and Hell is Hell Virtue is Virtue and vice is vice to the Understanding nor can it appeare otherwise for in these we cannot be deceived what Reason can that be which teacheth us to Act against Reason Esau knew well enough that it was a sinne to kill his Brother but his Reason taught him to expect his Fathers Funerall Ahab knew it was a crying sinne to take Naboths Vineyard from him by violence and therefore hee would have paid down money for it and his painted Queene knew as much but that the best way to take possession of his Vineyard was to dispossess him of his life and the surest way to that was to make him a Blasphemer that was the effect and product of Reason and Discourse which is the best servant when the Will is Right and the worst when shee is irregular Reason may seek out many Inventions for Evill and shee may discover many helps and Advantages to promote that which is good she may draw out the method which leads to both find out opportunities bring in Encouragements and Provocations to both but Reason never yet call'd Evill good or Good evill 2 Thess 3.2 for then it is not Reason the Apostle hath joyn'd both together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they be wicked they are unreasonable and absur'd for they doe that which Reason abhorres and condemnes at the first presentment So that the will you see is origo boni mali is the prinipall cause of Good and Evill That I will not understand when I cannot but understand is from the will that the Judge is blind when he sees well enough what is just and what is unjust is not from the Bribe but the Will That my feare shakes me my Anger enflames me my Love Transports me my sorrow casts me downe and my joy makes me mad That my Reason is Instrumentall and Active against it self That my Passions rage and are unruly is from my will which being fastened to its Object drawes all the Powers of the Soul after it And therefore if the will Turne all these will Turne with it Turne to their proper offices and Functions The Understanding will be all Light and the Affections will be all Peace for the proper Act of every Faculty is its Peace when the Understanding contemplates that Truth which perfects it it rests upon it and dwells there as upon a holy Hill But when it busies it self in those which hold no proportion with it as the gathering of Wealth the raysing of a Name the finding out pleasures when it is a Steward and Purveyor for the Sense it is restlesse and unquiet now finds out this way anon another and by by disapproves them both and contradicts it self in every motion When our Affections are levell'd on that Affectiones ordinatae sunt virtutes Gers for which they were given us they lose their name and wee call them Virtues but when they fly out after every impertinent Object they fly out in infinitum and are never at their end and rest place Love on the things of this VVorld and what a troublesome Tumultuous Passion is it tiring it self with its own Hast and wasting and consuming it selfe with its owne Heat but place it on Piety and there it is as in its Heaven and the more it spends of it self the more it is increased Let your Anger kindle against an Enemy and it is a Fury that Torments two at once but derive it and lay it on your sin and there it sits as a Magistrate on a Tribunall to worke your Peace That sorrow which wee cast away upon Temporall losses is a Disease which must be cured by Time but our sorrow for sinne is a Cure it self is a second Baptisme washes away the Causes of that Evill and dyes with it and rises up againe in Comfort That joy which is rays'd out of Riches and Pleasure is rais'd as a Meteor out of dung and is whiffed up and downe by every winde and Breath but if it follow the Health and Harmony the good Constitution of the Soule it is as cleare and pure and constant as the Heavens themselves and may be carried about in a lasting and continued Gyre but is still the same And this Turne the Affections will have if the will Turne then they Turne their face another way from Bethaven to Bethel from Ebal to Garazin from the Mount of Curses to the Holy Hill We cannot Think that in this our Turne the Powers of the Soul are pull'd to pieces that our Affections are plucked up by the roots That our Love is Annihilated our Anger destroyed our Zeal quencht By my Turne I am not dissolved but better built I have new Affections and yet the same now dead and impotent to evill but vigorous and active in Good my steps are altered not my Feet my Affections cut off the Character is chang'd but not the Book That sorrow which covered my face for the losse of my Friend is now a Thicker and Darker cloud about it because of my sinne That hope which stoop'd so low as the Earth as the mortall and fading vanities of the world is now on the wing raising it selfe as high as Heaven That Zeale which drove Saint Paul upon the very pricks to persecute the Church did after lead him to the block to be crown'd with Martyrdome If the Will be Turned that is captivated and subdued to that Will of God which is the Rule of all our Actions it becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Shop and Work-house of Virtuous and Religious Actions and the Understanding and Affections are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-workers with it ready to forward and Compleat the Turne Saint Bernard tells us that nothing doth Burne in Hell but our will and 't is as true Nothing doth reigne in Heaven but the will In it are the wells of Salvation and in it are the waters of Bitterness in it is Tophet and in it is Paradise Aug. Hom. 8. Totum habet qui bonam habet voluntatem saith Austin he hath runne through all the Hardship and Exercises of Repentance who hath not changed his opinion or improv'd his knowledge but alter'd his will for the Turne of the will supposeth the rest but the rest doe not necessitate this when this is wrought all is done that is The Soul is enlightened purged renewed hath its Regeneration and new Creation in a word when the Will is turn'd the soul is saved The Old man is a New Creature and this New Creature changes no more but holds up the Turne till he be Turn'd to Dust and raysed againe and then made like unto the Angels THE SIXTH SERMON PART II. EZEKIEL 33.11 Turne ye Turne ye from your evill wayes c. This Turn is a Turn of the whole man of his understanding his affections nay of his senses of the eye and the ear from vanity of the tast from forbidden fruit of the touch from that which it must not handle a
excludens sed probans libertatem saith Tertul. To this end a Law was enacted not taking away but proving and trying the liberty which we have either freely to obey or freely to transgresse for else why should he enact a Law For the will of man looks equally on both and he being thus built up did owe to his maker absolute and constant obedience and obedient he could not be if he had not been thus built up To this end his understanding and will were to be exercised with arguments and with occasions which might discover the resolution and the choice and election of man Now these arguments and occasions are that which we call temptations which though they naturally light upon the outward man yet do they formally aime at the inward and are nothing do nothing till they seise upon the will which may either joyn with the sensitive part against the reason which makes us to every good work reprobate or else joyn with our reason against our sensual appetite which works in us a conformity to the will of God for he wills nothing to be done which right reason will not have us do The will is that alone which draws and turns these temptations either to a good end by watchfulnesse and care or by supine negligence turns them to a bad turnes them from that end for which they were permitted and ordained and so makes Satans darts more fiery his enterprises more subtle his occasions more powerful and his perswasions more perswasive then indeed they are so that what God ordained for our trial and crown by our security and neglect is made a means to bring on our downfall and condemnation We must therefore in the midst of temptations as in a School learn to know our selves and in the next place to know our enemies and now they â—ork and mine against us examine those temptations which make toward us lest we judge of them by their outside look upon them and so be taken with a look lest as the Romans observed of the barbarous Nations that being ignorant of the art of engining when they were besieged and shut up they would stand still and look upon the Enemy working on in the mine not understanding quò illa pertinerent quaeex longinquo instruebantur what it meant or wherefore those things were prepared which they saw a far off and at distance till the Enemy came so neer as to blow them up and destroy them so we also behold temptations with a carelesse and regardlesse eye and not knowing what they mean suffer them to work on to steal neerer and neerer upon us till they enter into our soules and dwell there and so take full possession of us And first we may lay it as a ground That nothing properly provoketh it self as the fire doth not provoke it self to burn nor the Sun to shine for the next and necessary causes of things are rather efficients then provocations which are alwayes external either to the person or principal or part which is the principal and special agent and so the will of man doth consummate and finish sin but provoketh it not but is enticed to that evil or frighted from that which is good by some outward object which first presents it self unto the sense which carries it to the fancy which conveighs it to the understanding whence ariseth that fight and contention between the inferior part of the soul and the superior between the sensual appetite and the reason not to be decided or determined but by the will and when the will like Moses holdeth up its hands as it were and is steady and strong the reason prevaileth and when it lets them down the sense The senses then are as Hierom calls them fenestra animae the windows of the soul through which tentations enter to flatter and wooe the fancie and affections to joyn with the principal faculties of the soul to beget that sin which begetteth death and if you will observe how they work by the senses upon the soul you will soon finde that they do it not by force and battery but by allurement and speaking it faire or else by frowns and terrors that there is no such force in their arguments which spiritual wisdome and vigilancy may not assoile that there is no such beauty on them which may not be loathed no such horror which we may not slight and contemn And first they work us occasions of sin and all the power that occasion hath is but to shew it self and if it kill it is as the Basilisk by the eye by looking towards us or indeed rather by our looking towards it Occasion is a creature of our own making we give it being or it were not and it is in our power as the Apostle speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut it off 2 Cor. 11.12 When we see the golden wedg we know it is but a clod of earth we see beauty and can call it the colour and symmetry of flesh and blood of dust and ashes and unlesse we make it so it is no more indeed we commonly say occasio facit furem that occasion maketh a thief but the truth is it is the thief that makes the occasion for the object being let in by the senses calls out the soul which frames and fashioneth it and bringeth it to what form it please maketh beauty a net 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas in ps 1. and riches a snare and therefore Bonum est non tangere it is not safe to see or touch for there is danger in a very touch in a cast of the eye and upon a look or touch the Soul may fly out to meet it and be entangled unawares utinam nec videre possimus quod facere nobis nefas est we may somtimes make it our wish Hieron not to see that which we may not do not to touch that which may be made an occasion of sinne not to look upon wine when it is red nor the strange woman when she smiles For in the second place they are not onely made occasions of sins but are drest up and trimmed by the father of lies who takes up a chamber in our Fancy in that shape and form in those fair appearances which may deceive us there is a kinde of Rhetorick and eloquence in them but not that of the Orators of Greece which was solid and rational but that of the later Sophisters which consisted in elegancies and figures and Rhetorical colours that which Plato calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flattery and popular eloquence for as they who deliver up themselves to fortune and tread the wayes to honour and the highest place do commonly begin there with smiles where they mean to shake a whip and cringe and bow and flatter the common people whom they intend to enslave stroke and clap them and so get up and ride the Beast to their journeyes end so do these tentations insinuate and win upon the weaker part
Samuel told Eli every whit and kept nothing from him And He said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him Good THe words are the words of old Eli the Priest and have reference to that message which yong Samuel brought him from the Lord such a message as did make both the ears of every one that heard it tingle ver 11. Come see the work of sin what desolation it makes upon the Earth Ophni and Phinehas the two prophane and adulterous Sons must die old Eli the indulgent Father the High Priest must die Thirty four thousand Israelites must fall by the sword of the Philistines The Arke the glory of Israel must be taken and be delivered up in triumph unto Dagon this was the word of the Lord which he spake by the mouth of the child Samuel and not a word of his did fall to the ground at the 19. verse for what God foretells is done already with him that calleth the things that are not as if they were as the Prophet speaks there is no difference of times Nothing past Nothing to come all is present So that old Eli did see this bloody Tragedy acted before it was done saw it done before the signal to Battle was given did see his Sons slain whilst the Fleshook was yet in their hands himself fall whilst he stood with Samuel the Israelites slain before they came into the field the Arke taken whilst it was yet in the Tabernacle a fad and killing presentment whether we consider him as a Father or a High Priest a Father looking upon his Sons falling before the Ark which they stood up and fought for as a High Priest beholding the people slain and vanquisht and the Ark the Glory of God the Glory of Israel in the hands of Philistines But the word of the Lord is gone out and will not return empty and void for what he sayes shall be done and what he binds with an oath is irreversible and must come to pass and it is not much material whether it be accomplisht to morrow or next day or now instantly and follow as an Eccho to the Prediction nam una est scientia Futurorum Hier. ad Pammach adversus errores Joann Hierosol saith S. Hierome for the knowledge of things to come is one and the same And now it will be good to look upon these heavie Judgments and by the terror of them fly from the wrath to come as the Israelites were cured by looking on the Serpent in the Wilderness For even the Justice of God when it speaks in thunder makes a kinde of melody when it toucheth and striketh upon an humble submissive yeelding heart Behold old Eli an High Priest to teach you who being now within the full march and shew of the Enemy and of those judgments which came apace towards him like an Armed man not to be resisted or avoided and hearing that from God which shook all the powers of his soul settles and composes his troubled minde with his consideration That is was the Lord in this silences all murmur slumbers all impatience buries all disdain looks upon the hand that strikes bows and kisseth it and being now ready to fall raiseth himself up upon this pious and Heavenly resolution Dominus est It is the Lord Though the people of Israel fly and the Philistines triumph though Ophni and Phinehas fall Though himself fall backward and break his neck Though the Ark be taken yet Dominus est It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Which words are a Rhetorical Enthymeme perswading to humility and a submissive acquiescience under the Hand the mighty Hand of God by his power his justice his wisdom which all meet and are concentred in this Dominus est It is the Lord. He is omnipotent and who hath withstood his power He is just and will bring no evil without good cause He is wise whatsoever evil he brings he can draw it to a good end and therefore Faciat quod bonum in oculis let him do what seemeth him good Or you may observe first a judicious discovery from whence all evils come Dominus est It is the Lord. Secondly a well-grounded resolution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to behave our selves decently and fittingly as under the power and justice and wisdom of God Let him do what seemeth him good The first is a Theologicall Axiome Dominus est It is the Lord There is no evil in a City Which he doth not do The second a conclusion as necessary as in any Demonstration most necessary I am sure for weaknesse to bow to Omnipotency In a word The Doctrine most certain Dominus est It is the Lord ... All these evils of punishment are from him and the resolution which is as the use and application of it most safe Faciat quod bonum in oculis Let him do what seemeth him good Of these we shall speak in their order and in the prosecution of the first for we shall but touch upon and conclude with the last that you may follow me with more ease we will draw the lines by which we are to passe and confine our selves to these four particnlars which are most eminent and remarkeable in the story First that Gods people the true professors may be delivered up to punishment for sinne Secondly that in these general judgements upon a people the good many times are involved with the evil and fall with them Thirdly that Gods people may be delivered up into the hands of Philistines and Aliens men worse then themselves Fourthly that the Ark The glory of their profession may be taken away These four and then fix up this inscription Dominus est It is the Lord and when we have acquitted his Justice and wisdom in these particulars cast an eye back upon the inscription and see what beams of light it will cast forth for our direction Dominus est it is the Lord c. And in the first place of Ophni and Phineas the Text tels us That they hearkened not unto the voice of their Father because the Lord would destroy them which word Quia is not casuall but illative 2 Ch. v. 25. and implyes not the cause of their sinne but of their punishment they did not therefore sin because God would punish them but they hearkened not to the voice of their Father therefore the Lord destroyed them as we use to say the Sun is risen because it is day for the day is not the cause of the Suns rising but the Sun rising makes it day They were sons of Belial vessels already fitted for wrath as we may see by their many fowl enormities and therefore were left to themselves and their sinnes and to wrath which at last devoured them Gods Decree whatsoever it be is immanent in himself and therefore could not because of that disobedience and wickednesse which was extrameous and contrary to him nor could there be any action of Gods either positive or negative
fitted to times of peace and fitted to times of tumult establisht and mighty against all occurrences all alterations all mutations whatsoever There is no time wherein a man may not be just and honest wherein he may not be merciful and compassionate wherein he may not be humble and sincere A Tyrant may strip me of my possessions but he cannot take from me my honesty he may leave me nothing to give but he cannot sequester my compassion he may lay me in my Grave but my Humility will raise me up as high as Heaven The great Prince of the Aire and all his Legions of Devils or men cannot pull us back or stop us in the course of our obedience to the Will and Law of God but we may continue it and carry it along through honour and dishonour through good report and evil report through all the terrors and affrightments which Men or Devils can place in our way What he requires he required and it may be done yesterday and to day and to the endof the world And as his Wisdome is seen in giving Lawes so it is in fitting the Means to the End in giving them that virtue and force to draw us to a neerer vision and sight of God whose wisdome reacheth from one end to another mightily and doth sweetly order all things Wisd 8.1 For which way can frail Man come to see his God but by being like him what can draw him neere to his pure Essence but simplicity and purity of spirit what can carry us to the God of love but Charity what can lead him into the Courts of Righteousnesse but Justice what can move a God of tender mercies but Compassion For certainly God will never look down from his Mercy-seat on them that have no Bowells In a word What can make us wise but that which is good Those virtues Temperance Justice and Liberality which are called the Labours of wisdome Wisd 8.8 what can bring us into Heaven but this full Taste of the powers of the world to come so that there is some Truth in that of Gerson Gloria est gratia consummata Glory is nothing else but Grace made perfect and consummate For though we cannot thus draw Grace and Glory together as to make them one and the same thing but must put a difference between the Meanes and the End yet Wisdome it self hath written it down in an indelible character and in the leaves of eternity That there is no other key but this Good in the Text to open the Gates of the Kingdome of Heaven and he that brings this along with him shall certainly enter Heaven and Glory is a thing of another world but yet it begins here in this and Grace is made perfect in Glory And therefore in the last place his Absolute will is not onely attended with Power and Wisdome but with Love and these are the Glories of his Will He can do what he will and he will do it by the most proper and fittest meanes and whatsoever he requires is the Dictate of his Love When he sent his Son the best Master and wisest Lawgiver that ever was on whose shoulders the Government was laid he was usher'd in with a Sic dilexit so God loved the world Iohn â— and his love seems to have the preeminence and to do more then his power which can but annihilate us but his love if we embrace it will change our soules and Angelifie them and change our bodies and spiritualize them and endow us with the will and so with the power of God make us differ as much from our selves as if we were not Annihilated which his power can do but which is more made something else something better something neerer to God which is that mighty Thing which his Love brings to passe We may imagine that a Law is a meer indication of power that it proceeds from Rigor and Severity that there is nothing commanded nothing required but there is Smoke and Thunder and Lightning but indeed every Law of God is the Naturall and proper effect and Issue of his Love from his power 't is true but his power mannaged and shewn in Wisdome and Love For he made us to this End and to this End he requires something of us not out of any Indigency as if he wanted our Company and Service for he was as Happy before the Creation as after but to have some object for his Love and Goodnesse to work upon to have an Exceptory and vessel for the dew of Heaven to fall into as the Jews were wont to say Propter Messiam mundum fuisse conditum That the world and all mankind were made for the Messias whose businesse was to preach the Law which his Father said unto him Psal 2.7 and to declare his will And in this Consists the perfection and Beauty of Man for the perfection of Every Thing is its drawing neere to its first principle and Originall and the neerer and liker a thing is to the first cause that produced it the more perfect it is as the Heat is most perfect which is most intense and hath most of the Fire in it And Man the more he partakes of that which is Truly Good of the Divine Nature of which his soul is as it were a sparkle the more perfect he is because this was the onely End for which God made him This was the End of all his Lawes that he might find just Cause to do him Good That man might draw neere to him here by Obedience and Conformity to his will and in the world to come reign with him for ever in Glory And as it is the perfection so is it the Beauty of a man for as there is the Beauty of the Lord Psal 27.4 so is there the beauty of the subject The Beauty of the Lord is to have will and power and Jurisdiction to have power and wisdome to command and to command in love So is it the beauty of a man to bowe and submit and conforme to the will of the Lord for what a deformed spectacle is a Man without God in this world which hath power and wisdome and love to beautifie it Beauty is nothing else but a result from perfection the beauty of the Body proceeding from the symmetrie and due proportion of parts and the beauty of the Soule from the consonancy of the will and affections to the will and law of God Oh how beautifull are those feet which walk in the wayes of life how beautifull and glorious shall he be who walks in love as God loved him who rests on his power and walks by his wisdome and placeth himself under the shadow of his love And thus much the substance of these words afford us What doth the Lord require Let us now cast an eye upon them in the Forme and Habit in which they are presented and consider the manner of proposing them and the Prophet proposeth it by way of Interrogation And as he ask'd
And first Every particular sinne is of a monstrous aspect being committed not onely against the Law written but against the Law of Nature which did then Characterise the soule when the soule did first enforme the Body for though we call those horrid sinnes unnaturall which Saint Paul speaks against in the 1. to the romanes yet in true estimation every sin is so being against our very Reason which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. or 34. the very first Law written in our hearts saith Naz. for sin is an unreasonable Thing nor can it desend it self by discourse or argument If Heaven were to be bought with sin it were no Purchase for by every evill work I forfeit not onely my Christianity but my manhood I am robb'd of my chiefest Jewel and I my self am the Theef Who would buy eternity with sinne who would buy Immortallity upon such loathed Termes If Christ should have promis'd Heaven upon condition of a wicked life who would have beleeved there had been either Christ or Heaven And therefore it is laid as an imputation upon man Solum hoc animal Naturae fines transgreditur no Creature breaks the bounds and limits which Nature hath set but Man and there is much of Truth in it man when he sinnes is more unbounded and irregular then a Beast For a Beast follows the conduct of his naturall Appetite but man leaves his Reason behind which should be more powerful and is as naturall to him as his sense Man saith the prophet David that understands not is like to the Beasts that perish and Man that is like to a Beast is worse then he No Fox to Herod no Goat to the Wanton no Tyger to the Murderer no Wolfe to the Oppressor no Horse-leech to the Covetous for Beasts follow that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that instinct of Nature by which they are carried to the Object but man makes Reason which should come in to rescue him from sin an Instrument of Evill so that his Reason which was made as a help as his God on Earth serves onely to make him more unreasonable Consider then though it be but one sinne yet so farre it makes thee like unto a Beast nay worse then any though it be one yet it hath a monstrous aspect and then Turne from it Secondly though it be but one yet it is very fruitful and may beget another nay multiply it self into a numerous issue into as many sins as there be haires of thy head for as it is truly said omne verum omni vero consonat there is a kind of agreement and harmony in truthes and the devout School-man tells us that the whole Scripture is but one copulative proposition because the precepts therein contained are many and yet one many in regard of the diversity of those works that perfect them but yet one in respect of that root of charity which begins them so peccatum multiplex unum there is a kinde of dependencie between sins and a growth in wickednesse one drawing and deriving poyson from another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epiphanius speaks of heresies Epiphan Heres Bastlid as the Asp doth from the Viper which being set in opposition to any particular vertue creepeth on and multiplies and gathers strength to the endangering of all And sin may propagate it self first as an efficient cause Removens prohibens weaking the power of grace dimming the light of the Gospel setting us at a greater distance from the brightnesse of it making us more venturous taking off our blush of modestty which should restrain us one evil act may dispose us to commit the like and that may bring on a thousand Secondly as a material cause one sin may prepare matter for another thy covertousnesse beget debate debate enrage thee more and that not end but in murder Last of all as the final cause thou mayest commit theft for fornication and fornication for theft that thou mayest continue a Tyrant be more a Tyrant that thou mayest uphold thy oppression oppresse more that thou mayest walk on in safety walk on in the blood of the innocent that thou mayest be what thou art be worse then thou art be worse and worse till thou art no more Ambition leads Absolon to conspiracy conspiracy to open Rebellion Rebellion to his Fathers Concubines at last to the Oak where he hung with three darts in his side For sin saith Basil like unto a stone that is cast into the water multiplies it self by infinite Gyres and Circles The sins of our youth hasten us to the sins of our age an the sins of our age look back upon the follies of our youth pride feathers my ambition and ambition swells my pride gluttony is a pander to my lust and my lust a steward to my gluttony Sins seldom end where they begin but run on till they be infinite and innumerable And now this unhappy fruitfulness of sin may be a strong motive to make me run away from every sin and fear one evil spirit as that which may bring in a Legion Could I think that when I tell a lie I am in a disposition to betray a kingdom could I imagine that when I slander my Neighbour I am in an aptitude to blaspheme God could I see luxurie in gluttony and incest in luxurie strife in covetousness and in strife murder in idleness theft and in theft sacriledge I should then Turn from every evil way and at the sight of any one sin with fear and trembling cry out behold a troop cometh But in the Third place if neither the monstrosity of sin nor the fruitfulnesse of sin moves us yet the guilt it brings along with it and the obligation to punishment may deter us For sin must needs then be terrible when she comes with a whip in her hand indeed she is never without one if we could see it and all those heavy judgments which have fallen upon us and prest us well-neer to nothing we may impute to what we please to the madnesse of the people to the craft and covetousnesse of some and the improvidence of others but t was sin that called them down and for ought we know Josh 7.2 Sam. the last c. but one For one sin as of Achan all Israel may be punisht for one sin as of David threescore and ten thousand may fall by the plague For Jonahs disobedience a Tempest may be raised upon all the Marriners in the ship and what stronger winde can there blow then this to drive us every one out of every evil way how should this consideration leave a sting behinde it and affect hand startle us It may be my sacriledge may the Church-robber It may be my luxury may the wanton It may be my bold irreverence in the House of God may the prophane man say whatsoever sin it is it may be mine which hath wrought this desolation on the earth and then what an Achan what a Jonah what a Murderer am I I
Errors because they have so many and that none can Erre but he that sayes he cannot and for which we call him Antichrist This bandying of Censures and Curses hath been held up too long with some loss and injury to Religion on both sides Our best way certainly to confute them is by our practice so to live that all men say The Feare of God is in us of a Truth to weave Love and Feare into one Peece to serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce in Trembling Hilar. in Fs 2. ut sit timor exultans exultatio tremens that there may be Trembling in our Joy and Joy in our Feare not to Divorce Jesus from the LORD nor the Lord from Jesus not to Feare the Lord the lesse for Jesus nor love Jesus the less for the Lord but to joyne them both together and place Christ in the midst and then there will be a pax vobis peace unto us his Oyntment shall drop upon our Love that it be not too bold and distill upon our Feare that it faint not and end in despaire that our Love may not consume our Feare nor our Fear chill our love but we shall so Love him that we do not Despaire so Fear him that we do not presume That we may Feare him as a Lord and love him as Jesus and then when he shall come in Glory to Judge both the quick and the dead we shall find him a Lord but not to affright us and a Jesus to save us our Love shall be made perfect All doubting taken from our Faith nay Faith it self shall be done away and the feare of Death shall be swallowed up in Victory and we who have made such use of Death in its representation shall never dye but live for evermore And this we have learnt from the Moriemini Why will you Die THE TENTH SERMON PART VI. EZEKIEL 33.11 why will you die Oh House of Israel WEE have lead you through the Chambers of Death through the school of Discipline The School of feare For why will ye Die Look upon Death and feare it and you shall not Dye at all Thus farre are we gone We come now ad domum Israelis to the House of Israel Why will ye die oh house of Israel For to name Israel is an Argument Take them as Israel or take them as the House of Israel Take the House for a Building or take it for a family and it may seem strange and full of Admiration that Israel which should prevaile with God should embrace Death That the House of Israel compact in it self should ruine it self In Edom 't is no strange sight to see men run on in their evill wayes In Mesheck or the Tents of Kedar there might be at least some colour for a Reply but to Israel it is Gravis expostulatio a heavy and full Expostulation Let the Amorites and Hittites let the Edomites let Gods enemies perish but let not Israel the People of God Dye Why should they die The Devil may be an Edomite but God forbid he should be an Israelite The Quarè moriemini why will ye Die we see is levell'd to the marke is here in its right and proper place and being directed to Israel is a sharp and vehement exprobration Oh Israel why will ye die I would not have you die I have made you gentem selectam a chosen people that you may not Die I have set before you Life and Death Life that you may chuse it and Death that you may run from it and why will you die My sword is drawne to affright and not to kill you and I hold it up That I may not strike I have placed death in the way that you may stop and retreat and not go on I have set my Angel my Prophet with a sword drawne in his Hand That at least you may be as wise as the Beast was under Baalam and sink and fall down under your Burden I have imprinted the very Image of Death in every sinne will ye yet goe on will ye love sinne that hath such a foule face such a terrible countenance that is thus clothed and apparrell'd with Death Quis furor oh Cives what a madnesse is this oh ye Israelites As Herod once upbraiding Cassius for his seditious behaviour in the East 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrot no more but this Herod to Cassius Thou art mad Philostrat in vit Herodis so God may seem to send to his People God by his Prophet to the Israelites you are mad Therefore doe my people run on in their evill wayes Isa 5.13 because they have no understanding For now look upon Death and that affrights us Look upon God and he exhorts us Reflect upon our selves and we are an Israel a Church of God There is no cause of dying but not Turning no cause of destruction but Impenitency If we will not die we shall not die and if we will Turne we cannot die at all for that if we die God passeth sentence upon us and condemnes us but kills us not but perditio tua ex te Israel our destruction comes from our selves It is not God it is not death it self that kills us but we die because we will Now by this Touch and short descant on the words so much Truth is conveyed unto us as may acquit and discharge God as no way accessary to our death and to make our Passage cleer and plain we will proceed by these steps or degrees draw out these three Conclusions 1. That God is not willing we should die 2. That he is so far from willing our death that he hath plenteously afforded sufficient meanes of life and salvation which will bring in the Third and last That if we die our death is voluntary That no other reason can be given of our death but our own will And the due consideration of these three may serve to awake our shame Naz. Or. 20. as death did our feare which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks another Help and furtherance to worke out our Salvation Why will ye die oh House of Israel And first That God is not willing we should die is plaine enough First from the Obtestation or Expostulation it self Secondly from the Nature of God who thus expostulates For 1. why will ye die is the voice of a friend not of an enemy He that askes me why I will die by his very Question assures me he intends not to destroy me God is not as man that he should lie what he works he workes in the cleer and open day His fire is kindled to enflame us his water flows to purge and cleanse us his oyle is powred forth to supple us his commands are not snares nor his Precepts Accusations He stamps not the Devill 's face upon his Coyne He willeth not what he made not and he made not Death saith the Wiseman He wisheth he desireth we should live he is angry Wisd 1.12 and
People Crassum reddito cor populi hujus Make the heart of this people fatt and their eares Heavy lest they see with their Eyes and heare with their Eares and be converted Now to make their heart fatt and their eares heavy and to shut up their eyes is more then a bare permission is in a manner to destine and appoint them to Death most true if it can be proved out of this place that God did either But it is one thing to Prophesy a Thing shall be done and another to doe it Hector in Homer foretells Achilles Death and Herod the fall of Mezentius in Virgil and our Saviour the Destruction of Hierusalem but neither was Hectors Prophesy the cause of Achilles Death nor Herods of Mezentius nor our Saviour of the Destruction of Hierusalem vade dic Goe and tell them makes it a plame prediction what manner of men they would be to whom Christ was to speake stubborn and refractory and such as would harden their faces against the Truth If you will not take this Interpretation our Saviour is an Interpreter one of a Thousand nay one for all the world and tells the multitude that in them was fulfilled the Prophesy of Esay which saith By hearing you shall heare and not understand Matth. 13.14 for this Peoples heart is waxen fat and their eyes have they closed that they might not see And here if their eyes were shut it were fit one would Think they should be open'd True saith Chrysostome if they had been borne blinde or if this had been the immediate Act of God but because they wilfully shut their eyes he doth not say simply they do not see but seeing they do not see to shew what was the cause of their blindnesse even a perverse and froward heart they saw his Miracles they said he did them by Beelzebub He tells them that he is come to shew them the will of God they are peremptory and resolute that he is not of God and bring corrupt Judges against their own sight and understanding they were justly punisht with the losse of both For it is just that he should be blind that puts out his own eyes Yet was not this incrassation or blinding through any malevolent influence from God but this action is therefore attributed to God because whatsoever light he had afforded them whatsoever means he had offered them whatsoever he did for them was through their own fault and stubbornness of no more use to them then colours to a blinde man or as the Wise-man speaks a messe of Pottage on a Dead-mans Grave We might here Sylvam ingentem commovere meet with many other places of Scripture like to this but we will touch but one more and it is that which is so common in mens mouthes and at the first hearing conveighs to our understanding a shew and appearance of some positive act in God which is more then a bare permission For God tells Moses in plain termes Indurabo cor Pharaonis I will harden Pharaohs heart Exod. 7.3 And here I will not say with Garson aliud est litera aliud est literalis sensus that the letter is one thing and the litteral sense another Hil de Trin. l. 8. but rather with Hilary Optimus est lector qui dictorum in telligentiam ex dictis potius expectet quam imponat retulerit magis quam attulerit he is the best reader of Scripture who doth rather wait and expect what sense the words will beare then on the sudden rashly fasten what sense he please and carry away the meaning not bring one nor cry this must be the sense of the Scripture which his presumption formerly had set down Sure I am none of the Fathers which I have seen make this induration and hardning of Pharaohs heart a positive act of God not Saint Augustine himself who was more likely to look this way then any of the rest although he interprets this place of Scripture in divers places Augustin Feriâ 4 post 3. Dominic in Quadrages Pharaoh non potentiae sed patientiâ Dei indurabatur id Ser. 88. I will but mention one and it is in one of his Lent Sermons Quoties auditur cor Pharaonis Dominum obdurasse c. As often as it is read in the Church that God did harden Pharaohs heart some scruple presently ariseth not onely in the mindes of the ignorant Laity but of the Learned Clergy and for these very words the Manichees most Sacrilegiously condemned the old Testament and Marcion rather then he would yeeld that good and evil proceeded from the same God did run upon a grosser impiety and made another two principles one of good and another of evil But we may lay this saith he as a sure ground and an infallible Axiome Deus non deserit nisi prius deserentem God never forsakes any man till he first forsake God When we continue in sin when the multitude of our sins beget despair and despair obduration when we adde sin to sin and to make up the weight that sinks us when we are the worse for Gods mercy and the worse for his Judgements when his mercy hardens us and his light blindes us God then may be said to harden our hearts as a Father by way of upbrayding may tell his prodigal and Thristlesse son ego talem te feci t is my love and goodnesse hath occasioned this I have made thee so by sparing thee when I might have struck thee Dead I have nourished this thy pertinacy although all the Fathers love and indulgency was grounded upon a just hope and expectation of some change and alteration in his son Look upon every circumstance in the story of Pharaoh and we cannot finde one which was not as a Hammer to malleat and soften his stony heart nor do we read of any upon whom God did bestow so much paines His ten plagues were as ten Commandements to let the people go and had he relented at the first saith Chrysostom he had never felt a second so that it will plainly appear that the induration and hardning Pharaohs heart was not the cause but the effect of his malice and rebellion Magnam mansuetudinem contemptae gratiae major sequi solet ira vindictae for the contempt of Gods mercy and there is mercy even in his Judgements doth alwayes make way for that induration which calls down the wrath of God to revenge it We do not read that God decreed to harden Pharaohs heart but when Pharaoh was unwilling to bow when he was deaf to Gods Thunder and despised his Judgements and scorn'd his Miracles God determined to leave him to himself to set him up as an ensample of his wrath to work his Glory out of him to leave him to himself and his own lusts which he foresaw would lead him to ruine and destruction But if we will tie our selves to the letter we may finde these several expressions in several Texts 1. Pharaoh hardned his heart 2.
excludes all stoicall fate all necessity of sinning or dying there is nothing above us nothing before us nothing about us which can necessitate or binde us over to death so that if we die it is in our volo in our will we die for no other reason but that which is not reason quia volumus because we will die We have now brought you to the very Cell and Den of death where this monster was framed and fashioned where 't was first conceived brought forth and nurst up I have discovered to you the Original and beginnings of sin whose natural issue is death and shut it up in one word the will that which hath so troubled and amuzed men in all the ages of the Church to finde out That which some have sought in Heaven in the bosom of God as if his Providence had a hand in it and others have raked Hell and made the devil the Author of it who is but a perswader a soliciter to promote it that which others have tied to the chain of Destiny whose links are filed by the fancy alone and made up of air and so not strong enough to binde men much lesse the Gods themselves as 't is said what many have busied themselves in a painful and unnecessary search to finde out opening the windows of Heaven to finde it there running to and fro about the universe to finde it there and searching Hell it self to discover it we may discover in our own Breasts in our own heart the will the womb that conceives this Monster this Viper which eats through it and Destroyes the Mother in the Birth For that which is the beginning of Action is the beginning of sinne and that which is the beginning of sinne is the cause of Death In homine quicquid est sibi proficit Hilar. in Ps 118. saith Hilary there is nothing in man Nothing in the world which he may not make use of to avoid and prevent Death and In homine quic-quid est sibi nocet there is nothing in man nothing in the world which he may not make an occasion and Instrument of sinne That which hurts him may help him That which Circumspection and Diligence may make an Antidote neglect and Carelesness may Turn into Poyson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil as goodness so sinne is the work of our will not of Necessity If they were wrought in us against our will there could be neither Good nor Evill I call Heaven and Earth to witnesse saith GOD by his Servant Moses I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and cursing Deut. 30.19 and what is it to set it before them but to put it to themselves to put it into their own Hands to put it to their choice Chuse then which you will The Devil may tempt the Law occasion sinne Rom. 7.11 the Flesh may be weake Temptations may shew themselves but not any of these not all of these can bring in a necessity of Dying For the Qeustion or Expostulation doth not run thus Why are you under a Law why are you weake or why are you Dead for Reasons may be given for all these and the Justice and Wisedome of God will stand up to defend them but the Question is Why Will ye die for which there can bee no other Reason given but our Will And here we must make a stand and take our rise from this one word this one syllable our Will for upon no larger foundation then this we either build our selves up into a Temple of the Lord or into that Tower of Babel and Confusion which God will Destroy We see here all is laid upon the Will But such is our Folly and madness so full of Contradictions is a wilfull sinner that though he call Death unto him both with words and works though he be found guilty and sentence of Death past upon him yet he cannot be wrought into such a perswasion Tert. Apol. c. 1. That he was ever willing to Die nolumus nostrum quia malum Agnoscimus we will not call sinne ours because we know it Evill and so are bold to exonerate and unload our selves upon God himself 'T is true there is light but we are blind and cannot see it There is Comfort sounds every where but we are deafe and cannot heare it There is supply at hand but we are bound and fetter'd and can make no use of it There is Balm in Gilead but we are lame and have no hand to apply it We complain of our naturall weakness of our want of Grace and Assistance when we might know the Danger we are in we plead Ignorance when we willingly yeeld our Members servants to sinne we have learnt to say we did not doe it plenâ voluntate with a full Consent and will and what God hath clothed with Death we cloath with the faire Glosse of a good Intention and meaning we complaine of our Bodies and of our Souls as if the Wisedome of God had fail'd in our Creation we would be made after another fashion that we might be good and yet when we might be good we will be evill And these Webbs a sick and unsanctify'd Fancy will soon spin out These are Receipts and Antidotes of our own Tempering devis'd and made use of against the Gnawings of Conscience These we study and are ready and expert in and when Conscience begins to open and chide these are at hand to quiet it and to put it to silence wee carry them about for ease and comfort but to as little purpose as the women in Chrysostoms time bound the coines of Alexander the Great or some part of Saint Johns Gospel to ease them of the Headach for by these Receits and spells we more envenom our souls and draw neerer to Death by Thinking to fly from it and are ten-fold more the Servants of Satan because we are willing to doe him service but not willing to weare his Livery and thus excusando exprobramus our Apologies defame us our false Comforts destroy us and wee condemn our selves with an Excuse To draw then the lines by which we are to passe we will take off the Moriemini the cause of our Death from these First from our Naturall weakness Secondly from the Deficiency of Grace for neither can our Naturall weakness Betray nor can there be such a want of Grace as to enfeeble nor hath Satan so much Power as to force the will and so there will be no Necessity of Dying either in respect of our Naturall weakness or in regard of Gods strengthning hand and withholding his Grace and then in the second place that neither Ignorance of our duty nor regret or reluctancie of Conscience nor any pretence or good Intention can make sin lesse sinfull or our Death lesse voluntary and so bring Death to their Doores who have sought it out who have called it to them who are Confederate with it and are worthy to bee partakers thereof And Why Will you
and are ready to welcome and reward and cast off all the Huge distance and inconsistency which is between these two the pleasing of men and the being a servant of Christ and of these we shall speak plainly in their order si adhuc placerem if I yet pleased men c. And first we need not doubt that most men desire to be pleased and it may seem a needlesse labour to go about to prove it for do but whisper do but breath against their humour and you have made a demonstration that it is so Saint Paul indeed makes it his wonder at the 6. v. miror quod tam citò I wonder that you are so soon removed and we might well wonder at his wonder but that his miror carries with it more of reproof then admiration for the consideration of this humour this desire to be pleased takes off our admiration and when we have discovered this we cease to wonder into a barren soile from the Gospel of Christ which bringeth salvation but withall trouble to the flesh to another Gospel which is no Gospel but excludeth both in a word to see men begin in the spirit and end in the flesh Omnis rei displicentis etiam opinio reprobatur saith Tert. The very thought of that which displeases us displeases us almost as much as the thing it self for indeed it is nothing but thought that troubles us and it is not the matter or substance of truth but opinion and our private humour which makes truth such a bitter pill that we cannot take it down It was the usual speech of Alexander the great to his Master Aristotle Doce me facilia leave I pray you your knotty and intricate discourses and teach me those things which are easy which the understanding may not labour under but such as it may receive with delight and it is so with us in the study of that art of arts which alone can make us both wise and happy we love not duros Sermones those hard and harsh lessons which discipline the flesh and bring it into subjection and demolish those strong holds which it hath set up and in which it trusteth a Parasite is more welcome to us then a Prophet he is our Apostle who will bring those familiar and beloved arguments to perswade us to that to which we have perswaded our selves already and further our motion to that to which we are flying we finde almost the parallel in the 30. of Esai 10. v. of those who say to the Seers see not loquimini placentia Prophesie not unto us right things but Prophesie deceits men who had rather be cosen'd with a pleasing lie then saved with a frowning and threatning truth rather be wounded to death with a kisse then be rowsed with noise rather die in a pleasant dream then be awaked to see the pit opening her mouth and even speaking to them to fly and save themselves from destruction I am appeal to your eye and tender you that which your observation must needs have taken up before both at home in your selves and abroad in others for he that doth but open his eyes and look into the world will soon conceive it as a common stage where every man treads his measures for approbation and applause where every man acts his part walks as a Parasite to himself and all men one to another that is do the same which the Israelites did after the molten Calf Exob 32.27 slay every man his brother and every man his Neighbour and every man his Companion every man being a ready executioner in this kinde and every man ready and willing to die We will therefore in the next place search this evil humour this desire of being pleased and we shall be the willinger to be purged of it if either we consider the causes from which it proceeds or the bitter effects which it produceth And First It hath no better Originall then Defect then a wilfull and negligent fayling in those Duties to which Nature and Religion hath obliged us a leannesse and emptinesse of the soul which not willing to fill it self with Righteousnesse fills it self with Aire with false counsells and false attestations with miserable comforts In time of necessity when we have nothing to eate we fall too with the Prodigall and fill our Belly with husks The wicked flie when none pursueth Prov. 28.1 fly from themselves to others and from others to themselves chide themselves and flatter themselves are troubled and soon at rest fly to the Rule which condemns them to absolve them and suborne one Text to infringe and overthrow another as he that hath no good Title is bold on a false one Citò nobis placemus It is a thing soon done and it requires no labour nor study to be pleased we desire it as sick men doe Health as Prisoners doe Liberty as men on the rack doe Ease for a troubled spirit is an ill disease not to have our will is the worst Imprisonment his choice is to put himself upon the rack Rom. 14. the last vers We may see it in our civill affaires and matters of lesser allay when any thing lyes upon us as a burden how willing are wee to cast it off How doe we strive to pluck the sting out of every serpent that may bite us how do we study to work out the venom out of the worst of evills when we are poore we dreame of Riches and make up that which is not with that which may be when we have no House to hide our heads we build a Palace in the Aire when we are sick This thought turnes our bed That we may recover and if the Physitian cannot heale us yet his very name is to us as a promise of Health we are unwilling to suffer but we are willing nay desirous to be eased as Basil tells us of young men that when they are alone or in some solitary place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they feigne unto themselves strange Chimeras suppose themselves Lords of Countreys and favourites of Kings and which is yet more though they know all this to be but fancy and a Lye yet please themselves in it as if it were true indeed Arist Rhetor. 2. c. 14. We all are like Aristotles young man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of Hope and when there is no Doore of hope left we make one And so it falls out in the managing of our spirituall estate we doe as the Apostle exhorts though not to this end cast away every Thing that presseth down but so cast it away as to leave it heavier then before preferr a momentary ease which we begg or borrow or force from Things without us before that Peace which nothing can bring in but that griefe and serious Repentance which we put off with hands and words as as a Thin irksome and unpleasing For could we be sick we might be well did not we love our disease we might shake it off but
gift and the heart also and before he comes to the Altar makes the worshipper himself a sacrifice Love doth not stay at the porch but enters the Holy of Holyes doth not stay in the beginnings but hasteth to the end doth not contract the duty but extends it to the utmost doth not draw pictures but men doth not sacrifice the beast onely but offers and consumes us binds us wholly to the work forceth and constrains us never lets us rest till we have fulfilled the will of him that commands Improves sacrifice to obedience hearing to practice fasting to humility and repentance Love may begin but never ends in ceremony And this is the reason why Religion hath so many professors and so few friends so many salutes and so many contempts flung upon her why she is so much spoke of as the bird of Jupiter that eagle which must carry us to heaven but hath no more regard then the sparrow on the house top or the owle in the desart why it is so much talkt of and so little practiced for men do not love it but because it carries a kind of majesty and beauty along with it and strikes every eye that beholds it because men speak well of her in the gates and we cannot but speak well of her whilest we are men therefore we are willing to give her a salute in the midst of all those horrid and hellish offices which are set up against her we give her a bowe and let her passe by as if her shadow could cure us or we lay hold on the skirts of her garment touch and kisse them are loud and busie in the performance of the easiest part of it bind the sacrifice with cords to the hornes of the Altar but not our lusts and irregular desires but let them fly to every object every vanity which is to sacrifice a beast to God and our selves to the devil 2. These formall worshippers do not onely not love the command but they do it for the love of something else They love oppression and blood and injustice better then sacrifice and all this heat and busie industry at the Altar proceeds not from that love which should be kindled and diffused in the heart but as the unruly tongue is set on fire by hel hath no other originall then an ungrounded and unwarranted love of those profitable and honorable evils which we have set up as our mark but cannot so fairely reach to if we stand in open defiance to all Religion And therefore when that will not joyne with us but looks a contrary way to that to which we are pressing forward with so much eagernesse we content our selves with some part of it with the weakest with the poorest and beggerlyest part of it and make use of it to go along with us and countenance and secure us in the doing of that which is opposite to it and with which it cannot subsist and so well and feelingly we act our parts that we take our selves to be great favourites and in high grace with him whose laws we break and so procure some rest and ease from those continuall clamors which our guiltinesse would otherwise raise within us and walk on with delight and boasting and through this seeming feigned paradise post on securely to the gates of death In what triumphant measures doth a Pharisee go from the Altar what a harmelesse thing is a cheat after a Sermon what a sweet morsell is a widdows house after Long Prayers what a piece of Justice is oppression after a fast After so much Ceremony the blood of Abel himself of the justest man alive hath no voice For in the 3. place These outward performances this formality in Religion have the same spring and motive with our greatest and foulest sinnes The same cause produceth them the same considerations promote them and they are carried to their end on the same wings of our carnall desires Do you not wonder that I should say The formality and outward presentments of our devotion may have the same beginnings with our sinnes may have their birth from the same womb That they draw the same breasts and like twins are born and nurst and grow up together doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter No It cannot but both these are salt and brinish our sacrifice as ill smelling as our oppression our fast as displeasing as our sacriledge and our hearing and Prayers cry as loud for vengenace as our oppression We sacrifice that we may oppresse We fasT that we may spoile our God Ezek. 16.44 and we pray that we may devour our brethren Like Mother Like Daughter saith the Prophet Ezekiel They have the same evil beginning and they are both evil Ambition was the cause of Absoloms Rebellion and Ambition sent him to Hebron to pay his vow 2 Sam. 15. Covetousnesse made Ahab and Jezebel murderers and Covetousnesse proclaimed their fast 1 King 21. Lust made Shechem the sonne of Hamor a Ravisher and lust made him a Proselyte and Circumcised him Gen. 34. Covetousnesse made the Pharisee a Ravening wolf and Covetousnesse clothed him in a lambs skin Covetousnesse made his Corban and Covetousnesse did disfigure his face and placed him praying in the Synagogues and the corner of the streets Ex his causam accipiunt quibus probantur saith Tertullian They have both the same cause for the same motives arise and shew them both The same reason makes the same man both devout and wicked both abstemious and greedy both meek and bloody a seeming Saint and a raging Devil a Lamb to the eye and a Roaring lion Scit enim Diabolus alios continentiâ alios libidine occidere saith the same Father The devil hath an art to destroy us with the appearance of virtue assoone as with the poyson of sin For in the fourth place This formality in Religion stands in no opposition with him or his designes but rather advances his kingdome and enlarges his dominion For how many Sacrificers how many attentive hearers how many Beadsmen how many Professors are his vassalls how many call upon God Abba Father who are his children how many openly renounce him and yet love his wiles Ex malitia ingenium habet Tertull. de Idololat delight in his craft which is his malice how many never think themselves at liberty but when they are in his snare and doth not a faire pretence make the fact fouler doth not sacrifice raise the voice of our oppression that it cryes louder doth not a forme of Godlinesse make sin yet more finfull when we talk of heaven and love the world are we not then most earthly most sensuall most divelish is the divel ever more divel then when he is transformed into an Angel of light And therefore the divel himself is a great promoter of this art of pargetting painting and makes use of that which we call Religion to make men more wicked loves this foule and monstrous
one and the same and therefore to rise upon another mans ruines to enrich our selves by fraud and deceit is as much against nature saith Tully as poverty which pincheth it or grief which afflicts it or death which dissolves it for poverty may strip the body Ibid. grief may trouble it and death may strike it to the ground but yet they have a soul but injustice is its destruction and leaves a dead soul in a living body For as we have already shewn man is naturally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sociable creature but violence and deceit quite destroy all Society and Lully gives the same reason in his Offices which Saint Paul doth against Schisme in his Epistles 1 Cor. 12. If one member suffer all the members suffer with it and therefore the intent and purpose of all must be saith the Orator ut eadem sit utilitas uniuscujusque singulorum that the benefit of one and every man may be the same so that what deceit hath purloyned of stollen away or violence snatcht from others is not Profit because it is not honest Res surtiva quousque redierit in Comini potestatem perpetuò vitiosa est and the Civilians will tell us that that which is unjustly detained is not valuable is of no worth till it return to the hands of the lawfull proprietary Again in the second place Justice and Honesty are more agreeable to the nature of men then Profit or4 Pleasure For these reason it self hath taught us to contemne and he most enjoys himself who desires not pleasure and he is the richest man who can be poore and we are never more men then when we lest regard them but if we forfeit our integrity and pervert the course of Justice we have left our selves nothing but the name of men Si quod absit spes foelicitatis nulla saith Saint Austin If we had no eye to eternity nor hope of future happinesse Tull. Off. 3. Si omnes Deos hominesque celare possimus saith Tully if we could make darknesse a pavilion round about us and lye skreend and hid from the eyes of God and man yet a necessity would lye upon us to be what we are made to observe the lessons and dictates of nature saith one Nihil injustè faciendum saith the other nothingmust be done unjustly though God had no eye to see it nor hand to punish it and this doctrine is current both at Athens and Jerusalem both in the Philosophers School and in the Church of God To give you yet another reason but yet of neere alliance to the first whatsoever we do or resolve upon must habere suas causas as Arnobius speaks must be commended by that cause which produceth it now what cause can move us to desire that which is not ours what cause can the oppressor shew that he grinds the face of the poore the theef that he divides the spoile The deceitfull tradesman that he hath false weights Pondus pondus a weight and a weight a weight to buy with and a weight sell with If you ask them what cause they will eitherlye and deny it or put their hand upon their mouth and be ashamed to answer here their wit will faile them which was so quick and active to bring that about for which they had no reason it may be the cause was an unnecessary feare of poverty as if it were a greater sin then cosenage It may be the love of their children saepe ad avaritiam cor parentis illicit Foecunditas prolis Gregan 1 Iob c. 4. saith Gregory many children are as many temptations and we are soon overcome and yield willing to be evil that they may be rich and calling it the duty of a Parent when we feed and cloth them with our sinne or indeed it is the love of the world and a desire to hold up our heads with the best which are no causes but defects and sinnes the blemishes and deformities of a soul transformed after the image of this world These are but sophismes and delusions and of no causality For ti 's better I were poore then fraudulent better that my children should be naked then my soul better want then be unjust better be in the lowest place then to swim in blood to the highest better be drove out of the world then shut out of heaven It is no sinne to be poor no sinne to be in dishonor no sinne to be on a dunghill or in a prison it is no sinne to be a slave but it is a sinne and a great sinne to rise out of my place or either flatter or shoulder my neighbour out of his and to take his roome It is no sin to be miserable in the highest degree but it is a sinne to be unjust or dishonest in the least Iniquity and injustice have nothing of reason to countenance them and therefore must run and shelter themselves in that thicket of excuses must pretend want and poverty and necessity and so the object of my concupiscence must Authorize my concupiscence and the wedg of gold warrant my theft and to gain something is my strongest argument to gain it unjustly Ibid. And therefore Tully saith well If any man will bring in and urge these for causes argue not against him nor vouchsafe him so much as a reply omnino enim hominem ex homine tollit for he hath most unnaturally divided man from himself and left nothing but the beast Nature it self our first School-mistris loaths and detests it nor will it suffer us by any means to add to our own by any defalkation from that which is anothers and such is the equity of this position that the Civil Law alwaies appeales unto it videtur dolum malum facere qui ex aliena jactura lucrum querit He is guilty of cosenage and fraud who seeks advantage by another mans losse where by Dolus malus is understood whatsoever is repugnant to the Law of nature or equity For with the beames of this Law as with the beames of the Sun were all Humane Laws written which whip idlenesse which pin the Papers of Ignominy the best hatchments of a knave in the hat of the common barretter which break the teeth of the oppressor and turn the bread of the deceitfull into Gall upon this Basis this principle of nature whatsoever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them hang all the Law and the Prophets For the rule of behaviour which our Saviour set up is taken out of the Treasury of nature and for this is the Law and the Prophets Matth. 7.2 that is upon this Law of nature depend the Law and the Prophets or by the due and strict observing of this the Law is fulfilled as Saint Paul speaks Rom. 13.8 or this is the summe of all which the Law and the Prophets have taught to wit concerning Justice and Honesty and those mutuall offices All. Lamprid. and duties of