They may both be true in a different sense for the word dishonour may be taken two ways 1. To degrade or make one unhonourable that before was honourable but in this sense it is rarely if at all found in Scripture 2. To disrespect or slight one that is honourable and still remains worthy to be honoured In the former sense God cannot be dishonoured but in the latter he may even as Children by their disobedience do not render their Parents dishonourable but dishonoured Par. How can men in Justice become lyable to eternal punishment for sin committed in time and it may be in a short time Conf. They are committed against an Eternal God and therefore are always as it were in committing before and against him 2. If men might live eternally they would sin eternally and God punisheth according to the rebellion of their wills 3. Though punished in Hell they still retain their enmity against God and therefore justly is their penalty continued DIALOGUE V. Concerning Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience Also Of the Civil Magistrate and Church Censures Par. IF Christians must not be the Servants of men how come Rulers to have any power over us Conf. The meaning is not that we must not serve men at all for that would contradict the Verses immediately fore going and almost infinite other places but do not so serve men that it hinder you in the service of God Par. If every one must bear his own burden and be judged according to his works why should any man Magistrate or other trouble or interrupt him though he be Heretical or Blasphemous but leave him to God and his own Conscience Conf. The vilest sinner on earth may plead thus But the truth is that though the Principal and ultimate Judgment of every mans cause be left to Christ to be determined by him at the day of Judgment yet God out of his singular wisdom hath appointed that open wickedness whether it be matter of opinions or practise be judged and punished also by Authority Ecclesiastical and Civil and if either sort neglect their duty herein themselves become culpable Par. But what good is this restraint like to work but to make men either more violent when they see their Tenet opposed or else Hypocrites if they be restrained for God only can change the heart Conf. This also any notorious wretch may say for himself but trust reposed in men by God must be discharged and the issue left to him Par. But if my Conscience be erroneous what course can I take If I go against the truth I sin and if I go against my Conscience I sin also Conf. It is true and therefore the way is to pray and seek for satisfaction that your Conscience may comply and close with the truth DIALOGUE VI. Treating of the State of man after death and likewise of the Resurrection and last Judgment Par. HOW can a man comfort himself in the death of his profane Kindred Conf. He may quiet his heart with these Considerations following 1. God is ready to forgive those which repent at the last moment and for ought we know may work Repentance when the party is too far spent to express it 2. Gods Decree is unchangable and therefore they either were elected and are saved or Reprobates and could never have been saved had they lived a thousand years 3. Had such as are rejected of God lived longer their impenitent hearts would have caused them still to have treasured more wrath to themselves by proceeding further in wickedness 4. Our Relation to them the main cause why we are grieved for them ceaseth after this life 5. However it is with them God will dispose of all things for his own Glory which should be more dear to us than our Friends yea our own Souls Par. If the whole man soul and body sinned how can it otherwise be but the Soul must die as well as the Body Conf. Man in his actings is to be considered collectively not distributively and as sin is not acted by the Soul and Body in a divided sense but joyntly by the whole man consisting of Soul and Body as its constitutive parts So man dies not in a distributive sense as if the Body died by it self and the Soul by it self but as a Creature compact of both he dyeth or ceaseth to be what he was when the Soul which is the essential form of a man is taken away A Parliament when dissolved loseth its essence as such though all the members be alive so doth an house dimolished though all the materials remain whole So when the Soul and Body are disunited the man is dead howbeit the Soul lives either in Happiness or Woe Par. If there be no satisfaction of the Justice of God after this life which men having given shall be forgiven and saved how is it said Till thou hast paid the last mite or uttermost farthing Conf. This word till is often found in Scripture signifying or at least not excluding perpetuity and taken in that sense the force of it is thus much if thou be not reconciled to God in Christ before thy death thou shalt be cast into the Prison of Hell there to abide the exact justice of God for ever because thou never canst never so satisfie his wrath as to be acquitted from it Par. If every Soul when it leaveth the Body goeth either to Heaven or Hell immediately to what purpose is the Resurrection or day of Judgment Conf. There is very great reason for them as First That the whole Creation may be purged and delivered from the bondage of Corruption Secondly That the Soul and Body which suffered or sinned together may in the righteous day of the Lord be crowned or punished Thirdly That all hidden things yea the secrets of hearts may be discovered that thereby Gods righteous Judgment may be also revealed Fourthly That he may publickly right his people upon their enemies Par. Godly men are men still and Christ avoucheth That every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the day of Judgment How then can they be said to be discharged from all sin Conf. The meaning is not as if the godly shall be called to account for their idle words or any other sins but only thus much that the Judgment of God shall be so exact and severe that even so much as an idle word shall not pass him without full satisfaction to his justice on the Transgressor or his surety and that he which hath not his Pardon already procured by Christ shall be found culpable at that day and the sentence of Condemnation pronounced against him though he had only one idle word to answer for Par. Sir I thank you for your pains you have taken with me this day in resolving my several Queries but now at present I will trouble you no further Conf. The Lord give you then a heart to consider what hath been said and so for the
and estates must be respected and accordingly must we cut our Coat and have our Ornament Nor may they be the Ornaments of Light House-wives or of known dissolute Persons it is not Modesty for Women professing the Gospel to go like Whores or to imitate them in their Strumper-like behaviour Christians ought not to seem to be such as indeed they would be loath to be Neither may it any way tend to provoke inordinate desires in our selves or others but such as may express the Vertues of our Minds being correspondent to Decency and Holiness Thus we see the Manner Thirdly for the Measure Excess of Ornament is to be avoided we may not have too many on our backs nor in our Wardrobes Go to now you Rich Men weep and howl for your Miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your Garments are Moth-eaten and shall not these Witness against you In Ancient times such were counted infamous as did exceed this way so Graccus noted Naevius for a Licentious Fellow for having on his Hands more Rings than one Beware then of excess in this kind seeing both Heathen and Heaven doth condemn it It is a sin that goeth not alone but draws many after it For first excess in Ornament doth cause thee to abuse thy Wealth and makes thee spend it on needless and superfluous Uses when thou oughtest to spend it better as in Relieving of the Poor and such as are in want Secondly It is commonly maintained with Covetousness and Injustice When was more Pride and Bravery And when more Oppression and Cruelty What greater cause of Bribing and Extortion of Fraud and Cousenage of increasing Fines and inhauncing Rents than this excessive Bravery Pride must be maintained though it be with sale of Faith Conscience Religion and all Thirdly It is a Thief of Time Many a golden hour is spent in casting how to be most brave and what Fashion doth best become them And many an hour is spent in pranking and trimming of the Body in the too accurate and curious culture of it Had Plautus lived in these our times he would never have wondred why dainty Dames are so long in trimming of themselves if he did but see what a shop of Vanities and Fooleries they bear about them See here a cause why such as are most brave are usually most ignorant and impenitent Alas they have no time to adorn their Souls with Gods saving Graces they dress themselves by the Hour and therefore can Pray but by the Minute they want leisure for the one so much is taken up about the other And in a word what more impoverisheth the Common-wealth than our excessive Bravery Our Monies and our chief Commodities are daily Transported into other Countries and what comes in lieu thereof but Apes and Peacocks Costly stuffs silks and velvets gold and silver Laces Feathers and such like Toys for giddy pated Fools which within a few days wearing must be cast off and given to some Serving Man or Maid and soon after become good for nothing but to adorn a Dung-hill See then what a fruitful Mother of much Wickedness Excessive Bravery is Let it therefore be avoided of all such as bear any Love to themselves or to their own Countrey The last Rule to be Observed doth respect the End and that must be not the priding up thy self or to cause the Eyes of others to be set upon thee but Gods Glory while thou dost adorn his Temple See then that that be thy chiefest aim And moreover look thou make a spiritual use of the Ornaments thou wearest Remember the Body is more worth than Raiment and the Soul more worth than thy Body Affect not therefore the Adorning of thy Body more than the Adorning of thy Mind the Jewel is far more worth than the Cabinet wherein it 's kept and the thing covered is more to be respected than the Case that covers it Again let the Adorning of thy Body put thee in mind of thy shame and Nakedness in respect of sin There is a Wound else what needs a plaister And these plaisters though they be of Silk or Velvet argue that under them are some loathsome sores which being seen would shame us Before Man sinned these Ornaments would have Adorned him no more than a silken case a sweet Rose but when his Beauty became blemished by sin then was he driven to seek for Ornaments and on his uncomely parts to put on more comeliness supplying Natural defects with the helps of Art Were this well considered the best Ornaments would bring rather cause of blushing than of boasting Hath a Cripple who hath lost his Leg any cause to brag of his wooden stump Or a Thief any cause to boast of his Bolts or glory in his brand and mark of Felony What more cause have we to brag of Ornament This is that which indeed should humble us as being a continual Testimony of our sin and shame Let us then use them as a daily Monitor to put us in mind of our deformity by sin for our further humbling And thus have we seen some special Rules to be observed in this particular of Ornament which being kept we may safely and comfortably use our Liberty in this kind also Object But it may seem that Ornament is Unlawful and may at no hand be used For the Apostles both Paul and Peter condemn all broidered Hair Gold Pearls and other such like costly Ornaments as unbeseeming Christians I Answer neither Paul nor Peter do simply condemn the things themselves but the abuse of them they being used by Persons of low Estate and very mean Condition for of such in those days did the Church of God especially consist And therefore howsoever it were Lawful in it self yet it was altogether unbeseeming their Estate being in them little better than Riot and Excess And Secondly the Church was then under grievous Persecution Now at such times our Ornament must be laid aside as formerly we have heard that being a time of Humiliation and Mourning And thirdly I Answer The words are rather an Admonition than a Prohibition he forbiddeth not the using of them but admonisheth them that they would rather adorn the inside than the outside and be more careful of the Mind than of the Body And this evidently appeareth by the Antithesis that is used in both places Not with broidered hair saith Paul But with good works Not that outward adorning saith Peter But let it be the hidden man of the heart According to that saying of our Saviour Christ Labour not for the meat that perisheth But for that which endureth to eternal life The meaning is not so much for one as for the other desire more the Adorning of the Mind than of the Body Again some may demand Whether it be Lawful to cover a deformity in the Body or to mend the Complexion it being less beautiful than others is For seeing the Body may be adorned with Ornament it may seem that
Foolishness the more Arguments he will find to shew me Mercy at least I will make tryal of his Clemency I will humbly prostrate my self before him I 'le embrace those Knees that Educated me I 'le lick the dust of that Threshold which I contemptuously forsook I 'le own my fault and take shame to my self and so both magnifie his Mercy if he receive me and justifie his proceedings if he reject me I know my Father is subject or obnoxious to no body who shall blame him for Pardoning or set limits to his Mercy nay who can tell the measure of a Fathers Bowels It may be too there is irresistible Eloquence in Misery and the spectacle of a Sons Adversity may have Rhetorick enough in it to carry the cause where a Father is Judge Or if he provoked by my Folly at first and Extravagancies since will no more own me as a Son perhaps he may receive me as a Servant for if my Rebellion hath extinguished in him the peculiar Affections of a Father yet it hath not destroyed the common Passions of Humanity Mercy and Pity if he will receive me in that lower quality I am now broken to the condition of a Servant and shall think his Yoke easie hereafter having been inured to so sharp and heavy an one I will chearfully submit my Ear to be boared to his Door-post and be his Servant for ever Or Lastly if he will not trust a Runnagate nor believe that he will ever prove a constant and perpetual Servant that hath once deserted his station let him be pleased to take me as an Hired Servant whom he may turn off at pleasure make tryal of me and admit me only upon good Behaviour But if all fail and he should utterly cast me off which yet I hope he will not I can but perish and that I do however Well this being resolved he casts a longing look towards his Fathers House and puts himself on his way thither But no sooner was he on his way though yet a great way off but his Father spies him Those lean and wan Cheeks and the hollow sunken Eyes his Extremity had reduced him to had not so disfigured him nor those Rags unable to cover his Nakedness so disguised him but his Father knew him and the memory of his former Disobedience had not so Cancelled the Interests of a Son or shut up the Bowels of a Father but that the sight of his present Misery kindled his Compassion And whilst the Son partly through that weakness which his Vices and his Sufferings had conspired to bring upon him and partly through a combination of shame and just fear of his Fathers Indignation with difficulty makes towards him the Father prompted by Paternal Affection and transported between Joy and Pity runs to meet him falls on his Neck and kisses him And now see what Entertainment his Father gives him being come into his Presence He calls for a Robe yea the best Robe and so Cloaths him for a Ring to adorn and beautifie him for Shoes for his Feet that stones might not annoy nor hurt them for the fat Calf to feed and refresh him and whatsoever is wanting he bestows upon him Now had the Father fit time and his Sons sins deserved it that he should rip up unto him his former faults and call to remembrance the Offences of his Youth and welcom him home after this manner Ah Sirra are you now come is all spent amongst your Whores and Harlots Return unto them let them provide for you come you no more within my Doors But behold the love of this his Father he useth no such thundring speeches he threatneth not to cast him off nor yet doth he cast him in the teeth with his former Courses he remembreth not any old Reckonings the Offences of his Youth are not spoken of But he seeing this his Riotous and unthrifty Son return home with an humble Heart presently offers himself to his Child and before he had made an end of his Confession or could beg a supply of things needful his Father intercepts him by his hasty calling to his Servants Bring hither the best Robe the Shoes the Ring let the fat Calf be killed make a Feast send for Musick let all be forgotten that is past let my Sons old Courses no more be remembred And here further we may fancy the Joyful Father thus bespeaking his returning Child Viz. Welcom my Son thrice welcom is' t not meet Thou shouldst be welcom'd with embraces sweet Thou who wert lost and now art found again Thou who wert dead dost now alive remain Long have I long'd for this thy safe return Whereat my bowels of Compassion yearn Why shak'st thou then why blushest being poor Thy fear is past thou shalt have Rags no more Revive my Son be chearful then my Child And cease thy sorrows I am Reconcil'd Oh! let those Tears be taken from thine Eyes They stir the Fountain where Compassion lies Come taste my Dainties I have choicest Fare And sweetest Musick to delight thy Ear This is my Pleasure I will have it done In spight of Envy for thou art my SON The Son though astonished at this condescention and surprized with the unexpected benignity of such a Reception yet could not but remember what his Fathers Joy made him forget namely his former Dis-ingenuity and Rebellion And therefore humbly falls on his knees again and with shame and remorse makes his contrite acknowledgment after this manner Father for so this admirable goodness of yours gives me encouragement to call you more than the Blood and Life which I derived from you I have I confess forfeited all the Interest the Priviledges of my Birth might have afforded me in your Affection having become a Rebel both towards God and you had I not first neglected him I am sure I had never grieved you and having forsaken you I have not only violated the greatest Obligation I had upon me save that to his Divine Majesty but also despised and affronted a goodness like to his whatsoever therefore I have suffered was but the just demerit of my folly and contumacy and whatsoever Sentence you shall pass upon me further I will willingly submit to and here expect my doom from you I condemn my self as no more worthy to be called your Son be pleased to admit me but into the condition of your meanest Servant and I have more than my miscarriages give me reason to hope for Whilst the Son was going on at this rate the Fathers Bowels yearned too earnestly to admit of the delay of long Apologies and therefore chuses rather to interrupt him in his Discourse than to adjourn his own Joys or the others comfort And because he thought words not sufficient in this case he makes deeds the Interpreters of his mind commanding his Servants forthwith to bring out the best Robe and to put it upon his Son together with a Ring on his Hand and Shoes on his Feet i.e. in all points to
this life saith the Prophet all the sweet he hath fore-goeth death after he hath a Portion indeed but it is a Portion of Fire and Brimstone of Storms and Tempests of Anguish and Tribulation of Shame and Confusion of Horror and Amazement in a fiery Lake from the presence of God in the midst of cursed Spirits Thus death must needs be terrible to him but as comfortable to the Godly for it makes his Crosses as short as the others Comforts The Wicked cannot promise to himself Comforts of an hours length nor may the Godly threaten himself with Crosses of an hours continuance Death in an instant turns the sinners Glory into Shame Pleasure into Pain Comfort into Confusion Death in an instant eases the Godly's body of all pain his Soul of all sin his Conscience of all fears and leaves him in an estate of perfect happiness And happy are they whose Misery is no longer than life but woe be to the wicked whose jollity ends when death enters and whose Torments survive death it self and so we leave Samuel to his rest Well Samuel is well himself but in what case doth he leave his poor Neighbours at Ramah that the Text now speaks and it is my trouble yet better one than all troubled that I must speak it so briefly Israel saith the Text Jacobs issue Gods people all Israel distributively taken that is of all sorts some were gathered in great Troops either by publick command or of their own voluntary accord or both ways First to lament according to the then custom in most solemn manner Samuels end and their own loss and next to honour him at his Burial in Ramah The Points which in a passage or two must be touched from this part are two the first is this Samuel a publick and a profitable man dieth Israel publickly mourneth you see what followeth Great and publick losses must be entertained with great and publick sorrows Sorrow must be suited to the loss as a Garment to the body a Shoe to the foot when the cause of Grief is great the measure of Grief must be answerable This is one Principle when a good man and Neighbour dies there is cause of great forrow this is another the inference will soon follow and result hence and that is our Conclusion Good men of publick use and place should never pass to the Grave unlamented their death should be considered and bewailed And indeed reason calls for it for we must mourn in respect of the cause of such mens deaths not private but publick sins too God never beheads a State a Country but for some Treason Reason 1. If Samuel die it is because God is angry with the people the sheep be not thankful nor fruitful therefore the shepherd is smitten Now should it be thus when useful persons die what then shall we say to these times wherein men have not put off Piety only but Nature also No marvel if the Prophet complain The righteous perish and no man considereth it in his heart The wife perisheth and the Husband doth not consider it the Parents perish and the Children do not consider it the Children perish and the Parents do not consider it few such Brethren as David to Jonathan such Husbands as Abraham such Children as Isaac such Fathers as Jacob. These long and long felt the loss of their dearest Friends but now one month is enough to wear out all thoughts of a Brother nay of a Child nay of a Mother nay of a Wife nay in the nearest tyes one in that space may be buried a second wooed a third married Hitherto in hardest pressures and worst measures David could go to Samuel in Ramah and there meet with good Counsel and Comfort but now both Samuel himself dies and poor David must flie Shall I beloved speak as the thing is In the fall of one Cedar of Ramah we have lost much shade and shelter in the splitting of one Vessel of price wherein we had all our interesses and adventures we are all losers what we have lost we shall better see seven years hence than now but losers we are all losers Wife Children Neighbours Friends Ministers People all losers so that here that is verified which was anciently uttered of another In one we have lost many a chast Husband a tender Father a religious Minister a kind Neighbour in few a Samuel Speak I this after the flesh to please No I speak it for use to profit I report my self to your hearts You tell me that you have a publick loss your mouthes have uttered it your faces speak it my Ears and Eyes have received it from you and if so then see what follows if we have Israels loss we must make Israels Lamentation Let us take up Davids words with Davids Affection I am distressed for thee Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderful passing the Love of Women Are we as David to Saul Isaac to Rebekah sons Are we as Jeremiah to Josiah Prophets As David to Abner Kindsmen Are we by any name entituled to this loss Mourn then mourn not as the Infidel desperately nor bitterly as doth the froward but soberly as did David when Abners Death put him to a Fast Let his dearest Yoak-fellow say Ah mine unthankfulness and unfruitfulness let Children say Ah our Disobedience and Stubbornness and Servants Ah our Idleness and Untrustiness and all Ah our Folly and Frowardness who could not see Vertves through Frailties and Corn through chaff till we had lost all These sins of ours have strip'd us of a Samuel and covered us with darkness He is gone the Arm and Shoulder is faln from this our little body the sooner for our sins let us see it or else what abides us In the Body what Medicines cannot do cutting must what that cannot burning must or else nothing saith the Master of Physick It is so in the Soul too Oh that we could see it In our Friends Sicknesses we have been Medicined in private distresses lanced but in the loss of Publick Persons the Lord proceeds to burning If these wounds upon the very Head of us strike us not down what shall next be smitten but our Heart it self Well Israel laments and it hath cause What do they next That next we must hear They bury him and the place and manner be observed For the place they bury him at his House in Ramah the Ancient and the Mannor House his Father dwelt there before him 1 Sam. 1. where also you may be informed touching the Town Whereas there were of Ramahs four or sive this was Ramah Zophim in Mount Ephraim which borrows his Name from the Situation of it it stood high and the name importeth no less In this Ramah Samuel sometime lived and here he is Interred For the Selemnity of the Funeral it is such as argues Israels love and Samuels worth they do him all the Honour that is possible First Israel the first-born of Men