proceed equally and undividedly from the whole three Persons from God the Father and from his Son Iesus Christ our Lord and from the eternall Spirit of them both the Holy Ghost as from one entire indivisible and coessentiall Agent But for that we are grosse of understanding and unable to conceive the distinct Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead otherwise then by apprehending some distinction of their operations and offices to-us-ward it hath pleased the wisdome of God in the holy Scriptures which being written for our sakes were to be fitted to our capacities so far to condescend to our weakness and dulness as to attribute some of those great and common works to one person and some to another after a more speciall manner than unto the rest although indeed and in truth none of the three persons had more or lesse to do than other in any of those great and common works This manner of speaking Divines use to call Appropriation By which appropriation as Power is ascribed to the Father and Wisdome to the Son so is Goodness to the Holy Ghost And therefore as the Work of Creation wherein is specially seen the mighty power of God is appropriated to the Father and the work of Redemption wherein is specially seen the wisdome of God to the Son and so the works of sanctification and the infusion of habituall graces whereby the good things of God are communicated unto us is appropriated unto the Holy Ghost And for this cause the gifts thus communicated unto us from God are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall gifts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifestation of the Spirit We see now why spirit but then why manifestation The word as most other verballs of that form may be understood either in the active or passive signification And it is not materiall whether of the two wayes we take it in this place both being true and neither improper For these spirituall gifts are the manifestation of the spirit Actively because by these the spirit manifesteth the will of God unto the Church these being the instruments and means of conveying the knowledge of salvation unto the people of God And they are the manifestation of the spirit Passively too because where any of these gifts especially in any eminent sort appeared in any person it was a manifest evidence that the Spirit of God wrought in him As we read in Acts 10. that they of the Circumcision were astonished When they saw that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost If it be demanded But how did that appear it followeth in the next verse For they heard them speak with tongues c. The spirituall Gift then is a manifestation of the Spirit as every other sensible effect is a manifestation of its proper cause We are now yet farther to know that the Gifts and graces wrought in us by the holy spirit of God are of two sorts The Scriptures sometimes distinguish them by the different terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although those words are sometimes again used indifferently and promiscuously either for other They are commonly known in the Schooles and differenced by the names of Gratiae gratum facientes Gratiae gratis datae Which termes though they be not very proper for the one of them may be affirmed of the other whereas the members of every good distinction ought to be opposite yet because they have been long received and change of termes though haply for the better hath by experience been found for the most part unhappy in the event in multiplying unnecessary book-quarrells we may retain them profitably and without prejudice Those former which they call Gratum facientes are the graces of Sanctification whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do acceptable service to God in the duties of his generall Calling these latter which they call Gratis datas are the Graces of Edification whereby the person that hath them is enabled to do profitable service to the Church of God in the duties of his particular Calling Those are given Nobis Nobis both to us and from us that is chiefly for our own good these Nobis sed Nostris to us indeed but for others that is chiefly for the good of our brethren Those are given us ad salutem for the saving of our own souls these ad lucrum for the winning of other mens souls Those proceed from the speciall love of God to the Person and may therefore be called personall or speciall these proceeed from the Generall love of God to his Church or yet more generall to humane societies and may therefore be rather called Ecclesiasticall or Generall Gifts or Graces Of that first sort are Faith Hope Charity Repentance Patience Humility and all those other holy graces and fruits of the Spirit which accompany salvation Wrought by the blessed and powerful operation of the holy Spirit of God after a most effectuall but unconceivable manner regenerating and renewing and seasoning and sanctifying the hearts of his Chosen But yet these are not the Gifts so much spoken of in this Chapter and namely in my Text Every branch whereof excludeth them Of those graces of sanctification first we may have indeed probable inducements to perswade us that they are or are not in this or that man But hypocrisie may make such a semblance that we may think we see spirit in a man in whom yet there is nothing but flesh and infirmities may cast such a fogge that we can discern nothing but flesh in a man in whom yet there is spirit But the gifts here spoken of do incurre into the senses and give us evident and infallible assurance of the spirit that wrought them here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a manifestation of the spirit Again Secondly those Graces of sanctification are not communicated by distribution Alius sic alius verò sic Faith to one Charity to another Repentance to another but where they are given they are given all at once and together as it were strung upon one threed and linked into one chain But the Gifts here spoken of are distributed as it were by doal and divided severally as it pleased God shared out into severall portions and given to every man some to none all for to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdome to another the word of Knowledge c. Thirdly those Graces of sanctification though they may and ought to be exercised to the benefit of others who by the shining of our light and the sight of our good works may be provoked to glorifie God by walking in the same paths yet that is but utilitas emergens and not finis proprius a good use made of them upon the bye but not the main proper and direct end of them for which they were chiefly given But the Gifts here spoken of were given directly
decree He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were Created So in all their operations in actu secundo when they do at any time exercise those natural faculties and doe those Offices for which they were created all this is still done by the same powerfull word and decree of God He upholdeth all things by the word of his power As we read of bread so we often read in the Scriptures of the staff of bread God sometimes threatneth he will break the staff of bread What is that Bread indeed is the staff of our strength it is the very stay and prop of our lives if God break this staff and deny us bread we are gone But that is not all bread is our staff but what is the staff of bread Verily the Word of God blessing our bread and commanding it to feed us is the staff of this staff sustaining that vertue in the bread whereby it sustaineth us If God break this staff of bread if he withdraw his blessing from the bread if by his countermaund he inhibit or restrain the vertue of the bread we are as far to seek with bread as without it If sanctified with Gods word of blessing a little pulse and water hard and homely fare shall feed Daniel as fresh and fat and fair as the Kings dainties shall his Companions a cake and a cruse of water shall suffice Eliah nourishment enough to walk in the strength thereof forty daies and nights a few barly loaves and small fishes shall multiply to the satisfying of many thousands eat while they will But if Gods Word and Blessing be wanting the lean Kine may eat up the Fat and be as thin and hollow and ill-liking as before and we may as the Prophet Haggai speaketh eat much and not have enough drink our fills and not be filled This first degree of the Creatures sanctification by the word of God is a common and ordinary blessing upon the Creatures whereof as of the light and dew of Heaven the wicked partake as well as the godly and the thankless as the thankfull But there is a second degree also beyond this which is proper and peculiar to the Godly And that is when God not only by the word of his Power bestoweth a blessing upon the Creature but also causeth the Echo of that word to sound in our hearts by the voyce of his Holy spirit and giveth us a sensible taste of his goodness to us therein filling our hearts not only with that joy and gladness which ariseth from the experience of the effect viz. the refreshing of our natural strength but also joy and gladness more spiritual and sublime than that arising from the contemplation of the prime cause viz. the favour of God towards us in the face of his Son that which David calleth the light of his countenance For as it is the kind welcome at a Friends Table that maketh the chear good rather than the quaintness or variety of the dishes Super omnia vultus Accessere boni so as that a dinner of green herbs with love and kindness is better entertainment than a stalled Oxe with bad looks so the light of Gods favourable countenance shining upon us through these things is it which putteth more true gladness into our hearts than doth the corn and the wine and the oyle themselves or any other outward thing that we do or can partake Now this sanctified and holy and comfortable use of the Creatures ariseth also from the word of Gods decree even as the former degree did but not from the same decree That former issued from the decree of common providence and so belonged unto all as that Providence is common to all But this later degree proceedeth from that special word of Gods decree whereby for the merits of Christ Jesus the second Adam he removeth from the Creature that curse wherin it was wrapped through the sin of the first Adam And in this the wicked have no portion as being out of Christ so as they cannot partake of Gods Creatures with any solid or sound comfort and so the Creatures remain in this degree unsanctified unto them For this reason the Scriptures stile the Faithfull Primogenitos the first born as to whom belongeth a double portion and Haeredes mundi heirs of the world as if none but they had any good right thereunto And S. Paul deriveth our Title to the Creatures from God but by Christ All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods As if these things were none of theirs who are none of Christs And in the verse before my Text he saith of meats that God hath created them to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth as if those that wanted faith and saving knowledge did but usurp the bread they eat And indeed it is certain the wicked have not right to the Creatures of God in such ample sort as the Godly have A kind of Right they have and we may not deny it them given them by Gods unchangeable ordinance at the Creation which being a branch of that part of Gods Image in man which was of natural and not of supernatural grace might be and was foulely defaced by sin but was not neither could be wholly lost as hath been already in part declared A Right then they have but such a right as reaching barely to the use cannot afford unto the user true comfort or found peace of Conscience in such use of the Creatures For though nothing be in and of it self unclean for Every Creature of God is good yet to them that are unclean ex accidenti every Creature is unclean and polluted because it is not thus sanctified unto them by the Word of God And the very true cause of all this is the impurity of their hearts by reason of unbelief The Holy Ghost expresly assigneth this cause To the pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and Conscience is defiled As a nasty Vessel sowreth all that is put into it so a Conscience not purified by faith casteth pollution upon the best of Gods Creatures But what is all this to the Text may some say or what to the point What is all this to the Duty of Thanksgiving Much every manner of way or else blame Saint Paul of impertinency whose discourse should be incoherent and unjoynted if what I have now last said were beside the Text. For since the sanctification of the Creature to our use dependeth upon the powerfull and good word of God blessing it unto us that duty must needs be necessary to a sanctified use of the Creature without which we can have no fair assurance unto our consciences that that word of blessing is proceeded out of the mouth of God
discovered Sect. 22 POINT II. The Judge not to receive a false report Sect. 23 A threefold Care requisite thereunto I. in receiving Informations Sect. 24 2. in examining Causes Sect. 25 3. in repressing Contentious Persons and Suits Sect. 26 For which purpose the likeliest Helps are Sect. 27 1. to reject Informations tendered without Oath Sect. 28 2. to temper the Rigour of Iustice with Equity Sect. 29 3. to punish Partiality and Collusion in the Informer Sect. 30 4. to allow the wronged party full satisfaction Sect. 31 5. to restrain abuses in their Servants and Officers Sect. 32 The Conclusion Sermon III. Ad Magistratum on PSAL. CVI. XXX Sect. 1-2 THE Argument and Matter of the Psalm Sect. 3 The Coherence Scope Sect. 4 and Division of the TEXT Sect. 5-6 The History of Balak and Balaams Plot against Israel Sect. 7-8 With the success thereof both in the Sin and Punishment Sect. 9-10 Zimri's Provocation and Execution Sect. 11 The Person of Phinehes considered Sect. 12 OBSERVATION I. The Spiritual Power doth not include Sect. 13 nor yet exclude the Temporal Sect. 14 Phinehes his Fact examined Sect. 15 and justified Sect. 16 17 How far forth it may be imitated Sect. 18 OBSERVATION II. The Zeal of Phinehes Sect. 19 manifested by executing judgment Sect. 20 1. Personally Sect. 21 2. Speedily Sect. 22 3. Resolutely Sect. 23 25 OBSERVATION III. The plague stayed by executing judgment Sect. 26 28 With Application to England Sect. 29 An Exhortation to execute Iudgement Sect. 30 With Particular Application Sect. 31 1. To the Accuser Sect. 32 2. To the Witness Sect. 33 3. To the Jurer Sect. 34 4. To the Pleader Sect. 35 5. To the Officer Sect. 36 6. To the Judge Sermon I. Ad Populum on 1 KING 21.29 Sect. 1. THE Coherence of the TEXT Sect. 2 Argument of the TEXT and Sect. 3 Division of the TEXT Sect. 4 5 From Ahabs Person and Cariage Sect. 6 8 OBSERVATION I. How far an Hypocrite may goe in the performance of holy Duties Sect. 9 Foure Inferences thence I. of Terrour to the Profane Sect. 10 II. Of Exhortation to abound in the fruits of godliness Sect. 11 III. Of Admonition to forbear Judging Sect. 12 IIII. Of Direction for the tryal of Sincerity Sect. 13 by the marks 1. of Integrity and Sect. 14 2. of Constancy Sect. 15 both joyned together Sect. 16 17 OBSERVATION II. Concerning the Power of Gods word Sect. 18 With the Causes thereof in respect 1. of the Instrument Sect. 19 2. of the Object Sect. 20 3. of the fit Application of the one to the other Sect. 21 The Inferences thence against those that despise the Word Sect. 22 23 From the success of Ahabs Humiliation Sect. 24 OBSERVATION III. Concerning the Reward of Common Graces Sect. 25 with sundry Reasons thereof Sect. 26 and Inferences thence Sect. 27 The main Inference To comfort the Godly 1. against temptations from the Prosperity of the wicked Sect. 28 II. against Temporal Afflictions Sect. 29 III. against doubtings of their eteâ—nal Reward Sermon II. Ad Populum on 1 King 21.29 Sect. 1. A Repetition of the Three Observations in the former Sermons Sect. 2 4 OBSERVATION IV. Concerning Gods forbearing of threatned Judgments Sect. 5 Proved 1. from his proneness to Mercy Sect. 6 2. from the end of his Threatnings Sect. 7 8 The Doubt How this may stand with Gods Truth Sect. 9 Resolved by understanding in all his Threatnings Sect. 10 a Clause of Exception Sect. 11 12 though not alwayes expressed Sect. 13 14 Inferences 1. of Comfort to the distressed Sect. 15 2. of Terrour to the Secure Sect. 16 3. of Instruction to All. Sect. 17 Gods Promises how to be understood Sect. 18 and entertained Sect. 19 20 OBSERVATION V. That though it be some grief to foreknow the evils to come Sect. 21 Yet is it some happiness not to live to see them Sect. 22 with the Reason Sect. 23 25 and sundry Uses thereof Sect. 26 The Conclusion Sermon III. Ad Populum on 1 Kings 21.29 Sect. 1 2 THE grand Doubt concerning Gods Iustice proposed Sect. 3 CERTAINTY I. All the ways of God are just Sect. 4 5 II. Temporal Evils not the proper adequate punishments of sin Sect. 6 7 3. All Evils of Pain howsoever considered Sect. 8 are for sin and that Sect. 9 for the sin of the sufferer himself Sect. 10 How the punishing of the Fathers sin upon the Children Sect. 11 can stand with the justice of God Sect. 12 16 CONSIDERATION I. That they are punished with temporal Punishments only not with Spiritual or Eternal Sect. 13 15 An Objection answered Sect. 17 CONSIDERATION II. That such Punishments befall them Either Sect. 18 21 1. As continuing in their Fathers sin Or Sect. 22 2. As possessing something from their Fathers with Gods curse cleaving thereunto Sect. 23 25 CONSIDERATION III. A distinction of Impulsive Causes Sect. 26 explained by a familiar Example Sect. 27 and applyed to the present Argument Sect. 28 Seeming Contradictions of Scripture herein Sect. 29 how to be reconciled Sect. 30 with an Exemplary Instance thereof Sect. 31 32 The Resolution of the main doubt Sect. 33 Three Duties inferred from the Premises 1. To live well as for our own so even for Posteritie's sake also Sect. 34 II. To grieve as for our own so for our Forefathers sins also Sect. 35 III. To endeavour to hinder sin in others Sermon IV. Ad Populum on 1 Cor. 7.24 Sect. 1. THE Occasion and Scope of the TEXT Sect. 2-3 The Pertinency and Importance of the matter to be handled Sect. 4 5 viz. of mens Particular Callings and what is meant thereby Sect. 6 POINT I. The necessity of living in a Calling Sect. 7 Reasons hereof I. in respect of the Ordinance Sect. 8 and Gifts of God Sect. 9 II. in respect of the Person himself Sect. 10 14 III. in respect of others Sect. 15 Inference for reproof of such as live idly without a Calling Sect. 16 17 as viz. 1. Idle Monks and Friars Sect. 18 20 â— 2. Idle Gallants Sect. 21 22 3. Idle Beggars Sect. 23 24 POINT II. Concerning the Choyce of a Calling Sect. 25 That is our proper Calling whereunto God calleth us and Sect. 26 by what enquiries that may be known Sect. 27 ENQUIRY I. concerning the Employment it self 1. Whether it be honest and lawful or no Sect. 28 2. Whether it be fit to be made a Calling or no Sect. 29 3. Whether it tend to common Utility or no Sect. 30 The Usurers Calling examined by these Rules Sect. 32 33 II. Concerning our fitness for that employment Sect. 34 1. in respect of our Education Sect. 35 36 2. in respect of our Abilities Sect. 37 39 3. in respect of our Inclinations Sect. 40 III. Concerning the Providential Opportunities we have thereunto Sect. 41 43 wherein is shewed the great importance of an outward Calling Sect. 44 POINT III. Concerning the Abiding in our Callings Sect. 45 46 1. what is not
of Ecclesiasticall ceremonies and Constitutions in which case the aforesaid allegations are usually most stood upon this hath been abundantly done in our Church not onely in the learned writings of sundry private men but by the publick declaration also of authority as is to be seen at large in the preface commonly printed before the book of Common prayer concerning that argument enough to satisfie those that are peaceable and not disposed to stretch their wits to cavill at things established And thus much of the second Question touching a doubting conscience whereon I have insisted the longer because it is a point both so proper to the Text whereat so many have stumbled There remaineth but one other Question and that of far smaller difficulty What is to be done when the conscience is scrupulous I call that a scruple when a man is reasonably well perswaded of the lawfulnesse of a thing yet hath withall some jealousies and fears lest perhaps it should prove unlawfull Such scruples are most incident to men of melancholy dispositions or of timorous spirits especially if they be tender-conscienced withall and they are much encreased by the false suggestions of Satan by reading the books or hearing the Sermons or frequenting the company of men more strict precise and austere in sundry points than they need or ought to be and by sundry other means which I now mention not Of which scruples it behooveth every man first to be wary that he do not at all admit them if he can chuse or if he cannot wholly avoid them that secondly he endeavour so far as may be to eject them speedily out of his thoughts as Satans snares and things that may breed him worser inconveniencies or if he cannot be so rid of them that then thirdly he resolve to go on according to the more profitable perswasion of his mind and despise those scruples And this he may do with a good conscience not onely in things commanded him by lawfull authority but even in things indifferent and arbitrary and wherein he is left to his own liberty Much more might have been added for the farther both declaration and confirmation of these points But you see I have been forced to wrap things together that deserve a more full and distinct handling that I might hold some proportion with the time I had a purpose briefly to have comprised the summe of what I have delivered concerning a gainsaying a doubting and a scrupulous conscience in some few conclusions for your better remembrance and to have added also something by way of direction what course might be the most probably taken for the correcting of an erroneous conscience for the setling of a doubtfull conscience and for the quieting of a scrupulous conscience But it is more then time that I should give place to other business and the most and most material of those directions have been here and there occasionally touched in that which hath been delivered already in which respect I may the better spare that labour Beseech we God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ so to endue us all with the grace of his holy Spirit that in our whole conversations we may unfeignedly endeavour to preserve a good conscience and to yield all due obedience to him first and then to every Ordinance of man for his sake Now to this Father Son and blessed Spirit three persons and one eternall God be ascribed all the Kingdome the power and the glory both now and for evermore Amen FINIS AD MAGISTRATUM The First Sermon At a publick Sessions at Grantham Lincoln 11 June 1623. JOB 29. ver 14 15 16 17. 14. I put on righteousnesse and it clothed me my judgement was as a Robe and Diadem 15. I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame 16. I was a Father to the poor and the cause which I knew not I searched out 17. And I brake the jawes of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth WHere silence against foul and false imputations may be interpreted a Confession there the protestation of a mans own innocency is ever just and sometimes necessary When others doe us open wrong it is not now Vanity but Charity to do our selves open right and whatsoever appearance of folly or vain boasting there is in so doing they are chargeable with all that compell us thereunto and not we I am become a fool in glorying but ye have compelled me 2 Cor. 12.11 It was neither pride nor passion in Iob but such a compulsion as this that made him so often in this book proclaim his own righteousnesse Amongst whose many and grievous afflictions as it is hard to say which was the greatest so we are sure this was not the least that he was to wrestle with the unjust and bitter upbraidings of unreasonable and incompassionate men They came to visit him as friends and as friends they should have comforted him But sorry friends they were and miserable comforters indeed not comforters but tormenters and Accusers rather than Friends Seeing Gods hand heavy upon him for want of better or other proof they charge him with Hypocrisie And because they would not seem to deal all in generalities for against this generall accusation of hypocrisie it was sufficient for him as generally to plead the truth and uprightnesse of his heart they therefore go on more particularly but as falsely and as it were by way of instance to charge him with Oppression Thus Eliphaz by name taxeth him Chap. 22.6 c. Thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught and hast stripped the naked of their clothing Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry But as for the mighty man he had the earth and the honourable man dwelt in it Thou hast sent widowes away empty and the arms of the fatherlesse hast thou broken Being thus shamefully indeed shamelesly upbraided to his face without any desert of his by those men who if he had deserved it should least of all have done it his neighbours and familiar friends can you blame the good man if to remove such false aspersions he do with more then ordinary freedome insist upon his own integrity in this behalf And that he doth in this Chapter something largely wherein he declareth how he demeaned himself in the time of his prosperity in the administration of his Magistracy far otherwise than was laid to his charge When the ear heard me then it blessed me and when the eye saw me it gave witnesse to me Because I delivered the poor that cryed and the fatherlesse and him that had none to help him The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widowes heart to sing for joy in the next immediate verses before these And then he goeth on in the words of my Text I put on righteousnesse c. It seemeth Iob was
is no lesse good to the poor that whippeth him when he deserveth This is indeed to be good to the poor to give him that almes first which he wanteth most if he be hungry it is almes to feed him but if he be idle and untoward it is almes to whip him This is to be good to the poor But who then are the poor we should be good to as they interpret goodnesse Saint Paul would have Widowes honoured but yet those that are widowes indeed so it is meet the poor should be relieved but yet those that are poor indeed Not every one that begges is poor not every one that wanteth is poor not every one that is poor is poor indeed They are the poor whom we private men in Charity and you that are Magistrates in â—ustice stand bound to relieve who are old or impotent and unable to work or in these hard and depopulating times are willing but cannot be set on work or have a greater charge upon them than can be maintained by their work These and such as these are the poor indeed let us all be good to such as these Be we that are private men as brethren to these poor ones and shew them mercy be you that are Magistrates as Fathers to these poor ones and do them justice But as for those idle stubborn professed wanderers that can and may and will not work and under the name and habit of poverty rob the poor indeed of our almes and their maintenance let us harden our hearts against them and not give them do you execute the severity of the Law upon them and not spare them It is Saint Pauls Order nay it is the Ordinance of the Holy Ghost and we should all put to our helping hands to see it kept He that will not labour let him not eat These Ulcers and Drones of the Common-wealth are ill worthy of any honest mans almes of any good Magistrates protection Hitherto of the Magistrates second Duty with the Reasons and extent thereof I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame I was a Father to the poor Followeth next the third Duty in these words The cause which I knew not I searched out Of which words some frame the Coherence with the former as if Iob had meant to clear his mercy to the poor from suspicion of partiality and injustice and as if he had said I was a Father indeed to the poor pitifull and mercifull to him and ready to shew him any lawfull favour but yet not so as in pity to him to forget or pervert justice I was ever carefull before I would either speak or do for him to be first assured his cause was right and good and for that purpose if it were doubtfull I searched it out and examined it before I would countenance either him or it Certainly thus to do is agreeable to the rule of Iustice yea and of Mercy too for it is one Rule in shewing Mercy that it be ever done salvis pietate justitiâ without prejudice done to piety and justice And as to this particular the commandment of God is expresse for it in Exod. 23. Thou shalt not countenance no not a poor man in his cause Now if we should thus understand the coherence of the words the speciall duty which Magistrates should hence learn would be indifferency in the administration of Justice not to make difference of rich or poor far or near friend or foe one or other but to consider onely and barely the equity and right of the cause without any respect of persons or partiall inclination this way or that way This is a very necessary duty indeed in a Magistrate of justice and I deny not but it may be gathered without any violence from these very words of my Text though to my apprehension not so much by way of immediate observation from the necessity of any such coherence as by way of consequence from the words themselves otherwise For what need all that care and paines and diligence in searching out the cause if the condition of the person might over-rule the cause after all that search and were not the judgement to be given meerly according to the goodnesse or badnesse of the cause without respect had to the person But the speciall duty which these words seem most naturally and immediately to impose upon the Magistrate and let that be the third observation is diligence and patience and care to hear and examine and enquire into the truth of things and into the equity of mens causes As the Physician before he prescribe receipt or diet to his patient will first feel the pulse and view the urine and observe the temper and changes in the body and be inquisitive how the disease began and when and what fits it hath and where and in what manner it holdeth him and inform himself every other way as fully as he can in the true state of the body that so he may proportion the remedies accordingly without errour so ought every Magistrate in causes of Justice before he pronounce sentence or give his determination whether in matters judiciall or criminall to hear both parties with equall patience to examine witnesses and other evidences advisedly and throughly to consider and wisely lay together all allegations and circumstances to put in quaeres and doubts upon the by and use all possible expedient meanes for the boulting out of the truth that so he may do that which is equall and right without errour A duty not without both Precept and Precedent in holy Scripture Moses prescribeth it in Deut. 17. in the case of Idolatry If there be found among you one that hath done thus or thus c. And it be told thee and thou hast heard of it and inquired diligently and behold it to be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel Then thou shalt bring forth that man c. The offender must be stoned to death and no eye pity him but it must be done orderly and in a legall course not upon a bare hear-say but upon diligent examination and inquisition and upon such full evidence given in as may render the fact certain so far as such cases ordinarily are capable of certainty And the like is again ordered in Deut. 19. in the case of false witnesse Both the men between whom the controversie is shall stand before the Iudges and the Iudges shall make diligent inquisition c. And in Iudg. 19. in the wronged Levites case whose Concubine was abused unto death at Gibeah the Tribes of Israel stirred up one another to do justice upon the inhabitants thereof and the method they proposed was this first to consider and consult of it and then to give their opinions But the most famous example in this kinde is that of King Solomon in 3 Kings 3. in the difficult case of the two Mothers
judge of mens fitnesse by any demonstrative certainty all we can do is to go upon probabilities which can yield at the most but a conjecturall certainty full of uncertainty Men ambitious and in appetite till they have obtained their desires use to dissemble those vices which might make a stop in their preferments which having once gotten what they fished for they bewray with greater freedome and they use likewise to make a shew of that zeal and forwardnesse in them to do good which afterwards cometh to just nothing Absalom to steal away the hearts of the people though he were even then most unnaturally unjust in his purposes against a father and such a father yet he made shew of much compassion to the injured and of a great desire to do justice O saith he that I were made a Iudge in the Land that every man that hath any suite or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice And yet I doubt not but if things had so come to passe he would have been as bad as the worst When the Roman Souldiers had in a tumult proclaimed Galba Emperour they thought they had done a good dayes work every man promised himself so much good of the new Emperour But when he was in he proved no better than those that had been before him One giveth this censure of him Omnium consensu capax imperij nisi imperasset he had been a man in every mans judgement worthy to have been Emperour if he had not been Emperour and so shewed himself unworthy Magistratus indicat virum is a common saying and a true We may guesse upon likelyhoods what they will be when we choose them but the thing it self after they are chosen sheweth the certainty what they are But this uncertainty should be so farre from making us carelesse in our choice that it should rather adde so much the more to our care to put things so hazardous as neer as we can out of hazard Now those very Rules that must direct them to govern must direct us also to choose And namely an eye would be had to the four properties specified in my Text. The first a Zeal of Iustice and a Delight therein Seest thou a man carelesse of the common good one that palpably preferreth his own before the publick weale one that loveth his ease so well that he careth not which way things goe backward or forward so he may sit still and not be troubled one that would divide honorem ab onere be proud of the honour and title and yet loath to undergoe the envie and burthen that attendeth them set him aside Never think that mans robes will do well upon him A Iusticeship or other office would sit upon such a mans back as handsomely as Sauls armour did upon Davids unweildy and sagging about his shoulders so as he could not tell how to stirre and turn himself under it He is a fit man to make a Magistrate of that will put on righteousnesse as a garment and clothe himself with judgement as with a Robe and a Diadem The second property is Compassion on the poor Seest thou a man destitute of counsell and understanding a man of forlorne hopes or estate and in whom there is no help or one that having either counsell or help in him is yet a churle of either but especially one that is sore in his bargaines cruell in his dealings hard to his Tenants or an Oppressour in any kind Take none of him Sooner commit a flock of Sheep to a Wolf than a Magistracy or office of justice to an Oppressour Such a man is more likely to put out the eyes of him that seeth then to be eyes to the blind and to break the bones of the strong then to be legges to the lame and to turn the fatherlesse a begging then to be a Father to the poore The third property is Diligence to search out the truth Seest thou a man hasty and rash and heady in his own businesses a man impatient of delay or pains one that cannot conceale what is meet till it be seasonable to utter it but poureth out all his heart at once and before the time one that is easily possest with what is first told him or being once possest will not with any reason be perswaded to the contrary one that lendeth eare so much to some particular friend or follower as to believe any information from him not any but from him one that to be counted a man of dispatch loveth to make an end of a businesse before it be ripe suspect him He will scarce have the Conscience or if that yet not the wit or not the patience to search out the cause which he knoweth not The last Property is Courage to execute Seest thou a man first of a timorous nature and cowardly disposition or secondly of a wavering and fickle mind as we say of children wonne with an apple and lost with a nut or thirdly that is apt to be wrought upon or moulded into any forme with faire words friendly invitations or complementall glozes or fourthly that dependeth upon some great man whose vassall or creature he is or fifthly a taker and one that may be dealt withall for that is now the periphrasis of bribery or sixthly guilty of the same transgressions he should punish or of other as foul Never a man of these is for the turne not one of these will venture to break the jawes or tuskes of an oppressing Tygre or Boare and to pluck the spoile out of his teeth The timorous man is afraid of every shadow and if he do but heare of teeth he thinketh it is good sleeping in a whole skinne and so keepeth aloofe off for fear of biting The double minded man as Saint Iames saith is unstable in all his wayes he beginneth to do something in a sudden heat when the fit taketh him but before one jaw can be half broken he is not the man he was he is sorry for what is done and instead of breaking the rest falleth a binding up that which he hath broken and so seeketh to salve up the matter as well as he can and no hurt done The vain man that will be flattered so he get fair words himself he careth not who getteth foul blowes and so the beast will but now and then give him a lick with the tongue he letteth him use his teeth upon others at his pleasure The depending creature is charmed with a letter or message from his Lord or his honourable friend which to him is as good as a Supersede as or Prohibition The taker hath his fingers so oyled that his hand slippeth off when he should pluck away the spoyl and so he leaveth it undone The guilty man by no means liketh this breaking of jawes he thinketh it may be his own case another day You see when you are to chuse Magistrates here is refuse enough to be
to heare with other mens eares and to proceed upon information those men deserve a rebuke who being by their office to ripen causes for judgement and to facilitate the Magistrates care and paines for inquisition doe yet either for feare or favour or negligence or a fee keep back true and necessary informations or else for spight or gaine clogge the Courts with false or trifling ones But most of all the Magistrates themselves deserve a rebuke if either they be hasty to acquit a man upon his owne bare deniall or protestation for si inficiari sufficiet ecquiâ— erit nocens as the Oratour pleaded before Iulian the Emperour if a deniall may serve the turne none shall bee guilty or if hasty to condemne a man upon anothers bare accusation for si accusasse sufficiet ecquis erit innocens as the Emperour excellently replyed upon that Oratour if an accusation may serve the turne none shall be innocent or if they suffer themselves to be possessed with prejudice and not keepe one eare open as they write of Alexander the Great for the contrary party that they may stand indifferent till the truth be throughly canvassed or if to keep causes long in their hands they either delay to search the truth out that they may know it or to decide the cause according to the truth when they have found it And as for Courage to execute Iustice which is the last Duty what need we trouble our selves to seek out the causes when we see the effects so daily and plainly before our eyes whether it be through his own cowardise or inconstancy that he keepeth off or that a fair word whistleth him off or that a great mans letter staveth him off or that his own guilty conscience doggeth him off or that his hands are manacled with a bribe that he cannot fasten or whatsoever other matter there is in it sure we are the Magistrate too often letteth the wicked carry away the spoyle without breaking a jaw of him or so much as offering to pick his teeth It was not well in Davids time and yet David a Godly King when complainingly he asked the Question Who will stand up with me against the evil doers It was not well in Solomons time and yet Solomon a peaceable King when considering the Oppressions that were done under the Sun he saw that on the side of the oppressors there was power but as for the oppressed they had no comforter We live under the happy government of a godly and peaceable King Gods holy name be blessed for it and yet GOD knoweth and we all know it is not much better now nay God grant it be not generally even much worse Receive now in the last place and as the third and last inference a word of Exhortation and it shall be but a word You whom God hath called to any honour or office appertaining to justice as you tender the glory of God and the good of the Common-wealth as you tender the honour of the King and the prosperity of the Kingdome as you tender the peace and tranquillity of your selves and neighbours as you tender the comfort of your own consciences and the salvation of your own souls set your selves throughly and cheerfully and constantly and conscionably to discharge with faithfulnesse all those duties which belong unto you in your severall stations and callings to advance to the utmost of your power the due administration and execution of Iustice. Do not not decline those burdens which cleave to the honours you sustain Do not post off those businesses from your selves to others which you should rather do then they or at least may as well do as they Stand up with the zeal of Phinees and by executing judgement help to turn away those heavy plagues which God hath already begun to bring upon us and to prevent those yet heavier ones which having so rightly deserved we have all just cause to fear Breath fresh life into the languishing lawes by mature and severe and discreet execution Put on Righteousnesse as a Garment and cloathe your selves with Iudgement as with a Robe and Diadem Among so many Oppressions as in these evil dayes are done under the Sun to whom should the fatherlesse and the widow and the wronged complain but to you whence seek for relief but from you Be not you wanting to their necessities Let your eyes be open unto their miseries and your ears open unto their cryes and your hands open unto their wants Give friendly Counsel to those that stand need of your Direction afford convenient help to those that stand need of your assistance carry a Fatherly affection to all those that stand need of any comfort protection or relief from you Be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame and be you instead of fathers to the poor But yet do not countenance no not a poor man in his cause farther than he hath equity on his side Remember one point of wisdom not to be too credulous of every suggestion information But do your best to spie out the chinks starting holes and secret conveyances packings of cunning crafty companions and when you have found them out bring them to light do exemplary justice upon them Sell not your ears to your servants nor tye your selves to the informations of some one or a few or of him that cometh first but let every party have a fair an equal hearing Examin proofs Consider circumstances be content to hear simple men tell their tales in such language as they have think no pains no patience too much to sift out the truth Neither by inconsiderate haste prejudice any mans right nor weary him out of it by torturing delayes The cause which you know not use all diligence convenient both care and speed to search it out But ever withall remember your standing is slippery you shall have many and sore assaults very shrewd temptations so that unless you arm your selves with invincible resolution you are gone The wicked ones of this world will conjure you by your old friendship and acquaintance by all the bonds of neighbourhood and kindnesse bribe your Wives Children Servants to corrupt you procure great mens Letters or favourites as engines to move you convey a bribe into your own bosomes but under a handsomer name in some other shape so cunningly secretly sometimes that your selves shall not know it to be a bribe when you receive it Harden your faces and strengthen your resolutions with a holy obstinacy against these and all other like temptations Count him an enemy that will alledge friendship to pervert justice When you sit in the place of justice think you are not now Husbands or Parents or Neighbours but Iudges Contemn the frowns and the favours and the letters of great ones in comparison of that trust which greater ones than they the King State a yet greater
so as they feel a kind of tickling pleasure and delight in it which the Apostle calleth Tasting of the heavenly gift and the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Hebreus 6. And as they receive the seed joyfully so it appeareth quickly it springeth up anon in the likeness of Repentance and Faith and Obedience and newnesse of life They may be touched with a deep feeling of their sins and with heavy hearts and many tears confesse and bewail them and not only promise but also purpose amendment They may be superficially affected with and find some overly comfort and refreshing from the contemplation of those gracious promises of mercy and reconciliation and salvation which are contained in the glorious Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ and have some degrees of perswasion that those promises are true and some flashes of confidence with all of their own personal interest therein They may reform themselves in the general course of their lives in sundry particulars refraining from some grosse disorders and avoiding the occasions of them wherein they have formerly lived and delighted and practising many outward duties of Piety and Charity conformable to the letter of the Laws of both Tables and misliking and opposing against the common errours or corruptions of the times and places wherein they live and all this to their own and others thinking with as great zeal unto Godliness and as through indignation against sinne as any others All this they may doe and yet all the while be rotten at the heart wholly carnal and unrenewed quite empty of sound Faith and Repentance and Obedience and every good grace full of damnable Pride and Hypocrisie and in the present state of damnation and in the purpose of God Reprobates and Cast-aways Examples hereof we have in Sauls care for the destroying of Witches in Iehu's zeal in killing Baals Priests in Herods hearing of Iohn Baptist gladly and doing many things thereafter and to omit others in this wicked King Ahab present fit of Repentance and Humiliation At all which and sundry other like effects we shall the less need to marvell if we shall seriously consider the Causes and Reasons thereof I will name but a few of many and but name them neither First great is the force of Natural conscience even in the most wicked men especially when it is awakened by the hand of God in any heavie affliction or by the voice of God threatning it with vengeance It pursueth the guilty soul with continual and restless clamours and he seeth that something he must needs doe if he knew what to stop the mouth of Conscience and so he falleth a repenting and reforming and resolving of a new course which though it be not sincere and so cannot work a perfect cure upon a wounded conscience but that still it rankleth inward yet it giveth some present ease and allayeth the anguish of it for the time Secondly God will have the power of his own Ordinance sometimes manifested even upon those that hate it as he got himself honour upon Pharoah and the Aegyptians that his own faithfull ones may see and admire the power of that holy seed whereby they are begotten again from the dead not doubting but that the Gospel will prove The power of God unto salvation to all that beleeve when they behold in it the power of conviction upon many that beleeve not Thirdly God in his most wise and unsearchable providence so ordereth and disposeth not only outward things but even the hearts and wills and thoughts and actions of men permitting his children to fall backwards into sins and bringing on his enemies towards goodness so far as he thinketh good as for other purposes so for this end also among the rest the man might not be able from those things he seeth happen unto other men or done by them to judge infallibly of the state of his brothers soul. God reserving this Royalty unto himself to be the only Searcher of the hearts and reins of others For these and sundry other Reasons it commeth to pass that Hypocrites and Cast-aways doe oftentimes goe so far as they doe in the outward performances of holy duties Now if men may goe thus far and yet be in the state of damnation what hope then First of Heaven for such prophane ungodly wretches as are so far from having the power as that they have not so much as the least shew of godliness What will become of those that Sit them down in the chair of scorners and despise the good Word of God and make a scoff of those men that desire to square their lives by that rule when some of them that hear it gladly and receive it with joy and are content to be ordered by it in many things shall yet goe to hell Certainly Ahab and Herod and such cursed miscreants shall rise up in judgement against these men and condemn them and they shall have Their portion with Hypocrites shall I say Alas wofull is their case if their portion fall but there but let them take heed lest their portion be not so good as the Hypocrites and that it be not ten times easier for Ahab and Herod and the whole crew of such Hypocrites at the day of judgement than for them Secondly what a stark shame would it be for us who have received the First fruits of the Spirit not to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in some good abundance in the frequent and comfortable and actual exercises of those habitual graces that are in us of Faith Repentance Love Reformation Zeal and the rest seeing the counterfeits of these graces are oftentimes so eminent even in Hypocrites and Cast-awayes Shall a piece of rotten wood or a Gloworm shine so bright in the dark and our holy Lampes fed with Oyl from Heaven burn so dim Nay Let our Lights also as well as theirs shine before men yea and outshine theirs too that men may see our truly good works as well as their seeming ones and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Although all be not gold that glistereth yet pity it is that true gold should gather rust and lose the lustre for want of using when Brasse and Copper and baser metals are kept bright with scowring Let not blear-eyed Leah have cause to rejoyce against beautifull Rachel or to insult over her barrenness neither let us who profess our selves to be Wisdoms children suffer our selves to be out-stript by Natures brats in justifying our Mother Rather let their splendida peccata provoke us to a godly jealousie and emulation and spur us up to the quickning of those Graces God hath given us that the power of Godliness in us may be at least as fruitfull in all outward performances as the shew of it is in them Thirdly this should teach us caution in our judging of other mens
which fall so daily and thick upon us from Heaven whether to warn us or to plague us are but arrows which our selves first shot up against heaven and now drop down again with doubled force upon our heads Omnis poena propter culpam all evils of pain are for the evils of sinne I say fourthly All such evils are for our own sinnes The Scriptures are plain God judgeth every man according to his own works Every man shall bear his own burden c. God hath enjoyned it as a Law for Magistrates wherein they have also his example to lead them that not the fathers for the children nor the children for the fathers but every man should be put to death for his own sinne Deuteron 24. If Israel take up a Proverb of their own heads The fathers have eaten sowr grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge they doe it without cause and they are checked for it The soul that sinneth it shall dye and if any man eat sowr grapes his own teeth and not anothers for him shall be set on edge thereby For indeed how can it be otherwise or who can reasonably think that our most gracious God who is so ready to take from us the guilt of our own should yet lay upon us the guilt of other mens sins The only exception to be made in this kind is that alone satisfactory punishment of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not at all for his own sins far be the impiety from us so to imagine for He did no sin neither was there any guilt found in his mouth but for ours He payed that which he never took it was For our transgressions that he was wounded and the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him Yet even those meritorious sufferings of his may be said in a qualified sense to have been for his own sins although in my judgement it be far better to abstain from such like speeches as are of ill and suspicious sound though they may be in some sort defended But how for his own sins his own by Commission by no means God forbid any man should teach any man should conceive so the least thought of this were blaspemy but his own by Imputation Not that he had sinned and so desâ—rved punishment but that he had taken upon him our sins which deserved that punishment As he that undertaketh for another mans debt maketh it his own and standeth chargeable with it as if it were his own personal debt so Christ becomming surety for our sins made them his own and so was punishable for them as if they had been his own personal sins Who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree 1 Pet. 2 That he was punished for us who himself deserved no punishment it was because He was made sin for us who himself knew no sin So that I say in some sense the assertion may be defended universally and without exception but yet I desire rather it might be thus Christs only excepted all the Pains and Evils of men are brought upon them for their own sins These three points then are certain and it is needfull they should be well understood and remembred because nothing can be objected against Gods Iustice in the punishing of sin which may not be easily removed if we have recourse to some one or other of these three Certainties and rightly apply them All the three doubts proposed in the beginning have one and the same resolution answer one and answer all Ahab here sinneth by Oppression and yet the evil must light though not all of it for some part of it fell and was performed upon Ahab himself yet the main of it upon his son Iehoram I will will not bring the evil in his days but in his sons days will I bring the evil upon his house It is not Iehorams case alone it is a thing that often hath and dayly doth befall many others In Genesis 9. when Noahs ungracious son Ham had discovered his Fathers nakedness the old man no doubt by Gods special inspiration layeth the curse not upon Ham himself but upon his son Canaan Cursed be Canaan c. And God ratified the curse by rooting out the posterity of Canaan first out of the pleasant Land wherein they were seated and then afterwards from the face of the whole earth Ieroboams Idolatry cut off his posterity from the Kingdom and the wickedness of Eli his sons theirs from the Priesthood of Israel Gehasi with the bribe he took purchased a leprosie in fee-simple to him and his heirs for ever The Iewes for stoning the Prophets of God but most of all for crucifying the Son of God brought blood-guiltinesse not only upon themselves but upon their children also His blood be upon us and upon our Children The wrath of God therefore comming upon them to the utmost and the curse of God abiding upon their posterity even unto this day wherein they still remain and God knoweth how long they shall a base and despised people scattered almost every where and every where hated Instances might be endless both in private persons and families and in whole Kingdoms and Countries But it is a needlesse labour to multiply instances in so confessed a point especially God Almighty having thus far declared himself and his pleasure herein in the second commandement of the Law that he will not spare in his Iealousie sometimes to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation There is no question then de facto but so it is the sins of the Fathers are visited upon the Children but de jure with what right and equity it is so it is as Saint Chrysostome speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a question famous and much debated The considerations which I find given in for the resolution of this question by those that have purposely handled it are very many But multitude breedeth confusion and therefore I propose no more but two only unto which so many of the rest as are material may be reduced and those two grounded upon the certainties already declared The former concerneth the Nature of those Punishments which are inflicted upon the Children for the fathers sins the later the Condition of those Children upon whom such punishments are inflicted As to the first The punishments which GOD bringeth usually upon the Children for the fathers sins are only temporal and outward punishments Some have been plagued with infectious diseases as Gehazies posterity and Ioabs also if that curse which David pronounced against him took effect as it is like it did Some have come to untimely and uncomfortable ends as Davids children Amnon and Absalon and the little ones of Dathan and Abiram and others Some have had losses and reproaches and manifold other distresses and
if we should but observe the conditions of some families in a long line of succession might we not espie here and there even whole generations of Drunkards generations of Swearers and generations of Idolaters and generations of Worldlings and generations of seditious and of envious and of riotous and of haughty and of unclean persons and of sinners in other kinds This ungodly King Ahab see how all that come of him taste of him and have some spice and relish of his evil manners Of his son Ahaziah that next succeeded him in the kingdom of Israel the Text saith in the next Chapter that He walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother And another Ahaziah king of Iudah the grand-child of Iehosaphat by the fathers side and of Ahab by the mothers drew infection from the mother and so trod in the steps rather of this his wicked Grandfather Ahab than of his good Grandfather Iehosaphat and of him therefore the Scripture saith remarkably in 4 Kings 8. He walked in the way of the House of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord as did the House of Ahab for he was the Son-in-law of the House of Ahab Little doth any man think what hurt he may doe unto and what plague he may bring upon his posterity by joyning himself or them in too strict a bond of nearnesse with an ill or an Idolatrous House or Stock Here we see is Ahab's house taxed and not his person onely even the whole family and brood and kinn of them branch and root And that Iehoram also who is the son here spoken of and meant in my Text did Patrisare too as well as the rest of the kinred and take after the father though not in that height of impiety and idolatry as his father is plain from the sequel of the Story And so doing and partaking of the Evils of sinne with his father why might not he also in justice partake of the Evils of punishment with his father Secondly the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children sometimes as possessours of something which their fathers left them with Gods curse cleaving unto it As in the Law not onely he that had an issue of uncleannesse made them unclean that touched him but even the saddle or stool he sate upon the cloathes he wore the bed whereon he lay any vessel of earth or of wood that he did but touch was enough to bring legal pollution and uncleanness upon any other person that should but touch them So not only our fathers sins if we touch them by imitation but even their lands and goods and houses and other things that were theirs are sufficient to derive Gods curse upon us if we do but hold them in possession What is gotten by any evil and unjust and unwarrantable means is in Gods sight and estimation no better than stollen Now stollen goods we know though they have passed through never so many hands before that man is answerable for in whose hands they are found and in whose custody and possession they are God hateth not sinne only but the very monuments of sinne too and his curse fasteneth not only upon the agent but upon the brute and dead materials too And where theft or oppression or perjury or sacrilege have laid the foundation and reared the house there the Curse of God creepeth in between the walls and seelings and lurketh close within the stones and the timber and as a fretting moath or canker insensibly gnaweth asunder the pinns and the joynts of the building till it have unframed it and resolved it into a ruinous heap for which mischief there is no remedy no preservation from it but one and that is free and speedy Restitution For any thing we know what Ahab the father got without justice Iehoram the son held without scruple We doe not finde that ever he made restitution of Naboths vineyard to the right heir and it is like enough he did not and then between him and his father there was but this difference the father was the thief and he the receiver which two the Law severeth not either in guilt or punishment but wrappeth them equally in the same guilt and in the same punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And who knoweth whether the very holding of that vineyard might not bring upon him the curse of his fathers oppression it is plain that vineyard was the place where the heaviest part of that curse overtook him But that which is the upshot of all and untieth all the knots both of this and of all other doubts that can be made against Gods justice in punishing one for another ariseth from a third consideration which is this That the children are punished for the fathers sins or indefinitely any one man for the sins of any other man it ought to be imputed to those sins of the fathers or others not as to the causes properly deserving them but only as occasioning those punishments It pleaseth God to take occasion from the sinnes of the fathers or of some others to bring upon their children or those that otherwise belong unto them in some kind of relation those evils which by their own corruptions and sins they have justly deserved This distinction of the Cause and Occasion if well heeded both fully acquitteth Gods justice and abundantly reconcileth the seeming Contradictions of Scripture in this Argument and therefore it will be worth the while a little to open it There is a kind of Cause de numero efficientium which the learned for distinctions sake call the Impulsive Cause and it is such a cause as moveth and induceth the principal Agent to do that which it doth For example A Schoolmaster correcteth a boy with a rod for neglecting his book Of this correction here are three distinct causes all in the rank of efficients viz. the Master the Rod and the boys neglect but each hath its proper causality in a different kind and manner from other The Master is the Cause as the principal Agent that doth it the Rod is the Cause as the Instrument wherewith he doth it and the boys neglect the impulsive cause for which he doth it Semblably in this judgement which befell Iehoram the principal efficient cause and Agent was God as he is in all other punishments and judgements Shall there be evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3. and here he taketh it to himself I will bring the evil upon his house The Instrumental Cause under God was Iehu whom God raised up and endued with zeal and power for the execution of that vengeance which he had detetmined against Ahab and against his house as appeareth in 4 Kings 9. and 10. But now what the true proper impulsive cause should be for which he was so punished and which moved God at that time and in that sort to punish
him that is the point wherein consisteth the chiefest difficulty in this matter and into which therefore we are now to enquire viz. whether that were rather his own sin or his father Ahabs sin Whether we answer for this or for that we say but the truth in both for both sayings are true God punished him for his own and God punished him for his Fathers sin The difference only this His own sins were the impulsive cause that deserved the punishment his fathers sin the impulsive cause that occasioned it and so indeed upon the point and respectively to the justice of God rather his own sins were the cause of it than his fathers both because justice doth especially look at the desert and also because that which deserveth a punishment is more effectually and primarily and properly the impulsive cause of punishing than that which only occasioneth it The terms whereby Artists expresse these two different kinds of impulsive causes borrowed from Galen and the Physicians of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would be excellent and full of satisfaction if they were of easie understanding But for that they are not so especially to such as are not acquainted with the terms and learning of the Schools I forbear to use them and rather than to take the shortest cut over hedge and ditch chuse to lead you an easier and plainer way though it 's something about and that by a familiar example A man hath lived for some good space in reasonable state of health yet by grosse feeding and through continuance of time his body the whilst hath contracted many vitious noisome and malignant humours It happeneth he had occasion to ride abroad in bad weather taketh wet on his feet or neck getteth cold with it commeth home findeth himself not well falleth a shaking first and anon after into a dangerous and lasting fever Here is a fever and here are two different causes of it an antecedent cause within the abundance of noisom and crude humours that is causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the evident cause ah extra his riding in the wet and taking cold upon it and that is Galens causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us go on a little and compare these causes The Physician is sent for the sick mans friends they stand about him and in commeth the Physician among them and enquireth of him and them how he got his fever They presently give him such information as they can and the information is both true and sufficient so far as it reacheth they tell him the one cause the occasional cause the outward evident cause Alas Sir he rode such a journey such a time got wet on his feet and took cold upon it and that hath brought him to all this That is all they are able to say to it for other cause they know none But by and by after some surview of the state of the body he is able to inform them in the other cause the inward and original cause whereof they were as ignorant before as he was of that other outward one and he telleth them the cause of the malady is superfluity of crude and noysom humours ranknesse of bloud abundance of melancholy tough flegm or some other like thing within Now if it be demanded which of these two is rather the cause of his sickness The truth is that inward antecedent cause within is the very cause thereof although perhaps it had not bred a fever at that time if that other outward occasion had not been For by that inward hidden cause the body was prepared for an ague only there wanted some outward fit accident to stir and provoke the humours within and to set them on working And the parties body being so prepared might have fallen into the same sickness by some other accident as well as that as over heating himself with exercise immoderate watching some distemper or surfeit in diet or the like But neither that nor any of these nor any other such accident could have cast him into such a fit if the humours had not been ripe and the body thereby prepared to entertain such a disease So as the bad humours within may rather be said to be the true cause and that cold-taking but the occasion of the Ague the disease it self issuing from the hidden cause within and the outward accident being the cause not so much of the disease it self why the Ague should take him as why it should take him at that time rather than at another and hold him in that part or in that manner rather than in another From this example we may see in some proportion how our own sins and other mens concurr as joynt impulsive causes of those punishments which God bringeth upon us Our own sinnes they are the true hidden antecedent causes which deserve the punishments our Fathers sins or our governours sins or our neighbours sins or whatsoever other mans sins that are visited upon us are only the outward evident causes or rather occasions why we should be punished at this time and in this thing and in this manner and in this measure and with these circumstances And as in the former Example the Patients friends considered one cause and the Physician another they the evident and outward he the inward and antecedent cause so respectively to God's Iustice our own sins only are the causes of our punishments but in respect of his Providence and Wisdom our Fathers sins also or other mens For Iustice looketh upon the desert only and so the punishments are ever and only from our own personal sins as we learned from our third Certainty but it is Providence that ordereth the occasions and the seasons and the other circumstances of Gods punishments Hence may we learn to reconcile those places of Scipture which seem to Cross one another in this Argument In Ezekiel and Ieremy it is said that Every man shall be punished for his own sinnes and that the Children shall not bear the iniquity of the Fathers and yet the same Ieremy complaineth as if it were otherwise Lam. 5. Our fathers have sinned are not and we have born their iniquities Yea God himself proclameth otherwise I am a jealous God visiting the sins of the Fathers upon the Children Nor only doth he visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children but he visiteth also the sins of Princes upon their Subjects as Davids people were wasted for his sin in numbring them yea and he visiteth sometimes the sins even of ordinary private men upon publick societies Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespasse in the accursed thing and wrath fell upon all the Congregation of Israel and that man perished not alone in his iniquity Now how can all this stand together Yes very well even as well as in the act of punishing Gods Iustice and his Wisedome can stand together Mark then wheresoever the
they of his own house Let not any man then that hath either Religion or Honesty have any thing to do with that man at least let him not trust him more than needs he must that is an Enemy either to Religion or Honesty So far as common Humanity and the necessities of our lawful Occasions and Callings do require we may have to do with them and rest upon the good providence of God for the success of our affairs even in their hands not doubting but that God will both restrain them from doing us harm and dispose them to do us good so far as he shall see expedient for us but then this is not to trust them but to trust God with them But for us to put our selves needlesly into their hands and to hazard our safety upon their faithfulness by way of trust there is neither wisdom in it nor warrant for it Although God may do it yet we have no reason to presume that he will restrain them for our sakes when we might have prevented it our selves and would not and this we are sure of that nothing in the world can preserve us from receiving mischief from them unless God do restrain them Therefore trust them not Thirdly if at any time we see wickedness set aloft bad men grow to be great or great men shew themselves bad sinning with an high hand and an arm stretched out and God seemeth to strengthen their hand by adding to their greatness and encreasing their power if we see the wicked devouring the man that is more righteous than he and God hold his tongue the whilest if we see the ungodly course it up and down at pleasure which way soever the lust of their corrupt heart carryeth them without controul like a wilde untamed Colt in a spacious field God as it were laying the rains in the neck and letting them run in a word when we see the whole world out of frame and order we may yet frame our selves to a godly patience and sustain our hearts amid all these evils with this comfort and consideration that still God keepeth the rains in his own hands and when he seeth his time and so far as he seeth it good he both can and will check and controul and restrain them at his pleasure as the cunning Rider sometimes giveth a fiery horse head and letteth him fling and run as if he were mad he knoweth he can give him the stop when he list The great Leviathans that take their pastime in the Sea and with a little stirring of themselves can make the deep to boyl like a pot and cause a path to shine after them as they go he can play with them as children do with a bird he suffereth them to swallow his hook and to play upon the line and to roll and tumble them in the waters but anon he striketh the hook through their noses and fetcheth them up and layeth them upon the shore there to beat themselves without help or remedy exposed to nothing but shame and contempt What then if God suffer those that hate him to prosper for the time and in their prosperity to Lord it over his heritage What if Princes should sit and speak against us without a cause as it was sometimes Davids case Let us not free at the injuries nor envy at the greatness of any let us rather betake us to Davids refuge to be occupied in the statutes and to meditate in the holy Word of God In that holy Word we are taught that the hearts even of Kings how much more then of inferiour persons are in his rule and governance and that he doth dispose and turn them as seemeth best to his godly wisdom that he can refrain the spirit of Princes binde Kings in chains and Nobles in links of Iron and though they rage furiously at it and lay their heads together in consultation how to break his bands and cast away his cords from theÌ„ yet they imagin but a vain thing whilst they strive against him on earth he laugheth them to scorn in heaven and maugre all opposition will establish the Kingdom of his Christ and protect his people Say then the great ones of the world exercise their power over us and lay what restraints they can upon us our comfort is they have not greater power over us than God hath over them nor can they so much restrain the meanest of us but God can restrain the greatest of them much more Say our enemies curse us with Bell Book and Candle our comfort is God is able to return the curse upon their own heads and in despight of them too turn it into a blessing upon us Say they make warlike preparations against us to invade us our comfort is God can break the Ships of Tarshish and scatter the most invincible Armadoes Say they that hate us be more in number than the hairs of our head our comfort is the very hairs of our head are numbred with him and without his sufferance not the least hair of our heads shall perish Say to imagine the worst that our Enemies should prevail against us and they that hate us should be Lords over us for the time our comfort is â—e that loveth us is Lord over them and can bring them under us again when he seeth time In all our fears in all our dangers in all our distresses our comfort is that God can do all this for us our care should be by our holy obedience to strengthen our interest in his protection and not to make him a stranger from us yea an enemy unto us by our sins and impenitency that so we may have yet more comfort in a cheerful confidence that God will do all this for us The Assyrian whose ambition it was to be the Catholick King and universal Monarch of the world stiling himself the Great King thus saith the Great King the King of Assyria when he had sent messengers to revile Israel and an Army to besiege and destroy Ierusalem yet for all his rage he could do them no harm the Lord brought down the stout heart of the King of Assyria put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips and made him return back by the way by which he came without taking the City or so much as casting a bank or shooting an arrow against it Nay he that is indeed the great King over all the children of pride and hath better title to the stile of most Catholick King than any that ever yet bare it whose Territories are large as the Earth and spacious as the Air I mean the Devil the Prince of this world he is so fettered with the chain of Gods power and providence that he is not able with all his might and malice no not though he raise his whole forces and muster up all the powers of darkness and