but without this care you are Idols and not Gods Much like the Idol Gods of the heathen that have eyes and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak not that have a great deal of Worship from the people and much reverence but are good for nothing By this very argument in Baruc 6. are such Idols disproved to be Gods They can save no man from death neither deliver the weak from the mighty They cannot restore a blind man to his sight nor help any man in his distress They can shew no mercy to the widow nor do good to the fatherless How should a man then think and say that they are Gods 11. I hope the greatest upon earth need think it no disparagement to their greatness to look down upon the afflictions of their meanest brethren and to stoop to their necessities when the great God of heaven and earth who hath his dwelling so high yet humbleth himself to behold the simple that lie as low as the dust and to lift up the poor that sticketh fast in the mire The Lord looked down from his Sanctuary from the heaven did the Lord behold the earth That he might hear the mournings of such as be in captivity and deliver the children appointed unto death So then for the performance of this duty thou hast Gods commandment upon thee and thou hast Gods Example before thee If there be in thee any true fear of God thou wilt obey his command and if any true hope in God follow his Example 12. If from God we look downward in the next place upon our selves and duly consider either what power we have or what need we may have from both considerations we may discover yet farther the necessity of this Duty And first from our Power There is no power but of God and God bestoweth no power upon man nor indeed upon any creature whatsoever to no purpose The natural powers and faculties as well of our reasonable souls as of our Organicall bodies they have all of them their several uses and operations unto which they are designed And by the principles of all good Philosophy we cannot conceive of Power but in order and with reference to Act. Look then what power God hath put into any of our hands in any kinde and in any measure it lieth us upon to imploy it to the best advantage we can for the good of our brethren for to this very end God hath given us that power what ever it be that we might do good therewithall The Lord hath in his wise providence so disposed the things of this world that there should ever be some rich to relieve the necessities of the poor and some poor to exercise the charity of the rich So likewise he hath laid distresses upon some that they might be succoured by the power of others and lent power to some that they might be able to succour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distresses of others Now as God himself to whom all power properly and originally belongeth delighteth to manifest his power rather in shewing mercy then in works of destruction God spake once twise have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God and that thou Lord art merciful Psal. 62. O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee accordiâ—g to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die Psal. 79. So all those upon whom God hath derived any part of that power should consider that God gave it them for edification not for destruction to do good withall and to help the distressed and to save the innocent not to trample upon the poor and oppress those that are unable to resist Pestifera vis est valere ad nocendum It is in truth a great weakness in any man rather then a demonstration of power to stretch his power for the doing of mischief An evident argument whereof is that observation of our Solomon in Prov. 28. confirmed also by daily experience that a poor man that oppresseth the poor is ever the most merciless oppressour It is in matter of Power many times as it is in matter of Learning They that have but a smattering in schollership you shall ever observe to be the forwardest to make ostentation of those few ends they have because they fear there would be little notice taken of their learning if they should not now shew it when they can And yet you may observe that withall it oftentimes falleth out very unluckily with them that when they think most of all to shew their schollership they then most of all by some gross mistake or other betray their Ignorance It is even so in this case Men of base spirit and condition when they have gotten the advantage of a little power conceive that the world would not know what goodly men they are if they should not do some act or other whereby to shew forth their power to the world And then their minds being too narrow to comprehend any brave and generous way whereby to do it they cannot frame to doe it any other way then by trampling upon those that are below them and that they do beyond all reason and without all mercy 13. This Argument taken from the end of that power that God giveth us was wisely and to good purpose pressed by Mordecai Esth. 1. to Queen Esther when she made difficulty to goe into the Presence to intercede for the people of the Iews after that Haman had plotted their destruction Who knoweth saith he there whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this As if he had said Consider the marvailous and gracious providence of God in raising thee who wert of a despised nation and kindred to be partaker with the most potent Monarch in the world in the royall Crown and Bed Think not but the Lord therein certainly intended some great work to be done by thy hand and power for his poor distressed Church Now the hour is come Now if ever will it be seasonable for thee to make use of those great fortunes God hath advanced thee to and to try how far by that power and interest thou hast in the Kings favour thou canst prevail for the reversing of Hamans bloudy decree and the preserving our whole nation from utter destruction And of this Argument there seemeth to be some intimation in the very Text as those words in the twelfth verse may and that not unfitly be understood He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it That is He that hath preserved thee from falling into that trouble and misery whereinto he hath suffered thy distressed brother to fall and hath kept thee in safety and prosperity for this end that thou mightest the better be able to succour those that are helpless doth not he take knowledg what use thou makest of that Power and whether thou art mindfull to employ it for thy brothers good
carriage and conversation towards him A false weight is abominable and so is every one that tradeth with it and certainly that man maketh use of a false beam that setteth light by his brother or perhaps setteth him at nought whom he ought to honour The question is put on sharply by the Apostle Rom. 14. Why doest thou set at naught thy brother as who should say with what face with what conscience canst thou do it He that defalketh any thing of that just honour which he ought to allow his brother let his pretence be what it can be how is he not guilty of the sin of Ananias and Saphira even according to the letter Acts 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the phrase there in keeping back as they did part of the full price when they should have laid it down all Thus we are tied in Iustice to honour all men 11. The next tie is that of Equity where the Rule is Quod tibi fieri nonvis A rule which Severus a wise Emperour magnified exceedingly Lampridius saith that he learnt it of the Christians And it may very well be so for Christ himself commended it to his Disciples as a perfect breviate of the whole Law Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets He meaneth so far as concerneth our dealings and transactions with men A short lesson but of a large comprehension all one in the meaning and result with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St Iames calleth it that Royal Law which comprehendeth in it the whole second Table of the Law with all the several offices reducible to each commandement therein Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self If we would but once perfectly learn this one lesson and soundly follow it Do as we would be done to sailing alwayes by that Compass and framing all our actions by that Rule we should not need any other Law for the guiding of our consciences or other direction for the ordering of our conversations in respect of our carriage towards others But there is a base wretched pride in us that disordereth all both within and without and will not suffer us to be I say not just but even so much as reasonable Like some broken Merchants that drive their creditors to low compositions for great summes but call hard upon their poor neighbours for petty reckonings that stand uncrost in the book or the evil servant in the parable Mat. 18. who having craved his Masters forbearance for a very vast summe went presently and shook his fellow-servant by the throat for a trifle or as young prodigal heirs that are ready to borrow of every man that will lend them but never take any care to pay scores so are many of us Nulla retrorsum We care not how much honour cometh to our selves from others how little goeth from our selves to others Nay you shall observe it and the reason of it is manifested for the same pride that maketh men over-prize themselves maketh them also undervalue their brethren you shall observe it I say that these very men that stand most upon the termes of betterness and look for most respect from those that are below them are ever the slackest in giving to those that are above them their due honour Who so forward generally to set bounds and to give Law to the higher powers as those very men that exercise the most unbounded and unlimited tyrannie among their poor neighbours and underlings crowing over them without all mercy and beyond all reason I forbid no man to maintain the rights and to preserve the dignity that belongeth either to his place or person rather I hold him much to blame if he do not by all fair and justifiable means endeavour so to do For qui sibi nequam cui bonus He that is retchless of his own honour there is no great fear that he will be over-carefull of doing his neighbour right in giving him his Let every man therefore in Gods name take to himself that portion of honour and respect that is due to him and good luck may he have with his honour Provided alwayes that he be withall sure of these two things First that he take no more then his due for this is but just and then that he be as willing to give as to take for that is but equal He that doth otherwise is partial and unreasonable And thus we are tied in Equity to honour all men 12. There is yet a third tie that of Religion in respect of that image of God which is to be found in man All honour is in regard of some excellency or other and there is in man no excellency at all of and from himself but all the excellency that is in him is such only as God hath been pleased to put upon him So as those characters and impressions of excellency which God hath stamped upon man as some image of himself is the true foundation of all that honour that can any way belong unto him And that excellency is twofold Natural and Personal The Natural excellency is that whereby Man excelleth other creatures the Personal that whereby one man excelleth another 13. Of the Natural first which ariseth from the Image of God stamped upon man in his creation And this excellency being it was put upon the whole species of mankinde is therefore to be found in all men and that alike so as in this respect all men are honourable and all alike honourable Thou that comparing thy self with thy poorer brother thinkest thy self the better man and so despisest him compare thy self and him another while in puris naturalibus and thou shalt finde no difference Take him as a man he is every way as good a man as thou thou carriest a body about thee no less mortal then his he harboureth a soule within him no less immortal then thine And where is the difference Well then here is the first honour we owe to all men even as they are men and that without all either exception none to be excluded or differences none to be preferred viz. this that we despise no man but that as much as lieth in us we preserve the being and advance the well-being of every man and that because of Gods Image set upon him As when a piece of base mettal is coyned with the Kings stamp and made currant by his edict no man may thenceforth presume either to refuse it in pay or to abate the value of it So God having stamped his own image upon every man and withall signified his blessed pleasure how precious he would have him to be in our eyes and esteem according as you shall finde the tenour of the Edict in Gen. 9. At the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man with the reason of the edict also annexed for in the image of God made he man
tell him who had him in hand and bid him look well to himself and beware a cheat But if he should after such warning given grow into farther fammiliarity with him and I should still give him signes one after another to break off speech and to quit the company of such a dangerous fellow and all to no purpose Who could either pity him or blame me if I should leave him at last to be gulled and fooled that set so little by the wholsome and timely admonitions of his friend Much greater then his is thy folly if thou neglectest the warnings and despisest the murmurings of thine own Conscience Thou sufferest it but deservedly if thy Conscience having so ofen warned thee in vain at length grow weary of that office and leave thee to take thine own course and so thou become a prey to the Devil and fall into sundry grievous presumptions Quis enim invitum servare laboret Be carefull not to grieve thine own spirit by offending thy Conscience and thou shalt not lightly grieve the spirit of God by sinning Presumptuously 37. Secondly strive to be Master of thine own will We count our horses unserviceable till they be broken and the more head-strong the more unserviceable And it is a point of the greatest skill in the art of Education for Parents betimes to break their children of their wills If David had done so with his Absolon and his Adoniah for ought we know he might have had more comfort of them Why shouldest not thou carry as steddy and severe a hand over thine own soule as a discreet father would do over his childe and be as carefull to break thy self of thine own will as he his childe of his And to get the mastery over thy self in greater matters it will behove thee to exercise this discipline first in lesser things as he that would be a skilfull Wood-man will exercise himself thereunto first by shooting sometimes at a dead mark In thy meats and drinks in thy pastimes and society in other delights and things such as are in themselves both lawfull and honest exercise this soveraignty now and then over thine own will When thou observest it eagerly bent upon some one thing that may without sin or folly be left undone sometimes deny thy self and thine own will therein curbe thy desires though they be somewhat importunate and thou shalt finde in time incredible benefit by it There are some other but this is one of the best uses of Fasting and to my seeming the most proper and immediate good that cometh by it not so much to tame the Flesh and take down the body though that also as to cross the appetite and pull down the Will That proverbial form of afflicting the soule usual among the Hebrews and that peculiar to Solomon of putting a knife to the throat do both look this way And so doth S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 9. which is an athletique pugilar word as those that beat one another with their fists striving for the mastery so did he to bring his body in subjection that so he might have as the phrase is otherwhere in the same Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power over his own will 38. The fact was barbarous but yet the story memorable of Amurath the great Turke in cutting off with his own hands the head of his beautifull minion Irene upon no dislike at all but meerly that his Princes who were displeased to see his minde by doating upon her drawn off from all care of the publick affairs might withall see how he could command himself and conquer his own affections But we need not seek out so far for an example having one more innocent and of a far better man then he in the scriptures even our David Who longing with an earnest appetite to drink of the water of the well by the gate of Bethlehem yet when he had it brought him by the brave attempt of three of his Worthies he would not taste a drop of it but in condemnation of the inordinacy of his appetite which had exposed such worthy persons to the hazard of their lives poured it out unto the Lord. What a mass of Sin and misery had he escaped could he have so denied himself in the matter of Vriah Verily there is no conquest like this for a man to conquer himself and he that hath subdued his own will hath done a braver thing then he that hath taken a town or scaled the walls of a Castle It is wilfulness only that begetteth Presumption the more therefore thou canst master thine own will the safer thou art from sinning Presumptuously That is the second 39. Thirdly beware of engaging thy self to sin It is a fearful thing when sin hath got a tye upon a man Then is one properly in the snare of the Devil when he hath him as it were in a string and may lead him captive to what measure of presumption he will And sundry wayes may a man thus entangle himself by a Verbal by a Reall by a Sinfull Engagement He shall do best to keep himself out of all these snares But if once he be in there is no way out again but one even this To loose his pledge to break in sunder the bonds wherein he is tied as Sampson did the green wit hs and to cast away those cords from him 40. A man hath bound himself rashly by some promise vow or covenant to do something he may not do or not to do something he ought to do He is now engaged in a sin the Devil hath got this tye upon him And though his conscience tell him he cannot proceed without sin yet because of his Vow or his Oath he is wilful and must on It was Herods Case for taking off the Baptists head It was against his conscience to do it for he knew he had not deserved it Ey and it was against his minde too to do it for the Text saith he was exceeding sorry that his niece should put him upon it But yet saith the story withall for his oath sake and because the great ones about him should not say but the King would be as big as his word he resolved it should be done gave commandement accordingly to have it done This I call a Verbal Engagement 41. There is a Reall one too as ill as this For example A man heareth of a bargaine which he apprehendeth will be for his profit or spieth out a likely way for his advancement and being unwilling to lose the opportunity perhaps disburseth some moneys or putteth his great friends upon it to further his design It may be afterwards upon better consideration he espieth a flaw in it which he saw not before or some intervening accident which he could not probably foresee hath cast such a rub in his way that he cannot go on fairly as at first he hoped but he must strain his conscience
by sometimes suffering their enemies to get the upper hand and sometimes bringing them under again by sometimes giving success to their affairs even beyond their expectation and sometimes dashing their hopes when they were almost come to full ripeness He turneth them this way and that way and every way till they know all their postures and can readily cast themselves into any form that he shall appoint They are often abased and often exalted now full and anon hungry one while they abound and they suffer need another while Till with our Apostle they know both how to be abased and how to abound Till every where and in all things they be instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need Till they can at least in some weak yet comfortable measure do all things through Christ that strengtheneth them These exercises are indeed the most unpleasing part of this holy learning especially to a yong novice in the school of Christ the Apostle saith truly of it Heb. 12. that for the present it is not joyous but grievous But yet it is a very necessary part of the learning and marvelously profitable after a time for as it there also followeth Nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the quiet and peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby 11. We have hitherto seen the point opened and proved that true Christian contentment springeth not first from Nature nor secondly from Morality nor thirdly from Outward things but is taught only by God himself Who first perswadeth the hearts of his children out of the acknowledgement of his fatherly providence that that estate is ever presently best for them which they have for the present and assureth them secondly by faith in his temporal promises that they shall never want any thing that may be good for them for the time to come and thirdly exerciseth and inureth them by frequent enterchanging of prosperity and adversity and sanctifying both estates unto them both to glorifie him and to satisfie themselves by and with either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and in the next verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned and have been thereunto instructed and as it were initiated into it as into an art or mystery in whatsoever state I am therewithall to be content Now for the Vses and Inferences hence 12. First S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here notably discovereth both the vanity of those men who boast as if they had minds richly content when as yet they never knew what grace and godliness meant and withall the folly of those men that seek for or promise to themselves contentment but seek for it other where then where alone it is to be found that is to say in the school of Christ and of his holy Spirit In all learnings it is a point of special consequence to get a good Master He hath half done his work that hath made a happy choyce that way And the more needfull the learning is the greater care would be had in the choyce Here is a piece of excellent learning every man will confess Why should any of us then trifle away our time to no purpose and put our selves to a great deal of fruitless pains to learn contentment from those that cannot teach it Yet such is the folly of most of us we seldome look farther then our selves seldome higher then these sublunary things for this learning It is one of our Vanities that we love to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we glory not a little in that knowledge which we have hammered out by our own industry without a teacher But that which we use to say in other learnings is indeed most true in this He that scorneth to be taught by any but himself shall be sure to have a fool to his Tutor Cato and Seneca and other the wisest and learnedst among Philosophers ever shrunk when they came to the triall and by their timerousness and discontentedness sufficiently discovered the un-usefulness or at least the unsufficiency of their best precepts to effect that blessed tranquillity of minde which they promised Professing themselves in their speculations to be wise in their practise they became fools and were confounded in the vanity of their own imaginations It was a vain brag of him that said it Hoc satis est orare Iovem qui donat aufert Det vitam det opes animum mî aequum ipse parabo He would pray to Iupiter to give him health and to give him wealth but as for Contentment he would never put him to trouble for that If he might have health and wealth he doubted not but he could carve out his own contentment well enough without any of Iupiters help Little did he know the cursed corruption of his own heart and that he stood rather in more need of God for this then for those other things A far wiser man then he hath told us from his own experience and observation and that not in one or two or a few particulars but he saith it is a common evil among men A man to whom God hath given riches wealth and honour so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth yet giveth him not power to eat thereof Eccles. 6.1 2. But admit his brag had been as true as it was vaine and that he could indeed have wrought his own contentment if Iupiter should give him the things he required yet still he had come far short of St Pauls learning in the Text. For even by his own confession he could not raise himself a contentment out of nothing He must have wealth and health to work upon or else he could do nothing He had not yet attained to that high pitch of learning as in whatsoever state he should be to be therewith content Which yet every poor simple Christian that truly feareth God hath in some measure attained unto who can find contentment also in sickness and in poverty if the Lord be pleased to send them as well as in health and plenty and bless his Name for both in the words of holy Iob The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. 13. Secondly since Contentment is a point of learning as we see and we know also where it is to be learned or not at all it were well we would all of us be perswaded in the next place to be willing to learn it St Paul had never had it if he had never learn'd it and you see what use he had of it and how mightily it did bestead him the whole course of his life after he had learn'd it And the more to quicken you hereunto take into your consideration amongst other these inducements Consider first the excellency and difficulty of this learning Most scholars will not satisfie themselves with the knowledg of ordinary and obvious things but are desirous to learn
time the Sale first by Sin and then the Redemption by Christ. 2. You have sold your selves for nought Words not many in our Translations But in the Original as also in the Greek as few as can be to be a Number but two Yet do they fairly yield us these four Particulars 1. The Act and that is a Bargain of Sale ye have sold 2. The Object of that Act the Commodity or thing sold and that is themselves sold your selves 3. The Consideration or Price if you will allow that Name to a thing of no Price and that is nothing or as good as nothing sold for nought 4. The Agent the Merchant or Salesman and that is themselves too Ye have sold your selves To sell and that themselves and that for nought and to do all this themselves of these in order 3. The Act is first it is a Bargain of Sale Ye have sold your selves If we had but deposited our selves with Satan being so perfidious as he is it had been hazard enough and but too much For even among Men if the party that is trusted have but the Conscience to deny the trust and the face to forsweare it he that trusteth him may soon come to lose all But yet in point of right and to common entendment he that depositeth any thing in the hand of another doth only commit it to his custody both property and use still reserved to himself 2. In a Demise a man parteth with more of his interest he transmitteth together with the possession the use also or fruit of the thing letten or demised so as the ususructuarius or tenant may during his Terme use it at his Pleasure and so far as he is not limited by special Covenant make benefit of it to his own most advantage But here is yet no Alienation it is but jus utendi salvâ substantiâ Still the Property remaineth where it was and the Possession too after a time and when the terme is expired reverteth to the first owner 3. A Mortgage indeed hath in it something of the Nature of an Alienation in as much as it passeth over Dominium as well as Rem and Usumfructum that is property and as you would say Ownership as well as Possession Use and Benefit Yet not absolutely any of these but with a defeisance and under a Condition performable by himself so as the Mortgage is upon the point the proprietary still if he will himself because it is in his own power by performing the Condition to make a defeisance of his former act and consequently to make the alienation void and then he is in statu quo 4. But in a Bargain of Sale there is a great deal more then in all these There the Alienation is absolute and the contract Peremptory Wherein the Seller transferreth and maketh over to the Buyer together with the Possession use and profits the very property also of the thing sold with all his right title claim and interest therein for ever without power of revocation or any other reservation whatsoever And this is our Case this the fact whereof we stand indited in the Text. What the Scripture chargeth upon Ahab for his particular that he had sold himself to work wickedness is though not in the same height of sence yet in some degree more or less chargeable upon all Man-kinde We have all sold our selves to Sin and Satan Venundati sub peccato saith St Paul and he seemeth to speak it of the better sort of Men too in the judgment of many good interpreters Rom. 7. And then how much more is it true of the rest that they are Carnall sold under sinne 5. The greater is our Misery and the more our Presumption which are the two Inferences hence Our Misery first For by selling ourselves over to sin and Satan we have put our selves out of our own into their Dominion and during that state remain wholly to be disposed at their pleasure They are now become our Lords and it is not for us to refuse any drudgery be it never so toilsome or irksome whereabout they shall list to employ us How should it else be possible for men endowed with reason some to melt themselves away in Luxury and Brutish sensuality as the Voluptuous othersome to pine themselves lean with looking at the fatness of anothers portion as the Envious othersome to run themselves out of breath sometimes till they burst in the pursuit either of shadows as the Ambitious or of smoak as the Popular or vain-glorious othersome like those that in old time were damnati ad Metalla to moyl perpetually in lading themselves with thick clay whereof it could give them to think that ever they should have use as the Covetous were it not that they are put upon such drudgeries by their imperious Masters Sin who raigneth like a tyrant in their mortall Bodies and will have all his lust obeyed and Satan who grown great by this new purchase for by it it is that he claimeth to be Prince of the world sitteth in the hearts of ungodly men as in his Throne and there commandeth like an Emperour and who may be so bold as to contradict or but to say Domine cur ita facis Acti agimus is a true saying in this sence howsoever He must needs go we say whom the Devil driveth and St Paul saith he is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience It is but an empty flourish then that licentious men sometimes stand so much upon their liberty saying with them Iohn 8. we were alwayes free and were never in bondage unto any or with them in Psalm 12. Our lips are our own who is Lord over us who is Lord over you do you say No hard matter to tell you that Even Satan your lips and your tongues are his your hearts and your hands his your bodies and your souls his all you have all you are wholy and entirely his You have sold your selves to him and Emptum cedit in jus emptoris He hath bought you and his you are to have and to hold he may now do what he will with you if God suffer him and you must abide it This being the case of us all by reason of Sin till we be restored by Grace I need say no more to let us see what misery we have pulled upon our selves by this Sale 6. But there is another thing too in this Sale besides our Misery meet for us to take knowledge of and that is our high and intolerable Presumption joyned with extreme injustice and unthankfulness God made us to do him service and his we are his Creatures his Servants Now then Quis tu What hast thou to do to judge saith S. Paul may not I say much more what hast thou to do to sell anothers servant and that invito nay inconsulto Domini without any Licence of Alienation from the chief Lord nay without so much as
ever asking his consent If God were pleased to leave us at first in manu consilij and to trust us so far as to commit the keeping of our selves to our selves he had no meaning therein to turn us loose neither to quit his own right to us and our services Nay may we not with great reason think that he meant to oblige us so much the more unto himself by making us his depositaries in a trust of that nature As if a King should commit to one of his meanest servants the custody of some of his Royal houses or forts he should by that very trust lay a new obligation upon him of fealty over and above that common allegiance which he oweth him as a Subject Now if such a servant so entrusted by the King his Master should then take upon him of his own head without his Masters privity to contract with a stranger perhaps a Rebel or Enemy for the passing over the said house or fort into his hands Who would not condemne such a person for such an act Of ingratitude injustice and presumption in the highest degree Yet is our injustice ingratitude and presumption by so much more infinitely heinous then his in selling our selves from God our Lord and Master into the hands of Satan a Rebel and an Enemy to God and all goodness By how much the disparity is infinitely more betwixt the eternall God and the greatest of the sons of Men then betwixt the highest Monarch in the world and the lowest of his Subjects 7. So much for the Act the other particulars belong to it as circumstances thereof To a Sale they say three things are required Res Precium and Consensus a Commodity to be sold a Price to be pai'd and consent of Parties Here they are all And whereas I told you in the beginning that in this Sale was represented to us Mans inexcusable baseness and folly You shall now plainly see each particle thereof made good in the three several Circumstances In the Commodity our Baseness that we should sell away our very selves in the Price our folly that we should do it for a thing of naught in the Consent our inexcusableness in both that an act so base and foolish should yet be our own voluntary act and deed And first for the Commodity You have sold your selves 8. Lands Houses Cattel and other like possessions made for mans use are the proper subject matter of trade and commerce and so are fit to pass from man to man by Sales and other Contracts But that Man a Creature of such excellency stamped with the image of God endowed with a reasonable soule made capable of grace and Glory should Prostâ—are in foro become merchantable ware and be chaffered in the markets and fayres I suppose had bin a thing never heard of in the world to this houre had not the overflowings of pride and Cruelty and Covetousness washed out of the hearts of Men the very impressions both of Religion and Humanity It is well and we are to bless God and under God to thank our Christian Religion and pious Governours for it that in these times and parts of the world we scarce know what it meaneth But that it was generally practis'd all the world over in some former ages and is at this day in use among Turks and Pagans to sell men ancient Histories and modern relations will not suffer us to be ignorant We have mention of such Sales even in Scripture where we read of some that sold their own brother as Iacobs sons did Ioseph and of one that sold his own Master as the traitor Iudas did Christ. Basely and wretchedly both Envy made them base and Covetousness him Only in some cases of Necessity as for the preservation of Life or of liberty of Conscience when other means fail God permitted to his own people to sell themselves or Children into perpetual bondage and Moses from him gave Laws and Ordinances touching that Matter Levit. 25. 9. But between the Sale in the Text and all those other there are two main differences Both which do exceedingly aggravate our baseness The first that no man could honestly sell another nor would any man willingly sell himself unless enforced thereunto by some urgent necessity But what necessity I pray you that we should sell our selves out of Gods and out of our own hands into the hands of Sin and Satan Were we not well enough before sull enough and safe enough Was our Masters service so hard that it might not be abiden Might we not have lived Lived Yea and that happily and freely and plentifully and that for ever in his service What was it then Even as it is with many fickle servants abroad in the world that begin in a good service cannot tell when they are well but must be ever and anon flitting though many times they change for the worse so it was only our Pride and folly and a fond conceit we had of bettering our condition thereby that made us not only without any apparent necessity but even against all good reason and duty thus basely to desert our first service and to sell our selves for bondslaves to Sin and Satan 10. The other difference maketh the matter yet a great deal worse on our side For in selling of slaves for so much as bodily service was the thing chiefly looked after therefore as the body in respect of strength health age and other abilities was deem'd more or less fit for service the price was commonly proportioned thereafter Hence by a customary speech among the Grecians slaves were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is bodies and they that traded in that kinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say merchants of bodies And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred Rev. 18. Mancipia or slaves Epiphanius giveth us the reason of that use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he c. because all the command that a man can exercise over his slaves is terminated to the body and cannot reach the soule And the soule is the better part of man and that by so many degrees better that in comparison thereof the body hath been scarce accounted a considerable part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could the Greek Philosopher say and the Latin Orator Mens cujusque is est quisque The soule is in effect the whole man The body but the shell of him the body but the casket the soule the Jewel It is observable that whereas we read Matth. 16. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soule in stead thereof we have it Luke 9. thus if he gain the whole world and lose himself So that every mans soule is himself and the body but an appurtenance of him Yet such is our baseness that we have thus trucked away our selves with the appurtenances that is both our soules and our bodies We detest Witches and
fumum accepit fumum vendidit as it is in the Apothegme Or in an Epigram I have heard of two Dunces and their disputation Attulit ille nihil rettulit ille nihil we are yet upon even terms and that can deserve no great imputation of folly 17. Indeed should we speak of our bodies only these mortal corruptible vile bodies as we finde them termed by all those Epithets or look upon our whole nature as it is now embased by Sin or even taken at the best and set in comparison against God in one of which three respects it must be understood where ever the scriptures speak of our worthlesnesse or nothingnesse there might then be some place for these allegations But take the whole Man together soule as well as body yea chiefly that and state him as he was before he was sold as so we must do if we will give a true judgement of the fact and compare it but with other creatures which is but reasonable and then all the allegations aforesaid are quite beside the purpose The Soule is a most rich indeed an inestimable commmodity Preciosa anima saith Solomon Prov. 6. the precious Soule So he saith but that speech is somewhat too generall he doth not tell us how precious Indeed he doth not for in truth he could not it is beyond his or any mans skill to give an exact praisment of it There is somewhat bidden for it Mic. 6. But such a contemptible price that it is rejected with scorn though it seem to sound loud thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle He that alone knew the true worth of a soule both by his natural knowledge being the eternall wisdom of God and by his experimental knowledge having bought so many and pai'd a full price for them our blessed Redeemer the Lord Iesus assureth us there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the universal world affordeth not a valuable compensation for it Mat. 16. We will rest upon his word for this as well we may and spare further proof 18. And then the inference will be clear that there never was in the world any such folly as sin is any such fools as sinners are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he said and Solomon putteth the soole upon the sinner I am not able to say how oft That we should thus sell and truck away these precious souls of ours the very exhalations and arrachements if I may so speak of the breath of God not estimable with any other thing then with the precious blood of God and that not for the whole world which had been to our incomparable disadvantage no nor yet for any great Portion thereof but for a very small pittance of it whereof we can have no assurance neither that we shall hold it an houre and which even whil'st we have it and think to enjoy it perisheth in the using and deceiveth our expectations Which of us laying the promises to heart can do less then beshrew his own grievous folly for so doing and beg pardon for it at the hands of God as David did after he had numbred the People I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away mine iniquity for I have done very foolishly 19. And the more cause have we most humbly to beg pardon for our baseness and folly herein by how much less we are any way able to excuse either of both it being our own voluntary act and deed For so is the next Particular Ye have sold your selves Naturally what is blameworthy we had rather put off upon any body else light where it will then take it home to our selves Translatio criminis the shifting of a fault is by Rhetoricians made a branch of their Art We need not go to their schools to learn it Nature and our mother-wit will prompt us sufficiently thereunto we brought it from the womb suck'd it from the breasts of our mother Eve This base and foolish act whereof we now speak how loath are we to own it how do we strive to lay the whole burden and blame of it upon others or if we cannot hope to get our selves quite off yet as men use to do in common payments and taxes we plead hard to have bearers partners that may go a share with us and ease us if not à toto yet at leastwise à tanto and in some part But it will not be Still Perditio tua ex te it will fall all upon us at the last when we have done what we can 20. We have but one of these three wayes to put off a fourth I cannot imagine By making it either Gods act who is the original owner or Adams act who was our Progenitor or Satans act who is the Purchaser If any of these will hold we are well enough Let us try them all It should seem the first will for is there not Text for it How should one of them chase a thousand saith Moses except their rock had sold them Deut. 32. and God was their rock So David Psalm 44. Thou hast sold thy people for nought and sundry times in the book of Iudges we read how God sold Israel sometimes into the hands of one enemy and sometimes of another Very right But none of all this is spoken of the sale now in Question it is meant of another manner of Sale which is consequent to this and presupposeth it God indeed selleth us over to punishment which is the sale meant in those places but not till we have first sold our selves over to sin which is the sale in this place We first most unjustly sell away our souls and then he most justly selleth away our bodies and our liberty and our peace and our credit and the rest 21. Let us beware then whatsoever we do that we do not charge God wrongfully by making him in the least degree the author of our sins or but so much as a party or an accessory to our follies either directly or indirectly Himself disclaimeth it utterly and casteth it all upon us Esay 50.1 Which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you if it were my deed deal punctually tell me when and where and to whom But if it were not why do you lay it to my charge Behold for your iniquities have you sold your selves It was meerly your own doing and if you suffer for it blame your selves and not me 22. Hâc non successit We must try another way and see if we can leave it upon Adam For did not he sell us many a fair year before we were in rerum naturâ And if the Father sell away the inheritance from his unborn childe how can he do withall and if he cannot help it why should he be blamed for it Must our teeth be set on edge with the grapes our grand-father ate and not we It must be confest
from him as from the first and only sufficient cause Who is pleased to make use of his Creatures as his instruments either for comfort correction or destruction as seemeth good in his own eyes When they do supply us with any comfort it is but as the conduit-pipes which serve the offices in a great house with water which yet springeth not from them but is only by them conveyed thither from the fountain or spring-head Set them once against God or do but take them without God you may as soon squeeze water out of a flint stone or suck nourishment out of a dry brest as gain a drop of comfort from any of the Creatures Those supposed comforts that men seek for or think they have sometimes found in the Creatures are but titular and imaginary not substantial and real comforts And such how ever we esteem of them onward they will appear to be at the last for they will certainly fail us in the evil day when our souls shall stand most of all in need of comfort The Consolations of God are first Pure they run clear without mud or mixture secondly Full satiating the appetites of the soule and leaving no vacuities thirdly permanent such as unless by our default no creature in the world can hinder or deprive us of In every of which three respects all worldly comforts as they come but from the Creatures fall infinitely short as might easily be shewen had we but time to compare them 16. It is hard to say the whiles whether is greater our Misery or Madness who forsake the Lord the clear fountain of living waters to dig to our selves broken pits that hold no water in the mean time but puddle and but a very little of that neither and yet cannot hold that long neither What fondness is in us to lay out our money for that which is not bread and our labour for that which satisfieth not to wear out our bodies with travel and torture our souls with cares in the pursuit of these muddy narrow and fleeting comforts when we may have Nectar and Ambrosia the delicacies of the bread of life and of the water of life gratis and without price Only if we will but open our mouths to crave it and open our hands to receive it from him who is so well stored of it and is withall so willing to impart it with all freedom and bounty even the Father of Mercies and the God of Consolation 17. Thus far of the two Titles severally let us now put them together and see what we can make out of them The God of patience and Consolation Where every mans first demand will be why the Apostle should chuse to enstile Almighty God from these two of Patience and of Consolation rather then from some other of those Attributes which occur perhaps more frequently in holy writ as God of Wisdom of Power of Mercy of Peace of Hope c. What ever other inducements the Apostle might have for so doing two are apparent and let them satisfie us The one the late mentioning of these two things in the next former verse That we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Having once named them both together there it was neither incongruous nor inelegant to repeat them again both together here 2. The other the fitness of these Titles and their sutableness unto the matter of the Prayer For the most part you shall finde in those forms of prayer that are left us registred in the book of God such Titles and Attributes given to God in the prefaces of those prayers as do best sort with the principal matter contained therein Which course the Church also hath observed in her Liturgies The Apostle then being to pray for Unity might well make mention of Patience and Consolation of Patience as a special help thereunto and of Consolation as a special fruit and effect thereof As if he had said If you could have patience you would soon grow to be of one minde and if you were once come to that you should find a great deal of comfort in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The God therefore of Patience and Consolation grant it may be so with you 18. First Patience is a special help to Unity For what is it but the pride and heat of mens spirits that both setteth contentions a foot at the first and afterwards keepeth them afoot Only by pride cometh contention saith Solomon Prov. 13. So long as men are impatient of the least contradiction cannot brook to have their opinions gainsaid their advises rejected their apparent excesses reproved will not pass by the smallest frailties in their brother without some clamour or scorn or censure but rather break out upon every slight occasion into words or actions of fury and distemper it cannot be hoped there should be that blessed Unity among brethren which our Apostle here wisheth for and every good man heartily desireth No! Patience is the true peace-maker It is the soft answer that breaketh wrath cross and thwarting language rather strengtheneth it As a flint is sooner broken with a gentle stroke upon a feather-bed then strucken with all the might against a hard coggle Better is the end of a thing Solomon again then the beginning and the patient in spirit is better then the proud in spirit The proud in spirit belike he is the boutefeau he is the man that beginneth the fray but the patient in spirit is the man that must end it if ever it be well ended and that sure is the better work and the greater honour to him that doth it 19. And as Patience is a special help to unity so is Comfort a special fruit and Effect thereof St Paul therefore conjureth the Philippians by all the hope they had of comfort in God to be at one among themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love Fulfil ye my joy that ye be like-minded c. Ecce quà m bonum David in Psalm 133. Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is brethren to dwell together in unity Utile dulci in saying both he saith all Good and pleasant that is both profitable like the dew upon the mountains that maketh the grass spring and comfortable as the smell of a precious ointment And what can the heart of man desire more That for the Choice 20. For the Conjunction then it may be demanded secondly why the Apostle should joyn these two together Patience and Consolation there seeming to be no great affinity between them They are things that differ toto genere for Patience is a Grace or Vertue and Consolation a Blessing or Reward Is it not think you to instruct us that true Patience shall never go without Consolation He that will have Patience onward shall be sure to have comfort at the last God will crown the grace of Patience with the blessing of Consolation The
patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever Psal. 9. St Iames would have us set before our eyes the Prophets and Saints for a generall example of suffering affliction and of patience and he commendeth to us one particular example there as by way of instance namely that of Iob. You have heard saith he of the patience of Iob and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is pitiful and of tender mercy Iob held out in his patience under great trials unto the last and God out of pity and in his tender mercy towards him heaped comforts upon him at the last in great abundance It would be well worthy our most serious meditation to consider both what by Gods grace he did and how by Gods mercy he sped His example in the one would be a good pattern for us of Patience and his reward in the other a good encouragement for Consolation This we may bide upon as a most certain truth that if we do our part God will not faile on his Be we first sure that we have Patience we must look to that for that is our part though not solely for we cannot have it without him as was already said but I say be we first sure of that and then we may be confident we shall have comfort sooner or later in some kinde or other trust God with that for that is solely his part and he will take order for it without our further care 21. Lastly for the Order It may be demanded why the Apostle joyning both together The God of Patience and Consolation giveth patience the precedency of Patience first and then of Consolation Is not that also to teach us that as it is a vain and causeless feare if a man have patience to doubt whether he shall have comfort yea or no so on the contrary it is a vain and groundless hope if a man want patience to presume that yet he shall have comfort howsoever Certainly no Patience no Consolation It is the Devils method to set the fairer side forwards and to serve in the best wine first and then after that which is worse He will â—ot much put us upon the triall of our Patience at the first but rather till us on along with semblances and promises of I know not what comforts and contentments but when once he hath us fast then he turneth in woe and misery upon us to overwhelme us as a deluge But God in his dispensations commonly useth a quite contrary method and dealeth roughliest with us at the first We hear of little other from him then self-deniall hatred from the world taking up the Cross and suffering persecution exercise enough for all the patience we can get But then if we hold out stoutly to the end at last cometh joy and comfort flowing in upon us both seasonably and plentifully like a river You have need of patience saith the Apostle that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise Patience first in doing ey and suffering too according to the will of God and then after that but not before the enjoying of the Promise Would you know then whether the Consolations of God belong unto you yea or no In short if you can have patience never doubt of it if you will not have patience never hope for it 22. Thus much concerning the formality of the Prayer in those former words of the verse Now the God of Patience and of Consolation grant you Proceed we now to the Matter thereof in the remainder of the verse To be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus Where the particulars are three First the thing it self or grace prayed for which is Vnity or Like-mindedness To be like-minded Secondly and Thirdly two Conditions or Qualifications thereof the one in respect of the Persons One towards another the other in respect of the maner According to Christ Iesus Of which in their order 23. The thing first To be like-minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek A phrase of speech although to my remembrance not found elsewhere in holy Scripture yet often used by S. Paul in his Epistles to the Romans to the Corinthians and especially to the Philippians more then once or twise I spare the quotations for brevity sake S. Peters compound word cometh neerest it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finally be ye all of one minde 1 Pet. 3. New these words both the noune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the minde and the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to minde this or that or to be thus or so minded although often used with speciall reference sometimes to the understanding or judgement sometimes to the inward disposition of the heart will and affections and sometimes to the manifesting of that inward disposition by the outward carriage and behaviour yet are they also not seldome taken at large for the whole soule and all the powers thereof together with all the motions and opperations of any or each of them whether in the apprehensive appetitive or executive part And I see nothing to the contrary but that it may very well be taken in that largest extent in this place And then the thing so earnestly begged at the hand of God is that he would so frame the hearts of these Romanes one towards another as that there might be an universal accord amongst them so far as was possible both in their opinions affections and conversations Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded 24. Like-minded first in Opinion and judgement It is a thing much to be desired and by all good means to be endeavoured that according to our Churches prayer God would give to all Nations unity peace and concord but especially that all they that do confess his holy name may also agree in the truth of his holy word at least wise in the main and most substantial truths I beseech you brethren saith S. Paul by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and in the same judgement That is the first Like-mindedness in judgement 25. Like-minded secondly in heart and affection Mens understandings are not all of one size and temper and even they that have the largest and the clearest understandings yet know but in part and are therefore subject to errors and mis-apprehensions And therefore it cannot be hoped there should be such a consonancy and uniformity of judgement amongst all men no not amongst wise and godly men but that in many things yea and those sometimes of great importance they may and will dissent one from another unto the worlds end But then good heed would be taken lest by the cunning of Satan who is very forward and expert to work upon such advantages difference in judgment should in process of
name otherwise he unworthily usurpeth to be just merciful temperate humble meek patient charitable to get the habits and to exercise the acts of these and all other holy graces and vertues Nay more the Gospel imposeth upon us some moral strictness which the Stoicks themselves or whoever else were the most rigid Masters of morality never so much as thought of Nay yet more it exalteth the Moral Law of God himself given by Moses to the people of Israel to a higher pitch then they at least as they commonly understood the Law took themselves thereby obliged unto That a man should forsake all his dearest friends yea and deny his own dearest self too for Christs sake and yet for Christs sake at the same time love his deadliest enemies That he should take up his Cross and if need were lay down his life not only for his great master but even for the meanest of his fellow-servants too That he should exult with joy and abound in hope in the midst of tribulations of persecutions of death it self Surely the Mystery that driveth at all this must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the highest degree the great mystery of godliness That for the scope 27. Look now secondly at the parts and parcels the several pieces as it were whereof this mystery is made up those mentioned in this verse and the rest and you shall finde that from each of them severally but how much more then from them altogether joyntly may be deduced sundry strong motives and perswasives unto Godliness Take the material parts of this Mystery the Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Baptisme Temptation Preaching Life Death Buriall Resurrection Ascension Intercession and Second coming of Christ. Or take if I may so call them the formal parts thereof our eternal Election before the world was our Vocation by the preaching of the Gospel our Iustification by Faith in the merits of Christ our Sanctification by the Spirit of grace the stedfast promises we have and hopes of future Glory and the rest It would be too long to vouch texts for each particular but this I say of them all in general there is not one linke in either of those two golden chains which doth not straightly tye up our hands tongues and hearts from doing evil draw us up effectually unto God and Christ and strongly oblige us to shew forth the power of his grace upon our soules by expressing the power of Godliness in our lives and conversations That for the Parts 28. Thirdly Christian Religion may be called the mystery of Godliness in regard of its Conservation because Godliness is the best preserver of Christianity Rootes and Fruits and Herbs which let alone and left to themselves would soon corrupt and putrifie may being well condited with sugar by a skilful Confectioner be preserved to continue for many years and be serviceable all the while So the best and surest means to preserve Christianity in its proper integrity and power from corrupting into Atheisme or Heresie is to season it well with Grace as we do fresh meats with salt to keep them sweet and to be sure to keep the Conscience upright Holding the mysteries of Faith in a pure Conscience saith our Apostle a little after at ver 9. of this Chapter and in the first Chapter of this Epistle ver 19. Holding faith and a good Conscience which later some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack Apostacy from the faith springeth most an end from Apostacy in manners And he that hath but a very little care how he liveth can have no very fast hold of what he beleeveth For when men grow once regardless of their Consciences good affections will soon languish and then will noysome lusts gather strength and cast up mud into the soule that the judgement cannot run clear Seldome is the head right where the heart is amiss A rotten heart will be ever and anon sending up evil thoughts into the minde as marish and fenny grounds do foggy mists into the aire that both darken and corrupt it As a mans tast when some malignant humour affecteth the organ savoureth nothing aright but deemeth sweet things bitter and sowre things pleasant So where avarice ambition malice voluptuousness vain-glory sedition or any other dominering lust hath made it self master of the heart it will so blinde and corrupt the judgement that it shall not be able to discern at any certainty good from evil or truth from falshood Wholsome therefore is S. Peters advice to add unto Faith Vertue Vertue will not only keep it in life but at such a height of vigour also that it shall not easily either degenerate into Heresie or languish into Atheisme 29. We see now 3. Reasons for which the doctrine of Christianity may be called The mystery of Godliness because it first exacteth Godliness and secondly exciteth unto Godliness and is thirdly best preserved by Godliness From these premises I shall desire for our neerer instruction to infer but two things only the one for the triall of Doctrines the other for the bettering of our lives For the first S. Iohn would not have us over forward to beleeve every spirit Every spirit doth he say Truly it is impossible we should unles we should beleeve flat contradictions Whilest one Spirit saith It is another spirit saith It is not can a man beleeve the one and not disbeleeve the other if he hear both Beleeve not every spirit then is as much in S. Iohns meaning as if he had said Be not too hasty to beleeve any spirit especially where there appeareth some just cause of suspicion but try it first whether it be a true spirit or a false Even as S. Paul biddeth us prove all things that having so done we may hold fast what upon triall proveth good and let the rest goe 30. Now holy Scripture is certainly that Lapis Lydius that Test whereby this trial is to be made Ad legem ad testimonium when we have wrangled as long as we can hitherto we must come at last But sith all Sectaries pretend to Scripture Papists Anabaptists Disciplinarians All yea the Divel himself can vouch Text to drive on a Temptation It were good therefore we knew how to make right application of Scripture for the Trial of Doctrines that we do not mistake a false one for a true one Many profitable Rules for this purpose our Apostle affordeth us in sundry places One very good one we may gather from the words immediately before the Text wherein the Church of God is said to be the pillar and ground of truth The collection thence is obvious that it would very much conduce to the guiding of our judgements aright in the examining of mens doctrines concerning either Faith or Manners wherein the letter of Scripture is obscure or the meaning doubtful to informe our selves as well as we can in credendis what the received sense and in agendis what the constant usage and
that fulness of joy and peace which because of Gods grace if our own endeavours be not wanting it is attainable in this life we should press hard after of rejoycing in tribulation and counting it all joy when we fall into divers temptations 24. Somewhat a hard lesson I grant yet if we can but learn some of Davids knowledg it will be much the easier He speaketh not here you see out of a vain hope because he would fain have it so nor out of some uncertain conjecture as if perhaps it might be so but out of certain knowledg gotten by diligent and attentive study in the word of God and by his own experience and observation I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled For the former branch of this knowledg that concerneth the righteousness of Gods judgments it is a thing soon learned I have shewed you the course already There is no more to be done but to examine our own cariage and deserving and we shall finde enough I doubt not to satisfie us fully in that point and therefore there need no more be said of it All the skill is about the later branch how we may know that it is done out of very love and faithfulness whensoever God causeth us to be troubled 25. For which purpose the best help I can commend unto you for the present is to observe how variously Almighty God manifesteth his love and faithfulness to his children in all their tribulations especially in three respects every one of which marvellously setteth forth his gracious goodness towards us First the End that he aimeth at in them secondly the Proportion that he holdeth in them and thirdly the Issues that he giveth out of them 26. For the End first He aimeth alwayes at our good Our earthly friends do not ever so no not our Parents that love us best The Apostle telleth us and experience proveth it that they chasten us sometimes for their own pleasure He meaneth that sometimes when they are distempered with passion and in an outragious mood they beat the poor childe either without cause or more then there is cause rather to satisfie their own fury then to benefit the childe But he doth it alwayes for our profit saith he Heb. 12. If I should enter here into the Common-place de bono afflictionis I should not well know either where to begin or when to make an end In the whole course of Divinity I finde not a field of larger scope then that is I shall therefore bring you but into one corner of it and shew you how God out of very faithfulnesse maketh use of these troubles for the better draining out of some of those evil corruptions that would otherwise so abound in us like noysome humours in the body that they would endanger a plethory in our souls especially these four Pride security worldly-mindednesse and In-compassion 27. Pride must be first else is it not right And we have store of that in us Any toy puffeth us up like a bladder and filleth us full of our selves Take the instance but in our knowledg A sorry thing God knoweth he that hath most what he knoweth is not the thousandth part of what he knoweth not and yet how strangely are some overleavened with a very small pittance of it Scientia inflat the Apostle might well say knowledg puffeth up So doth riches and honour and praise and valour and beauty and wit or indeed any thing A bush of hair will do it where it groweth ey and where it groweth not Now prosperity cherisheth this corruption wonderfully as ill humours abound most in full bodies and ill weeds grow rankest in a fat earth and setteth a man so far from God and above himself that he neither well knoweth the one nor the other Our Lord then when he seeth us thus high set sendeth afflictions and troubles to take down these unkindly swellings to prick the bladder of our pride and let out some of the winde and so he bringeth us into some better acquaintance with our selves again King Philip had a cryer to put him daily in remembrance that he was but a man lest he should forget it and think himself a little God as his son Alexander did soon after But there is no remembrancer can do this office better then afflictions can Put them in fear O Lord that the heathen may know themselves to be but men Psal. 9. If afflictions were not would not even that be soon forgotten 28. Security is next Ease and prosperity fatteneth the heart and maketh us drousie and heavy in Gods service It casteth us into a spiritual Lethargie maketh us settle upon our lees and flatter our selves as if we were out of gun-shot and no evil could reach us Soul take thine ease eat and drink thou hast provision laid up before-hand for many years yet to come Marvel not to hear ungodly men vaunt it so in a vapouring manner Psalm 10. Tash I shall never be removed there shall no harm happen unto me when holy David upon some little longer continuance of prosperity then usual did almost say even as they he thought his hill so strong that he should never be removed Psalm 30. When God seeth us thus setling upon our lees he thinketh it high time to pour us from vessel to vessel to keep us from growing musty He laieth his hand upon us and shaketh us out of our dead sleep and by laying trouble upon our loynes driveth us to seek to him for remedy and succour He dealt so with David when in his prosperity he had said he should never be removed as we heard but now out of Psalm 30. the next news we hear of him is He was removed God out of very faithfulness caused him to be troubled and he was the better for it Thou didst turn away thy face from me and I was troubled Then cried I unto thee O Lord and gat me to my Lord right humbly as it there followeth in that Psalm In the time of my trouble I sought the Lord saith he elswhere Belike in the time of his ease he either sought him not or not so carefully In their afflictions they will seek me diligently Hosea 5. but negligently enough out of affliction Absolon had a mind to speak with Ioab but Ioab had no mind to speak with him Absolon sendeth for him one messenger after another still Ioab cometh not Well thinketh Absolon he will not come but I will fetch him and so he sendeth some of his people to fire his corn-fields and that fetcheth him then he cometh running in all haste to know what the matter was So God sendeth for us messenger after messenger one sermon after another to bring us in we little regard it but sit it out and will not come in till he fire our corn or do us some
not how to help it for he could require no more of the debtors then was upon the foot of their Bills could not yet but commend the mans wit howsoever And the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely in the former part of this verse 2. Having thus framed the body of the parable our Saviour now giveth it a soul in this latter part of the verse breatheth into it the breath of life by applying it Application is the life of a Parable The commending of the stewards wisdom was with the purpose to recommend the example to us that we might from it learn to provide against the time to come as he did and that also by such like means as he did So that the Application hath two parts The one more general respecting the End that as he was careful to provide maintenance for the preservation of his natural life so we should be careful to make provision for our souls that we may attain to everlasting life The other more special respecting the Means that as he provided for himself out of his Masters goods by disposing the same into other hands and upon several persons so we should lay up for our selves a good foundation towards the attainment of everlasting life out of the unrighteous Mammon wherewith God hath intrusted us by being rich in good works communicating and distributing some of that in our hands towards the necessities of others Of the temporals we here enjoy we are not to account our selves proprietaries but stewards and such as must be accountable It should be our wisdom therefore as it will be our happinesse to dispose them into other hands by almes-deeds and other charitable works and so to improve these temporals which we cannot properly call our own to our own spiritual and eternal advantage That later and more special application is in the next verse Make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon c. The words proposed contain the more general application our business at this time delivered here by way of comparison a way more effectual ordinarily to provoke endeavour then bare exhortations are For the children of this world are in their generation wiser then the children of light 3. In which comparison there are observable first and secondly as the terms of the comparison two sorts of persons distinguished either from other by their several appellations and compared the one with the other in the point of wisdom The children of this world on the one part and the children of light on the other between these the question is whether sort is wiser Thirdly the sentence or judgement given upon the question clearly on behalf of the former sort they are pronounced the wiser The children of this world wiser then the children of light Lastly the limitation of the sentence how far forth it is to be understood They wiser true but then you must take it right wiser in their generation not simply and absolutely wiser Of which in order 4. The persons are children of this world and children of light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both sons or children That is terminus convenientiae as opposites have alwaies something wherein they agree Men of some special countrey profession quality or condition are by an usual Hebraism in the Scriptures expressed by this word children with some addition thereunto as children of Edom children of the Prophets children of death From the Hebrews other languages have by derivation entertained the same Pleonasm as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so frequent in Homer filii medicorum and the like In the Scriptures it is very usual both in the good part and in the bad In the good part you have children of Abraham children of wisdom children of God in the evil part children of Belial children of disobedience children of hell Here are both Children of the World and Children of Light 5. For the World first the Greeks have two words for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one importing more properly the frame of the creatures the other some space or duration of time rather That propriety is not alwayes observed by writers yet here it is for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hath respect unto Time Next whereas it is said this World that implyeth there is another set oppositely against this distinguished Luke 20. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this world and that world otherwhere by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world that now is and the world to come Again this world so taken to wit as it standeth distinguished from that world or the world to come is yet capable to be understood in a double notion For it may be taken either in a more general sence with respect to the common affairs of this life without difference of good or bad as it is taken in that place of Luke now mentioned The children of this world marry and are given in marriage but they that shall be counted worthy of that world c. The children of this world that is men that live here on earth whilest here they live and the children of that world they that hereafter shall live for ever in heaven Or it may be taken in a narrower and more restrained sense as the world is opposed and contra-distinguished to the Church And the opposition of the children of this world to the children of light sheweth it must be so taken here in effect as if he said the children of darkness Those then are the children of this world here meant who as subjects serve under the Prince of darkness the God of this world live in the works of darkness the employment of this world and when they dye unless God in special mercy deal otherwise with them and that will not be done but upon the condition supposed that of their repentance shall be cast into outer darknesse at the end of the world 6. And this title we may conceive to belong unto them in a threefold respect in as much as 1. their affections are bent upon this world 2. their conversations are conformed to this world and 3. their portion is allotted them in this world First children of this world for that their affections are wholly set upon the world The godly are in this world tanquam in alieno as strangers and pilgrims in a forraign yea in the enemies countrey and they look upon the world and are looked upon by it as strangers and are used by it accordingly If they were of the world the world would own them and love them as her own party and they would also love the world again as their own home But because they are not of the world though they be in it but are denizons of heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. therefore the world hateth them and
and faintness of minde spoken of in the Text. 13. We now see the Malady both in the Nature and in the Cause both what it is and whence it groweth We are in the next place to consider the Part affected That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discovereth the Minde or the Soul That ye be not wearied and faint in your mindes or souls And this occasioneth another doubt how it should be possible that worldly tribulations which cannot reach beyond the outer-man in his possessions in his liberty in his good name in his bodily health or life should have such an operation upon his nobler part the soul as to cause a faintness there Our Apostle speaketh of resisting unto blood in the next verse as the highest suffering that can befal a man in this world And our Saviour telleth his friends Luke 12. that when their enemies have killed their bodies and from suffering so much his very best friends it seemeth are not exempted they have then done their worst they can proceed no farther they have no power at all over their souls 14. It is most true they have not And happy it is for us and one singular comfort to us that they have not Yet our own reason and every dayes experience can teach us that outward bodily afflictions and tribulations do by consequent and by way of sympathy and consent and by reason of union though not immediately and directly work even upon the soul also As we see the fancy quick and roaving when the blood is enflamed with choler the memory and apprehension dull in a Lethargy and other notable changes and effects in the faculties of the soul very easily discernable upon any sudden change or distemper in the body David often confesseth that the troubles he met withal went sometimes to the very heart and soul of him The sorrows of my heart are enlarged In the multitude of the troubles or sorrows that I have in my heart My heart is disquieted within me Why art thou so vexed O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me c. Take but that one in Psal. 143. The enemy hath persecuted my soul c. Therefore is my spirit vexed within me and my heart within me is desolate 15. For the Soul then or Minde to be affected with such things as happen to the body is natural and such affections if not vitiated with excess or other inordinacy blameless and without sin But experience sheweth us farther too often God knoweth that persecutions afflictions and such other sad casualties as befall the body nay the very shadows thereof the bare fears of such things and apprehensions of their approach yea even many times when it is causeless may produce worse effects in the soul and be the causes of such vitious weariness and faintness of minde as the Apostle here forewarneth the Hebrews to beware of Not to speak of the Lapsi Traditores others that we read of in former times and of whom there is such frequent mention in the ancient Councels and in the writings of the Fathers of the first ages and the Histories of the Church How many have we seen even in our times who having seemed to stand fast in the profession of Truth and in the performance of the offices of Vertue and duties of Piety Allegiance and Iustice before tryal have yet when they have been hard put to it ey and sometimes not very hard neither falling away starting aside like a broken bow and by flinching at the last discovered themselves to have been but very weak Christians at the best if not rather very deep hypocrites 16. It will sufficiently answer the doubt to tell you That persecutions and all occurrences from without are not the chief causes nor indeed in true propriety of speech any causes at all but the occasions onely of the souls fainting under them Temptations they are I grant yet are they but temptations and it is not the temptation but the consenting to the temptation that induceth guilt If at any time any temptation either on the one hand or the other prevail against us S. Iames teacheth us where to lay the fault Not upon God by any means for God tempteth no man No nor upon the Devil neither let me adde that too it were a sin to bely the Devil in this for though he be a tempter and that a busie one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tempter yet that is the worst he can do he can but tempt us he cannot compel us When he hath plyed us with all his utmost strength and tried us with all the engines and artifices he can devise the will hath its natural liberty still and it is at our choise whether we will yield or no. But every man when he is tempted saith he tempted cum effectu that is his meaning so tempted as to be overcome by the temptation is tempted of his own lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawen away and entised Drawen away by injuries and affrightments from doing good or entised by delights and allurements to do evil It is with temptations on the left hand for such are those of which we now speak even as it is with those on the right yeeld not and good enough My son saith Solomen if sinners entise thee consent not Prov. 1. It may be said also proportionably and by the same reason My son if sinners affright thee comply not The common saying if in any other holdeth most true in the case of Temptations No man taketh harme but from himself 17. And verily in the particular we are now upon of fainting under the cross it is nothing but our own fears and the falseness of a mis-giving heart that betraieth us to the Tempter and undoeth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as he said It is not any reality in the things themselves so much that troubleth the minde as our over-deep apprehensions of them All passions of the minde if immoderate are perturbations and may bring a snare but none more or sooner then fear The fear of man bringeth a snare saith Solomon And our Saviour Let not your hearts be troubled neither fear as if fear were the greatest troubler of the heart And truly so it is No passion not Love no nor yet Anger it self though great obstructers of Reason both being so irrational as Fear is It maketh us many times do things quite otherwise then our own reason telleth us we should do It is an excellent description that a wise man hath given of it Wisdom 17. Fear saith he is nothing else but the betraying of the succours which reason offereth He that letteth go his courage forfeiteth his reason withall and what good can you reasonably expect from an unreasonable man 18. Seest thou then a man faint-hearted Suspect him I had almost said Conclude him false-hearted too It is certainly a very hard thing if at all possible for a
is unperformed the disobedience is sure to be punished let the offender pretend and alledge never so largely to excuse it Quid verba audiam facta cum videam It is the work he looketh at in all his retributions and where the work is not done vain words will not ward off the blows that are to be inflicted for the neglect nor any whit lessen them either in their number or weight Will they not rather provoke the Lord in his just indignation to lay on both more heavier strokes For where a duty is ill-neglected and the neglect ill excused the offender deserveth to be doubly punished once for the omission of the duty and once more for the vanity of the excuse 36. Let me beseech you therefore dearly beloved brethren for the love of God and your own safety to deal clearly and unpartially betwixt God and your own soules in this affair without shuffling or dawbing and to make straight paths to your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way Remember that they that trust to lying vanities and false pretences are no better forsake their own mercy And that fained excuses are but as a staff of reed a very weak stay for a heavie body to trust to for support which will not only crack under the weight but the sharp splinters thereof will also run up into the hand of him that leaneth upon it You see what God looketh at It is the heart that he pondereth and the soul that he observeth and the work that he recompenseth Look therefore that your hearts be true and your souls upright and your works perfect that you may never stand in need of such poor and beggarly shifts as forged pretences are nor be driven to fly for refuge to that which will nothing at all profit you in the day of wrath and of triall Let your desires be unfeighned and your endeavours faithful to the utmost of your power to doe Iustice and to shew Mercy to your brethren and to discharge a good Conscience in the performance of all those duties that lye upon you by vertue either of your general calling as Christians or of your particular vocations what ever they be with all diligence and godly wisdom that you may be able to stand before the judgment seat of the great God with comfort and out of an humble and well-grounded confidence of his gracious acceptance of your imperfect but sincere desires and endeavours in Christ not fear to put your selves upon the triall each of you in the words of holy David Psal. 139. Try me O God and seek the ground of my heart prove me and examine my thoughts Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting in the way that leadeth to everlasting life Which great mercy the Lord of his infinite goodness vouchsafe unto us all for his dear sons sake Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour To whom c. AD MAGISTRATUM The Third Sermon At the Assises at Notingham in the year 1634. at the request of ROBERT MELLISH Esq then High-Sheriffe of that County 1 Sam. 12.3 Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Annointed Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blinde mine eyes therewith and I will restore it you 1. A Bold and just challenge of an old Iudge made before all the people upon his resignal of the government into the hands of a new King Samuel was the man Who having continued whilest Eli lived in the service of the Tabernacle as a Levite and a private man was after his death to undergoe a new business in the exercise of publick judicature For that fanatical opinion which hath possessed some in these later times that no Ecclesiastical person might lawfully exercise any secular power was in those dayes unheard of in the world Eli though a Priest was a Iudge also and so was Samuel though a Levite after him And we finde not that either the people made any question at all or that themselves made any scruple at all of the lawfulnesse of those concurrent powers Samuel was now as it is collected by those that have travelled in the Chronology aged about five and thirty yeers and so in his full strength when he was first Judge Which so long as it continued in any measure he little respected his own ease in comparison of the common good but took his yearly circuits about the countrey keeping Courts in the most convenient places abroad besides his constant sittings at Ramah where his dwelling was for the hearing and determining of Causes to the great ease of all and content no doubt of the most or best 2. But by that he had spent about thirty years more in his countries service he could not but finde such decayes in his body as would call upon him in his now declining age to provide for some ease under that great burden of years and business Which that he might so do as that yet the publick service should not be neglected he thought good to joyn his two sons in commission with him He therefore maketh them Iudges in Israel in hope that they would frame themselves by his example to judge the people with such like diligence and uprightness as himself had done But the young men as they had far other aims then the good old father had so they took quite other wayes then he did Their care was not to advance Iustice but to fill their own coffers which made them soon to turn aside after lucre to take bribes and to pervert judgement This fell out right for the elders of Israel who now had by their miscarriage a fair opportunity opened to move at length for that they had long thirsted after viz. the change of the government They gather themselves therefore together that the cry might be the fuller and to Ramah they come to Samuel with many complaints and alledgements in their mouthes But the short of the business was a King they must have and a King they will have or they will not rest satisfied It troubled Samuel not a little both to hear of the mis-demeanour of his sonnes of whom he had hoped better and to see the wilfulness of a discontented people bent upon an Innovation Yet he would consult with God before he would give them their answer And then he answereth them not by peremptorily denying them the thing they so much desired but by seriously disswading them from so inordinate a desire But they persisting obstinately in their first resolution by farther direction from the Lord Samuel condescendeth to them and dismisseth them with a promise that it should be done to them as they desired and a King they should have ere it were long 3. And within a while he made