which place Lactantius saith verentur ne nulla sit religio si nibil habe ant quod adoreat they were afraid there could be no religion at all unlesse they might see what to worship This was the conceit of Rabshakeh touching Hezekiah and the people of Judah that they had no God at all because Hezekiah had taken away his high places and altars and there was no God to be seen 2. As the great sinne against the first Commandment was to set that up for God which was no God therein was their excesse So in the second Commandment they would not ke pa mean but though they could never have monitors and means sufficient to stir them up to Gods worship whereas God hath allowed and ordained these four 1. Verbum scriptum The scriptures or written word 2. Verbum predicatum That word preached 3. Verbum visibile The visible word The Sacraments 4. Verbum libri magni Creaturarum the word of the great book of the creatures of which the psalmist their sound is gone out into all lands and their words into the ends of the world And though these be canori monitores loud and shrill Remembrancers yet all these could not content them but they would have images falling into this error that there could be no nimium in Religione et cultu divino no superfluity in religion and the worship of God and consequently no superstition ascribing the honour due to God unto the creatures and as the Apostle speaks changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and to four footed beasts and creeping things And this is very certain that if there had been such force and vertue in images to move men to the duty of Gods worship God who had such care of his people would never have protested against them and prohibited them nay it had bin a special injury they being so good teachers and monitors The writer of the book of wisdom setteth down the reasons of the growth of Idolatry before the coming of Christ one of them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desire and love of sense insomuch as there was nothing excellent to see to but it was corrupted Rabbi Solomon upon that place of Genesis where mencion is made of Labans Teraphim saith that they signified nothing as the Syriacke translation of it is but a mathematical instrument So the Symbola of the Egyptians were nothing but Emblems and Hieroglyphicks for distinction of the several provincesthere and to shew the natures of them as Isis a clod of grasse or turfe to shew that that part of the country was fertil and fit for feeding and Anubis a dog was sett up in another province to signifie that it was a woody country and the like There were also images set upon the tombs and monuments of famous dead men as the statue dedicated to 〈◊〉 and Minos and this because they were too much addicted to their senses and partly to please their Princes and to keep their remembrance as of Belus for his vertue of Minos for his justice and to this observance they were afterward necessarily enforced by edicts of Princes And thus much for their original before Christ. Now since the time of Christ they begin to differ and a special thing in the controversy wherewith they think to lash us is this shew us say they when images came up first that we may know their original and when there was any edict against them There 's nothing more easy then to shew their original for Jreneus wholived not long after the Apostles times in the second century maketh mention of the 〈◊〉 of the Gnosticks and Epiphanius among other of the Heresies he wrote of speaketh of the same error and saith that Carpocras an Alexandrian was the first brocher of it one of whose errors was that they had the images of Christ Saint Paul and Saint Peter c. Which they said and pretended to be made by Pilate So 〈◊〉 sheweth that the Collyridians valentinians and others erected images in honour of the Virgin Mary and speaketh against them that vsed to offer to her such outward reverence in their gestures as was due onely to God By which we may conclude that Hereticks were the first introducers of religious worship of images in the church The occasions of their use of images for religious worship were four whereof two began to take root in the times of persecution The other two when the church was in peace 1. The first as Saint Augustine saith was by the policy of the 2. former hereticks as also of the Manichees ut concilient 〈◊〉 Paganorum to ingratiate themselves with the Pagans and therefore Aequiores sunt simulachris ut misereantar the hereticks shew themselves saith he better friends to images then we to make the Heathen Idolaters in their persecutions more savorable to them then to us So the first was their policy 2. The second was in memoriam defunctorum to preserve the memory of their deceased friends It seemes by a prohibition in the law that men of old for the love they bare to their dead friends and in expression of their grief for the losse of them and lastly to preserve their memory vsed to cut their flesh and print marks with hot irons upon some parts of their bodies which might continue there and put them in minde of such friends for whose sakes they made those marks as long as they lived whereupon God prohibited such unlawlull acts there and the Apostle also in the new Testament gives charge that men should not sorrow in that extremity the Heathen did that had no hope of the resurrection This extremity of passion in them made them also make use of another way to preserve the memory of their friends deceased which was by setting up of their images Saint Chrysostome reporteth of one Melesius a Bishop of Constantinople a very godly and learned man that he was so well beloved of the Citizens and Clergy as that after his death every man got his Picture to preserve his memory in their rings and afterwards into their parlours And thus by degrees as may be seen in Epiphanius Images were removed into their Pretoria judgement places and thence into market places from thence as appeareth by the fifth counsel of Carthage into high wayes afterwards into church-yards as it is in the second coun of Nice from whence they came to the church walls and so atlast by the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up to the altar Here was magnum ex 〈◊〉 sed ex malis principiis These were the first two occasions 1. A 〈◊〉 to have the good wil of the heathen 2. Extraordinary sorrow for the dead Now after in the pacee of the church there fell out two other causes 1. First wealth When the Christians after the persecution began to grow rich they were desirous that
at Mahanaim when he was in danger by 〈◊〉 rebellion for which David would afterward have rewarded him So when the king of 〈◊〉 came to invade the land of Israel 〈◊〉 the king gave him a thousand talents to 〈◊〉 him which was leavied as the text saith of all the mighty men of wealth of each man fifty shekels of silver and so by this means the land was preserved Thus rich men are and ought to be serviceable for the publick and for this cause they are to be honoured 2. A second reason is because men that are rich may exercise some vertues which others cannot do as Magnificence 〈◊〉 erality Alms c. and great men may 〈◊〉 and help forward good causes and therefore there is reason that such should come in partem honoris to have part of the honour Examples of this we have in those that offered liberally for the Temple which they could not have done unlesse they had 〈◊〉 so that there was much left which was employed for the maintenance of the Levites and in the woman that moved her 〈◊〉 to provide and furnish a chamber for the man of God which they could not have done unlesse they had been able and in those that cast in their wealth into the 〈◊〉 for the use of the Temple Thus rich men may and ought to be helpful to the Church to the 〈◊〉 to Schools Colledges c. Answerable to this the care of rich men ought to be as well good as great when 〈◊〉 sought to pervert Sergius 〈◊〉 the Deputy a great man in the Countrey S. Paul withstood him and laboured to keep the Deputy constant in the faith And the same Apostle after many lessons to Timothy tells him that the love of money is the root of all evil and that by lusting after it many erre from the faith and thereupon bids him take special care about rich men intimating the danger of rich men and the special care he should take about such that they may be instruments of good to others The Heathen man 〈◊〉 if he were to make Amphions harp he would take greater pains about it then in making a harp for a common harper Again the duty of the rich as is there further vrged by the Apostle is not to be high minded 〈◊〉 trust in their riches The wise man observed that they count their riches their strong tower And hence it is that when they have any cause or controversie with another though they have no right yet they will think to carry all by their wealth none must oppose them Such a one was Nabal so proud and surly that no body could speak to him But such should remember that as 〈◊〉 saith the rich and 〈◊〉 meet and the Lord is the maker of both this should make them humble And if they be thus towards others then their duty is like David to account themselves their sons and them their fathers 4. The last kinde of excellency for which men are to be honoured is Excellentia 〈◊〉 the excellency of a benefit 〈◊〉 are called fathers Job saith He was a 〈◊〉 to the poor and whatsoever is sub 〈◊〉 beneficii comes within the compasse of this Commandment and he that receives a benefit is bound to 〈◊〉 them from whom he receives it There are three duties of the Benefactor and as many required of him that receives a benefit 1. Rich men must be benefactors they must do good to some or other It s true they are not bound to any particular person none can challenge any thing exdebito from them for this is the difference between 〈◊〉 beneficium they may be bound to particular persons in 〈◊〉 but not in beneficio for here they may make their choice to whom but they must do good wheresoever they are They must not mark mens 〈◊〉 though their benefits be ill bestowed upon such for as the Heathen man said Melius est ut 〈◊〉 benefi ium 〈◊〉 illum 〈◊〉 apud te It is better thy benefit be lost in his hands then in thine A benefit must be freely bestowed though the party deserve it not we must not look at his 〈◊〉 to us for 〈◊〉 est decipi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum daret he is worthy to be deceived that when he gives thinks upon receiving again Like to those that in the course of giving benefits look not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not where they may place them upon the worthiest and most deserving but upon them that will be most beneficiall to them Such a benefactor is as a man to his gelding that when he means to vse him in a journey gives him so much provender because he is to vse him and he will not otherwise hold out in his journey And this takes away the honour of the Physitian and Lawyer that saves a mans life or his estate when they do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui dat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loses the honour of the benefit that looks at some reward It s true he cannot sufficiently be recompenced that saveth a mans life but if he prostitute his art for gain he doth buy and sell and so 〈◊〉 his honour yet this is the course of the world that it may be feared that in short time men will make indentures to 〈◊〉 mento be thankful when they bestow their benefits 2. Another rule is they must do it speedily It must not stick between their fingers for Ingratum est beneficium quod 〈◊〉 inter manus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt beneficia parata 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a benefit little worth that sticks long in the givers hands and they are most 〈◊〉 that are most ready casie to be obtained and where there was nothing hindred them but the modestie and bashfulnes of the receiver for indeed such 〈◊〉 are not onely 〈◊〉 but costly Nulla res 〈◊〉 constat quam quae precibus emitur there 's nothing cost more then that which is obtained with much suit and petition And as it is cruelty to prolong the death of a condemned person and a kinde of 〈◊〉 as we say to rid him quickly out of his pain so the prolonging of a benefit tortures a man between hope and fear And therefore Duplex fit bonitas cum accedit celeritas minus decipitur cui negatur celerius that benefit is worth two that a man bestowes speedily and his expectation is lesse frustrate that hath a quick denial Therefore as he said Apage homines quorum lenta sunt beneficia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 away with those men that are quick to do one an injury but will consider on it before they will do you 〈◊〉 good for now prosunde odium simul instilla beneficium men will powre out their hatred all at once but a benefit must not be had but by degrees They must weary out a mans patience and then some little benefit Seneca saith well They must have longum
fed by the navil after the birth by the mouth And for that they say that we know not whether motus the motion or Movens the Mover were first and therefore no beginning can be proved we say That we can no more certainly affirm whether the systole or diastole the rising or the falling of pulse were first and yet we know that the pulse and the heart from whence it comes had a beginning and so say we of the motion and Mover Seeing then that of every thing a beginning there was it must needs be from one of these three 1. From Chance 2. Or from Nature 3. Or from God Reasons against Chance 1. From Chance it cannot be For if a man travail through a wildernesse or desert place and see a Cottage or Stye there in his own reason he would conceive that some body had been there to erect or set it up and that it came not to be there forte fortuito by chance If a man should see a circumference or a triangle as Aristippus did upon the sea shore he would soon imagine that some Artist or skilful man had drawn it and that it came not by Chance No more are we to ascribe the making of any thing to fortune For in our common talk the generation of things we attribute not to Chance but the corruption we call mischance As when we see a house burnt or the like we use to call it a mischance But things of generation and invention we ascribe to art or counsail In the Argonauts of Apollonius the silly Countrey-man that saw the first ship arrive at Colchos could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it had some skilful Pilot to guide it 2. In fortuitis or things by chance there can be no order observed no more then in casting of dice but in the world there is a most excellent order in all things except in the actions of men which are corrupt and confused 3. Chance and purpose can never agree for fortune is defined to be praeter propositum besides and contrary to purpose If a man do any thing of purpose it were absurd to say that he did it by chance But in the world there is a manifest purpose for there is an eye and that eye hath its object that object its line that line its medium and species and so a counsel and mutual destination So that it is not from Chance Reasons against Nature 1. The beginning was not from Nature If it were then all things must be reduced to it and there must be a naturall reason given for all things But this cannot be for the Philosophers cannot give a reason in Nature for the ebbing and flowing of the sea For the colours of the Rainbow The strength of the neither chappe which is able to knap in sunder even Iron it self and yet hath a very weak upholder For the heat of the stomach which consumeth any meat and yet hurteth not it self nor any parts about it and even the vertues they make them not all naturall but some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heroicall and coming from God 2. If nature were the beginning of all things then should nothing be done against nature because nothing can oppose it self against the chief cause And if nature had that power of it self to produce and set on work so excellent a frame as the world is it would be of as great force to preserve and continue its course But this it doth not for we know that the sun stood still at the command of Joshua against natures course and the sun had an Eclypse in the full of the moon against nature at our Saviours passion Seeing then that the beginnings come neither from Chance nor Nature it must neceslarily follow that all things had their beginning from God which we prove thus 1. All the Prophecies shew the same which foretel things to come in plain terms of which things there was no reason in nature as that of Cyrus a hundred yeers before his birth Of King Josiah three hundred yeers before he was borne And that of reedifying of Jericho five hundred years almost before it was repaired by Hiel and all these in iisdem terminis in the same words set down in those prophecies The orderly and artificial framing the Creatures at the Creation tells us plainly that Nature was not the beginning but God for even them whom neither miracles nor religion could move the most base and contemptible Creatures have astonished and confounded and drawn from them a confession of a supream and supernaturall power Plinie was astonished at the little Gnat that by her trunck makes so great a noise and saith that without a supream power above nature that creature could not have been so made The like he acknowledgeth upon the sight of the Butterfly And Galen after he had blasphemously treated of the most excellent parts of man when he came to one part of the least accompt falls into admiration of it and is constrained to name and confesse God and say that he hath sung hymnum Domino in describing it Now as we are taught by those things which are without us that there is a cause above Nature so likewise by the things that are within us For first we have a soul as we said before indued with reason and understanding immortal This soul then must either be the cause of it self or take its being from some other cause But of itself it is not the cause 1. Because it knoweth not itself neither any parts of the body but by Anatomy at omnis causa novit effectum every cause if it be reasonable knoweth its effect not onely after it is brought forth but before and by what degrees it is so produced Our father in begetting and our mother in conceiving know not what is begotten what is conceived but in causa principali necessario requiritur ut cognoscas effectum antequam existat dum est in producendo in the principal cause it is of necessity required that it know the effect before it be and while it is in producing 2. Again after we are brought forth we cannot command every part of us as thearteries and pulses that they beat not and therefore it is plain that we proceed not nor are causes of our selves but we are necessarily to seek a cause elsewhere For as there is none in the world that hath reason but man so none above reason but God And therefore Aristotle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reason cometh of a better thing then reason And the Poet Aratus is quoted to this purpose by Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are his generation 3. In our souls are certain sparks of the light of nature principles of undoubted and infallible truth as to honour our parents and superiours to do as we would be done unto to defend our selves from injuries to keep promise to hurt no man and the like without observing whereof no society
created fruit with the seed because we should not think seed alone to be the cause or means of fruit And we see in these dayes preferment cast upon some men that neither seek nor deserve it 3. We see also some effects wrought contrary to Nature As when Christ opened the eyes of him that was blinde with clay which naturally is more proper to put out the eyes then open them So likewise Elisha made the the salt water fresh and sweet by casting salt into it Josephs imprisonment was the means of his preferment And the unlearned Christians confounded the learned of their time Therefore the effects depende not on means or nature onely 2. not by chance Fortune hath not the command of the issue and event of war as some prophane men have given out Sors domina campi that Chance is the predominant Lady of the field but we Christians know that God is a man of war and fighteth for his servants and gives them victory or else for their sins and to humble them gives them into their enemies hands and maketh them Lords over them and the heathens themselves made their worthies Diomedes Vlisses c. prosperous by the assistance of some god and therefore in their stories vsually there went a vow before the war and after the victory performance In the very drawing of Lots which a man would think to be Chance of all other things we see it ordered some times by special providence against Chance so that it must be confessed that somewhat was above it as in the case of Jonathan and Jonas And therefore it is that the wiseman saith The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing of it is in the Lord. Hence the mariners in the ship where Jonas was vsed this casting of lots acknowledging a providence of God therein And upon that which they call Chance medley it cannot depend for there is also Providence Herodotus reports of Cambyses that being hated by his subjects for his cruelty the people not unwilling to have another vsurper in his absence it came to his ears he furiously alighting from his horse with entent to to have gone against the vsurper his sword fell out of the scabbard and run into his thigh or belly and killed him which this Heathen writer ascribes to Providence not to chance medley And the Philosophers conclude that chance is nothing else but an effect of causes far removed and if of them much more of things neer together which plainly are to be referred to the divine providence And it is a greater argument of providence to joyn things far asunder then those which are neerer and better known Therefore the various effects we see cannot be ascribed onely to Nature or Chance To all which might be added that unanswerable argument from the fulfilling of prophecies which necessarily proves a divine providence Thus we have seen that there is a Providence in general 2. That it worketh even when there are secondary causes 3. Now that this Providence reacheth and extendeth to particulars as it doth to generals and rewardeth each particular man is proved by Philosophy and reason thus 1. The philosophers make Providence a part and branch of Prudence and Prudence is a practical vertue and practical vertues have their objects in singularibus in particulars 2. Now it is certain that all the Attributes of God are every one of equal latitude and longitude His power is over all and extendeth to every thing for virtutis est maxime pertingere vel remotissima that is the greatest power that reacheth to things farthest off And his providence and goodnesse is of no lesse extent then his power 3. There 's no man but will confesse that it is a more commendable thing to provide for every particular then for the general onely And therefore it is that is storied for the commendation and honour of Mithridates who having many thousands in his army was able to call them all nominatim by their names then si quod melius est non agatur if the best be not done it must needs be out of some defect in the Agent but there 's none in God 4. Now for the rest of the Creatures If God have a care of heaven which hath not the use of its own light or motion but is to make inferiour things fruitful and cattle have use of herbs c. and man of cattle and all other things and the philosophers telling us that that which hath the use of all things is principal of all others man having the use of all must needs be principal therefore si sit providentia Dei in reliquas creaturas ut in principalem se extendat necesse est if the providence of God extend it self to the rest of the Creatures it necessarily follows that it extend it self to the principal 5. King David first considereth the glory of the Heavens then the eternity of them and wondreth how God could passe by those most glorious bodies and put the soul of man the most excellent creature into a most vile lump of clay and earth Man is the most excellent of all other of Gods artifice for other Creatures know not their own gifts The horse if he knew his strength would not suffer his rider upon his back therefore the occultation of the gift from that creature which hath it and the manifestation of it to man that hath it not is an argument that man is Gods Count-Palatine of the whole world and cannot be exempted from Gods providence 6 And this is that which made Saint Chrysostome in a godly zeal being displeased with man to say Appende te homo consider thy self well O man art not thou better then all creatures else Yet is Gods providence over the vilest of them and so from them to man and more especially to good men for if he have a providence and care of those that onely have his image by nature then where two images meet in one one of nature and another of grace by Christ much more for similitudo magnes amoris likenesse is the loadstone of love amoris providentia and providence of love If God care for all mankinde then much more for these who as it were hate themselves to love him those that lose themselves to finde him and that perish to live with him Therefore his providence is over particulars The second branch of this part hath two things considerable 1. That God is to be sought 2. That his providence is to reward them that seek and serve him 1. In the first place then God must be sought for facientis finis est ipsemet the end of the actor is himself and God being his own end it must necessarily follow that he wills all things for his own either profit honour or pleasure 1. For his profit we cannot seek him for none can redound to him from us 2. Nor for his pleasure for wherein can we pleasure him 3.
Therefore it must be for his honour for to that end did he create us that for his honour we should seek and serve him 2. The next is that he rewards such as seek and serve him Where there are two relatives there is a grounded mutual duty between them as between a father and a son love and obedience between man and wife mutual love between Master and servant care and service between the Creator and Creature providence and honour Now between God and his true servants that seek him faithfully there is reverence and love and reward for it And though we be but verna Domini Gods bond-men and are bound to keep his laws because he is our Legislator Law-maker yet he hath promised reward to them that keepe them and doth not as kings who give laws and yet give no rewards to them that keep them but punish the breakers of them Gods goodnesse is greater to us men And as God hath a reward for his children that seek and serve him so hath he retribution viz. punishment for them that neglect him and break his commandments which we might easily prove both by ancient and modern story So that we may conclude this point that Gods providence is manifest in rewarding the good And so much against the Epicure CHAP. VIII The four religions in the world Of Paganisme reasons against the plurality of gods That there can be but one God proved out of their own Philosophers That their religion was false How man came to be worshipped How Beasts Of the miracles and Oracles of the Gentiles THe next point to be handled is That the Scriptures of the old and new Testament are onely true and that all other either Oracles or Books of Religions besides those are false and erroneous The Apostle hath set this for a principle or ground That though there are 〈◊〉 that be called Gods But to us there is but one God And if but one God then but one true Religion In the search whereof we come into a Quadrivium or way that hath four turnings viz. the four principal religions of the world In which the greatest part of the world have sought God These are 1. That of the Heathen in America and in the East Indies and 〈◊〉 and in a great part of Tartary who worship the Creatures c. and this is called Paganisme 2. That of the Jews scattered through the world and this is called Judaisme 3. That of Turks and Saracens in Asia part of Africa and Europe and this we call Turcisme or Mahometanisme 4. That which Christians hold which is called Christianity Now seeing that according to the Apostles rule there can be but one true It rests to prove which of them is so The Amperours Embassador being at Constantinople with the grand Signior or great Turk and espying in a cloth of estate four Candlesticks wrought with four candles in them three whereof were turned upside down 〈◊〉 the sockets as if they were put out and the fourth of them burning with this Arabique inscription Haec est vera lux this is the true light questioned the meaning thereof and was answered That there were four Religions in the world whereof three were false and the other which was theirs was the true Let us therefore examine which is the true and which the false and first begin with 1. Paganisme And this had once spread it self over all the earth except one corner of Syria and it cannot be denied but that in the knowledge of arts policy and Philosophy the Heathen exceeded all other nations and their light shined that way brightest above others and that in these things we have all lighted our candle at theirs And yet as the wisest of us may wonder at them for their extraordinary naturall and humane knowledge so the simplest of us may laugh at them for their absurdities in the worship of God so dim hath their light burnt in matter of Religion The Apostle in the place last quoted hath two arguments against them to prove that there must needs be but one God and they erred because they had many gods many lords And indeed many they had Varro makes the number of them 30000 whereof there were 300 Jupiters besides a number called dii majorum gentium minorum dii tutelares tutelar gods c. and as S. Augustine speakeh Quis numerare potest the number was so great that no man could reckon them 1. He from whom al things are can be but one The reason is Inferiour causes are resemblances of superiour and they of the Highest but we see in all inferiour causes many branches come from one root many parts are ruled by one head many veins from one Master-vein and many rivers and chanels from one fountaine So in Superiour causes there are many causes from one as many lights from one and many motions from one motion therefore in the highest cause this unity must needs be after a most perfect manner 2. In quem omnia concurrunt in whom all things meet as lines in the center In the mutual order of nature all things depend upon one another Mutuus ordo in se invicem est propter conjunctum ordinem in uno that mutual order which is is from order joyned in one as all things flow from one so they return to one again Therefore one and but one God But their own reasons are sufficient to convince them for Pythagoras saith that there must be an infinite power in God else mans understanding should exceed its cause that is the Creator of it because it is able to comprehend and conceive a greater thing then its cause were it only finite for si potest as infinita est tum natura infinita quia accidentis capacitas non excedit capacitatem subjecti if the power be infinite the subject in which that power is must needs be also infinite because the capacity of the adjunct exceeds not the capacity of its subject And there can be but one infinite therefore but one God If we grant two infinites there must be a line to part them if so then they are both finite and have several forces and being divided cannot be so perfect as if they were joyned together and both one But there can be no imperfectnesse in God Therefore we cannot admit of two Gods Again as Lactantius argueth If there be two Gods and Gods attribute being omnipotency they must be both omnipotent of equal force and power or unequal If of equal then they agree or disagree if equal and both agree then is one of them superfluous but superfluity is excluded from the Diety If they disagree and be of unequal power then the greater will swallow up the lesse and so reduce all into one and so the lesser is not omnipotent and by consequent no god And howsoever the Heathen outwardly held Polytheisme or many Gods because they durst do no other in policy to maintain and uphold their Common-wealths
by divers of their own writers 2. And if their fabulous part come short of our religion for Antiquity then much shorter must that part needs be which is true For Varro who lived not above fifty years before our Saviours time saith that the true Story of the Heathen could not be derived above 700 yeers before his time And it is sure that the most ancient records of theirs which are true began with the seven wise men of Greece of whom Solon was the chief and most ancient and he was contemporary with Croesus he with Cyrus and Esdras with him Now Esdras was one of the last Canonical writers of the old Testament So that we may safely conclude this against the Heathen religion that almost the whole story of the Bible was written before any authentique writer or record was extant of the Heathen story and most part of it was written before the fabulous part of it was delivered to them in writing Their ancientest Historiographer is Herodotus who beginneth his story with the acts of Croesus By all which we may plainly perceive that Christian Religion is of farre greater antiquity then the Heathen This also we may adde that whatsoever is either good or true in their Religion was had from the Jewes For the Druides among the Gauls and the Bardi an offspring of them derive all theirs from the Greeks as also the Romans and the Greeks from Cecrops an Egyptian as also the Carthaginians from Cadmus a Phoenician Now Phoenicia bordereth northward upon Jury and Egypt southward So that all that was good in the Heathen Religion must be derived from the Jews The wise men of Greece enquiring of their Oracles how they might get wisdom and from whence the knowledge of arts was to be had received this answer that it was to be had from the Chaldees Solus utique Chaldeus sapiens the Chaldean was truely the onely wise man Which speech in the Greek idiotisme denoteth some particular part of the Chaldeans which was the Jews For Abraham coming from Chaldea was reputed a Chaldean and the Jewes from him were termed Chaldeans Orpheus also the Poet saith that when God being angry with mankinde had destroyed all he revealed all knowledge and wisdom uni Chaldeo ' to one Chaldean onely And Plato in his Epimenides referred all learning uni Barbaro If we enquire who by this Chaldeus or Barbarus was meant the Egyptians tell us by calling him Theut which in the Chaldee language signifies a stranger which in all probability must be applied to Abraham who was by God called out of Chaldea And Eusebius out of Manetho testifies that Abraham was had in such reverence in those parts that their chiefest Exorcisms were wont to be per deum Abraham by the god Abraham And the same Manetho alledgeth that in many places of those countreys in their Temples and elswhere his name was written and engraven for memory of him Again the verses of Phocylides the Poet who lived in the fifty ninth Olympiad seem to be translated verbatim out of the Law of Moses and may be particularly pointed at in Deuteronomy Numbers and Exodus But to examine their own records Plutarch saith that Solon fetched all his wisdom from the Egyptians and Plato his from Chaldea Strabo saith that Pythagoras had daily conference in Mount Carmel and that in that mount were ambulachra Pythagorea Pythagoras walks and there be some of the Heathen that report him to be circumcised Eusebius saith out of one Clearchas a Peripatetick that though Aristotle were never in Egypt yet he daily conser'd with an Egyptian or a Jew And Demetrius Phalereus that was Librarie keeper of Ptolomeus Philadelphus in Egypt told him that he heard the Disciples of Aristotle say that divers Philosophers and Poets had attempted to translate the Old Testament into Greek And in the same book in the Epistle of Aristobulus it is said that part thereof was translated before the Persian Empire began long before it was translated by the Septuagint or seventy men But it appeareth that it hath pleased God in a most strange manner to leave some Register or Chronicle in every famous Nation of it as among the Egyptians Manetho Sanchoniathon among the Phoenicians Berosus among the Chaldeans In Asia Minor Rabbi Abidelus among the Persians Megasthenes c. In Herodotus we shall finde the storie of Sennacherib the edict of Cyrus and almost the whole prophecie of Daniel though somewhat corrupted It is storied by Josephus that Alexander being to travail towards Persia and hearing that the Jews denyed to pay him tribute and for some other affronts as he conceived came towards Jerusalem with purpose utterly to destroy the Jews Whereupon Jaddua the High Priest in his rich and white ornaments accompanied with other Priests met him in the way Assoon as Alexander cast his eye 〈◊〉 Jaddua and remembred that in a vision he had seen one in all resemblance like 〈◊〉 him who had encouraged him to attempt the conquest of the world and as 〈◊〉 he had been a God suddenly alighted and 〈◊〉 down worshipped before him but being admonished thereof by Parmenio he said he worshipped that God whose Priest he was and afterward when Jaddua had shewed him and expounded 〈◊〉 Prophecy concerning his Monarchy he gave large priviledges to the Jews and dismissed them honourably After his dayes by the means of Ptolemy in requital of the Interpreters pains taken in translating the Bible the Jews Religion was much propagated Laertius in the life of Epimenides saith that the Athenians consulting with the Oracle concerning the cause of a great plague among them were answered that they were not to sacrifice to their own gods as in the Acts but to another which was above theirs and had sent this plague among them and withal that they must appease him by Sacrifice But the plague neverthelesse continuing they sent again to know where they should sacrifice the answer was they should let the beasts go voluntarily and where they staid they should sacrifice The horses hereupon were turned loose with sacrifices upon their backs and they stayed in the street of Mars in a fair broad place where they built an Altar and dedicated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the unknown God The like is in the Roman story The Romans in memory of a victory obtained of their enemies erected a Temple to Bacchus calling it Templum pacis 〈◊〉 the everlasting Temple of peace And afterwards consulting with their Oracle how long it should continue received this answer Donec peperit virgo while a virgin should bring forth a child which because they conceived would never be they called it eternum But at the time when Christ was born in the shutting up of an evening the Temple fell to the ground of it self And thus much for the Antiquity of Christian religion and consequently for the truth of it according to the Maxime of Philosophers Quod primum id verum that is true which
their churches should be as rich as themselves To this purpose there is extant an Epistle in the second counsel of Nice of a noble man of Syria to one Nilus This great man had built a Church for the Christians and not content that it should remain onely with white walls determined to have all Gods creatures painted upon them and acquainting Nilus with his intent was perswaded by him to content himself with the simplenesse of the Christian Churches in other places but if he would needs have it painted I think saith he it were best to paint the story of the Bible for that will be more seemly and better then the pictures of birds and beasts c. So that one occasion was that in those times by reason of their wealth they desired to please their eyes 2. The other cause may be the idlenesse absence or ignorance of their Pastors as it is said in the same place of Paulinus Bishop of Nola in Campania who having occasion to travail into Syria and Egypt and having none to preach to his people till his return he thought good because he would have something to teach them in his absence to paint the whole story of the Bible on the walls of his Church so that their preachers were none other but painted walls But this is no way to be commended in him and the 〈◊〉 proved accordingly For it fell out that forwant of better teachers the people became ignorant and because their Pastors became but dumb Images therefore dumb Images became their Pastors And thus much for the four occasions of introducing Images This Commandment was divided in the beginning into 1. a Charge 2. and a Penalty The charge was two fold 1. Non facies thou shalt not make The manner must be of Gods prescribing 2. Non adorabis Thou shalt not worship That 's our behaviour In the first there is a restraint as well of the Exemplum or Sampler in these words sculptile or Imago as of the Exemplar the Pattern in these words In things above in the earth beneath or in the waters c. 1. The Example was of two sorts 1. Either particular and at that time most usual as Sculptile a graven Image and yet so as whatsoever else is of the same kinde whether fusile ductile or conflatile there were words in the Law to reach every one of them which was the cause that God so enlarged himself by thirteen words 2. Or secondly to remove all occasion of quarrelling God did expresse his meaning by the word or common name Temunah or Col-temunah all likenesse or similitude whatsoever which condemneth the Metaphysicall notions abstracted from all matter and in the matter all kinde of similitudes either Images Idols true or phantasticall are comprehended under the word Temunah as Arias Montanus and Pagnine testifie And for further exposition of this there was added the glosse of Moses and Christ one out of Deuteronomy and the other out of Saint John concerning the general restraint of this with diverse other reasons 2. Now for the Exemplar or pattern we shewed that the prohibition was necessary because there 's nothing but the brain of man had abused it to the dishonour of God as appeared in diverse things which men worshipped in Heaven in Earth and in the Waters Thence we came to the particular question about Images wherein we handled three points 1. what might be alledged out of the Scripture for them 2. Secondly what reasons there were for them 3. and lastly by what means and upon what occasions they were brought into the Church 1. For the first In the Rhemish Testament they can finde no one place in the New Testament for them but one and that in the Hebrews that over the Ark were the Cherubims and that is taken out of the Old Testament So that they must needs confesse there be none in the New And in the Old this of the Cherubims and that of the fiery Serpent is all they can shew for it Unto both which our answer may be as before and especially that which Tertullian hath that this is general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt not make any similitude They are priviledges and prerogatives which belong onely to God which we may do as well as the Israelites if we have the like command with them Generi per speciem non derogatur the species can derogate nothing from the genus If they can shew any prescript or command for worshipping of Images let them worship them Again the ends of both those examples were otherwise then theirs for the end of the Cherubim was not to represent God but onely to be in a place of the Tabernacle from whence God would give all his answers And the Brazen Serpent the end of it was to heal those which were stung with fiery serpents therefore these two places make nothing for the worshipping of Images Besides we see that when the brazen serpent began to be abused how Hezekiah dealt with it He brake in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made saith the text which sheweth plainly what little affinity it had with the Commandement And so had the Cherubims been used if they had been abused by the people but God had taken order for that for none could come unto them but the High Priest and he but once a year 2. For the Reasons they were said to be 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the affection of sense which was not onely in the Israelites but in the Apostles and in Moses himself I beseech thee saith he to God shew me thy glory but he obtained nothing but the sight of his back parts But this carnality is condemned by the Apostle not onely in respect of the people of God whom this affection caused to draw all thinges to Idolatry but even of the Heathen also S. Augustine saith that Varro observed many inconveniences in religion to arise by bringing in of Images and his reason was Deos facile posse in simulachrorum stoliditate contemni the gods might soon grow into contempt by the foolishnesse of Images We Likewise shewed that nimium too much was a broad way to superstition and that it was a vain assertion of theirs that there can be no nimium in religione no superfluity in religion Against which opinion S. Augustine opposeth and saith That we may as well bring a rock into the Church as other resemblances because that did represent Christ too 3. The last was by what means and occasions when and by whom Images were introduced into the Church This we shewed out of Irenaeus the Images of Christ and the Apostles by the Gnostiques the image of the Virgin Mary out of Epiphanius by the Collyridians The occasions were four 1. The policy of the Hereticks to make the Heathen more favourable and inclinable to them 2. Extraordinary grief for friends departed 3. The wealth of the Church 4. The idlenesse of
the Ministers These were said to be the causes of Images So much for the recapitulation CHAP. III. What the Romanists alledge out of the Fathers ancient Liturgies and Councels for Images Add. 13. Of S. Chrysostomes Liturgy Add. 14. Of the second Nicene Council The words mistaken in the capitular of Charls the great and in the Synod of Franckford and Paris Testimonies of the Fathers against Images NOw for the more full handling of this Question let us see what can be said further for Images out of the ancient Fathers and Councils Their Fathers are either true or counterfeit Their true Fathers are S. Basile and Eusebius only And that saying of Basile which deceived Aquinas and the Schoolmen is this That the honor due to the Abstract redoundeth to the Pattern and this speech Aquinas urgeth for honour to be done to Images But he speaketh there of this Conclusion that Christ is to be worshipped equally with the Father out of the Hebrews where Christ is called Character substantiae Patris the expresse Image of the Father and such an Image we acknowledge must be honoured and if they can shew us such another Image among theirs as Christ was of the Father we will accept of it and worship it The second that is urged is Eusebius in his 〈◊〉 to Paulinus Bishop of Tyre and in his Epistle to Constantia the 〈◊〉 set down in the second Council of Ephesus where he speaks of an Image of Christ set up by some of the Gentiles for the cure he wrought upon the Syrophoenician woman which maketh little for them for what reason is it to say That the Gentiles did honour Christ so therefore Christians ought to do the same besides it is plain that Eusebius was no Patron of Images through all his writings 1. Their counterfeit Fathers are 〈◊〉 Damasus and Chrysostome Out of Athanasius in a certain absurd book not his own but one that goes under his name they tell of a Crucifix that wrought miracles now it is easy to be known whether this book were his or not to any that shall read it nay at at the reading of one of the first periods he will say that it is so far from being made by Athanasius as that it was not written by any man of common sense 2. Such another is that of 〈◊〉 in his Pentificale in the life of Silvester There is no more to be said of this but Noveris oderis know them and you will never like them Read the Treatises themselves 3. Concerning Chrysostomes Liturgie Jewel observes in one passage An Emperor is prayed for by name that lived 600 years and moe after the death of Chrysostome for they prayed for Alexius the Emperor and Empresse who lived anno 1180 whereas Chrysostome died in the last year of the Emperor Arcadius which was anno 408. This shews that some things have been added to Chrysostomes 〈◊〉 in after times and that therefore this as all the other ancient Liturgies have been altered since their first composing but to deny the substance of it to be Chrysostomes is contrary to the testimony and practise of all the Greek Church and therefore was never intended by this learned Author who was a great honourer of Antiquity They have but one Council for them which is the second Nicene Council the gatherer whereof was Irene the Empresse She was a heathen borne daughter to an Emperour of Tartary nouzled up in Paganisme from her birth and afterwards matching with Leo the fourth Father to Constantine the Emperour she was converted and after the Emperour Leo's death in the minority of her son ruled with him and called this Council Constantine at the first seemed not to oppose her but after when he came to some understanding he refused to admit of Images but she being too potent for him cast him in prison and put out both his eyes whereby you may see that she was a woman without natural affection The chief men at this Council were Tarasius Patriarch of Constantinople and John Legate of the East Churches The first had bin a Lay man and a Courtier all his life till a year before the Council called and as he confest of himself never intended matter of religion till a yeer before and sor John we need no other witnesse for him but the testimony of the Patriarch of Antioch who sent him to the Council which was that he was a good devout man but of no great learning The like may be said of Theodosius and Constantine who ruled the Council and it may be truely averred that in any one Council there were never such a sort of simple men in respect of their gifts nor more evil disposed in regard of their boldnesse and attempts presuming above their gifts There is not in all Durands rationale scripturae worse alledged nor more fabulous narrations in the Legend then in this second Council of Nice There may be gathered out of it ten absurd conclusions and that which maketh up all there were in it such errours as they themselves could not defend In the fifth Action there is this conclusion That Angels have bodily substances and in another that Christ was born in the five thousand and first year of the world in another that Honorius the Pope was a Monothelite and therefore an Anathema denounced against him for which the Romanists cry out that the Council was corrupt in all those places Lastly the Council is ranker on their side and sayes more then they would Non sunt duae adorationes sed una eadem adoratur prototypus Idolum the adorations of Idols and prototypes are not two but one adoration And a worse then this Idem Imaginibus honor debetur qui beatae Trinitati the same honour is due to Images as is to the bles sed Trinity It is true the words of the Council are so recited in capitulam Caroli magni lib. 3. cap. 17. and that the Synods of Frankford and Paris thereupon condemned that opinion and that justly if they had held it but it is as true that they were deceived by a false translation of the Acts of the second Nicene Council into Latine wherein the words were so rendred when as indeed the words are as appears in the Greek Actione tertia Synodi suscipiens cum honore amplectans sanctas venerabiles imagines adorationem vero latriae soli superstantiali ac vivificae Trinitati defero which words are directly contrary to what was charged upon them by those Synods Now what may be said on our parts is this 1. First Aelius Lampridius a Heathen Historian reports that the Emperour Adrian in his affection to the Christians built a Temple for them according to the manner of the Romane Temples which was bare without ornaments having a roof to defend them from the injury of the weather onely which notwithstanding was afterward denyed to them by the Senate and grew into such contempt among the Heathen that
as most necessary to purge the Civil Body from evil persons as the Natural from evil and peccant humours God himself held this course in his Common-wealth It is often repeated by him in the Old Law Sic tolletis malum de medio Israelis so shall ye take away evil in Israel And S. Pauls rule also to the Corinthians in the case of Incest was Vos autem auferetis malume vobis therefore put away that evil person from among you If the evil must be removed it must be known Physitians cure not the disease they know not And if it must be known before it be cured surely the guilty will not by their good wills be the parties that shall discover it hide it as much as they can they will We see it plainly in the first offenders They were more carefull by farre how to conceal then how to avoid committing their fault And the like course take all Offenders ever since Besides we know that some transgressions especially are opera tenebrarum works of darknesse few or none come to the knowledge of them If then sin be to be removed and that cannot be done if not known and not to be discovered but from the Delinquents in respect of the secrecy and they not willing to discover them and that though some may take notice of them yet they will be loth to accuse because it is accounted to be an odious office to be accusator fratrum an accuser of the brethren what course then remains to finde out evil that it may be removed but the Magistrates power who are Gods Delegates to enquire Now God himself hath set them a pattern how this enquiry should be made who though nothing be hid from his all-seeing eyes and that he knoweth all things without any set form of Inquisition yet to prescribe us a form hath taken this course In the case of Adam upon suspition because of his fleeing into a Thicket And of Eve who upon Adams examination was found to be particeps criminis accessory by way of detection without accusation God thought fit to enquire of both In the case of Abels murther which was evident enquiry was made by God upon presumption because Cain had borne malice to Abel and being examined his countenance bewrayed him In that of the Sodomites upon a fame Clamor est multus the crye is great God will go down and enquire And this is warranted by God not onely by his own example and practise but by his command too in two places of the Law If thou shalt hear and If it shall be told thee of such and such a fault then thou shalt enquire and make search and ask diligently c. the proceedings must be perscrutando interrogando by interrogatories ministred to the party upon whom the fame went Under the Gospel also in the case of incest The Apostle layeth for his ground It is reported commonly among you So that if there be no accuser yet the Judge by Gods example and commandment and the practise of the Church is ex officio of duty to search out offences upon some or any of these grounds mentioned The next question is how shall the Judge interrogate whether upon the bare word of the party or whether may he lawfully minister an oath to finde out evil that it may be taken away In a sin against the seventh Commandment in the case of a woman suspected to deal falsly with her husband and that upon no other ground but her husbands jealousie the Judge was authorized to examine her upon oath and to make her abjure it by execration In a case against the eighth commandment between man and man If the one were perswaded that the other had falsified his trust he might convent him before the Judge who at the Plantiffs instance was to put the Defendant to his oath And so it seems to hold in the case of things found belonging to another man And in an action of trespasse the like As also in a case of Matrimony and usury upon promise of restoring part to the brethren who were in need and want Before the Law the first oath we finde given was that of Abraham to his Servant for his true dealing in a marriage for his son I will make thee sware saith the text The same form in administring an oath did 〈◊〉 use to 〈◊〉 concerning his burial Another oath we see given by 〈◊〉 to Esau concerning his birth-right If then this course of proceeding between man and man be allowed then much more a fortiori from a stronger ground in cases tending to the publick good Before the Law of Moses in the Patriarchs time In a matter of state 〈◊〉 charged his ten brethren as spies and without an accuser put them to their tryal So after it In the case of Elias who was suspected to be the cause of the long and great drought The King caused a search to be made for him all the land over so apprehend him and no mans denyal of him would serve but he put them to their oaths But in cases that concern the life of the party suspected the tendring an oath would seem hard For we see in the case of Achan where the thing concerned his life 〈◊〉 said not to him Swear to me but tell me what thou hast done And in that of 〈◊〉 unwittingly transgressing his fathers rash adjuration Saul said tell me what thou hast done not swear to me And so K. Zedekiah to 〈◊〉 I will ask of thee a thing hide nothing from me All these by interrogatories onely without the tie of an oath For as the Devil in Jobs case answered God Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life And therefore to avoyd perjury an oath in these cases would be spared Besides publick oathes judicially taken there are oathes private and voluntary which may lawfully be vsed And this is warranted by the example and practise of the Saints of God as Saint Paul God is my witnes whom I serve in truth c. and lines by whom this kinde and manner of invocation or calling God to witnes hath ever bin accounted to have been equivalent to an oath Philo saith it among oothers Jusjurandum est tectificatio dei de re controversa it is no other but an attestation of God to what we aver And of this sort of oathes you have many in scripture As in the Covenant between Laban and Jacob and of that between the Elders of Gillead and Jopthah The Lord be witnes between us An d of Saint Paul I say the truth in or by Christ. And I call God to witnes or for a record upon my soul that to spare you c. And God is my record how greatly I long after you all So also the Angels and God himself as was touched before And
theevs and this is to love with judgement when though there is no other motive of love in the party yet we love him propter 〈◊〉 for God for when a man loveth a friend he loveth him propter aliud quam Deum for some other cause then for God alone but when he loveth his enemy there is no other cause but propter Deum for God onely Again when our love is ad 〈◊〉 onely to our friend it is debilis 〈◊〉 weak and slight work for as Christ saith if we love them that love us what great matis this the Heathnes and publicans do the like therefore God would have our love to be like his stretcht out usque ad 〈◊〉 to those that are fardest from us to our very enemies as he doth when he causes the sun to shine and the raine to fall upon the good and bad And this is no such hard matter as flesh and blood would make it Saint Augustine saith Dices non possum vigilare non possum jejunare numquid dices non possum 〈◊〉 perhaps thou wilt say I cannot watch nor I cannot fast but wilt thou say I cannot love And this indeed is a point of special consideration because it makes a difference betwixt the love of Christians and the love of Heathen for our love to men must flow from the fountain of our love to God Take away propter Deum and then as Saint 〈◊〉 saith our Christian vertues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common and vulgar such as were in the Heathen our fortitude nothing but the fortitude of Socrates and so of other vertues wherin ours and theirs differ in nothing but in this propter Deum for God And therefore our 〈◊〉 rule must be according to Saint Gregories excellent direction 〈◊〉 rinus justitiae 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 pietatis The river of our righteousnesse towards men must have 〈◊〉 original from the fountain of piety to God that is that our love to our brother must arise from our love to God and though we see how our love must be guided by our judgement in the cause or ground of it propter Deum for God And as our judgement must be rectified that we are not in the cause so consequently our affection which followes the understanding must be right and herein though we are not tyed to that high measure which was in Saint Paul who wished himself 〈◊〉 from Christ for his brethrens sake viz. for the salvation of the Jews yet thus far we are bound as to desire their salvation with our own and to will the same good to them that we will to our selves and to nill the same evill to them which we nill to our selves and consequently there must be those works or fruits of love mentioned by the Apostle which as they refer to our neighbour are especialy three 1. The first is Joy That as we wish our neighbours good so when any good hath befallen him we be glad and rejoyce at it yea after Saint Barnards rule gandere in bono alieno magno magis quam in proprio parvo rejoyce 〈◊〉 in the greater good of our neighbour then in the lesser good of our own Opposite to this is if either we repine that any should come to the participation of the same good which we possesse which is one part of envy and was the fault of the unfaithful 〈◊〉 in the Gospel that did not occupy his masters talent or if we stand thus affected that if we have it not our selves we will not be content that any other should have it And of this part of envy is it that Saint Chrsostom speaks thus 〈◊〉 pestiferum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in diabali conditionem in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Per 〈◊〉 venit in mundum propter ipsam Abal est interemptus c. Envy is a most pestilent evil it turnes and transformes a man into the nature of a most cruel devil By it came 〈◊〉 into the world for it was Abel stain It was the envy of 〈◊〉 toman which made him seek 〈◊〉 fall because he would have 〈◊〉 in better estate then himself And in this respect it is that S. Augustine said Invidia vitium Diabolicum quo solo Diabolus reus est inexpiabiliter reus Non 〈◊〉 Diabolo dicitur 〈◊〉 damnetur adulterium commisisti furtum fecisti villam alienam rapuisti sed homini stanti invidisti Envy is a Devillish vice of which onely the Devil is guilty and 〈◊〉 without expiation for it is not said to the Devils damnation Thou 〈◊〉 committed adultery or thou hast stollen or thou hast violently seized on anothers possessions but this is objected to him Thou hast envied man in his Innocency 2. The next is Peace a desire of agreement with our Neighbour plainly prescribed by the Apostle Have peace with all men And if at any time there happen a breach we should not pertinaciter aggredi obstinately set upon one another for this is the badge of Sathans Disciples as S. Gregory saith Si Dei 〈◊〉 filii qui pacem faciunt procul dubio Satanae sunt silii qui pacem confundunt If they which are the Authors of peace be called the sons of God without question they are the Devils children which disturb it When Christ came into the world the Angels sung at his birth Glory to God and peace on earth and yet himself saith I came not to send peace but a sword To reconcile which places we must conceive it to be discordia in 〈◊〉 war against that which is evil which Christ speaks of in that place for as Nazianzen well saith Melior est talis pugna quae Deo proximum facit quam pax illa quae separat a Deo that dissention is better which makes a man come 〈◊〉 to God then that peace which separates him from God Therefore as a Father saith As there is nothing more to be wished for then concordia in bono agreement in that which is good and nothing more to be laboured against then discordia in bono disagreement in the 〈◊〉 so nothing more to be desired then disagreement in evil and nothing more abominable then agreement in that which is bad And as our Saviour pronounceth them blessed that are Peace-makers in good so are they no lesse blessed that are Peace-breakers in evil that make discord in evil and they are no less the children of God then the other and threfore peace with hereticks and Schismaticks must not be held though in lesser matters which trench not upon the foundations of faith worship or government difference of opinions may be allowed For there may be a 〈◊〉 or disagreement allowable in questions and disputations that touch not upon those foundations and so that it go not so far as to trouble the peace of the Church but that the unity of the spirit be kept in the bond of peace For as S. Gregory
societies we must first speak of those that govern and teach in schools and universities and of the honour due to them 1. That the first sort come within this Commandment appears out of that Chapter of the 2. of Kings where the sons of the Prophets call 〈◊〉 Master and that a Master should be a Father it is in the same Chapter confirmed for Elisha called Elijah My father my father c. The very like to which we finde among the Heathen who had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Physitians and the sons of the Physitians their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Philosophers and their sons of the Philosophers answerable to the Prophets and the sons of the Prophets And as Elisha a Prophet calls Elias father so 〈◊〉 a Prince brought up under Elisha calls Elisha father because of the benefit which comes by them to the Common-wealth as well as to the Church in which regard they are fathers to both and for that cause they have 〈◊〉 from both And therefore to justifie Colledge livings and their other endowments we finde the first fruits which belonged ordinarily to the Levites bestowd upon Elisha and the Prophets because they were beneficial to the Church which was their principal and first end and likewise that great presents and gifts were bestowed upon them by the civil Ruler because of the benefit to the Common-wealth in the second place as by Hazael sent by Benhadad king of Syria to the same Elisha And the principal scope of God in this was 1. That the Law as the Prophet speaks might be sealed among the disciples that so it might be kept among them sacred and inviolate though some among them sometimes by negligence of Rulers will set counterfeit seals upon it for as S. Peter speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlearned men sometimes pervert the law and among the learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unstable men that is floating shallow headed Scholars who are not grounded and setled though learn'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do pervert the law and break the seal against both these viz. men unleardned and floating unstable men God hath bound and sealed it up among grounded Scholars that it might not be perverted 2. And secondly that men hereby might be fitted for publick employment in the Church and Commonwealth The Scripture expresses it by carving and polishing 〈◊〉 per Prophetas I have carved them which is improperly translated I have hewen them by the Prophets as a piece of wood or stone is carved and polished by the hand of the Artificer For there is naturally in men caecitas cordis as the Apostle speaks the taking away whereof is a special part of this function the manner we may best see by Balaams speech who saith he was a man born clausis oculis blinde in understanding as all men are brutish in knowledge as the Proph. 〈◊〉 hath it but afterwards audiendo verbum by hearing the word he came to knowledge and so ad visionem to have his eyes a little opened and then he was 〈◊〉 oculatior somewhat better sighted And hereupon it was that they which were afterwards called Prophets were at first called Seers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speculantes seers in a glasse from which word Tsophim it is very probable the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wise men came because such could see afar off and plainly it is said of some when they prophesied mutabantur in alium virum they were changed into other men as it is said of Saul when the spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied It makes a man wiser then when he was born and fit for church or Common-wealth For the institution of this we finde about the time when the law was given that God appointed not onely Moses but the seventy Elders to be placed about the Tabernacle to be taught by Moses for that is meant by taking of the spirit of Moses and putting it upon them and then they prophesied So that there was a kinde of Vniversitie about the Tabernacle for when one teacheth another the Jews call it a taking of the spirit and putting it on him And by the word Prophesie was not meant at first prediction or foretelling things to come onely for neither the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do 〈◊〉 signifie more then to teach and instruct or declare to others As it is in the Prophet I create the fruit of the lips peace that 〈◊〉 by having learning to bring peace For as he saith God gave him the tongue of the learned that he might know how to speak a word in season to the weary Esay 50. 4. And as the Wise man The mouth of the just shall prophesie that is shall bring forth wisdom for that other gift which was to foretell things to come was bestowed upon men afterwards to oppose the sorcerers sooth-sayers and Augurs c. among the Heathen and was extraordinary And it is plain by that of the Apostle that prophecie at the first was taken for teaching He that prophesyeth speaketh unto men to edification exhortation and comfort and if by prophesying were meant onely foretelling or prediction then we were in an ill case now having none that can foretel things to come seeing the Wise man saith Dempta prophetia perit populus where there is no prophecie the people perish And this it was which the Prophets did by their ordinary function viz. teach and instruct but when it pleased God to shew them things to come it was extraordinary When the Elders were thus placed about the Tabernacle the Levites and certain called Nazarites were added to them and of these two sorts consisted their Colledges when they came into the land of promise for before they were about the Tabernacle and therefore it is said of Josbua who was so good a student that no Prophet or Levite could compare with him and therefore having profited so well Moses at his death chose him for his Successor by Gods appointment That he departed not out of the Tabernacle Being come into the land of promise they sound a City well situated which was Kirjath-Sepher a city of books which Joshua that it might not be thought they came to their knowledg by the books of the Heathen but by divine assistance and studying the law of God called Debir which is 〈◊〉 When this city was not sufficient they had three other places Mizpeh Bethel and Gilgal As also Gibeah Elohim i. c. mons Dei 1 Sam. 10. where two things may be observed 1. That the land was called the land of Tsuph from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speculatores or Seers of which we spake before which the Thargum expousds to be Ramah Prophetarum And 2. that when Saul prophesied being not brought up in the schools of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it steales away the understanding We have experience of it in Solomon we see what fottishnes he grew into after this sinne had taken hold of him even to fall down to every block and stock 〈◊〉 by this fell into murder and to cover one sinne with another And it is just it should be so for the light of our Actions coming 〈◊〉 God and our annoynting coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 faith from Gods annoynting he will not commit this oyntment to such a stinking box They are like swine that trample this pearle of understanding under feet 3. The third is 〈◊〉 Of all sinnes this is most inexcusable because other sins may have some colour or excuse but this hath none because God having ordained a remedy for this which is marriage he that will not use that remedy is without excuse 4. The fourth is that whereas God hath been pleased to make marriage a holy institution and a holy resemblance of the union betwixt Christ and his Church it is a manifest contempt of the ordinance of God and not onely that but whereas God hath added this 〈◊〉 to marriage that thereby mankinde should be encreased on the contrary by this meanes they bring the curse of barrennes threatened against whoredome they shall commit whoredome saith the Prophet but not encrease So that they go about as much as in them lieth to destroy the race of mankinde and therefore 〈◊〉 calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in genus 〈◊〉 sacrilegious breakers of wedlock and trespassers against mankinde for not onely the world 〈◊〉 the worse for these courses which would soon bring it 〈◊〉 an end but also it takes away the resemblance between Christ and his Church in holy mariage 5. It is against a mans own body For as Saint Paul argueth every sinne which a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the body but he that committs fornication 〈◊〉 against his own body and that both by defiling it so that as Saint 〈◊〉 saith the garments are spotted by the flesh as also by weakning and decaying it for as the Physitians say the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 humor the generative 〈◊〉 is a special cause of preserving the life of a man and there is nothing brings greater debility to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the radical moysture is consumed and the life shortned then this sinne besides that it brings rottennes to the bones and breeds many 〈◊〉 diseases as daily experience shewes like that water of jelousy under the law or cursed water which if 〈◊〉 woman had defiled her husbands bed caused her belly to swell and her thigh to rot 6. And it is not onely against a mans own body but against others also for it hath this peculiar to it that whereas in other sinnes a man may 〈◊〉 solus perish alone in this he must have one to perish with him for company There is duplex 〈◊〉 a double murther committed by this one finne 7. It is injurious to Christ two wayes 1. He hath bought us and paid a price for us Now if we shall alienate that which is not our own we do as if we should pull down another mans house nay 〈◊〉 Regis as 〈◊〉 the Kings Palace to which we have no right 2. And not onely so but being Christians and Christ our head and we the members if we unite our selves to a harlot do we not 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 est as much as we can bring Christ to be the head of a 〈◊〉 8. Lastly if all these will not move us then let us consider the punishment of it Shall I not visit saith God by the prophet for these things yes surely he will 〈◊〉 and punish and that many 〈◊〉 1. It is a punishment it self for as Solomon saith those whom God hates shall fall into this sinne such as he hath ordained for punishment shall be punished with this sinne 2. It is maxime probrosum peccatum a sin that makes a man most infamous it brings a reproach never to be wiped off 3. It brings a man to beggery for by a whorish woman a man is brought to a morsel of bread yea the adulteresse will hunt for the precious life and Job saith it is a fire that will consume to destruction and will root out all a mans increase 4. Beyond all these whereas every punishment should exceed that whereof it is a punishment the Apostle tells us that those uncleane lusts which the heathens where given up to were punishments for their Idolatry 〈◊〉 that this sinn seems to exceed in some case that of Idolatry And therefore the same Apostle saith that if a woman be married to an Idolater or unbeleever and will dwell with him she may but he saith not so for an adulterer Idolatry doth not so neerly dissolve the bond of marriage as adultery And again the children of an Idolater or unbeleever if the one party be a beleever are holy and are received into the covenant as members of the Church but the seed of Adulterers is prophane a bastard must not enter into the congregation not to the tenth generation By these reasons well weighed we may in part conceive what account God makes of this sinne We come now to the particular branches referring to this sin already mentioned CHAP. III. Of the degrees of this sinne 1. The first motions or cogitationes ascendentes 2. Suppuratio the festering of it inwardly 3. subactum solum the fitting of the soyle which is 1. By excesse 2. By Idlenes Exc esse is 1. by gluttony the effects of it Opposite to which is the vertue of temperance which consists in modo in measure which respects 1. The necessity of life 2. Of our calling 3. Of pleasure and delight wherein are 5. Rules 1. For the substance of our meat 2. For the quantity 3. For the quality 4. Not to eate too greedily 5. Not too often 2. Of excesse in drinking in what cases wine is allowed ANd first for the inward cause the malignant vapours arising in the heart which we called the poyson of our nature that inbred concupiscence and those first motions and the 〈◊〉 ascendentes we shall forbeare to speak of them till we come to the tenth commandment and here we will speak in the second place of that which we call suppuratio or the festering of it which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burne and the Prophet illustrateth by a similitude As an oven heated by a Baker so is an Adulterer though we see no sparks without yet there 's a great heate within Solomon saith of him cor ejus loquitur perversa his heart uttereth perverse things though outwardly he saith nothing Saint Augustine saith Ego domine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum cogitationes meaenon 〈◊〉 Lord I oftentimes hold my peace when my thoughts within me are not silent And so when the oven waxeth hotter and hotter then cometh consensus
ones have been slain by her Or else Praeludia Previous actions that bring on the outward act As 1. Amplexus impudicus Immodest imbraces imbracing the bosom of a stranger impurum osculum an unchaste kisse The Harlot in the Proverbs had a stronge or impudent face she caught him the young man and kissed him 2. Touching with the hands those parts that ought to be kept secret the woman was to be put to death that puts forth her hand c. though it were to deliver her Husband from those that strove with him 3. By making them drunk that they may discover their nakednesse And above all these there are some things in naming whereof the Apostle is at a stand and saith that there are some things which he wrappeth in silence of which it is a shame even to speak Against these is opposed the vertue called 〈◊〉 shamefastnesse The Apostle saith God hath not called us unto uncleannesse but ad sanctimoniam to purity and holinesse and that every one ought to 〈◊〉 his vessel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sanctification and honour and instead of giving our selves to those things we ought to think upon such things as are honest and pure For as S. James tels us The wisdom which is from above is pure in the first place and therefore God took order under the Law that such unseemly parts might not be seen which Cham seeing and not turning away had a curse pronounced against him We come now to speak of the act it self Within the act of incontinency are comprehended 1. That with ones self which the Apostle cals 〈◊〉 or self pollution or defiling of ones own flesh or filthinesse of the flesh opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holinesse he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this defiling of the flesh 2 Cor. 7. 1. 1 Thess. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lust of uncleannesse which includes the act for the act of this sin is nothing else but the bringing forth of those inward lusts But more plainly S. Peter calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lust of uncleannesse or the desire of polluting with which Jude speaking of wicked men saith Sopiti inquinant carnem these filthy Dreamers defile the flesh and not onely their flesh but their garments are polluted also and such hatred he would have against this sin that we should not onely hate the sin but even the garment spotted and defiled with it For besides the diseases and weaknesse which it brings upon the body it likewise by polluting the body is opposite to our Baptisme in which there is an outward washing of the body as well as an inward of the soul. Now because of these words of S. Iude here falleth in this particular Nocturna pollutio nightly pollutions If it be therefore 1. By reason of infirmity and weaknesse of nature 2. Or Ex 〈◊〉 vasorum from the fulnesse of the spermatick vessels 3. Or upon the laxitas partium loosenesse or dissolution of those parts upon violent exercise or heat by hard riding c. and not proceeding from lust in these and the like cases it is no sin yet with this proviso that though it proceed from some or all of these causes there be ingrata recordatio a regret and sorrow in remembring it otherwise it will be imputed as a sin but if it being not in his thought seed passe from him against his will and without his knowledge if he be grieved at it when he feeleth or knoweth of it in that case it is no sin But on the other side if a man be given to drunkennesse or other excesse and by reason thereof it issue from him though it be not sin ratione actus 〈◊〉 by reason of the act subsequent which is involuntary there being no purpose to commit the sin yet it is a sin and liable to punishment ratione actus praecedentis by reason of the precedent act that is drunkennesse for that which is not voluntary in the act may yet be voluntary and therefore sinful in the cause and thus if from surfetting there come 〈◊〉 seminis this is a sin or if by often rolling of wanton cogitations in the day time it be procured in the night or that willingly by day 〈◊〉 night he spill his seed as Onan did it is a great offence in Gods sight The Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncleannes the fathers Mollitiem effeminatenesse and the law termes it the sin of Onan and the censure of it is it was exceeding wicked in Gods eyes 2. If it be cum alio with another then comes Bestiality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abomination not to be named buggery with a beast forbidden by the law and punished with death both of man and beast and not onely with the death of the body but with that of the soul too Without shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abominable buggerers They which make a confusion as it is called between themselves and beasts shall be brought to worse then a beastly confusion in the end 3. If it be with mankinde it is either with consent of both parties and then it is a sin in both or if either party whether male or female be forced by violence and seeketh to resist but cannot that party is innocent but the enforcer committs a double sinne one in the violence which is against the former commandment and the other in the very act 〈◊〉 against this and therefore by the law he was to die 4. Of those that yield consent they are either males or females for so strong and strange is our concupiscence that any thing is sufficient to stir up the coals and kindle it and the heathen could say Quod in foeminis sexus facit id facit in puero aetas that which the sexe causeth towards women the age causeth towards boyes Thou shalt not lie with mankinde as with womankinde saith the law and why for it is an abomination And the offenders against this law are to be punished with death There are two reasons for it 1. It is an unfruitful worke of darknesse and contra bonum prolis against the benefit of procreation which is one of the principal ends of matrimonie 2. It is also against nature altogether unnatural the natural use being in the other sex therefore the Apostle makes it the signe of a reprobate minde And not onely a sin in it self but a punishment also of other sins For for this sin it was that God himself came down and sate in judgement against the five Cities which plot of ground is an unprofitable Sea to this day called Mare mortuum the dead sea because it nourisheth no living thing in it and it is also called Lacus Asphaltites of the unfruitfulnesse of it answerable to the sterility of this sin 5. With the
where you have not laboured he sheweth that there is power to convey not onely our lands but also our labours to others who may hold them by a good tenure 1. Donatione 2. Haereditate 1. By gift And 2. By inheritance 3. By industry and pains a man may have a right to those things which he hath neither by gift nor inheritance and that in a threefold consideration viz. In respect of his 1. Labour 2. Peril or hazard 3. Cost or charges which he may lawfully value in any contract as in buying and 〈◊〉 1. In respect of his labour Therefore Laban told Jacob It was no reason he should serve him and labour for him though he were his brothers son and have nothing and therefore saith he tell me what shall be thy wages Whereby it plainly appears that labour requires Compensationem a recompence Our Saviour saith Dignus est operarius mercede The labourer is worthy of his hire There is a rule of equality to be observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle that there may be an equality So there is an equality between opus merces the labour and the reward and therefore God commands that the wages of the labourer be not detained and if it be detained it is peccatum clamans a crying sin So that he is a thief who detains the reward of him that takes pains for him 2. In respect of his peril and hazard which may be estimated and so ought to be Caleb made Proclamation that whosoever can get Kiriath Sepher which was a well fenced City and hard to be won should be rewarded and when Othniel won it he had his daughter for a reward The same course took Saul when Goliah the Philistim came to defie Israel he that will venture upon that Philistim 〈◊〉 be my son in law and shall marry my daughter c. and when David slew the Philistim he had Sauls daughter The like we finde about Jebus which held out against David He that getteth Jebus shall be Captain of the host whereupon Joab went up 〈◊〉 and was made Captain And for this cause it is that because the Merchants 〈◊〉 is greater then the Husbandmans because the one ventures onely his seed the other his estate and life therefore his gains ought to be greater 3. In respect of his cost and charges Thus Joseph having been at charges in laying up corn and providing houses for Granaries and furnishing himself with more 〈◊〉 was needful for 〈◊〉 alone onely in bonum publicum for the publick good might therefore sell the corn at a price answerable to his charges which they call multiplicem usuram a multiplied usury and so we finde God allotted to Cyrus when he gave him all the kingdoms of the earth that which they call usum preciosum a most rich reward Besides these three which arise from Industria industry and pains there are two more 1. Damnum or Detrimentum dammage or losse For if a mans beast feed in another mans field or vineyard he shall make satisfaction 2. Money which is praetium indeed for money answereth all things and so God appointed that it should be the ground and measure of buying and selling under the law and gave rules accordingly in buying and selling These things premised we come to that in which is Furtum occultum close theft which is either in contracts or out of contracts In contracts theft is committed either about things which cannot or ought not to be sold or about things which may be lawfully bought and sold. 1. In contracts of the first sort a man may commit theft When that is sold which cannot be sold because it cannot be valued being of a higher nature then gold or silver as the grace of God or gifts of the Spirit When Simon Magus would have bought the gift of the holy Ghost s. Peter abhorring his motion said Thy money 〈◊〉 with thee this ever since had the denomination of Simonie from him 2. Of the like nature to spiritual things which cannot be valued for money and therefore cannot be sold are also those which are annexed to spiritual things and therefore cannot be transferred but to those which have those spiritual things as cure of souls right of receiving tithes c. which are annexed to the order of Priesthood and therefore cannot be sold. To this Head may be referred the converting of things to a common or 〈◊〉 use for gain c. which are consecrated and appropriated to sacred and spiritual uses Such theft was committed by them that bought and sold in the Temple a place appointed for prayer and divine worship whom our Saviour drove out of the Temple and tels them they made the house of God a den of theeves For though it were lawful for some to sell and others to buy what they needed for sacrifices or offerings in the Temple yet to buy and sell in that place consecrated to God which they did thereby to get the greater price was unlawful and therefore Christ cals it theft And as Simonie is committed thus in re sacra in selling of holy things so there is a kinde of Simonie in selling of Justice which is a sacred thing and therefore s. Augustine and s. Ambrose say that Quid dabitis mihi ut faciam justitiam what will you give me to do justice is all one with Quid dabis mihi ut vendam tibi Deum what will you give me to sell God to you Therefore the Prophets cry out against these that justifie the wicked for a reward and against Judges that ask reward And we see this sin in the Apostles times Foelix hoped for monie from S. Paul to acquit him A third thing to be comprehended under Selling that which cannot be sold is the selling of gratuita beneficentia what ought to be freely and liberally given without reward Thus for an Usurer to sell the loan of money is Vitiosus contractus an unlawful contract The Psalmist makes it a note of a good man to lend freely and our Saviour bids us lend freely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking for nothing again and that we may not think we shall be losers he addes your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the highest Gratuitum mutuum loan and no hope of recompence must go together Hee that doth inscribere pretium liberalitati set a price upon his liberality corrupts the vertue For as Donatio liberalis est alienatio sine omni mercede in aeternum Giving is a free alienation of our right to a thing for ever without recompence so Mutuatio est liberalis alienatio sine omni mercede ad tempus Lending is a free alienation of a thing for a time without any recompence both lending and giving ought to be free A good man is merciful and lendeth If his lending be with expectance of reward
publica infamia nor ex semiplena probatione upon publick fame nor upon probable grounds but were to make him accuse himself in such cases a man may not answer And again in some 〈◊〉 if there be two things in the accusation and both true he may answer to the one and occultare partem veritatis hide or conceal the other part as S. Paul did when he was accused for perceiving that part were Sadduces who denyed the resurrection and part 〈◊〉 who held the resurrection he cryed out that he was a 〈◊〉 and held the resurrection and for that was questioned which was true for that was one thing for which he was called in question but it was not that alone So if a man have diverse wayes to defend himself he may choose which he will as he that hath diverse weapons may use which he will for his own defence But if according to due form of Law he be proceeded against he must answer as Achan did when Joshua urged him to confesse the truth 2. Whereas the benefit of appeal is granted for a remedy of those that are oppressed if any shall use appeals meerly to protract the cause and avoid a just sentence this is a second fault in the Defendant for this is to delay 〈◊〉 contrary to Jethro's advise who would not have people wait long for justice but to be dispatcht that they might go home to their place in peace 1. The Defendant offends if when sentence is given he do not submit to it for Qui resistit Dei ordinationi resistit he that resisteth resisteth the ordinance of God 5. For the witnesse he may likewise 〈◊〉 guilty diverse wayes 1. If being lawfully required by a Superiour demanding his testimony and asking him nothing that is 〈◊〉 to the matter in question if he do not declare all that he knows for the Law is 〈◊〉 that a witnesse if he 〈◊〉 not utter 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 seen and known shall bear his 〈◊〉 2. Though one be not required by a Superiour yet if it be to 〈◊〉 an Innocent man in danger he is bound to bear witnesse and he 〈◊〉 if he be silent Solomon makes it no small sin not to give testimony for the preservation of an innocent person If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn to death and those that are ready to be slain if thou 〈◊〉 behold I knew it not doth not he that 〈◊〉 the heart consider and shall not be render to every one according to his works But out of these cases if one not be called to witnesse by a Superiour or if an innocent person be not 〈◊〉 by his silence and if he be not examined about other things which belong not to the matter in question he is not 〈◊〉 to answer 3. Besides these Solomon intimates another way whereby a witnesse may offend when he bears false witnesse to deliver the wicked for though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hand yet shall not the wicked escape unpunished The Greeks have a Proverb Da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jusjurandum lend me an oath This lending an oath is that which Solomon calls a joyning of hand in hand and he saith plainly that though they may escape the hands of men yet shall they not escape unpunished that is God will be sure to punish them 6. Sixtly and lastly for the Advocate he may offend two wayes 1. If he undertake an evil cause knowing it so to be This is a great sin God saith having first prohibited any to raise a false report Put not thy hand unto the wicked to be an unrighteous witnesse now he that pleads 〈◊〉 a bad cause puts his hand to the wicked And in the third verse it s added Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause viz. if his cause be bad If a man might plead for any in a bad cause surely it might be for a poor man but even for a poor man he must not Jehu said to Jehosaphat Wilt thou help the wicked and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord. And the Apostle saith that not onely the doers of evil things are worthy of death but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that take pleasure in them or consent to them such are they that plead for them they give their placet as we use to do at congregations in the Universitie Greeks used the same words and gave their suffrages by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it pleaseth me and therefore whosoever pleads for the wicked cryes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am pleased with it he helps him and is partaker of his sin with him 2. Another way is by the Wise man when a man for defence of a cause in difference though it be good perverts the Law or receives a bribe The wicked 〈◊〉 he takes a gift out of the bosome to wrest the wayes of judgement As it is evil to joyn with the wicked to help an evil cause for he that saith to the wicked thou art just him shall the people curse so to bolster any cause by wrong means and thereby to pervert the course of judgement is wicked And because judgement is not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the bench but also in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place of consultation therefore false witnesse or testimony must not be given in elections or in choice of men to places or preferments for there ought to be justice and truth in both and he that gives his voice for one unworthy bears false witnesse and goes against justice and truth 〈◊〉 justice as the Philosopher defines it well is rectitudo in affectu impressa a recta ratione a rectitude stamped upon the affections by right reason and as electio dicit excellentiam so excellentia dicit magis aut plus as Election or choyce imports excellency in the party elected so excellency imports the best or most eminent now that in our choyce the best is alwayes to be chosen is the second rule in moral Philosophy which he that follows not goes against the truth and so justice is broken CHAP. IIII. Of false witnessing out of judgement Four things to which the tongue may do harme The branches of this kinde of false witnessing 1. Contumelious speaking 2. Taunting 3. Backbiting Which is 1. By words 2. By letters 3. By deeds 4. In all these a man may be a false witnesse 〈◊〉 he speak the truth AND thus we have done with false testimony given in judgement Now for that which is out of judgement When a man is out of judgement he is not to say with those in the Psalm Ego sum Dominus linguae meae my tongue is my own I may speak what I will for nemo est Dominus sui nisi ad licita no man is Lord of his own further then to imploy it for a lawful use Solomon hath a strange speech Be not a witnesse against thy 〈◊〉 without cause