformation endeavour'd but to that opposition which Satan and the distemered world put forth And not to blame Gods care of our recovery but
vintage of a judgment he leaves the gleanings of grapes upon the Vine of his Church Hee never shakes his Olive tree so throughly but he leaves at least two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough four or five in the outmost branches Isa 17.6 Though I make a full end of all Nations whither I have driven thee Jer. 30.11 Jer. 46.28 yet will I not make a full end of thee but correct thee in measure yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished Let not Israel presume upon mercy if they will sin but yet let them not despair of mercy though they suffer God will not cast off his people Ps 94.14 Though the destruction of his Israel be never so great yet it shall never be totall and should many fall yet all shall not the cause the interest of Christ shall not and though possibly in a wildernesse of common calamities the carcasses of some of his owne may fall among others so as they may never live to enter the Canaan of a longed for peace and reformation in this life yet by faith ascending up to the Nebo of a promise they may behold it afar off and see it possessed by their posterity they themselves mean while repenting of their unbelief and unworthinesse and so entring that heavenly Canaan where they shall enjoy the fulness of that which here they could have enjoyed but in part The third branch of the example of the Israelites is the cause of their destruction viz their infidelity contained in these words That beleeved not EXPLICATION For the Explication whereof two things are considerable 1. In what respect these Israelites are here said not to beleeve 2. Why they were punished for this their not believing rather then for any other sin I. For the first Unbeleevers 1. are frequently in Scripture taken for Pagans and Heathens 1 Tim. 5.8 2 Cor. 6.14 15 1 Cor. 14.23 who are alwayes without the profession of the Faith and oft without the very offer of the Word the means of knowing that Faith which is to be professed and then it s termed an unbelief of pure negation 2. Unbeleevers are said to be such who though they professe the faith and hear and know the word yet deny that credence to it which God requires and their unbeleef called an unbeleef of evill disposition is either a deniall of assent to the truths asserted in the word or of trust and affiance to the promises of good contained in the same and both these are either temporary or totall and perpetuall Into the former sometimes the elect may fall as particularly did those two disciples who by their unbeleef drew from Christ this sharp reproofe Luk. 24.25 Mark 16.11.13.14 O fools and slow of heart to beleeve all that the prophets have written And for this it was that Christ upbraided the eleven when they beleeved not them who had seen him after he was risen Luk. 1.20 And of righteous Zecharie is it said that he beleeved not those words which were to be fulfill'd in their season Into that unbeleef which is totall and habituall Joh. 6.64.65 Joh. 10.25.26 Jo. 12.37.38.39 the reprobabate only fall of whom Christ speaks Ye beleeve not because yee are not of my sheep and afterward the Evangelist They beleeved not nay they could not beleeve because that Isaias said he hath blinded their eyes c. as also Act. 10.9 divers were hardned and beleeved not These abide in unbelief John 3. ult and the wrath of God abideth on them This unbeleef of the Israelites did principally consist in their not yeelding trust and affiance to the gracious and faithful promises made by God to their forefathers and often renewd to themselves of bestowing upon them the land of Canaan for their inheritance Vide Numb Chapters 13. and 14. These promises upon the report of the spies concerning the strength of the Canaanites and their Cities were by the people so far distrusted and deemed so impossible to be fulfilled as that they not only wish'd that they had dyed in Egypt but resolved to make them a Captain to return thither again And probable it is that the unbeleef of the most was perpetnal Certumest complures fuisse pios qui vel communi impietate non fuerunt impliciti vel mox resipuerunt Cal. in Heb. 3.18 but that others even of those who at the first and for a time did distrust the faithfulnesse of Gods promise by the threatnings and punishments denounced against and inflicted upon them repented afterward of their infidelity and so beleeved that God was faithfull in his promise though they by reason of their former unbelief did not actually partake of the benefit thereof However this their sin of distrustfulnesse was their great and capitall sin that sin like the Anakims which they so feared much taller than the rest and which principally was that provocation in the wildernesse spoken of so frequently in the Scripture Heb. 3.8.12 16.18 Psal 95 8. Incredulitas malorum omnium caput Cal. in Heb. 3.18 And hence it is that God explaines this provoking him by not beleeving him How long saith he Numb 14.11 will this people provoke me how long will it be ere they beleeve me and that it was their great stop in the way to Canaan is evident in that the punishment of exclusion from Canaan was immediately upon their unbeleef inflicted upon them as also by the expresse testimony of the Apostle who saith that they could not enter in because of unbelief II. For the second Why they were destroyed rather for their unbelief then for other sins 1. Their unbelief was the root and fountain of all the rest of their sins Heb. 3.12 Jer. 17.5 This evill heart of unbelief made them depart from the living God by their other provocations All sins would be bitter in the acting if we beleeved that they would be bitter in their ending Faith is the shield of every grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.7 8. Acts 15.9 and Unbelief the shield of every sin Faith purifies Unbelief pollutes the heart Vnbeleevers and disobedient are in the Greek expressed by one word Heb. 11.31 What but unbelief was the cause of all those impatient murmurings of the Israelites Had they beleeved a faithfull God Num. 14.27 they would quietly have waited for the accomplishment of his promises Had they believed in him who is Alsufficient they would in the want of all means of supply have look'd upon them as laid up in God The reason why they made such sinfull haste to get flesh was because their unbelieving heart thought that God could not furnish a table in the wildernesse What but their not believing a great and dreadfull Majestie made them so fearlesly rebellious against God and their Governours What but their not believing an All-powerfull God made them to fear the Gyants and walled Cities of Canaan Faith went out and fear and every sin got
Judgement An unjust Judge is a Solecism a contradiction A Judge should be the Law enlivened To this end Judges must be godly Righteousnesse will not stand without Religion Jethro's advice to Moses was Chuse men fearing God Exod. 18.21 Let the fear of the Lord be upon you said Jehoshaphat to the Judges 2 Chr. 19.6 7. The Aethiopians apprehended that the Angels attended on all Judicatories and therefore as I have read of them they left twelve chairs empty in the judgment-place which they said were the Seats of the Angels but Judges must believe that a greater than the Angels is there 2. Impartiall He must not respect the person of the poor nor honour the person of the mighty Lev. 19.15 and Deut. 1.17 He must hear the small as well as the great There must no mans condition be regarded in judgement nor must the Judge behold the face of any ones person but the face of his cause Job 34.19 God accepts not the persons of Princes A Judge will be a sun of righteousness it shining as well upon the beggar as the noble 3. A Master of his affections Anger hatred pity fear c. the clouds of Affection will hinder the Sunshine of justice The Athenian Judges us'd to sit in Mars-street to shew that they had Martiall hearts Constantine is termed a man-childe Rev. 12.5 So Brightman for his courage He who wil go up to the mount of Justice must leave his affections as Abraham did his Asse and Servants at the foot thereof Love and wisdom seldome dwell under one roof and the fear of man is a snare A Coward we say cannot be an honest man nor will a fearfull and flexible Judge be able to say injustice Nay 4. Deliberate In the case of information about false Worship Deut. 17.3 Moses directs to this deliberation before sentence be given If it be told thee and thou hast heard of it and enquired diligently and behold it be true and the thing certain c. then shalt thou bring forth the man c. What plenty of words are here to prevent precipitancy in Judicature It much commended the integrity of Job who professeth Job 29.16 The cause which I knew not I searched out †See the example of the Heathen Festus Act. 25.16 Both sides must be heard the small as well as the great Though a Judges * Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita alerâ aequum licit statuerit haud aequus fuit Sen. in Med. sentence be right yet hee is not right in giving it if he give it before either party be heard 5. A lover of truth A man of truth Exod. 18.21 Hating lying executing the judgement of truth Zech. 8.16 His heart must love his tongue speak the truth Exod. 18.21.23.8 Deut. 16.19.27.26 2 Chron. 19.7 nor will the hand without go right if the wheels within go wrong 6. Incorrupt Hating bribes because hating covetousnesse A gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous Of whose hand saith Samuel have I received any gift to blind mine eyes therewith 1 Sam. 12.3 A Judge must neither take money to be unjust nor to be just Righteousnesse is its own reward The Thebeans erected the Statues of their Judges without hands the gaine of bribes is sum'd up Job 15.34 Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery 7. Sober and Temperate He that followes the pleasures that attend on Majesty will soon neglect the paines which belong to Magistracy It was a prudent instruction of Lemuel's mother Prov. 31.4 5. It is not for Kings It is not for Kings O Lemuel to drink wine nor for Princes to drink strong drink lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgement of any of the afflicted Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 Some understand those words Jer. 21.12 Execute judgement in the morning properly as if they should performe acts of judgement early before they were indangered by abundant eating or feasting to render themselves less able to discerne of causes 2. The second branch of Jurisdiction which belongs to the Magistrate consisteth in the Dstribution of rewards and punishments 1. Of Rewards to those who keep 2. Of Punishments to those who break the Lawes 1. Of Rewards Of this the Apostle speaks Rom. 13. Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise Of this the Supreme Lord gives an example who joynes shewing mercy to thousands with visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children Exod. 20. Nor must a Magistrate be a Sun only for lustre of Majesty but also for warmth and benignity 2. Of Punishments These are of sundry kinds Some concern the name as degradations some the estate as pecuniary mulcts some the body and these are either Capitall or not Capitall as mutilation of some part c. Evident it is from Scripture-commands that it is the Magistrates duty to punish Deut. 19.21 the Judges shall make diligent inquisition c. And thine eye shall not pity but life shall go for life 2. From his Function Rom. 13.4 He beareth not the sword in vaine Governours are for the punishment of evill doers 3. From the Benefit of these punishments To the punished who may grieve for what they have done to the Spectators who may be warned from doing the like Prov. 19.25 Deut. 19 19r Indulgentia flagitiorum illecebra Exod. 21.12 Lâ—v. 24.17 c. Sinfull indulgence silently yet strongly invites to a second wickednesse Even Capitall punishments are injoyned by Scripture Gen. 9.6 Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed A Law which being before the erection of the Mosaicall Polity shews that the Lawes which afterward commanded Capitall punishments did not simply and absolutely but only in respect of some circumstances concern the Israelites The capitall punishment of Malefactors by the Magistrate was dictated by the Law of Nature And as the force of the foresaid command was before so did it continue after Moses Christ himself even from it drawing an Argument to disswade Peter from shedding of blood Mat. 26.52 Nor do I understand but that if all punishments of Malefactors by the sword be now unlawful as Anabaptists dream it must necessarily follow that all defending of the subjects by the sword against an invading enemy is unlawfull also the publick peace being opposed by the one as much as the other nay may we not argue That if the power of the sword belong not to the Magistrate to defend the Common-wealth that it belongs not to any private man to defend himself against the violent assaults of a murderer In sum Capitall punishments may be inflicted but sparingly slowly It is observed by some That God was longer in destroying Jericho then in making the whole world Satius est ut euret pharmacum quam sanet ferrum As many Funerals disgrace a Physician so many executions dishonour a Magistrate The execution of Justice should like Thunder fear many and