amongst them from their lusts that war in their members You see the loathsomenesse of this vice from the bad causes and effects of it Take notice therefore of your owne hearts and lives and see if none of you bee a quarellous and contentious person that is ready upon every occasion to strive with his brother and to breake forth into brawles and suits challenging that which is none of his and disquieting his brethren and himselfe A man may use legall meanes to get and keepe that which is rightfully due to him but he must not doe this in a froward manner with bitternesse and rage against his adversary but for the things that appertaine not to him in equity hee must make no striving at all otherwise he is a contentious man And because selfe-love maketh us so blinde that wee are apt to deceive our selves and to imagine we have good title to that which indeed belongs not to us wee must bee content to referre our selves willingly to other mens judgements and not stand upon our owne opinions I mean to other indifferent and uninterested persons whose judgements are like to bee clearer than our owne in things wherein themselves be not ingaged Let me therefore commend peace and concord let nothing bee done of strife in an humour to crosse and oppose another or to vexe and anger him If covetousnesse or envy rule in a mans heart hee will boile with contention and flame forth into debates and strifes but if he have an heart contented with his estate and charitably disposed to his brethren hee will then insue peace and follow after it For a just controversie may bee carried in a quiet and peaceable manner and so ought to be but be the cause of striving never so equall if the thing be carried tumultuously with bitter words and behaviour with railings swellings whisperings backbitings mutuall disgracing and upbraiding one another this is a signe of a naughty heart in whom the wisdome that is from below doth rule and beare sway Resolve therefore to follow peace with all men not striving but upon just cause and then also in a loving gentle and milde manner And so much for Isaacs contemporaries with whom his occasions gave him cause of intermingling I proceed now to Isaacs heire and successor that is to say Iacob * ⎠* THE EIGHTEENTH EXAMPLE OF IACOB THE word Iacob signifieth he holds the heele the reason of which name you may reade Gen. 25. 26. He and Esau were Twins born at one birth Esau was the first borne and when he was borne his brother came out after him and held him by the heele whence this name was given him Of Iacob we must shew three things as in former Examples His birth life and death Concerning his birth the time and parents were the same which we noted before of Esau the manner was as you have heard as if hee had wrestled with his brother for the birth-right even in the birth in which may seem to be signified the great stir that should be betwixt their Successours as well as themselves yea and betwixt the good and bad in all ages even those that are heires of the promise and those that be contemners of the promise For the Lord had foretold that two Nations were in Rebekkahs wombe which should be separated one from the other and in them the Lord did manifest the freedome of his Election seeing he chose the younger before the elder to inherite the promises and that before they had done good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might remaine or be firme not of workes but of him that calleth meaning that Gods intention of saving by his grace who freely calleth not of any workes in any person whether repenting beleeving or any other workes might be stedfast and stable No workes cause God to call one or to purpose to call one or not to call another but alone his good pleasure whereof though it be sure that God hath in himselfe just reason for he is a reasonable agent and doth all things and most understandingly yet he sees it not good to reveale to us any reason because he would make us see what subjection we owe to him that is to say to rest in his will as a sufficient reason to satisfie us God might have purposed to call and also have called all without any picking or choosing or preferring one before another but his purpose was according to election or choice he intended not to raise up all out of the miserable estate into which Adam brought all but alone some and in his choosing he might have left whom he tooke and contrarily but he would take some not all and these not those because in his wisdome he saw it fit and so great is his power and soveraignty that we ought to be contented with this reason God would have it so Gods Election is his purpose to call such and such leaving the rest and of this purpose we can give no other cause but this so it seemed good unto him though himselfe have such grounds of his choice within himselfe as it is fit for a wise agent to have for the ground of all his actions He that will not quiet himselfe thus in the matter of election shall entangle himselfe so that he will never bee loosed And so much of Iacobs birth Now for his life we will consider his vertues faults crosses benefits For his vertues we will speake of them first in generall and here two things are noted in him Gen. 25.27 Iacob was a plaine man and did dwell in Tents The word translated a plaine man signifieth a perfect or upright man It is of larger signification than that phrase of ours A plaine man for that in common speech noteth one that is simple and dealeth squarely and eavenly without fraud deceit guile or any tricks in his actions so may one be and have no great goodnesse in him But this word is used to denote an upright hearted man a truly and intirely godly man a perfect man that is good within as well as without and good in all things at all times and in all places one as well as another one that carefully follows all the Commandements of God not giving himselfe leave to swerve from any of Gods wayes at any time Perfection is that property in things by which they have all which is requisite for their due constitution There is a double perfection one of degrees unattainable in this life and it is when a man hath all the parts of obedience in the highest degree that the Law requireth of him this is a legall perfection without which no man can be justified before God by the Law and because no man can attain it therefore By the Law shall no flesh be justified but beleevers have it in Christ in whom they are made the righteousnesse or God and to whom righteousnesse without workes meaning workes of their own
out of the loynes of Iacob and Abraham I cannot say But whatsoever this gesture might meane we note that Abraham trusted his servant and so must all men needs doe in some degree and therefore had need to choose good servants or do their best to make them such as may be trusted How for all the rest of his servants young men fit for warre they were 318. with whom he fought against the Kings that vanquished the Sodomites He did traine them up to warre as was fit and therefore they are called his trained or instructed servants and when hee had gotten the victory they had leave by him to eate of the spoile so that a good man should bring up his servants according to his place fitly to do him service and at least should see that they have foode for them chiefly when they labour and take paines I proceede to Abrahams carriage toward forreiners that were not of his house whether kinsmen or frinmen as we call them he had one kinsman his Cousin german Lot that was sonne to his brother Haran him he loved very well and studied to keepe all good peace and correspondency with him and to remove all contention and for that end when their states were growne so great that they could not conveniently dwell together because being sojournours they were to take up but the waste of the land which no naturall inhabitant had possessed or else to take land for money of the inhabitants if they could spare the same he came to Lot and made the motion of peace and after gave him his offer to choose what part of the countrey hee would as you may read Gen. 13.7 Here is an excellent vertue of so mild and peaceable a disposition that to prevent strife can yeeld to his inferiour in seeking to pacifie him by going to him with peaceable and quiet words and offers and so farre part with his owne right as to give the other the better a great deale rather then proceed to jarres and discontents O that we could all imitate Abraham especially bretheren kinsmen and neere friends and be so desirous of unity and accord as he was not stouting it out as many do with shall I yeeld so farre to him as to goe to him to let him have his way let him come to me if he please and let him yeeld to mee Most of our spirits be so big that they will not bow to any that is a little inferiour no not for peace sake imparting with a little of their right for it But know it is an honour to be able to beare and forbeare he hath the most wisedome and grace that can part with his owne right rather then continue a quarrell if it be not in a matter of very great weight wherein great dammage should come to him or his family by parting with it And know that to stand over highly upon tearmes and not to bate a jot or tittle as some men use in boasting wise to affirme that they will not is a proofe of a man led much by passion and filled much with pride and selfe conceitednesse Hee knowes not the valew of peace that will not redeeme it with bending somwhat even to his inferiour chiefly a neere kinsman The thing therefore J am to commend unto you is peaceablenesse and for that end moderation and lowlinesse of carriage in yeelding a little more then needes to those that ought rather to yeeld to you and certainely the comfort that peace and concord will repay you withall shall prove it a good bargaine so to purchase peace Againe Lot Abrahams kinsman was taken by the Kings that conquered Sodom and Gomorrah and when Abraham heard of it he armed his owne servants and got his confederates to joyne with him and by force of sword redeemed Lot out of their hands as you have the storie Gen. 14.14 15 16. together with all the goods and people of Sodome prudently ordering the battaile by night and comming upon them secretly and unawares Here are three excellent vertues of Abraham First Love to his kinsman Lot Second Courage and resolution that durst fight for him Third Prudence in ordering the whole businesse For you must take notice that Abraham was a little Prince a kind of petty King in those dayes as appeareth by the carriage of Abimelech and others to him and therefore he had warrant and ground enough to make warre against any King State or person upon a just quarrell But first marke his love to Lot although Lot was lately departed from him yet his love to Lot had not left him but he was at cost and labour and hazard to redeeme him from captivity Must not wee learne of him to shew great love to our kinsmen and speciall friends if they be in danger perill and misery even to doe all that according to our places we may to succour relieve and rescue them against wrong violence oppression and like calamities Be charitable and kind kinsmen and bretheren cleave to your kinsmen and bretheren and so farre as you may lawfully and as your places will beare defend maintaine and helpe them against unjustice and injury No man must joyne with his kindred in a sinnefull and unjust cause but in a good and honest and just cause he is not of Abrahams minde that will not sticke to them and helpe them what in him lieth All therefore that desert their friends in honest matters for feare of a little cost or paines or the like are to see that they be not good imitators of this good man nay nor any that doth not according to his place succour the oppressed which Salomon commendeth under a question saying wilt thou not deliver him For must we succour an Asse pressed with a burden and not a brother pressed with a bundle of injuries Againe Abraham shewed courage in this worke for had not hee beene of good resolution he would not have dared to opposed himselfe to a conquering army and a Prince that had held divers other Princes in subjection and now came for that purpose into those parts to subdue those that had cast of the yoake Loe how a good man must be couragious too and not suffer himselfe to be deterred from his duty or any good and commendable worke by feare of danger Courage is such a disposition and frame of mind that will not be daunted by perills and dangers and by evill accidents that he may encounter in the workes that his place requireth but will resolve what in him lies with due resistance to repell them or if they cannot be repelled to beare them Such courage Abraham here discovered such courage do you also shew and exercise let not every shew of danger skare you but goe thorow with good workes whatsoever comes of it It is a good thing to be valiant in battaile where life is exposed to perill and is it not a good thing to be valiant against all other dangers And that you
partake with your selves of any good fare which you provide for your selves These be the things commendable in Rebekkah Now I come to her faults First she used deceit and fraud to conveigh the blessing unto Iacob and sought rather to hooke it to him by a fleshly device then to compasse it by a convenient and lawfull way You shall reade the Story Gen. 27.1 and 17. She knew her husband was blinde therefore she spake to Iacob to get the blessing by a cunning device she sends for a Kid makes such a dish as was pleasing to Isaacs palate uses meanes to make his hands and neck seem rough like unto Esaus by covering them with the skins of the Kids as handsomely as shee could and so sends him in to Isaac having before emboldned him to say though falsely that he was Esau the eldest Son This was a sin in her the matter of it was fraud and fashood the aggravations of it were first she drew Iacob into the sin of lying and shifting even contrary to his own temper for the Scripture witnesseth of him that He was a plain man Secondly she was set upon it that though Iacob objected he should get a curse rather then a blessing by seeming to his Father a deceiver and a mocker yet she found a meanes to encourage him in his lying by a trick to beguile his Father well enough that he should never finde him out and so drew him to go thorough with the crafty device this was practised even against her husband also to whom it least of all becommeth a wife to use deceit and lying Only there was one mitigation and extenuation of her fault she did aime at a good end but a good intention cannot justifie unlawfull means that are used to accomplish it We have in her then a fault of craftinesse and deceit and lying There is a great difference betwixt wisdome and fraud wisdome will alwaies hold it selfe to the side of justice not alone in the thing it mainly seekes but also in the path which it chooseth to walk in to that end But fraud is as it were a rotten wisdome and cares not to follow equity and truth in the way it takes and neither many times in the end Abhorre fraud that is the carrying of a thing wilily with lying and falshood whether it be good or bad but most of all if it be bad It is a sin to do evill that good may come of it as S. Paul teacheth Rom. 3. It is a sin to lie even for Gods cause and to defend even his justice with false tales and figments As Iob admonisheth his frinds that did so and that they might not seeme to impute unrighteousnesse to God in so sore punishing of Iob they did impute hypocrisie to him that was punished It is a sin to lie even for a purpose otherwise good for we are commanded to put away lying Wherefore consider of your selves if you have not lyed and beguiled if you have not allured and encouraged others to joyne with you in lying and beguiling that else would not have done it If you have done it against those that were neare to you to whom you should have used more respect And worst of all if you have done it for a sinfull end too that is not to get what was due to you as here Iacob but what was not due by over-reaching your neighbours in bargaining and the like not to keep a man from sin as here but rather to draw him to sin as in case of unjust complaints to a superiour to make him punish when he should not punish Not to do your selves good as here Iacob but to do another a mischief as Davids false accusers to Saul and if your consciences accuse you of such fraud repent of it before God blame your selves for it seek pardon resolve to put it away for hereafter and intreate the Lord to fortifie you against all such wickednesse that so you may be pardoned else great is the danger of such wickednesse The bread of deceit shall be gravell in the belly and wealth gotten by lying shall prove but vanity tossed to and fro of them that seeke death I pray you consider how God chastised this guile in these two good persons and that though they had a good end in it For this occasioned the rage of Esau which made him threaten yea and after attempt to kill Iacob and so drove Iacob from Isaacs family and kept them from that comfortable enjoyment each of other which else they might have had for twenty years together And be you now lovers of plainnesse abhorre shifting and falshood trust God with the successe of all your affaires and trust not to your own hearts and heads he that seekes to effect his desires by honest and just meanes he puts confidence in God and not in himselfe he that useth lying and cousinage he puts not his hope in God but in his own wit and heart Shew true and well grounded confidence in God by keeping your selves within the paths of equity and truth lovely pathes faire pathes straight pathes which shall surely lead you to more happinesse and comfort at last than lying and fraud hatefull dirty and crooked paths can possibly do Learn as David saith Psal 119. To hate lying and to love Gods Law love to be guided by God who is the God of truth and hate to follow lies which are of the devill the author of lying Doe not object that you cannot possibly escape such and such mischiefe bring about such and such a good businesse unlesse you turne a little aside to a little lying I answer first trust God with successe beleeve above hope let faith guide you not naturall reason Cannot he doe that which reason will call impossible Hath not be said Rowle thy self upon God and thy waies and he shall bring it to passe Will you not rest upon him for the performance of so evident a promise And secondly I answer that the greatest evill must be suffered rather than the smallest sin committed and the attaining of the greatest benefit cannot countervaile the committing of the least sin and that man doth not truly know either God or sin or the world or himselfe that doth not yeeld to these truths So you have this fault of Rebekkahs another is that she was too much troubled at her evill daughters in law and was weary of life because of them This is a fault to make crosses too too heavy our selves to be so distempered with them so as to become weary of life because of them yea it is a fault found in those that were truly religious and godly Eliah would fain have parted with his soul because of the troubles which he met withall he desired to die saith the Story and said It is enough Now Lord take away my soule from me for I am no better than my Fathers Moses would fain have dyed too when the people murmured against him and he poures
have a little forme of godlinesse to forbeare some sins and doe some good things for your Parents sake This is to be an Esau even to enjoy the meanes of grace and salvation in a godly house and there to conforme a little outwardly and to abstaine from some sins out of respect to the Governours though you have no true conscience to God Search your hearts you wives children servants that are educated and live under the roofe of good men in the Church of God under good meanes and see your misery if you be no better than this man was And now labour to profit by the means of grace to get the truth of grace causing you to stand in awe of God and to depart from all wickednesse out of due obedience to his Majesty that it may be said of you these and these and all sins you resolve to leave not for sinister respects of this or that person or thing of a Father or the like but out of love to God and a true desire to honour him that hath taken you to be his people Thinke not well of your selves because some self respect or humane consideration keeps you from running into grosser sins but drive to imprint such a filiall regard to the living God in your hearts that may cause you to shun all wickednesse for the Lords sake and then you may comfortably say in your selves now I know I am a true member of the Church and not as Esau was at least then a rotten and a withering and a fruitlesse branch that bringeth forth leaves alone and no good fruit But let us more particularly search into Esau First in respect of his carriage of himselfe in respect of outward things then of his carriage for matters of religion and the things of God Thirdly His behaviour to his Parents Lastly to his brother For the first his life was very faulty in the manner of his orders for the world for in his younger time he gave himselfe wholly to hunting as it is said of him Gen. 25.27 The boyes grew up and Esau was a cunning Hunter a man of the field He meaneth a gallant fellow that gave himselfe to little else but the sport of hunting and was still in the field following that sport He was a rich mans son and his Father had great meanes and allowed him enough wherefore he cared not for any usefull kinde of living but followed sports and jollity and by name was a great hunter still in the fields to please himselfe in that humour Is not this also the common sin of many richer persons who as they had wealth given them to be fewell to idlenesse and voluptuousnesse give themselves over to sports and some to this of hunting and regard not to profit in any good study or profitable trade of life Esaus hunting may seeme not to have been according to our present custome with kennels of bounds but with bow and quiver as it is noted Chap. 25. But howsoever he was set wholly upon sports and sold himselfe to that kinde of delight leting goe other things of better note and use Surely then it is a sin to live voluptuously to have none other calling but pastimes and vaine sports to make that ones occupation that should be alone his recreation and to spend himselfe in such a trifling vaine thing that should be used as a triflle alone to refresh our selves after matters of greater consequence Nimrod was an hunter Ishmael was an archer Esau a field man you reade no such thing of Sem Abraham Isaac Iacob Why should you follow the patterne of those men whom the Scripture speaketh of with disgrace and not theirs rather who have an honourable name in the book of God I pray you call your selves to an account for your expence of time must we not answer to God how we have lived how we have bestowed our dayes and houres will this be a good answer I spent the day in hunting hawking carding dicing and so I did from time to time one day at one sport or merry meeting another at another but all in such toyes Can you bee so fond as to imagine or beleeve that God for this cause gave you wit sences lives health strength wealth and other like meanes of doing good See this fault now so many as are guilty and set your selves to a more profitable kinde of living or else the day will come when you shall bootlesly wish that you had never been O so lay out your life that the world and your selves may be the better for it Live as Abraham and Iacob did not as Esau follow some study follow some good husbandry Live as those that know there is another life after this and that there be more weighty and honourable things to doe than playing and sporting Take heed of bringing your selves into the number of those that are Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God If you say why Then do you condemne all use of sports as hunting fowling or the like I answer no. I doe not but I say let not this in a manner be the totall summe of your employment Have figures as well as cyphers in the number of your dayes let these kindes of exercises have some small quantity of time for your refreshment but spend your selves in better things or else you shall be censured with S. Iames his censure You have lived in pleasure upon earth and then I am sure you shall live in torment when you must leave the earth But another fault we have in Esau for the manner of his hunting ver 29. He came from the field and was faint he followed his pastime over-eagerly and excessively and knew not how to breake it off in due time till very hunger and faintnesse brought him home Sure reason will conclude that it must needs be folly and a sin to be so bound to some sport that one knowes not a due season of leaving it off but must run after it a long time together till faintnesse or hunger follow To be eager after pastimes and stay so long at them as if they were great matters even till extreame wearinesse and hunger take one off and rather compell than perswade him to leave this is an inordinate using of sports For these recreations are in the very wisdome of nature appointed alone to cheere up the minde when it is wearied with great imployments that it may be fitted the better for them afterwards and they are not to be followed for their own sakes as not being worthy to bee made any part of the end of a wise mans life Now he that follows them with so immoderate eagernesse and so long together makes it appeare that he doth not use them as their nature requireth and instead of fitting himselfe for better actions by them doth altogether unfit himselfe for any good action For what can he performe well that hath toiled himselfe in a toy till hee bee quite spent Learne I pray you
and in fit case to continue dutifull observers of the fifth Commandement But we have another Superiour with whom Iacob had occasion at last to deale viz. Laban First An Vncle. Secondly A Master Thirdly A Father in Law See how well Iacob carried himselfe to Laban in all these respects 1. As he was an Vncle before he entred into the other relations he lived so lovingly and painfully with him in his house for the space of a moneth together that Labans selfe was both willing to give him some due wages and allowance for his service which of his owne accord he offered himselfe to doe and also when motion was made of giving him Rachel did willingly accept the motion yea put the other upon him too against his will whereby it is evident that he behaved not himselfe so as to be a cumber and burden to the family but was helpfull to it This was very commendable in him that he carried himselfe temperately and vertuously and profitably in his Vncles house where he came to sojourne for a time O that all those whose occasions invite them to visit their kindred and to abide some time with them would shew themselves so vertuous and wise and orderly in their whole behaviour that their friends might not have occasion to account them burdens but rather benefits unto themselves and their families so long as they shall have cause to continue and not so rudely wastfully idly that the house is discharged as it were of some ill humour when the time comes that they shall be gone away Further Laban had two daughters and Iacob loved one intirely yet we see that he craved the Fathers good will afore he made any suit at all to the maiden He went not to Rachel to get her good will and to win a promise from her but takes the fittest occasion that offered it selfe to let the Father understand his minde and to make agreement with him Here also young men have an excellent patterne to imitate and a sweet direction for their proceedings in marriage First to make sure with the Parents and Governours and after to deale with the young persons themselves as also Sampson did and the servant of Abraham and as nature it selfe teacheth it should be done for why should not he that hath right into any thing bee consulted withall about parting with it afore we seek to drive away the thing it selfe which appertaineth to him O those of you that have done or are now in doing otherwise bee you blamed as men that proceed not vertuously in this course and therefore are either through lucre of portion or else inordinate affection which men call love thrust aside from a right to a wrong path Now at last Iacob becomes a servant to his Father in Law and agrees to performe seven yeares service for one daughter and as many for the other For my part I cannot commend Iacobs prudence in this matter he bound himself to a very long apprentiship He might have taken order to have sent messengers betwixt Isaac and Laban that his portion might have procured this match rather than his service But herein yet he deales well with Laban whom he was willing to advantage so much for his daughters sake So far was he from being desirous to steale away Rachel that he chose rather to sue for her every young man must learne hence not that particular thing which Iacob did to serve for a wife but that common rule of equity which he followed to give a man all reasonable and good content in marrying his daughter in affording such convenient allowance to her as is fit neither will he be unwilling to this duty that is not moved more with base ends than love of her whom he marrieth But Iacob shewes a singular gentlenesse and respect to him in that when he had beguiled him and put Leah upon him instead of Rachel yet he did not put her away and refuse to have her but was rather contented to serve another seven yeres for Rachael than he would make any stir As for the matter of Polygamy and marrying two sisters the last was not then a sin the former was not esteemed to be one but surely Iacob received very hard measure of Laban in obtruding another upon him than was agreed upon to be his wife yet you see hee devoures the injurie without any great outcry onely hee tels him of the wrong in words nothing savouring of bitternesse O that wee also could learne to reprove a wrong-doer specially a superiour doing us wrong with milde and good language without railing without clamorousnesse and disgracefull speeches It were a sweet thing to have so much government over our passions and tongues that they might not carry us to set out wrongs with too many and large aggravations and with invective and contumelious speeches against him that hath done us the wrong It is never tryed to the purpose what humility what true discretion the soule is endowed withall untill it receive the triall of injuries He that in such case can keepe himselfe within compasse that his words be neither many nor violent shewes that he hath some command of himselfe and some feeling acknowledgement of Gods provident government and his own worthinesse of far greater evils But he that hath never done amplifying such a wrong and is furious and bitter against the offendor shewes that hee hath a great heart that can make the wrong so great and doth not looke to the hand but to the rod against which hee gives himselfe to shew so much distemper Againe you see that Iacob is even ready patiently to sit downe by the wrong and is content now to make himselfe an Apprentice for another seven yeares rather than he will make a great stir and contend with Laban We cannot thinke so hardly of any times that there were no Lawes or Governours that would and should have righted this wrong if Iacob would have made his complaints but Iacob was from his Fathers house and a stranger and friendlesse and therefore thought it more wisdome to sit downe and be content with somewhat hard conditions than to make a greater quarrell and contention O that we could get our hearts stored with a proportion of wisdome and meeknesse sutable to that of Iacob even to make us able to devoure wrongs with somewhat ill and harsh consequences rather than to make a great brawle specially if we be inferiours also and finde our selves likely to mend our selves little by contending such a submissive and peaceable disposition will make us capable of a larger blessing from God than any wee could get by striving and brawling and not onely so but would give us more quietnesse and content in our selves than the either revenging or redressing of a wrong another way Follow Iacob therefore in this his carriage towards his Father in Law And now we finde Iacob a servant and that for fourteen yeares hee married the two daughters within a few
all or righted of God when his Majesty meaneth no such matter O ignorant and self-deceiving and self-conceited creatures that we be let us beg more wisdome and unpartialnesse to our selves at Gods hand The second son of Bilhah is Nephthali which signifies wrastling because saith she I have wrastled with great wrastlings with my sister and have prevailed Certainly she playes the unwise woman here too and makes too bold with Gods name in saying With wrastlings of God and doth her sister great injury Poore Leah used no meanes to keepe her from fruitfulnesse she neither did keepe her husband from her nor any other thing by which to hinder her from being a mother therefore her wrastlings were only conceited wrastlings and shee proved that envy will cause one to thinke hee is opposed when indeed he is not let us take heed of dreaming that we bee wrastled withall and prevaile when in very deed it is neither so nor so The two sons of Zilpah are next borne the first Gad which signifies a troupe whereby Leah shewes that her desires or hopes were yet raised to looke for a many more children as indeed shee had three after this by Iacob of her owne body and one more whom her imitation of her sisters weaknesse made her to account her owne too The next son is called Asher for now saith she The daughters will count me happy and the name signifies happinesse sure for ought that I can judge no body ever applauded Leahs happinesse in this matter yea she would rather have been judged happy if she could have counted it happinesse enough to have borne sons her selfe and not followed her sisters folly in giving her maide to Iacob Wherein yet she is lesse excusable than her sister who might seeme to have more reason for her fact because shee her selfe was childlesse But you may see what fond things wee bee many times to count that a great matter of happinesse and take great content in it which of it selfe verily is nothing for our good But the children of Rachel come at last Ioseph which signifies hee will adde or give mee another son here Rachel begins to shew some goodnesse some faith the receiving of one benefit upon her prayers makes her hope that God will give her another Then followes Benjamin called by her Benoni The son of my sorrow and Iacob not willing to have a sonne of so ill and ominous a name yet comes to the name as neare as he can saying hee shall bee called Benjamin as much as if hee had said One whom I will love as my right hand and never suffer to depart from me for his mothers sake that bare him And these bee all Iacobs sonnes His daughter was Dinah Leahs seventh childe the word signifies judgement and why shee was so named because the Scripture affirmes not I will not trouble you with my conjectures In speaking of them we will begin with the maiden of whom wee have nothing at all noted that good is Some thinke she was Iobs wife whose life they cast into the time of Iacob I have nothing to alleadge either for or against this opinion It is a conjecture take it as you see good but it is probable that Iob might live about this time but of that no more till we come to speake of Iob. Now we goe on with Dinah of whom we reade as I said nothing but evill Gen. 34.1 Shee would needes walke into the City of Shechem when Iacob lived thereabouts forsooth To see the daughters of the Countrey whether they were faire maidens what garments they wore of what carriage what garbes and fashion they had A folly to which many of you maides be too subject you let your eyes looke over wistly upon the daughters If you did alone take up your selves in contemplating the fashions at the Market or as you walke in the streets or the like yet it were a spending of time worse than you need to spend it sure it is not good to goe abroad idlely when there is nothing to doe but gaze here and there when the minde hath no imployment or businesse to set it selfe about A gazing eye shewes in empty heart and tempts the devill to come thither one tempting to fill the heart with evill fancies that is empty of God I pray you Virgins take warning by Dinah be not you gadding abroad hither and thither to see and bee seene alone Dinahs successe may give you cause of fearing your selves in such occasions But especially let me exhort you to teach your eyes more piety than to bestow themselves in looking abroad to see fashions then when you come to the house of God there to doe service unto God Then I say doe not shew your selves so disregardfull of God so very hypocrites such persons as let their hearts wander for that wanders if the eye wander when the body approacheth him When you should be marking what is read or what is prayed or what is sung or what is preached A wandring eye at Church is a very bad thing and is the devils instrument to steale away all you heare and to make you unprofitable hearers I feare that this is the truest cause why many of you learne just nothing and cannot answer what you heare your eye carried away your mindes that they could not attend by the eare to what was spoken Maidens let me propound Dinahs example to you and warne you to take heed of being desirous to goe abroad to see fashions But a second thing is a young man saw her and tooke her and lay with her and humbled her you see what hurt followed here Shee went to see the daughters but one of the sons saw her and worse than that lusted after her and tooke her and abused her body whether by solicitation and enticement or by force and strength or whether by a mixture of both partly striving and partly soliciting I cannot say the words are such as may carry the sence of soliciting as well as of ravishing but we are willing to take things at the best for poore Dinah and because the Scripture useth these phrases to describe a Rape Deut. 22.28 29. calling it a humbling her as here we will in charity thinke that the same misery befell her in the City for it was the Kings sonne who might easily bring her to such a roome in an house as might cause that her crying voice might not be heard or she might be loath to cry knowing what hee was and that she was a stranger But if it were so I am fearefull that her more light carriage than was fit gave occasion to the young man of such fancies and imboldened him to offer such a kinde of violence as he thought would not be resisted Let maides take heed least their wanton eye and over-light countenance and promising lookes doe not enflame the beholder and offer such violence to their corruption as it were to make
and undefiled and forbearing to mixe ones selfe with any person not allowed by God according to his Ordinance especially when strong temptations are offered to inflame libidinous fancies deserveth great praise for it shewes that the heart is fully resolved not to doe evill Indeed if the not entertaining of such motions arise from inability of body and unfitnesse to satisfie them this cannot be called castity but debility Wee must consider how much the Apostle disgraceth uncleannesse and fornication he saith it is injurious to Christ to the holy-Ghost to a mans owne body to Christ if he be a professour of Christianity that doth it for it takes one that is joyned to him and to his mysticall body as a member thereof and makes it the member of an harlot which is a great indignity to the holy-Ghost for it takes a Temple dedicated to him such is the body and soule of every Christian and makes it a hog-sty to lodge filthy lusts in to a mans owne body for he that doth it sinnes against his owne body in making-that the very instrument of committing that soule sinne Now as much as may be said in the reproach of the sinne so much on the contrary maybe said in prayse of continency by it a man keeps Christs members and the holy-Ghosts Temples and his owne body free from so great basenesse of being made subject to an harlot The way is first to plant in ones owne heart a reverend feare of Gods all-seeing eye yea to pray much to God to bestow a good measure of this grace upon him The second is to count the sin a great wickednesse for so hee saith this great wickednesse The holding fast in ones mind an apprehension of the grievousnesse of a fault is a great preservative against it but if one once yeeld to fancy that it is no great matter then will it prove no great matter to draw us to it And indeed this sinne of Adultery must needs be a great wickednesse because it sinnes against a cleare light and is contrary to a solemne vow and Covenant made betwixt the marryed 3. A man must often ponder on the threats of God made against this sinne and presse them upon his owne soule and pray to God to make him beleeve and feare Fourthly he must prevent the occasions and fly from them even that occasion of being present especially in solitary places and alone with those to whom his heart is inclined or indeed with any with whom such a sinne may be committed but upon just grounds and causes And lastly a man must not trust upon his owne strength but constantly supplicate to God keep downe his inordinate passions or else he shall find them too unruly for him Labour you that be young and you that be elder and all to attaine this power over ill desires God that wrought it in Ioseph can worke it in any other as well you shall doe well to produce Iosephs Example unto God and beseech him to shew his Spirit and his feare in you as he did in him Why are godly mens worthy deedes set up before our eyes in Scriptures but that we may strive and pray and hope to be made like unto them But as all must bee exhorted to get Chastity so chiefly those which have beene overtaken already with the contrary crime of Adultery or fornication or both It is more easie to forbeare a sinne the first time then the second the second then the third and so forth unlesse great care be used to get the heart throughly healed If Joseph had lived in Fornication with any other he could never have resisted his mistresses inticements They that have yeelded to this sinne shall more hardly save themselves from it then those that have never yeelded but if a man doe frequently and unfainedly repent of this as well as of other sinnes it will bee made so loathsome to him that by Gods assistance he shall prevaile against it yea even though it be his darling corruption I goe on to shew how Joseph behaved himselfe in the house of his Prison and that to his Master there the Jaylor and also to the Kings Officers that were committed thither First he fell to his old trade of diligence and faithfulnesse carrying himselfe in so vertuous a manner that the Jaylor did affect him and liked him more and more till at last he intrusted him with all the charge of the prison This was a great trust for you know what extreame danger a Jaylor chiefely of such prisoners doth put himselfe in if his prisoners escape there againe therefore let all inferiours be perswaded to seeke to winne their Superiours by good and vertuous carriage especially meekenesse submissivenesse painefulnesse and trustinesse This will worke a man into favour even with an hard master but I spake of that matter a little before I will shew you his carriage to the prisoners to whom he was an Attendant it is commendable in these three respects First he shew'd himselfe desirous to comfort them when they were sad and dejected asking them why they were sad had hee not bin of a kinde and tender disposition he would not have heeded how a person to whom himselfe had no more relation had fared whether sorrowfully or merrily but so kinde was hee that hee seekes to comfort them by asking them the cause of their sadnesse and seeking to remove it We should all learne to practice this courteousnesse to all men chiefly to such as are in affliction otherwise even helpe to raise up their hearts with good words and so much as we can to become instruments of cheering them as you see Joseph intreating to know their Dreames and diligent to interpret the same It is an excellent vertue to be ready to comfort the afflicted and to revive the spirits of them that bee cast downe so farre as we be able but a churlish carelesse temper whereby a man cares not whether men cry or laugh be merry or sad is a proofe of much pride and stupidity of spirit and must be abhorred Againe you see him faithfull in interpreting their dreames not seeking to flatter the Baker in regard of the likenes of the dreames You must learne to deale truely with men telling them as the thing is not falsifying your words to please them and to prevent their sorrowes Most of all must men deale truly in interpreting and applying Gods Word and you must learne to be so wise as to accept such true and plaine dealing Lastly Ioseph was so wise and so prudently carefull of redeeming himselfe out of prison that he would not let slip the opportunity of speaking to the Butler to remember him It is very lawfull for any man to use good meanes of getting out of a crosse and to take all such advantages as God shall afford of suing and supplicating unto such as may be helpefull to him in that behalfe as Ioseph doth but still wee must take heed that
closing the flesh in steed of it and framed it into the body of a Woman in which also he placed a reasonable soule Concerning this Creation of Man you must first informe your selves of the necessity of it It must needs be granted by force of reason that there must be some first man seeing otherwise there must be infinite men because a number without beginning must be also without end in as much as there is the same reason of both that which caused men without beginning did cause them necessarily and therefore it must cause them for ever now all reason agrees to this truth that there cannot be an infinite number seeing to a number still one at least may be added I meane it of actuall numbers and actuall infinitenesse so wee reason thus either an infinite number of men or some first man and woman not the former therfore the latter And if there must be a first man and woman either they came by chance and without any maker which is so absurd that no man can choose but hisse it out or else they were made by some agent or matter that had a being before them and if so then either as Heathen Theologie tels they grew out of the mudde as frogges doe in some Countries or else were formed by God as our Theologie teacheth and let every man that hath his right wits about him judge in himselfe whether of these twaine is more agreeable to reason and more likely to be true So man was created by God now about his Creation the time and matter of it is to be noted For first man was not created till the sixth day when a fit place for him to dwell in and all necessary furniture for the place and all needfull servants and attendants were before provided for his use God saw it not fit to bring man into the world before it was garnished and stored with all contents usefull for him And then man was made in the first place and woman after him to shew that man is the superiour in nature woman was made for man and not man for woman therefore was man made first and woman after and so doth the Apostle reason in two places where he handles the difference of Sexes 1 Cor. 11.8 9. 1 Tim. 2.13 So you have this cleared how man came into the world and how woman but you must observe more particularly the different matter of which they were made and the parts of which they consist Man had a body and that was made of the dust of the earth to teach him Humility but he had also a soule and that was breathed into his nostrils that is infused by God wonderfully and immediately put into mans body it is called a breath of life and after a soule of life that is a soule which procured breathing and living nothing is harder for a man to conceive of then the nature of his owne soule next the nature of God and Angels for the former is much more hard to comprehend the latter equally difficult at least and it should be unto us a matter of great abasement that wee cannot tell what to make of our selves that is of our soules that it is we know by the effects it workes in the body and the absence of these effects and the following of contrary effects when it is departed from the body and this is all we know in a manner onely we may gather by discourse that it is a substance incorporeall because it selfe doth informe the body and one body cannot in reason be fit to informe another The Scripture also tells us certainely that it is an immortall substance which must returne to God that gave it and reason subscribes to this truth because finding the soule a thing simple it cannot conceive how it should be corrupted O how ignorant are we and what cause have we to be puffed up with conceit of our knowledge seeing so much blindnesse doth now possesse our mindes that in a manner all we have to say of our owne soules and spirits the best part of us is this that we cannot tell what to say As for Evah shee also consisted of a body and that was made not of earth but of a bone of her husband to instruct her and him both of their duty that shee should acknowledge her subjection unto him as being taken out of him and helpefull to him as being made of a rib an helpfull bone in his side and to instruct him that he should account her deare unto him and make precious reckoning of her using her as in a manner his equall as being a peece of himselfe and extracted from his own side Now a woman also hath a soule an immortall spirit to make her a living and a reasonable creature for where sin is found there is a reasonable soule because none other is capable of knowing and consequently transgressing a law made by God but woman was in the Transgression that is shee sinned and sinned first before Adam therefore shee had a soule and a reasonable soule and they seeme to have beene wilfully blinde that whether out of the silence of God in not mentioning the breathing of a soule into Evah or upon what other mad conceit would needs make themselves and others beleeve that women had no soules I conceive it was the device of some brutish and sensuall man that by instilling this most absurd conceit into that Sexe would faine draw them to commit all licentiousnesse with boldnesse for if they have no soules it could be no fault in them more then in the bruit creatures to give over themselves to all sensuality and libidinousnesse You have heard Mans beginning know now his life and herein consider his behaviour and the things that befell him his behaviour bad good indifferent doubtfull Their bad carriage stands in two things Their first sinne whereby they fell and their following sinnes which they added after their fall The first sinne was the eating of the forbidden fruit for you shall have it recorded that the Lord having placed Adam in a garden to dresse and keepe it spake to him in this wise Of all the trees of the garden thou maist eating eate that is thou maist lawfully and with mine allowance eate it was at his choice to eate of what kind he pleased and if it seemed good unto him to forbeare eating of any he might forbeare then followes a prohibition of one kind of fruit viz. of the tree of knowledge of good and evill which is in the midst of the garden thou maist not eate that is you shall not lawfully do it in regard of naturall power he had ability to eate and not eate of that as of any other but God did take away from him the morall liberty of eating of it and by his authority saw good to abridge his liberty and this alone to make it appeare to Adam that he was an absolute and a
seeke to God for pardon or for grace to repent Wherefore I say againe looke on thy first Parents that how bad soever thou beest were causes of thy being so bad and promise thy selfe pardon upon repentance because they are pardoned and hope to be penitent if thou indeavour and seeke it because they were helped which were as vile sinners as thy selfe THE SECOND EXAMPLE OF Caine. NExt after Adam and Evah the Scriptures propound unto us the Examples of Caine and Abel two sonnes of those Parents First wee must speake of Caine who being the elder Brother was yet the worser man for the Lord hath never accustomed to give his graces according to the priviledges of age that the gift may appeare to be free and gratuitous not at all deserved by any thing that the man may finde in himselfe Now speaking of Caine we must handle his Birth and Life for it hath not seemed good to God to tell us any thing of his death His Birth wee have Gen. 4.1 Adam knew Evah his wife and shee conceived and bare a sonne and called his name Caine or a possession saying I have obtained a man of the Lord or as it may be translated a man the Lord perhaps expressing her conceit to be that this sonne of hers must be that man who was also to be God that should redeeme her selfe and all men from the mischiefe which the Serpent had brought upon them but if shee had any such hopes shee had much deceived her selfe for God doth seldome make such hast in granting so great things immediately after the promise he chooseth rather to exercise the faith and patience of his people in waiting some good and large space of time for the performance of the promise Now concerning this man we will note first his carriage and behaviour then the things that befell him In his carriage some things are for mattrer good some things altogether evill That which is good is that at his Fathers appointment and education he betook himselfe to a needfull trade of life for so it is said Caine was a tiller of the ground that is he gave himselfe to Husbandry This calling as it is very usefull for even the King is served by the land that is tilled so it is you see a very ancient calling it is full of paines and full of profit much increase saith Salomon doth come by the labour of the Oxe but where no Oxe is the crib is empty You see it hath the precedencie of the Shepheard for the elder sonne was assigned to this trade as the most necessary Wherefore mee thinkes they doe not shew themselves to be of the same minde with Adam that are still ready to pull downe tillage and set up pastorage as I may call it Indeed pastorage gives most private gaine to one or two men and therefore they that are led more by selfe love then by charity or the love of mankind are more affected to it but surely Gods pleasure was in making the World to make provision for a multitude to live in convenient abundance rather then for a few to live in excessive riches Howsoever you see this is good in Caine he imbraced a calling and lived painefully therein for hee was tilling the ground he did not alone take upon him the name of a Husbandman but did exercise himselfe in the workes of that calling Secondly Caine was religious too at least in respect of the outward acts for in processe of time hee brought a gift to the Lord of the fruit of the ground hee worshipped God by offering something to him of that which by his goodnesse and blessing the earth did bring forth unto him The Lord will be served even with our costs with gifts with rendring him backe againe something of that which himselfe hath given us He commanded Israel not to appeare before him emptie but to bring free-will-offerings and heave offerings of their hands God loves not an empty worshipper he is liberall to us he would have us also liberall to him wee receive much from him he lookes to receive something of us that so we may actually acknowledge him to be the giver of all He is not contented that the mouth worship him in prayers and praises nor the eare in hearing and attending to him nor the body in bowing it selfe to him nor the hands in lifting up themselves but he will be honoured with our goods as Salomon saith Prov. 3.9 even with our substance For though he hath not now commanded any thing to be burnt upon the Altar having abolished all Sacrifices by sending his Sonne to offer up himselfe in Sacrifice for our sinnes that he might take away our sinnes by that one offering once for all yet now he hath appointed such a worship as cannot be maintained without cost in regard of the persons attending it and the instruments of it and hee hath now appointed them to reape our earthly things in his steed which in his steed doe sowe unto us spirituall things Marke this then as a thing in it selfe good to worship God and to worship him with giving a gift unto him as also in the Psalme hee saith bring presents to him that ought to be feared Further it was a lawfull and good thing in Caine even after his great sinne committed that he built a City for surely to take order for the replenishing of men with people and the commodious habitation of men borne into the world is a good and commendable thing in it selfe though men may easily and often doe transgresse much in the manner of doing it Therefore the Lord saith Esay 58. 12. in commendation of his people and in way of promising a great benefit and honour There shall be of thee that shall build the old waste places Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach the restorer of paths to dwell in Surely if to build old wasts and repaire decaied places that they may stand to many generations be a praise as you heare from the Prophet then to build new that were not built before that also is a good thing and laudable This therefore must be noted as a good thing in Caine that hee gave himselfe to build a City Lastly that is good in him that he was the husband of one wife and did content himselfe with the first institution of marriage not corrupting it with taking variety of women to one and the same man at the same time as God had made but one Eve for Adam and said a man shall cleave to his wife not to his wives and they shall be one flesh meaning theâ— two not three or foure Some are of opinion that in the beginning Evah at every burden bare twinnes and so there came into the world together a man and a woman whether this was so or not I cannot affirme but it may seeme probable because the Holy Ghost makes
not much mention of the bringing forth of any woman before the flood therefore it may be thought that their birth is comprehended in the narration of the birth of the more worthy Sexe and that together with man they were conceived and and borne but whatsoever became of this conceit it is evident Caine had but one wife and that is commendable in him And this is all that I can picke out of the Story that is good in this bad man for even in a bad man also may be found many things that for the matter of them are very good I proceed now to set forth the evill of Caine who was an unsanctified man as witnesseth S. Iohn 1 Epist 1.3 He was of that evill one that is the Divell a child of Satan hee was notwithstanding all that good that he did A man unsanctified therefore may be painefull in his calling a man unsanctified may worship God and bring him gifts a man unsanctified may build Cities a man unsanctified may live honestly with his wife Neither must any man conceit himselfe a childe of God because hee can truly affirme of himselfe that he doth these and many other good and commendable things This is no more then may be found in a Caine who was of that evill one But let us looke into his vices and faults The first and worst fault is he was an Hypocrite one in whom hypocrisie ruled for had he not beene such a one the Lord would not have forborne to shew the same respect to him and to his gift that hee shewed to his Brother Abel and his gift God is not an accepter of persons he doth not regard one sincere man and neglect another that hath the same sincerity but hee heares all that call upon him in truth as saith the Psalmist and in every nation those that feare him and worke righteousnesse are acceptable to him seeing then God did not testifie of his gifts they were but the gifts of an hypocrite For an hypocrite is hee which contenteth himselfe with a forme of religion in performing the externall acts of it and is not sanctified by it hath not the dominion of sinne broken hath not the image of God renewed in him hath not the divine nature bestowed upon him nor cares nor seekes to have it but contents and satisfieth himselfe in these externall devotions Whosoever is carefull to come to Gods Ordinances to pray heare reade receive the Sacraments and the like acts of religion and doth so carelesly overly and negligently performe them as not in them to seeke and attaine true sanctity and recovering out of the snare of the Divell and power of sinne for these effects of true religion are not denied to any in and by those ordinances but to those which neglect to serve for them in and by these Ordinances he is a very Caine that is an Hypocrite Hypocrisie is a fearefull sin and this was Cainâ—â— first and worst sin that he was an Hypocrite he performed indeed â—â—e outward work of religion but performed it not out of faith and with a desire therby to do true honour to God and to give himselfe unto God and â—o get grace from God to make him his but barely out of custome oâ— respect to his Fathers authority who had so trained him up or out of a kinde of imperfect naturall devotion that he might seeme to himselfe good and nourish in himselfe good hopes of escaping Hell and getting Heaven Notwithstanding his taking leave to himselfe to commit other sins which liked him or such other like corrupt and meere selfe respecting ends as credit with his Father and Mother and the rest of his Brethren and Sisters the Lord that saw deepely into Caines heart and found it fild with guile that it did not draw neere to him when his body did would at first make it appeare that it was not possible to deceive him by disguises and therefore by not shewing any note of respect did plainely discover his utter dislike of such meere outside service as hee hath also done at other times saying that those which draw neere to him with their lips and have their hearts farre from him doe worship him in vaine and that if any man seeme to be religious alone his religion is in vaine and that hee is not a Iew which is one outwardly The second sinne of Caine followes that when he perceived that God had not respect to him and his sacrifice hee was wrath and his countenance fell he had a furious inside and a dogged outside whereas hee should have looked into the cause he onely chased at the thing This is a fearefull sinne when a man is punished to be vexed at the punishment and not take care to see and reforme the sinne which causeth the punishment This is to accuse God as the Author of the evill and not himselfe and so to justifie himselfe above God this is to shew a predominancy of pride and blindnesse that out of an high opinion of himselfe hath his minde mufled as it were from seeing his owne faults it is to shew that he serveth that sinne which punishments cannot make him humbly to confesse and this wrath and falne countenance was procured through envie against his Brother for he did not onely vexe himselfe because his one Sacrifice found no approbation but also hated his Brother because his was accepted as appeares because God in reprooving his sullen and dogged lookes doth tell him instantly that unto thee shall be his desire that is I know Caine what aileth thee thou art wrath against thy Brother and hatest him because he is more regarded by mee then thy selfe but know that I intend not to take away the superiority which thine age gives thee he shall be thine inferiour in respect of governement though he be better then thy selfe in vertues Thou shalt be the ruler of the Family after Adam and not hee For at that time the governement of the world was onely domesticall and the elder Brother was the chiefe Magistrate under and after the Father So envie ruled in Caine discontent festred to an hatred of his Brother because he thought his Brother had more respect then himselfe and so that his Brother hindred him from being accepted This envie is much condemned It is said Envie not sinners much lesse the righteous and S. Paul saith Let us not be covetous of vaine-glory provoking one another envying one another noting vaine-glory to be the roote on the which envie growes and Salomon saith Who can stand against envie noting it to be one of the most unreasonable faults that is as hating a man because hee is not as miserable as himselfe or at least because he is more happie than himselfe This is a second fault of Caine. A third is that when God himselfe did gently and duely admonish him of his fault and sought to asswage his hatred and his wrath yet he did nothing at all reforme
it but rather grew worse shewing that envie carried him away still and hee did nourish and foster not oppose and resist it For God came and shewed him good reason both that hee should not be angry at his not being accepted and also that he should not have a grudge against his Brother because he was accepted for if thou doe well saith the Lord shalt thou not be accepted that is not thy Brother is an impediment to any respecting of thy selfe and thy Sacrifice but thine ill doing Thou servest mee with outward service but thou art a bad man and livest not well therefore must not I regard thy service for I tell thee my pure nature is such that if men be of sinfull lives and wicked their prayers and oblations are so farre from pleasing me that they be abomination to me therefore doe I not care for thee nor thy religion so long as thou continuest impenitent and a wicked liver but if thou frame thy selfe to doe well to repent and amend thy life and live holily then also shalt thou be accepted as if hee had told him that hee ought to amend his life and might so set himself about it as to obtaine help and power to do it For even to any reprobate may any man say as much as God to Caine here there is no necessity of thy being cast off by God set to amend thy life and he will take thee into favour and then should he also be taken into favour and his gifts regarded For though the Sacrifice of sinners be odious to God yet the prayer of the upright is his delight So no cause of Caines wrath and envie seeing the cause of his Brothers being preferred before him is his owne naughtinesse not any partiality in God nor trickes that his Brother had used Againe there is no cause he should hate his Brother who should still continue an inferiour in subjection to him All this notwithstanding uttered by God himselfe yet Caine continued his sower lookes and bitter thoughts against his Brother onely because his Brother was better than himselfe and had received more approbation and acceptation from God then himselfe Note this fault he would not be amended by words he hardned himselfe against an admonition A fourth and a worse fault was he spake to his Brother and gat him into the field out of company for no doubt there were more men and women in the world though wee doe not reade of any more and there he knocks him on the head with what weapon it is folly for us to enquire but sure his tooles of husbandry yeelded him fitter helpe to doe it then the jaw-bone of an Asse which some will needs thinke to have beene used So his envie and hatred boyled so long and prevailed so much in him that it makes him dip his finger in blood and in the blood of his own Brother notwithstanding the greatnesse of the sinne in it selfe and great torment that would ensue thence unto his Parents Moreover Murder that is Caines sinne and with this sinne of murder is joyned fraud and guile and fearing man more then God for he spake to him and gat him out and then rose up against him when they were together alone in the field so it was a pretended and premeditated murder he used words of kindnesse at least which did not shew forth any ill intention for then would not Abel have gone with him and having him in a solitary place where no man could see him to discover or hinder him there not regarding Gods presence hee tooke away his life and spilt his blood on the ground You see Caines fourth sinne The fifth was he did not repent of the sinne when hee had done it nor of himselfe ranne to God with humble confession nay when God came to bring him to repentance then hee stood in deniall of his fault and was angry with God for going about to charge him with his Brother for when the Lord came and asked him where his Brother was he made answer that he could not tell lying to God himselfe you see and shewing himselfe to be altogether ignorant or at least heedlesse of his All-seeing eye and in a kind of discontent asking the Lord why he should aske of him where Abel was seeing no man had ever appointed him to be Abels keeper Here is a fearefull sinne not to confesse a sinne committed but to lie and seeke if he could to hide it from God by deniall So that Caine was growne worse then Adam he onely excused the fault he denies saying he could not tell what was become of him whom himselfe had murdered so denying in his heart that God was present in all places and saw all things So his heart was hardned in wickednesse and he was growne a despiser of God a denier of his Omniscience and he had made himselfe quite impenitent Impenitencie in his sinnes that was another of Caines faults Instead of falling downe and saying I have sinned he saith I have not done it thou dost unjustly in asking me such a question like the Pharisees that after they had killed Christ were so farre from repenting that they seemed to take it in high disdaine that the Apostles would seeme to bring that mans bloud upon them Marke this sinne I say marke it he hides his sinne denies it will not goe to God with humble confessions and supplications This is to be a Caine to commit great sinnes and continue remorselesse and unrepentant not regarding to confesse no not to God himselfe though God use meanes to make him see and confesse Now another fault is that after God had censured him for his offence he grumbled and despaired for his speeches carry an impression of both these vices and are uttered so that they will beare both renderings My sinne is greater then can be pardonad or My punishment is greater then I can beare So Caine was possessed with a mixture of desperatenesse and murmuring he denies God the honour of his mercy in not conceiving him able to forgive that sin therfore he thought it in vaine to confesse and aske pardon and so forbare to doe it and he thought the punishment unjust and too severe as being more then hee could beare as if God in punishing an unpenitent sinner should looke not what the sinne did deserve but what the sinner could undergoe Whereas punishment must be proportioned to the greatnesse of the fault not the strength of the offendor He should have cryed out of the greatnesse of the sinne not of the punishment hee should have confessed the greatnesse of Gods mercy but he mutters against him as both unjust and unmercifull and so repents not but repines complaining that God had laide him open to all mens injuries now so that every one might kill him This is a Caine a man so hardned with sinne that he can neither submit to Gods justice nor implore his mercy but denies the one and calumniates the
causing us never to see the second death though we must not be freed from the first for that was the speciall priviledge of Enoch and Eliah and was never granted to any other that we read Labour therfore to hold fast in your soules a firme perswasion of Gods love to you in Christ and withall a firme purpose of pleasing him in all things Let sincere truth of obedience be joyned with a firme perswasion of Gods love and the firme perswasion of Gods love be joyned with a sincere indeavour of obedience then death shall never come amisse then you are alwaies ready for it So David faith I have hoped in thy salvation and done thy Commandements So then if we would be ready for God we must doe two things Turne to him and walke with him To turne is to begin to walke with God to walke with God is to continue to turne to him O ye that have not begun to turne doe it to day turne now call to mind your former evill waies to judge your selves for them to lament them to seeke of God in Christ forgivenesse of them and power against them and labour to rest your selves upon his goodnesse in Christ for pardon and helpe and so have you made your peace then keepe your peace by a constant indeavour to please God in holinesse of life and a constant renewing of your assured perswasion of his love O happy man he that can so fit himselfe for his latter end Brethren let the mention of the deaths of so many aged persons make you carefull to prepare for death you that be young doe it because death takes away young men as well as old and you that be old doe it because you may meete with it very suddenly and must needs meete with it afore it be long Againe you see these long-liv'd men here wrestling with the corruptions of the world and their owne some a longer time and some a shorter but all in comparison of our selves a great while The longest lived man for number of dayes was Methuselah who lived nine hundred sixty nine yeares but for perfection of life Adam who lived a perfect man nine hundred and thirty yeares The shortest lived of all the Patriarkes was Noahs Father Methuselahs Sonne Lamech for he lived seven hundred seventy and seven yeares and died the yeere before the floud a little before his Father Methuselah who lived till that very yeare that the floud came and drowned all and was taken away that he might not see the floud Now why did God lengthen out the daies of the Patriarkes I answer chiefely to maintaine the knowledge of God and true religion in the world that by the long life of one godly man the truth which then was not put in writing but by word of mouth delivered from man to man might be kept more pure and undefiled Adam lived till Methuselah was two hundred forty and three yeares old Methuselah lived till Sem the Sonne of Noah was one hundred yeares lacking two so that Sem talked with him that had talked with Adam who could acquaint him with all things concerning the creatures the fall and the promised seed out of his certaine knowledge and experience he had beene made of nothing he had seene all perfections and Methuselah could tell it to Sem and Sem lived to see Isaac borne and a Father So that Isaac might speake mouth to mouth with him that had spoken with him that had spoken with Adam the first man that ever was Was not this a notable confirmation of his Faith THE FIFTH EXAMPLE OF The Old World WEe have propounded particular Examples unto you hitherto as also the Scriptures have done Now following them wee must set before your eyes the Examples of an whole multitude even of an whole World full of men and women that gave themselves to worke wickednesse before the Lord. It is called in Scripture the old World and the world of ungodly In the space of a 1656. yeares the generation of mankind was growne to that height and exorbitancie of wickednesse that the patience of God could no longer endure them Now concerning this Old World we will shew you three things 1. Their sinnes 2. The goodnesse of God to them notwithstanding their sinnes 3. The severe punishment that fell upon them at the last and so will make use of all First for their sinnes the Holy Ghost sets them out in generall and more particularly In generall the sinne of man is said to be great and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was evill and onely evill and that continually Secondly it is said that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth So their naughtinesse was remarkeable in these two respects it was exceeding hainous and grievous in that they committed great and fowle sinnes in great abundance with great wilfullnesse and gave themselves to add sinne to sinne doing nothing but plodding and contriving wickednesse and then all men gave themselves over to the same bad course you could not finde a man that made scarce a shew of goodnesse out of Noahs house When all consent together to sell over themselves to worke iniquity and grow past shame or feare running into most grievous and notorious sinnes with greedinesse and wilfullnesse this is very offensive to Almighty God and will certainely provoke his wrath to bring upon them some fearefull and heavie punishments Divers reasons may be thought of that caused this exceeding great growth of sinne in those times 1. The long life of men for let an unsanctified man continue long and he will grow more and more sinfull the longer he continues Sinne by frequent exercise growes more and more violent and head-strong So living a great space of time they grew above measure naught 2. They had strong and able bodies together with health and ability to enjoy the things of this life 3. They had great peace in regard they all lived under a paternall governement the agedst in the family still being acknowledged the governour of the family and they had all one language and so no great cause of controversie and one religion too it is like seeing the Patriarkes lived so long that they were immediately taught of God save that they degenerated to prophanenesse and the most became of no religion and so did not warre with the contrary little partie unlesse it were with jests scoffes and contumelies Long life great strength great peace begat great wickednesse But more particularly the Lord takes notice here of their 1. Unlawfull and carnall marriages 2. Of their violence and oppression And our Saviour telleth of their great worldlinesse that did sell over themselves to temporall dealings and cared nothing for better things and S. Peter tells of their obstinacy in sinning and their not beleeving nor regarding they were disobedient whilest the long suffering of God waited in the daies of Noah Yea our Saviour
may be couragious in all things First be sure the causes in which you put your selves in hazard be good and just Secondly be sure that you take God along with you by keeping his favour in a holy conversation as Abraham did or else courage may quickly faile and deceive you And next learne to deale prudently in all affaires as Abraham did in seeking the helpe of his confederates and taking the opportunity of night and dividing his men against his enemies into severall bands The excellency of a businesse is in the wise carriage of it labouring to get convenient aid and helpe and then choosing fit times and seasons and other circumstances We must blame our selves therefore if by any indiscretion or failing we have hindered our owne good successe in our affaires as often times men doe and must pray to God to direct us with discretion for it is his gift that we be not causes of our owne disappointment and misery Now see how Abraham behaved himselfe to frin-men as we call them 1. To the Sodomites 2. To the Cananites 3. To Angels whom he tooke to be travellers First to the Sodomites first he did most heartily intercede to God for their sparing if there had beene found 50.40 30 20. Yea but 10. just men therein So great a lover of good men was Abraham that he would heartily pray to God to save them and for their sakes to save also the people whom they dwelt amongst and how well pleasing this service was to God it is evident in the storie Gen. 18.23 ad finem For God did with wonderfull patience accept his suites even till hee came to so low a rate as if he did finde but 10. in the 5. Cities that is a poore couple in every City Wee must learne hence to shew our loves to man-kind in generall and especially to just and good men in praying God for all righteous men that they may be saved and delivered and for the Societies and Cities and countries wherein we live that they also might prosper and escape for the good sake of the good that live there Fervent prayer for humane societies and for just men in them should be made by Gods people Why should you not improve the right you have unto Gods eares For the good of many I will that prayers and supplications be made for all men saith S. Paul especially to pray that God would deliver Cities and Countries from publike and fearefull destructions Bretheren why are we so defective in this duty Why do we not pray for the nations abroad in hope that there may be some righteous amongst them why are our mouthes stopped from such suites Let us now follow our Father here and let our heartes and mouthes be inlarged with all humble confidence to beseech God for the good of those Cities and quarters of Christendome that are ready to eate up one another that God would shew favour to them and not give them over to perish by the sword each of other Account Prayer an exercise of some efficacie have so much faith as to know that our prayers shall not be vaine labours and that you beleeve that God is a God that heareth prayers onely let all your prayers be as Abrahams were servent humble and reverend Another good worke of Abraham to the Sodomites was that he did not make them slaves to himselfe and keepe them for his owne use nor sell them as slaves to others as by the Law of Nations he might well have done but granted them liberty and set them againe in state of freedome after he had by the sword taken them out of the hands of those that had led them captive He shewed humanity and kindnesse to them though they were wicked men and not rigour and extremity Wee must all learne to be kinde and loving to mankinde and not to presse men with heavie and grievous burdens even though wee might doe it in extremity of right This shall bring more love and good will honour and good esteeme then rougher and more severe carriage It is better to be loved then hated honoured then disgraced be counted a friend and saviour of men then a proud person that cares not what becomes of others so that himselfe may make an advantage of them The comfort that gentlenesse and clemencie bringeth is also very much more then that which will follow from the contrary The dying heart can receive no content in thinking he hath crushed inthralled or otherwise afflicted men but that he hath delivered comforted saved them that affoordeth great consolation in that it becommeth an argument of goodnesse and a meanes of hope that a man shall finde mercy as he hath shewed and exercised it Let not either covetousnesse or arrogancie or a cruell disposition make you carrie your selves austerely to men for your owne advantage sake but use all courtesie as Abraham did even to these Sodomites Let them enjoy good things even though you have power and some shew of right to deprive them thereof onely doe not interrupt justice in her acts of severity This was his dealing with the Sodomites in generall See how his dealing is with the King as you have it Gen. 14.21 He would not take any thing that was his no not to a shooe-latcher and he saith that he had lift up his hands to God to that end that it might not be said by the King of Sodome I have made Abraham rich Here Abraham shewes himselfe first a man that did not regard riches nor esteeme the wealth of this world in that of his owne accord he bound himselfe by a vow not to touch so great a bootie as this that fell into his hands by just conquest and which in all equity he might have taken and that with good thankes too for the present time from the King of Sodome who wished alone the persons and did willingly yeeld the goods to Abraham but Abraham stood upon termes here of credit for his Religion sake and would not have the King of Sodome to triumph and say that his wealth had inriched Abraham You see that we should so dis-valew riches as freely to cast them away and deny our selves of them rather then incurre any reproach or disgrace for them even though the imputation would be unjust Should not all men labour to have as generous a minde as Abraham Sure we should strive for the perfection of vertue which hath beene found in the Saints It cannot be said yet Abraham should have sinned if he had taken this spoyle neither was hee bound so much to the Sodomite as to affoord him either persons or goods but he considered before hand that some aspersion of covetousnesse would have beene cast upon him if he should have possessed himselfe of this wealth and therefore he bindes himselfe from it by a vow Noble Abraham that regardest due esteeme rather then great riches and wouldst let goe so faire a morsell rather then incurre any the least
sorrow for sinne And let those children that are yet unmarried take heed of intangling their affections without the privity of Parents or of seeking to draw the affections of one another untill such consent have gone before for feare they make this duty very difficult unto them or thrust themselves out of the way of duty and obedience by their headstrong passions So much of Ishmaels good deeds now of his bad First at some 15. or 16. yeares he mocked Isaac this mocking was a degree of persecution and a fault in him I cannot conceive that he did it out of any dislike of Isaacs piety who being but a new weaned childe could not discover any piety unto him at least any such act of piety as should stirre up disdaine and derision but seeing such a great gladnesse and a merry feast at the weaning of Isaac he made a sport of him as it were disdaining that Isaac should seeme to thrust him out of the inheritance Now it is a great sinne to mocke any one out of envy and scorne that they should be preferred before them Mocking shewes a great deale of pride in him that useth it nothing but overvaluing of our selves makes us undervalew others Mocking is a tedious thing to suffer the good esteeme wee have of our selves and those that are neere unto us makes the contrary carriage of others unsufferable therefore is mocking a great offence Take heed I pray you of using it toward your bretheren or neighbours It is an act that tendeth strongly to provoke and we must not provoke one another It is then most loathsome when it comes from envy and malice make not a may game at your bretheren floute them not breake not jests upon them this jesting is that which S. Paul forbids especially laugh not at their miseries and at their sinnes but most of all mocke not at them for well doing Mocking is any carriage by which a man expresseth his contempt of another and seekes to make him also contemptible and despicable unto others He that can set light by a man for goodnesse sake which should procure honour how blind a minde how perverse a judgement hath he Be penitent if your folly have carried you to such a sinne and now bridle your selves from such ill carriage hath not God shewed his dislike of it sufficiently by punishing it in Ishmael with banishment out of Abrahams house Another fault of Ishmael is that which was foretold of him that he was a wilde man a kind of Asse-colt that would not be subject to any almost nor ruled by any This is a grievous fault indeed when he that hath the face shape and faculties of a man and should have wisedome to submit himselfe to such as have authority over him will yet know no governour submit to no authority be kept within no boundes but leape over hedge and ditch as it were and runne about after his owne fancy and live as he lists himselfe that is to say will evertake upon him the qualities of a wild Asse-colt to man-ward will never carry himselfe as a sheepe dutifully to God-ward Beware of being such wild fellowes that now follow their owne humours and care not what trickes they play not heeding any admonition or any reason If any of you have shewed your selves such formerly bewaile it before God pray him to pardon you pray him to turne you by shewing you your sinnes and miserable estate by nature and pray him to make you at length to learne to take the yoake of obedience and cast of all wilde courses live like men not like wilde Asses The wilde Asse runnes up and downe in the wildernesse and will not be led nor driven but will be where her fancy carryes her Be not you such but let the directions and admonitions of your parents and governours like bounds keepe you within compasse He that will live wildly shall surely procure a world of miseries to himselfe at last hardship shall tame him whom nothing else will tame or else at the end of his wilde race he shall stake himselfe as it were upon the vengeance of God and eternall death Yet another fault Every mans hand was against him and his against every man The meaning is he was a quarrelsome fellow still brawling and falling out one that would easily take and give matter of strife and debate apt to speake and doe that which would give distaste to others and apt to distaste the things that others said and did to him so as to make it the matter of a fray or grudge or both This is the fault that is described in these words Now a sore sinne it is that makes a man troublesome to himselfe and all his neighbours and causeth his life to be like the life of a Cocke of the game that is still bloudy with the bloud of others and himselfe I pray you examine your selves whether you be not such froward contentious men still in suite in contestation in opposition with some or other that will take no shew of wrong but will doe enough that cannot long keepe out of some brabling matter If it be a legall kind of quarrelling it is a signe of much folly much pride or both much more if it be a kind of martiall quarrelling that tends to stroakes and bloudshed Repent repent of this evill humour and seeke to God to give you a meeke and quiet spirit able to beare and forbeare able to shew kindnesse and to passe by unkindnesse for surely it is a kind of diabolicall life to live so unquietly and it will cause Gods hand to be stretched out against him whose hand is against every body And these are Ishmaels faults Now his benefits are First deliverance from two great dangers one before hee was borne when his mother was taking a course to undoe both her selfe and him God was so favourable to both as to meete her in the way and turne her backe from her wandering that returning home againe Ishmael might be borne in Abrahams house and by him brought up in all good order till his 17. yeere or thereabouts A great benefit it was and the foundation of his future worldly greatnesse This mercy must be confessed if God have prevented danger from us whilest we were in our mothers wombes and it were fit that Parents should acquaint their children with such mercies that they might learne to inlarge their thankesgiving by mentioning of them also We cannot shew our selves too exact and diligent in reckoning with God for his benefits Secondly God himselfe vouchsafed to meete him againe when he was banished and to provide water for him and refresh him when he was now ready to die for thirst How great was Gods care of him that sent an Angell to open his Mothers eyes and cause her to see a Well neere hand which either griefe of minde or weakenesse of sight thorough faintnesse had disabled her from seeing or else made a Well for the
the Cave in which he desired to bury Sarah Thirdly he was just and true in his word he told Abraham a due and right price and made him good and full assurance of it when hee received the money The Holy Ghost hath not for nothing inserted these stories of Scripture the vertuous deportment even of Heathens courtesie bounty and justice be sweet vertues they commend the practiser of them to the consciences of men they adorne him with reall honour and make him to finde both love and praise from all hearts and mouthes They be winning vertues and give a man a kinde of command in the hearts of wise men especially they become men of good place and ability for such an one was Ephron and make him more gratious then without them the greatest estate could They are generous ornaments and set forth a man more then any gallantnesse of a tire or house-roome I beseech you fall in love with them and put them in continuall practise deale in courteous fashion with all be ready to give freely and deale justly in asking price and making assurances Why should a man yeeld himselfe to a sterne and currish kinde of speech Why should he be sowre in his carriage niggardly and pinching in his conversation and unjust and over-reaching in his bargaines Nature teacheth us that which S. Paul teacheth of wearing long haire that it is a shame to him that doth it and that the contrary is as it is affirmed that long haire is to a woman a glory unto her Doe not that which must needs be reproachfull neglect not that which must needs be gracefull Be kinde one to another be bountifull be righteous shew that neither selfe-love nor the love of money doth possesse you the former of which causeth austerenesse of carriage the latter niggardlinesse and unjust dealing Presse your selves to these vertues and say shall not religion make mee more vertuous then Heathenisme made this Hittite shall I be lesse affable bounteous righteous to my brethren and neighbours then a stranger of another nation and another religion was to Abraham who did but sojourne neere him We are ill Schollers in the Schoole of our blessed Saviour if we receive not better instructions from him then can be found in an Heathen teacher yea we Christians must practise the same vertues in a better manner on better grounds and to better ends We must be courteous and for conscience sake not barely for credit to please God not alone to winne men and to those that wrong us and deale frowardly with us not alone to them that are courteous unto us These vertues simply in themselves cannot intitle us to the name of members of Christ unlesse wee doe them with reference to Gods Commandement and authority but being so as it were dipt in true religion they will become Seales of our faith and cause unto us an ample recompence So I should have said of the former vertues commended in the three fore-named Brethren of being friends to the righteous not so much for righteousnesse sake as for other commendable parts wee see in them or for the hope wee may have to be advantaged by them This will not approove a man to be a true Christian but to love a righteous man in the name of a righteous an Abraham because he is an Abraham servant to the most high God this is a due signe of one sanctified But I have digressed and now returne againe to my Exhortation I pray you out-strip the Heathen in all vertues and let your conversing amongst your neighbours be as faire and winning as that of theirs could be So for these men Now two Kings had occasion of intermedling with Abraham the King of Egypt Pharaoh into whose countrey Abraham went to sojourne for the famine that oppressed Canaan as you have it related in Gen. 12.12 14. in him we have to observe some bad things and some good First he shewed himselfe lustfull and wanton and overslavish to a beautifull face for he quickly hearkned to his servants that commended Sarahs fairenesse to him and tooke her into his house what a vanity and folly and excessive ingagement to lustfull pleasures is this in a man that he can no sooner heare of a faire woman but he must covet and take her to him It is an impotency very incident to mans nature to be too much led with a faire face with the mixture of the two colours white and red and the comely proportion of the face The sence of seeing over-beares them and they scarce looke to any thing so much in a woman as that which Salomons experience made him call vanity and deceitfulnesse favour and beauty We that have greater helpes to mortification should not suffer our passions to be so farre masters over us Surely Pharaohs Courtiers were well acquainted with his inclination in that kind they would not else have brought him so quicke tidings of Sarahs good face It is a blame-worthy weakenesse in a Heathen much more in a Christian to make use of the meanes which God hath given him to mortify such passions and let reason have dominion over you rather then eye-sight and fancy If Pharaoh had knowne her to be Abrahams wife it may seeme he would not have taken her from him for all her beauty and be none of you worse then Pharaoh pretended hee would have beene to let beauty winne you to be adulterers corrupters of those you know to be other mens wives Let not your dotage upon a comely visage make you rush into so foule a crime as adultery Remember what Salomon saith desire not her beauty to thy hurt be not taken with her eye-lids Further it was a fault in him that he carried himselfe over churlishly to Abraham and in a kind of revengefull passion and chiding of him for calling her sister and not wife and so hazarding him to adultery and in that passion sending him packing out of his countrey In anger and displeasure to take a man up for a fault and drive him away make him be gone is surely too great an yeelding to that distemper which receiving of injuries doth worke even a kind of heate and unlovingnesse against the doer of them Take you heed of giving your selves so farre over to wrath That he did reprove Abraham was well that hee did it over angerly and so dispatched him out of his countrey this was not well Shunne what was evill in him and if you follow any thing follow that was good And now take you notice of what was good in him First so soone as he perceiveth that God had punished him for taking Sarah in regard she was a married wife hee presently dismisseth her so submitting himselfe to Gods hand and not hardening his heart against stripes O how happy should we be if wee could speedily observe Gods corrections and finding out the cause by diligent inquiry rid our handes and houses instantly of those offences which are matter of
provocation to him How many miseries might wee escape by so speedy an observation of Gods hand and purpose and a ready yeeldance to him Pray we to God to give us such a quicke sight such a stooping disposition He that gave it to an Heathen man will much more give it to a Christian And if any of you have beene stoute against God Pharaoh-like let him abhorre himselfe that hath shewed lesse piety then this Pharaoh did It is a proofe of some softnesse of heart to be driven from sin even by great plagues Another vertue in him was that he used Abraham kindly for his sisters sake so was she reputed then and by that meanes he grew in riches abundantly Favourable dealing with a man for his friends sake especially for a faire sister a kinswomans sake is a kinde of bastard curtesie and may befall a man given to lust yea many times the kindnesse of such is more wonne by such a motive then by any better deservings Let us doe the same thing but on better grounds let the beauty of vertue make us esteeme and countenance those that shew it more then a beautifull Sister or Kinswoman but better be loving to a good man even upon such a sinister respect then not at all to be courteous to him Another thing wherein this man dealed well was that he dealt not over harshly with Abraham but lets him goe without offering injury unto him in anything hee had He doth not take his life from him as Abraham feared he would have done nay nor his servants nor his goods nor any part of them but takes order for his safe passage and conduct out of his Countrey Let us at least so moderate our anger that if it draw us to a little unkindnesse and sourenesse of carriage which is one degree of revenge yet it may not cause us to leape over the pale of justice and to use unrighteousnesse and cruelty against those from whom we have received injury So Pharaoh was not so farre transported with anger though perhaps he might have beene able to have done it and it may seeme at first sight that he had cause of doing so But it seemeth that the sence of Gods great plagues had made him begin to see that God was a deare friend of Abrahams and that he should have incurred further wrath for wronging him in other things wittily whose injuries God did prosecure so severely even when it was done ignorantly and unwittingly We ought to have more feare of God before us then any King of Egypt Deale justly therefore let men goe from us with all they have make not bold to wreake your teeme on any man by sending him away without his owne But it is to be noted that God plagued Pharaoh for his doing hurt to Abraham though beyond his knowledge even with great plagues you see that sometimes unwitting sinnes make God very angry with men when done against his deare and faithfull servants in things neere and deare unto them for he is a Father to them and full of compassion and pittieth their case when they sigh and mourne before him O with how much heavier evills will he plague them who wittingly and of set purpose doe wrong them How shall his anger burne against presumptuous and wilfull sinners when such heate ariseth upon occasion of sinnes of meere ignorance Take you heed of causing his wrath to arise against you for such crimes sure his sword will cut of for such faultes if it wound and cut deepe for the farre lesser And againe see that even plagues sometimes are sent to doe a man more good then hurt even to keepe a man from such sinnes as but for them he would have committed and to make him see and leave those which he did live in before and not observe It was a benefit to Pharaoh that he was so scourged I conceive that this Pharaoh was not a man sanctified for then God would have warned him by dreame or some other way as hee did Abâ—melech rather then by severity of plagues but it is a kind of favour to any man to be kept from sin even by heavy plagues Surely the Lord will doe as much for his owne people as for the Egyptians rather drive them out of their sins by sharpnesse of blowes then that they shall live and die in them and perish Happy is that smart or paine that prevents a greater hurt The Lord had rather his people should suffer any thing then continue in sinne to their destruction their outward fame troubles him not so much as their inward wickednesse Therefore if you find by experience that Gods hand hath restrained you from much evill and your owne soules can say such and such a sin I should never have seene never have left if God had not by his scourges and blowes even forced me to open mine eyes and see them and to cast them away even as it were against my will be you thankfull to God for such chastisements learne to say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted that I might learne thy righteous judgements Will not men pay well for a plaister that hath a vertue to cure the sore though it put the member to smarting paine Surely he doth not hate sin according to its hatefulnesse that hath not learned to be glad of any affliction which keepeth him from sin or drawes him out of it And now if any of you doe lie under heavy plagues let him become an humble suiter to God to vouchsafe him as much goodnesse as he pleased to grant unto this Pharaoh even to shew him the cause for which he smiteth and to give him notice of his faults and power to reforme them we might hasten our deliverance out of calamities if we would turne them to this purpose * ⎠* THE THIRTEENTH EXAMPLE OF ABIMELECH ANother man is mentioned living in Abrahams time with whom also Abraham had occasion to converse Hee was a King ruling over a city called Gerar in the countrey of the Philistins In his countrey Abraham sojourned you have the story of him Gen. 20. 21. v. 22. ad finem Of his birth and death nothing is recorded But in his life we must observe First His fault Secondly His good deedes Thirdly His crosses Fourthly his Benefits One fault alone of his wee reade of viz. that he tooke Sarah to him minding to make her his wife we see him offending in the same kinde that Pharaoh King of Egypt was noted before to have offended in Hee was too too libidinous and over-taken with an inordinate affection to beauty Hee had wives enough before yet when one stranger singularly faire did come into his countrey he would needes take her to himselfe and that not so much by perswasion and intreaty as by violence and strong hand for so much seemeth to be signified by the word hee tooke her hee sent and tooke her hearing of a beautifull person and having
scornefull speeches comparings revilings upbraidings If he deale with friends he is unthankefull they must be his slaves still to humour him in every thing also all former good turnes are forgotten towards his enemies he is infinitely revengfull cares not what ill he doth them in requitall and will scarce ever forget an imaginary wrong I meane such a one as doth seeme none to any but himselfe and those whom he hath made crooked by a false and partiall relation Thus in respect of persons For estates give him adversity he is sullen dogged impatient cannot stoope to it blames every body for it and cares not what shifts he useth to get out Give him prosperity he abuseth it and doth mischiefe with it at least doth no good with it but makes it an instrument of serving his pride and other lusts so that hee is good for nothing in any place he can stoope to no burden nor buckle to no service being just like a goutie legg well neither lying still nor stirring or a sicke body neither well a bed nor up For qualities the good qualities of others he knowes how to vitiate traduce calumniate and make them seeme vices and will have somewhat to say to blemish them For bad qualities he makes them worse then they be aggravates them by mis-relating and turnes them into a jest and laughter scorning rather then pitying him in whom he thinkes they be as the Pharisee did the Publican His owne ill qualities he will not see he will not confesse he will not mend but hides them excuses them defends them and many times boasteth in them His good qualities he marres and corrupts and doth so lift himselfe up for them that most times they be even troublesome to others and reproachfull to himselfe he knowes them so too well and makes so too much of them that no man else can finde any commendablenesse in them they be but matter for bragging and boasting and telling gay tales of himselfe what he hath done or can doe so it makes his vices worse and turnes his vertues even into vices Can that be other then a most hatefull and filthy vice that bringeth forth so many bad effects and yet all these and many more that I cannot reckon up doe most apparantly follow from pride in what degree it selfe is suffered to prevaile in men Now I pray you beloved search into your selves and looke about if you cannot see this vice abroad in your neighbours Let me propound this question to each of you doe you know never a proud man in the Towne and doe you see never a one in the Church whom you judge to be full of pride you would answer this question in your owne hearts Doe you see or know a proud man or woman in the place where you dwell I am afraid you that be poore will looke upon the gayer cloathes of the wealthie and say without doubt they be monstrous proud that must weare such gay things about them when others of as good earth as themselves goe almost naked or so simply clad And I feare least you that are wealthy will finde cause to blame such a one and such a one for pride because their carriage is so and so many of you can see pride I doubt not peeping out of the poore mans rags and crawling like a vermine out of his meane garment yea you that be poore I feare will finde a great deale of pride abroad you will not returne without finding it for in truth it is a fruit of pride to finde pride every where but in ones selfe Therefore I recant this speech now and I pray you leave that forreine inquirie and come you home every soule to himselfe and search at home each in his owne bosome house carriage And tell mee or rather God who speakes to each art not thou thy selfe somewhat a kinne to the generation of Sodome a vessell in whom the Divell and flesh hath laid up a deale of pride You may perhaps aske me how any man may know whether he be proud or no I meane over-come with pride full of it over-ruled by it I speake to thee that art poore and coursely clad Doe not you thinke that you are as good men and women as those that are finelier clad and if you had as good suites and ornaments as they you should be never a whit inferiour to them have you not these kinde of vying buzling thoughts in you in truth this is nothing but pride And you that are richer doe you not count these poore snakes almost nothing the mudde the scumme three-halfe-penny creatures lesse then dust almost to you mushroms shrubs verily these thoughts proclaime you to be monstrous proud and if you goe away with them on either side and find them not stop them not blame them not it is certaine this vice hath a strong partie in you and in very deed doth over-master you 'T is pride of heart we seeke for and 't is nothing but pride that sets up these bristling thoughts in you But yet I shall give you another note nothing is a surer proofe of over-ruling pride then this that a man sees no pride in himselfe neither will confesse it to his owne heart It is certaine this vice is as naturall to all mankinde as it is to be borne with eyes in their heads with a mouth with an heart with a liver with braine The vitall parts of our body doe not more surely come into the world with us then this vitall part of the body of death and of corruption Now if you have never seene it nor could meete with it in the effects of it so as to know it it is onely because you are ignorant and blinde and the more ignorant of your corruptions the more proud When vices be not seene they be not lamented nor resisted with spirituall weapons nay not with naturall good considerations neither and the lesse they be resisted the more they grow and the more they grow the stronger and bigger they be and the more they rule in him in whom they be If it were not therefore for want of understanding by this time a great number of you might perceive that you deserve to be called sonnes of pride for your selves cannot denie but that you have in a manner alwaies denied your selves to be proud you never saw it in your hearts nor confessed before God with secret sorrow for it Lord I am very proud such and such effects proove mee to be very proud And without doubt hee that never did thus strive to mortifie his pride cannot but be a very proud man Loe now I have shewed you how to finde out your pride by not finding it out and this is the surest way of finding it where it is most it hides it selfe most from his eyes in whom it is like the foundation of a building that is underground though it beare up all that is above the ground or like some secret distemper in the inwards that shewes not
upon their consciences in that by their sinfulnesse they have even pulled misery upon themselves If you be well matched the comfort will be doubled when you shall perceive that it is a fruit of Gods goodnesse unto you in blessing your care of observing his commandements and directions and if a crosse come it will be far more easily borne when you have your parents and friends ready to comfort you and helpe you because you have followed their directions in bestowing your selves Thus you shall provide best for your own perpetuall welfare for that inordinate passion which is called love will soon be quenched like a fire of thornes and then it is not the fulfilling of irregular desires that will minister comfort unto you It is evident by experience that discord and dissention do quickly fall out betwixt them that followed passion rather then duty and discretion in placing themselves with a husband Now you shall be well able thus to perform your duty both to God and your Parents if you keep your selves owners of your own hearts and suffer not your unruly passions to make you slaves unto themselves and so to make your duty difficult and tedious He that keeps his feet and legs free from shackles and chains can easily go about any businesses that are needfull for him to do But whosoever will lade himself with irons and fetters shall finde it grievous to stir when it is requisite for him to go any whither Therefore shackle not you soules with the chaines of unruly affections that you may chearfully yeeld your selves to your parents disposall as both nature and religion do require at your hands Give not away your selves before hand commit not that vile Idolatry of making some one man a false god unto you and let not your hearts be inslaved to any one before your Parents have given you who have interest from God to dispose of you according to the rules of discretion for your own good For Parents looke to the constant good of their children in bestowing them but their own green heads do likely regard nothing else but the pleasing of their eye and fancies which likely doth end in misery and discontent And so you have seen Rebekkahs good carriage while she was a maiden living under the government of her Eather in his Family Now see how she carries her selfe afterwards 1. To God 2. To her husband 3. To her children 1. To God She joyned with her husband in prayer for children and therefore she had faith in God and trusted in him for issue not barely to the course of nature for it is said Gen. 25.21 Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because shee was barren shee was present with her husband and joyned her owne supplications with his for the obtaining of fruitfulnesse by him A good woman ought to bee prayerfull and both to unite her devotions to her husband and also to call upon God by her selfe alone See therefore you wives that you be ready to shew piety in the same kinde pray to God with your husbands yea pray to him for your selves husbands and children and for all good things The blessings are doubled that are gotten not alone by naturall endeavours but by fervent prayers unto God for this is a proofe that they be granted by God in favour and so they become tokens of his love to men and by that meanes are much more comfortable then of their own nature they could be Those wives therefore are too blame that scarce are willing to pray themselves or to joyne with their husbands but by their backwardnesse interrupt their praying together a thing condemned by S. Peter when it is procured by discontents falling out betwixt and consequently also by any other meanes Mend this fault O ye wives and you that are husbands if the fault have been in you mend it and see that you joyne together calling upon God If you have children yet there be enough of other things for which you ought to visite the Throne of grace The graces of Gods Spirit are much more desirable then the fruit of our bodies and I am sure that our hearts are all barren of such fruit and cannot be made fruitfull but by Gods Spirit working in our hearts and prayer will cause him to make a barren heart fruitfull as well as a barren wombe but without prayer the heart will never bring forth true grace Naturall benefits children and the like doe fall into the laps of men and women though they doe not seeke them from God by this exercise of prayer but spirituall blessings cannot be obtained by any other meanes if this be not also joyned to the meanes to sanctifie them You have therefore cause enough to pray together as well as Isaac and Rebekkah even though you have not barren bodies yea and if you have children yet it is requisite to crave Gods favourable blessing upon them without which they may prove afterwards the greatest crosses you have instead of the greatest comforts see therefore that you be not slack in this service of God Again Rebekkahs duty is seen in that she went to God to enquire when she found a more then ordinary striving in her wombe wee must all learne of her to keep our peace with God and to be alwaies ready to seeke to him if any thing befall us that puts us to feare or trouble as you see the people of God have done at all times It becomes the children of God still to enquire of him and seeke to him in all occurrents Indeed it pleaseth him to send such occasions unto us that by them we may be drawne nearer unto him and visit him more often and more cheerefully They therefore that are strangers to God and run any whether rather then to him for help and direction when troubles doe come unto them are much too blame themselves for profanenesse They acknowledge God alone in word but deny him in deed that are thus estranged from him Mend this fault now and that you may with more assurance run to God when crosses and cumbers befall you be sure to pray without ceasing and to keep your hearts in with him by calling upon him at all times It is a most happy thing to have the Throne of grace alwaies open to ones prayers and it is kept open by continuance and daily exercising ones selfe in this service If any say how shall we enquire of God now seeing we are now destitute of extraordinary Prophets by whose meanes we may seek unto him I answer we have his Word wee have his Name we have his Ministers and faithfull people to go unto and by those we may as sufficiently seek unto him as by any extraordinary Prophets Wherefore as Rebekkah feeling that busling in her wombe said why am I thus And went to enquire of God Gen. 25.22 So must we in all occasions of disquietment either of body or of minde thinke with our selves why is it thus with me
is Gods Church and such a thing as he is interessed into and is sacred with a true and reall sacrednesse Mine house shall be called an house of prayer to all nations Loe an house of prayer that is of publique worship a part for the whole and this house Gods house and that among all Nations Would you wish a clearer proofe for the warrant of Churches and their sacrednesse but what availes it to keep a Church handsome if you frequent it not O therefore come to Gods house frequent the publique worship there performed The meanest service done amongst us if it be but reading of a Chapter is more noble because not so typicall than the killing of a beast Come therefore to Gods house constantly sure Iacob did not meane that he would set apart a place for publique worship and not come neare it but that his care should be there to worship God O that you would all come frequently to Gods house for conscience and love At least O that the Officers would compell them by feare whom goodnesse cannot bring that so they may bee in good way of being bettered by Gods Ordinances But Iacob vowes to give the tenth of all that God should give him to God even to the maintaining his publike worship in that place for Gods worship will bee costly Himselfe personally can receive nothing but by giving it to his worship and the places and things and persons that belong to his worship it is given to him If there be any amongst you that thinkes examples of holy writ to binde him as it seemes some doe in other things where the matter is such as will put them to no great cost let them aske their consciences Why should not this example binde them as well as any other example That it should bee a typicall ceremoniall and temporall ordinance to give God tithe of all wee have I could never yet heare any reason of any force Some doe straine their wits to finde out a kinde of shadow in it and tell what it may signifie but the Scripture for ought I know doth not give any notice of any such thing You see it was the use afore the Leviticall priesthood and therefore it is not a thing depending upon the Leviticall priesthood Nay the Apostle makes mention of it as a thing due to the eternall priesthood of Melchisedek Therefore why should any man thinke his conscience bound by any other Example and not by this But to me it seemes plaine that Abraham and Iacob would never have observed this portion in measuring out these paiments to God if they had not conceived it a perpetuall and a naturall duty It is surely a morall precept to honour God with our goods and by bringing presents to him Seeing these holy men thought it fit to grant God so liberall a portion why should we not thinke him worthy as much But if you cannot bring your selves to thinke that so much is due to God yet I hope you will make your selves beleeve that surely something must bee due to God and that in a liberall quantity For God is worthy to bee honoured with our goods I trow as much now as ever and doe we honour him if we bring him no present no gift will you therefore be somewhat liberall to God will you binde your selves by vow or without vow freely dedicate some good part of your substance to God and as God blesseth you lay still aside something if you distrust God so much as you thinke he will not reward such a quantity as the Tenth why then with a ninth or an eighth or a seventh or a fifth with something I say that shall shew you are desirous to obey every Commandement and so to prove your selves sincere to God Surely to marke how God prospers a mans labour and then to bee constant in laying aside a good portion for God this shall be none of mine it shall be Gods ready at hand for pious uses to keep up and beautifie Gods house to further Gods worship any way and to relieve the poore members of Christ would make you so rich in good workes and so increase your liberality by exercise as would undoubtedly pull a rich blessing upon you and cause you to have interest into the blessing of having your prayers to runne over with increase Shew your selves liberall to God and be good Iacobs else he that is a niggard to God and will honour him indeed with his lips not with his goods gives others reason to thinke though himselfe be so full of self-love that he will not think so of himselfe that he honours him only with his lips If any say his state is so poore that he cannot I answer God hath propounded this as a meanes to get riches and the poore man hath no reason to thinke that Gods meanes will bee unavaileable But a poore necessitous man that is faine to live of the bounty much what of others must not be a rule for those that have better estates I am verily perswaded that one great cause of many a Christian mans poverty is this he honours not God with his riches and why should God make him rich If we see a man not to honour God with his wit and strength and then God deprive him of wit and strength Doe we not readily impute this crosse to the desert of that sin and why are we not induced to conclude God doth not prosper this man in his estate because he did not honour God with his estate And so much for Iacobs devotion in vowing and the things vowed Now he worshipped God also by sacrifice and performed his vow to God at last Gen. 35.3 I will make an Altar unto God at Bethel who answered me in the day of my distresse and was with me in the way which I went by which it is to be thought that Iacob prayed in his journey when he was benighted in the way and that dreame was Gods answer to his prayer and ver 7. He builded an Altar and called it El Bethel Now this Altar was not without sacrifices and a publike profession of Gods whole worship He made God a house and began there to settle the publike worship of God according to his vow Indeed it was a weaknesse in him to stay so long till God was faine to put him in minde both by a sore crosse and by a Vision of going to Bethel for this end but he was religious and kept his Vow at last O let us keep our vowes let us offer spirituall sacrifices of prayers praises contrite hearts our owne selves almesdeeds and so shew our selves right Israelites or Iacobites Lastly his devotion shewes it selfe in his religious taking of an oath himselfe to Laban and ministring it to his son Ioseph as you see Gen. 31.53 He sware by the feare of Isaac he was carefull to keep him to the true God and swearing by him and that seriously and on a just occasion not lightly and
priviledge is it and this is a mercy promised to all Saints For so saith our Saviour If my mords abide in you and you abide in me aske what you will and you shall have it And againe S. Iohn telleth us This is our confidence that whatsoever we aske according to his will he heareth us Therefore let us keepe our interest into this mercy by not having respect to sinne in our hearts and by constant endeavour to walke holily before the Lord. And if we have found and doe finde God favourable to us in this kinde so that we lose not our prayers which wee make unto him let us then comfort our selves in this benefit and be carefull to yeeld as obedient an eare to his word as hee doth yeeld a patient eare to our supplications And now of Iacobs temporall benefits First he was blessed with a large estate in the world according to his profession being a Shepheard his flocks did thrive he had cattell and servants in abundance God blessed him in Labans house and made all the stronger cattell to bring forth just such kinde of young as Laban had consented to give him for his wages so that he could not but see a Divine hand taking Labans goods and giving them to him as himselfe noteth Riches are do great matter but when God giveth them as tokens of his love and tender respect they are desirable Let those that enjoy them be sure that they come to them from God as fruits of his goodnesse or else the worst men may be wealthier than the best And let those that are upright with Iacob learne to trust God with their estate and to know that what shall be good for them shall be seasonably provided for them Secondly God delivered him out of all adversity as himselfe saith on his death-bed The Angel that redeemed me from all evill His three greatest dangers were first from Esau both when hee went unto Padan Aram and when hee returned at the former time God brought him safe to Padan and so restrained the minde of Esau that then hee put off the thought of killing him to his Fathers death and at the later time God so melted him that hee shewed himselfe exceeding kinde and fell upon his neck and kissed him instead of killing him which hee had intended and therefore hee tels Esau that hee had seene his face as the face of GOD. Laban pursued him too with a purpose to strip him of all and to send him empty home and he had power in his hand to doe it as himselfe saith but God appeared to him and rebuked him that he durst not handle him amisse The Inhabitants of the Countrey were much insenced against him in respect of that outragious murder and rapine committed upon the Sichemites and by his Sons in so much that Iacob feared much that they would pursue him and cut him off but God cast a feare into their hearts so that they did not offer any violence unto him as is noted by the Story These three great deliverances God vouchsafed Iacob O let us learne to turne to God and to walke before him in truth and then we shall have God ready to help us in all our necessities and at that time and in those exigents to provide for us meanes of escape by his providence when our owne wit and strength faileth as we finde him dealing with Iacob What could he doe against Esau Laban or the Inhabitants of the Countrey Let us cleave to God that hee may be out Buckler also and our strong Tower and Rocke of defence and if we have found so much favour with God as to rescue us out of such dangers as seemed unpreventable let not us attribute the deliverances to any other secondary causes but even see God in them ascribe them to him and learne thence to feare honour and praise him Those deliverances are indeed profitable that are cords of kindnesse to tie us nearer to God Hee that improveth not such benefits to that end loseth the most desirable fruit of them Further Iacob had a large off-spring of children twelve sons and one daughter this is a favour to give a man store of children of these sons all had wealth enough Ioseph was very religious in his youth and Benjamin civill and orderly at least and at the end all of them turned home and became godly men O happinesse to have so many children some good betime all holy at last all prosperous in outward things and one much advanced Another mercy of God was the providing of Ioseph as a man before to maintaine him and his family in Aegypt and bringing him to see Ioseph and enjoy his preferment for seventeen yeares together where he lived in as great a fulnesse of prosperity and concluded his dayes as happily as ever man did living in Iosephs bosome as it were seeing all his children godly and prosperous and feeling no considerable adversity having Iosephs oath also to bury him in Canaan This is a singular favour of God to make ones old age prosperous and to cause his eyes to see so much happinesse as he can wish when now he is ready to leave the world Marke the righteous man in the Psalme it is said The end of that man is peace Study righteousnesse that you may inherite this blessing and never threaten your selves how miserable you shall be hereafter God can provide wayes that you know not to make you safe and comfortable beyond your thoughts O be faithfull with him and trust in him and feare nothing So much for Iacobs life Now for his death It was a most seasonable death after a large time of life a most peaceable death in the midst of his Sonnes a most religious death blessing them and confirming their faith with his last words a most comfortable death so soone as he had ended his blessing he pulled up his legs and gave up the Ghost and then he had also an honourable embalming and buriall as at large is set downe in the Story Who would not wish such a death And yet more after death he hath an honourable name on earth and liveth in eternall glory in heaven Now let us imitate Iacobs vertues and labour to be upright and then notwithstanding many sins we shall have at last eternall happinesse and so much happinesse in this world also as is needfull for us Now we will shew you what calamities he suffered for the people of God must looke to suffer much tribulation in this world as it is foretold them both because their owne need requireth it to make and keep them good and cause them to grow in goodnesse as also because the Lord sees it fit thus to magnifie his power justice wisdome and goodnesse in sustaining and delivering them His chastisements then were these First that his Father did not love him so well as his brother but did manifestly prefer hunting Esau before
was that she would feed her selfe with a fancy that they should be her children which Bilhah should beare and not that Leah had borne Nature made Leah deare to her the bondwoman was of no such kindred but she forgets nature and le ts fancy over-rule shee had taken such a conceit against her sister that she was desirous any woman should have children by their common husband rather than she Let us see such follies in our selves that fancy rules us against all reason and that we sometimes take such a stitch and spleene against those whom nature hath tyed to us that of all other we are lesse pleased with their prosperity and most estranged from them And let us beware that we doe not discover such sencelesse and absurd impressions of minde And see her folly yet further when Bilhah had Dan then shee will needs make God an approver of their folly God hath judged as if she had great wrong before and now God had righted it in giving her a son Why she might have accounted that God had given her a son when Reuben or Iudah was borne as well as Dan But shee will needs make God partner with her fond passions Wee are apt to wrong God in misinterpreting the acts of his providence as if hee shewed his love unto us in that wherein his Majesty intended no such matter What is it to judge that she should say God had judged her For my part I can see no sence in her words why this should bee counted an act of Gods judging No man had wronged her before she was never a whit better now than before no whit lesse barren But such is our foolish self-love that wee will needs threape kindnesse upon God sometimes beyond his liking take heed of this fault it is a fruit of an overmeane conceit of God when we will cause him to be a servant to our lusts and unreasonable fancies But after the second childe she is more foolish and then she triumphs With wrastlings of God have I wrastled with my sister and I have prevailed And so the boyes name must needs be Nephthali She insults over her sister as for a notable victory because she had won her husband so far as to beget children of her handmaide Why saith she that she had wrastled with her sister Did Leah hinder her from children Was it because of Iacobs doting on Leah that Rachel conceived not Sure the Holy Ghost tels us that his over-loving of her and despising of her sister caused God to humble her with barrennesse So foolish is a man that he often triumphs in a thing as a great matter which is nothing at all and thinkes he hath gotten a victory when he hath rather gotten a blot as we see here in Rachel Let us moderate our joyes and take heed of insulting in a thing that hath shewed our folly and else nothing advantaged us Now another weaknesse is that she was so earnestly desirous of Reubens Mandrakes I consent to them that thinke these Mandrakes to have been nothing else but goodly flowers which Reuben who was now some six or seven yeares old had gathered in the fields or whether they were some pleasant fruit or nor I cannot tell the word signifies Lovelinesses such things as were lovely But that Rachel had such an appetite to them as she must needs have some of them it shews that she was a woman given too much to her fancy and appetite If in case of breeding children and weaknesse of body some distempers follow it is a misery but it wants not a spice of sinne too when by yeelding overmuch to the eye a man is so enslaved to his eye that he must have every fine thing he sees Rachel is the copy of a fond woman all you good women see her follies to avoid them But the worst and last fault is she stole her Fathers Idols and concealed them with dissembling and false excuses Shee had beene wife to Iacob for twenty yeares space she had called upon God for a childe and he had given her a son she had shewed some faith in him by calling the son Ioseph professing her hope of having yet another son Either we must throw an imputation of great carelesnesse upon Iacob if hee taught her not the true God and his true worship or else upon her that after so long time of teaching had not gotten her out of those Idolatrous fancies but must even steale away with her her Fathers Idols it was not done out of detestation of Idolatry to free her Fathers house from them that she might have done without the trouble of carrying them so far she might have burnt them or otherwise destroyed them sure enough but I conceive she did it out of a superstitious conceit of some goodnesse in the gods or in those pictures of gods The word signifies Images of men and they were belike little Images else shee could not have conveighed them so quickly and so secretly but that they would have been knowne It is much adoe to weare superstition out of the heart of one that hath been superstitiously brought up This is the first place that I remember in which these Idols are mentioned but Rachel had so drunke in the opinion of their being sacred that she could not lay it aside It is no easie matter to leave such falshoods in points of religion as have prevailed in the places and among the persons with whom ones selfe was trained up Wee should blesse God that hath granted us education in the true religion And secondly we must even pitty them that have been superstitiously educated They may have some good thing in them though they cannot shake off those misconceits but hanker too much after their Images I would be loath to say and I thinke so would any of you that Rachel had no true piety in her because she stood so affected to the Idols of her Father But let us rather thinke that Iacob had brought her to some knowledge of the true God though the old smell of that falshood wherewith she was first seasoned would not forsake the vessell and let us strive to bring our children rather into a detestation of such graven Images for sure the Lord can speake of nothing more contemptibly And Images made now to represent the true God must needs be as loathsome as Aarons and Ieroboams Calves which were intended to represent the true God and not a false But she used dissembling and cosenage to cover her fact as the Story tells hiding them in the Camels litter and then sitting upon them and craving pardon of her Father for not rising up to him pretending that the custome of women was upon her whether this were true or not yet she dissembled for that was not the cause of her not rising but alone the care she had to keepe the Idols secret else she would have risen well enough You see that committing of evill drawes men on to
to be made as Laban was worldly minded Now for crosses Wee reade little of Labans affliction it may bee it was a griefe to him that his daughters and grand-children went so farre from him but such a crosse even a naturall wise man may make easie to himselfe by considerations of reason that the good of their children so requires and that their comfort in their children stands not so much in seeing them as in their well-doing Onely Laban did make Iacobs prosperity a crosse to himselfe in suffering his minde to bee alienated from Iacob because Iacob did thrive a great deale faster than himselfe and to his hinderance which cannot bee done without a great deale of vexation It is an ill disease to bee sicke of another mans prosperity take heed you suffer not covetousnesse or other distempers to bring such sicknesse upon you With farre lesse vexation may a man lose halfe hee hath than beare the torment which such estrangement of heart will bring with it And now for Labans death we heare nothing of it onely hee lived and dyed so farre as wee see like a carnall man and he had no grace in him but after a little time here spent in earth prosperously enough at last so far as we can see he perished eternally for no footsteps of faith and true piety appeare in him O my brethren take heed that you doe not carry your selves so foolishly as to live in a meere worldly fashion scraping together a great heap of muck and dung on which the much deceived world doth falsely bestow the name of goods and then with the rich glutton and him that said Soule eate and drinke and be merry for thou hast much riches laid up in store for many yeares have your soule taken away and carried into the place and state of eternall death for our Saviour hath said that So is every one which is rich in the world and is not in GOD. * ⎠* THE TWO AND TWENTIETH EXAMPLE OF IACOBS Children AFter Iacobs Wives and Father in Law wee will proceed to his children which were twelve sons and one daughter Concerning his sons they were sixe of Leah Reuben Simeon Levi Iudah Issachar Zebulun two of Bilhah Dan and Nephthali two of Zilpah Gad and Asher two of Rachel Ioseph borne in Padan Aram and Benjamin borne in the Land of Canaan The daughter was Dinah of Leah of the birth and names of each of these the Scripture takes speciall notice Reuben signifies Behold a son for his mother tooke it as a great favour of God whereby he would mitigate her sorrow yea and help to remove it too by winning her husbands love to her the want whereof was her greatest trouble as you shall finde Simeon signifies the hearing of God because she said God heard that she was hated and hath given me this son too It was a good thing in Leah to give her sons such names as might minde her of Gods goodnesse in considering her affliction and when shee saith that God saw first and then heard her affliction the last speech is a proofe that she made her moane and complaint to God and so this mercy came to her as a fruit of her prayers The next son is called Levi for said she Now my husband will be united to me or cleave to me for the word Levi signifieth as much as cleaving She was earnestly desirous of her husbands love and would as it were minde him of her hopes and desires that he would recompence her paines of bringing him three sons with the increase of his affection A wife is not good if she be not very covetous of her husbands love some probably say that he meaning Iacob hearing Leahs word to comfort her called him Levi and the originall seemes to leade us to that opinion for the former word translated called is of the feminine gender and is plainly referred to the woman spoken of before but the latter is of the masculine and so may very likely note the husband of whom she had immediatly spoken And if so it was well done of Iacob at last to speak some word of comfort to his drooping wife and to let her see that the riches of three sons had made him forget that great wrong she did him of obtruding her selfe upon him against his will and without his knowledge which shee ought not to have done though at her Fathers command The fourth son is Iehudah in short Iudah as much as praise of the Lord or the Lord be or is praised to expresse her thankefulnesse for she said Now I will praise the Lord which hath caused mine husbands affections somewhat more to incline unto me by making me a mother of foure sons For so it may seeme they did and that also maybe justly accounted one cause of her sisters envy because shee saw Iacob begin to love her more heartily than before These foure were borne one after another yeare by yeare without long intermission then she ceased bearing till Iacob had foure children by the two handmaids then she had two more sons Issachar the fifth sonne signifying there is a reward for giving her maide to her husband but in this she was much mistaken God is not wont to give rewards for our bad deeds and though it was of ignorance yet it was a sin in her to give her maid to her husband therefore we must take heed of imitating her in conceiting that God is well pleased with our faults Such is the blindnesse of our mindes that we are apt to run into such errours The last son was Zebulun signifying dwelling because God had given her so goodly a dowry as six sons she now begins to hope not alone that her husband will love her more but so much now as to affoord her more of his company and dwell with her which it seemes before he accustomed not to doe but with Rachel For love is never satisfied unlesse it enjoy the presence and company of the person loved these are Leahs sins envy at her maide Rachel so far plaid the foolish woman that she gave her handmaiden Bilhah to be her husbands Concubine and she had two sons which Rachel would needes take as her owne rather than those that her owne sister brought forth and the first she called Dan which signifies He hath judged for saith she God hath judged me and hath heard my cause and hath given me a son She bewrayes a distempered passion and would needes interest God into her folly as if now God in great favour seeing how shee was wronged had come to right her Fond Rachel no body wronged her but her selfe by entertaining the bone-rotting vice of envy into her bosome and yet she will needes take this as a righting of her wrong from above for so the word judging signifies so foolish we be that we will count our selves either to be wronged by men when we have received none at
them offer violence to them and take heed much more that they be not allured to such an evill as nothing but the violence of the doer can free them from the imputation of a grievous sin if they suffer Let their care be to keepe themselves out of places inconvenient what did Dinah with this young man in so secret a place as might encourage him to offer force Sure he would not have forced her in the midst of the streetes he was not so debausht and brutish as to compell her in an house before many Nay scarce any man so lewd that hee will attempt such a thing but when no person is present If she were ravished yet she was somewhat guilty of her owne rape because shee would be enticed to goe into an house with a stranger Had shee beene of his long acquaintance had hee beene a suitor to her before with the good consent and allowance of both Parents had she beene allowed to set her minde upon him so as to intend to become his wife then it had not beene so blame-worthy to have so farre trusted her selfe with him But when her businesse was nothing but to see and be seene to suffer her selfe to be led by a stranger into such a place as might give him opportunity to do her violence was a signe that her carriage was scarce modest not at all discreet For to excuse her by her age seemeth no just excuse seeing it appeareth by the young mans suit for her afterwards that shee was now marriageable Now therefore let her example make you maidens civill and sober and modest in your carriage and so prudent discreet and bashfull as not to venture your selves into the company of young men at such places and times as may produce as bad inconveniences to you as this that befell Dinah And so much for this daughter for after this we heare no more of her but that her brethren tooke her out of Hamors house after they had committed the execrable murder whereof we shall have cause to speake after Now come we to the sonnes and first I will handle the things that were common to them all viz. their sinnes their good deeds their miseries their benefits First it is common to them all save Ioseph and Benjamin that they were men of no goodnesse nor conscience They had a good Father and Grandfather and they professed a good religion but their conversation was naught and scandalous so that Ioseph being young could not in his conscience choose but acquaint his Father with their evill deeds O this is a grievous thing that children which have godly education by godly Parents and have knowledge of the true God and are members of the true Church should be yet of manifest ill behaviour should runne into palpable and grosse naughtinesse openly to the torment of their Parents hearts and disgrace of true religion Be not some of you youthes whose Parents though they must not be compared to Iacob yet are such as have feared God and affoorded you the best helpes they could to vertue and piety as lewd and sinfull in your carriage as Iacobs sonnes Yes yes some of you are as guilty of evill demeanour as these youthes though you have the same furtherances to goodnesse Now for the living Gods sake whose name you take upon you for your owne soules sake which else will one day rue this naughtinesse and rudenesse and for your Parents and friends sake that are ashamed and vexed with your ill report be intreated at length to consider how great a wickednesse it is to live naughtily when God hath vouchsafed you so many meanes to make you good and turne you from your evill wayes and frame you to such a conversation as will beseeme and comfort your selves and your Parents O let not a Iacobs sonne be a drunkard a gamester a wanton a night-walker and ill company keeper a quarreller let not such nettles grow upon a garden learne to shunne what was loathsome in the sons of Iacob But secondly they were all guilty of beguiling Hamor and the Sichemites with purposed fraud and guile yea and with pretending conscience and respect of religion You know the story it selfe Shechem after he had defloured Iacobs daughter continued yet to bee strongly enamoured of her and sued for her to her Father and Brethren offering any dowry They would seeme to be hindered from granting the suit by religion They were circumcised of the true religion a religion sleighted and neglected in Canaan and it was not a safe thing in conscience and would be a reproach to them to make marriages with persons uncircumcised but if they would embrace their religion and testifie it by being circumcised then they would willingly condescend Now all this talke of circumcision tended but to bring the Sichemites to such a case that they might the better accomplish revenge O miserable fault to cover hatred with deceitfull words A Potsheard covered with silver drosse To speake one thing and meane the contrary to pretend a good purpose to cover a bad and the more easily to effect it by covering Here was a mixture of impiety in making religion a cloake to revenge and of fraud in harbouring and intending and yet disguizing revenge So dealt Absalom with his Father David and the shame of such shall breake forth in the Congregation hee is a foole though hee thinkes himselfe wise Now I beseech you take heed of deceit and guile the deceitfull shall not live out halfe his dayes To hate and yet dissemble with his lips laying up deceit within him is a loathsome thing It is a part of the description of an unsanctified man With their tongues they have used deceit Nature teacheth men to blame this sin in others therefore nature gives light enough to discover it in ones selfe Shame it therefore and hate it It is bad to have used this fraud for covetousnesse or ambition sake to get wealth or honour by over-reaching others but it is worst of all when it is joyned with revenge and with bloodinesse that a man make himselfe a bloody and deceitfull man It is naught when only good will is pretended but when religion is made the cloake of cruelty and villany this is to abuse the noblest thing in the world by making it a drudge to the basest Now if any of your consciences be guilty of abusing pretences of religion for the compassing of revenge of goods of lust of any other villanous end he hath sinned the sin of Iacobs sons Let him be induced to repent and let us all be induced to abhor so great a wickednesse he that doth compasse any unlawfull end by deceit makes the sin twice as grievous as else it would be He shews that he commits it with almost a full consent of will he makes his reason a slave to his appetite and serves sin willingly most willingly and deliberately Let us love true plaine and just dealing and abhorre cousenage and