Sum ex reprobis Aug. Observ 5. Justus quis est nisi qui amanti se Deo vicem rependit amoris quod non fit nisi revelante spiritu per fidem homini aeternum Dei propositum super salute sua futura Bern. Ep. 107. Censure thou mayst their actions but not determine their end Many a Saint recollecting how far himselfe was suffered to go before he returned may truely say I le never despair of any for surely Lord there never will be a baser heart then mine for thee to deal with Sinners must have thy pity not thy despair That the end of their wayes will be death it 's thy duty to declare That the end of those who for the present walk in those wayes will be death it 's thy sin thy danger to determine Least of all despair of thine own salvation This conclusion I am one of the reprobates ought to be repelled as a tentation not more groundlesse than dangerous 5. Whosoever is exempted from this appointment to condemnation is engaged to be eminent and singular in his love to God No motive to love is so effectuall as to be prevented by love Gods love to the elect was early eternall They were chosen by God before they could chuse God How due a debt is love to him when we were who loved us without due debt before we were We ought to love him more than others who is incomparably more lovely and who loved us more than others when we were no more lovely than others Should not we single him out for our God who infinitely excels all and who singled us out for his people when we were no better than any What was it beside election that made Saints by grace of sinners by nature and as I may say white paper of the foulest dunghill rags what but this went between the holiest Saint and the most flagitious sinner both were cut off from the same piece and formed out of the same clay 6. Observ 6. Luk. 12.32 Rom. 8.33.35 c. An timendum est ne tunc de se homo desperet quando spes ejus ponenda demonstratur in Deo non autem desperaret si eam in scipso superbissimus infelicissimus poneret Aug. de bon pers l. 2. c. 22. The faithfull may be strongly armed against tentations to despair The decrees of God depend not upon the pleasure of mans but Gods will The Angels and Adam who fell from integrity plainly shew what would become of man who now hath the treachery of sin within him and the battery of tentation without him if divine predestination were removed Forbear then wretched Pelagian to make the supposed dependence of predestination upon mans will a ground of courage and the certain dependence of mans will upon predestination a ground of despair Proud potsheard expect not happinesse without more humility Lord how soon should I embezzel my happinesse and prove a beggerly prodigall shouldst thou give me my portion into mine own hands 7. Observ 7. incite the best to humility He who fares best hath no cause of insultation over him who speeds worst The least mercy deserves thankfulnesse the greatest allowes not pride The reading of what the worst are and shall be should instruct us what the best had been and should be without free-grace which alone makes the difference Col. 3.12 Humble tendernesse is the badge of election as the elect of God put on bowels Grace found the richest Saint but a beggerly sinner Mat. 5.3 1 Cor. 1.27 and grace makes the richest in possession to be poorest in spirit God hath chosen the weak to confound the mighty not the mighty to domineer over the weak Every receipt is an almes and the best furnished Christian doth but proclaim that he hath been oftenest at the door of mercy The taller thou art in grace the more need thou hast to stoop would'st thou enter into the meditation of thy present estate without danger 8. Observ 8. Forbearance of punishment is no argument to the finally impenitent of their totall immunity from punishment They are bill'd and book'd by God and at length God will call in his debts and the longer he stayes with the more interest The judgements of God are sure if they be late With God delay wears nothing out of memory nor is any thing gained by protraction All things to the Ancient of dayes are present How fruitlesse is a sinners league with hell The Lord laugheth at him for he seeth that his day is coming Mundi laetitia impunita nequitia Grudge not to see impenitency and prosperity go together What 's all a sinners mirth but a litle unpunish'd wickednesse The thunder-clap of wrath will soon make his wine of mirth soure He who now goes on so pertinaciously in sin must either undo or be undone His chear may seem excessive but there 's a reckoning coming which though it be the last yet is it as sure as any part of the entertainment 9. Observ 9. Ministers ought not to propound to the people a reprobation absolute from the means Reprobation is not so to be preached as though men were to be damned whatsoever they doe Nempe hoc verissimum est ita sanè sed improbissimum importunissimum incongruentissimum non falso eloquio sed non salubri ter valetudini humanae infirmitatis apposito Aug. de bo per. l. 2. c. 22. but so as that it may be manifested that destruction is the fruit of impiety It 's possible a Minister may preach what is true concerning Gods absolute decree to save and reprobate men and yet not in that due manner in which he ought to speak For example should a minister preach thus to his people Whatsoever you doe ye shall be such as God decreed ye should be c. This is indeed a true doctrine but it seeming to separate the end from the means it is so true that withall as Augustin saith it is most inconvenient and pernicious because it is not wholsomely applied to humane infirmity Now it is the part of an unskilfull Dolosi vel imperiti Medici est etiam utile medicameutum sic alligare ut aut non profit aut obsit Aug. de bo pers l. 2. cap. 21. or deceitfull Physician so to apply a good playster that either it shall do no good or do hurt Therefore Paul speaking of the reprobates whose end is destruction addeth whose God is their belly whose glory is their shame c. and here Jude having said that these seducers were ordayned to condemnation subjoyneth ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness To the handling whereof I now proceed This for the first part of the first argument to move the Christians Earnestly to contend c. The Argument is the dangerousness of the company of these seducers The first part whereof was a description of their entrance The Second followes the description of their impiety they having got entrance Two wayes
though their sins were as red as scarlet yet he saith that he would make them as white as snow ver 18. The Apostle tels the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6.9.11 that some of them had wallowed in this sin of Sodomy but saith he you are washed and sanctified The Gospel refuseth to pardon no sin for which the soul can be humbled Free grace can bring those to heaven whose sin equalized theirs who were thrown into hell The least sinner hath cause of humility nay in himself of despair the greatest hath by closing with Christ ground of hope If it be the glory of God to pardon great sins Multo plura quam debeamus Christus pro nobis solvit tantoque plura quanto guttulam exiguam pelagus excellit immensum Chrys in 5 Rom. Hom. 11. Observ 7. it is his greatest glory to pardon the greatest sinners There is no spot so deep which the blood of God cannot wash away The Argument which David used for the pardoning of his sin could only be prevalent with a God Pardon my sin saith he Psal 25.11 for it is great There is infinitely a greater disproportion between the blood of Christ and the greatest number of greatest sins then between the smallest pibble and the vastest ocean 7. The toleration of some places of uncleannesse is no means to prevent the spreading of this sin Sodom had liberty enough of sinning but their lust increased with their liberty The cause of Sodoms sin against nature was not the penury but the ordinarinesse of the other way of sinning with the Female Lust is insatiable and excessive nor will any liberty seem enough to it indulgence makes it insolent It will not be perswaded by fair means Insania Sodomitica non à penuria muliebris commercii sed à nauseâ Musc in 19. Gen. In rebus humanis non peccat magistratus si meretricibus certum locum urbis incolendâ—m attribuat quamvis certo sciat eo loco ipsas non bene usuras Potest enim permittere minus malum ut majora impediantur Bel. l. 2. de amis gr stat pec c. 18. nor must this nettle be gently touch'd but roughly handled and nipt if we would not have it sting If the Flood-gate of restraint be pull'd up lust keeps no measure in its powring forth The more we grant to it the more it will desire from us To prevent sin by permitting it is to quench fire with oyl to make the plaister of poyson and to throw out Satan by Satan Improvident and impure is that remedy used in the Papacy for the preserving of people chast I mean the toleration of Places of uncleanness Romana scorta in singulas bebdomadas Juli um pendent pontificii qui census annuus nonnunquam viginti millia ducatos excedit adeoque Ecclesiae procerum id munus est ut una cum Ecclesiarum proventibus etiam lenociniorum numerent mercedem Agrip. de van scient c. 64. But so the Romane Pander may fill his own coffers with the tribute he can be indulgent to the sin of whoredome 8. Observ 8. Corrupt nature delights in that which is strange to Gods ordination In the room of accompanying of Male and Female which was appointed by God Sodomites go after strange flesh Marriage was ordained by God Gen. 2.22 but nature being depraved forsakes that way and imbraceth the forbidden bosome of a stranger Prov. 5.20 a strange woman not standing in the former relation The marriage of one man and one woman was the ordination of God but instead thereof mans corruption hath brought in PolygaÌ„my Nor is the depravation of mans nature lesse opposite to religious ordinations God appointed that he alone should be worship'd but corrupt nature puts man upon serving strange Gods Jer. 5.19 called also Jer. 8.19 strange vanities The true God hath appointed the manner of his worship and strictly doth he forbid the offring of strange incense Exod. 30.9 but the same corruption which put the Sodomites upon following strange flesh puts Nadab and Abihu upon offering strange fire Man hath found out many Numb 3.4 and goeth a whoring after his own inventions and delights only in deviating from Gods way The wicked go astray from the womb How justly may our crooked natures be charged with what was unjustly imputed to the Apostles namely the turning of the world upside down All the breaches of ranks all the confusions and disorders upon earth proceed from our distempered hearts How comely an order would there be upon the face of the whole world if sin did not meddle 9. Little do they who allow themselves in sin Observ 7. know where they shall make a stop Once over the shoos in this puddle rarely will Satan leave till he have by degrees got them over head and ears The modest beginnings of sin make way for the immodest and irrecoverable proceedings The sin of the Sodomites which began at the unclean motions of the heart at length ariseth to a prodigious tallnesse of impudency and obstinacy The smallest spark may be blown up to a flame the flame upon the hearth may if not quenched fire the chimney None provide so wisely for themselves as they who kill sin in the cradle how easily do we proceed from one degree of sin to another and how ordinarily doth God punish one degree of sin with another He who allowes himselfe in speculative filthinesse may at length arrive at Sodomy He who now gives way to sin may shortly be given over to sin 10. Observ 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sinners prosecute their lusts most laboriously The Sodomites weary and spend themselves in uncleannesse and painfully pull down a showr of fire and brimstone upon their heads Incomparably sorer is the labour of sinners in damning then of Saints in saving themselves The sinner is the only true drudge sin the only true slavery and therefore much greater then any other because they who are in it delight to be so and are angry with the offer of a release Lusts are many and opposite and yet one sinner must be servant to them all and they all agree in rending and tearing the soul They are cruel insteed of wages giving only wounds and scourges and that to the tendrest part the conscience Nor doth the body escape the tyranny of lust Envy intemperance wrath luxury have had more martyrs than ever had holinesse Such is the goodnesse of God and the sweetnesse of his service that it 's beneficiall even to the body but through how many troubles and woes do wicked men passe to greater Wofull and the life of a Sodomite been though the fire and brimstone had never fallen Great should be the grief of Gods servants that Satans slaves should do more for him that will shed their blood than they can do for him who shed his blood for them that the former should give themselvs over to uncleanness and the later not more willingly yeeld themselves to the Lord. 11.
teach to be done He who teacheth another should teach himselfe He who comforteth another should labour to do it with that comfort wherewith God hath comforted him 2 Cor. 1.4 5. The commonnesse of salvation to all believers Observ 5. should be a great inducement to every one to labour particularly for salvation and that they may not misse of it themselves It 's our trouble here upon earth when we see others obtain riches and preferments and we our selves go without them We urge our friends with this argument that they did such a kindnesse for such an one and such an one and therefore we hope they will not exclude us Hast thou said Esau to his father but one blessing blesse me even me also Oh go to God and say Lord thou hast salvation for such and such a friend have it also for me even for me also Oh my Father It may be thou hast a godly father or mother a brother or sister be not content that they should go to heaven without thee 6. There 's but one way to heaven Observ 6. There are many Nations more men only one faith The Jews shall not be saved by the Law of Moses Gentiles by the Law of Nature and Christians by the Gospel 'T is true The just shall live by his own faith but then 't is as true That the object of his faith is the object of every ones faith that is saved although the speciall application thereof be his alone The Apostle Peter calleth faith the like precious faith 2 Pet. 1.1 7. The partakers of this common salvation Observ 7. who here agree in one way to heaven and who expect to be hereafter in one heaven should be of one heart It 's the Apostles collection Ephes 4.3 4. What an amazing misery is it that they who agree in common faith should disagree like common foes That Christians should live as if faith had banished love This common faith should allay and temper our spirits in all our differences This should moderate our minds though there be in-equality in earthly relations What a powerfull motive was â—hat of Josepâ—'s brethren to him to forgive their sin Gen. 50.17 they being both his brethren and the servants of the God of his fathers Though our own breaths cannot blow out the taper of contention Oh yet let the bloud of Christ extinguish it This for the second reason why the A postle sends the following Exhortation drawn from his care and diligence to promote their happinesse 3. The third follows taken from their present need of having such an Exhortation in these words It was needfull for me to write 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Explicat necesse or necessitatem habui I had necessity word for word or I held it needfull Here we translate it more agreeably to the English expression It was needfull for me elsewhere as Luke 14.18 I must needs and spoken of a third person Luke 23.1 Of necessity he must and 1 Cor. 7.37 having necessity The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated needfull signifieth in Scripture a threefold necessity 1. A necessity of distresse and tribulation as Luke 21.23 1 Cor. 7.26 2 Cor. 12.10 2 Cor. 6.4 1 Thes 3.7 2. A necessity of coaction or constraint such a force as opposeth ones liberty and which makes one do a thing against his will as Philem 14. it is opposed to willingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity but willingly And 2 Pet. 5.2 Feed the flock of God c. not by constraint but willingly 1 Cor. 9.7 not grudgingly or of necessity 3. A necessity upon supposition of some cause ground or reason whereby it becomes necessary or needfull that such or such a thing should be or be done And thus Christ saith It must needs be that offences come namely Mat. 18.7 because of the power and malice of the divell the weaknesse and perversenesse of men Acts 13.46 Likewise Paul and Barnabas told the Jews It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you namely because of the Covenant which God had made with them above others In this respect he saith Phil. 1.24 To abide in the flesh is more needfull for you namely upon supposition of the benefit you may receive from me and the want you will have of me And 1 Cor. 9.16 Necessity is laid upon me and wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel And this was the necessity which Jude intends namely that whereby it became needfull and necessary for some weighty causes to write to these Christians And so it was needfull in three respects 1. In respect of his great care towards them His diligence for their good and desire of writing being so great as that it would not suffer him to be silent and so Erasmus interprets this necessity 2. It was needfull for him to write in respect of his own duty principally as he had the office of an Apostle which he received to further their spirituall welfare so Others 3. But thirdly as Calvin Beza and the most interpret this necessity It was necessary for him to write in respect of their danger their faith being in such hazard by false teachers and seducers of himselfe he was forward and diligent to do them good but he was further put upon this service of writing by the very exigence and necessity of their present condition they being so much hazarded by false Teachers and Seducers And their danger by Seducers made it needfull for him to write in sundry regards 1. In regard of the destructivenesse of those doctrines and practices which the Seducers brought in among them They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness they denyed the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ they despised dominions they walked after their own ungodly lusts These were not slight but pernicious evils Peter in 2 Pet. 2.1 2. calls them damnable heresies pernicious wayes not scratching the face but stabbing the very heart of Religion The eternal salvation of their precious souls was hazarded 2. Their danger by Seducers made it needful for him to write in regard of their subtilty and cunningness in propagating their impieties The Divel made not use of the Ass but the Serpent to tempt them The seducers had craftily crept in among them Eph. 4.14 2 Pet. 2.3 they did by sleight and cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive they had feigned words to make merchandize of souls pretences of Gospel-liberty c. 3. In regard of the great readiness even of the best to give way to Seducers Our natures are like tinder ready to take with every spark There is in the best a corrupt principle that inclines to error in judgment and impiety in practice which were they not kept by the power of God to salvation would soon prevail One who is diseased may more easily infect twenty that are sound than
Ministers whom he hath appointed to be Stewards therof to the end of the world partly by qualifying them with gifts and Ministeriall Abilities and partly by appointing and setting them apart for the Ministry by those whom he hath authorized thereunto 2. To his people by the Ministry of his fore-mentioned servants who have instructed the faithfull sometime by preaching with a lively voice and afterward by committing the doctrine of faith to writing And Ministers shall to the end of the world be continued to deliver this doctrine of faith to the Church for their edification in holinesse And among those people to whom Ministers deliver this faith externally some there are to whom it is delivered also effectually by the internall revelation of the Spirit which so delivers this doctrine of faith to all the Elect that they themselves are delivered into it Rom. 6.17 their understandings being savingly enlightned to see that excellency in it which by the bare Ministry of it cannot be perceived and their wils perswaded to imbrace it as that rule of life according to which they will constantly walk 2. What need there was of the delivery of this faith 1. In regard of the Insufficiency of all other doctrines or prescriptions in the world to lead to life Only this doctrine delivered is the rule of faith and manners Peace internall and eternall is only afforded to them who walk according to this rule Gal. 6.11 God brings to glory only by guiding by these counsels All other lights are false are fools fires which lead to precipices and perdition This is the light which shines in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.20 to which who ever gives not heed can never find the way to heaven Learned Ethnicks never wrote of eternall happinesse in their Ethicks 1 Cor. 1.21 The world by wisdome knew not God 2. In regard of the totall insufficiency of man to find out this doctrine of himself The things delivered in this doctrine are mysteries supernaturall and depending on the meer will and dispensation of God The incarnation of the Son of God Col. 1.26 expiation of sin by his death justification by faith could never have entred into the mind of man unlesse God had revealed them They depend not upon any connexion of naturall causes Though there be a kind of naturall Theologie yet there 's no naturall Christianity Also the und erstanding of man is so obscured by the darknesse of sin that in spirituals it is purely blind The naturall man perceives not the things which are of God 1 Cor. 2.14 2. This delivering of faith comprehends the keeping and holding it by those to whom it was delivered This is done therefore 1. by Ministers 2. by every Christian 1. This duty is incumbent on Ministers who must keep the truth hold fast the faithfull word and be tenacious Tit. 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holding it as the word signifieth against a contrary hold with both their hands with all their strength Jer. 10.27 Amos 7.14 holding it in their understanding in their affections in their preaching and delivery in their life and practice not parting with it for fear or favour either to Sectaries or Politicians rather parting with their lives than their sword 2. The faith is kept by every Christian by persevering in the knowledge love and practice of it Every Saint must keep it in his head in his heart in his hand this he must do though for keeping the truth he lose his life 'T is not the having but the holding the truth Rev. 2.13 which is a Christians crown He who lets it go never had it truely and effectually in the love of it nor shall ever enjoy it in the recompence of it Of this more afterward 1. God was the Authour of the doctrine of life Observ 1. though by men yet from him hath it alwayes been delivered it 's his word and revelation The word of the Lord and thus saith the Lord is the Scripture stamp and superscription When the Patriarchs and Prophets preach'd it it was from him when holy men of old time wrote it it was from him though he hath spoken in divers manners yet 't was he that spake When the doctrine of life was committed to writing he commanded it He moved and inspired holy men to write 2 Pet. 1.21 2 Tim. 3.16 Exod. 17.14 chap. 34.27 Isai 8.1 chap. 30.8 Jer. 36.2 They were his Organs and Instruments of conveying his mind to the world The Spirit of the Lord saith David 2 Sam. 23.2 spake by me and his word was in my tongue And Acts 28.25 The Holy Ghost spake by Isaiah Quicquid Chri. stus de suis dictis ac factis nos scire voluit ipsis scribendum tanquam suis manibus imperavit Aug. l. 1. de cons Evang. c. 35. And 1 Pet. 1.11 The Spirit of Christ in the Prophets fore-told his sufferings These and the other holy men were the Scribes the Pens the Hands the Notaries of the Spirit They wrote not as men but as men of God when any book is called the Book of Moses the Psalms of David the Epistle of Paul it 's in respect of Ministry not of the principall cause 2. Great is the necessity of Scripture The doctrine of life could never without a scripturall delivery have been found out without it indeed this doctrine was between two and three thousand years preserved by the delivery of a lively voice but afterwards when their lives who were to deliver the word grew short men numerous memory frail the bounds of the Church inlarged corruptions frequent and therefore tradition an unfaithfull keeper of the purity of doctrine as appears by Tharah's Jos 24.3 Gen. 35.2 Apostoli quod primum praeconiaverunt postea per Dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradi derunt fundamentum columnam fidei uostrae futurae Iren. lib. 3. adv haeres c. 1. and Abram's worshipping of other gods the idolatry in Jacob's family c. God appointed that the doctrine of life should be committed to writing and upon supposition of the will and pleasure of God whose wisdome hath now thought fit to give us no other rule and foundation of faith the written word is now necessary as the means of delivering faith to us Had not the faith therefore been delivered in Scriptures whence should it have been found how retained The written word is the cabbinet wherein lies the jewell of faith the starre which shews where the Babe lodgeth the light which discovers the beauty of salvation A Book of Apocalyps or Revelation of Christ 3. Strong is the engagement upon us to be thankfull for Gods discovering to us the doctrine of faith It was above the compasse of Reason and Nature ever to have found it out by their own inquiry Rom. 16.25 Ephes 1.9 Ephes 3.9 neither men nor Angels could have known it without divine revelation It was a mystery a great an hidden mystery which was
principally means the Gospel with which God had instrusted him So Tit. 1.3 c. 2. But not excluding the former by the Saints to whom the Faith was delivered I understand All the people of God to whom it was delivered by the fore-mentioned servants of God And as some of these were Saints in regard only of visible profession and dedication and others were made Saints in respect of true and saving sanctity so the faith was delivered unto these differently to the former by way of outward administration and visible dispensation to the later who were made true Saints by way of saving and effectuall operation They who were and continued to be onely visible and externall Saints had the faith delivered unto them as the common sort of Israelites had to whom God wrote the great things of his Law and yet they were accounted a strange thing Hos 6.12 and to whom were committed the oracles of God Rom. 3.1 and yet they beleeved not Isai 53.1 contenting themselves in the retaining the letter of the Law declaring Gods Statutes and taking his covenant into their mouth in the mean time never regarding to have the law written in their hearts Psal 50.16.17 c. but hating instruction and casting the word of God behind them They who had the faith delivered unto them by way of efficacious and saving operation did not only hear but beleeve the report of Gods messengers and the arm of God was revealed to them Isai 53.1 To whom it was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God although to others it were not given Mat. 13.11 and for whose sake alone the faith is delivered to others who got no good at all thereby but onely an estimation for members of the visible Church 1. The Word is to be laid out and delivered to Observ 1. not to be laid up and kept from others The Saints are to be the better for it The Ministry is in Scripture compared to light what more diffusive to seed it must be scattered to bread it must be broken and distributed to every one according to their exigencies to salt it must not be laid up in the Salt-box but laid out in seasoning the flesh that it may be kept from putrefaction He who hides truth buries gold Ministers must rather be worn with using than rusting Paul did spend and was spent The sweat of a Minister as 't is reported of Alexander's casts a sweet savour His talents are not for the napkin but occupation How sinfull are they that stand idle in a time of labour how impious they who compell them to stand so 2. They who retain and keep the Faith are Saints Observ 2. Visibly those are Saints and that is a Church which keep it by profession and ministerially A Church that is which is the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 Rom. 3.2 to whom the Oracles of God are committed as Paul speaks of the Jewes None are so to complain of the defects of our Church for what it wants as to deny it a Church considering what it hath It holds forth the truth of all Doctrines which serve both for the beginning and increase of faith It 's one of Christs golden Candlesticks wherein he hath set up the light of his Word and though Sectaries do not yet Christ walks in the midst of them I must be bold to fear that because our adversaries cannot rationally deny that while we hold forth the Truth we are a true Church they labour by their errours to extinguish the Truth that so we may be none 3. How much is the world beholding to Saints 3. Observ They have kept the Faith the Word of life for the ingratefull world ever since 't was first delivered Were it not for them we had lost our Truth nay lost our God These are they who have in all ages with their breath nay with their bloods preserved the Gospel kept the word of Christs patience Rev. 3.8.10 And rather then they would not keep the Faith they have lost their lives They profit the world against its will they are benefactors to their severall ages like indulgent Parents they have laid up the riches of faith for those who have desired their deaths It 's our duty though not to adore them yet to honour their memory Satan knows no mean between deifying and nullifying them Imitation of them is as unquestionably our duty as adoration of them would be our sin 4. 4 Observ Vnholiness is very unsutable to them to whom the Faith is delivered It 's delivered to Saints in profession and they should labour to be so in power They should adorn the Doctrine of God Tit. 2.10 How sad a sight is it to behold the unsanctified lives of those to whom this faith hath been long delivered How many live as if faith had banished all fidelity and honesty or as if God had delivered the faith not to furnish their souls with holiness but only their shelves with Bibles Books in the head not in the Study make a good Scholar and the word of faith not in the house or head but in the heart and life make a Christian Oh thou who art call'd a Saint either be not so much as call'd so or be more than call'd so otherwise thy externall priviledg will be but an eternall punishment If God have delivered his Faith to thee deliver up thy self to him 5. 5 Observ The Fewness of faiths entertainers is no derogation from faiths excellency They are a poor handfull of Saints by whom the faith is preserved and to whom it is delivered in the world The preatest number of men and nations have not the faith delivered unto them ministerially and of them the far greater part never had it delivered efficaciously It s better to love the faith with a few than to leave it with a multitude Numbers cannot prove a good cause nor oppose a Great God 6. Observ 6. The true reason of Satans peculiar rage against Saints they have that faith delivered to them which is the bane and battery of his kingdom that word which is an Antidote against his poison that doctrine which discovers his deeds of darknesse Satans policy is to dis-arm a place of the word when he would subdue it he peaceably suffers those to live who have not the weapons of holy doctrine he throws his cudgels against fruitfull trees he lays wait as a thief for those who travel with this treasure They who are empty of this treasure may sing be merry when they meet with him he never stops them Others who have the faith he sets upon annoyeth I have given them thy word saith Christ the world hath hated thē John 1.7 3. Jude saith in this amplification Explicat the faith was once delivered once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three things may be touched in the Explication 1. The meaning of the word once 2.
after one battel to double and reinforce the fight again with new supplies Others best of all that Jnde exhorts these Christians to put to all their strength acriter summo continuo maximo studio and utmost force in their contention as those who fought for their lives nay that which was dearer then life it self even the life of their souls and so great is this contention that no one English word is able to express the Greek to contend with all their strength extraordinarily beyond measure most earnestly do scarcely render the meaning of the word More particularly this extraordinary and most eminent contention importeth five things 1. A serious and weighty cause and ground of contention Men account not trifles worth any much lesse vehement strife The thing about which they contend earnestly is either weighty or so esteemed 2. It importeth a considerable enemy to strive with not one who is contemptible but who requireth a great power to contend with him 3. Some strength and force whereby to deal with him A child is not only unable to conquer but even to contend with a Giant 4. A putting forth of strength against the enemy Though a man be never so strong yet if he stands still and puts not out his strength he contends not 5. And lastly the contending after such a manner as is conducible to a victory and prevailing over the enemy with whom we contend even the using of our utmost best and choycest endeavours not a slight but a serious and victorious contention 2. From hence we may gather what this earnest contention doth comprehend which is here to be imployed about this faith 1. It imports that the fore-mentioned faith is a serious and weighty ground and a most considerable cause upon for which to contend What doth the Scripture more hold forth to be our duty than to buy the truth Prov. 23.23 Phil. 1.27 Rev. 3.10 Mat. 11.19 and not to sell it To strive together for the faith of the Gospel to be fellow-helpers to the truth to keep the word of Gods patience to be valiant for the truth to justifie wisdome c. Most precious is this faith to be contended for first even God himself was the fountain and founder of it the Sun from which this ray of faith was darted the Mine whence this faith more to be desired than the finest gold was taken Psal 19.10 All the Princes of the world with all their combined bounties could never have bestowed this faith upon the world How precious is it secondly in regard of the price of it the death of Christ without which not one promise of the word of life would ever have been made or made good to our souls How precious lastly in regard of the benefit of it it doth all for us that God doth For God affords by it direction in our doubts Psal 19.7 8 9. John 17.17 Rom. 1.16 consolation in our troubles confirmation in our fears sanctification in our filthinesse guidance to glory In sum 't is the power of God to salvation 'T is not then a slight and triviall but a most weighty and considerable cause for which these Christians were so earnestly to contend it being for the maintaining of the faith 2. It implyeth and presupposeth a considerable and strong adversary to contend with in contending for the faith The enemies with whom these Christians were to strive were Sectaries and soul-destroying Seducers and Satan is the ring-leader instructer and assistant both of these and all other forces raised against faith We wrestle not against flesh and bloud saith the Apostle but against principalities and powers Ephes 6.12 Gen. 3.1 Luke 22.31 1 Thes 2.18 We wrestle not with flesh and bloud as it is in it selfe weak and frail but as set on work assisted and guided by Satan Flesh and bloud are but Satans instruments he setteth them on work he tempted Eve not the Serpent he winnowed Peter when the man and maid made Peter to deny Christ Satan hindered Paul from coming to the Thessalonians though by the persecuting Jewes Rev. 2.10 Satan cast some of the Smyrnians into prison when men did it The false Prophets with whom these Christians here were to contend for the faith are called the Ministers of Satan 1 Cor. 11.15 Ephes 2.2 Ephes 4.27 Acts 5.3 he is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Satan hath a hand in the soliciting of us to sin either by our own lusts or by the inticements of others In all combates either against our own corruptions or others persecuters or seducers if we can drive away the divell flesh and bloud will not much annoy us If the Captain be conquered the common souldier will yeild It 's Satan who seduceth in Seducers Paul was afraid 2 Cor. 11.3 lest as the Serpent beguiled Eve the mind of the Corinthians should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ He is the enemy that soweth tares among the wheat Mat. 13. And had not these Christians in contending for the faith a considerable enemy How could the Seducers want subtilty to creep in among these Christians by their persons and into them by their opinions into whom Satan the Serpent had crept before nay who now had the advantage of being the old Serpent How easily could he flatter each humour Rev. 12.9 propound sutable lusts to every pallate clothe and colour every heresie and lust with plausible titles Christian Liberty new Lights rare Notions oyle and butter over wicked practices and do much with sweet words cunning and doubtfull expressions What powerfull adversaries were these seducers Ephes 2.2 who had the Prince of power the strong man armed the god of this world to help them How could they want malice and cruelty who were assisted by the enemy of souls the destroyer the roaring lyon the red dragon How could they want diligence and activity who had the divell to drive them him to instigate whose motion in sin is his rest who walketh about seeking whom he may devour 3. This earnest contention imports a considerable strength wherby to contend for the faith against so potent an Adversary Every ones strength is in it self but weakness the strongest are not of themselves able to stand before the weakest tentation Our strength is then from our Head our Captain Jesus Christ who bestoweth upon us such supplies of grace as that we are never fully and finally foyled but in and with him overcome all as the persecuting so the enticing world More particularly he affordeth this strength to us two wayes 1. On his part he sendeth his Spirit to bestow upon us 2. On our parts he enables our faith to receive from him the supplies of his strength 1. On his part he bestowes his Spirit to strengthen us This his Spirit doth two wayes 1. By working 2. By strengthening our union with Christ 1. In the former the Spirit conveyeth a principle of spirituall life
contend the crown that rewards us Holy fervour is never so seemly as in contending for a holy faith It 's storyed of Scanderberg that in fighting against the Turks he was so earnest that the bloud would often start out of his lips Indifferency better becomes our worldly contentions between man and man than spirituall contentions between men and divels 3. We must contend for the faith unanimously and with one consent How easily will errour prevaile when Faith's Champions are divided among themselves How shall they adventure their lives one for another in war Phil. 1.27 who will not do so much as love one another in peace Excellent is the counsell of the Apostle Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel 4. We must contend for the faith against errour universally impartially for every doctrine of faith and against every opposite errour We must contend for discountenanced disowned persecuted faith and take it into our doors when the most would have it laid in the streets and give it entertainment when 't is death to harbour it Nor ought we to to spare preferred Quò major est Princeps eò minus ferantur ejus vitia Nomina potestatum metuenda sed vitia contemnenda Luth. favoured errour The snake of errour must be struck at though in the field of a King 5. We must contend for the faith constantly We must never give over our conflict as long as one enemy is left We must continue in the things we have learned and hold fast the name of Christ. It 's not contention but constancy therein which crowns We must be faithfull to the death if we expect a crown of life 2 Tim. 3.14 Rev. 2.13 It 's easier once to persevere than often to begin No Christian is too old to go out to fight in this spirituall warfare As soon as we cease to fight we begin to flye Christianity knows no cessation of Combating We must take heed of losing the things which we have wrought and fought for 2 John 8. It 's as great a vertue to hold what we have as to get what is worth the holding If the faith be bad why did we begin if good why did we give over our contention for it 6. We must contend prudently and with judgment Christian prudence is not inconsistent with Christian fervency Sundry wayes must a Christian shew his prudence in this contention 1. He must oppose those enemies most that most oppose the faith The greatest errours with greatest zeal and place most forces where there 's most dan ger not being as some fervent against disciplinary and superficiall against doctrinall errours The former do but scratch the face the latter stab the heart of truth 2. He must contend for the faith soberly not passionately God wants not the beesom of passion to sweep down the cobwebs of errour Soft words and strong arguments are good companions We may at the same time spare the person and yet be merciless to his errour 3. We must contend for the faith orderly not extravagantly The Minister must not contend like the Magistrate by politick government nor the people like the Minister by publick preaching Every souldier in this war must keep his rank Never did more contend against the faith than in the times wherein all are suffered to contend how they will for the faith 4. We must contend for the faith preparedly not weakly Faith deserves not obloquy but victory A weak judgment often hurts the faith as much as strong passion An able mind is more needfull in spirituall than an able body is for worldly warrs What pity is it that a good cause should have a feeble champion 1. Observ 1. The goodnesse of any cause and course exempts it not from opposition What more precious then Faith and what more opposed Odium genius Evangelii Luth. John 17.14 Superbus sio quod video nomen pessimum mihi crescere gaudeo rebellis dici Luth. Gratias ago Deo quòd dignus sum quem mundus oderit Hier. Hatred is ever the companion of Truth As that which Satan opposeth must needs be good so that which is good must needs be by him opposed A good man once said He much suspected his own faithfulness in delivering that Sermon for which he got not some hatred from wicked men Hatred as one saith is the Genius of the Gospel I have given them saith Christ thy word and the world hath hated them Wicked mens rage should rather make us thankfull than discouraged I am proud saith Luther because I hear I have an ill name among bad men I blesse God said Jerom that I am worthy of the worlds hatred 2. Observ 2. The best things require most contention for them Not trifles Nostra impatientia non est pro reculis honoribus c. sed pro contemptu verbi pertinacia impietatis ubi anathema est esse patientem Luth. fancies or fables but doctrines of faith deserve our earnest contention How poorly are most mens contentions imployed How happy were we could we but as earnestly contend for Christ his cause faith and our own salvation as wicked men do for riches honours interest nay for hell by striving to out-sin one another How unsutable is it that a greater fire should be made for the roasting of an egg than for an ox that men should be more contentious for bubbles than blessednesse 3. Observ 3. Satan will fight though he cannot prevail Though he conquer not he will yet contend Though he be unable to overcome yet he will oppose the faith Such is the hight of his malice that rage he will be it insuccesfully If he cannot disappoint the saints of their end he yet pleaseth himself in disturbing them in their way Satans rage should not dismay us His furious onsets do not prove his endeavours succesfull rather his great wrath speaks his time short And if he fight who knowes he shall be foyl'd how earnestly should they contend who know they shall both conquer and be crowned 4. Satan labours most to spoyl us of the best things Observ 4. those whereby God is most glorified and we most benefited If he may have our faith heavenly things from us he cares not to leave earthly blessings behind him Eph. 6.12 Chrysost Musculus Perkins vid. Heb. 8.5 Hence it is that the Apostle saith We wrestle against spirituall wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heavenlies i. e. as I humbly conceive for heavenly things whereby is noted the cause of Satans contention which is to bereave us of blessings of an heavenly nature In the tempting of Eve he aimed at the bereaving of our first parents of their happiness and Gods image It was Peter's faith he sought to winnow He blinds mens eyes that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.4 In the troubles of Job Satan aimed at a greater matter
than the bereaving Job of his temporall estate namely Job 1.11 the denying of God and the blaspheming him to his face The excellency of the thing for which we contend should strengthen and quicken our resolutions in contending It should be a greater motive to our valour when Christ our Captain tels us we fight to preserve the faith than if he had told us we fight for our lands children wives lives For what are these to grace to glory to our souls to our God all which we lose in losing the faith What Satan in malice doth most assault we in wisdom must most defend 5. Of our selves we are too weak for spirituall conflicts Observ 5. All our strength is from another He who is barely by profession not really united to Christ will soon give in and turn his back in a day of battell he will be a souldier for shew Mat. 7.27 not for service He who is not built on the rock cannot oppose the floods Painted profession will not endure the washing Things which are not strongly joyned but loosly put together will part when thrown into the water so will Christ and the hypocrite in sufferings 6. Observ 6. Moderation is not alway commendable Moderation in bearing the chastisements of God Praedicare verbum Dei est derivare in se furorem totius inferni Satius est conturbari collidi coelum terram quam Christum non praedicari Maledict a sit charitas quae servatur cum jactura fidei in enjoying worldly comforts in enduring private injuries are all most Christian and commendable But moderation which hinders a reall and an earnest contending for faith is no better than lothsome lukewarmnesse I fear ther 's much time-serving neutrality sinfull halting and indifferency gilded over with the name of moderation accursed is that moderation whereby men will lose the faith to keep their estates and crack their consciences to save their skins The policy of these I never did admire and their happinesse I trust I shall never envy How soon learned is the wisdome of shunning troubles of self-preservation and tame silence when religion is endanger'd How easie is it to swim with the stream to hold with the strongest and how easily but alas how falsly is this called moderation 7. Observ 7. The War of Christianity is laborious and dangerous It will soon try our valour and not only the truth but the strength of our graces Religion is like cold weather good for those who are sound bad for rotten hypocrites They who go on to this sea for recreation will soon come back in a storm The more dangerous our conflict is the greater is that strength by which we are supported and the firmer should be our dependence upon it If Satan cease from fighting with us it 's a signe he hath conquered us It 's our wisdome when we have passed over light skirmishes to prepare for greater They who had endured a great fight of affliction Hob. 10.32.36 had still need of patience Though we must never despair of conquest yet also never presume of quietnesse nor expect to be delicate members under a thorny head 8. A Christian should be best when the times are worst Observ 8. and get good by others sins When others contend most against we should most contend for the faith Of the opposition of the truth by others we should make a spirituall advantage As God suffers nothing whereby he gets not glory so a Christian should observe nothing whereby he gets not some good As the faint and luke-warm assistance of friends so the fierce and furious opposition of enemies should make his contention for the truth the more holily vehement It was not only the expression of a gracious heart but of such an one in a very gracious temper Psal 119.127 That because the wicked had made void Gods Law therefore did he love his Commandements above gold 9. Observ 9. It 's the duty and wisdome of Christians to observe directions for their spirituall conflict Who contends with a potent Adversary without considering how to encounter him To this end 1. Let us get a love to the Cause and Captain for which and whom we fight not fighting for fear of his wrath or love of his wages but affection to his interest A souldier of fortune will turn to that side where he shall be best paid but one to whom love is wages will keep to one side The Christian who seems now to fight for but yet loves not the truth will soon either leave it or fight against it 2. Let us not entangle our affections in worldly enjoyments Bid earthly comforts farwell when you go your spirituall expedition It 's pity to lose a victory for regarding the bag and baggage yet the love of the world hath made many a Christian lose both his courage and his crown 3. Let us not go forth in our own strength against our enemies A proud Christian will soon turn a coward A limb though swollen and big to sight is but weak and lame for service If God breath not a spirit of valour into us we shall faint Spirituall souldiers must fight upon their knees 'T is from God we fight of our selves we can do nothing but flie 4. Let faith consider Encouragements Our Cause is righteous and honourable our Captain wise valourous bountifull our supplies great and near our friends in all places if fighting prevailing and if not fighting praying for us our victory certain and sudden our reward massy and eternall VER 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ HEre our Apostle enters upon the third main part considerable in the Exhortation viz. the propounding sundry Arguments or reasons to inforce the embracing of the forementioned Exhortation of Contending for the faith against Seducers The Arguments or reasons used by him are reducible to these two Heads 1. The first is the dangerousness of the company of these Seducers to the Christians to whom he wrote This is set down in this 4th verse 2. The second is the downfall and overthrow of these Seducers amplified and proved from the 4th verse to the 17th verse 1. The dangerousness of the company of these Seducers to the Christians expressed in this 4th verse In this the Apostle describes 1. The entrance of these Seducers into the company of the Christians 2. The impiety of these Seducers who had thus gotten entrance 1. He describeth their entrance into the society of the faithful and that four wayes 1. From their nature they were men 2. From their indefinite number certain men 3. From their subtilty and slyness in getting in they crept in unawares 4. By cleering and vindicating their entrance from the exceptions or objections which the Christians might have raised against Gods
propinatur ab ebriosis doctoribus Aug. I mislike not the vessels good words but il wine offer'd in them by drunken teachers Nor did any so subtilly undermine blessed Paul as the false Apostles his great labour in some Epistles being the vindication of his Apostolical reputation If the eminency of a godly Minister for piety and parts be so evident as that they dare not bring any downright accusation against him then these creeping seducers will ordinarily either doubt of or deny his calling or else will mention his commendations with a But of their own framing or else so slightly and lukewarmly commend him as thus perhaps a good honest man a well meaning man a pretty man as that it shall almost amount to a discommendation 6. They affix the highest commendations imaginable to their own opinions and persons 1. Their opinions they represent as the wayes of God the glorious beamings out of light the only pathes of peace and sweetnesse the liberty of the Gospel and other such like good words and fair speeches Rom. 16.18 they use to deceive the hearts of the simple Like Mountebanks who despairing that any will buy their oyles and medicines for any good they find by them are wont themselves to commend their vertue to the ignorant throng 2. Their own persons they represent as the most eminently qualified for grace and learning of any the meer sons of men They trumpet out their own godlinesse and humility meeknesse Mat. 7.15 though Christ tels us they are wolves in sheeps clothing And experience proves them with Montanus Arius Novatus Pelagius Arminius to be but Satans Ministers transformed as the Ministers of righteousnesse 2 Cor. 11.14 They pretend themselves to be the only Ministers though herein they do but imitate their Predecessours who said they were Apostles but were not Rev. 2.2 1 Cor. 11.13 transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ Their rare and raised parts their unparalell'd abilities and deep in-sight into Gospel truths they proclaim to all the world using great swelling words of vanity in imitation of him who gave out that himself was some great one that so he might be said to be the great power of God Acts 8.9 10. and all because they know the fond multitude is ever more ready to judge of faith by the person than of the person by his faith 1. The presence of wicked mon in the Church Observ 1. is no sufficient ground of being offended at the Church Mixtures of good and bad men have ever been in the best societies nor is it to be expected till the harvest that tares and wheat can be parted perfectly neither the godly Mat. 13.30 nor Gods ordinances are therefore to be forsaken because the wicked are mixed Needlesse society with the wicked much more society with them in their wickednesse is to be avoided but not such as from which we have no warrant from God to separate or wherein we joyn not in sin but in that which is in it self holy saving commanded As God doth not so neither must man punish the innocent whether himselfe or another for the nocent I flie from the chaffe lest I should be also such saith Aug. Fugio paleam ne hoc fim non fugio aream ne nihil sim I forsake not the floor lest I should be nothing And though God doth not account evill to be good yet he accounts it good that there should be evill And that good we shall find could we as we ought be more watchfull zealous humble fervent in prayer longing for heaven by the necessitated company of wicked men 2. Observ 2. Satan useth sundry sorts of attempts to hurt the Church Somtimes he creeps and croucheth at other times he roars and rageth He hath severall shapes and often changeth his habit though he never layeth aside his hatred Non deponit odium sed mutat ingenium One while he openly acknowledged that Christ was the Son of God afterwards he stirr'd up his instruments to destroy Christ because he made himselfe the Son of God Luke 4.41 John 19.7 Satan like an high-way robber frequently changeth his apparell that so the unwary passenger may not discern him he seldome appears in the same habit twice together In some ages of the Church he is a red dragon in other an old Serpent somtimes he useth his sword at other times his pen. He commonly proceeds from one extreme to another from endeavouring to overthrow the Church by persecution under heathens to the hurting it more by promotions and seducings under Papacy In one age he advanceth superstition in another prophanenesse in one nothing shall be lawfull in another every thing None shall preach at one time every one at another We cannot therfore judge that a way is none of Satans because it differs from that which was somtimes his but because it agrees with that which is always Gods 3. Satan is most hurtfull to the Church Observ 3. when he opposeth it by subtilty and creeping when he comes not as an open enemy but an appearing friend He is never so much a divell Serpit putrida tabes hypocrisis per omne corpus ecclesiae omnes sunt amici omnes inimici omnes necessarii omnes adversarii omnes domestici nulli pacifici Ecce in pace amaritudo mea amara prius in nece martyrum amarior post in conflictu haereticorum Bern. ser 33. in Cant. as when he appears in white transforms himself into an Angel of light He doth more hurt by creeping into than breaking into the Church False apostles seducers in the Church have been more hurtful to it by fraud than bloudy paganish persecuters by force Satan hath gained more victories by using the one as sun-shine to dazle the eyes than by raising the other as winde to blow in the faces of the faithfull For his subtilty rather coloureth vice than openly contendeth against vertue Under the resemblance of those graces for which Saints are most eminent he drawes to those neighbour-vices which seem to have most affinity with their Christian perfections He colours over superstition with religion carnall policy with Christian prudence cruelty with justice toleration with mercy indiscreet fervour with zeal pertinacy with constancy And never doth sin so much prevail against us as when it lies in ambush behind appearances of piety Nor is Satans subtilty lesse hurtfull in using the ablest and most refined wits to devise and defend impious novelties against the orthodox faith as Arius Sabellius Pelagius c. of old and of late Servetus Socinus Arminius c. Satan fits every actor with a part agreeable to him and carves his Mercury on the most promising pieces Those whom God hath furnished with the best weapons of parts and arts have commonly given his cause the deepest wounds It 's our duty with prudence to countermine subtilty to steer our course by the card of Scripture to mislike
about a trades-man shop why here poor people must pay for what they have But alas that men do quite contrary in a spirituall respect they throng after the world which makes them pay for what they have dearly and neglect Christ who offers all they want freely Why is it that the Kingdom of heaven suffers not more violence The world is not bread and yet it requires money Christ is bread and requires nothing but a stomack Pity those who for lying vanities forsake their own mercy Call others to partake of this grace with thee Eat not thy morsels alone Say as those lepers did This is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace Hast thou received this grace wish all men were like to thee thy sins only excepted When beggers have fared well at a rich mans door they go away and by telling it send others Tell to others how free an Hous-keeper thy God is so free that he most delights in comers and company This for the kind or nature of the enjoyment which these seducers abused Grace The owner thereof whose grace it was follows call'd here by the Apostle our God In the Explication I shall briefly shew two things 1. What it is for God to be our God or what these words our God import 2. Why the Apostle here mentioning the grace abused by seducers cals it not simply the grace of God but the grace of our God 1. What it is for God to be our God In this three things deserve a large explication which I to avoid tediousnesse shall but touch 1. Wherein the nature of this propriety consists or what kind of propriety it is 2. What there is of God in which the faithfull have an interest and propriety 3. How sutable and beneficiall a good this God is to those who have this interest and propriety in him 1. For the nature of this propriety in God God may be said to be ours and we may be said to have a propriety in him by a threefold right 1. By a right of creation and thus he is the God of heathens of divels of all creatures Acts 14.17 18. Acts 17.28 29 they being all the work of his hands having from him life being and motion 2. By a right of externall profession or federall sanctity and thus God is often called the God of Israel and in respect of this the Jewes are said to be the children of the Kingdom 3. By peculiar grace and saving interest through Christ and thus only believers who are really united to Christ by faith Jer. 31.31 have a propriety in him with whom God hath covenanted that he will be their reconciled friend and father pardoning their sin by Christ putting his law into their inward parts writing it in their hearts that he wil be their God and that they shal be his people 2. For the second The faithfull have a propriety in all of God they can want or wish Particularly 1. In all the three Persons of the Godhead Ephes 1.6 John 17.12 2 Pet. 1.3 The Father accepts them for his in his beloved nay he gave them to Christ and chose them before the foundation of the world The Father of Christ is their Father to provide for pardon and govern them and to afford them all things which pertain to life and godlinesse The Son is their Mediatour their head 1 Tim. 2.5 Col. 1.18 1 Thes 1.10 their brother their husband they are his by the Spirit and he theirs by faith he delivers them from all the evill they fear he obtains for them all the good they desire The Holy Ghost is theirs John 14.16 to direct and teach them to purifie and cleanse them to furnish and adorn them to support and comfort them 1 Thes 1.10 2. They have a propriety in the attributes of God In his omniscience he knowing whatsoever they want or hurts them In his wisdome to teach and guide them In his power to protect and defend them In his love to delight in pity and provide for them In his righteousnesse Psal 4.1 Rom. 8.32 Psal 84.11 Psal 23.1 2 Pet. 1.4 to clear and judge their cause In his al-sufficiency to supply and furnish them with all needfull blessings according to every want One God answers to all exigences 3. They have a propriety in his promises great and precious promises wherein all they want and infinitely more than they can conceive or desire is assured to them grace glory mercies for the throne and the footstool nay God himselfe in whom all blessings are summed up and center'd all being as certain as if already performed and for the accomplishment whereof they have Gods oath wherein he hath as I may say pawn'd his very being and the seal of the bloud of Christ Heb. 6.17 that being the bloud of the Covenant and he the Mediatour of the Covenant Heb. 12.24 2 Cor. 1.20 in whom all the promises are yea and amen 4. They have a propriety in the providences of God whereby whatsoever may hurt them is withheld from them not an hair of their head suffered to perish Mat. 10.30 and they though poor persecuted sick dying yet ever safe nay whereby whatever befals them shall be beneficiall to them every stone thrown at them made a precious stone every twig of every rod sanctified the issue of every dispensation made sweet and beautifull In a word whereby they are enabled to be and do and bear what-ever God either commands or imposeth and they relieved with what-ever may do or make them good 3. For the third how sutable and beneficiall a good God is to those who have a propriety in him John 4.24 1. He is a spirituall good drossie and earthy comforts sute not with a spirituall soul nor are they such food as the soul loveth Thy soul is no fitter for gold to be put into it than are thy bags to have grace put into them 2. He is a living good Jer. 10.5 The creature is a dead liveless lumpish unactive thing it may be said of it as 't is of an Idol it must be born because it cannot goe We rather uphold it than it upholdes us Like Baal it is not able to plead for it selfe It helps us not in distress of conscience the day of wrath Like Absaloms mule it goeth from under us and leaves us in our distresses but God relieves the soul and affords strengthning consolation Heb. 6.18 He is a present help in the needfull time of trouble and ever either preserves us from Psal 50.12 Isa 59.16 or sustains in adversity 3. He is an absolute independent good He is self-suficient If he be hungry he will not tell thee He depends no more upon the creature than the fountain upon the stream He is not hindred from helping us by any deficiencies of the creature he hath somtime complained that he hath had too many never that he hath had too few to
our owne phrensie 9. No difficulties can hinder Israels deliverance Observ 9. God can command yea create deliverances for his people Psal 25.22 Psal 34.7 Psal 71.20 Isai 43.13 Gen. 18.14 When there is none left and shut up when there is no force and might to relieve he can deliver them alone When there are mountaines of opposition he can levell them and make them become a plain Jesus Christ comes skipping and leaping over them all The wisdom power malice of his enemies do but make his strength tiumphant yea the unworthiness and unkindness of Israel cannot stop the course of delivering mercy So unexpectedly can he scatter difficulties that his people have been like them that dreamed when mercy came they thinking it too good to be true Yea their enemies have been amazed and been compell'd to profess that God hath done great things for his Church How strong must the forces of Gods decree power love wisdome faithfulnesse the prayers and tears of his people needs be when they are all united And hence it is that as the enemies of Israel have cause to fear though they are high So the true Israelites have cause to hope 1 King 2.15 Fides in periculis secura est in securis periclitatur though they are low There 's no defeat so great but faith hath a retreating place Means can do nothing without much lesse against God but God can do all things without yea against means A Saint abhorres indirectly to wind himselfe out of any trouble Why he hath a God who can help in every strait when as a sinner who wants God shiftingly betakes himselfe to any unworthy practice Oh Christian shame thy selfe that every slight trouble should so dismay thee having such a deliverer That the mountain should be full of horses and chariots and thou shouldest not have thy eyes open to see and beleeve them Psal 126.4 What 's a Pharaoh an house of bondage a puissant army a red sea delivering mercy makes way through them all and is a mighty stream that bears all before it It s infinitely stronger than the strongest blast of gun-powder to blow up all opposition Oh Christian fear not thy danger but beleeve in thy deliverer 10. God loves not to give deliverance Observ 10. Deus ad suorum liberationem manum admovet cum omnia videntur desperata Riv. in Exod. p. 70. Psal 12.5 till it be welcome When the bricks are doubled then and not till then Moses comes When Israel is parch'd with the heat of persecution then come the showrs of deliverance God is an help in the needfull time of trouble Then is it Gods time to deliver when there are no visible helps or hopes of deliverance For the oppression of the poor and sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord. In such a case it was that God said to Moses Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh Times of extreme oppression Exod. 6.1 are times of earnest supplication and God loves to bestow mercies when they are by prayer desired The cry of Israel must come up to God before mercy from God comes down upon Israel Further Judg. 6.10 where deliverance comes in a time of extremity it will be entertained upon its own termes Israel will part with any thing that offends their deliverer they will submit to strict reformation which before they would not hear of and say with Saul Act. 6.9 Lord what wilt thou have us to do and with the Egyptians who were pinched with the famine Gen. 47.19 Buy us and our land for bread and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh Lastly when deliverance is afforded in the Churches extremity the glory of Gods power wisdome and free goodnesse is most clearly discovered God loves so to work for his people as to gaine most by them he will have the tribute of praise out of every salvation And this discovers the true reason why mercy is delaid why God only as it were shews a mercy and then pulls it in again we are not yet so pinchâ—d by the want thereof as to stoop to Gods conditions to accept of an exact universall reformation to be willing that God should do with us what he pleaseth and to those whom God hath so fitted mercy shall not long be delayed nay God hath given to them the best of mercies in bestowing a heart meet to enjoy them 11. Observ 11. God often proportions the sin to the punishment The Egyptians encompasse poor Israel with affliction neither suffering them to go from or remain in Egypt and now they themselves can neither go backward or forward in the sea The bloody rivers and their destruction in the red sea tell them their cruelty in drowning the Israelitish children Sodom was inflamed with the fire of lust and God consumes them with the fire of wrath Joseph's brethren sell Joseph for a slave and they themselves are detained as bond-men Adonibezek cuts off the thumbs and great toes of seventy Kings Judg. 1.7 and as he did to them so did God requite him Haman was hanged upon his own gibbet David's murder and adultery were followed with the death of his children and the ravishment of Thamar It 's thy duty to trace sinne by the foot-prints of punishment and observe what sin thou hast lived in which beares most proportion to thy punishment Art thou sick consider whether thou hast not abus'd thy strength to sin Doth God take away thy sight thy hearing thy tongue thy estate ask thy conscience whether these have not been imploy'd against God And if this direction seem to put thee upon an uncertain course of finding out thy beloved sin imitate the example of Herod who that he might make sure work to kill our Saviour slew all the children in Bethlehem In like manner let us impartially destroy all our sins If we know not which was the thorn that prick'd us cut down the whole hedg If we know not which was the Bee that stung us let us throw down the whole hive 12. Observ 12. When the enemies of God labour most to oppose and frustrate they accomplish and fulfill the will of God Pharaoh studies to destroy Israel but even then Pharaoh by his own daughter preserves and nourisheth him who was to be Israels deliverer Pharaoh resolves to detain Israel in bondage but even he shall shortly not only send them away but compell them to go yea in that very night which God had four hundred and thirty yeers before set down and prefixed Josephs brethren sell him that his dreame might prove false and that they might not be brought to bow before him but so did God order it Ideo veneratus quia venditus that therefore they came to do obeysance to him because they sold him The Jews kild Christ to extinguish his fame and glory but by his death was his glory and fame advanced Oh the folly of Gods
cast into utter darknesse i. e. without the Kingdome of God which is light and a Kingdom of light In this phrase of utter darknesse according to some is an allusion to the darknesse which God sent upon Egypt Metaphoricè per tenebras scriptura horrendum maerorem designat Cal. in Mat. 8.12 Tenebrae exteriores domesticae luci opponuntur quum antiquitus nocturnae ut plurimum coenae essent quas plurimae faces lampades illustrabant qui ejiciuntur è regno Dei Christus eos dicit extra in tenebras ejici in tenebras Cal. in Mat. 25. Comprativus superlativi est loco ut sit in tenebras extimas Luc. Brug in Mat. 8. Exod. 10.23 that Egyptian darknesse being without the habitations of the Israelites in all which was light Or as Reverend Calvin conceives to the darknesse wherein they are who are excluded in the night time from places in which are suppers or feasts where they set up many lights and lamps or as others to the darknesse of prisons which were oft wont to be without the City Acts 12.10 Whatever the allusion is by this utter darknesse is intended a state of the greatest remotenesse and distance from the light of Gods presence the joy yea the heaven of heaven for as Brugensis well notes by the comparative note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer may well be intented the superlative utmost or most without furthest or most distant from the Kingdom of light as 1 Cor. 13.13 the greater i. e. the greatest of these is charity This eternall darknesse which stands in the withdrawing of the light of Gods pleased and pleasing countenance wherein is fulnesse of joyes and pleasures for evermore is that here by the Apostle intended to be the portion of these angels in their prison of hell And most fitly is this their wofull estate of separation from Gods presence called darknesse because as the though but deficient cause of darknesse is the departure of the light so the separation from the favourable presence of God is the greatest misery of the damned as the face and comfortable presence of God is the heaven of heavens so absence from God is the hell of hell It is not heaven to be in the place of heaven but to be with God in heaven and it is not hell to be in hell but to be without Gods loving and gracious presence in heaven The misery of which condition of darknesse or separation from Gods presence is in the second place to be explained and it may be amplified two wayes 1 Considering from what this separation shall be 2 How the misery thereof shall be further heightned 1 There shal be a separation from the favorable presence of God which is 1 A full good comprehending all good that wherein all good things are assembled and combined He who hath him who is all things must needs have all things To him there can be made no addition of goodness in parting with him the damned part with whatsoever is good 2 A filling satisfying good enough and sufficient for himself and that which can fill the Ocean can undoubtedly fill the vessell God satisfies all the wants and exigences of the soul My God shall supply all your wants The favour of God is better then life The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Every good besides God is but of a limited nature answering but to this or that exigency but one God answers to every want Bread relieves hunger water thirst cloaths nakednesse mony poverty God relieves in every want Summa mors animae est alienatio à vita Dei in aeternitate supplicii Aug. lib. 6. de civ Dei c. 12. and hath infinitely more oyl then we have vessels Deservedly therefore is this punishment of loss frequently expressed in the Scripture as the great woe of the damned Matth. 7.23 Luke 13.27 Mat. 25.10 41. The throne of iniquity shall have no fellowship with God Psalm 94.20 Needs must hell be a dismal dungeon where the sunshine of Gods presence never comes But 2. The misery of the loss of this blessed presence of God is further heightned aggravated and made intolerably tormenting Considering 1. The damned in hell know the incomparable worth of what they have lost Their Understandings are cleer though they are not changed Their knowledg increaseth their sorrow How happy comparatively would they be if their Understandings were taken from them if they could but put out their eyes Though they see not God so fully and cleerly as do the blessed in heaven yet they see enough of him to rend and grinde them with inexpressible vexation for losing him A company of wretched beggars who in a dark night stand at the door of that house where there is a Wedding feast though they see not the stately preparations the furnished tables the costly ornaments of the married Couple and Guests so fully and clearly and though they hear not the sweet Musick within so distinctly as do the guests themselves who sit at table yet by lights in the windows the voices of mirth and Musicians with the confused sound of instruments the passage to and fro of attendants with their chear they cannot but observe enough to think themselves being excluded very miserable in comparison of those who are attended at the table and in the midst of all their mirth and plenty Christ makes the Application Luke 13.25.28 Where he speaks of those who stand without and knock c. and shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and they themselves thrust out The rich man sees Abraham and Lazarus but a farr off see them he must though he would not get to them he must not though he would never so fain And certainly the large vessel of an Angels understanding holds more matter of this torment then can more shallow capacities 2. These damned spirits remember that this loss of the presence of God was a rod of their own making a woe of their own most wilfull procuring The door which shuts them out of heaven was pull'd to with their own hands How much will it sharpen the edg of their horror to consider that none forced them to sin that the forsaking of God was the choice of their own will that they had no enemies but themselves The treasures of glory were not stollen from them but voluntarily dissipated and prodigally mis-spent with their own hands How easily could they have prevented that losse which now is irreparable and have kept their foot out of that snare out of which they can never wind themselves The arrow which falls down upon their heads was shot up with their own hands and as it s said of birdlime that it s made of the dung of birds the destruction which hath caught them was spun out of their own bowels 3. They consider how poor a trifle and contemptible a toy it was for which they have lost the blessed presence of God How doth
that of Achan Tu otiosè spectas otiosè non spectaris Tu spectas curiosè spectaris curiosius Bern. I saw I coveted and took looking upon a woman and lusting after her are put together Mat. 5.26 and we read 2 Pet. 2.14 of eyes full of adultery or the adulteress But willingly neither be nor behold a provocation of sin God will preserve thee in thy wayes not in thy wandrings Dinah was not safe out of the womans orb the house only to see is not sufficient warrant to draw us to the suspected places What wise man will go to an house infected with the Plague only to see the fits of the visited It is good to keep tentation at the staves end and not to let it into the grapple for though possibly we may fight and conquer yet it was our fault that we were put to fight The project of Balaam was too prosperous had the Moabites sent their strongest souldiers to perswade the Israelites to idolatry they had been returned with contempt but as God fetches glory to himself out of the worst actions of men so men often undo themselves by the fairest works of God Thus far of the second particular considerable in this example of Sodom viz. the cause of their punishment the third followes namely the severity of their punishment their suffering the vengeance of everlasting fire The punishment being set out 1. More generally so it s called Vengeance 2. More particulary so it was a vengeance manifested by eternall fire Wherein is considerable 1. By what they were punished by fire 2. In what measure or how long they were punished the fire is Eternall I shall here enquire what we are to understand by this Vengeance Fire here called Eternall EXPLICATION 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated Vengeance is of a signification belonging to the proceedings of Courts of Justice and it is taken severall wayes 1. Properly it signifies right or justice in which respect among the Heathens the Goddess of just vengeance Nemesis was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice or Vengeance Act. 21.4 No doubt say the Barbarians of Paul this man is a murderer whom though he hath escaped the sea Non dubito quin sicut plurimis locis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accipitur pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ponatur hoc loco pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bez. in Act. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comprehendit seriem totam judicii usque ad execuâ—ionem Lorin in Act. 25. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vengeance suffereth not to live 2. It is taken for the Sentence of damnation given by the Judge as Act. 25.15 where it is said that the chief Priests and Elders desired to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgement against Paul 3. For the punishment it self inflicted after the passing of sentence thus 2 Thes 1.9 the Apostle saith The wicked shall be punished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus it is taken in this place by Jude who fitly expresseth the punishment inflicted by God upon the Sodomites by this word because it was most justly and according to the merit of the offence and offenders executed by the Judge of all the world who is righteous in all he brings upon sinners yea is righteousnesse it selfe whose very judgements even because they are his are just and righteous and as to the case of Sodom and Gomorrha so eminent was the righteousnesse of Gods judiciall proceeding Gen. 18.21 that he would go down to see whether they had done altogether according to the cry of their sin where he speaks after the manner of men who ought not to condemn any before an accurate examination of the cause But of this by occasion of the words judgement and the Great Day much hath been spoken in the foregoing verse For the second the fire wherewith these Sodomites were punish'd They burnt with a threefold fire 1. The fire of lust both sin and punishment They burned in their lust one toward another 1 Cor. 7.9 Rom. 1.27 and God gave them up to uncleannesse and to vile affections 2. The fire which was rained down from heaven upon them His verbis significatur quod preter naturalem rerum cursum miraculum operatus est puniendo iniquos ad differentiam enim naturalium causarum naturali ordine occurentium ad generandum sulphur ig nem idjunctum est illud à Jeho veb Cajetan sic quoque Tostatus Pererius è nostris Calvin Zanch. Muscul Pareus Rivet Gen. 19.24 the remarkablenesse of which punish ment by fire appears in sundry respects It was 1. A miraculous fire besides the course of nature Brimstone to which some add salt and all that vast quantity of fiery matter were never produced by naturall causes God it was who provided the matter for so great a flame the fall wherof also he ordered for time and place Hence it s said that the Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord that is by an elegant Hebraism from himselfe the Noune being put in the place of the Pronoune as 1 Sam. 15.22 1 King 8.1 2 Tim. 1.18 c. to shew that the raining there mentioned was not from the strength of naturall causes nor after a naturall manner but immediately from the Lord himself and by the putting forth of his owne omnipotent arme 2. It was an abundant fire of a vast quantity and hence it is said to be rained down it was not a sprinkling but a showre Here were not sparks but flakes sheets of fire rivers of brimstone 3. It was a Sudden fire It came not by degrees when the morning arose or at break of day there were no tydings of destruction till then Lot was in Sodom and yet when the Sun arose Gen. 19.24 Cen. 19.28 fire was rained down and early in the morning Abram beheld the smoak of the country haply the work was done in a quarter of an hour Lam. 4.6 Sodom was overthrown as in a moment 4. It was a tormenting fire The execution by fire hath ever been accounted one of the most afflictive to sense and therefore imposed upon the greatest offenders How great is the torment when the skin is puckerd the sinews crack'd the blood scalded Famine the greatest of punishments is but a kind of fire whereby the naturall moysture is dryed up nay fire lends a resemblance to the torments of hell 5. It was a destructive fire utterly consuming all upon which it fell Gen. 19.25 Deut. 29.23 Cities Inhabitants the plain and all that grew upon it and as Brochardus reports so far as the vapour arising out of lake of Sodom is carried by the wind it makes all places dry and barren destroying all fruits grasse plants and what ever the earth yeilds And so poysonfully is that brimstony lake tainted which is now in the place where Sodom stood that it is called the
Judgement An unjust Judge is a Solecism a contradiction A Judge should be the Law enlivened To this end Judges must be godly Righteousnesse will not stand without Religion Jethro's advice to Moses was Chuse men fearing God Exod. 18.21 Let the fear of the Lord be upon you said Jehoshaphat to the Judges 2 Chr. 19.6 7. The Aethiopians apprehended that the Angels attended on all Judicatories and therefore as I have read of them they left twelve chairs empty in the judgment-place which they said were the Seats of the Angels but Judges must believe that a greater than the Angels is there 2. Impartiall He must not respect the person of the poor nor honour the person of the mighty Lev. 19.15 and Deut. 1.17 He must hear the small as well as the great There must no mans condition be regarded in judgement nor must the Judge behold the face of any ones person but the face of his cause Job 34.19 God accepts not the persons of Princes A Judge will be a sun of righteousness it shining as well upon the beggar as the noble 3. A Master of his affections Anger hatred pity fear c. the clouds of Affection will hinder the Sunshine of justice The Athenian Judges us'd to sit in Mars-street to shew that they had Martiall hearts Constantine is termed a man-childe Rev. 12.5 So Brightman for his courage He who wil go up to the mount of Justice must leave his affections as Abraham did his Asse and Servants at the foot thereof Love and wisdom seldome dwell under one roof and the fear of man is a snare A Coward we say cannot be an honest man nor will a fearfull and flexible Judge be able to say injustice Nay 4. Deliberate In the case of information about false Worship Deut. 17.3 Moses directs to this deliberation before sentence be given If it be told thee and thou hast heard of it and enquired diligently and behold it be true and the thing certain c. then shalt thou bring forth the man c. What plenty of words are here to prevent precipitancy in Judicature It much commended the integrity of Job who professeth Job 29.16 The cause which I knew not I searched out †See the example of the Heathen Festus Act. 25.16 Both sides must be heard the small as well as the great Though a Judges * Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita alerâ aequum licit statuerit haud aequus fuit Sen. in Med. sentence be right yet hee is not right in giving it if he give it before either party be heard 5. A lover of truth A man of truth Exod. 18.21 Hating lying executing the judgement of truth Zech. 8.16 His heart must love his tongue speak the truth Exod. 18.21.23.8 Deut. 16.19.27.26 2 Chron. 19.7 nor will the hand without go right if the wheels within go wrong 6. Incorrupt Hating bribes because hating covetousnesse A gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous Of whose hand saith Samuel have I received any gift to blind mine eyes therewith 1 Sam. 12.3 A Judge must neither take money to be unjust nor to be just Righteousnesse is its own reward The Thebeans erected the Statues of their Judges without hands the gaine of bribes is sum'd up Job 15.34 Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery 7. Sober and Temperate He that followes the pleasures that attend on Majesty will soon neglect the paines which belong to Magistracy It was a prudent instruction of Lemuel's mother Prov. 31.4 5. It is not for Kings It is not for Kings O Lemuel to drink wine nor for Princes to drink strong drink lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgement of any of the afflicted Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart Hos 4.11 Some understand those words Jer. 21.12 Execute judgement in the morning properly as if they should performe acts of judgement early before they were indangered by abundant eating or feasting to render themselves less able to discerne of causes 2. The second branch of Jurisdiction which belongs to the Magistrate consisteth in the Dstribution of rewards and punishments 1. Of Rewards to those who keep 2. Of Punishments to those who break the Lawes 1. Of Rewards Of this the Apostle speaks Rom. 13. Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise Of this the Supreme Lord gives an example who joynes shewing mercy to thousands with visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children Exod. 20. Nor must a Magistrate be a Sun only for lustre of Majesty but also for warmth and benignity 2. Of Punishments These are of sundry kinds Some concern the name as degradations some the estate as pecuniary mulcts some the body and these are either Capitall or not Capitall as mutilation of some part c. Evident it is from Scripture-commands that it is the Magistrates duty to punish Deut. 19.21 the Judges shall make diligent inquisition c. And thine eye shall not pity but life shall go for life 2. From his Function Rom. 13.4 He beareth not the sword in vaine Governours are for the punishment of evill doers 3. From the Benefit of these punishments To the punished who may grieve for what they have done to the Spectators who may be warned from doing the like Prov. 19.25 Deut. 19 19r Indulgentia flagitiorum illecebra Exod. 21.12 Lâ—v. 24.17 c. Sinfull indulgence silently yet strongly invites to a second wickednesse Even Capitall punishments are injoyned by Scripture Gen. 9.6 Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed A Law which being before the erection of the Mosaicall Polity shews that the Lawes which afterward commanded Capitall punishments did not simply and absolutely but only in respect of some circumstances concern the Israelites The capitall punishment of Malefactors by the Magistrate was dictated by the Law of Nature And as the force of the foresaid command was before so did it continue after Moses Christ himself even from it drawing an Argument to disswade Peter from shedding of blood Mat. 26.52 Nor do I understand but that if all punishments of Malefactors by the sword be now unlawful as Anabaptists dream it must necessarily follow that all defending of the subjects by the sword against an invading enemy is unlawfull also the publick peace being opposed by the one as much as the other nay may we not argue That if the power of the sword belong not to the Magistrate to defend the Common-wealth that it belongs not to any private man to defend himself against the violent assaults of a murderer In sum Capitall punishments may be inflicted but sparingly slowly It is observed by some That God was longer in destroying Jericho then in making the whole world Satius est ut euret pharmacum quam sanet ferrum As many Funerals disgrace a Physician so many executions dishonour a Magistrate The execution of Justice should like Thunder fear many and