A CAVEAT FOR SVERTIES Two Sermons of Suertiship made in Bristoll by VV. Burton LONDON Printed by Richard Field for Tobie Cooke dwelling in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Tygers-head 1593. ACAVEAT FOR SVERTIES Prou. 6. 1. My sonne if thou be Suerty for thy neighbour and hast stricken hands vvith the straunger 2. Thou art snared vvith the vvordes of thy mouth thou art euen taken vvith the vvordes of thy own mouth 3. Do this novv my sonne and deliuer thy selfe seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbour go and humble thy selfe and sollicite thy friends 4. Giue no sleepe to thy eyes nor slumber to thy eye liddes 5. Deliuer thy selfe as a Doe frō the hād of the hunter as a bird from the hande of the fowler THis text is a schoole wherin Suerties are taught to flie such discommodities and annoyaunces as commonly come to Suerties by vndiscretenesse and rashnesse And it may be called the Suerties text because it prouideth for the securitie of Suerties as Suerties prouide for the securitie of others wherein almightie God giueth counsell vnto Suerties as vnto his children which if they follow then are they sure to stand when other are like to fall Therfore as S. Paul saith to Timothy in an other case Take heede to thy selfe to learning and continue therein for in so doing thou shalt saue thy selfe them that heare thee So I say to Suerties take heed to your selues and to your heauenly Fathers counsell and continue therein for in so doing you shall saue both your selues and others The candle that is carried in a lāterne shall light many cādels yet loose no part of his owne light be the winde neuer so boisterous but that candle that is opē to the weather a litle puffe of winde or one drop of raine shal put it out that it can neither giue light to others nor to it selfe So he to whom the word of God is a lanterne a light shall helpe himselfe and others when he that ventureth without it shall put out his owne light and the light of others also Here therefore the Lord doth teach mē to auoide such discommodities and annoyances as many through rashnesse and for want of discretion do fall into for the Lordes people must be a wise people And God would not haue thee to helpe thy neighbour without any care to saue thy selfe for although he hath said Loue thy neighbour as thy selfe yet he neuer said loue thy neighbour better thē thy selfe or loue thy selfe lesse then thy neighbour but loue him as thy selfe that is helpe him and saue thy selfe too or else thou shouldest loue him and hate thy selfe which in the same wordes is condemned For this end and purpose it hath pleased the Lord that dwelleth in the heauens to stoupe downe so low as to take order for our businesse here vpō earth that we following his orders it might go well with vs and our children for euer And this counsell concerning Suerties though it be an oeconomicall thing yet it is not a base thing as some haue thought the spirite of God to occupie himselfe in base matters But by this we may perceiue how carefull the spirite of God is for vs in all things he is become our ouerseer and would keepe vs euen in the smallest things that we are to take in hād He hath giuen vs this warning as if he were an ouerseer of our money and our losses but yet he doth not so much prouide for the benefite of the body as of the soule God hath set down a perfect rule for all things which is able to make the man of God perfect yea he hath vouchsafed to stoupe so low as to come home into euery mans familie and to haue a care of our domesticall affaires that though we care not how we go to worke yet our heauenly Father hath a care that we should walke according to his word which he hath set vp to be a lanterne to our feete and a light vnto our pathes This being true as it is most true we may be bold to lay downe these three conclusions following First that the word of God containeth a perfect rule for the ordering of all our affaires And whatsoeuer is requisite either to be beleeued in matters of doctrine or to be practised in matters of manners either towards God or man is from that fountaine to be drawen and in that schoole most exactly and perfectly taught It teacheth the King to raigne the Iudge to giue iudgemēt the Magistrate to beare rule the subiect to obey The Minister from hence may learne how to preach and the people may learne how to heare Here the Captaine may learne how to pitch his battaile and the common souldier is taught his dutie If thou be a husband here thou mayst learne how to rule thy wife and the wife may see in this glasse how to obey and to please her husbād The word of God hath layd downe most absolute instructions for fathers and children for masters and seruaunts for superiours and inferiours and for all estates In prosperitie and aduersitie in sicknesse and in health in warre in peace in youth in old age in the field at home at bed and at bord in all places and at all times thou mayst here learne how to behaue thy selfe Here is order taken for our eating and drinking for feasting and fasting for sportes and pastimes how to recreat the body and how to solace the minde for the apparell we put on and for the very haire of our head for the gestures of our body and the whole behauiour of our life It hath taken order for buying and selling for borrowing and lēding for giuing taking for finding and loosing there is a rule layd downe in the word of God how to become Suertie and how to escape the daunger of Suertiship here may the man of God be instructed in a word whatsoeuer belongeth to pollicie to ciuilitie or to Christianitie for this life or for the life to come it is most exquisitly most plentifully and most plainly layd downe in the booke of God If thou delightest to read Histories or Chronicles read Gods booke If thou wouldest see the creation of the world and how the same is preserued and the nature of the creatures read Gods booke If thou louest to tell and to heare of famous Kings Captaines of wonderfull battailes and victories of excellent Iudges and Magistrates of renowned Preachers and Prophets of cōstant professours and martyrs peruse the booke of God If thou wouldest see cōmon-wealthes florishing and going to ruine with the causes of both be acquainted with the booke of God If thou wouldest see the Church of God in her infancie and in her riper age in her rags and in her robes clensed and polluted increasing and decreasing with her enemies and her friends be not straunge to the word of God Would any see the
noble actes of God the wonderfull deliuerances of Gods people and the horrible confusion of wicked men let him hearken to the word of God If thou wouldest know thy maker thy redeemer thy sāctifier if thou wouldest know the vanitie the miserie and the wickednesse of the world with the subtilties sleightes of Sathan if thou wouldest know the happinesse the ioyes and felicities of heauen and finde the way thither if thou wouldst know the paines tormēts of hell and how to escape them enquire of Moses and the Prophets and they will tell thee What shall I say for one thing ouer-taketh another in such sort that confusion wil ouerwhelme vs before we can tell what riches are contained in the storehouse of Gods booke for who can sound the depth of a bottomlesse sea but in a word if a man desire to know himselfe throughly within and without in all his affaires betweene God and man let him behold himselfe in the glasse of Gods booke and when we haue so done we will say as the woman of Samaria said whē she had reasoned with the Lord Iesus Be hold one that hath told me all that euer I did and more euē al that euer I should do Therfore let no man maruell what we meane being the Ministers of God to speake of such and such matters or to medle in the businesse and dealings of mē for the word of God doth take order for all our affaires neither wonder who told tales of thee as the king of Aram did for the word doth rifle the hiddē corners of the heart But how are our aduersaries the Papistes deceiued which hold that the word of God doth not containe all things necessarie to the saluation of the elect but ô Lord what spirite of Atheisme and blasphemie doth possesse those men which durst compare Plimes Philosophie with the bookes of Moses Aristotles Ethickes and Politiques with the Prouerbes of Salomō Marcus Aurelius with Marke the Euangelist Marlins Prophesies with the Prophesies of Esay and the rest the eloquence of Cicero or Demostenes with the eloquēce of the holy ghost in the mouths of the Prophets and Apostles and in all the Scriptures or any doctours or fathers before the Doctours and Fathers of the Bible For what is lead to gold what is water to wine what is ignorance to learning what is darknesse to light what is the chaffe to the wheate what is falsehood to truth what is earth to heauen what comparison can there be betweene God and man and so much for that point Secōdly we may learne here that except God doth teach vs direct vs as it were by line by leuell by precept vpō precept by litle and by litle as the Prophet speaketh we know not how to order rightly our common businesse and dayly affaires of this life but we shalbe snared and entangled with our owne words or ouertakē one way or other to our own hinderance so foolish ignorant is man by nature And againe whē we are snared and brought into danger we know not how to helpe our selues except the Lord do teach vs but if he should let vs alone to shift for our selues we would neuer leaue vntill we had wrapped our selues in ten times more danger thē we were in before Adam hauing transgressed will thinke to hide himselfe frō God in the trees of the garden to couer his nakednesse with fig leaues His faulte he will excuse by the fault of another and rather then fayle he will not sticke to lay it vpō God him selfe so foolish was Adam and so are all his posteritie Cain will incurre the vengeance of God by killing of his brother when he hath done he thinkes to saue himselfe by outfacing of the matter but it will not be and so do all Cains brood Saul will disobey Gods cōmaundement like an hypocrite and then like a foole he will say he ment no harme he did it of a good intent and such fooles are we all by nature We are become like foolish marriners which will runne vpon the rockes to auoide the sandes We are become like Sisera who flying for his life will runne into Iaells tent for succour where the nayle and the hammer is prepared for his head and whē he thinketh to take vp his rest and sleepe most soūdly then is he nearest his destruction We are like children and sicke folkes which do desire nothing so much as those things which may hurt them We are become like the Philistines which were most merry when the house was ready to fall vpon their heades We are secure like the men of Laish which mistrusted nothing vntill the children of Dan did smite them with the edge of the sword and burnt their Citie with fire Now if we be so foolish for this life how foolish are we for the life to come we see that except our heauenly father doth direct vs by his counsell as he led Israell by the cloud and warne vs by his messengers as he warned the wisemē by his Angell we know not how to order our commō businesse the affaires of this life much lesse do we know by nature how to serue the Lord our God and how to worship him aright If by all our cunning which we haue by nature we cānot auoide the snares of men how shall we thinke by our naturall wit and cunning to auoide the snares of the deuill if we know not how to get out of bodily dāger without Gods direction how shall we thinke to get out of spiritual dāger without Gods direction for there is no craftinesse like spiritual craftinesse as there was no beast so subtill as the serpent Againe if we cā not of our selues get out of trouble whē we are in trouble how do we thinke of our selues to winde out of the temptations of Sathan except God do teach vs. For all the wayes of sinne are like the wayes of a harlot vvhich are moueable saith Salomō thou canst not know thē that is there is such varietie and store of them to bewitch men that we can neuer know which is which so in the crooked wayes of the deuill there be so many windings and turnings that whē a man is once in he cānot finde the way out againe vntil the Lord do bring him out againe And yet euery one thinketh that he may aduenture vpon any temptation and he shall easily get out againe when he list by his mother wit c. and no maruell for it is the easiest thing in the word for a man to deceiue his owne soule and so much for the 2. point Thirdly we may learne here that almightie God doth not leaue his childrē to thēselues but cōsidering how simple they are by nature he doth take paines to teach them how and which way to helpe themselues in euery action and for this cause hath he set down rules and instructions for all their affaires in
his word Our heauenly Father I say doth not adopt any in Christ Iesus to be his sonnes and daughters and then leaue thē to thēselues to be guided or rather beguiled by the counsell of their owne hearts nor by custome nor by worldly reason nor by the examples of their forefathers in any thing whether it concerneth this life or the life to come for then there were no difference betweene the elect and the reprobate whom God hath deliuered vp vnto a reprobate minde to do those things that are not conuenient because they regarded not to know God But the Lord wil instruct his children in the way which he hath appointed for them and wil guide them with his eye Yea with his counsell he will guide them and afterward receiue them to glory and therefore will he guide them with his counsell that he may receiue them into glory because ordinarily no man is glorified in heauen that is not first sanctified by the word of God vpō earth Therefore doth the Prophet Dauid call the word of God a lanterne to his feete and a light vnto his pathes as if the Lord should go before his children with a candle and a lanterne to guide their feete into the wayes of peace to teach vs that if we were as wise and as holy as Dauid was yet without the discretion of Gods word we do but grope in the darke like the men of Sodome and go we cannot tell whither like the mē of Samaria In another place he calleth the statutes of the Lord his coūsellers as if he knew not what to do without thē And surely so it was for in another place when he was ruled by his owne heart affectiō he saith that he plaied both the foole the beast vntill he went to schoole in the house of God where he learned that holy wisedome which he had not before so that this point is manifest and plaine that God doth not leaue his childrē to themselues in any thing but as a most mercifull father doth teach and instruct them by his word and spirite And therefore who soeuer shall either refuse to be ordered by the same or shal prefer his own wisedome or any mans workes before it or cōpare them with it may iustly suspect himselfe to be none of Gods children vntill he repent for the children of God knowing their owne ignorāce weaknesse euery manner of way are glad to be counselled by their heauenly father But what hath the lord takē order for Suertiship and all other of our worldly businesse and hath he not likewise takē order for his owne businesse will he not leaue vs to our selues in the lesser things wil he leaue vs to our selues in greater matters will he not let vs serue one another otherwise then himselfe hath appointed and will he be content that we shall serue his maiestie otherwise then he hath appointed himselfe Would he giue a paterne and direction to his people for making of the Tabernacle and building of the Tēple to that end that they might do euery thing or any thing thereunto belonging as they listed no surely and therfore he himselfe set down an order for the very vessells for the ashe-pannes the beesomes the flesh-hookes yea and euery pinne about the worke beyōd which paterne they might not go much lesse hath he left his worship vnder the Gospell vnto our discretion and he that is so carefull as that he would not leaue men to themselues and to their own deuises in matters of Suertiship affaires of the world surely he would neuer be so carelesse as to leaue men to themselues in the ordering and gouerning of his Church To conclude he that hath in his word set downe orders for oeconomical matters no doubt but he hath also in his word set downe orders for Ecclesiasticall matters for seeing as he will not allow men to haue more care for the ordering of other mēs houses then their owne farre be it from vs that we should thinke so of the Lord that he would haue greater care for the ordering of our houses then for the gouernement of his owne house which is his Church but as we finde certaine rules and perpetuall directions for the one so shall we finde in the same booke most certaine rules and perpetuall instructiōs for the other if we do not put some thing before our eyes and say we cānot see And so much for this 3. point Now we will come to the matter of Suertiship it selfe My sonne if thou be Suertie for thy neighbour c. Concerning Suertiship we will consider vpon this text of VI points 1. What Suertiship is 2. How many sorts of Suerties there be 3. Whether it be lawfull for Christiās to become Suerties one for another 4. How men in Salomons time became Suerties 5. How men are hindred by Suertiship 6. We will see what counsell God giueth vnto Suerties for their safetie As touching the first point To become a Suertie is nothing else but by word or writing or by pledge to make another sure so farre as man can of that which before he was not sure of or to put a man out of doubt so farre as law and equitie will require for the receiuing or enioying or recouering of some thing whereof he stood in doubt before therefore it is called securitie I reckon pledges amongest Suerties because a pledge is a kinde of Suertie for if the principall do faile the Suertie must answere the debt but when Suerties cānot be gotten then men lay somewhat to pledge that is better or as good as the debt commeth vnto And if the partie faileth the pledge must answere the debt sometime a pledge is layd because the thing is so small that one would be loth to haue his friend come in bandes or giue his word for the same and yet that which is but a smal matter amōgest rich men may be a great matter amōgest poore men And sometimes pledges are vsed in things vnlawful dishonest that is when mē do promise a thing vpō such conditions as they are ashamed to make knowē vnto any as Iudah promised his daughter in law Thamar a kid of the goates vpō cōditiō that he might lye with her but he knew her not well saith Thamar if thou vvilt giue me a pledge till thou send it that is if thou wilt put me in good securitie and that must be by some pledge at this time so he gaue her his signet his cloake and his stasse for a pledge that if the kid came not they must answere the matter And this was such a matter that when she was gone Iudah was ashamed to send after her for his pledge he had rather loose it then to recouer it with so much infamie as he was sure would ensue The end of Suertiship and pledges c. is that all men might haue their owne without which no trade nor traffique nor