who can help it if a man will needs cherish an errour and persist in it But now if the conscience be onely doubtfull whether a thing be lawfull or no but have not as yet passed a peremptory judgement against it yea although it rather incline to think it unlawfull in that case if the Magistrate shall command it to be done the subject with a good conscience may do it nay he cannot with a good conscience refuse to do it though it be dubitante conscientiâ But you will yet say that in doubtfull cases the safer part is to be chosen So say I too and am content that rule should decide this question onely let it be rightly applyed Thou thinkest it safer where thou doubtest of the unlawfulnesse to forbear then to do as for example if thou doubtest whether it be lawfull to kneel at the Communion it is safest in thy opinion therefore for thee not to kneel So should I think too if thou wert left meerly to thine own liberty But thou dost not consider how thou art caught in thine own net and how the edge of thine own weapon may be turned upon thee point-blank not to be avoided thus If authority command thee to kneel which whether it be lawfull for thee to do or not thou doubtest it cannot choose but thou must needs doubt also whether thou maiest lawfully disobey or not Now then here apply thine own Rule In dubiis pars tutior and see what will come of it Judge since thou canst not but doubt in both cases whether it be not the safer of the two to obey doubtingly than to disobey doubtingly Tene certum demitte incertum is S. Gregory his rule where there is a certainty and an uncertainty let the uncertainty go and hold to that which is certain Now the generall is certain that thou art to obey the Magistrate in all things not contrary to the will of God but the particular is uncertain whether the thing now commanded thee by the Magistrate be contrary to the will of God I say uncertain to thee because thou doubtest of it Deal safely therefore and hold thee to that which is certain and obey But thou wilt yet alledge that the Apostle here condemneth the doing of any thing not onely with a gainsaying but even with a doubting conscience because doubting also is contrary to faith and he that doubteth is even for that condemned if he eat Oh beware of mis-applying Scripture it is a thing easily done but not so easily answered I know not any one gap that hath let in more and more dangerous errours into the Church than this that men take the words of the sacred Text fitted to particular occasions and to the condition of the times wherein they were written and then apply them to themselves and others as they find them without due respect had to the differences that may be between those times and cases and the present Sundry things spoken in Scripture agreeably to that infancy of the Church would sort very ill with the Church in her fulnesse of strength and stature and sundry directions very expedient in times of persecution and when believers lived mingled with Infidels would be very unseasonably urged where the Churc◠is in a peaceable and flourishing estate enjoying the favour and living under the protection of gracious and religious Princes Thus the Constitutions that the Apostles made concerning Deacons and Widowes in those primitive times are with much importunity but very importunely withall urged by the Disciplinarians And sundry other like things I might instance in of this kind worthy the discovery but that I fear to grow tedious Briefely then the Apostles whole discourse in this Chapter and so wheresoever else he toucheth upon the point of Scandals is to be understood onely in that case where men are left to their own liberty in the use of indifferent things the Romans Corinthians and others to whom S. Paul wrote about these matters being not limited any way in the exercise of their liberty therein by any over-ruling authority But where the Magistrates have interposed thought good upon mature advice to impose Laws upon those that are under them whereby their liberty is not infringed as some unjustly complain in the inward judgement but onely limited in the outward exercise of it there the Apostolical directions wil not hold in the same absolute manner as they were delivered to those whom they then concerned but only in the equity of them so far forth as the cases are alike with such meet qualifications mitigations as the difference of the cases otherwise doth require So that a man ought not out of private fancy or meerly because he would not be observed for not doing as others do or for any the like weak respects to do that thing of the lawfulness whereof he is not competently perswaded where it is free for him to do otherwise which was the case of these weak ones among the Romans for whose sakes principally the Apostle gave these directions But the authority of the Magistrate intervening so alters the case that such a forbearance as to them was necessary is to as many of us as are commanded to do this or that altogether unlawful in regard they were free we are bound for the reasons already shewn which I now rehearse not But you will yet say for in point of obedience men are very loth to yield so long as they can find any thing to plead those that lay these burdens upon us at leastwise should do well to satisfie our doubts and to inform our consciences concerning the lawfulnesse of what they enjoyn that so we might render them obedience with better cheerfulness How willing are we sinful men to leave the blame of our miscarriages any where rather than upon our selves But how is it not incongruous the while that those men should prescribe rules to their governours who can scarcely brook their governours should prescribe Laws to them It were good we would first learn how to obey ere we take upon us to teach our betters how to govern However what governours are bound to do or what is fit for them to do in the point of information that is not now the question If they fail in any part of their bounden duty they shall be sure to reckon for it one day but their failing cannot in the mean time excuse thy disobedience Although I think it would prove a hard task for whosoever should undertake it to shew that Superiours are alwayes bound to inform the consciences of their inferiours concerning the lawfulnesse of every thing they shall command If sometimes they do it where they see it expedient or needfull sometimes again and that perhaps oftner it may be thought more expedient for them and more conducible for the publick peace and safety onely to make known to the people what their pleasures are reserving to themselves the reasons thereof I am sure in the point
which was not in that measure afforded them when they were tempted And from whom can we think that restraint to come but from that God who is the Author and the Lord of nature and hath the power and command and rule of nature by whose grace and goodnesse we are whatsoever we are and to whose powerful assistance we owe it if we do any good for it is he that setteth us on and to his powerful restraint if we eschew any evil for it is he that keepeth us off Therefore I also withheld thee from sinning against me And as to the third point in the Observation it is not much lesse evident than the two former namely that this Restraint as it is from God so it is from the Mercy of God Hence it is that Divines usually bestow upon it the name of Grace distinguishing between a twofold Grace a special renewing Grace and a Common restraining Grace The special and renewing Grace is indeed so incomparably more excellent that in comparison thereof the other is not worthy to be called by the name of Grace if we would speak properly and exactly but yet the word Grace may not unfitly be so extended as to reach to every act of Gods providence whereby at any time he restraineth men from doing those evils which otherwise they would do and that in a threefold respect of God of themselves of others First in respect of God every restraint from sin may be called Grace in as much as it proceedeth ex mero motu from the meer good will and pleasure of God without any cause motive or inducement in the man that is so restrained For take a man in the state of corrupt nature and leave him to himself and think how it is possible for him to forbear any sin whereunto he is tempted There is no power in nature to work a restraint nay there is not so much as any pronenesse in nature to desire a restraint much lesse then is there any worth in Nature to deserve a restraint Issuing therefore not at all from the Powers of Nature but from the free pleasure of God as a beam of his merciful providence this Restraint may well be called Grace And so it may be secondly in respect of the Persons themselves because though it be not available to them for their everlasting salvation yet it is some favour to them more than they have deserved that by this means their sins what in number what in weight are so much lesser than otherwise they would have been whereby also their account shall be so much the easier and their stripes so many the fewer Saint Chrysostome often observeth it as an effect of the mercy of God upon them when he cutteth off great offenders betimes with some speedy destruction and he doth it out of this very consideration that they are thereby prevented from committing many sins which if God should have lent them a longer time they would have committed If his observation be sound it may then well passe for a double Mercy of God to a sinner if he both respite his destruction and withall restrain him from sin for by the one he giveth him so much longer time for repentance which is one Mercy and by the other he preventeth so much of the increase of his sin which is another Mercy Thirdly it may be called Grace in respect of other men For in restraining men from doing evil God intendeth as principally his own glory so withall the good of mankinde especially of his Church in the preservation of humane society which could not subsist an hour if every man should be left to the wildenesse of his own nature to do what mischief the Devill and his own heart would put him upon without restraint So that the restraining of mens corrupt purposes and affections proceedeth from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle somewhere calleth it that love of GOD to mankinde whereby he willeth their preservation and might therefore in that respect bear the name of Grace though there should be no good at all intended thereby to the person so restrained Just as those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those spiritual gifts which God hath distributed in a wonderful variety for the edifying of his Church though they often-times bring no good to the receiver are yet stiled graces in the Scriptures because the distribution of them proceedeth from the gracious love and favour of God to his Church whose benefit he intendeth therein God here restrained Abimelech as elsewhere he did Laban and Esau and Balaam and others not so much for their own sakes though perhaps sometimes that also as for their sakes whom they should have injured by their sins if they had acted them As here Abimelech for his chosen Abrahams sake and Laban and Esau for his servant Iacobs sake and Balaam for his people Israels sake As it is said in Psal. 105. and that with special reference as I conceive it to this very story of Abraham He suffered no man to do them wrong but reproved even Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm He reproved even Kings by restraining their power as here Abimelech but it was for their sakes still that so Sarah his anointed might not be touched nor his Prophet Abraham sustain any harm We see now the Observation proved in all the points of it 1. Men do not alwaies commit those evils they would and might do 2. That they do not it is from Gods restraint who with-holdeth them 3. That restraint is an act of his merciful providence and may therefore bear the name of Grace in respect of God who freely giveth it of them whose sins and stripes are the fewer for it of others who are preserved from harmes the better by it The Inferences we are to raise from the premises for our Christian practise and comfort are of two sorts for so much as they may arise from the consideration of Gods Restraining Grace either as it may lye upon other men or as it may lye upon our selves First from the consideration of Gods restraint upon others the Church and children and servants of God may learn to whom they owe their preservation even to the power and goodnesse of their God in restraining the fury of his and their enemies We live among Scorpions and as sheep in the midst of Wolves and they that hate us without a cause and are mad against us are more in number than the hairs of our heads And yet as many and as malicious as they are by the Mercy of God still we are and we live and we prosper in some measure in despite of them all Is it any thanks to them None at all The seed of the Serpent beareth a natural and an immortal hatred against God and all good men and if they had hornes to their curstnesse and power answerable to their wils we should not breath a minute
differences to as small a number and as narrow a point as may be That if we cannot grow to be of the same belief in every thing we might at least be brought to shew more Charity either to other their to damn one another for every difference and more Ingenuity then to seek to render the one the other more odious to the world then we ought by representing each others opinions worse then they are § XX. The Seventh Objection containeth the other ground of their said former suspicion to wit the vehement pressing of the Ceremonies Wherein First they do not well in calling them Popish and Superstitious but that having already fully cleared I shall not now insist upon Secondly by requiring to have some Command or Example of Scripture produced to warrant to their consciences the use of the Ceremonies They offer occasion to consider of that point wherein the very Mystery of Puritanisme consisteth viz. That no man may with a safe conscience do any thing for which there may not be produced either Command or Example from the Scripture Which erroneous Principle being the main foundation upon which so many false conclusions are built and the fountain from which so many acts of sinful disobedience issue would well deserve a full and through-Examination But this Preface being already swollen far beyond the the proportion I first intended and for that I have heretofore both in one of these Sermons and elsewhere discovered in part the unsoundness thereof I am the willinger both for mine own ease and the Readers to refer him over thither and to spare mine own farther labour here Considering Thirdly that in the present case we need not flinch for fear of any harme that Principle could do us should it be admitted as sound as they would have it For we have both Commands and Examples in the Scriptures to warrant both the prescribing and the using of the Ceremonies Though not as specified in their particulars yet as either comprehended in the General or inferred by way of Proportion Which kinde of Warranty from Scripture themselves are by force of argument driven to allow as sufficient or else they would be at a loss for a hundred things by them daily done upon no better or other warrant then that For Commands then we have besides that grand Canon 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and according to order all those Texts that either contain the right and liberty we have to all the Creatures of God to use them for our service without scruple All things are lawfull nothing unclean of it self To the pure all things are pure c. or require Subjection and Obedience to Superiours Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Submit to every ordinance of man c. And as for Example I think I could readily produce a full Score and not bate an Ace of some Ceremonies and circumstantial actions ordered used or done by holy men even in the old Testament who yet were more strictly tyed to prescript forms then Christians are under the Gospel for the doing whereof it doth not appear that they either had any command from God or were guided by any former precedents or expected any other warrant then the use of their reason and of prudential discourse What warrant else had David for his purpose of building a Temple to God which yet Nathan the Prophet of God approved yea which God himselfe approved of Or what Salomon for keeping a feast of seven dayes for the dedication of the Altar Or what Ezekiah for continuing the feast of unleavened bread seven dayes longer then the time appointed by the Law Or what Mordecai and Ester for making an Ordinance for the yearly observation of the feast of Purim Or what lastly Iudas and the Maccabes for ordeining the feast of the Dedication of the Altar to be kept from year to year at a set season for eight dayes together which solemnity continued even in the dayes of Christ and seemeth to have been by him approved in the Gospel The building of Synagogues in their Town the wearing of sackcloth and ashes in token of humiliation the four fasts mentioned Zach. 8. whereof one only was commanded with sundry other I omit for brevities sake Instances enow and pregnant enough to manifest how very much our brethren deceive themselves by resting upon so unsound a Principle and that upon a meer mistake as will appear presently by § XXI Their Eighth and last Objection Wherein they seem to lay an imputation upon all those that stand for the Ceremonies as if they consequently denyed the sufficiency of the Scripture For answer hereunto first it is freely confessed that the acknowledging of the holy Scriptures to be a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners is the main Article of the Protestant Religion as opposed to the Romish But that all that stand for the Ceremonies should deny the same is so manifestly untrue or indeed that some of the Church of England should deny that which is so clearly contained in the Articles of the Church whereunto he hath subscribed so improbable that it might well pass for a perfect Calumny were not the original occasion of their mistake herein so apparent if but even from the manner of their discourse in the present business The true state whereof Secondly is this The things wherein the power of Christianity consisteth are of two sorts Credenda and Agenda which we usually express by Faith and Manners And the Scripture we acknowledge to be a perfect Rule of Both yet not as excluding the use of Reason but supposing it When God gave us the light of his holy Word he left us as he found us reasonable creatures still without any purpose by the gift of that greater and sublimer light to put out the light he had formerly given us that of Reason or to render it useless and unserviceable Of which light the proper use and that which God intended it for when he gave it us is that by the helpe thereof we might be the better enabled to discern Truth from Falshood that we might embrace the one and reject the other and Good from Evil that we might do the one and shun the other Our Reason therefore is doubtlesse a good Rule both for things to be believed and for things to be done so far as it reacheth but no perfect Rule at all rather a very imperfect one because it reacheth not home To supply the defects whereof dimme as it is even in Naturall and Morall things but dark as darkness it self in things Supernaturall and Divine it was that it pleased the wisdome and goodness of our God to afford us another Light viz. that of supernatural revelation in his holy word without which we could never by the light of Reason alone have found out the right way that leadeth to eternal happiness So that God having first made us reasonable Creatures and then
vouchsafed us his holy word to instruct us what we are to believe and to do either as Men or as Christians We are now furnished with as perfect absolute and sufficient a Rule both of Faith and Manners as our condition in this life is capable of And it is our duty accordingly to resign our selves wholy to be guided by that Word yet making use of our Reason withall in subordination and with submission thereunto as a perfect Rule both of Faith and Life This being clearly so and the Scripture by consent of both parties acknowledged to be the perfect Rule of what we are to believe as well as of what we are to do I earnestly desire our Brethren to consider what should hinder a Christian man from doing any thing that by the meer use of his Reason alone he may rightly judge to be lawful and expedient though it be not commanded or exampled in the Scriptures so as it be not contrary thereunto more then from believing any thing that by the like use of his Reason alone he may rightly judge to be true or credible though the same be not revealed or contained in the Scripture nor is contrary thereunto I do without scruple believe a Mathematical or Philosophical truth or a probable historical relation when I read it or hear it and I believe an honest man upon his word in what he affirmeth or promiseth though none of all these things be contained in the Scripture and thus to believe was never yet by any man that I know of thought derogatory to the sufficiency of Scripture as it is a perfect Rule of Faith Why I may not in like manner wear such or such a garment use such or such a gesture or do any other indifferent thing not forbidden in Scripture as occasions shall require without scruple or why thus to do should be thought derogatory to the sufficiency of scripture as it is a perfect Rule of Manners I confess I have not the wit to understand Since there seemeth to be the like reason of both let them either condemne both or acquit both or else inform us better by shewing us a clear and satisfactory reason of difference between the one and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the main hinge upon which the whole dispute turneth and whereunto all other differences are but appendages The true belief and right understanding of this great Article concerning the Scriptures sufficiency being to my apprehension the most proper Characteristical note of the right English Protestant as he standeth in the middle between and distinguished from the Papist on the one hand and the sometimes styled Puritan on the other I know not how he can be a Papist that truly believeth it or he a Puritan that rightly understandeth it § XXII Having thus answered the several Objections aforesaid wherewith it may be some that stand freer from prejudice then their fellows will be satisfied if any shall yet aske me why I plead still so hard for Ceremonies now they are laid down and so no use either of them or of any discourse concerning them I have this to say First I saw my selfe somewhat concerned to prevent if I could the mis-censuring of these Sermons in sundry of which the Questions that concern Ceremonies are either purposely handled or occasionally touched upon which could not be done without vindicating the Ceremonies themselves as the subject matter thereof Secondly hereby they that were active in throwing them down may be brought to take a little more into their consideration then possibly they have yet done upon what grounds they were thereunto moved and how sound those grounds were that if it shall appear they were then in an Error and they consider withall what disorder confusion and libertinisme hath ensued upon that change they may be sensible of it and amend But Thirdly whatsoever become of the Ceremonies which are mutable things the two Doctrines insisted on concerning them the one touching the Power that Governors have to enjoyn them the other touching the Duty that lyeth upon Inferiours to observe them when they are enjoyned being Truths are therefore alwayes the same and change not It is no absurdity even at mid-winter when there is never a flower upon the bough to say yet Rosa est flos Lastly a time may come when either the same Ceremonies may be restored or others substituted in their rooms and then there may be use again of such reasons and answers as have been pleaded in their defense For I doubt not but those that shall from time to time have the power to order Ecclesiastical affairs if disorders or inconveniencies shall continue to grow after the rate and proportion they have done for some years past will see a necessity of reducing things into some better degree of Decency and Vniformity then now they are Which it is not imaginable how it should be done without some Constitutions to be made concerning Indifferent things to be used in the publick worship and some care had withall to see the Constitutions obeyed Otherwise the greatest part of the Nation will be exposed to the very great danger without the extraordinary mercy of God preventing of quite losing their Religion Look but upon many of our Gentry what they are already grown to from what they were within the compasse of a few years and then Ex pede Herculem by that guess what a few years more may do Do we not see some and those not a few that have strong natural parts but little sence of Religion turned little better then professed Atheists And othersome nor those a few that have good affections but weak and unsetled judgments or which is still but the same weakness an over-weening opinion of their own understandings either quite turned or upon the point of turning Papists These be sad things God knoweth and we all know not visibly imputable to any thing so much as to those distractions confusions and uncertainties that in point of Religion have broken in upon us since the late changes that have happened among us in Church-affairs What it will grow to in the end God onely knoweth I can but guesse § XXIII The Reverend Arch-Bishop Whitgift and the learned Hooker men of great judgment and famous in their times did long since foresee and accordingly declared their fear that if ever Puritanism should prevail among us it would soon draw in Anabaptism after it At this Cartwright and other the advocates for the Disciplinarian interest in those dayes seemed to take great offence as if those fears were rather pretended to derive an odium upon them then that there was otherwise any just cause for the same protesting ever their utter dislike of Anabaptism and how free they were from the least thought of introducing it But this was onely their own mistake or rather Jealousie For those godly men were neither so unadvised nor so uncharitable as to become Judges of other mens thoughts or intentions
leave them worse than they found them Stomach will not bear out a matter without strength and to encounter an adversary are required Shoulders as well as Gall. A good cause is never betrayed more than when it is prosecuted with much eagernesse but little sufficiency This from the Method Observe secondly the Apostles manner of speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Translators render it As we are wrongfully blamed As we are slandered As we are slanderously reported And the word indeed from the Originall importeth no more and so Writers both profane and sacred use it But yet in Scriptures by a specialty it most times signifieth the highest degree of Slander when we open our mouths against God and speak ill or amisse or unworthily of God that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and properly the sin we call blaspemy And yet that very word of Blaspemy which for the most part referreth immediately to God the Apostle here useth when he speaketh of himself and other Christian Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we are slandered nay as we are blasphemed A slander or other wrong or contempt done to a Minister quà talis is a sin of a higher strain than the same done to a Common Christian. Not at all for his persons sake for so he is no more Gods good creature than the other no more free from sins and infirmities and passions than the other But for his Callings sake for so he is Gods Embassadour which the other is not and for his works sake for that is Gods Message which the others is not Personall Slanders and Contempts are to a Minister but as to another man because his person is but as another mans person But slanders and contempts done to him as a Minister that is with reference either to his Calling or Doctrine are much greater than to another man as reaching unto God himself whose Person the Minister representeth in his Calling and whose errand the Minister delivereth in his Doctrine For Contempts S. Paul is expresse elsewhere He that despiseth despiseth not man but God And as for Slanders the very choice of the word in my Text inferreth as much The dignity of our Calling enhaunceth the sin and every slander against our regular Doctrines is more than a bare Calumny if no more at least petty blasphemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we are slandered as we are blasphemed That from the word Observe thirdly the wrong done to the Apostle and to his Doctrine He was slanderously reported to have taught that which he never so much as thought and his Doctrine had many scandalous imputations fastened upon it whereof neither he nor it were guilty As we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say The best truths are subject to mis-interpretation and there is not that Doctrine how firmly soever grounded how warily soever delivered whereon Calumny will not fasten and stick slanderous imputations Neither Iohns mourning nor Christs piping can passe the pikes but the one hath a Devil the other is a Glutton and a Wine-bibber Though Christ come to fulfill the Law yet there be will accuse him as a destroyer of the Law Matthew 5. And though he decide the question plainly for Caesar and that in the case of Tribute Mat. 22. Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars yet there be that charge him as if he spake against Caesar Iohn 19. and that in the very case of Tribute as if he forbade to give Tribute unto Caesar Luke 23. Now if they called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more them of his houshold If Christs did not think we the doctrine of his Ministers and his Servants could escape the stroke of mens tongues and be free from calumny and cavill How the Apostles were slandered as Seducers and Sectaries and vain bablers and Hereticks broachers of new false pestilent doctrines their Epistles and the book of their Acts witnesse abundantly to us And for succeeding times read but the Apologies of Athenagoras and Tertullian and others and it will amaze you to see what blasphemous and seditious and odious and horrible impieties were fathered upon the Ancient Christian Doctors and upon their profession But our own experience goeth beyond all Sundry of the Doctors of our Church teach truly and agreeably to Scripture the effectuall concurrence of GODS Will and Power with subordinate Agents in every and therefore even in sinful actions Gods free election of those whom he purposeth to save of his own grace without any motives in or from themselves The immutability of Gods Love and Grace towards the Saints elect and their certain perseverance therein unto Salvation The Iustification of sinners by the imputed righteousnesse of Christ apprehended and applied unto them by a lively faith without the works of the Law These are sound and true and if rightly understood comfortable and right profitable doctrines And yet they of the Church of Rome have the forehead I will not say to slander my Text alloweth more to blaspheme GOD and his Truth and the Ministers thereof for teaching them Bellarmine Gretser Maldonate and the Jesuits but none more than our own English Fugitives Bristow Stapleton Parsons Kellison and all the rable of that crew freely spend their mouths in barking against us as if we made God the author of sin as if we would have men sin and be damned by a Stoicall fatall necessity sin whether they will or no and be damned whether they deserve it or no as if we opened a gap to all licentiousnesse and profanenesse let them believe it is no matter how they live heaven is their own cock-sure as if we cryed down good works and condemned charity Slanders loud and false yet easily blown away with one single word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These imputations upon us and our doctrine are unjust but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let them that thus mis-report us know that without repentance their damnation will be just It would be time not ill spent to discover the grounds of this observation and to presse the uses of it something fully But because my aim lyeth another way I can but point at them and passe If seldome Truth scape unslandered marvel not the reasons are evident On Gods part on Mans part on the Devils part God suffereth Man raiseth and the Devil furthereth these slanders against the Truth To begin ordine retrogrado and to take them backwards First on the Devils part a kind of Contrariety and Antipathy betwixt him and it He being the Father of lies and Prince of darknesse cannot away with the Truth and with the Light and therefore casteth up slanders as Fogs and Mists against the Truth to bely it and against the Light to darken it Secondly on Mans part And that partly in the understanding when the judgement either of it self weak or else weakened
whereof we now speak had been more timely discovered and more fully and frequently made known to the world than it hath been Fourthly let that doctrine be once admitted and all humane authority will soon be despised The commands of Parents Masters and Princes which many times require both secrecy and expedition shall be taken into slow deliberation and the equity of them sifted by those that are bound to obey though they know no cause why so long as they know no cause to the contrary Delicata est obedientia quae transit in causae genus deliberativum It is a nice obedience in S. Bernards judgement yea rather troublesome and odious that is over-curious in discussing the commands of superiours boggling at every thing that is enjoyned requiring a why for every wherefore and unwilling to stir untill the lawfulness and expediency of the thing commanded shall be demonstrated by some manifest reason or undoubted authority from the Scriptures Lastly the admitting of this doctrine would cast such a snare upon men of weak judgements but tender consciences as they should never be able to unwind themselves thereout again Mens daily occasions for themselves or friends and the necessities of common life require the doing of a thousand things within the compasse of a few dayes for which it would puzzle the best Textman that liveth readily to bethink himself of a sentence in the Bible clear enough to satisfie a scrupulous conscience of the lawfulnesse and expediency of what he is about to do for which by hearkening to the rules of reason and discretion he might receive easie and speedy resolution In which cases if he should be bound to suspend his resolution and delay to do that which his own reason would tell him were presently needfull to be done untill he could haply call to mind some precept or example of Scripture for his warrant what stops would it make in the course of his whole life what languishings in the duties of his calling how would it fill him with doubts and irresolutions lead him into a maze of uncertainties entangle him in a world of wofull perplexities and without the great mercy of God and better instruction plunge him irrecoverably into the gulph of despair Since the chief end of the publication of the Gospel is to comfort the hearts and to revive and refresh the spirits of Gods people with the glad tidindgs of liberty from the spirit of bondage and fear and of gracious acceptance with their GOD to anoint them with the oyl of gladness giving them beauty for ashes and instead of sackcloth girding them with joy we may well suspect that doctrine not to be Evangelicall which thus setteth the consciences of men upon the rack tortureth them with continuall fears and perplexities and prepareth them thereby unto hellish despaire These are the grievous effects and pernicious consequents that will follow upon their opinion who hold that we must have warrant from the Scripture for every thing whatsoever we do not onely in spirituall things wherein alone it is absolutely true nor yet onely in other matters of weight though they be not spirituall for which perhaps there might be some colour but also in the common affairs of life even in the most slight and triviall things Yet for that the Patrons of this opinion build themselves as much upon the authority of this present Text as upon any other passage of Scripture whatsoever which is the reason why we have stood thus long upon the examination of it we are therefore 〈…〉 next place to clear the Text from that their mis-interpretation The force of their collection standeth thus as you heard already that faith is ever grounded upon the word of God that therefore whatsoever action is not grounded upon the word being it is not of faith by the Apostles rule here must needs be a sin Which collection could not be denied if the word Faith were here taken in that sense which they imagine and wherein it is very usuall taken in the Scriptures viz. for the doctrine of supernaturall and divine revelation or for the belief thereof which doctrine we willingly acknowledge to be compleatly contained in the holy Scriptures alone and therefore dare not admit into our belief as a branch of divine supernaturall truth any thing not therein contained But there is a third signification of the word Faith nothing so frequently found in the Scriptures as the two former which yet appeareth both by the course of this whole Chapter and by the consent of the best and most approved interpreters as well ancient as modern to have been properly intended by our Apostle in this place namely that wherein it is put for a certain perswasion of mind that what we do may lawfully be done So that whatsoever action is done by us with reasonable assurance and perswasion of the lawfulnesse thereof in our own consciences is in our Apostles purpose so far forth an action of Faith without any inquiring into the means whereby that perswasion was wrought in us whether it were the light of our own reason or the authority of some credible person or the declaration of Gods revealed will in his written Word And on the other side whatsoever action is done either directly contrary to the judgement and verdict of our own consciences or at leastwise doubtingly and before we are in some competent measure assured that we may lawfully do it that is it which S. Paul here denieth to be of faith and of which he pronounceth so peremptorily that it is and that co nomine a sin About which use and signification of the word Faith we need not to trouble our selves to fetch it from a trope either of a Metonymie or Synecdoche as some do For though as I say it do not so often occur in Scripture yet it is indeed the primary and native signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith derived from the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to perswade Because all kinds of Faith whatsoever consist in a kind of perswasion You shall therefore find the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly to believe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly not to be perswaded to be opposed as contrary either to other in Iohn 3. and Acts 14. and other places To omit the frequent use of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Fides in Greek and Latine authors in this signification observe but the passages of this very Chapter and you will be satisfied in it At the second verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one believeth that he may eat all things that is he is verily perswaded in his conscience that he may as lawfully eat flesh as herbs any one kind of meat as any other he maketh no doubt of it Again at the fourteenth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know and am perswaded that there is nothing
a good man as well as a great and being good he was by so much the better by how much he was the greater Nor was he onely Bonus vir a good man and yet if but so his friends had done him much wrong to make him an Hypocrite but he was Bonus Civis too a good Common-wealths-man and therefore his friends did him yet more wrong to make him an Oppressour Indeed he was neither the one nor the other But it is not so useful for us to know what manner of man Iob was as to learn from him what manner of men we should be The grieved spirit of Iob indeed at first uttered these words for his own justification but the blessed spirit of God hath since written them for our instruction To teach us from Iobs example how to use that measure of greatness and power which he hath given us be it more be it lesse to his glory and the common good So that in these words we have to consider as laid down unto us under the person and from the example of Iob some of the main and principal duties which concern all those that live in any degree of Eminency or Authority either in Church or Common-wealth and more especially those that are in the Magistracy or in any office appertaining to Iustice. And those Duties are four One and the first as a more transcendent and fundamentall duty the other three as accessory helps thereto or subordinate parts thereof That first is a Care and Love and Zeal of Iustice. A good Magistrate should so make account of the administration of Iustice as of his chiefest businesse making it his greatest glory and delight Ver. 14. I put on righteousnesse and it clothed me my judgement was a robe and a diadem The second is a forwardnesse unto the works of Mercy and Charity and Compassion A good Magistrate should have compassion of those that stand in need of his help and be helpful unto them ver 15. and part of 16. I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame I was a father to the poor The Third is Diligence in Examination A good Magistrate should not be hasty to credit the first tale or be carried away with light informations but he should hear and examine and scan and sift matters as narrowly as may be for the finding out of the truth in the remainder of ver 16. And the cause which I knew not I searched out The Fourth is Courage and Resolution in executing A good Magistrate when he goeth upon sure grounds should not fear the faces of men be they never so mighty or many but without respect of persons execute that which is equall and right even upon the greatest offender Ver. 17. And I brake the jaws of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth Of these four in their order of the first first in these words I put on righteousnesse c. This Metaphor of clothing is much used in the Scriptures in this notion as it is applyed to the soul things appertaining to the soul. In Psalm 109. David useth this imprecation against his enemies Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a cloke And the Prophet Esay speaking of Christ and his Kingdome and the righteousnesse thereof Chap. 11. thus describeth it Righteousnesse shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulnesse the girdle of his reins Likewise in the New Testament Saint Paul in one place biddeth us put on the Lord Iesus Christ in another exhorteth women to adorn themselves instead of broydered hair and gold and pearls and costly aray with shamefastness and sobriety and as becoming women professing godlinesse with good works in a third furnisheth the spirituall souldier with Shooes Girdle Breastplate Helmet and all necessary accoutrements from top to toe In all which and other places where the like Metaphor is used it is ever to be understoood with allusion to one of the three speciall ends and uses of apparell For we clothe our selves either first for necessity and common decency to cover our nakednesse or secondly for security and defence against enemies or thirdly for state and solemnity and for distinction of offices and degrees Our cloaks and coats and ordinary suits we all wear to cover our nakednesse and these are Indumenta known by no other but by the generall name of Clothing or Apparel Souldiers in the warres wear Morions and Cuiraces and Targets and other habiliments for defence and these are called Arma Armes or Armour Kings and Princes were Crowns and Diadems inferiour Nobles and Judges and Magistrates and Officers their Robes and â—urres and Hoods and other ornaments fitting to their severall degrees and offices for solemnity of state and as ensigns or marks of those places and stations wherein God hath set them and these are Infulae Ornaments or Robes It is true Iustice and Iudgement and every other good vertue and grace is all this unto the soul serving her both for covert and for protection and for ornament and so stand both for the garments and for the armour and for the Robes of the soul. But here I take it Iob alludeth esecially to the third use The propriety of the very words themselves give it so for he saith he put righteousnesse and judgement upon him as a Robe and a Diadem and such things as there are worn not for necessity but state Iob was certainly a Magistrate a Iudge at the least it is evident from the seventh verse and to me it seemeth not improbable that he was a King though not likely such as the Kings of the earth now are whose dominions are mider and power more absolute yet possibly such as in those ancient times and in those Eastern parts of the world were called Kings viz. a kind of petty Monarch and supreme governour within his own territories though perhaps but of one single City with the Suburbs and some few neighbouring Villages In the first Chapter it is said that he was the greatest man of all the East and in this Chapter he saith of himself that When he came in presence the Princes and the Nobles held their tongues and that He sate as chief and dwelt as a King in the Army and in this verse he speaketh as one that wore a Diadem an ornament proper to Kings Now Kings we know and other Magistrates place much of their outward glory and state in their Diadems and Robes and peculiar Vestments these things striking a kind of reverence into the subject towards their Superiour and adding in the estimation of the people both glory and honour and Majesty to the person and withall pomp and state and solemnity to the actions of the wearer By this speech then of putting on Iustice and Iudgement as a Robe and a Diadem Iob sheweth that the glory and pride which Kings and Potentates
wrong way These would be fairly checkt turned into the right way and guided with a steddy and skilfull hand A third sort and I think the greatest through unsetledness or discontentedness or other untoward humour walk not soberly and uprightly and orderly in their Calling like an unruly Colt that will over hedge and ditch no ground will hold him no fence turn him These would be well fettered and side-hanckled for leaping The first sort are to be taught the Necessity of a Calling the second to be directed for the Choice of their Calling the third to be bounded and limited in the Exercise of their Calling Of which three in their order and of the First first the Necessity of a calling The Scriptures speak of two kinds of Vocations or Callings the one ad Foedus the other ad Munus The usual known terms are the General and the Particular Calling Vocatio ad Foedus or the General Calling is that wherewith God calleth us either outwardly in the ministery of his Word or inwardly by the efficacy of his Spirit or joyntly by both to the faith and obedience of the Gospel and to the embracing of the Covenant of grace and of mercy and salvation by Iesus Christ. Which is therefore termed the General Calling not for that it is of larger extent than the other but because the thing whereunto we are thus called is one and the same and common to all that are called The same duties and the same promises and every way the same conditions Here is no difference in regard of Persons but One Lord one Faith one baptism one body and one spirit even as we are all called in one hope of our Calling That 's the General Calling Vocatio ad Munus Our Particular Calling is that wherewith GOD enableth us and directeth us and putteth us on to some special course and condition of life wherein to employ our selves and to exercise the gifts he hath bestowed upon us to his glory and the benefit of our selves and others And it is therefore termed a Particular Calling not as if it concerned not all in general for we shall prove the contrary anon but because the thing whereunto men are thus called is not one and the same to all but differenced with much variety according to the quality of particular persons Alius sic alius vero sic Every man hath his proper gift of God one man on this manner another on that Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some called to be Magistrates some Ministers some Merchants some Artificers some one thing some another as to their particular Callings But as to the General Calling there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common Salvation all called to the same State of being the servants and children of God all called to the performance of the same duties of servants and to the expectation of the same inheritance of children all called to be Christians Of both which Callings the General and Particular there is not I take it any where in Scripture mention made so expresly and together as in this passage of our Apostle especially at the 20 ver Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called Where besides the matter the Apostles elegancy is observable in using the same word in both significations the Noun signifying the Particular and the Verb the General Calling Let every one abide in the same calling wherein he was called bearing sense as if the Apostle had said Let every man abide in the same Particular Calling wherein he stood at the time of his General Calling And the same and no other is the meaning of the words of my Text. Whence it appeareth that the Calling my Text implyeth and wherein every man is here exhorted to abide is to be understood of the Particular and not of the General Calling And of this Particular Calling it is we now intend to speak And that in the more Proper and restrained signification of it as it importeth some setled course of life with reference to business office and imployment accordingly as we say a man is called to be a Minister called to be a Lawyer called to be a Tradesman and the like Although I cannot be ignorant that our Apostle as the stream of his argument caryed him here taketh the word in a much wider extent as including not only such special courses of life as refer to imployment but even all outward personal states and conditions of men whatsoever whether they have such reference or no as we may say a man is called to Marriage or to single life called to riches or poverty and the like But omitting this larger signification we will hold our selves either only or principally to the former and by Calling understand a special setled course of life wherein mainly to employ a mans gifts and time for his own and the common good The Necessity whereof whilst we mention you are to imagine not an absolute and positive but a conditional and suppositive necessity Not as if no man could be without one de facto dayly experience in these dissolute times manifesteth the contrary but because de jure no man should be without one This kind of Calling is indeed necessary for all men But how Not as a necessary thing ratione termini so as the want thereof would be an absolute impossibility but virtute praecepti as a necessary duty the neglect whereof would be a grievous and sinfull enormity He that will doe that which he ought and is in conscience bound to doe must of necessitity live in some calling or other That is it we mean by the Necessity of a Calling And this Necessity we are now to prove And that First from the Obedience we owe to every of Gods Ordinances and the account we must render for every of Gods Gifts Amongst those Ordinances this is one and one of the first that in the sweat of our faces every man of us should eat our bread Gen. 3. The force of which precept let none think to avoid by a quirk that forsooth it was layed upon Adam after his transgression rather as a Curse which he must endure than as a Duty which he should perform For first as some of Gods Curses such is his goodness are promises as well as Curses as is that of the Enmity between the Womans seed and the Serpents so some of Gods Curses such is his Iustice are Precepts as well as Curses as is that of the Womans subjection to the Man This of eating our bread in the sweat of our face is all the three it is a Curse it is a Promise it is a Precept It is as Curse in that God will not suffer the earth to afford us bread without our sweat It is a promise in that God assureth us we shall have bread for our sweat And it is a Precept too in that God enjoyneth us if we will have bread to
see the Vsurer hugging himself and clapping his sides that he hath come off so fairly surely his Calling is absolute good whereon none of these Rules could fasten But it is indeed with the Vsurer in this case as with the Drunkard If the Drunkard should ask me against which of the ten Commandements he offended I confesse I could not readily give him a direct punctual answer Not that he sinneth not against any but because he sinneth against so many of them that it is hard to say against which most He sinneth against the sixth Commandement by distempering his body he sinneth against the seventh by enflaming his lust he sinneth against the eighth by making waste of the good Creatures of God Right so is it with our Usurer in this case He would pose me that should ask me the Question which of these three Rules fetcheth-in the Usurer and his Calling Verily I cannot well tell which most I think every one of the three may howsoever among the three I am sure I have him If Vsury be simply unlawfull as most of the learned have concluded then the first Rule hath him I should be very tender to condemn any thing as simply unlawfull which any even imaginary conjuncture of Circumstances would render lawfull and would chuse rather by an over-liberal Charity to cover a multitude of sins if I may abuse the Apostles phrase to that sense than by a too superstitious restraint make one Yet the Texts of Scripture are so expresse and the grounds of Reason brought by learned men seem so strong against all Vsury that I have much adoe to find so much charity in my self as to absolve any kind of Vsury properly so called with what cautions or circumstances soever qualified from being a sin But I will suspect mine own and the common judgement herein and admit for this once dato non concesso that Vsury be in some case lawfull and so our Vsurer escape the first Rule which yet cannot be till his teeth be knocked out for biting But you must knock out his brains too before he escape our second Rule I dare say the most learned Vsurer that liveth and they say some learned ones are Vsurers will never be able to prove that Vsury if it be at all lawfull is so lawfull as to be made a Calling Here all his Doctors and his Proctors and his Advocates leave him For can it possibly enter into any reasonable mans head to think that a man should be born for nothing else but to tell out mâ—ny and take in paper which if a man had many millions of gold and silver could take up but a small portion of that precious time which God would have spent in some honest and fruitfull employment But what doe I speak of the judgement of reasonable men in so plain a matter wherein I dare appeal to the conscience even of the Vsurer himself and it had need be a very plain matter that a man would referre to the conscience of an Vsurer No honest man need be ashamed of an honest Calling if then the Vsurers Calling be such what need he care who knoweth or why should he shame with it If that be his trade why doth he not in his Bills and bonds and Noverints make it known to all men by those presents that he is an Vsurer rather than write himself Gentleman or Yeoman or by some other stile But say yet our Vsurer should escape at least in the judgement of his own hardned conscience from both these Rules as from the sword of Iehu and Hazael there is yet a third Rule like the sword of Elisha to strike him stone-dead and he shall never be able to escape that Let him shew wherein his Calling is profitable to humane society He keepeth no Hospitality if he have but a barr'd chest and a strong lock to keep his God and his Scriptures his Mammon and his Parchments in he hath house-room enough He fleeceth many but cloatheth none He biteth and devoureth but eateth all his morsels alone He giveth not so much as a crumme no not to his dearest Broken or Scrivener only where he biteth he alloweth them to scratch what they can for themselves The King the Church the poor are all wronged by him and so are all that live near him in every common charge he slippeth the collar and leaveth the burden upon those that are lesse able It were not possible Vsurers should be so bitterly inveighed against by sober Heathen Writers so severely censured by the Civil and Canon Lawes so uniformly condemned by godly Fathers and Councels so universally hated by all men of all sorts and in all ages and countries as Histories and experience manifest they ever have been and are if their Practice and calling had been any way profitable and not indeed every way hurtfull and incommodious both to private men and publike societies If any thing can make a Calling unlawfull certainly the Vsurers Calling cannot be lawfull Our first care past which concerneth the Calling it self our next care in our choice must be to enquire into Our selves what Calling is most fit for us and we for it Wherein our Enquiry must rest especially upon three things our Inclination our Gifts and our Education Concerning which let this be the first Rule Where these three concurre upon one and the same Calling our consciences may rest assured that that Calling is fit for us and we ought so far as it lyeth in our power to resolve to follow that This Rule if well observed is of singular use for the setling of their consciences who are scrupulous and doubtfull concerning their inward calling to any office or imployment Divines teach it commonly and that truly that every man should have an inward Calling from God for his particular course of life and this in the calling of the Ministery is by so much more requisite than in most other Callings by how much the business of it is more weighty than theirs as of things more immediately belonging unto GOD. Whence it is that in our Church none are admitted into holy Orders until they have personally and expresly made profession before the Bishop that they find themselves inwardly called and moved thereunto But because what that inward Calling is and how it should be discerned is a thing not so distinctly declared and understood generally as it should be it often falleth out that men are distressed in conscience with doubts and scruples in this case whilst they desired to be assured of their inward Calling and know not how We are to know therefore that to this inward calling there is not of necessity required any inward secret sensible testimony of Gods blessed sanctifying Spirit to a mans soul for then an unsanctified man could not be rightly called neither yet any strong working of the Spirit of Illumination for then a meer heathen man could not be rightly called both which consequents are false For Saul
Is it any thanks to our selves Nor that neither we have neither number to match them nor policy to defeat them nor strength to resist them weak silly little flock as we are But to whom then is it thanks As if a little flock of sheep escape when a multitude of ravening Wolves watch to devour them it cannot be ascribed either in whole or in part either to the sheep in whom there is no help or to the Wolf in whom there is no mercy but it must be imputed all and wholly to the good care of the shepherd in safe guarding his sheep and keeping off the Wolf so for our safety and preservation in the midst and in the spight of so many Enemies Not unto us O Lord not unto us whose greatest strength is but weaknesse much lesse unto them whose tenderest mercies are cruel but unto thy Name be the glory O thou Shepheard of Israel who out of thine abundant love to us who are the flock of thy Pasture and the sheep of thy hands hast made thy power glorious in curbing and restraining their malice against us Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Wonders we may well call them indeed they are Miracles if things strange and above and against the ordinary course of Nature may be called Miracles When we read the stories in the Scriptures of Daniel cast into the den among the Lions and not touched of the three children walking in the midst of the fiery furnace and not scorched of a viper fastning upon Pauls hand and no harm following we are stricken with some amazement at the consideration of these strange and supernatural accidents and these we all confesse to be miraculous escapes Yet such Miracles as these and such escapes God worketh daily in our preservation notwithstanding we live encompassed with so many fire-brands of hell such herds of ravening Wolves and Lions and Tygers and such numerous generations of vipers I mean wicked and ungodly men the spawn of the old Serpent who have it by kinde from their father to thirst after the destruction of the Saints and servants of God and to whom it is as natural so to do as for the fire to burn or a viper to bite or a Lion to devour Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for this his goodnesse and daily declare these his great wonders which he daily doth for the children of men Secondly since this restraint of wicked men is so only from God as that nothing either they or we or any Creature in the world can do can with-hold them from doing us mischief unlesse God lay his restraint upon them it should teach us so much wisdome as to take heed how we trust them It is best and safest for us as in all other things so in this to keep the golden mean that we be neither too timorous nor too credulous If wicked men then threaten and plot against thee yet fear them not God can restrain them if he think good and then assure thy self they shall not harm thee If on the other side they colloague and make shew of much kindnesse to thee yet trust them not God may suffer them to take their own way and not restrain them and then assure thy self they will not spare thee Thou maist think perhaps of some one or other of these that sure his own good nature will hold him in or thou hast had trial of him heretofore and found him faithfull as heart could wish or thou hast some such tye upon him by kindred neighbourhood acquaintance covenant oath benefits or other natural or civil obligation as will keep him off at least from falling foul upon thee all at once Deceive not thy self these are but slender assurances for thee to abide upon Good nature alas where is it since Adam fell there was never any such thing in rerum natura if there be any good thing in any man it is all from Grace nature is all naught even that which seemeth to have the preheminence in nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is stark naught We may talk of this and that of good natured men and I know not what But the very truth is set grace aside I mean all grace both renewing and restraining grace there is no more good nature in any man than there was in Cain and in Iudas That thing which we use to call good nature is indeed but a subordinate means or instrument whereby God restraineth some men more than others from their birth and special constitution from sundry outragious exorbitancies and so is a branch of this restraining Grace whereof we now speak And as for thy past Experience that can give thee little security thou knowest not what fetters God layed upon him then nor how he was pleased with those fetters God might full sore against his will not only restrain him from doing thee hurt but also constrain him to do thee good as sometimes he commanded the Ravens to feed Eliah a bird so unnatural to her young ones that they might famish for her if God did not otherwise provide for them and therefore it is noted in the Scripture as a special argument of Gods providence that he feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him But as nothing that is constrained is durable but every thing when it is constrained against its natural inclination if it be let alone will at length return to his own kinde and primitive disposition as these Ravens which now fed Eliah would have been as ready another time to have pecked out his eyes so a Natural man is a natural man still howsoever ouer-ruled for the present and if God as he hath hitherto by his restraint with-held him shall but another while withhold his restraint from him he will soon discover the inbred hatred of his heart against good things and men and make thee at the last beshrew thy folly in trusting him when he hath done thee a mischief unawares And therefore if he have done thee seven courtesies and promise fair for the eighth yet trust him not for there are seven abominations in his heart And as for whatsoever other hanck thou maiest think thou hast over him be it never so strong unlesse God manacle him with his powerful restraint he can as easily unfetter himself from them all as Sampson from the green wit hs and coards wherewith the Philistines bound him All those fore-mentioned relations came in but upon the bye and since whereas the hatred of the wicked against goodness is of an ancienter date and hath his root in corrupt nature and is therefore of such force that it maketh void all obligations whether civil domestical or other that have grown by vertue of any succeeding contract It is a ruled case Inimici domestici A mans enemies may be