truly stiled Catholick Some reason perhaps they may have to rely upon Number because indeed they have neither reason nor autority to uphold the state and supremacy of their Church Therefore having no better forces they make use of this their forlorn hope like men who having a bad cause care not what aid they take-in The Oratour said well of the three hundred Spartanes now doubting to go up against the numerous army of Xerxes Lacones se numerant non aestimant that the Spartanes did number not esteem themselves And it might be justly said of us if this Mormo should affright us if we should distrust our cause because there be so many that oppose it What though a troop cometh Yet if the Truth be on our side one of us shall be able to chase ten thousand Isa 37.6 Be not afraid of the words which ye have heard as the Prophet said to Hezekiah Be not afraid of their number nor ashamed of the Truth when her retinue is but small The multitude may perish that are born in vain as the Lord said to Esdras And we say of it as Tertullian doth of the unveiling of Virgins Id negat quod ostendit Multitude is so far from being a note of the Church that it doth rather deny then demonstrate it For see amongst so many men in comparison but few there are who profess the name of Christ amongst so many professours but few orthodox amongst so many orthodox but few righteous persons amongst the multitude but one woman that lifteth up her voice in the behalf of Christ And as it was no prejudice to the Truth that she was but one no more was it that she was a Woman For why might not a woman whose eye was clear and single see more in Christ then the proudest Pharisee who wore his phylacterie the broadest All is not in the miracle but in the eye in the mind which being goggle or misset or dimmed with malice or prejudice beholdeth not things as they are but through false mediums putteth upon them what shape it pleaseth receiveth not the true and natural species they present but vieweth them at home in it self as in a false glass which returneth back by a deceitful reflection And this is the reason why not onely Miracles but doctrinal Precepts also find so different enterteinment Every man layeth hold on them and wresteth them to his own purpose worketh them on his own anvile and shapeth them to his own phansie and affections as out of the same mass Phidias could make a Goddess and Lysippus a Satyre Do ye wonder to hear a Woman bless the womb that bare Christ and the Pharisees blaspheme him It is no wonder at all For though the acts of the Understanding depend not on the Will and the Mind of man necessarily apprehendeth things in those shapes in which they present themselves yet when the Will rejecteth those means that are offered when Anger raiseth a storm and Malice and Prejudice cast up a mist then the Understanding groweth dim and receiveth not the natural shapes of things but those false appearances which the Affections tender to it When the Will is perverse non permittit intellectum diu stare in dictamine recto saith Scotus The Understanding followeth her planetary motion and having no better guide runneth into the very den of Errour Therefore the complaint in Scripture is They will not understand Experience will teach us how common a thing it is in the world for men to stand stiff in their opinions against all evidence whatsoever though it be as clear as the day S. Augustine observeth of the Manichees Scio esse quosdam qui quanquam bono ingenio ista videant malâ tamen voluntate quâ ipsum quoque ingenium sunt amissuri Lib. de morib Manich. pertinaciter negant I know saith he many of you who have sharp and quick understanding and cannot but see the truth but your Will is evil which betrayeth the Understanding and leadeth you to that pertinacy that will never consent to the truth but seeketh out rather what probably may be said against it And this very reason Arnobius giveth of the Heathens obstinacies Quid facere possumus considerate nolentibus c. saith he What can we do or say or how can we convince them who will not be induced once to deliberate and weigh things as they are nor condescend to speak and confer with themselves and with their own reason This I take to be the meaning of that in Hilary Quot voluntates tot fides every man frameth his belief by his disposition and his will So many wills so many faiths He might as well have said there be as many Creeds as passions For the Passions are subversivae rationis apt and ready to captivate the Will and to overthrow the Reason even when she standeth most erect against Errour and looketh most stedfastly on the truth While Reason hath the command they are profitable servants but when she yieldeth they are cruel tyrants and put out her eyes It is wonderful to see what a power they have in changing the face and countenance of objects Fear maketh a shadow a man and a man an hobgoblin Anger mistaketh a friend for an enemy Love of the world putteth horrour upon virtue and obstinate Malice can set nothing but the Devil's face in a miracle Common reason no doubt did perswade the Pharisees here that Christ had wrought a miracle and we cannot but think that they saw as much of the beauty of Christ's excellencies as the Woman But their gross conceit of the Messias and their love of Moses law made them find no room to entertein Him who came in a posture so contrary to their expectation no though even in the midst of them God approved him by miracles Acts 2.22 wonders and signs as they themselves knew It was their knowledge that kept them ignorant 1 Cor. 26 27. and their wisdome made them fools Not many wise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise saith S. Paul Not that God did reject and cast men off because they were wise or mighty or noble and choose others onely for this cause because they were poor We must not think so saith Oecomenius No Tros Tyriúsve fuat nullo discrimine habetur Wise or ignorant mighty or mean noble or ignoble all are one to God neither is there with him any respect of persons But the poor received the Gospel and the rich and mighty and wise did not because it brought with it a check to their wisdome cast disgrace on their riches and a slur on their nobility with which they were so filled that there was no room for Christ Nec enim vult aeterna Sapientia haberi nisi ubi habens nihil de suo tenuit ut illam haberet The eternal Wisdome of God will keep residence in that soul
so few instances of Retractation but a Augustine one among the Antients and of later dayes b Bellarm. one more but such a one as did but like some Plumbers make his business worse by mending it So harsh a thing it is to the nature of Men to seem to have mistaken and so powerful is Prejudice For to confess an Errour is to say we wanted Wit And therefore we should flye from Prejudice as from a Serpent Gen. 3. For it deceiveth us as the Serpent did Eve giveth a No to Gods Yea maketh Men true and God a lyar and nulleth the sentence of death You shall dye the death when this is the Interpreter is your Eyes shall be opened and to deceive our selves is to be as Gods knowing good and evil And it may well be called a Serpent for the biting of it is like that of the Tarantula the working of its venome maketh us dance and laugh our selves to death For a setled prejudicate though false opinion may build up as strong resolutions as a true Saul was as zealous for the Law as Paul was for the Gospel A Heretick will be as loud for a fiction as the Orthodox for the Truth the Turk as violent for his Mahomet as a Christian for his Saviour Habet diabolus suos Martyres For the Devil hath his Martyrs as well as God And it is Prejudice which is that evil spirit that casteth them into the fire and the water that consumeth or drowneth them 1 Sam. 15.32 that leadeth them forth like Agag delicately to their death And this is most visible in those of the Church of Rome We may see even the marks upon them Obstinacy Insolency Scorn and contempt a proud and high Disdain of any thing that appeareth like reason or of any man that shall speak it to teach and recover them Which are certainly the signes of the biting of this Serpent Prejudice or as some will call it the marks of the Beast Quà m gravis incubat How heavy doth Prejudice lye upon them who are taught to renounce their very Sense and to mistrust nay to deny their Reason who see with other mens eyes Apul. De mundo and hear with other mens ears qui non animosed auribus cogitant who do not judge with their mind but with their ears The first prejudice is That theirs is the Catholick Church and cannot err and then all other search and enquiry is vain as a learned writer observeth For what need they go further to find the truth then to the high Priests chair to which it is bound And this they back and strengthen with many others of Antiquity making that most true which is most antient Quintil. And yet omnia vetera nova fuere that which is now old was at first new And by this Argument Truth was not Truth when it first began nor the Light Light when it first sprung from on high and visited us And besides Truth though it had found professours but in this latter age yet was first born because Errour is nothing else but a deviation from the Truth and cometh forth last and layeth hold on the heel of Truth to supplant it Besides these Councils Which may err and the Truth many times is voted down when it is put to most voices Nazianzene was bold to censure them as having seen no good effect of any of them And we our selves have seen and our eyes have dropped for it what a meer Name what Prejudice can do with the Many Nunquam tam benè cum rebus humanis agebatur ut plures essent meliores Sen. de Clement 1. and what it can countenance And many others they have of Miracles which were but lies of Glory which is but vanity of Universality which is bounded and confined to a certain place With these and the like that first prejudice That the Church cannot err is underpropt and upheld And yet again these depend upon that Such a mutual complication there is of Errours as in a bed of Snakes If the first be not true then these were nothing and if these pillars be once shaken and they are but mud that Church will soon sink in its reputation and not fit so high as magisterially to dictate to all the Churches of the world And as we have set up this Queen of Churches as an ensample of the effects of Prejudice so may we hold it up as a glass to see our own She saith we are a Schismatical We please and assure our selves that we are a Reformed Church And so we are and yet Prejudice may find a place even in the Reformation it self Rome is not only guilty of this but even some members of the Reformation who think themselves nearest to Christ when they run farthest from that Church though it be from the Truth it self And this is nothing else but Prejudice to judge our selves pure because our Church is purged to be less reformed because that is Reformed or to think that Heaven and Happiness will be raised and rest upon a Word or Name and that we are Saints as soon as we are Protestants Almost every Sect and every Faction laboureth under this Prejudice and feeleth it not but runneth away with its burden And too many there be who predestinate themselves to Heaven when they have made a surrendry of themselves to such a Church to such a company or collection nay sometimes but to such a man I accuse not Luther or Calvine of errour but honour them rather though I I know they were but men and I know they have erred or else our Church doth in many things and it were easie to name them But suppose they had broacht as many lyes as the Father of them could suggest yet they who have raised them in their esteem to such an height must needs have too open a breast to have received them as oracles and to have lickt up poyson it self if it had fallen from their pens since they have the same motive and inducement to believe them when they err which they have to believe them when they speak the truth and that is no more then their Name Orat. pro Muraena Tolle Catonem de Causa said Tully Cato was a name of virtue and carried authority with it and therefore he thought him not a fit witness in that cause against Muraena for his very name might overbear and sink it Tolle Augustinum de causa Take away the name of Augustine of Luther and Calvine and Arminius for they are but names not arguments There is but one Name by which we may be saved Acts 4.12 And his Name alone must have authority Hebr. 12.2 and prevail with us who is the authour and finisher of our faith VVe may honour others and give unto them that which is theirs but we must not deifie them nor pull Christ out of his throne to place them in his room Of this we may be sure There is
of those profitable and honourable evils which we have set up as our mark but cannot so fairly reach to if we stand in open defiance to all Religion And therefore when that will not joyn with us but looketh a contrary way to that which we are pressing toward with so much eagerness we content our selves with some part of it with the weakest and poorest and beggerlyest part of it and make use of it to go along with us and countenance and secure us in the doing of that which is opposit to it and with which it cannot subsist And so well and feelingly we act our parts that we take our selves to be great favourites and in high grace with him whose laws we break and so procure some rest and ease from those continual clamours which our guiltiness would otherwise raise within us and walk on with delight and boasting and through this seeming and feigned paradise post on securely to the gates of Death In what triumphant measures doth a Pharisee go from the Altar What a harmless thing is a cheat after a Sermon What a sweet morsel is a widows house after long Prayers What a piece of justice is Oppression after a fast After so much Ceremony the blood of Abel himself of the justest man alive hath no voice For 3. These outward performances and this formality in Religion have the same spring and motive with our greatest and foulest sins The same cause produceth them the same considerations promote them and they are carried to their end on the same wings of our carnal desires Do you not wonder that I should say The formality and outward presentments of our Devotion may have the same beginnings with our sins may have their birth from the same womb that they draw the same breasts and like twins James 3.11 are born and nurst and grow up together Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter No it cannot But both these are salt and brinish our Sacrifice as ill smelling as our Oppression our Fast as displeasing as our Sacrilege and our Hearing and Prayers cry as loud for vengeance as our Oppression We sacrifice that we may oppress we fast that we may spoil our God and we pray that we may devour our brethren Ezek. 16.44 Like mother like daughter saith the Prophet They have the same evil beginning and they are both evil Ambition was the cause of Absaloms Rebellion 2 Sam. 15. 1 Kings 21. Gen. 34. and Ambition sent him to Hebron to pay his vow Covetousness made Ahab and Jezebel murderers and Covetousness proclaimed their fast Lust made Shechem the Son of Hamor a ravisher and Lust made him a Proselyte and circumcised him Covetousness made the Pharisee a ravening Wolf and Covetousness clothed him in a Lambs skin Covetousness made his Corban and Covetousness did disfigure his face and placed him praying in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets Ex his causam accipiunt quibus probantur saith Tertullian They have both the same cause for the same motives arise and shew them both The same reason maketh the same man both devout and wicked both abstemious and greedy both meek and bloody a seeming Saint and a raging Devil a Lamb to the eye and a roaring Lion Scit enim diabolus alios continentiâ alios libidine occidere saith the same Father The Devil hath an art to destroy us with the appearance of virtue assoon as with the poyson of sin For 4. This formality in Religion standeth in no opposition with him or his designs but rather advanceth his kingdome and enlargeth his dominion For how many Sacrificers how many attentive Hearers how many Beadsmen how many Professours are his vassals How many call upon God Abba Father who are the Devils Children How many openly renounce him Ex malitia ingenium habet Tertull. de Idololat and yet love his wiles delight in his craft which is his Malice How many never think themselves at liberty but when they are in his snare And doth not a fair pretense make the fact fouler Doth not Sacrifice raise the voice of our Oppression that it cryeth louder Doth not a form of Godliness make Sin yet more sinful When we talk of heaven and love the world are we not then most earthly most sensual most devilish Is the Devil ever more Devil then when he is transformed into an angel of light And therefore the Devil himself is a great promoter of this art of pargetting and painting and maketh use of that which we call Religion to make men more wicked loveth this foul and monstrous mixture of a Sacrificer and an Oppressor of a Christian and a Deceiver of a Faster and a Blood thirsty man And as he was most enraged and impatient as Tertullian telleth us to see the works of God brought into subjection under Man who was made according to Gods image so is it his pride and glory to see Man and Religion it self brought under these transitory things and even made servants and slaves unto them Oh to this hater of God and Man it is a kind of heaven in hell it self and in the midst of all his torment to see this Man whom God created and redeemed do him the greatest service in Christs livery to see him promote his interest in the name of Christ and Religion to see him under his power and dominion most when he waiteh most diligently and officiously at the altar of God The Pharisee was his beloved disciple when he was on his knees with a disfigured face These Jews here were his disciples who did run to the Altar but not from their evil waies who offered up the blood of beasts to God and of the innocent to him He that fasteth and oppresseth is his disciple for he giveth God his body and the Devil his soul He that prayeth much and cozeneth more is his disciple for he flattreth God but serveth the enemy speaketh to the God of truth with his lips but hearkneth to the Father of lyes and deceit I may say the Devil is the great Alchymist of the world he transelementeth the worst things to make them more passable and to add a kind of esteem and glory to them We do not meet with counterfeit Iron or Copper but Gold and Pretious stones these we sophisticate and when we cannot dig them out of the mine or take them from the rock we strive to work them by art out of Iron or Copper or Glass and call them Gold and Diamonds Thus doth the Devil raise and sublime the greatest Impiety and gild it over with a Sacrifice with a Fast with Devotion that it may appear in glory and deceive if it were possible the very elect We see too many deceived with it who having no Religion themselves are yet ready to bow down to its Image wheresoever they see it and so fix their eye and devotion upon it that they see not the Thief the Oppressour the
singulorum that the benefit of one and every man may be the same So that what Deceit hath purloyned or stoln away or Violence snatcht from others is not Profit because it is not honest Res furtiva quousque redierit in domini potestatem perpetuò vitiosa est And the Civilians will tell us that that which is unjustly deteined is not valuable is of no worth till it return to the hands of the lawful proprietary Again in the second place Justice and Honesty are more agreeable to the nature of Men then Profit or Pleasure For these Reason it self hath taught us to contemn He most enjoyeth himself who desireth not pleasure he is the richest man who can be poor and we are never more Men then when we least regard these things But if we forfeit our Integrity and pervert the course of Justice we have left our selves nothing but the name of Men. Si quod absit spes felicitatis nulla saith S. Augustine If we had no eye to eternity nor hope of future happiness si omnes Deos hominé que celare possimus Tull. Off. 3. saith Tully if we could make darkness a pavilion round about us and lye skreened and hid from the eyes of God and Man yet a necessity would lye upon us to be what we are made to observe the lessons and dictates of Nature saith one Nihil injustè faciendum saith the other Nothing must be done unjustly though God had no eye to see it nor hand to punish it This doctrine is current both at Athens and Jerusalem both in the Philosophers School and in the Church of God To give you yet another reason but yet of near alliance to the first Whatsoever we do or resolve upon must habere suas causas as Arnobius speaketh must be commended by that cause which produceth it Now what cause can move us to desire that which is not ours What cause can the Oppressour shew that he grindeth the face of the poor the Thief that he divideth the spoyl the deceitful Tradesman that he hath false weights pondus pondus a weight and a weight a weight to buy with and a weight to sell with If you ask them What cause they will either lye and deny it or put their hand upon their mouth and be ashamed to answer Here their wit will fail them which was so quick and active to bring that about for which they had no reason It may be the cause was an unnecessary Fear of poverty as if that were a greater sin then Cousenage It may be the Love of their children saepe ad avaritiam cor parentis illicit Foecunditas prolis saith Gregory In 1 Job c. 4. Many children are as many temptations And we are soon overcome and yield willing to be evil that they may be rich and calling it the Duty of a Parent when we feed and cloth them with our sin Or indeed it is the Love of the world and a Desire to hold up our heads with the best These are no causes but defects and sins the blemishes and deformities of a soul transformed after the image of this world These are but sophismes and delusions and of no causality For it is better I were poor then fraudulent better my children should be naked then my soul better want then be unjust better be in the lowest place then swim in blood to the highest better be driven out of the world then shut out of heaven It is no sin to be poor no sin to be in dishonour no sin to be on a dunghil or in a prison no sin to be a slave But it is a sin and a great sin to rise out of my place or either flatter or shoulder my neighbour out of his and take his room It is no sin to be miserable in the highest degree but it is a sin to be unjust or dishonest in the least Iniquity and Injustice have nothing of reason to countenance them and therefore must run and shelter themselves in that thicket of excuses must pretend Want and Poverty and Necessity and so the object of my concupiscence must authorize my concupiscence the wedge of gold must warrant my theft and to gain something be my strongest argument to gain it unjustly De Offic. 3. And therefore Tully saith well If any man will bring in and urge these for causes argue not against him nor vouchsafe him so much as a reply Omnino enim hominem ex homine tollit For he hath most unnaturally divided Man from himself and left nothing but the beast Nature it self our first Schoolmistress loatheth and detesteth this nor will it suffer us by any means to add to our own by any defalcation from that which is anothers And such is the equity of this position that the Civil Law alwaies appealeth unto it Videtur dolum malum facere qui ex alienâ jacturâ lucrum quaerit He is guilty of cosenage and fraud who seeketh advantage by another mans loss Where by Dolus malus is understood whatsoever is repugnant to the Law of Nature or Equity For with the beams of this Law as with the beams of the Sun were all humane Laws written which whip Idleness which pin the papers of Ignominy the best hatchments of a Knave in the hat of the Common barretter which break the teeth of the Oppressour and turn the bread of the Deceitful into gall Upon this basis this principle of Nature Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you Matth. 7.12 even so do unto them hang all the Law and the Prophets For the rule of behaviour which our Saviour set up is taken out of the treasury of Nature For this is the Law and the Prophets that is Upon this Law of Nature depend the Law and the Prophets or By the due and strict observing of this the Law is fulfilled as S. Paul speaketh or This is the sum of all which the Law and the Prophets have taught to wit concerning Justice and Honesty and those mutual offices and duties of men to men A rule so equitable so visible even to the eye of a natural man that Severus a heathen Emperour made it his motto and some have engraven it in their rings VISNE HOC FIERI IN AGRO TVO QVOD ALTERI FACIS Wilt thou do that in another mans field which thou wouldst not have done in thy own Would any Impostour be caught by craft Would any Spoiler be spoiled Would any Cheat be cozened Would any Oppressour have his face ground Would any Calumniatour be slandred And why should any man claim the privilege of his Humanity if he be not willing to grant it to all Why should this secure me from injuries and leave my brother as a mark for Deceit to go about and Malice and Covetousness and Power to shoot at Why should not this Law of Nature be an amulet to secure all mankind from the venom of Fraud and Injustice This Law of Nature
walk as if he were a near spectatour as if he were visible before us Not to shroud and mantle our selves Not to run into the thicket as if there he could not see us but so to behave our selves as if he were a stander by and eye-witness of all our actions to curb our phansie keep our tongue be afraid of every action upon this certain perswasion That God is at hand For as God is EMANVEL God with us when he blesseth us and doth us good so do we walk with God when we bless him and do our duties Josh 1.5 As I was with Moses so will I be with thee saith God to Joshua Then God is with us when he strengthneth our hands when he shadoweth us under his wing when he poureth forth his graces upon us and when we walk with him when we bowe before him use all the faculties of our souls and move every mâ—mber of our bodies as his and as in his sight when we devote our selves to him alone Psal 123.2 when our eye looketh upon him as the eye of the handmaid on the eye of her mistress and by a strict and sincere obedience we follow him in all those waies which he hath appointed for us This I take to be the meaning of the words We shall draw all within the compass of these considerations 1. That God hath an all-seeing eye that he seeth all ad nudum as the Schools speak naked as they are surveyeth our actions heareth our words and searcheth the very inwards of the heart 2. That truly to believe this is the best preservative of the other two the best means to establish Justice and uphold Mercy in us to keep us in an even and unerring course of obedience For will any man offend his God in his very eye And 3. we shall discover and point out those who do not thus walk with God but walk in the haughtiness and deceitfulness of their hearts as if God had neither eye to see nor ear to hear nor hand to punish them that we may mark and avoid them And this shall serve for use and application First that we may walk humbly with our God this must be laid as a foundation to build upon as the primum movens as that which first setteth us a walking and putteth us into this careful and humble posture That God is present every where and seeth and knoweth all things And here we must not make too curious and bold a disquisition concerning the manner how God is present every where and how he seeth all things It is enough for us to believe he doth so and not to seek to know that which he never told us and which indeed he cannot tell us because we cannot apprehend it For how can we receive knowledge of which we are not capable Jer 23.24 Isa 66.1 Job 11.8 9. We read that he filleth the earth and the heaven that heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool that he is higher then heaven and deeper then hell and longer then the earth and broader then the sea that he is not far from every one of us Acts 17.27 28 that in him we live and move and have our being Psal 147.5 Hebr. 4.13 that his understanding is infinite that there is no creature which is not manifest in his sight that all things are naked to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 open as the entrails of a beast cut down in the back for sacrifice that he looketh down from heaven on the children of men Psal 14.2 Job 34.21 Jer 16.17 that his eyes are upon all their waies that neither they nor their iniquity are hid from his face hoc satìs est dixisse Deo And this is enough for God to tell us and this is enough for us to know I dare be bold to say saith S. Augustine Forsitan nec ipse Johannes dicit de Deo ut est S. John was an Eagle and flew aloft to a higher pitch then the rest but could not soar so high as to bring us down a full relation and tell us what God is This is a message which no man can bring nor no man can hear He was a man inspired from God himself If he had not been inspired he could have said but little and being a man he could say no more They that walk in valleys and in low places see not much more ground then they tread they that are in deep wells see onely that part of the world which is over their heads but he that is on the top of some exceeding high mountain seeth all the level even the whole country which is about him So it standeth betwixt us mortals and our incomprehensible God We that live in this world are confined as it were into a valley or pit we see no more then the bounds which are set us will give us leave and that which our scant and narrow wisdome and providence foreseeth when the eye thereof is clearest is full of uncertainty as depending upon causes which may not work or if they do by the intervening of some cross accident may fail But God who is that supreme and sublime Light and by reason of his wonderful nature so high exalted as from some exceeding high mountain seeth all men at once all actions all casualties present and to come and with one cast of his eye measureth them all This we are told and it is enough for us that God hath told us so much that he is in heaven and yet not confined to that place that he is every where though we do not know how that he seeth all things knoweth all things that he is Just and Wise and Omnipotent And here we may walk with safety for the ground is firm under us Upon this we may build up our selves on our most holy faith Upon this we may build up our Love which alwaies eyeth him our Honour to him which ever boweth before him our Patience which beareth every burden as if we saw him laying it on our Fear to which every place is as mount Sinai where it trembleth before him our Hope which layeth hold on him as if he were present in all the hardship we undergo our Obedience which alwaies worketh as in his eye To venture further is to venture as Peter did upon the sea Matth. 14. where we are sure to sink Nor will Christ reach out his hand to help us but we shall be swallowed up in that depth which hath no bottom Rom. 11.33 and be lost in that which is past finding out For this is the just punishment of our bold and too forward Curiosity It worketh on busily and presseth forward with great earnestness to see it self defeated it loseth that which it might grasp and findeth nothing It is enough for us to see the back-parts of God that is Exod. 33.23 as much as he is pleased to shew us And the want of this moderation hath occasioned
we now speak of a thousand a million a world of men are with him but as one man When the Lord Chief Justice of Heaven and Earth shall sit to do judgement upon sinners what Caligula once wantonly wished to the people of Rome all the world before him have but as it were one neck and if it please him by that jus pleni dominii by that full power and dominion he hath over his creature he may as he welnear did in the Deluge strike it off at a blow His judgements are past finding out and therefore not to be questioned A Platone dicitur Deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Plutarch Quaest. convival l. 8. q. c. He is the great Geometrician of the World which made all things in number weight and measure and doth infinitely surpass all humane inventions whatsoever and therefore we cannot do him less honour then Hiero King of Sicily did to Archimedes the great Mathematician When he saw the engines he made and the marvellous effects they did produce he caused it to be proclaimed that whatsoever Archimedes did after affirm how improbable soever it might seem yet should not once be called into question but be received and entertained as a truth Let the course of things be carried on as it will let Death pass over the door of the Egyptian and smite the Israelite let God's Thunder miss the house of Dagon and shiver his own Tabernacle yet God is just and true and every man a liar that dareth but ask the question Why doth God this Look over the book of Job and you shall see how Job and his Friends are tost up and down on this great deep For it being put to the question why Job was so fearfully handled his Friends ground themselves upon this conclusion That all affliction is for sin and so lay folly and hypocrisie to his charge and tell him roundly that the judgments of God had now found him out though he had been a close irregular and with some art and cunning hid himself from the eye of the World But Job on the contrary as stoutly pleadeth and defendeth his innocency his justice his liberality and could not attain to the sight of the cause for which Gods hand was so heavy on him Why should his Friends urge him any more Job 19.22 or persecute him as God They dispute in vain Job 21.34 for in their answers he seeth nothing but lies At last when the controversie could have no issue Deus è machina God himself cometh down from heaven and by asking one question putteth an end to the rest Job 38.2 Who is this that darkneth counsel by words without knowledge He condemneth Job and his Friends of ignorance and weakness in that they made so bold and dangerous an attempt as to seek out a cause or call God's judgments into question 2. Because this is a point which may seem worthy to be insisted upon for it hath well-nigh troubled the whole world to see the righteous and wicked tyed together in the same chain and speeding alike in general and oecumenical plagues that Mans reason may not take offense and be scandalized we will give you some reasons why God should hold so unrespective a hand First good reason it is that they who partake in the sin should partake also in the punishment Now though in great and crying sins the righteous partake not with the wicked yet in smaller they evermore concur For who is he amongst the sons of men that can presume himself free from these kind of sins And then if the wages of the smallest sin can be no less then death and eternal torment we have no cause to complain if God use his rod who might strike with the sword if he chastise us on earth who might thrust us into hell This is enough to clear God from all injustice For who can complain of temporal who doth justly deserve eternal pains Or why should they be severed in the penalty who are joyned together in the cause But further yet what though the fault of the one be much the less yet it will not therefore follow if we rightly examine it that the punishment should be the less For though it may seem a paradox which I shall speak unto you yet it will stand with very good reason that great cause many times there may be why the smaller sin should be amerced and fined with the greater punishment In the Penitential Canons he that killeth his mother is enjoynd ten years penance but he that killeth his wife is enjoynd far more And the reason is immediately given not because this is the greater sin but because men are commonly more apt to fall into the sin of murdering their wives then their mothers It is true the reason is larger then the instance and it teacheth us thus much That in appointing the mulct for sin men ought not onely to consider the greatness of it but the aptness of men to fall into it For that of St. Augustine is most true Tantò crebriora quantò minora Because they are the less men presume the oftner to commit them And therefore it may seem good wisdome when ordinary punishment will not serve to redress sins to enhance and improve their penalty We read in our books that there was a Law in Rome that he who gave a man a box on the ear was to pay the sum of twelve pence of our money And Aulus Gellius doth tell us that there was a loose but a rich man who being disposed to abuse the Law was wont to walk the streets with a purse of money and still as he met any man he would give him a box on the ear and then twelve pence Now to repress the insolence of such a fellow there was no way but to encrease the value of the mulct Which course the God of heaven and earth may seem to take with us when his ordinary and moderate punishments will not serve to restrain us from falling into smaller sins He sharpneth the penalty that at last we may learn to account no sin little which is committed against an infinite Majesty and not make the gentleness of the Law an occasion of sin And to this end he coupleth both good and bad in those general plagues which by his providence do befall the world He speaketh evil he doth evil to whole Nations amongst whom notwithstanding some righteous persons are Ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers Isa 1.4 10. princes of Sodom people of Gomorrah these are the names by which he stileth the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem amongst whom we cannot doubt but there were many good though no other yet certainly Isaiah the Prophet who spake these words And as he giveth them all one name without regard of difference so he maketh them all good and bad to drink alike of one cup of captivity though no doubt many of great uprightness though
phansy it may be nothing But qui potest is equivalent to quia potest and is the reason why we must fear him even because he can punish And this I hope may free us from the imputation of sin if our Love be blended with some Fear and if in our obedience we have an eye to the hand that may strike us as well as to that which may fill us with good things If Christ who is the Wisdome of the Father think it fit to make the Terrour of Death an argument to move us we cannot have folly laid to our charge if we be moved with the argument Fac fac saith S. Augustine vel timore poenae si non potes adhuc amore justitiae Do it man do it if thou canst not yet for love of justice yet for fear of punishment I know that of S. Augustine is true Brevis differentia legis evangelii Amor Timor Love is proper to the Gospel and Fear to the Law But it is Fear of temporal punishment not of eternal for that may sound in both but is loudest in the Gospel The Law had a whip to fright us and the Gospel hath a Worm to gnaw us I know that the beauty of Christ is that great work of Love the work of our Redemption should transport us beyond our selves and make us Cant. 2.5 5.8 as the Spouse in the Canticles is said to be even sick with love but we must consider not what is due to Christ but what we are able to pay him and what he is willing to accept not what so great a benefit might challenge at our hands but what our frailty can lay down For we are not in heaven already but passing towards it with Fear and trembling And he that bringeth forth a Christian in these colours of Love without any mixture of Fear doth but as it was said of the Historian votum accommodare non historiam present us rather with a wish then an history and character out the Christian as Xenophon did Cyrus non qualis est sed qualâ—â— esse deberet not what he is but what he should be I confess thus to fear Christ thus to be urged and chased to happiness is an argument of imperfection But we are Men not Angels We are not in heaven already we are not yet perfect and therefore have need of this kind of remedy as much need certainly as our first Parents had in Paradise who before they took the forbidden fruit might have seen Death written and engraven on the tree and had they observed it as they ought to have done had not forfeited the garden for one apple Gen. 3.8 Had this Fear walked along with them before the cool of the day before the rushing wind they had not heard it nor hid themselves from God In a word had they feared they had not fallen for they fell with this thought that they should not fall that they should not die at all Imperfection though it be to fear yet it is such an imperfection asleadeth to perfection Imperfection though it be to fear yet I am sure it is a greater imperfection to sin and not to fear It might be wished perhaps that we were tyed and knit unto our God quibusdam internis commerciis as the devout School man speaketh with those inward ligaments of Love and Joy and Admiration that we had a kind of familiar acquaintance and intercourse with him that as our almes and prayers and fasting come up before him to shew him what we do on earth so there were no imperfection in us but that God might approch so nigh unto us with the fulness of joy to tell us what he is preparing for us that neither the Fear of hell nor the Hope of heaven and our salvation but the Love of God and Goodness were the onely cause of our cleaving to him that we might love God because he is God and hate Sin because it is sin and for no other reason that we might with S. Paul with the increase of Gods glory Rom. 9.3 though with that heavy condition of our own reprobration But this is such an heroick spirit as every man cannot rise unto though he may at last rise as high as heaven This is such a condition as we can hardly hope for whilst we are in the flesh We are in the body not out of the body We struggle with doubts and difficulties Ignorance and Infirmity are our companions in our way And in this our state of imperfection contenti simus hoc Catone Dictum Augusti cum hortaretur ferenda esse praesentia qualiacunque sint Suet. Octav August c. 87. We must be content to use such means and helps as the Law-giver himself will allow of and not cast off Fear upon a phansie that our Love is perfect for this savoureth more of an imaginary metaphysical subtilty of a kind of ecstaticall affectation of piety then the plain and solid knowledge of Christian Religion but continue our Obedience and carry on our Perseverance with the remembrance of our last end with this consideration Deut. 27 26. That as under the Law there was a curse pronounced to them that fulfill it not 2 Thess 1.8 so under the Gospel there is a flaming fire to take vengeance of them that obey it not It was a good censure of Tully which he gave of Cato in one of his Epistles Thou canst not saith he to his friend love and honour Cato more then I do but yet this I observe in him Optimo animo utens summâ fide nocet interdum Reip. L. 2. ad Attic. ep 1. He doth endamage the Common-wealth but with an honest mind and great fidelity for he giveth sentence as if he lived in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Platonis non in faece Romuli in Plato's Common-wealth and not in the dregs and rascaltry of Romulus And we may pass the same censure on these Seraphical Perfectionists who will have all done out of pure Love nothing out of Fear They remember not that they are in faece Adami the off-spring of an arch-rebell that their father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite Ezek. 16.3 4 5 and that the want of this Fear threw them from that state of integrity in which they were created and by that out of Paradise and so with great ostentation of Love they hinder the progress of Piety and setting up to themselves an Idea of Perfection they take off our Fear which should be as the hand to wind up the plummet that should continue the motion of our Obedience The best we can say of them is Summâ fide pio animo nocent Ecclesiae If there mind be pious and answer the great shew they make then with a pious mind they wrong and trouble the Church of Christ Nunquam rectè fecit ut facere videretur sed quià aliter facere non poterat Vell. Paterc l. 2. Hist For suppose
bargain who wanteth his eye-sight Again let not the authority of any man be the compass by which we steer For it may point to Beth-aven and call it Beth-el present us with a box whose title is TRUTH when it containeth nothing but the poyson of Falshood Why should there be such power such a spell such witchcraft in a name Why should the Truth be built upon a Church which must be built upon it or else it is not a Church Or why upon a name which though it be glorious in the world is but the name of a man who is subject to errour Tolle mihi è causa nomen Catonis saith Tully Cato was a name of virtue and that carried authority with it and therefore the Oratour thought him not a fit witness in that cause against Muraena So tolle è causa nomen Augustini Take away the name of Augustine of Luther Acts 4.12 of Calvine of Arminius when ye come to this mart There is but one name by which we can be saved and his name alone must prevail with us Hebr. 12.2 He onely hath authority who is the Authour and Finisher of our faith Let us honour others but not deifie them not pull Christ out of his throne and place them in his room There is not there cannot be any influence at all in a name to make a conclusion true or false If we have fixed it on high in our mind as in its firmament it will sooner dazle then enlighten us And it is not of so great use as men imagine For they that read or hear can either judge or are weak in understanding To those who are able to judge and discern Errour from Truth a Name is but a name and is no more esteemed For such look upon the Truth as it is and receive it for it self But as for those who are of a narrow capacity a Name is more likely to lead them into errour then into truth or if into Truth it is but by chance for it should have found the same welcome and entertainment had it been an errour for the Names sake All that such gain is They fall with more credit into the ditch Wherefore in our pursuit of Truth we must fling from us all Prejudice and keep our mind even after sentence past free and entire to change it upon better evidence and not tye our faith to any man though his rich endowments have raised his name above his brethren follow no guide but him that followeth right Reason and the Rule not be servants of men for though they be great yet there is a greater then they though they be wise yet there is a wiser then they even he that is the Truth it self Let Augustine be a friend and Luther a friend and Calvine a friend but the Truth is the greatest friend without which there is no such thing as a friend in the world When the rule is fixed up in a plain and legible character though we may and must admit of the help of advice and the wisdome of the learned yet nothing can fix us to it but right Reason He who maketh Reason useless in the purchase of Truth maketh a Divine and a Christian a beast or a mad man Suprae hoc non potest procedere insania It is the height and extremity of madness to judge that to be true and reasonable which is against my Reason For thus we walk amongst Errours as Ajax did amongst the Sheep and take this or that Errour for this or that Truth as he did the Rams one for Menelaus another for Ulysses and a third for Agamemnon It hath been said indeed that right Reason is not alwaies one and the same but varieth and differeth from it self according to the different complexions of times and places But this even Reason it self confuteth For that which is true at Rome is true at Jerusalem and that which was true in the first age of the world is true in this and will be true in the last though it bind not alike That Truth which concerneth our everlasting peace Hebr. 13.8 that which we must buy is the same yesterday and to day and for ever And as the Truth so our Reason is the same even like the decrees proposed to it Prov. 20.27 it never changeth This candle which God hath kindled in us is never quite put out Whatsoever agreeth with it is true and whatsoever dissenteth from it is false Affectus citò cadunt aequalis est ratio saith the Stoick The Affections alter and change every day but Reason is alwaies equal and like unto it self or else it is not Reason The Affections like the Moon now wax anon wane and at length are nothing They are contrary one to another and they fall and end one into another What I loved yesterday I lothe to day and what now I tremble at anon I embrace What at the first presentment cast me down in sorrow at the next may transport me with joy But the judgement of right Reason is still the same She is fixed in her tabernacle as the Sun still casteth the same light spreadeth the same beams rejoyceth to run her race from one object to another and discovereth every one of them as it is When we erre it is not Reason that speaketh within us but Passion If Pleasure have a fair face it is our Passion that painteth it If the world appear in glory it is our Passion that maketh it a God If Death be the terriblest thing in the world it is our Fear and a bad Conscience that make it so Right Reason can see through all these and behold Riches as a snare Pleasure as deceitful and Death though terrible to some yet to others to be a passage into endless life We may erre with Plato and we may erre with Socrates we may erre out of Passion and Prejudice these being the Mother and Nurse of Errour But that we should erre and yet have right Reason on our side is an errour of the foulest aspect for it placeth errour in Truth it self which is not Truth but as it agreeth with right Reason It is true indeed right Reason hath not power enough of it self to find out every Truth For as Faith Eph. 2.8 so all the precepts of Truth are the gift of God commentum Divinitatis saith Tertullian the invention of the Deity But it is true also that Reason is sufficient to judge and discern them when they are revealed according to his mind who revealed them and set up this light within us to this end Though the thing be above Reason yet Reason can judge it true because God who is Truth it self revealed it Take away the use of Reason ye take away all election and choice all obedience all virtue and vice all reward and punishment For we are not carried about in our obedience as the Sphears are in their motions or the brute creatures in theirs as natural or irrational
things upon Righteousness as counting them but dung in respect of it in which alone we rest and look through Righteousness upon these things as that which seasoneth and sanctifieth every part of our life every action every thought of ours without which all our endeavours are but as so many approches to death and with which they are so many advantages and promotions to life And this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep a method an order a right course in our proceedings These outward things are but impedimenta the baggage of Righteousness which cannot as one speaketh well be spared or left behind but many times hinder the march and therefore great care must be taken that they lose not nor disturb the Victory We must then first make good the victory as Alexander once told Parmenio when his carriage was in danger we must by Righteousness overcome the world and then our baggage vvill be safe and these things vvill follovv us as captives do victors in their triumphs Let us first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us vvhich is the Promise annexed my last part and cometh novv in a vvord to be handled In this Promise God may seem to deal with us as indulgent fathers do with their children If we do what we should he will give us that which we desire By an argument drawn from gain and profit he laboureth to win our love to himself and as Rebecca dealt with old Isaac he provideth us such meat as our soul loveth Profit and commodity is a lure that calleth the greatest part of the world after it Most that we take in hand to do is copied out according to that pattern of Judas What will you give me What profit what commodity will accrue unto me is the preface and way to all our actions This is the price of good and evil Men are hardly induced to do either but by the way of bargain and sale It vvas the Devil's question unto God concerning Job Doth Job serve God for nought hast thou not hedged him in on every side Indeed in this the Devil mistook Job's mind for Job served not God for this but for another cause Yet there might be some reason to ask the question For vvho is there amongst the sons of men that can content himself to serve God for nothing Aristotle discoursing concerning the qualities and conditions of mans age telleth us that young men for the most part consider not so much profit as equity and duty as being led by their natural temper and simplicity vvhich teacheth them rather to do vvhat is good then vvhat is profitable And vve may observe natural conscience more strong and prevailing in youth then in age But old men have ends of their actions their minds run more upon profit and gain as being led by advice and consultation vvhose property it is to have an eye to conveniency and not so much to goodness vvhen it cometh tovvards them naked and bare I vvill not deny but there may be some found that are but young in the vvorld men that are children in evil to whom it may be said as one sometime told Amphiaraus that they have not tasted hovv svveet gold is nor knovv hovv pleasant a savour gain hath Yet no doubt most men even in their youngest dayes are old and expert enough in the vvorld For vve bring vvith us into the vvorld the Old man vvhose vvisdom and policy it is to have an ear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to enterprise any thing but for some further end then it self either pleasure or profit or honour These are thy Gods O Israel These are the Gods of the world These like God sit at the top of Jacob's ladder and all our actions are but steps and rounds to go up unto them God and Righteousness is not reward enough to draw men on Now God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens speaketh even studieth wayes to save us and is witty in inventing means to bring us unto him amongst other wayes of his hath made this weakness of ours a means to draw us home Matth. 13.29 And as the Husband man in the Gospel would not have the tares pulled up for fear the wheat should come up with them so God doth in a manner tolerate these tares in us lest the rooting out of our affections to the things of this life might draw a little too near the quick and quite choke up the love of God Or as a skilful artificer that vvorketh upon ill materials if he cannot make what he would yet he maketh that vvhich the stuff and matter vvill afford The New Testament indeed is not so frequent in mentioning earthly blessings and the reason that they are not there so fully taught may be because they are supposed to be learned and known as being sufficiently stood upon in the Old In the Old there is scarce any page which doth not entitle righteous men to the possession of some temporary good Yet even under the Gospel Righteousness hath its part of the blessings of this world whether of soul or body or goods And what the son of Sirach spake of those excellent men who lived before his time we have seen true in Christian Commonwealths The noble famous men reigned in their kingdoms they bare excellent rule in their wisdom wise sentences were found in their instructions They were rich also and could comfort They lived quietly at home Be it therefore Power or Wisdom or Riches or Peace or any other of those apples of Paradise which seem to the world so fair and lovely and so much to be desired God hath not rained them down upon the Cities of men so as that he hath left his own dry and barren and utterly unfâ—â—nished with them I will not dâ—spute unto whom of right these blessings belong whether to reprobate or the righteous They who have moved this question have stiled themselves Righteous and to gain these things have committed those sins which none but a reprobate could do For did ever any righteous person oppress or rob his brother But in this they do the same which the old Romans did who when two cities contending for a piece of ground did make them their Judge and Umpire wisely gave sentence on their own behalf took it from them both and adjudged it to themselves First they are righteous and a Saint is soon made up in their phansie and then every man is a wicked person whom they intend to spoil The thief is righteous and the oppressed innocent a reprobate But let the title to these things rest where it will Of this we may safely presume that God who is Lord of all the earth and in whom originally all the right to these things is doth so put forth his hand and dispose them as that they who first seek Righteousness cannot doubt of that portion of them which shall be sufficient for them Onely let
his blessed spirit seal us up to the day of our Redemption In a word we shall find mercy here to quicken and refresh our sick and weary souls and the same mercy shall crown us for evermore The Nine and Thirtieth SERMON MATTH XXVIV 25. Behold I have told you before IT is the observation of Chrysostom That there was never any notable thing done in the world which was not foretold and of which there was not some prediction to usher it in and make way for it These things have I told you Joh. 16.4 saith our Saviour to his Disciples That when the time shall come you may remember that I told you of them And in my Text Behold I have told you before of the fearful signs which shall be the forerunners of Jerusalem and of the end of the world Which two are so interwoven in the prediction that Interpreters scarce know how to distinguish them Behold I have told you before that you may be ready with the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day that it come not upon you unawares but find you ready as those who have overcome it when it was yet afar off in its approch and pulled out its sting and poison before it strook its terrour into you Our blessed Saviour here layeth open to his Disciples and in them to all succeeding generations those evils which should be the forerunners of his second coming and of the end of the world as Famine and Pestilence and Earthquakes and Wars and Fearful sights treacherous Parents false Brethren deceiful Kinsfolk and Friends worse then enemies that when these things come to pass they might the less trouble us as darts which pierce not so deep when they are foreseen Did I say that they might the less trouble us Nay this prediction must have a stronger operation on us then so These fearful apparitions must not trouble us but that is not enough we must make right use of them and by them be admonished to prepare and fit our selves for Christ's second coming They must be received as Messengers and servants to invite us to the great Supper of the Lamb. In the words may it please you to observe with me three things 1. the Persons to whom this prediction is made I have told you 2. The things foretold mentioned in this Chapter 3. the End of the prediction or the Reason why they are foretold That we may behold and consider them These three the Persons the Things and the End shall exercise your devotion at this time First for the Persons Though these words were spoken to the Apostles yet if we look nearer upon them they will seem especially to concern us and if we reflect upon our selves we shall find that we indeed are the men to whom they are spoken The Apostles who received them from the mouth of our Saviour were but as cisterns or water-pipes to convey them to us but we are the earth which must drink them in The Apostles who were the hearers of them have many hundred years since resigned up their souls to their almighty Creatour and were never earum affines rerum quas fert senecta mundi never had the knowledge of those things which are to accompany the declining age of the world Not they therefore certainly but we on whom the ends of the world are come are the natural hearers if not of this whole Sermon yet of a great part of it namely of that which concerneth Christ's coming to judgment Nor can we think of it as of some strange thing that our Saviour should direct his speech unto us who stand at so great a distance from him even sixteen hundred years and more removed from the time he spake There is no reason we should For our Saviour was God as well as Man And it is not with God as it is with Man With Man who measureth his actions by Time or whose action are the measure of Time for Time is nothing but duration something is past something present something to come But with God who calleth the things that are not as if they were as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 4.17 there is no difference of times nothing past nothing to come all is present no such thing with him as First and Last who is Alpha and Omega both First and Last He that foretelleth things to come it mattereth not whether they come to pass ten or an hundred or a thousand years after quia una est scientia futurorum because the knowledge of things to come is one and the same saith S Hierom. Adam the first man who was created and whosoever he shall be that shall stand last upon the earth are to God both alike They that walk in valleys and low places see no more ground then what is near them and they that are in deep wells see onely that part of the heaven which is over their heads but he that is on the top of some exceeding high mountain seeth the whole countrey which is about him So it standeth between us mortals and our incomprehensible God We that live in this world are confined as it were to a valley or to a pit we see no more then the bounds which are set us will give us leave and that which our wisdom or providence foreseeth when the eye thereof is clearest is full of uncertainty as depending many times upon causes which may not work or if they do by the intervening of some cross accident may fail But God who by reason of his wonderful nature is very high exalted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as from some exceeding high mountain as Nazianzene speaketh seeth at once all men all actions all causualties present and to come and with one cast as it were of his eye measureth them all Now that vve may dravv this home Our Saviour Christ vvhen he spake these vvords did an act of his God-head and spake to the things that vvere not as if they vvere and to him vvhen he gave this vvarning vvere vve as present as his Disciples vvere vvho then heard him speak or as vve our selves novv are And therefore in good congruity he might speak unto us hovv far soever removed vve may think our selves to be But that we may plainly see that we are the men whom these words most properly concern let us in the next place consider the things foretold And when we find out those things we shall see that tanquam exserto digito every one of them as it were with a finger pointeth out unto us And find them we shall if we look upon passages precedent and subsequent to the Text. For take the predictions literally or take them morally with that interpretation which is put upon them by the learned and we need not make any further enquiry after the Persons because they so nearly concern us Look over this Chapter and you shall find mention of Deceivers and false Prophets of Nation rising against Nation
Israel and of England compared 422 423. J. JAmes St. James and St. Paul seem to contradict each other but do not 276. Jealousie vvhat in Man vvhat in God 381. 613. 643. Jer. xxv 18-29 299. JESUS how excellent a name 732 733. That JESUS is the Lord though Law and Custome and Education teach us yet vve cannot say it but by the holy Ghost 759 c. Many say so yet but few say it 763 764. He vvho saith it aright saith it vvith his Tongue 764. 770. with his Heart 765. 770. and vvith his Hand 766. 270 c. Oh vvhat pity and shame it is that Man should suffer the Flesh the World and the Devil to Lord it over him and not Jesus 768. Jews vvhy commanded to offer sacrifice 72. Why blamed sometimes for so doing 80. 82. They pleased themselves exceedingly in this and in other outward servics 108. v. Formality Their great privileges 418. Privileges of Christians greater then theirs 419. Many things vvere permitted to be done by the Jews vvhich are unlawful for a Christian 869. Their course of sinning 611. Jew a term of reproch 194. Job's case 292. 903. Joh. vi 63. 468. ¶ viii 36. 742. 1 Joh. ii 4. 723. ¶ 16. 280. ¶ iv 18. 398. ¶ v. 3. 112. St. John v. Charity St. John Baptist a burning and shining light 549 c. How the Jews at first admired him 553. but vvithin a vvhile disliked him 554. Joy good and bad 338. Sensitive and Rational 553. It is configured to the soul that receiveth it 860. God's Joy over us and our Joy in Him and in one another 861. Against them that rejoyce in the sins or calamities of others 862 863. Joy that ariseth from Contemplation of good is nothing to that which ariseth from Action 1125. True Joy floweth from Love 153. and from Obedience 113. 992. 1125 1126. Sorrow is vvont to go before Joy 560. Judas's repentance 336. his despair 343. Judge neither others sinners because afflicted nor thy self a Saint because prosperous 295 c. 616. We may disannul our former Judgment upon better evidence vvithout inconstancie 676 c. The Judgment of God and of the World how different 964. God's J. and Man's differ much 616. That of Men for the most part corrupt and partial 246 247. Judgment Few believe there shall be a day of Judgment 926. Though scoffers say Nay it will assuredly come 237 238. Why it is so long in coming 238. It cannot be the object of a wicked man's hope 242. 737. v. CHRIST Curious enquiry after the time of the last Judgment condemned 248 c. We ought to exspect and wait for it 250. Signes of the day of Judgment 1043 c. Judgments Of God's temporal Judgements 611. Judgments justly fall even on God's own people vvhen they sin 290. In general J. many times the good are involved vvith the evil vvithout any prejudice to God's Justice 291. Reasons to prove that point 292. A fearful thing to be under J. and not to be sensible of them 643. Judgments should fright us from sin and drive us to God 364. 800. If they vvork not that effect they are forerunners of hell-torments 365. 801. We should especially be afraid of those sins vvhich are vvont to bring general J. on a Nation 297. It is the greatest judgement not to fear J. till they come 502. 615. We must studie God's J. 615. v. Punishment Judge The Judge's calling necessary 821. His office 120. How his autority may be lawfully made use of 822. Julian the Apostate 957. His liberality 143. His malitious slander of the Christians 148. He wounded Religion more with his wit then with his sword 959. His death 959. Justice of how large extent 119. What it is 120. Private J. is far larger then publick 121. Our common Nature obligeth to live justly 123. and so doth the Law of Nature 124. 126. c. 134. and Fear of God's Vengeance 125. and the written Law of God 128. especially Christ's Gospel 129. How strict observers of Justice some Heathens have been 128. How small esteem Justice hath in the world 131. Motives to live justly 134 c. That which is not Just can neither be pleasant nor profitable 126. v. Mercy Justification what 811. The Church of Rome's doctrine confuted 812 813. Faith justifieth but none but penitents 872. The several opinions about Justification may all be true 1074 c. But many nice and needless disputes there be about it 1075. Wherein Justification consisteth 1075. K. KEyes Power of the Keyes neither to be neglected nor contemned 47. Kingdomes v. Fate Kings though mighty Lords on the earth are but strangers in the earth 532. 535. K. love not to be too much beholding to their subjects 232. It is not expedient for the world to have onely one King 233. Kneeling in the service of God proved by Calvine to be of Divine autority 756. Knowledge Want of Knowledge many alledge to excuse themselves but without cause 437. Pretended K. how mischievous 556 557. Three impediments of K. 96 c. Four wayes to get K. 66. Of which Practice is the chief 68 69. K. is the daughter of Time and Industrie 956. What kind of K. it is that we have in this life 678. God's wayes are not to be known by us his will and our duty easily may 93. We should not studie to know things not revealed 248. Though the K. of what is necessary be easy and obvious 93. 95. yet it is to be sought for with all diligence 96. K. even in the Apostles grew by degrees 61. K. of all future things if we had it would do us no good 789. K. of Sin v. Sin K. of Nature Medicine Laws Husbandry is very excellent 656 657. Saving K. is onely necessary 59 60. 248. K. of Christ surpasseth all other K. 715 c. but it must be not a bare speculative K. but practical 723 c. Many know the Truth but love it not 549. 690. Knowledge Will Affections all to be employed in the walk of a Christian 516 c. Speculative K. availeth nothing without Love 517. It is but a phantasm a dream 518 519. 724 725. It is worse then Ignorance 518. 520. 523. 690. 723. Adde therefore to K. Practice 519 725. As K. directeth Practice so Practice encreaseth K. 520. 693. Words of Knowledge in Scripture imply the Affections 463. Love excelleth Knowledge 977. How God is said not to know the wicked 173. L. LAbour is the price of God's gifts 219. It is not onely necessary but honourable 220. No grace gotten by us no good wrought in us without Labour and pains 667 c. v industrie Sin is a laborious thing 927. more laborious then Virtue 928. It is sad to consider that many will not labour so much to be saved as thousands do to be damned 928. Law Whether going to Law be lawfull 821. Good men have alwayes scrupled the point 822. Cautions and rules to be observed 822. 824. Lawfull