the latter branch in laying an unlawfulness where they should not 10. But I shall not meddle much with either sort though they are deeply guilty both because professedly abhorring all communion with us I presume none of them will hear and then what booteth it to speak There be others who for that they live in the the same visible communion with us do even therefore deserve far better respect from us then either of the former and are also even therefore more capable of better information from us then they Who yet by their unnecessary and unwarrantable strictnesse in sundry particulars and by casting impurity upon many things both of Ecclesiastical and civil usage which are not in their own nature unlawful though some of them I doubt not in their practise much abused have done and still do a world of mischief in the Church of Christ. A great deal more I am verily perswaded then themselves are aware of or then themselves I hope intend but I fear withal a great deal more then either any of us can imagine or all of us can well tell how to help That therefore both they and we may see how needful a thing it is for every of us to have a right judgement concerning indifferent things and their lawfulness I shall endeavour to shew you both how unrighteous a thing it is in it self and of how noysom and perillous consequence many wayes to condemn any thing as simply unlawful without very clear evidence to lead us thereunto 11. First it is a very unrighteous thing For as in civil judicatories the Iudge that should make no more ado but presently adjudge to death all such persons as should be brought before him upon light surmises and slender presumptions without any due enquiry into the cause or expecting clearer evidence must needs pass many an unjust sentence and be in great jeopardy at some time or other of shedding innocent blood so he that is very forward when the lawfulnesse of any thing is called in question upon some colourable exceptions there-against straightwayes to cry it down and to pronounce it unlawful can hardly avoid the falling oftentimes into errour and sometimes into uncharitableness Pilate though he did Iesus much wrong afterward yet he did him some right onward when the Jews cried out Crucisige Away with him crucifie him in replying for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why what evil hath he done Doth our law judge a man before it hear him and know what he doth was Nicodemus his plea Iohn 7. I wonder then by what Law those men proceed who judge so deeply and yet examine so overly speaking evil of those things they know not as S. Iude and answering a matter before they hear it as Solomon speaketh Which in his judgement is both folly and shame to them as who say there is neither wit nor honesty in it The Prophet Esay to shew the righteousnesse and equity of Christ in the exercise of his kingly office describeth it thus Esay 11. He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his ears but with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity Implying that where there is had a just regard of righteousness and equity there will be had also a due care not to proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to our first apprehension of things as they are suddenly represented to our eyes or ears without farther examination A fault which our Saviour reproved in the Jews as an unrighteous thing when they censured him as a sabbath-breaker without cause Iudge not according to the outward appearance but judge righteous judgment Joh. 7. 12. All this will easily be granted may some say where the case is plain But suppose when the Lawfulness of something is called in question that there be probable arguments on both sides so as it is not easie to resolve whether way rather to incline is it not at leastwise in that case better to suspect it may be unlawful then to presume it to be lawful For in doubtful cases via tutior it is best ever to take the safer way Now because there is in most men a wondrous aptness to stretch their liberty to the utmost extent many times even to a licentiousness and so there may be more danger in the enlargement then there can be in the restraint of our liberty it seemeth therefore to be the safer errour in doubtfull cases to judge the things unlawful say that should prove an errour rather then to allow them lawful and yet that prove an errour 13. True it is that in hypothesi and in point of practise and in things not enjoyned by superiour authority either divine or humane it is the safer way if we have any doubts that trouble us to forbeare the doing of them for feare they should prove unlawful rather then to adventure to do them before we be well satisfied that they are lawful As for example If any man should doubt of the lawfulness of playing at Cards or of Dancing either single or mixt although I know no just cause why any man should doubt of either severed from the abuses and accidental consequents yet if any man shall think he hath just cause so to do that man ought by all means to forbeare such playing or dancing till he can be satisfied in his own minde that he may lawfully use the same The Apostle hath clearly resolved the case Rom. 14. that be the thing what it can be in it self yet his very doubting maketh it unlawfull to him so long as he remaineth doubtful because it cannot be of faith and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Thus far therefore the former allegation may hold good so long as we consider things but in hypothesi that is to say onely so far forth as concerneth our own particular in point of practise that in these doubtful cases it is safer to be too scrupulous then too adventurous 14. But then if we will speake of things in thesi that is to say taken in their general nature and considered in themselves and as they stand devested of all circumstances and in point of judgement so as to give a positive and determinate sentence either with them or against them there I take it the former allegation of Via tutior is so farr from being of force that it holdeth rather the clean contrary way For in bivio dextra in doubtful cases it is safer erring the more charitable way As a Judge upon the bench had better acquit ten malefactors if there be no ful proof brought against them then condemne but one innocent person upon meer presumptions And this seemeth to be very reasonable For as in the Courts of civil Iustice men are not ordinarily put to prove themselves honest men but the proof lieth on the accusers part and it is sufficient for the acquiting of any man in foro externo
Reason Only in Divinity great offence is taken at the multitude of Controversies wherein yet difference of opinions is by so much more tolerable then in other sciences by how much the things about which we are conversant are of a more sublime mysterious and incomprehensible nature then are those of other Sciences 21. Truly it would make a religious heart bleed to consider the many and great distractions that are all over the Christian world at this day The lamentable effects whereof scarce any part of Christendome but feeleth more or less either in open warrs or dangerous seditions or at the best in uncharitable censures and ungrounded jealousies Yet the infinite variety of mens dispositions inclinations and aimes considered together with the great obscurity that is in the things of God and the strength of corruption that is in us it is to be acknowledged the admirable work of God that these distractions are not even much more and greater and wider then they are and that amid so many sects as are in the world there should be yet such an universal concurrence of judgement as there is in the main fundamental points of the Christian Faith And if we were so wise as we might and should be to make the right use of it it would not stumble us awhit in the belief of our Religion that Christians differ so much as they do in many things but rather mightily confirme us in the assurances thereof that they agree so well as they do almost in any thing And it may be a great comfort to every well-meaning soule that the simple belief of those certain truths whereon all parties are in a manner agreed may be and ordinarily is sufficient for the salvation of all them who are sincerely careful according to that measure of light and means that hath vouchsafed them to actuate their Faith with piety charity and good works so making this great mystery to become unto them as it is in it self Mysterium pietatis a Mystery of Godliness Which is the last point proposed the Quale to which I now pass 22. As the corrupt doctrine of Antichrist is not only a doctrine of Error but of Impiety too called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mystery of Iniquity 2 Thes. 2. So the wholsome doctrine of Christ is not only a doctrine of Truth but of Piety too and is therefore termed here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mystery of Godliness Which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Godliness since there appeareth not any great necessity in the Context to restrain it to that more peculiar sense wherein both the Greek and English word are sometimes used namely to signifie the right manner of Gods worship according to his word in opposition to all idolatrous superstitious or false worships practised among the Heathens I am the rather enclined to understand it here as many Interpreters have done in the fuller latitude as it comprehendeth the whole duty of a Christian man which he standeth bound by the command of God in his Law or of Christ in his Gospel to perform 23. Verum and Bonum We know are neer of kin the one to the other And the spirit of God who is both the author and the revealer of this mystery as he is the spirit of Truth Joh. 14. so is he also the spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. And it is part of his work to sanctifie the heart with grace as well as to enlighten the minde with knowledge Our Apostle therefore sometimes mentioneth Truth and Godliness together teaching us thereby that we should take them both into our care together If any man consent not to the words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the doctrine which is after Godlinesse 1 Tim. 6. And Tit. 1. according to the Faith of Gods elect and acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness And here in express termes The Mystery of Godliness And that most rightly whether we consider it in the Scope Parts or Conservation of it 24. First the general Scope and aime of Christianity is by the mercy of God founded on the merits of Christ to bring men on through Faith and Godliness to Salvation It was not in the purpose of God in publishing the Gospel and thereby freeing us from the personal obligation rigor and curse of the Law so to turne us loose and lawless to do whatsoever should seem good in our own eyes follow our own crooked wills or gratifie any corrupt lust but to oblige us rather the faster by these new benefits and to incite us the more effectually by Evangelical promises to the earnest study and pursuit of Godliness The Gospel though upon quite different grounds bindeth us yet to our good behaviour in every respect as deep as ever the Law did if not in some respects deeper allowing no liberty to the flesh for the fulfilling of the lusts thereof in any thing but exacting entire sanctity and purity both of inward affection and outward conversation in all those that embrace it The grace of God appearing in the revelation of this mysterie as it bringeth along with it an offer of salvation to all men so it teacheth all men that have any real purpose to lay hold on so gracious an offer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly and godlily in this present world 25. It is not to be wondred at if all false Religions give allowance to some ungodliness or other when the very gods whom they worship give such encouragements thereunto by their leud example The gods of the Pagans were renowned for nothing so much most of them as for their vices Mars a bloudy God Bacchus a drunken God Mercury a cheating God and so proportionably in their several kinds all the rest Their great capital God Iupiter guilty of almost all the capital vices And where the Gods are naught who can imagine the Religion should be good Their very mysteria sacra as they called them were so full of all wickedness and filthy abominations as was already in part touched but is fully discovered by Clemens Alexandrinus Lactantius Arnobius Tertullian and other of the Ancients of our religion that it was the wisest point in all their religion to take such strict order as they did for the keeping of them secret 26. But it is the honour and prerogative of the Christian Religion that it alone alloweth of no wickedness But as God himself is holy so he requireth an holy worship and holy worshippers He exacteth the mortification of all evill lusts and the sanctification of the whole man body soul and spirit and that in each of these throughout Every one that nameth himself from the name of Christ doth ipso facto by the very taking of that blessed name upon him and daring to stile himself Christian virtually binde himself to depart from all iniquity nor so only but to endeavour also after the example of him whose
in peace and take their rest suspecting no harm because they mean none theeves and robbers are up and abroad spreading their nets for the prey and watching to do mischievously They that were against Christ were stirring in the dead time of the night and marched with swords and staves to apprehend him when they that were about him though bidden and chidden too could not hold from sleeping two or three hours before Martyres Diaboli How slack we are to do God any service how backward to suffer any thing for him and how they on the other side can bestir them to serve the Devil and be content to suffer a kinde of martyrdom in his service The way sure is broad enough and easie enough that leadeth to destruction yet so much pains is there taken to finde it that I verily believe half the pains many a man taketh to go to Hell if it had been well bestowed would have brought him to Heaven 21. Thirdly the children of this world are marvellous cunning and close to carry things fair in outward shew so far as to hold up their credit with the abused multitude and to give a colour to the cause they manage be it never so bad Partly by aspersing those that are otherwise minded then themselves are and dare not partake with them in their sins in what reproachful manner they please wresting their most innocent speeches and actions to an evil construction and taking up any slanders or accusations against them whether true or false they matter not so they can but thereby render them odious to the world Partly by their hypocrisie stealing away the hearts of well-meaning people from those to whom they owe honour or subjection and gaining reputation to themselves and their own party 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is Rom. 16. with faire speeches and specious pretences the glory of God the asserting of liberty the propagation of the Gospel the reformation of abuses and the like Right Pharisees by their long-winded prayers winding themselves into the opinions of some and estates of others The main of their care is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set the fairest side forward to enoile a rotten post with a glistering varnish and to make bright the outside of the vessell whatsoever nastiness there remaineth within Thus the grand rebel Absolon by discrediting his fathers government pretending to a great zeal of justice and making shews and promises of great matters to be done by way of reformation therein if the supreme power were setled upon him did by little and little ingratiate himself with the people ever easily cheated into rebellion by such smooth pretences insensibly loosen them from the conscience of their bounden allegiance and having gotten together a strong party engaged them in a most unjust and unnatural war against his own father and their undoubted Soveraign 22. Lastly the children of this world the better to effectuate what they have resolved upon are at a marvelous great unity among themselves They hold all together and keep themselves close Psal. 56. They stick together like burs close as the scales of Leviathan And although they be not alwayes all of one piece but have their several aims and act upon different particular principles yet Satan well knowing that if his kingdom should be too much divided it could not stand maketh a shift to patch them up so as to make them hang together to serve his turn and to do mischief Herod and Pilate at some odds before must now be made friends Pharisees and Sadduces sectaries of contrary opinions and notoriously factious either against other will yet conspire to tempt Christ. The Epicurians and the Stoicks two sects of Philosophers of all other the most extremely distant and opposite in their Tenents and Doctrines came with their joynt forces at Athens to encounter Paul and discountenance Christianity And to molest and make havock of the people of God the tabernacles of the Edomites and Ismaelites the Moabites and the Agarenes Gebal and Ammon and Amalek with the rest of them a Cento a rhapsody of uncircumcised nations could lay their heads together with one consent and combine themselves in confederacies and associations Psal. 83. Faciunt unitatem contra unitatem To destroy the happy unity that should be among brethren they that were strangers and enemies to one another before grow to an unhappy cursed unity among themselves 23. Thus whilest Christian men who profess themselves children of light by their improvidence sloth simplicity and dis-union too often suffer themselves to be surprised by every weak assault and so to become a prey both to their spiritual and temporal enemies the children of this world the while by their subtilty industry hypocrisie and unity do shew themselves so much beyond the other in all points of wisdom and prudence in their way that we cannot but subscribe to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the truth of the sentence here pronounced by our Saviour that certainly the children of this world are wiser in their generations then the children of light 24. But then for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be not satisfied how it should come to pass that they are judged the wiser For that First they have a very able Tutour to direct them the Old Serpent Wisdom belongeth to the Serpent by kinde he hath it by nature Be ye wise as Serpents And that wisdom improved by the experience of some thousands of years must needs increase and rise to a great proportion Now this Old subtil serpent infuseth into the children of this world who are in very deed his own children also semen serpentis the seed of the serpent some of his own spirit is not that it think you which in 1 Cor. 2. is called Spiritus mundi the spirit of the world and is there opposed to the spirit of God I mean some of his own serpentine wisdom Not that wisdom which is from above that is from another alloy and is the only true wisdom indeed but that which is from beneath which S. Iames affirmeth to be earthly sensual divelish From this infusion it is that they do patrissare so right having his example withall to instruct them in all the Premises Their providence in forecasting to doe mischief they learn from him he hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his devises and his methods his sundry subtil artifices in ordering his temptations with the most advantage to ensnare us Their unwearied diligence from him who never resteth compassing the earth and going to and fro in it as a hungry lyon hunting after prey Their double cunning both in slaundering others and disguising themselves from him who is such a malicious accuser of others to make them seem worse then they are that he hath his very name
of life for men to be provided of all necessaries befitting their several occasions before the time they should use them that he is rather derided then pittied that having time and means for it neglecteth so to do The grashopper in the fable had the merrier summer but the pismire fared better in winter If in our prosperity we grow secure flattering our selves in our own thoughts as if our hill were so strong that we should never be removed if then God do but turn his face from us yea but a little and send any little change upon us we shall be so much the more troubled at the affliction when it cometh by how much the lesse we expected it before Our unpreparednesse maketh a very little affliction sometimes fall very heavy upon us and then it foyleth us miserably and soon tireth us out and so we suffer by our own negligence 31. To which adde in the fourth place that which many times followeth upon such our neglect Gods deserting of us and withdrawing the ordinary support of his grace from us And then as the Philistines over-mastered Sampson when his strength was departed from him so will temptations us when we are left to wrestle with them by our own strength alone without the special grace of God to assist It is by Faith that we stand if we do stand This is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith But it is by the grace and power of God that our Faith it self standeth Take that grace away and our Faith faileth and then our hearts fail and then there is neither courage nor patience nor obedience nor any thing else that good is in us At least not in that measure as to render our wayes during that estate either acceptable to God or comfortable to our selves untill it shall please him to renew us unto repentance to give us the comfort of his helpe again and to stablish us afresh with his free spirit and grace 32. Of whose most holy and wise dispensations although we be neither able nor worthy to apprehend any other reason then his own will nor to comprehend that for his spirit breatheth where and when it listeth and we know not antecedently either why or how yet are we well assured in the general that the Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works Yea and we finde by the blessed consequents many times that the very withdrawing of his grace is it self a special act of his grace 1. As when he hath thereby humbled us to a better sight and sence of our own frailty so was Hezekiah left to himself in the matter of the Embassadours that came from the King of Babel 2. Or checkt us for our overmuch self-confidence as Peters denial was a real rebuke for his over-bold protestation 3. Or brought us to acknowledge with thankfulness and humility by whose strength it is that we have hitherto stood My strength will I ascribe unto thee Psalm 59. 4. Or taught us to bear more compassion towards our brethren and their infirmities if they hap to be overtaken with a fault and to restore them with the spirit of meekness considering that even we our selves are not such as cannot be tempted Or wrought some other good effect upon us some other way 33. Sith then great and lasting afflictions are strong trials of mens patience and courage and their inability to bear them great through the frailty of nature is yet by their own personal default and supine negligence much greater and without the support of Gods grace which as he is no wayes bound to give them so he may and doth when it pleaseth him take from them their spirits are not able to bear up under the least temptation you will grant the Apostle had great reason to fear lest these Hebrews notwithstanding the good proof they had given of their Christian constancy in some former trials should yet be weary and faint in their minds under greater sufferings And consequently how it concerneth every one of us whatsoever comforts we may have of our former sufferings and patience whereof unless God have the whole glory our comfort sure will be the lesse yet to be very jealous of our own treacherous hearts and to keep a constant watch over them that they deceive us not not to be too high-minded or jolly for any thing that is past nor too unmerciful censurers of our weaker brethren for their faintings and failings nor too confident of our own future standing 34. It ought to be our care rather at all times especially in such times as threaten persecution to all those that will not recede from such principles of Religion Iustice and Loialty as they have hitherto held themselves obliged to walk by to live in a continual expectancy of greater trials and temptations daily to assault us then we have yet wrestled withal And to give all diligence by our faithful prayers and utmost endeavours to arm and prepare our selves for the better bearing them with such calm patience and moderation on the one side and yet with such undaunted courage and resolution on the other side as may evidence at once our humble submission to whatsoever it shall please God to lay upon us and our high contempt of the utmost despite the world can do us 35. For since every affliction Ianus-like hath two faces and looketh two wayes we should do well to make our use of both It looketh backward as it cometh from God who layeth it upon us as a correction for some past sin And it looketh forward as it cometh from Satan and the World who lay it before us as a temptation to some new sin Accordingly are we to entertain it As it is Gods correction by no means to despise it My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord the next verse but one but to take it up with joy and to bear it with patience and to profit by it to repentance But as it is Satans temptation by all means to resist it with courage ey and with disdain too Resist it I say but in that sence wherein such resistance is to be understood in the very next verse after the Text. That is to say so to resist the temptation by striving against that sin what ever it be which the Tempter seeketh to drive us into by the affliction that we should fight it out in blood resolving rather to lose it all were it to the last drop then consent to the committing of that Thus to lose our blood is to win the day And the failing so to do is that weariness and faintness of minde and soul of which our Apostle here speaketh and upon which we have hitherto thus long insisted 36. Yet dare I not for all that leave it thus without adding a necessary caution lest what hath been said be mis-understood as if when we are bidden not to faint under the Cross we were forbidden to
yea or no 14. Neither yet only look at the Power thou now hast but consider withall what need thou mayest have of the help of others hereafter The world is full of changes and chances and all things under the sun are subject to rolling Thou who by reason of thy present power art now sought and sued to by others by a thousand casualties more thou canst imagine mayest be brought to crave help from others Now the Rule of Equity is Doe as thou wouldest be done to As thou wouldest expect help from those that are able to succour thee if thy self stoodest in need so be ready now it is in thy power to do it to succour those that stand in need of thy help and expect it from thee Learn by that speech of Iosephs brethren when they were distressed in Egypt Gen. 42. We were verily guilty concerning our brothers in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not heare therefore is this distress come upon us Learn I say from that speech of theirs what a dreadful pang and torture and corrosive it will be to thy conscience hereafter in the day of thy calamity when thou shalt sue to others and finde but cold comfort from them if thy heart can then tell thee that though men be hard yet God is just and that with what measure thou metedst to others before it is now measured back again with advantage perhaps into thine own bosome To prevent which misery learn wisdom of the unjust steward even to make thee friends of thy mammon and of thy power and of all those blessed opportunities and advantages thou enjoyest by doing good with them whilest thou hast time That when the tide shall turn thou mayest also finde friends to help in time of need to stand by thee in the day of adversity and to deliver thy soul from unrighteous Iudges He that would readily finde help it is but meet and right he should readily lend helpe 15. Pass we now from our selves in the third place to those poor oppressed ones to whom as a fit object for our justice and charity to be exercised upon we owe this duty of succour and subvention From whose condition we may finde sundry farther excitements to the performance of this duty if we shall consider the greatness of their distresse the scarcity of their friends and the righteousness of their Cause Whereof the first proceedeth from the Cruelty the second from the Potency the third from the avarice ambition or other iniquity of their oppressours First many times the distresses of poor men under the hand of their oppressours are grievous beyond the imagination of those that never felt them They are expressed in the Text whether by way of Synecdoche one special kinde being put to include all the rest or by an hyperbolical amplification for the fuller expressing of the grievousness thereof by the terms of Death and Slaughter If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn to death and those that are ready to be slain Verily oppressours are covetous and they that are covetous are cruel too For though their aim be the spoil and not the blood yet rather then fail the spoil they will not stick at the blood too Come let us lay wait for blood We shall fill our houses with spoil Prov. 1. And so the oppressour proveth both a thief and a murtherer a thief in the end he aimeth at and a murtherer in the means whereby to obtain it as Ahab took away Naboths life that he might enjoy his vineyard Now surely that man hath very little compassion in his bowels that will not set forward a foot nor reach out a hand nor open a lip to save the precious life of his poor brother when he may so easily do it Were it but an Ox or an Asse or some beast of less value that lay weltred in a ditch common humanity will require we should lend our hand and put to our best strength to draw him out Xenocrates made scruple of hurting the Sparrow that flew into his lap when a Hawk pursued it And ought not we then much more to set our selves with that power we have by all lawful means to deliver our brother from the snare and from the pit of destruction 16. Ey you will say If it were to save a mans life much might be we would then strain our selves a little to speak or to do for him But that is a case seldom happeneth in a setled government such as blessed be God for it we live under The common oppressions of those times are of a lower nature and we are not bound by the Text to set in but in the case of life In petty grievances may we not leave men to the course of the Law and to shift as well as they can for themselves we would be loath to get the displeasure of some great ones we live neer and hold fair correspondency with when we need not and for trifles For answer First although the Text speak expresly only of Death yet by a Synecdoche membri usual in the Scriptures all other violences and injuries are intended As in the Law under the name of murder all malice and revenge and under the name of adultery fornication and all other uncleannesses are forbidden Secondly though oppressions should not be directly intended in the Text yet might they be inferred from it by the rule of proportion and for the reason of equity For where there is the same reason of equity as in the present case although with some difference of proportion or degree there is also the same obligation of duty the said difference of proportion or degree still observed But indeed Thirdly I take it that all oppressions are not only intended but also expressed under the names of death and slaughter Because to take away a mans substance whereby he should maintain his life is interpretative and to common intendment all one as to take away the very life it self Therfore as Abels blood crieth so the labourers wages crieth And the Scriptures so speak of oppressours as of those that grinde the faces of the poor that eat them up by morsels or that to save the labour of chewing swallow them up whole as the greater fishes do the small ones by which means they make the poor of the land to fail as the Prophet speaketh That which maintaineth life is not only according to the phrase of the world in most languages but even in holy Scriptures themselves sometimes so mentioned as if it were the very life it self the substance essence or being of a man And he that should violently take away that from another if the wise son of Sirac were of the inquest would certainly be found guilty of no less then murder Hear his verdict in the case and the reason of it The bread of the needy is their life he that defraudeth him thereof is a
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
godliest Magistrates shall never be able wholy either to prevent or remedy 24. Let it suffice thee for the possessing thine own soul in patience to know that all shall be righted one day God will set all straight at the last but that day is not yet It is thy duty in the mean time to pity thy superiours rather then to envie them that have so much work to doe and yet are exposed to censure and obloquie as if they did nothing because they do not that which never yet any mortal man could do in suppressing all oppressions It is thy duty whatsoever actions of theirs may be capable of a just excuse or of a fair interpretation to allow it them and for what cannot be excused to mourn for them in secret but not to make a noise about them openly when neither thy calling will warrant thee nor the hope of any good effect to follow upon it can encourage thee so to doe If they say Behold we knew it not whether they say it truly or untruly what is that to thee The judgment of that I finde in my Text referred to God and to their own hearts but no where to thee Thou must take it for a good excuse howsoever and rest content therewithall 25. Secondly it may be some comfort to the soul of every godly man and Magistrate amidst all the oppressions and disorders that are done or suffered in the land without redress if his heart can tell him that he hath not been willingly accessary thereunto but that he can truly say Behold we knew it not that God will admit that his just excuse God is not and happy it is for us that he is not so hard in his righteous judgments as we are too often in our rash censures He looketh not to reap where he hath not sowen nor will he demand an accompt of a talent where none was disbursed nor require of any man above the proportion of that power wherewith he hath entrusted him and of those means and opportunities which he hath vouchsafed him If there be but a willing minde and a faithful endeavour according to power and as occasions serve to do his duty chearfully in this or any other kinde the Lord will graciously accept it according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Thrise blessed therefore is that Magistrate or other man who ever he be that hath considered the poor and needy with a compassionate heart and bent himself with all his strength to deliver them out of their oppressions and troubles although he have not been able to accomplish it to the full of his desires for he shall reap the reward of that which is done and that which is not done shall never be laid to his charge Only that he do not flatter himself with a false comfort let him be well assured first that his Excuse will hold water and that his heart condemne him not as a liar when he saith Behold we knew it not For this Excuse though sometimes just as we have now heard at large yet many times is pretended without cause which is our next point now to be considered with more brevity 26. If to pretend an excuse were sufficient to discharge a man from a fault amongst so many offences as are in the world we should have much a doe to finde an offender Those men that are almost ever behinde with their worke are yet seldome to seek for an excuse The disease is Epidemical I may say Oecumenical too We have it by kinde derived in a perpetual line of succession from the loins of our first parents As Adam and Eve were not without their excuse The woman gave me and The serpent beguiled me so neither was bloody Cain their first-born without his Am I my brothers keeper Nor disobedient Saul without his The people took of the chief things to sacrifice to the Lord Nor churlish Nabal without his Shall I take my provision killed for my Shearers and give it to men I know not whence they be Nor that I may spare the particulars and take a world of them together will the whole crew of cursed reprobates be without their excuse too even then when the last sentence is ready to be pronounced upon them Lord we never saw thee hungry or thirsty c. From Adam the first sinner who was then presently turned out of Paradise unto the last damned wretched who shall be then presently turned into hell no sinful man but hath at sometime or other bewrayed the leaven of his natural hypocrisie by excusing his transgressions Such a proneness there is in all the sons of Adam Ad excusandum excusationes in peccatis that it may be said of all mankinde what is written of the guests that were bidden to the great Supper Luke 14. They all began with one consent to make excuses 27. The true Reason whereof is that wretched pride vain-glory and hypocrisie from which we had all need to pray Good Lord deliver us which cleaveth so fast and inseparably to our corrupt natures Whence it is that many men who pass so little for their consciences yet stand so much upon their credit As Saul who using no diligence to regain the favour of God was yet very solicitous that his honour might be preserved in the opinions of the people Indeed we are neither careful to do well nor willing to hear ill Loath are we to leave our sins and we are as loath to own them And therefore we throw cloaks over them that the outside may look comely howsoever and the dishonesty that is underneath may not be seen Our Saviour speaketh of the Pharisees cloak of hypocrisie S. Paul of a cloak of covetousness and S. Peter of a cloak of maliciousnes They write of Lucullus that out of his private wardrobe he furnished the Pretor his freind for the adorning of a popular shew with more then two hundred Cloakes Horace playeth the Poet and maketh it up five thousand Every one of us hath the wardrobe of his heart plentifully furnished with these cloakes even beyond what the Poet could faine of him Cloakes of all sizes and for all purposes and to fit all occasions But as old Bartimeus cast away his cloake to follow Christ so must we if we will be Christs disciples cast away from about us all these cloakes of vain pretensions and excuses But that we shall never do to purpose unless we first cast out from within us that pride and self-love whose Liveries those Cloaks are The better we shall learn that first great lesson of self-denial the less will we seek to excuse our errours with vain pretensions 28. But the more apt we are by nature to justifie our selves by causeless excuses the greater ought to be the care of every good man the only use I shall now make of this point to examine the truth and the weight of those
most looked upon and soonest drawn into example so to order themselves in their whole conversations that such as come after them may be rather provoked by their good example to do well then encouraged by their evil example to do amiss If at any time hereafter Saul should take any mans Ox or Asse from him by any manner fraud oppression or bribery the constant practise of his immediate predecessour for sundry years together shall stand up and give evidence against him and cast him Samuels integrity shall condemn him both at the bar of his own conscience and in the mouths of all men at leastwise he shall have no cause to vouch Samuel for his precedent no colour to shroud his miscarriages under the authority of Samuels example 14. We cannot now marvel that Samuel should thus offer himself to the tryal when as no man urged him to it sith there may be rendred so many congruous reasons for it Especially being withal so conscious to himself of having dealt uprightly that he knew all the world could not touch him with any wilful violation of justice He doth not therefore decline the tryal but seek it and putteth himself upon it with marvellous confidence challenging all comers and craving no favour Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed Here is no excepting against any witness nor refusal of any Iudge either God or Man He had a good cause and therefore he had also a good heart All vertues are connext among the rest so are Iustice and Fortitude The righteous are bold as a Lion The Merchant that knoweth his wares to be faulty is glad of the dark shop and false light whereas he that will uphold them right and good willeth his customers to view them in the open sun Qui malè agit odit lucem He that doth evil loveth to skulke in the darke and will not abide the light which is to him as the terrours of the shadow of death lest his evil deeds should be found out and laid open to his shame Even as Adam hid his head in a bush when he heard the voice of God because his conscience told him he had transgressed 15. A corrupt Magistrate or Officer may sometimes set a face upon it and in a kinde of bravery bid defiance to all the world but it is then when he is sure he hath power on his side to bear him out when he is so backt with his great friends that no man dare mutire contra once open his lips against him for fear of being shent Even as a ranke Coward may take up the bucklers and brave it like a stout Champion when he is sure the coast is clear and no body neer to enter the lists with him And yet all this but a mere flourish a faint and fain'd bravada his heart the while in the midst of his belly is as cold as lead and he meaneth nothing less then what he maketh shew of If the offer should be indeed accepted and that his actions were like to be brought upon the publick stage there to receive a due and unpartial hearing and doom how would he then shrink and hold off trow ye then what crowching and fawning and bribing and dawbing to have the matter taken up in a private chamber and the wound of his credit a little overly salved though upon never so hard and base conditions His best wits shall be tried and his best friends to the utmost if it be possible by any means to decline a publick trial 16. Be just then Fathers and Brethren and ye may be bold So long as you stand right you stand upon your own legs and not at the mercy of others But turn aside once to defrauding oppressing or receiving rewards and you make your selves slaves for ever Intus pugnae soris timores Horrours and gripes within because you have knowingly done what you ought not Terrours and fears without lest your wicked dealings should come to light whereby you might receive the due shame or punishment thereof Possibly you may bear up if the times favour you and by your greatness out-face your crimes for a while But that is not a thing to trust to O trust not in wrong and robbery saith David Psal. 62. The winde and the tide may turn against you when you little think it and when once you begin to goe down the winde every base and busie companion will have one puff at you to drive you the faster and the farther down 17. Yet mistake not as if I did exact from Magistrates an absolute immunity from those common frailties and infiâ—mities whereunto the whole race of mankinde is subject The imposition were unreasonable It is one of the unhappinesses that attends both your calling and ours Magistracy and Ministry that every ignorant Artisan that perhaps knoweth little and practiseth less of his own duty can yet instruct us in ours and upon every small oversight make grievous out-cries by objecting to you your place to us our cloath A man of his place a man of his Cloath to do thus or thus As if any Christian man of what place or of what cloath soever had the liberty to do otherwise then well or as if either we or you were in truth that in respect of our natures which in respect of our offices we are sometimes called we Angels and you Gods Truly how ever it pleaseth the Lord for our greater honour thus to stile us yet we finde it in our selves but too well and we make it seem by us alas but too often that we are men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to the like passions ignorances and sinful aberrations that other men are And I doubt not but Samuel notwithstanding all this great confidence in his own integrity had yet among so many causes as in so many years space had gone through his hands sundry times erred in judgment either in the substance of the sentence or at least in some circumstances of the proceedings By mis-informations or mis-apprehensions or by other passions or prejudices no doubt but he might be carried and like enough sometimes was to shew either more leâ—ity or more rigour then was in every respect expedient 18. But this is the thing that made him stand so clear both in his own conscience and in the sight of God and the world that he had not wittingly and purposely perverted judgment nor done wrong to any man with an evil or corrupt intention but had used all faithfulness and good Conscience in those things he did rightly apprehend and all requisite care and diligence so far as humane frailty would suffer to finde out the truth and the right in those things whereof he could not know the certainty This doe exercising your selves with St. Paul to have alwayes a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men and then you may with him also be bold to call both
wealthy and with the despitefulness of the proud but he doth not say it should be so Iobs carriage was otherwise in so far that he disavoweth it and protesteth against it utterly If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me c. He would affoord the meanest servants he had the honour to debate the matter with them and if there were reason on their side to allow it The greatest subject in the land need not think it any disparagement to him to give a just respect to a very mean person if he will but remember that it is the duty even of the King himself to vouchsafe that honour to the poorest begger within his Realm as to protect him from violence and to require an account of his bloud though it should be spilt by the hand of a Lord. 17. And yet behold a greater then Iob although I take it he was a King too within his own territories a greater then any of the great Kings of the earth ready to teach us this duty by his example even our Lord Iesus Christ and the same minde should be in us that was in him And what was that He was pleased so far to honour us base sinful unworthy creatures as we were as for our sakes to lay aside his own greatness emptying and devesting himself of glory and Majestie making himself of no reputation and taking upon him the form of a servant Ill do they follow either his Example or his Apostles Doctrine here who think themselves too good to condescend to men of low estate by doing them any office of service or respect though they need it never so much crave it never so oft deserve it never so well And they who look another way in the day of their brothers distress as the Priest and Levite passed by the wounded man in the parable without regard And not to multiply particulars all they who having power and opportunity thereunto neglect either to reward those that have worth in them according to their merit or to protect those that are wronged according to their innocency or to relieve those that are in want according to their necessity 18. There are a third sort that corrupt a good Text with an ill gloss by putting in a conditional limitation like the bodging in of a course shred into a fine garment as thus The Magistrate shall have his tribute the Minister his tythe and so every other man his due honour if so be he carry himself worthily and as he ought to do in his place and so as to deserve it In good time But I pray you then first to argue the cause a little with thee who ever thou art that thus glossest Who must judge of his carriage and whether he deserve such honour yea or no Why that thou hopest thou art well enough able to do thy self Sure we cannot but expect good justice where he that is a party will allow no other to be judge but himself Where the debter must arbitrate what is due to the creditor things are like to come to a fair reckoning 19. But secondly how dar'st thou distinguish where the Law distinguishes not Where God commandeth he looketh to be answered with Obedience and doest thou think to come off with subtilties and distinctions The precept here in the Text is plain and peremptory admitteth no Equivocation Exception or Reservation suggesteth nothing that should make it reasonable to restrain the Vniversality expressed therein by any such limitation and therefore will not endure to be eluded with any forced Gloss. 20. Least of all thirdly with such a Gloss as the Apostle hath already precluded by his own comment in the next verse where he biddeth servants to be subject to their Masters not only to the good and gentle but to the froward also and such as would be ready to buffet them when they had done no fault Such Masters sure could challenge no great honour from their servants titulo meriti and as by way of desert But yet there belonged to them jure dominij and by vertue of their Mastership the honour of Obedience and Subjection Which honour due unto them by that right they had a good title to and it might not be detained from them either in part or in whole by cavilling at their desert 21. But tell me fourthly in good earnest dost thou beleeve that another mans neglect of his duty can discharge thee from the obligation of thine dic Quintiliane colorem Canst thou produce any publick Law or private Contract or sound Reason wherenn to ground or but handsome Colour wherewith to varnish over such an imagination Fac quod tuum est do thou thy part therefore and honour him according to his place howsoever He shall answer and not thou for his unworthiness if he deserve it not but thou alone shalt answer for the neglect of thine own duty if thou performest it not 22. Lastly ex ore tuo When thou sayest thou wilt honour him according to his place if he deserve it dost thou not observe that thou art still unjust by thy own confession For where place and merit concur there is a double honour due The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour 1 Tim. 5. There is one honour due to the place and another to merit He that is in the place though without desert is yet worthy of a single honour for his place sake and justice requireth he should have it But if he deserve well in his place by rightly discharging his duty therein he is then worthy of a double honour and justice requireth he should have that too Consider now how unjust thou art If he deserve well sayest thou he shall have the honour due to his place otherwise not Thou mightest as well say in plain terms If he be worthy of double honour I can be content to afford the single otherwise he must be content to goe without any Now what justice what conscience in this dealing where two parts are due to allow but one and where one is due to allow just none 23. But I proceed no further in this argument having purposely omitted sundry things that occurred to my meditations herein and contracted the rest that I might have time to speak something to the later precept also Love the brotherhood To which I now pass hoping to dispatch it with convenient brevity observing the same method as before Quid nominis Quid juris Quid facti What we are to do and Why and how we performe it 24. First then for the meaning of the words we must know that as Adam and Christ are the two roots of mankinde Adam as in state of Nature and Christ as in a state of Grace so there is a twofold Brotherhood amongst men correspondent thereunto First a Brotherhood of Nature by propagation from the loines of Adam as we are men and secondly a
Brotherhood of Grace by profession of the faith of Christ as we are Christian men As men we are members of that great body the World and so all men that live within the compass of the World are Brethren by a more general communion of Nature As Christians we are members of that mystical body the Church and so all Christian men that live within the compass of the Church are Brethren by a more peculiar communion of Faith And as the Moral Law bindeth us to love all men as our Brethren and partakers with us of the same common Nature in Adam so the Evangelical Law bindeth to love all Christians as our Brethren and partakers with us of the same common faith in Christ. 25. In which later notion the word Brother is most usually taken in the Apostolical writings to signifie a professor of the Christian Faith and Religion in opposition to heathen men and unbeleevers The name of Christian though of commonest use and longest continuance was yet but of a later date taken up first at Antioch as we finde Act. 11. whereas believers were before usually called Disciples and no less usually both before and since Brethren You shall read very often in the Acts and Epistles of the holy Apostles How the Brethren assembled together to hear the Gospel preached to receive the Sacrament and to consult about the affairs of the Church How the Apostles as they went from place to place to plant and water the Churches in their progress every where visited the Brethren at their first coming to any place saluting the Brethren during their abode there confirming the Brethren at their departure thence taking leave of the Brethren How collections were made for relief of the Brethren and those sent into Iudea from other parts by the hands of the brethren c. S. Paul opposeth the Brethren to them that are without and so includeth all that are within the Church What have I to do to judg them that are without 1 Cor. 5. As if he had said Christ sent me an Apostle and Minister of the Churches and therefore I meddle not but with those that are within the pale of the Church as for those that are without if any of them will be filthy let him be filthy still I have nothing to do to meddle with them But saith he if any man that is within the Christian Church any man that is called a Brother be a fornicator or drunkard or rayler or otherwise stain his holy profession by scandalous living I know how to deal with him let the censures of the Church be laid upon him let him be cast out of the assemblies of the Brethren that he may be thereby brought to shame and repentance 26. So then Brethren in the Apostolical use of the word are Christians and the Brotherhood the whole society of Christian men the systeme and body of the whole visible Church of Christ. I say the visible Church because there is indeed another Brotherhood more excellent then this whereof we now speak consisting of such only as shall undoubtedly inherit salvation called by some of the ancients The Church of Gods Elect and by some later writers the Invisible Church And truly this Brotherhood would under God deserve the highest room in our affections could we with any certainty discern who were of it and who not But because the fan is not in our hand to winnow the chaff from the wheat Dominus novit The Lord onely knoweth who are his by those secret characters of Grace and Perseverance which no eye of man is able to discern in another nor perhaps in himself infallibly we are therefore for the discharge of our duty to look at the Brotherhood so far as it is discernable to us by the plain and legible characters of Baptism and outward profession So that whosoever abideth in areâ Domini and liveth in the communion of the visible Church being baptized into Christ and professing the Name of Christ let him prove as it falleth out chaff or light corn or wheat when the Lord shall come with his fan to purge his floor yet in the mean time so long as he lieth in the heap and upon the floor We must own him for a Christian and take him as one of the Brotherhood and as such an one love him For so is the Duty here Love the Brotherhood 27. To make Love compleat Two things are required according to Aristotle's description of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Affectus cordis and Effectus operis The inward affection of the heart in wishing to him we love all good and the outward manifestation of that affection by our deed as occasion is offered in being ready to our power to do him any good The heart is the root and the seat of all true love and there we must begin or else all we do is but lost If we do never so many serviceable offices to our brethren out of any by-end or sinister respect although they may possibly be very usefull and so very acceptable to him yet if our heart be not towards them if there be not a sincere affection within it cannot be truly called Love That Love that will abide the test and answer the Duty required in the Text must be such as the Apostles have in several passages described it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfained love of the brethren 1 Pet. 1. Love out of a pure heart 1 Tim. 1. Love without dissimulation Rom. 12. 28. Of which inward affection the outward deed is the best discoverer and therefore that must come on too to make the love perfect As Iehu said to Ionadab Is thy heart right If it be then give me thy hand As in the exercises of our devotion towards God so in the exercises of our charity towards men heart and hand should go together Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis Good works are the best demonstrations as of true Faith so of true love Where there is life and heate there will be action There is no life then in that Faith S. Iames calleth it plainly a dead faith Iam. 2. nor heate in that Love according to that expression Matth. 24. the love of many shall wax cold that doth not put forth it self in the works of righteousness and mercy He then loveth not the Brotherhood indeed whatsoever he pretend or at least not in so gracious a measure as he should endeavour after That doth not take every fit opportunity of doing good either to the souls or bodies or credits or estates of his Brethren That is not willing to do them all possible services according to the urgency of their occasions and the just exigence of circumstances with his countenance with his advice with his pains with his purse yea and if need be with his very life too This is the Non ultra farther then this we cannot goe in the expressing of our love Greater love