work or give them a reward for what they do are partakers of their evil deeds As the adversaries of the Jews hired men to hinder the building of the temple Ezr. 4.5 They hired counsellers against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus So some men that are adversaries to these Meetings and are ashamed to appear in this odious work themselves do hire men fit for their turn to carry on this evil design Let such persons remember what a mark of displeasure the Lord left upon the Moabites for hiring Balaam to curse Israel Not only the men of that generation but their posterity was excluded for ever from coming into the Congregation of the Lord for this sin Neh. 13.1 2 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people and therein was found written that the Ammonite and Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water but hired Balaam against them that he should curse them Howbeit God turned the curse into a blessing All that clense their hearts from sin and walk according to the rule of the Word are as dear to God as the children of Israel were of old yea they are God's Israel Ps 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And if God were so angry with the Moabites for hiring Balaam to curse Israel that he would not suffer them to come into the Congregation of the Lord for ever Then how much more will God's anger be kindled against those that profess themselves Christians and yet hire vain persons to persecute such as are Israelites for worshipping and serving the Lord Inf. 3. Are these Informers guilty of such a great sin then let me advise such as are or hereafter may be tempted to turn Informers in the words of Solomon Prov. 1.10 11 12 13 14 15. My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not If they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause We shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse My Son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Let no proffer of any reward tempt you to persecute innocent men for serving God for such as lye in wait against the innocent lye in wait to destroy their own soul Prov. 1.11 18 Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause They lay wait for their own blood they lurk privily for their own souls It is mentioned by the Psalmist among the Characters of those that shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven that he must be one that will not be hired by any reward to do any hurt to an innocent man Ps 15.1 5 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle and who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that back-biteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh reward against the innocent Remember our Lord Jesus when the Devil offered him all the Kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them to have committed one act of sin he rejected his proffer with disdain Matt. 4.6 7 8. As the gaining the whole world could not tempt Christ to consent to one act of false worship So no gain should tempt you to disturb the true worshippers of God that worship him in Spirit and Truth So as to hinder one act of true worship Inf. 4. Let the Friends Relations and Acquaintance of these Informers as they love their Souls pity them and pray to God for them and reprove them for their sins and plead with them to turn from their evil ways If you let them go on in their sins without reproving them you have no love for their souls but you hate them in your hearts Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him And if they do not or will not hearken unto you plead with God for them that he would give them repentance and pull them as fire-brands out of the fire before they fall into everlasting burnings And watch your seasons to deal with them when God shall lay affliction upon them that is a good season to be dealing with them for they that are as the deaf adder in the day of prosperity and will not hearken unto any good counsel have their ears open to instruction in a day of trouble Job 36.8 9 10. Inf. 5. If these Informers and their adherents be guilty of such great evils then it concerns those that are placed in the condition of watch-men upon Mount Zion to warn them of their sin and to warn others also that they be not partakers with them in their sins For if they dye in their sins and they have given them no warning their blood will be required at their hands Ezek. 3.17 18 Son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me when I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely dye and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thy hand Inf. 6. Caution to those that are sufferers by these Informers Let neither the greatness of their sins nor the greatness of your sufferings who are persecuted by them provoke you to return evil to them for the evil they have done unto you Rom. 12.17 Recompence to no man evil for evil Vengeance belongs unto God and not unto us and therefore we must not go about to avenge our selves on those that injure us v. 19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. Our Lord Jesus hath taught us that we must love pray for and do good to the worst enemies we have in all the world even such as hate us curse us use us despitefully and persecute us Matt. 5.44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you These men are the rod of God and therefore look beyond the instruments to the hand of the Lord who correcteth you that he may make you partakers of his holiness and humble your selves under his mighty hand and turn to him that smiteth you and then the Lord will turn all your sufferings to your advantage And as you must not offer any violence to these men so neither should you fret nor be cast down at their prosperity
of all the righteous blood that hath been shed upon the earth since the world stood which if it were well considered and believed and laid to heart were enough to fill the heart of these men with unspeakable horror Ps 69.22 23 24 25 26 27 28. Let their Table become a feare before them and that which should have been for their welfare become a trap Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of him whom thou hast wounded Add iniquity to their iniquity and let them not come into thy righteousness Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous Observe here 1. A Catalogue of dreadful curses such as may make a mans ears tingle to hear of them 2. The Persons against whom and the cause for which they are denounced and they are such as persecute the people of God for this very Sin of persecution v. 26. For they persecute him c. 3. The person that imprecates or as some by a Spirit of Prophesie foretells what should befall Persecutors and that was David who in this Psalm represents and personates our Lord Jesus And so we may look upon it as our Lord Jesus cursing and foretelling what curses should come upon those that should persecute him and his members Now let us consider what these curses are which David or rather our Lord Jesus foretells should come upon Persecutors Their blessings shall be cursed their table shall be their snare and that which should have been their welfare become a trap v. 22. Their eyes shall be darkned that is they shall be smitten with spiritual blindness and their loins shall shake continually that is they shall be as unable for any good work as a man whose loins shake continually or else a guilty Conscience shall make them shake for fear even where no fear is v. 28. God will pour out his indignation upon them pouring out signifies the abundance of wrath as when the clouds are said to pour down rain it implies abundance of rain and his wrathful anger shall take hold of them it shall not only fall upon them but abide and take such hold as they shall not get from it v. 24. God will give them up to their hearts lusts and punish this Sin by letting them go on in their Sins by adding one Sin to another which is a sore judgment And will not let them come into his righteousness that is will let them dye in their Sins will not let them partake of his mercy and favour will not let them have any share of the righteousness of Christ v. 26. They shall be cut off from the land of the living and have no part with the righteous in the world to come v. 27. God will visit their families and posterity with desolating judgments v 25. This shall be the portion of them that persecute the members of the Lord Jesus if they continue in this Sin without repentance See another Scripture Ps 7.13 He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors And wo to those men against whom the great God the Lord of Hosts ordaineth his arrows And whereas he saith not his Arrow but he ordaineth his arrows against the Persecutors it implyeth that God hath several sorts of judgments in store for Persecutors both judgments in this life and the life to come It may be you will say we see Persecutors of righteous men are in a very dreadful condition but we hope we are not guilty of this great Sin of persecution by our molesting these men in their meetings and causing their goods to be taken from them Did we hale them to Prisons or cause them to be put to death then we might justly be called Persecutors but seeing we do not take away their lives but their goods we hope we are no Persecutors Ans 1. All injuries done wittingly to righteous men either in word or deed especially when they are troubled for righteousness sake are persecutions Ishmael did not offer any violence to the life person or estate of Isaac He did but mock him Gen. 21.9 yet he is charged with persecuting Isaac Gal. 4.29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is non Job's friends did not afflict his body nor touch his estate nor disturb him at his devotion only they grieved his Spirit by their reproaches and uncharitable censures of him and they are charged with the guilt of persecution Job 19.21 22. Have pity upon me have pity upon me Oh ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me why do ye persecute me c. David speaking of his Persecutors tells us one way whereby they persecuted him was by talking and speaking those things which caused him grief Ps 69 26 They persecute him whom thou hast smitten and talk to the grief of them whom thou hast wounded If uncharitable censures reproaches scoffs be a degree of persecution how can you wash your hands from the guilt of this Sin who call their meeting to worship God by reproachful terms who disturb them in their devotions carry them before Magistrates and cause their goods to be taken from them 2. Though you do not take one drop of blood from these men yet if you hate them and what you do to them proceed out of hatred then are you Murtherers in God's account and shall have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God 1 Job 3.15 Whosoever hateth his Brother is a murtherer and you know no murtherer hath eternal life abiding in him As unchast lusts are adultery in God's account and he that lusteth after a woman though he never touch her hath committed adultery with her in his heart Mat. 5.28 So malicious actions are Murther and he that hateth his brother though he offer no violence to his life hath murthered him in his heart I will not charge you with hatred I leave that to God and your own Consciences But this I will say I cannot understand how your actings are consistent with love For love worketh no ill to his Neighbour Rom. 13.10 3. By taking away their livelyhood whereby their lives are preserved you are guilty before God of taking away their lives For a mans livelyhood is in Scripture accounted his life else what means that Scripture Deut. 24.6 No man shall take the nether or the upper-milstone to pledge for he taketh a mans life to pledge Why is the taking the upper or nether milstone to pledge the taking a mans life to pledge but because it is the taking that which is the means of preserving his life by procuring him a livelyhood 4. By hindring them in the exercise of their Ministery
A REBUKE TO THE INFORMERS WITH A PLEA for the Ministers of the Gospel CALLED Nonconformists AND THEIR MEETINGS AND Advice to those to whom these INFORMERS Address themselves for Assistance in their Undertakings Prov. 28.23 He that rebuketh a man afterward shall find more favour than he that flattereth with his tongue Acts 28.30 31. Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus with all confidence no man forbidding him Joh. 20.17 Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto thim Peace be unto you Act. 9.4 5. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And he said who art thou Lord And the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks LONDON Printed in the Year 1675. To the READER THE Design of this ensuing Discourse is to convince and convert from the evil of their ways those men that have taken upon them the work and office of Informers and also to keep others from being partakers of their sins By Informers I mean such persons as under a pretence of suppressing seditious Conventicles do create much disturbance to men fearing God causing their Assemblies to be broken up and the persons whom they find assembled together to be fined although they can prove no crime against them but that they find them praying to God in the Name of Jesus Christ and preaching and hearing Gods holy word Which practice of theirs seems to me to be exceeding sinful and greatly prejudicial to their own and others eternal Salvation of which I have given several demonstrations and have answered their most material Plea's that did come to my thoughts whereby they seek to excuse and extenuate their sin If any say these Informers are so hardened in their sinful ways that there 's no hope that they should be brought to repentance and therefore you might have spared your labour in endeavouring to reclaim them I answer 1. There is hope that the worst of men may be brought to repentance even such as are slaves to Satan and are taken and led captive by him at his will and therefore such as are grown to that height of sin as to oppose the truth are to be instructed with meekness as not knowing but God may give them repentance unto life 2 Tim. 2.25 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will 2. God can do great things by weak and unlikely means to still and quiet those that are enemies to and afflicters of his people Psal 8.2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger Ultores vocat illos qui laedunt eos qui fidunt Deo Vatabl. 3. If any one of these Informers that are sprung up in any part of this Nation should be brought to repentance though the rest should perish in their evil courses I should think my pains well bestowed for the conversion of one sinner from the error of his ways For one soul is of more worth than the whole world Mark 8.36 And one sinner destroyeth much good Eccles 9.18 Not only several persons but Towns yea Countries may enjoy peace by the conversion of one Informer For some of them are such turbulent persons that they do not only disquiet their neighbours that live in the same Towns with themselves but they go from one Town to another and from one County to another raising persecution against those that meet together in a peaceable manner to pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ and to preach and hear his holy word When Saul who was a great persecutor of the servants of Christ was converted several Churches had rest and peace thereby Act. 9.31 Then had the Churches rest through all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied What great benefits accrued to several Churches by the conversion but of one persecutor who had been an active man in persecuting the members of Christ The rest the edification the multiplying the spiritual comfort of the Churches in Judea Galilee and Samaria followed upon the conversion of Saul 4. If none that are actually engaged in this way of being Informers should be reclaimed yet by opening the horrible and dangerous nature of their sin others that are or may be hereafter under a temptation to turn Informers being tempted thereto by poverty enticing of evil minded men promise of a reward affrighted by threatnings or any other way may be prevented from following their pernicious ways They are more foolish than the birds that will be allured to take the bait when they espy the net Prov. 1.17 Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird 5. If none should receive any benefit by what I have written yet by warning those that are engaged in this sinful practise to turn from their evil ways and warning others not to be partakers of their evil deeds I shall deliver my own soul Ezek. 3.19 If thou warn the wicked man and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall dye in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul But some may say These papers are not like to come into the Informers hands or if they should they will not bestow the pains to read them or if they should they will but make a scoff at them or they will be but the more enraged and therefore it is to no effect that this means should be used to reclaim them Ans 1. We must do our duty and leave the success to God Eccl. 11.6 In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or the other or both be alike good I leave it wholly to the providence of God what success he will give to my endeavours It may be he will put it into the hearts of some persons that compassionate the perishing condition of these Informers to send these papers to them and it may be he will move their hearts to read them and who can tell but he may touch their hearts in reading them and cause some of the arrows drawn out of his quiver to stick so fast in their consciences as they shall not be able to shake them of 2. Writing as well as preaching is a means to bring sinners to repentance Jer. 36.2 Take thee the roll of a book and write therein all the words that I have spoken