est sua peccata patriae suorum quantum fiori potest tegere all of nothing So for a man to come to this that he wil not conceale his fathers mothers or friends faults to speake against his owne country and countrymen yea against himselfe is against the nature of man cannot be wrought in man but by a supernaturall cause This we see the holy men in the Scriptures did It is naturall to every man so farre as he can to cover his owne faults and the faults of his Countrey and friends Moses when no necessity bound him confessed that he came of a cursed stocke spared not his brother Aarons fault in making the Calfe but committed it to writing spared not his sister Miriam in the cause of murmuring no not his owne fault in murmuring against the Lord at the waters of strife Numb 11.11 dispossessed his owne children and would not have them to succeed him in the Magistracy a very unnaturall thing but preferred Ioshua yea he put by his owne Tribe and the Tribe of Iuda and preferred Ephraim This is not able to agree with the naturall man but must come from an higher cause Therefore the writers of these bookes must be inspired by God 10. Whereas the whole drift of the greatest Philosophers and most learned men was to teach how Kings should enlarge their Kingdomes and to be in credit with Princes and great men this teacheth that life is the contempt of life It teacheth the contempt of the world and worldly honours The Prophets they never sought to be in favour with Princes but were so farre from that that they answered them not so much to that they asked as to that they should have asked therefore this is supernaturall Therefore the true way and from God not from man Against the Iewes The next point as God is a Spirit so must his worship be spirituall so we finde in the Scriptures not onely forbidding of images and shadowes but also a flat negative And as in the case of Gods unity though false religion may agree with the true in the first point yet not in the second so in this regard howsoever they exclude images yet they fault in this that all their worship is ceremoniall bodily and rituall consisting in matters of ablution and outward types And though there be types in the old Testament yet he proclaymeth every where that he abhorreth them for he will have a contrite heart and onely the circumcision of the heart Therefore as man is bodily and his notions fall into the compasse of the body so as that worship that commeth from him is bodily whereas the worship that commeth from God is spirituall 2. To this may be added that of Miracles and Oracles to confirme this religion as the other did in confirming their religion They were not done in corners but in the sight of Pharao in the middest of all his servants 2. Againe they were not frivolous but they that have felt them have got good by them 3. They are not imitable nor expressible by the art of man as the dividing of the red Sea the causing the Sunne to stand still in Ioshuahs time the making of Ahaz Diall to goe backe 10. degrees both which Areopageta saith are in the Persian Oracles The raining of Manna from Heaven Iannes and Iambres were not able to imitate Moses For Oracles of the Gentiles they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philippise Oracles speake as King Philip would have them and that they were very ambiguous and needed Delio natatore the Swimmer the Interpreter Apollo to expound them Therefore Porphyry said that their Oracles commonly had Posticum a backe-dore These doe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philippise are not doubtfull need no Delius natator the Swimmer the Interpreter Apollo Last most of the heathens Oracles came not to passe but in the Scriptures they came all to passe some three hundred yeeres before some 500. some a thousand some three thousand as the dilatation of Iapheth which happened not before the calling of the Gentiles And this for confirmation both of the old and new Testament common to the Jewes aswell as to us those that follow are proper to Christian religion 1. Aug. 23. de eivitate Dei out of Porphyrie de regressu animae of the regresse of the soule the greatest enemy that ever the Church had That it is no true religion that doth not yeeld a sufficient purgation to the soule of man Moreover he addeth there that the Platonists received from the Chaldees that the purgation of the soule of man cannot be nisi per principia but by the principles we know that Plato his principles were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the father the mind love an enignaticall speech of our Trinity But this i. the purgation of the soule of man no religion teacheth but ours for it teacheth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word tooke upon him sinfull flesh to purge away the sins of man therefore ours the true all the rest are meerely bodily for all their exorcismes and sacrifices are bodily and not spirituall and so withall the God of the Christians is not like to the heathen gods for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who loveth man i. he delighteth not in cutting mens throats or burning them to afhes as their divels had virgins babes old men young men good men offered up to them And the sacrifices of beasts in the old law were onely used for two respects 1. That they might be types of those things that are in the Gospell 2. To be an admonition to men to shew them that they have deserved to be thus killed and sacrificed God was so farre from having men to be sacrificed to him that he himselfe came downe to give himselfe a Sacrifice for our sinnes And what greater love can be then for a man to give his life for that he loveth for his friend therefore no greater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love to man then this In a witnesse two things required 1. Skill 2. Honesty 1. Ioh. 1.1 Now for the Gospell 1. For the witnesses In a witnesse two things required 1. Skill 2. Honesty First for the skill There is never a one of them but can say we write and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which we have heard which we have seene with our eyes which we have looked upon and which our hands have handled Not as Homer Plato and the rest that had their things from other and by report And withall the writers of the Scriptures writing them when the world bare greatest hatred against them and yet never any durst write any booke against Moses in his time or against the Gospell in these daies And de probitate testis concerning the honesty of a witnesse The honesty of a witnesse there can be no better reason given then that Tacitus giveth That they testifie best quibus nullum est mendacii pretium that have nothing for their labour
and yet in the same booke in the Epistle of Aristobulus it is said that part of it was translated before the Empire of the Persians was begun long before it came to be translated of the 70. But it appeareth that it hath pleased God in most strange manner in every Nation to leave some Register or Chronicle of this as among the Egyptians Manetho among the Phenicians Sanchoniatho among the Chaldees Berosus in Asia minor Abidenus among the Persians Metasthenes among the Gentiles Histaspis Hecataeus Euemerus Alexander polyhistor In the second booke of Herodotus we shall finde that notable miracle that God wrought on Senacherib though somewhat corrupted the edict of Cyrus almost the whole prophecie of Daniel 11. booke of Josephus as Augustine lib. 8. de civit Dei Alexander being in Babylon and purposing to build an Image to Belus and certaine of the scattered Jewes which were then the cunningest workemen refusing to build an Image to any Idoll of the Heathen vowed to roote out cleane all the Nations of the Jewes but he was soone appeased by Iaddus the High Priest for he hearing of the Kings vow met him in peaceable manner in Aarons attire whom as soone as Alexander saw he fell downe before him and worshipped him and presently gave over his purpose And being demanded the cause of so sudden change of his purpose answered that Hiaddus appeared unto him in the same likenesse of that God which appeared to him bidding him to conquer the whole world in the very same attire that that man ware After those daies by the meanes of Ptolomey and his Embassage to Aristobulus and his great Library in Alexandria the Jewes religion was dispersed Laâ—rtius in the life of Epimenides which agreeth with Act. 17. The Athenians being visited with a strange plague and asking counsell of the Oracle how to rid themselves of it the Oracle sent them to Epimenides He told them that they were not to seeke to their owne God but to another God for it was another above all their Gods that sent them this plague and it was onely to be driven away by Sacrifice They making offer to discharge themselves of this offered Sacrifice the plague neverthelesse continuing they were faine to send to Epimenides the second time to know in what manner they should sacrifice and where he counselled them to let the beasts goe whither they would and in that place where they should stand still there to sacrifice them to that God that had sent them that plague The beasts went on with the Sacrifice on their backe untill they came to Mars his streete and comming to a faire plat there stayed where they built an Altar and dedicated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 17. to the unknowne God The like is in the Romane histories the Romans having got a great victory over their enemies after built a Temple and consecrated it to peace and demanding of their Oracle how long it should continue word was given them that it should endure quoad virgo peperit till a Virgin should beare a child which because they thought it would never be they set this inscription upon the doore Templum pacis aeternum The everlasting Temple of peace And about the time that Christ was borne in the shutting on an evening it fell downe to the ground without any helpe Thus much for the Antiquity both by them whose writings yet remaine and fathers as also by the Heathen themselves that proposition alwaies holding Quod primum verum What is most ancient is true 2. Argument The continuance of it The second argument from the continuance of preservation of it most miraculously as that the religion that commeth from man or any false God cannot have the like whereas we see the Jewes continued in captivities under other nations more then any as under the Philistins Moabites Amorites Persians Romans Egyptians and yet in all these it hath continued So also the people round about them Especially the victorers nature being to turne the religion and lawes of the conquered to his owne bearing a deadly hate to them and their religion And Antiochus bending himselfe wholly to destroy all the copies of the Law and yet hath it beene so wonderfully preserved as not one jot of it hath at any time perished We see that the chiefest men in Philosophy Physicke Law c. have left their schollers behind them to renâ—w their writing their workes have beene countenanced of mighty men as much as could be all meanes in the world hath beene used for the preservation of them yet most of their writings have beene lost some have come to the posterity unperfect or very corrupt On the other side there hath beene extreme contempt of the Jewes their enemies intent alwaies to subvert them and their religion as also a purposed malice of the Jewes themselves against their owne religion All meanes possible used to the subverting of it yet as yet it hath continued So that there is not a materiall point that feareth the sifting either concerning manners or faith so that we may say Hîc Dei digitus here is the finger of God for time leaveth her markes in humane things And though there be differences in the divers taking of things and in the divers forme of words yet they tend all to one end There is no materiall difference about any materiall point so that it mattereth not which of all the waies it be taken The like may be said concerning the whole manner of their religion They never changed their religion customes or lawes being in captivity in divers strange Lands whereas any other Nation being instituted in a strange religion strange customes and Lawes useth to alter her owne and give her selfe to that other religiâ—n 3. The certainty of Christian religion The third thing the certainty That whereas other writings are brought into question or are imperfect or not authenticall but counterfeits The perfectest of all mans writings fals into one of these In it 1. no imperfection Impossible that man should take away the least part in the Christian religion without the destruction of the whole 2. No contradiction or include contradictions but this religion can fall into none of these Therefore this religion must needs be the religion of God 1. For imperfection It is a certaine note that when any thing commeth from man it groweth by little and little untill it come to perfection no such thing in this For in the delivery of the Law all was delivered at once most absolutely in the 10. Commandements under which there is no duty but may be sensibly contained to which nothing hath beene or could be added nothing be detracted without the cleane overthrow of the whole onely writers have explained them which because man cannot doe in his writings it must needs be from God 2. For contradictions Paul 2. Cor. 1. The words of man are sealed with etiam non yea and no but the writings of
see when we have gone through the faire promises of the gaine-sayer we are to deale with other enemies as anguishes of this life c. then with the last enemies and then we are to make account that when wee deale with the last enemy i. death if wee escape him we shall be sure to keepe our soules Patience the roofe of godâ—â—nesse tectum In consideration whereof as we said in faith that it is fundamentum virtutum the foundation of other vertues so patience is tectum virtutum omnium the roofe to keepe them from the stormes of afflictions without which showres would fall into the building and rot it And this may well be warranted Luke 8.15 our Saviour describing the spirituall harvest saith that they brought fruit in patience the fruit is the last thing in the other the bud and the blossome the fruit that must come through the blade more plaine I am 1.4 that therefore patience must be that we may be perfect and want nothing i. that perfection may be added Phil. 1.29 he joynes them both together to beleeve and to suffer Vnto you it is given not onely to beleeve in him but also to suffer for him Heb. 6.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye be not slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises faith and patience the first and the last the beginning and the ending Sure it is that when this vertue is come and covered the roofe we have good cause to rejoyce in so much as the Apostle 2 Cor. 12 10. he will rejoyce in his patience that he had suffered reproaches infirmities persecutions and anguishes for Christs sake Which patience Rom. 5.4 working experience then hee hath spem solidiorem more sure and solid hope then he comes to that Rom. 8.35 that he throweth downe his Gauntlet to any thing that can separate him from the love of God and he beginneth with the stoutest enemies speaking by experience as the worke being perfect in him If â—n punishment it brings forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the precept what is commanded that is patience but we will distinguish it according to this object to affliction that is of two sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precept for direction punishment for correction and accordingly on both sides there is a diverse patience It is said that in every law there is a directive and corrective force if the first escape the second will take hold aut faciendum quod oporter aut patiendum quod oporiet either we must doe what is due or suffer what is due we must be either Active or Passive 1. The first patience this whereby when we see that we are under the rod we submit our selves to the corrective law knowing it to be just for our deserts The reasons be two but one for suffering 1 Pet. 4.19 the maine reason of both these because it is the will of God Of his Will we enquire not the cause but the reason it is revealed therefore we are bold for the confirmation of our faith one this he will have the whole world know The manifestation of his own justice that sinne shall not be unpunished partly plaine Numb 20.12 the waters of Meribah cost Moses his life his wavering that waters came not at the first was the forfeiture of entrance into the land of promise and many more may be brought but they are all darkened by Christ his punishment for sinne may shew how well God liketh it Now albeit the maine punishment fell on Christ the Son of God and this passio Christi his Passion was the greatest sign of the love that he bare to us so must it be reciproce though that fell on him yet so it fell that there should still be a visitation of his Church though it was promised in the beginning God makes a covenant with us and to this end that his mercy may not be withdrawne from us yet Psal 89.31.32 But if his children forsake my law then I will visit their transgression with the rod c. So it is a part of the league betweene him and us that we shall endure the fatherly correction 1 Pet. 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time is that justice shall beginne at the house of God an argument if justice beginne at the house of God if God shew his justice in punishing those which he hath a speciall favour and love unto therefore it doth argue that he will punish the unbeleevers more grievously Luke 23.31 It in me that am a greene tree what shall become of a dry tree therefore the green shall downe too Ier. 25.29 If mine owne house where my name is called upon offend I will beginne to plague it and shall you go scotfree therefore there is a not sparing of the house of God This would be very unpleasant unto us but that if we suffer not this a worse thing to be left would follow Heb. 12.6 Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth Revel 3.19 God doth castigare omnem silium quem recipit he scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth so herein is our choyce whether we will be disinherited or chastened Aug. Si hoc tibi magis malum videtur exhaeredari quam non casligari ist hoc elige So that if a man will be of the company of the wicked then Psal 73. he may share prosperity with them if not then Ier. 12. he shall be of the afflicted heritage and if our inheritance be magis bonum a good rather then the other we must passe under this 2. The procuring of out own benefit either by calling us backe when we are gone or retaining us in the state we 〈◊〉 in 2. Another reason of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 correction as the first was the declaration of Gods judgements so this for our owne benefit 1. Esa 28.19 vexatio dat intellectum vexation gives understanding Psal 119.14 it was good for David that he was in trouble i. many men cannot be without it Aug. saith of himselfe that when he did follow with a full streame worddly pleasures pectoris dolâ—r a griefe in his chest was the first visitation that recall'd him by Pauls unhorsing and smiting blinde was his entrance and so many have beene recovered to God and unlesse we be thus smitten and awaked the naturall folly and the world ringing in our eares will make us that we shall not heare So in our continuance of sundry Hase 2.6 Sepiam viam tuam spinis I will hedge up thy way with thornes if thou wilt out of the way a thorne shall pricke thee and bring thee in againe Basil is said that being a man much subject to infirmity and sicknesse once in his sicknesse was very earnest with God for the recovery of his health and when he had obtained it he remembred that he had left out a condition that when he requested of the Lord that he might recover his health he
sufficient There was city against city and that was the occasion of the Civill government And indeed this Ecclesiastica potestas the Ecclesiasticall government would have been sufficient to have governed the whole World but that as David saith Psal 32.9 there is in some another nature They are like the Horse and wild Mule that will runne upon men and offer violence and injury and consequently there must be another power to bridle those Now then the great reason of the Common-wealth why they would be under one man and of giving potestatem vitae necis The great reason of the Common-wealth power over life and death to one man their maxime is Praestat timere unum quam multos better to feare one Wolfe then to have every Wolfe to be his controller and to have his life continually in hazard Gen. 9.6 A magistracy and the sword was appointed by God and so consequently Gen. 14.18 Melchisedech whom the best writers agree to be Sem tooke upon him a Kingdome and tooke upon him a way to defend the Church and people of God The chiefe end of a Common-wealth is to serve God Praecipuus finis re publicae cultus De◠1 Tim. 2.2 Which Abraham not finding in Caldea where he was pars patriae one of the countrey chose rather to live solitarily by himselfe Exod. 5.13 the same end is noted Israel being under a strange King in Aegypt that knew not Jehovah desired to goe and serve the Lord in the Wildernesse out of the Land of Aegypt Psal 122. the Church and Countrey are both joyned together and 2 Chron. 11.13 14. the Levites ran from Jeroboam out of all the suburbs and possessions and came to Juda and Jerusalem For Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from ministring in the Priests of sice before the Lord Deu. 17.18 as soon as the King is set in his throne he must get him a copie of the Law For this a man may forsake his Countrie if his end be gone that is the service of God 2. End peace After this end came in the other as the second end quietnesse That is in three points in this order Because Pastor is applyed to the Minister much adoe there is Pastor in the word more often applyed to the Magistrate then to the Minister in urging great and extraordinary diligence in them But it is strange that Pastor in the Scriptures being oftner attributed to the Magistrate no such diligence is required of him The first metaphor from that signification is given to the Magistrate Gen. 49.24 to Joseph and Psal 78.71 to David Secondly Num. 27.17 metaphorically So also provide a man over them that they be not as sheep without a shepheard Now that they might not stray as sheep because it is good for sheep to keep together for feare of the Wolves therefore it is first that they might be fedde And then for that there falleth dissension among them Ezek. 34.18 21. I will judge betweene sheep and shepheard vers 23. And I will set up a shepheard over them even my servant David c. There are the fat and the leane sheep and what doe they The fat sheep having fed and drunke trample the grasse and trouble the water that the leane sheep can eate and drinke nothing but such and vers 21. they will strike one another with their hornes c. Now for the keeping of the fat from the leane in the inside of the fold that they may feed quietly This is the second end 3. Now besides John 10.12 because there is a Wolfe without the fold an outward enemie that is forraigne invasion here is the third end to be quiet from forraigne invasion from the great Goats and Wolfe We see how the causes depend one of another The first end of Princes to be nutricii ecclesiae nourishers of the Church pascere nos non seipsos to feed not themselves but us The second is to be procurers of peace at home The third to keep off forraigne invasion plaine in exemplo regis non boni by an example of none of the best Kings Saul 1 Sam. 11.5 he lookes there ne quid sit populo quod fleat that the people have no occasion to weep they be not disquieted by Nahash the Ammonite c. so we see the end Now to the duties Usurpation An usurpation is here too as well as in Ecclesiasticall government Judges 18.7 In Laish men were quiet because there was no usurping Prov. 8.15 Per me reges regnant By me Kings raigne saith Salomon As hee is the doore Practises of usurpers so they that enter rightly enter by him but he saith contra Hosea 8.4 Regnaverunt sed non per me they have set up Kings but not by me So there bee some Usurpers of Magistracie Videlicet such as be not called as Hebrewes 5.4 but doe as Amos 6.13 Assumpserunt sibi cornua that is potestatem c. take unto themselves hornes by hornes is meant power We have an example in Abimelech Judges 9. Ambition is the usurper his meanes be verse 2. his friends But now they are growne more impudent they will say it themselves Abimelech had more blood in his face he desired his friends to say for him and he doth by humbling of himselfe seeke friendship and verse 4. When they had little better consideration of them he getteth him a few light brayned fellowes to ayde him verse 5. and 21. those that had right to it he drove away These are the three practises of Usurpers which Jotham verse 15. and 16. telleth them in a Tale and so sheweth them what manner of fellows they are c. The Magistrate being set in his charge rightly by God the division of 1 Pet. 2.13 14. commeth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under Officers as in Warre the Captaine in Peace the Judge The cause of under officers The reason of Under officers is Deut. 2.9 Moses confession Exod. 18.13 Jethro telleth him he is unable to beare the burthen of the whole government Numb 11.16 is Gods approbation Deut. 17.16 they have authority to make a King and Deut. 16.10 to make under Officers Here note that these under Officers are given to helpe the King Underofficers must not bee too many therefore that there be no more granted then will serve to help the King that the Realme be not clogged with too many Nehem. 5.15 They themselves handle them not hardly but their servants their under Officers oppressed the people Therefore that is gravamen reipublicae a burthen to the Common-wealth which the people cannot beare So it is against policie and against justice too for they must have their Fees to them Generall dutyes So the duties in generall of both What manner of men they should be What manner of men they should be And the first is this Whom God calleth All elections must be according to that rule Deut.
therefore for the rectifying of whatsoever is done amisse in the other three Commandements was this instituted It is not enough to have authorities but there must bee proofes too and that is by witnesses therefore Levit. 5.1 God taketh order that a man shall beare witnesse and Deut. 17.6.7 the witnesse being so borne shall be received 3. There is another sort that upon the comparisons of the holy Ghost betweene a good name and credit and wealth that honesta fama is alierum patrimonium an honest report or a good name is another patrimony immediately then having dealt with patrimonium with other patrimonies before now he comes to deale with a good name which is a second or alierum patrimonium another patrimony But the second opinion de re judicata of the matter to be judged or to be referred to the Judges carrieth it away that is thought to be the best and the best are inclined thereunto for Esa 59.13 hee saith that they have trespassed in lying i. inconceiving lies in their heart and uttering false matters and his consequence he bringeth in the 14. Judgement is turned backe and justice standeth a farre off that is tanqam germanum effectum as the proper naturall effect of false witnesse he bringeth in the breach and overthrow of judgement and justice as most horrible before God therefore he bringeth it as a barre and so indeed it is as Prov. 12.22 he saith that lying is abomination unto him Then this is the effect concerning the consequence of this Commandement that if in respect of the breach of any of the other Commandements Deut. 19.16 any man bring up an evill name or accusation of his neighbour if any saith hee hath done that which he hath not then as he taketh order chap. 19.21 he shall be punished and that punishment whether it be penall or corporall that he thought to have brought upon his brother the very same shall be upon him Scopus quadâ—â— plex For the scope and purpose of the Law-giver it is sure that the Lord being truth as it is expressely said of Christ and of the Spirit the Spirit of truth and holinesse Secondly mercie justice true dealing 1. Gloria Deâ— and thirdly truth in regard of God so we may easily see the end in Gods behalfe he would have the truth preferred for which truth as Iohn 18.37 Christ saith he was borne to beare witnesse to it And for which cause every man by the proportion of Christs birth is boâ—ne to witnesse And as the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.15 if wee have taught aâ—lâ—e then we are found false witnesses against God for we have taught and testified that Christ is risen and in teaching this we teach a lie if Christ be not risen from the dead And not onely in these but also in judiciall matters Ios 7.19 where a confession being to be made of Achans theft Iosuah saith unto him My sonne give glory to God and make confession of thy sinne unto him that is as much to say as of the confession of truth and the glory that commeth of it is the end for God because that of the confession of truth not only in matter of religion but in judiciall matters there turneth an especiall glory to God 2. Bâ—â—um Sâ—â—lesia Now for the Church 2 Pet. 2.1 he speaketh there of certaine as he calleth them magistri mendaces lying masters or false teachers We speake not as it is referred to the unhallowing of the name of God but as it is referred to the danger and hazarding of the soules of the hearers that heare them preach 1 Iohn 2.22 Quis est mendax nisi qui negat Iesum esse Christum Who is a lier but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ he is a lier that affirmeth an hereticall point and by that meanes bringeth into hazard the soules of the hearers And the preserving then of the truth in the Church not in respect of Gods glory but in respect of the safety of the Church it is the second end 3. The establishing of justice and truth in the Common-wealth Now for the third end for the Common-wealth as we said Gen. 21.30 Abraham calleth the Well Beersheba the Well of the oath and gave Abimelech seven Lambes for a testimony that the Well was his And Gen. 31.47 48. that cumulus testimomi the heape of witnesse was onely this because there passed a covenant betwixt Laban and Iacob that they would be friends and allies So Levit. 5.5 the cause of proceeding of justice and the establishment of all truth was done by this onely Numb 5. except it were in the case of jealousie Now for every particular man it is the fence of his good name and credit 4. The fence of every particular mans good name for seeing Prov. 15.30 that a good name fatteneth a mans bones it doth him much good within and without And Eccles 7.1 it casteth a good and sweete savour and Prov. 22.1 when it commeth to be prised it passeth gold and silver and indeed it is selfe the cause of them especially of the last Prov. 22.1 because from it proceedeth favour and of that favour the smell that men will commit themselves unto him Act. 5.34.40 as to Gamaliel being a man of name they gave all eare unto him as men will goe to Physitians that are well spoken of and a cunning Lawyer shall be sure of many Clients and a good Tutor of many Schollers and most customers will resort thither where is most credit and best report so we see the foure-fold end of this Commandement The entrance into that that followeth may be thus In respect of Gods judgements it maketh no matter what men thinke of us But then there is an injunction to every man Matth. 5.16 that his workes shall so shine before men c. There is laid upon every man a duty of doing good here and there is no good to be done by that man that hath an evill report A double necessity of truth So that duplex necessitas a double necessity is laid upon us to have bonam conscientiam propâ—er te a good conscience for your selfe and bonam samma a good report for your brethren as August you may be able to doe good then before men And therefore howsoever in respect of God and duty setting scandalum vitae scandalum justitiae the scandall of life and the scandall of righteousnesse or justice aside a man must stand thus resolved as he speaketh 2 Cor. 6.8 that through evill report and good report he must doe good yet if Phil. 4.8 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just a man can joyne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things that make a good report it is the best course and that way is to be taken For little good use will there be of mens gifts without them
might be escaped from him thither and though we could goe whither he could not come we should not be free for we carry ever a Tempter about with us And when we pray to be delivered from temptation it is not onely from the devill but from our selves we carry fire within us Nazianzen and Basil were of that minde once that by change of the place a man might goe from temptation but afterward they recanted it affirming That it was impossible to avoyd temptation yea though he went out of the world except he left his heart behinde him also THE SECOND SERMON MATTH 4.2 And when he had fasted forty dayes and forty nights hee was afterward hungry NOw come we to the seventh and last circumstance It may seeme strange that being about to present himselfe to the world as Prince Priest and Prophet that hee would make his progresse into the Wildernesse and begin with a Fast for this was cleane contrary to the course and fashion of the world which useth when any great matter is in hand to make a Preface or Praeludium with some great solemnity As when Solomon came first to his Crowne he went to the chiefe City and gathered a solemne Convent So Christ should rather first have gone to Jerusalem the holy City and there should have beene some solemne banquet But Christ from his Baptisme began his calling and fasted forty dayes and forty nights This his Fast by late Writers is called the entrance into his calling by the ancient Writers it is called the entrance into his conflict The manner of the Church hath alwayes beene that at the first institution or undertaking of any great and weighty matter there hath beene extraordinary Fasting So Moses Deut. 9.9 when he entred into his calling at the receiving of the Law fasted forty dayes So Elias 1 King 19.18 at the restoring of the same Law did the like And so when they went about the re-edifying of the Temple as appeareth Esdras 8.49 So in the New Testament at the separation of Paul and Barnabas Act. 13.3 And as Jerome reporteth Saint John would not undertake to write the divine worke of his Gospell untill the whole Church by Fasting had recommended the same unto God So likewise at the entrance into a Conflict for the obtaining of some Victory as Jehoshaphat did when he overcame the Amorites 2 Chron. 20.3 So did Hester when she went about the deliverance of the Jewes as in Ester 4. ver 16. And Eusebius reporteth that when Peter was to enter disputation with Simon Magus there was Fasting throughout the whole Church generally Whether at the entrance into a Calling or to resist the devill Saint Peters rule mentioned in his first chapter and fifth verse ought to take place we must use Prayer and Fasting And as at all times wee are to use watchfullnesse and carefulnesse so then especially when we looke that the devill will be most busie and the rather for that in some cases there is no dealing without Fasting as Marke 9.29 there is a kinde of devill that will not be cast out without Prayer and Fasting As for the number of dayes wherein he fasted just forty Curiosity may finde it selfe worke enough but it is dangerous to make Conclusions when no certainety appeareth Some say there is a correspondency betweene these forty dayes and the forty dayes wherein the world was destroyed by the Deluge But it is better to say As Moses fasted forty dayes at the institution of the Law and Elias forty at the restauration so Christ here And because hee came but in the shape of a servant hee would not take upon him above his fellow-servants Contrary to our times wherein a man is accounted no body except he can have a quirke above his fellows But it is more materiall to see how it concerneth us It is a thing rather to be adored by admiration then to be followed by apish imitation This Fast here was not the fast of a day as that of Peter and of Cornelius Acts 10.9.30 but such as Luke 4.2 describeth Hee did eate nothing all that time Saint John the Baptist though his life were very strict did eate Locusts and wilde Honey Matth. 3.4 Ours is not properly a Fast but a provocation of meates and therefore there can be no proportion betweene them But as it is what is to be thought of it Socrates and Irenaeus record that at the first the Church did use to celebrate but one day in remembrance of Christs Fast till after the Montanists a certaine sect of heretiques who thereupon are called Eucratitae raised it to foureteene dayes the zeale of the Clergy after increased it to forty after to fifty The Monkes brought it to sixty the Fryers to seventy and if the Pope had not there stayed it they would have brought it to eighty and so have doubled Christs fasting When the Primitive Church saw the Heretiques by this outward shew goe about to disgrace the Christians by this counterfeit shew of holinesse they used it also but saith Augustine and Chrysostome they held it onely a positive law which was in the Church to use or take away and not as any exercise of godlinesse Onely a doubt resteth now because of the hardnesse of mens hearts whether it were better left or kept Some would have abstinence used and one day kept for the Sabbath but left to every mans liberty what time and day and tyed to no certainety but that were upon the matter to have none kept at all Notwithstanding the Reformed Church as that of France have used their liberty in removing of it for that they saw an inclination in their people to superstition who would thinke themselves holyer for such fasting like the Pharisees Luke 18.12 The Church wherein we live useth her liberty in retayning it and that upon good reasons for sith God hath created the fishes of the sea for man and giveth him an interest in them also Gen. 9.2 as well as in the beasts Sith the death of fish was a plague wherewith God plagued Pharaoh and so contrariwise the encrease of fish is a blessing God will have fish to be used so that he may have praises as well for the sea as for the land Psal 104.25 If we looke into the civill reason we shall see great cause to observe it See Numb 15.22 the abundance of flesh that was consumed in one moneth The mainetenance of store then is of great importance and therefore order must be taken accordingly Jerusalem had fish dayes that Tyrus and such like living upon Navigation might have utterance for their commodities Nehem. 13.16 for Tyrus was the maritine City till after Alexander annexed to it another City and made it dry The Tribe of Zabulon lived by Navigation Gen. 49.13 which is a thing necessary both for wealth 2 Chron. 9.20 and made Solomon richer than any other King and also for munition as Esay 23.4 that Tribe therefore had need of maintenance And therefore our Church